Standard Two: Content Area and Pedagogical Knowledge The competent teacher has in-depth understanding of content area

knowledge that includes central concepts, methods of inquiry, structures of the disciplines, and content area literacy. The teacher creates meaningful learning experiences for each student based upon interactions among content area and pedagogical knowledge, and evidence-based practice. I chose this artifact because it was a lesson that went very well when I taught it. It has a good balance of introducing concepts to the students, giving them a chance to voice their opinions and do hands on activities. With three different focuses of the lesson, it broke up the lesson into smaller parts and kept the students engaged. This artifact exemplifies standard two for several reasons. I was able to use the required content, the teaching of the Constitution for a statemandated test, while not rely solely on the book to do the teaching. This lesson blended the use of content with my pedagogical knowledge in a way that allowed for students to have an interactive lesson based upon a very dry and boring book. From my experience in the classroom and also my education classes, I know that teaching straight from a book leads to less engagement from the students. I used that knowledge to enhance the lesson with what if questions that allowed students to voice their opinion while also making them think critically about the content. Also by using a hands-on activity of drawing a map, the students were allowed to express creativity while applying the knowledge presented in the lesson to their drawings. This artifact demonstrates my growth as a teacher because I used my experience of watching another teachers lessons based on this book and I could see the reaction of the students. The students were always disruptive and distracted when the teacher taught straight from the book; this realization really forced me to come up with a lesson that would be engaging yet still provide new information about the content. Being able to reflect on my past experiences in order to enhance my teaching illustrates how much I have developed as a teacher.