Mastery of Program Competencies

"The artifact (curriculum map) should match one or more of the five program competencies. Thoroughly describe how the artifact displays your mastery of the specific program competencies."



When I review my curriculum map for a 4th grade science unit on the properties of water, I feel that it does show my mastery of the first program competency; Teachers are committed to students and their learning. And to some extent, competency#2; Teachers know the subjects they teach and how to teach those subjects to students.

One Performance Indicator of Competency#1 is to “make well-informed decisions that promote student learning” (Kaplan, 2009). In the map I planned activities and lessons that are based in the constructive learning theory and best practices of science education. The lessons are inquiry based and student centered. The first activity (the KWL Chart) pulls students prior knowledge and allows the teacher to gain insight to the students’ interests in the topic.

The age range of typical 4th grade students show developmental characteristics of inquisitiveness and questioning assumptions. This map is ideally suited to these characteristics and is age appropriate, yet challenging.

Some of the performance indicators that are displayed in this map for competency #2 include planning “ Instruction for Higher-Order Thinking” and “design and implement appropriate curricular materials based on curriculum theory, student learning styles, subject matter, and the school's educational goals” (Kaplan, 2009). The lessons in this map challenge students to use higher-order thinking skills by designing and implementing solutions to test scientific questions. The map is also clearly aligned to state standards. In fact, the standards were used as the springboard in backward planning the unit.

Two of the performance indicators that could be more fully developed in this unit include “Plans Interdisciplinary Instruction” and “Uses Instructional Technology” (Kaplan, 2009). While not a direct focus, both interdisciplinary instruction and the use of instructional technology are strongly encourages and supported. The end product does not explicitly show how but further revisions to the map to include essential questions and resources would better articulate how these can be demonstrated in the lessons.