Blog Post 8 – edTPA Making Good Choices

            The Making Good Choices document thoroughly explains what is expected of teacher candidates, so thorough that the word micromanagement came to my mind as I was reading it.  I was surprised about the details that are included.  For example, teacher candidates are told not to upload their teaching videos to social media sites or to submit video clips that show them “making significant content errors” or “showing disrespect to students” (p. 32).  For these directions to be in an official education document, that might mean that, yes, indeed, it was necessary to tell future teachers exactly what behaviors they should avoid.   

            I did, however, appreciate the document’s reminders--for new and seasoned teachers—to “consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different strategies/supports or accommodations/modifications to instruction or assessment” (p. 5).  One of my teaching colleagues from the adult learning center told me about his learning how to administer the testing of Irlen overlays that can help students overcome problems with reading due to dyslexia and other difficulties.  He said that a very high percentage of adult students have previously undiagnosed dyslexia which accounts for a large number of people who quit school before graduation.  Before I read this document, I’d forgotten about how students were better able to read with the help of Irlen overlays.

            I loved the section about using specific and strong verbs in our lesson plans.  Without these verbs, it would be much more difficult for teachers to accomplish the specificity that lesson plans require: “describe,” “explain,” [and] “justify” (p. 6). 

            It is important for all teachers to remember that students are individuals and any “information [about them should be] based on [first-hand] knowledge,” that could be supported with evidence rather than relying on “stereotypes or assumptions” (p. 15).

It’s easy to assume that teaching can somehow reach perfection.  New teachers should instead focus on demonstrating that they “understand how [their] students learn” rather than striving for teaching perfection (p. 7).  Perfect teaching is an unrealistic goal for any teacher.