EDPG addressed: EDPG 4 - Content Knowledge

Name of Artifact: Preparation to State Mandated Licensure Tests

Date of Artifact: February 2017
Course in which Artifact was implemented: ED 205 - Survey of Teaching and Learning, ED
201 - Technology in Education, ED 212 - Teaching Diverse Learners in General Education
Classes, ED 261 - Science of Reading, ED 338 - Instructional Methods, and ED 450 - Seminar in
Teaching.

In order to apply for an educational license to teach Spanish and/or French, I needed to pass the
Spanish and French content tests, as well as a pedagogy exam. Because I am French, I was fully
competent in that content area already, which allowed me to focus my studies on the Spanish
content. I passed my Spanish content test in May 2016 and my French content test in November
2016. The goal of a content test is to ensure that candidates have the developmental (pedagogy)
and content area knowledge and skills needed to teach effectively. The test in Indiana is based
on the REPA Indiana Educator Standards, and is aligned with state and national standards for
educator preparation and with Indiana Academic standards for the P12 student curriculum.
Back in May 2016, I was working as a customer service representative and had no experience in
education. I decided to enroll in the Transition to Teaching program at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods
College (SMWC) in March 2016 and did not start my online classes until the end of May. While
I was studying for my educational courses, I got hired as a High School Spanish teacher in
August 2016. Due to my non-traditional route to licensure, my preparation for the Spanish
content had to come from my background and solo efforts to prepare. With regard to the
pedagogy exam I passed in February 2017, however, the SMWC coursework helped me prepare.

To study for my Spanish content test, not only did I have to review my vocabulary and grammar
but I also had to practice writing essays because the test includes one or more constructed-
response assignments. As I was preparing for the test, I was also reviewing content that will be
an important part of my responsibilities as an educator. It was very good for me to review my
Spanish since I had not practiced it much since 2009. After checking how the test was designed
and what was in it, I read the sample test question for each objective, attempted to answer it, and
reviewed the rationale provided. It was a good way to find out more about the types of questions
I would see on the actual test, understand how the questions were aligned to the objectives, and
see how the correct response was derived. The sample test allowed me to become more familiar
with the standards for foreign language and make connections with the curriculum I would be
teaching. Besides, the Spanish content test was the first content test I ever took. Therefore, it
was important to plan an effective course of study and learn strategies for successful test taking.

The other important thing I did was reviewing the assessment blueprint and accompanying REPA
Indiana Educator Standards for this specific test. The assessment blueprint is the same for both
the French and Spanish content tests. It helped me learn more about the structure and content of
the test, and assess my degree of preparedness to take the test. I read each objective and its
corresponding standards and essential elements carefully for a more specific idea of the
knowledge and skills I would be required to demonstrate on the test. As confirmed with the 11
Spanish Sample Multiple-Choice Questions I answered, my areas of strength were language
structures (standard 2), interpretive communication skills (standard 3), presentational and
interpersonal communication skills including writing and speaking skills (standard 4), cultural
understanding (standard 5). Nevertheless, I forced myself to listen to and read in Spanish every
day, weather it was a movie, the radio, YouTube videos, or online articles, to improve my
listening and reading comprehension and writing skills.

My areas of weakness were on language acquisition (standard 1), and instruction and assessment
(standard 6). Since I had not started taking my online classes at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods yet, I
did not know anything about teaching. My goal was to work on my understanding of the nature
of language and of the theories and processes of language acquisition. I also had to study the
academic standards as well as instruction and assessment strategies that foster students
competencies in the areas of communication, cultures, connections, comparisons, and
communities, and how to address the diverse needs of language learners at various
developmental levels. My most appropriate resource to help me reach that goal was the textbook
I purchased for ED 205 - Survey of Teaching and Learning. Even though the class had not
started yet, I went ahead and reviewed the material in this textbook. I read all the summaries at
the end of each chapter and took some notes. Within one month, I passed the test.

