Teacher Work Sample

Carol-Anne Lucero
Fall 2016
EDUC 350: Instruction I Individualization/Management

Setting and Context

Fort Collins is the host of one of the best districts in the state of
Colorado, the Poudre School District. The district consists of 31 elementary
schools, 10 middle schools, 4 high schools, 6 option schools, 3 alternative
high schools, 4 charter schools and 1 online school. While most of the
schools are centered about the Fort Collins area, there are also mountain
school that extend to the border of Wyoming and Colorado, school in
Wellington and Timnath. While the district is large and split between
numerous schools, their mission statement is the common thread that binds
everything together, Educate Every child, every day. A simple, yet
powerful statement that encompasses how the district strives to provide
equitable education to all students in the district.
One such school in this district was my placement for this semester,
Boltz Middle School. The school was opened in 1973 after burning down and
having to be rebuilt. Rising from the ashes, the schools mascot aptly
became the Phoenix. More than 40 years later, the collaboration and
camaraderie that allowed the school to be rebuilt and serve the Fort Collins
community is still reflected in the school today as, Phoenix Pride. One of
the was Phoenix Pride is recognized in the Thursday shout outs where
students are identified and recognized for doing kind things for one another
during the announcements. It was encouraging to see these acts of kindness
and strong integrity being displayed and celebrated. This is a reflection of
their mission, As a learning community, we will create a nurturing, safe
environment founded upon a culture of respect and the understanding of
early adolescence with a commitment to the academic, physical, social and
emotional growth of our students. Truly, students are growing and learning,
not just in an academic sense but also learning about maturity, respect and
compassion all the while. Still, with a wide range of students of diverse
backgrounds, their mission is no easy task. In fact, 29.49% or 174 kids are
on free lunch, 45 kids which make up 7.63% of students are on reduced
lunch while the remaining 371 and 62.88% are normal lunch payers. This
also includes 14 McKinney or homeless students. Overall a very mixed bag,
and in the classroom is where the fulfillment of the mission statement starts
to come to life.
At Boltz, I was placed in Mrs. Janna Wilsons 6th grade science
classroom. There were anywhere from 20-23 students on a typical day,
though the full class was 24 students. Sometimes we joined classrooms with
the next door 6th grade science class taught by Mrs. Scandary. This would

approximately add an additional 25 students into one tiny classroom. 11 of

those students were females, and 13 were males. In the classroom there
were 12 kids with exceptionalities. In the class, 2 students had an IEP, 3
were ELL, 3 had a 504, 2 were identified GT and 2 were McKinney.
In any middle school class, a class culture including discipline must be
established. In Mrs. Wilsons class, I was very impressed with her handle on
classroom management. Students werent expected to sit straight up and
listen intently, but basic respect pieces such as shutting up when someone
else was talking was a huge focus. Whether it was a teacher giving
instruction or another student answering a question. The reprimand I heard
most often was, please be quiet while so-and-so is talking, that is
disrespectful. It was obvious that Mrs. Wilson had gained the trust and
respect of her students early on in the year because when she gave small
behavior corrections such as telling students to turn around and stop
distracting others, she was met with compliance. Her classroom culture
modeled Boltzs vision of students becoming responsible citizens in our
democratic society. Seeing these value work in the small scale of a single
classroom was very interesting and makes me inspired about how Phoenix
Pride can be carried throughout classes and hopefully beyond the walls of
the school.

