Samantha Hess

K. Suk
EDUC 230-02 Education Field Experience
Spring 2019
Planning Rationale Statement

Standard 7- Planning for Instruction:

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 ((New Jersey Department of

Education, 2014, pg. 9).

Artifact: Planning Observations

Date: March 28, 2019

Course: EDUC 230-02 Education Field Experience and EDUC 212-01 Foundations of
Education

Rational Statement:

The artifacts being used are observations discussing curriculum and planning lessons. These

observations discuss how the teachers I was working with plan for their lessons. They both talk

about what curriculum these teachers use, and how they apply it into their lesson plans. I related

these artifacts to standard 7.i.1 “The teacher individually and collaboratively selects and creates

learning experiences that are appropriate for curriculum goals and content standards, and are

relevant to learners.” (New Jersey Department of Education, 2014, pg. 9). My cooperating

teacher at the private explained to me how he uses their school’s curriculum as a checklist of
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what needs to be learned by the end of the school year. He has the freedom to incorporate skills

into any lesson. My teacher creates his lesson by theme, and extends them throughout different

subject areas. This keeps the information more relevant to them, as it is being taught daily and

relates throughout their different subjects. My cooperating teacher plans his lessons out weekly,

and fine tunes the details on a daily basis. He makes sure that his lessons are appropriate, and are

also keeping the students engaged. At the preschool, the teacher I worked with uses online gold

curriculum. It created a portfolio for each individual child. She would set goals for each student

and the curriculum would tell her how to work on getting the students to reach their goals. She

creates her own lessons but will sometimes use creative curriculum lessons as well. She would

plan a big lesson first, then break it down weekly and daily. We can see commonalities between

two different grade level teachers planning methods.

These artifacts showed me how different the curriculum is set up for private schools

versus public schools. This private school does not have to follow any of New Jersey’s teaching

standards. This school has set their own curriculum. This was done by past and current teachers,

and gets changed accordingly. The teachers are able to get more creative and use the school’s

curriculum however they please. My teacher uses a cross curriculum method, which I have not

seen before. I have seen lessons that slightly incorporate other subjects. This teacher takes a full

lesson and is able to use it throughout language arts, science and social studies. His lesson

themes also go on for over a month, and he will add on to it if his students show a particular

interest in any aspects of the lesson. My teacher adjusts his lessons accordingly, making sure the

lesson is still age appropriate, and is covering the curriculum. Getting to have this discussion

about curriculum and lesson planning with my cooperating teacher has introduced me to new

ways of coming up with lesson plan ideas and being able to incorporate the curriculum
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appropriately. The preschool teacher I worked with follows creative curriculum standards and

submits lesson plans weekly. Though their curriculum is very different, their methods of

planning are very similar.

I can use these artifacts in the future as a tool to implement different lesson planning

skills. The way my cooperating teacher at the private school presents his lessons and includes the

appropriate curriculum is different than what I have seen before. Having the knowledge about

different ways to create lessons and present them to students will come in handy throughout my

teaching experience. The preschool teacher I have worked with previously showed me how to

plan lessons based on standards. Every school and every teacher is different. Everyone will have

a different teaching style, and sharing these skills and learning them from different teachers helps

students become more successful in the classroom. Many students need a few different teaching

styles. Being introduced to my cooperating teachers’ style of creating lessons and sharing them

with his class will be a helpful tool for me to hang on to.

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Reference:

New Jersey Department of Education. (2014, April 1). New Jersey Professional Standards for

Teachers Alignment with InTASC. Retrieved March 27, 2019, from

https://www.state.nj.us/education/profdev/profstand/ProfStandardsforTeachersAlignment

withInTASC.pdf