Running Head: Telling My Story 1

Telling My Story

Andres Gonzalez

National University

TED 690

November 2, 2018
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Abstract

This assignment will cover my competencies regarding TPE Domain A Making Subject

matter comprehensible to students. I will reflect on my strengths and weaknesses within the

domain using my selected artifacts as I begin to develop my PDQP (Professional Development

Quest Portfolio).
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After almost 10 years of being inside classrooms as a substitute, tutor, and 4 years of

teaching third grade I decided to pursue my master’s degree. From a young age I have always

wanted to be involved in education. Coming from a family of teachers I thought the job would

come naturally and I would know all there is to know about the career once I had a classroom of

my own. Little did I know how wrong I was. Once I had my own classroom I realized just

because I was now the teacher doesn’t mean I stop being the student. As a teacher there is many

ways that I can continue to get better and improve my teaching. Pursuing my masters and

attending various professional development workshops is just one way. The more time I spend in

a classroom allows me to reflect on my practice. Looking at the TPEs (Teacher Performance

Expectations) allows me to do just that. The TPES provide me with a framework that I want to

model in my classroom. They are categorized in the following domains:

A. Making Subject Matter Comprehensible to Students

B. Assessing Student Learning

C. Engaging and Supporting Students in Learning

D. Planning Instruction and Designing Learning Experiences for Students

E. Creating and Maintaining Effective Environments for Student Learning

F. Developing as a Professional Educator

Little did I know how important standards and guidelines are. All things that will assist in

developing a portfolio. Constantino and Lorenzo state that having a basic understanding of

performance standards is important and just as crucial to understanding how these standards are

meaningfully linked to the practice of teaching and portfolio development (Constantino, 2009,p

10-11).
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The first Domain I am working with inside my Professional Development Quest

Portfolio is Domain A: Making Subject Matter Comprehensible to students. When looking inside

of the TPES I read the section on teaching physical education in a single subject assignment. I

took a course a few months back on physical education and health that helped me play one of my

strengths in creating an engaging lesson. Included as artifact one of the portfolio, is a lesson that

integrates Modern Art and Physical Education by having students act out the movements and

emotions depicted within the paintings, The Starry Night, by Vincent Van Gogh, The Scream, by

Edvard Munch, and Number 1 (Lavender Mist) by Jackson Pollock. Students will be asked to

"become" the shapes, the colors, or the paintbrush, and to explore the possibilities within the

selected canvases. A lesson like this motivates students to have a healthy lifestyle and think

critically when creating their art shapes and movements. Artifact 2 includes the art because for

many of the students this is the first time they are exposed to it.

An area that I feel I can improve upon is creating a print rich environment where

students use writing across the curriculum. I want to be able to teach strategies that will develop

students’ abilities to write increasingly more sophisticated opinion/persuasive, expository and

narrative texts and I want students to adapt their communication in relation to audience, task,

purpose, and discipline. The time I have spent teaching writing has been my area that I have

wanted to improve along with the student’s highest need.

A potential competency I may use comes from TPE 1A. That is for students to use

and evaluate technology as a tool. I am thinking of using a tool like google maps when students

begin to study about landforms and different regions. Overall though my goal for my portfolio is

to show off my progress toward developing myself as an educator. Following these TPES will

assist me along my career.

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References

Costantino, P. M., & De Lorenzo, M. N. (2009). Developing a Professional Teaching Portfolio:

A Guide for Success (Third ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

The California Performance Expectations. (2018) Retrieved November 2, 2018, from

https://www.ctc.ca.gov/docs/default-source/educator-prep/standards/adopted-tpes-

2013.pdf