Teaching Experience/Lesson Plan

Teacher: Carol-Anne Lucero

School: Boltz Middle School

Date: 11/17/2016
Grade Level: 6th

Content Area: Science

Title: Conservation Conversation

Lesson #1 of 1

Content Standard(s) addressed by this lesson:

3. Earths natural resources provide the foundation for human societys
physical needs. Many natural resources are nonrenewable on human
timescales, while others can be renewed or recycled.
a. Research and evaluate data and information to learn about the
types and availability of various natural resources, and use this
knowledge to make evidence-based decisions (DOK 2-3)
c. Use direct and indirect evidence to determine the types of resources
and their applications used in communities (DOK 1-2)
Understandings:
Students will understand how natural resources are relevant to everyday life.
Inquiry Questions:
What resources are found and used in our community?
How can we make responsible choices about the resources we use on a daily
basis?
Evidence Outcomes:
Every student will be able to:
1) Explain how a fossil fuel is converted into useable electricity.
2) Identify what natural resources are commonly used in our community.
3) Be able to infer methods of energy conservation from prior knowledge
and real life data.
Audience (A): Mrs. Wilsons 6th grade Science class
Behavior (B): I expect students to be able work collaboratively in different
sized groups ranging from 8, 3 or partners. I expect that when they are

working in groups they are on task and use each other to expand upon their
learnings in each activity. This means each student should hold their peers in
groups accountable for staying on task and learning.
Condition (C): This lesson begins to wrap up the natural resources unit. I
expect students to be able to recall prior knowledge about natural resources
and critically think in order to apply it to infer new conclusions about energy.
Degree (D): Students are doing the bulk of the learning and facilitation
today. They will work in groups most of the class and to do so it is essential
enough direction is given to them so they can be successful.
I can: Explain how electricity is generated from natural resources and how
to conserve energy.
This means: I will be able to synthesize knowledge about the Earths
natural resources in order to reflect both in writing and discussion with
classmates.

List of Assessments:
Video worksheet (LT 1)
Pie Cart Worksheet (LT 2)
Poster completion (LT 3)

Planned Lesson Activities

Name and Purpose of Lesson

Conservation Conversation

Should be a creative title for you and the

students to associate with the activity.
Think of the purpose as the mini-rationale
for what you are trying to accomplish
through this lesson.
Approx. Time and Materials
How long do you expect the activity to
last and what materials will you need?

Question of the Day projector (10 mins incl

announcements)
Energy Video need question worksheet (10

Kill-A-Watt Activity need Kill-A-Watt, laptop

Research and worksheet students will need

group and worksheets with guiding questions

Conservation competition need markers and

and a few small sheets of paper to act as lifel
Anticipatory Set
The hook to grab students attention.
These are actions and statements by the
teacher to relate the experiences of the
students to the objectives of the lesson,
To put students into a receptive frame of
mind.

To focus student attention on the

lesson.

To create an organizing framework

for the ideas, principles, or
information that is to follow
(advanced organizers)

An anticipatory set is used any time a

different activity or new concept is to be
introduced.
Procedures
(Include a play-by-play account of what
students and teacher will do from the
minute they arrive to the minute they
leave your classroom. Indicate the length
of each segment of the lesson. List actual
minutes.)
Indicate whether each is:
-teacher input
-modeling
-questioning strategies
-guided/unguided:

Beginning of class after question of the day

of the day and briefly explain some of the act

Before video: pass out worksheets, discuss w

address and have students read the question
video. Inquire, how do natural resources like
get turned into electricity?

Knowing how energy turns into electricity is n

discovering of what kinds of energy we use in
communities and other communities is also v
students what kinds of energy they predict Fo
and how it compares to the national average.
directions for the worksheet.

Knowing students had some PK with conserva

asked to recall a few key pieces of knowledge
direction about the lifelines and how they ca
the conservation conversation (pun intended)

Question of the Day projector (10 mins incl

announcements)
Energy Video need question worksheet (15

Research and worksheet students will need

group and worksheets with guiding questions

Conservation competition need markers and

and a few small sheets of paper to act as lifel

-whole-class practice
-group practice
-individual practice
-check for understanding
-other
Closure
Those actions or statements by a teacher
that are designed to bring a lesson
presentation to an appropriate
conclusion. Used to help students bring
things together in their own minds, to
make sense out of what has just been
taught. Any Questions? No. OK, lets
move on is not closure. Closure is used:

To cue students to the fact that

they have arrived at an important
point in the lesson or the end of a
lesson.

