Brief Description of Evidence:

During the Spring semester of 2023, in my EDUC 233 Literature Development through Children’s Literature class, I created a lesson plan with two other classmates. We chose the book Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel to do our lesson over. We split the chapters up so that way we could take turns reading to the class. As we read through the book we would stop and ask questions to keep the students engaged. After we finished reading to the students we would go over the characteristics of Frog and Toad. My partners and I created a chart. At the top of the chart we had “Title: “ and “Author:” for this we would ask the students if they remembered the title and author of the book. We then asked them if they knew what an author was. At the bottom of the chart we had Frog and Toad. This is where the students would give us characteristics about each character and explain to us why they chose those characteristics. After this activity the students had a worksheet that my partners and I created. At the top of the worksheet there was a rectangle where the students would create their own scene that they would add to the book. At the bottom of the worksheet there were lines for the students to write a letter to a friend or family member. 

Analysis of What I Learned:

Creating this lesson taught me how to write a well-thought-out lesson plan and navigate the Indiana Standards page. I learned where to find the Indiana Standards that I used for my lesson and how to navigate them. I also learned how to find and create assignments that were developmentally appropriate for the grade level I was covering, which was first and second grade. One thing I would do differently in my own classroom is split the activities and chapters/stories up into two or three days instead of one. I would read one or two chapters each day and do an activity that goes along with them along with the character chart. 

How This Artifact Demonstrates my Competence on the InTASC Standard:

I demonstrate my competence for InTASC Standard #8 because in my group’s lesson we used a variety of instructional strategies, such as asking students questions throughout the story, involving students in the character chart, and allowing the students to share their work and ideas. This encourages our learners to develop a deeper understanding of the content. We were able to test the student’s knowledge by asking them questions throughout the story, along with them using their writing skills to create a letter like one of the characters did. A theory that I found that relates to my lesson is Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy of Education (Bloom, 1956). This theory states that you have to develop a certain grasp of a subject before you can move on to form a deeper understanding of it (Armstrong). I chose this theory because in the lesson the students built off of their previous knowledge of writing and problem solving. Students need to grow over time, starting off with giving them the material and skills they need so that way in the future they will be able to understand this material on their own. During our lesson the students learned how to start and end a letter to a friend or family member. They will be able to use these skills outside of the classroom. They will also be able to apply this knowledge in meaningful ways, such as writing letters to loved ones or applying their writing skills to emails to potential bosses in the future.

​

Council of Chief State School Officers. (2011, April). Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC) Model Core Teaching Standards: A Resource for State Dialogue. Washington, DC: Author.

Armstrong, P. (2010). Bloom’s Taxonomy. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/.