New Mexico Teacher Competencies

Competency 3: the teacher communicates with and obtains feedback from students in a manner
that enhances student learning and understanding.
As an EA I was extremely fortunate to work with an amazing Special Ed teacher. As a result I
was able to see she how her ability to communicate with her students impacted their learning.
Competency 3 focuses on teacher communication which includes several aspects. irst it is important to
provide students with clear expectations. !he Special Ed teacher gave short and simple instructions. As
an EA working with students in a Special Ed class I noticed students were able to compete more
complicated assignments than they were in the "egular Ed class. !he Special Ed teacher gave simple
statements and limited the number of directions. !heir regular Ed teachers tended to give more
information at one time. So my #ob in the "egular Ed class was fre$uently to restate teacher
instructions. %ext teachers need to give feedback so students know where they are at and how they can
improve. &ecause the Special Ed teacher worked with small groups and had an EA in the room' the
students received more feedback than in there. It is also important for students to give teachers
feedback so the teacher can more accurately lead the student to the learning target.
COE Framework: understanding Human Growth and Development: means to facilitating an
atmosphere in which students of different cultural backgrounds' abilities and learning can grow. !his
re$uires the teacher have strong communication skills. &ecause today(s classrooms are changing to
encompass a more diverse student body' it is important the teacher know how to adapt to the class
diversity.
)ne significant aspect of COE Framework: practices Contetual . Ideas and practices are
presented with a richness of their contextual cues and information. In other words teachers need to have
grab students( attention with a rich engaging lesson creating intrinsic motivation.
Artifact Context
!he artifact that I chose to represent Competency 3 is a unit plan I wrote for *
st
and +
nd
grade
students learning measurement. !he main goal of the unit is to develop an understanding of
measurement systems and applications which are part of the *
st
and +
nd
grade math standards.
,,SS.-ath.,ontent.*.-..A.+ Express the length of an ob#ect as a whole number of length
units' by laying multiple copies of a shorter ob#ect /the length unit0 end to end1 understand that
the length measurement of an ob#ect is the number of same2size length units that span it with no
gaps or overlaps. !imit to contets where the o"#ect "eing measured is spanned "y a whole
num"er o$ length units with no gaps or overlaps. tools such as rulers' yardsticks' meter sticks'
and measuring tapes.
,,SS.-ath.,ontent.+.-..A.+ -easure the length of an ob#ect twice' using length units of
different lengths for the two measurements1 describe how the two measurements relate to the
size of the unit chosen.
Significance
)ne lesson from this unit I taught was called !he 3ing(s oot' an artifact I referred to in my
reflections. !his lesson represents Competency 3 because communication was a key factor in the
lesson. !o communicate the intent of the lesson I wrote the two essential $uestions on the board and
referred to them fre$uently throughout the lesson. An important part of ,ompetency 4 is clarifying
explanations. .uring the lesson I regrouped the class and reframe the instructions. I found this was
necessary when I saw students were confused. 5ausing and regrouping proved effective getting
students back on track. Another part of Competency 3 is feedback. I looked for feedback from the
students in several different ways. or instance worksheets' math #ournals and daily conversations
provided insight into the students( thought process. 6ith this information I was able to alter the lesson.
Also it helped me know what the students needed to hear so they could answers the essential $uestions.
%nderstandings: Human Growth and Development discusses the importance of commination
with a diverse group of students. In this lesson there were multiple visual supports. ES7 students could
gain understanding of vocabulary and the content through the visuals. Another support I provided for
the ES7 students was to repeat vocabulary and information several times. !he essential $uestions were
placed on the board and repeated several times throughout the lesson.
In order to meet the COE Framework: &ractices Contetual' I used a hook to get the students(
attention. I began the lesson by measuring -r. 8oung' my cooperating teacher' with my feet and then
the feet of different students. !he students thought this was fun and were more engaged throughout the
lesson. !hey were more intrinsically motivated to meet the clear expectations I provided.
Future Improvement
I learned 4 important points. irst I learned I needed to give clearer expectations. &y reviewing
the students( worksheets' I noticed the students were confused about one of the essential lessons. I had
used adult language and had not simplified it to kid friendly language. In the future I will write it first
in adult language to clarify my own understanding and then rephrase it into kid friendly language. !he
second point is the effectiveness of regrouping' calling the class back together to clarify and ad#usting
instructions when needed based on classroom observations. !he last point is the importance of
developing an engaging yet simple lesson and unit.