Pedagogical+and+Professional+Knowledge

**//"Words are chameleons, which reflect the color of their environment." //****//- //****//Learned Hand //**


 * Pedagogical and Professional Knowledge Skills and Dispositions **

It is hard to know how I am going to be as a teacher, but I have learned a lot by creating and teaching my own lesson plans. I believe that pedagogy is something that is developed and learned as time progresses, so I hope to learn a lot while student teaching. I do know how I want to be, but I am not certain that is how I will act once I am in front of my students five days a week. It is so important to have a positive attitude and high level of energy to keep middle grades students interested. Like the “words” described in Learned Hand’s quote above, our students reflect the environments in which we provide for them. If love, respect, and responsibility are modeled in a classroom, students will most likely be able to participate and learn comfortably.


 * __ECI430 Thematic Unit Plan/ Materials and Reflection __**



The above document holds my ECI430 Thematic Unit and the materials I created for its purpose. The theme of my unit was "Finding Your Color in Society," and I wanted students to focus on their purposes in life and how to figure out who they are supposed to be in this giant world. The unit is lengthy and tells about the NCSCOS and Common Core Standards that I was trying to embrace. Overall, the unit is based on students reading Lois Lowry's//The Giver// and comparing it to their own lives. We discussed utopian and dystopian societies, and we also studied bits of poetry throughout the unit. I followed through with a lot of my unit's ideas including the vocabulary booklet assignment, Utopia-U, and everyday journal entries. I do admit that the unit took a lot of time to really think about and create, but I couldn't be more proud of what I created. I was aiming to have students examine their present lives and futures, and that is what I did. I had a lot of fun with this unit when teaching reluctant readers because the ideas expressed in the novel are very unfamiliar to those who have never read a book with a dystopian setting. I very much enjoyed my unit and have been proud to share it with several others.


 * __ECI 435 Government Lesson Artifacts and Reflection __**


 * Objective Chosen to Demonstrate: **

Competency Goal 9: The learner will analyze the different forms of government developed in South America and Europe.

Objective 9.04: Describe how different governments in South America and Europe select leaders and establish laws in comparison to the United States and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each.

I absolutely loved coming up with ideas for this sixth grade lesson, which focuses on different government types in Europe and South America. I worked with a partner, Jessica Darnell, and we had a lot of fun brainstorming together. The results of the lesson were wonderful, and that is why I chose to share it with you. The components of the lesson included a Prezi presentation, role playing, partner work, group work, and students teaching each other. Although our thirty-minute time limit caused us to cut our ideas short, we felt that the SCOS objective provided above was met.

The first artifact shows a map of the world, which our students used as a visual. Each partnership was given a country and had to color the country according to its type of government. Each pair also had to figure out what kind of leader this government required and who that specific leader was. For example, since Cuba is a Communist country, the pair with that country would have to color it blue then write down Raul Castro. We only chose countries from Europe and South America and students taped their assigned countries onto the map already colored and labeled. This way, students were able to see patterns through the visual.

After discussing trends, students were placed into groups depending on what type of country government they had. The second artifact shows the chart that was filled out after discussing the letters that were given to each of those groups. For example, the “Constitutional Monarchy” group was given a letter from a student in Denmark. I individually wrote each group’s letter and made sure to use the perspective of a sixth grader to make the learning more relevant. Each group explained what their letters had to say and helped me fill out the chart on the board. Categories to respond to were the following: economic, social, and political. Below is one of the letters I wrote…

Dear American students,
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Communist: Cuba **

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">My name is Rodolfo, and I am eleven years old. I currently go to the International School of Havana in Havana, Cuba. I will stay at this school until I am the age 18. After eighth grade, I will be given a checkpoint examination to determine what kind of secondary schooling I will receive to prepare me for the university level. Attending the schools and universities in Cuba is free, so we call have the same opportunity. We must wear uniforms at school, and the colors of our uniforms depend on the grade/age of who’s wearing them. For example, my uniform currently consists of a white top, red pants, and a red scarf. Outside of school, I really like to play baseball with my brothers and perform the salsa with my sister. Sometimes I help my mom cook, but I’m not as good in the kitchen as she is. For work, my mom and dad run their own taxi service. Dad used to work for the government in downtown Havana, but he was let go from his job earlier this year.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Cuba is a communist nation, and our leader is Raul Castro who serves as the President of the Council of State of Cuba and the President of the Council of Ministers of Cuba. This means that President Castro is the head of government and makes most of the decisions. The president is elected by the National Assembly of the People’s Power every five years. It is known that if anyone is heard talking negatively about the Communist reigning of Cuba, that person will be given at least three years in prison. I hear America is much different than Cuba, but I do not know much about it. Write back to inform me!

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Le envío mis mejores (I send my best), <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">Rodolfo Borgos <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 12pt;">International School of Havana