The teacher plans instruction that supports every student in meeting rigorous learning goals by drawing upon knowledge of content areas, curriculum, cross-disciplinary skills, and pedagogy, as well as knowledge of learners and the community context.

The artifact I’m using is a reflection from my writing mentor experience. For one semester, my classmates and I visited a 4th-grade classroom twice a week to tutor a student in writing. During this time, I gained valuable knowledge into planning instruction, teaching writing, and most importantly, learning about my student. Standard #7, which focuses on planning for instruction, emphasizes that teachers should use their knowledge of content, cross-disciplinary skills, learners, the community, and pedagogy to create lessons that help all students achieve rigorous learning goals. In planning my mini-lessons for my student, I was able to implement effective instruction. I created each mini-lesson to meet my student’s needs, often breaking down broad topics into more manageable parts for easier understanding. I used multiple differentiation strategies to counteract my students’ problems with spelling. By observing his strengths and weaknesses, I was able to identify areas where he needed further support. I made sure every lesson I taught moved him closer to his ultimate goal of writing his own story and sharing it with his classmates. At times, I would spend hours planning a lesson for him, drawing from assessments and data to address his specific writing challenges. By the end of my time with him, I saw noticeable improvements in his writing and spelling, demonstrating the effectiveness of the lessons I designed. 

I firmly believe that my experience as a writing coach has significantly broadened my pedagogical knowledge as a future educator. One key lesson I’ve learned is that the more you practice something, the easier it becomes. I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to gain this experience and to connect with my student on such a personal level. This experience has helped me understand the strategies I should use when planning instruction. One important strategy is incorporating students’ interests into the lessons. While this can be challenging depending on the number of students, I found that my student felt valued and cared for when I included something he enjoyed in the mini-lesson. Another valuable lesson I’ve learned is the importance of paying close attention to every detail in a student’s writing and identifying patterns. Using assessments and data is also crucial for designing an effective lesson plan that addresses the student’s specific needs.