Standard+4

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**Standard 4** ** Teachers know how to teach. **

The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies, including the use of technology, to encourage children's development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills. Evidence 1: Science Millionaire PowerPoint

Rationale 1: The PowerPoint was created for my first grade class as a review game on animal habitats. It reviews the major concepts and benchmarks required by the first grade curriculum prior to giving students the final assessment. As a teacher, I also provide some sort of review prior to giving an assessment to my students. It provides to be a good capstone lesson that ties together student knowledge. However, instead of simply talking about what we had learned, I decided to make it into a multimedia game. This format was engaging for all of my learners, and increased their participation in the review immensely. Additionally, as students were placed in small groups, they had to collaborate with their team members, a skill that will be invaluable in the future.

Reflecting upon this lesson has taught me that instructional styles such as this work very well with my students. Every single student in my classroom was focused, engaged, and working with their peers during the game. This lesson really reached all the different learners in my classroom.

KSD 4.K.3 The teacher knows how to enhance learning through the use of a wide variety of materials and technological resources (e.g. computers, audio-visual technologies, videotapes and discs, local experts, primary documents and artifacts, texts, reference books, literature, and other print resources). Using the Microsoft PowerPoint software as a method of presenting academic information truly enhanced student learning. All students were engaged and excited to participate in the game. Additionally, utilizing the SMARTBoard to present the game on the big screen really provided students with a lot of excitement and enthusiasm! 4.S.2 The teacher uses multiple teaching and learning strategies to engage students in active learning opportunities that promote the development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance capabilities and that help students assume responsibility for identifying and using learning resources. This lesson utilized a multimedia presentation software in which the academic content was shown in a “game show” format, therefore meeting the needs of the multiple learning styles in my classroom. Additionally, students developed problem solving and collaborative work skills while working in their small groups. 4.D.2 The teacher values flexibility and reciprocity in the teaching process as necessary for adapting instruction to student responses, ideas, and needs. Due to the fact that this was a review game, it allowed me to really analyze what each student knew and how well they knew it. If a student (or group of students) struggled with a particular question, I was able to stop the game and spend some time focusing on those specific concepts. Therefore, I was able to adapt my instruction based on the needs of my students.