The other test I needed to pass before applying for my Indiana education license was the
Secondary Education Developmental test. I registered for this test in February 2017 and I had 10
days to prepare myself for it. I directed my studies according to the results to the pre-test I took
right after registering. I am glad that we had the possibility to purchase the Practice-Test
preparation material because not only it made me feel better about my current knowledge but it
also helped me focus my studies on what was on this test. My pre-test score was 63%. I missed
3 questions out of 10 from the Student Development and Diversity section (standard 1). I missed
16 questions out of 30 from the Learning Processes and Environments section (standards 2 and
5). I missed 13 questions out of 40 from the Instruction and Assessment section (standards 3 and
4). I missed 4 questions out of 10 from the Reading Instruction section (standard 7). I only
missed 1 question out of 10 in The Professional Environment section (standard 6). The
assessment blueprint allowed me to determine the courses I had taken (and textbooks) that were
covering the breadth of content that will appear on the test. The reason why I did not do too bad
on the pre-test was because by February, I had passed 5 teaching classes at Saint Mary-of-the-
Woods and I had gained a lot of experience from my part-time Spanish teacher position at Neoga
High School in Neoga, IL.

Again, the Instruction and Assessment part was my weakest area, even though I knew more
about it. But this time, I had more resources to study from. I had 3 additional textbooks from
relevant courses (ED 212 - Teaching Diverse Learners in General Education Classes, ED 261 -
Science of Reading, and ED 338 - Instructional Methods), my class notes and assignments for all
those classes as well as for ED 201 - Technology in Education. The textbook that helped me the
most to review was the one for ED 338 - Instructional Methods. Even though I remembered a lot
of information from this class, it was easy for me to review what I did not remember from the
summary sections of the textbooks.

The study plan schedule I developed for my Spanish test was intense because I had a lot to
review. Every day, I was studying for 2 to 4 hours and making sure that I was reading the
summary of at least one chapter from the ED 205 textbook. My study plan schedule for the
Secondary Education test was not as intense since I knew considerably more by then. Besides, I
had less time to study since I was completing my student teaching in the morning and my
practicum in the afternoon. Every night I had 2 hours to go over some of the 100 practice-test
questions and important concepts. While concentrating my studies on my areas of weakness, I
also did some additional preparation addressing the content covered in the other objectives.

The key to my success on the test was that I became familiar with the material I was studying. I
did a lot of review and looked for additional online information when I did not understand a
specific concept. The other important element of my success was my ability to manage time. I
knew exactly how many questions were going to be on the test and how much time I could spend
on each question. When going over the practice-test questions, I would try to pretend it was the
real test and answer those questions the fastest way I could. For the Spanish content test, I knew
that it contained constructed-response assignments. For those assignments, I made sure to read
and respond to each part of the assignment. I always started spending a couple of minutes on the
structure of my answer and writing down my main ideas before starting typing. That precious
time spent at the beginning of the contained constructed-response assignment thinking of how I
could best answer it allowed me to ensure that my responses fully addressed the assignment.

The day before the test, I reviewed the Strategies for Success on the Day of the Test that were
listed on the Indiana Pearson website. It is important to read, listen to (for the Spanish content
test) and follow all test directions. Also, I made sure I was pacing my work. At any point in the
test, I was able to see how much time I had remaining. Even though I did not use this option, I
knew that I could go to any particular question within a test at any time before submitting the
test. In addition, I knew I had the possibility to flag a question for review and return to it later if
I had any difficulty answering it. Nevertheless, I had to remember that I had to respond to all
questions, including those flagged for review, during the allotted time. Another good strategy is
not to try to save time by skimming directions or by reading the test questions quickly.
Otherwise, important information and instructions could be missed. A strategy I used a lot was
to determine the "best answer." To select my response to each multiple-choice question, I used
my knowledge of the content area to eliminate as many of the alternatives as you can; then I
selected from the remaining choices. When I was unsure, I would try to pick the best answer by
elimination. Reading and evaluating all four answer choices before deciding which one is best is
crucial. When I could not decide between 2 answers, I just tried to guess wisely and use my
logical skills. Since we are not be penalized for incorrect responses, it is better to guess than to
leave a question blank.
When I received my score report, I was happy with the results, especially for the Secondary
Education Developmental test. My weakest performance in the Spanish content test was still in
the instruction and assessment domain but the online classes I took in the summer and the fall
helped me master this domain and my Secondary Education Developmental test.

Bibliography

Indiana Academic Standards. (n.d.). Retrieved February 26, 2017, from http://www.doe.in.gov/
standards

Pearson Education, Inc. (2017). Preparation Materials. Retrieved February 06, 2017, from http://
www.in.nesinc.com/TestView.aspx?f=HTML_FRAG%2FIN059_PrepMaterials.html