K-12 EDUCATION
Standards-Based Teaching
I provide sample teaching artifacts from my pedagogical practice that are based on the Charlotte Danielson Framework for Teaching. This framework organizes standards for evaluating effective teaching based on empirical evidence. The 22 standards are divided into four categories outlined below. To learn more about the Danielson Framework click here.
CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT
Domain 2 addresses my ability to create classroom settings and structures that foster students' holistic learning through established routines, community building and caring for their social-emotional well-being.
2a
CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT OF RESPECT AND RAPPORT
Classroom Structures and Rituals
In an after school dance program at an elementary school, the K-2 students and I performed a community song and dance at the beginning of every class to support students' connections to the class and each other. Class rituals such as these support students' learning by helping to create an environment of respect and rapport.
2b
ESTABLISHING A CULTURE FOR LEARNING
Collaboration Rubric
This collaboration rubric is modeled off of sample material provided by Arts Assessment for learning, which you can locate here. I modified this rubric to guide the expectations for a cooperative group project. Ninth and tenth grade students in my intermediate-level dance class artistically interpreted dance performance video excerpts by identifying movement motifs. This cooperative project helped establish a culture for learning by prompting students to take initiative of their learning through assigned group roles, group discussions and group decision-making.
2c
MANAGING CLASSROOM PROCEDURES
Classroom Management Plan
Classroom structures and procedures will vary greatly depending on school parameters and learning context. The following is a classroom management plan I envisioned for a student-centered and community-based class structure inspired by the ideas of educational scholar Christopher Edmin.
2d
MANAGING STUDENT BEHAVIOR
Trauma-Informed Teaching Practices and Materials
In this essay I describe the approaches of trauma-informed teaching and how it supports the well-being of individual students' in addition to the well-being of the classroom community. I also include an image-based mood chart I provided for my after school dance program at a local elementary school to assist students in identifying their emotions and thus helping to support their social-emotional learning and meet their needs.
2e
ORGANIZING PHYSICAL SPACE
Dance Studio
These are images of a dance studio in which I arranged assigned spots to support students' focus, engagement and safety in dance class. At the beginning of the semester, I also included a large scale mood chart for students to share their baseline mood. Occasionally students completed brief written responses on the white board for Do Now prompts. The Dance elements poster on the back wall became populated with elements from each category for students to reference as needed.
