Rationale Reflection

Artifacts: Impact on Student Learning Project; Archimedes Bath: Volume, Density, and More!;
The Fault in Our Stars Movie Guide; Interdisciplinary Unit: Immigration
Topic/Title: Exploration and Colonization; Interdisciplinary Unit with Math and Language Arts;
Interdisciplinary Movie Guide; Twentieth Century Immigration
Medium: Google Docs, Prezi, Weebly, Microsoft Word
Technology Used: Library Databases, Microsoft Word, Internet Research, Smartboard
I chose four projects from my middle grades education courses to demonstrate my
proficiency in Standard Three: Middle Grades Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment. I
completed my Exploration and Colonization Impact on Student Learning Project (ISLP) during
my five week apprenticeship in a seventh grade social studies inclusion class. For this project I
created a unit that included: lesson plans, summative assessments, formative assessments, and an
analysis of student work. I used the data collected from assessments to determine my students
growth and an evaluation of my own performance. Archimedes Bath was completed in
conjunction with an Elementary Education teacher candidate in which we used a foundational
text (Mr. Archimedes Bath by Pamela Allen) to create an interdisciplinary lesson plan sequence
on mathematical concepts for a sixth grade classroom. I created The Fault in Our Stars Movie
Guide during Block I of my middle grades program with three of my fellow middle grades
teacher candidates. Each of us took at least one content area to create lesson plan sequences
based around the film adaptation of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. The Interdisciplinary
Unit on Immigration was created during Block II with two Math and Science teacher candidates
in which we each created a unit on twentieth century immigration. My portion of the unit

focused on Social Studies, and I included such elements as an Ellis Island Immigration
Simulation and an Immigration Night for parents.
Each of these four projects demonstrates my ability to understand and apply relevant
middle grades concepts and instruction to my lesson plans. They also show my ability to utilize
effective assessment strategies that are both developmentally responsive and age appropriate for
a variety of middle grades learners. Both Archimedes Bath, The Fault in Our Stars Movie
Guide, and the Interdisciplinary Unit on immigration puts on display my ability to work
collaboratively with my fellow teacher candidates on a variety of topics that sought to make
cross-curricular connections to ensure our students received the most developmentally
responsive and relevant instructional materials possible. In addition, all four of these projects
incorporate technology alongside research based teaching strategies to ensure students are
receiving an engaging education that works in conjunction with state standards. With the ISLP I
was able to incorporate my content knowledge with my knowledge of my students to make the
best decision on my instruction possible based on my students interests, learning levels, etc.
This knowledge provided me with the opportunity to explore concepts that my students found
interesting and relevant while reflecting on my pedagogy, all of which feed into my proficiency
in Standard Three.