To help organize student learning

To help form a coherent picture and to

consolidate.
Differentiation
To modify: If the activity is too advanced
for a child, how will you modify it so that
they can be successful?
To extend: If the activity is too easy for a
child, how will you extend it to develop
their emerging skills?
Assessment
How will you know if students met the
learning targets? Write a description of
what you were looking for in each
assessment.

Energy 101: Electricity Generation Questions

1 Summarize how thermal energy plants create electricity

2 What type of energy conversion creates electricity?

3 What can cause a blackout?

4) How many grids are there in North America?

5) What device is needed to allow electricity to travel longer distances?

6) What is the typical voltage in a home outlet?

State and Local Energy Data

Go to http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/sled/#/
Type Fort Collins into the search bar and hit enter. Scroll down on the first
page youre brought to until you hit fuel sources. Record this data into the
pie charts below.

Fort Collins

US Average

How do the fuel sources of Fort Collins compare to the US average? What do
we use more of? What do we use less of? Are there sources we dont use at
all compared to national electricity sources?

Search for an additional city of choice and analyze how their fuel sources
compare and contrast to both Fort Collins and the national average. What
might explain why these differences or similarities exist?

Post Lesson Reflection

1. To what extent were lesson objectives achieved? (Utilize
assessment data to justify your level of achievement)
It was meh.
2. What changes, omissions, or additions to the lesson would you
make if you were to teach again?
I definitely over planned for my lesson and thats okay, but if I would have
loved to have more time either in another class period or just having a long
period to get through everything. I think the pace was set a little too fast for
middle schoolers. There was an entire activity I left out, however I really
liked my mentor teachers suggestion. I ran out of time for the Kill-A-Watt
activity and didnt have enough time for the conservation conversation as I
would have liked. She suggested that if I had set a timer and told the
students that they would only get credit for what they completed in the 1015 minutes on the natural resources worksheet, they would have been a lot
more productive and we could have gotten to those activities that I missed
out on because I gave them so much time otherwise.
I planned on doing an activity with the Kill-A-Watt meters but I completely
ran out of time. So on the basis that the got left out, I think that would have
to go into another lesson.

3. What do you envision for the next lesson? (Continued practice,

reteach content, etc.)
N/A I will not get a chance to do a next lesson. If I were however able to
have about 30 more minutes, I would wrap up.
I know that the class was going to learn about wind power form CSU
students and if I was there for that I would be relating what theyre learning
about wind power to this lesson. How does wind power generate electricity?
How is this different than fossil fuels? What states use a lot of wind power?
Why do you think this is? Could Colorado use wind power? How many
kilowatts can gusts of wind produce, how many homes can this power? Why
is wind power good? If we conserve more could wind power be a better
option for energy resources?

Assessment

AAAA

Communication

Communication with parents is largely dependent on the individual

teacher, who can decide the best way to contact parents. Some teachers
send emails, and often are for more than disciplinary action. They can
introduce parents to the content to be covered, essential questions, learning
targets, standards, homework their kid should be doing and so forth. Parents
are very interested in what their kid is learning and how they are learning.
Other teachers preferred to call parents to address student concerns or
talk to them about performance. A phone call can be more personal than an
email though it tended to be more for disciplinary actions rather than check
ins about the content and learning like emails could be and were used for by
some teachers.
One of the really great ways Boltz communicated with parents were
the information nights held for Spanish speaking parents. While I did not get
to experience this firsthand, it was really inspiring to hear about how mainly
students served as translators between the teachers and parents. Bridging a
language gap is not only important to ensure parents who speak languages
other than English are included, but with students as translators can
empower these young people and take pride in their bilingual talent.

Reflection

Strengths and weaknesses in your interactions with students

Discuss plans to become culturally responsive teacher
What do you need to work on in the next phase of your teaching?
What is your current classroom management plan? Discuss 4 characteristics.