EDTC 6431 - Phase 5: Individual Project Reflection

I am grateful that this individual project offered me the opportunity and the space to reflect on a previously developed student project and consider the intentional augmentations and improvements that thoughtful technology integration could allow. 

Having been a technology and media teacher at the high school level for the first eight years of my career and now transitioning into a new discipline - as I get my MAT and endorsements in history and social studies - I am eager to work with technology integration in the reverse direction. 

That is, I now have the luxury of extant and copious curricula and project ideas that don't require me to digest that day's news and figure out a way to make it meaningful and engaging and technologically relevant for the following day's lesson - as was the case for many years in my online media literacy course - a 12th grade elective. It was exhausting. 

But similarly exhausting was the experience of listening to many colleague from the math, science and English departments solicit my help to try and "incorporate technology" into their regular practice or project based learning assessments. I found thought that their commitment to that integration was often lip service to the "21st century skills" they believed were essential for student growth but were unclear or unwilling to consider how they might actually expand modalities of instruction, independent practice and/or assessment through the thoughtful integration of technology.

I am quite familiar with the ISTE standards and especially the 2007 version that we've operated from in this course. I taught from those along with the early adoption of the social studies and ELA speaking and listening CCSS standards from 2009-16. SAMR however, was new to me and thoughtful and a metered way in which to consider technology integration and applicability within a course, project, unit, warm up, etc. I wish I'd had it to share with my colleagues who instead pined for me to square peg/round hole their existing project and somehow "make it techy."

I think the SAMR framework gave me a deliberate lens to reflect this summer about the 90s POP & POWER Impact trading cards project that Shawn and I designed and allowed me to see the ways we can go further with technology to expand the project, make it more meaningful, create more student ownership and responsibility and promote collaborative research, design and exhibition.  

I believe that a group Google doc for research gathering, references, feedback and the linking and embedding of the trading card Google doc template is critical for organizing evidence. Additionally,  the creation of a group Blogger page to host the final project offers important augmentation to the student deliverables as well as organization of research and the shared digital space where they can work together.

Another major improvement was the intentional design of group roles and working together as a team to differentiate and specialize in the responsibilities and workload. In my personal experience as student and teacher is that group projects are frustrating because there is often opaque instruction of the actual outcome of the work and/or little if any clarity from the teacher about what each person can or should be doing to work together towards that goal.

So although it is not explicitly technology integration, I see the POGIL or Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning framework as interconnected and essential to the success of this project and other group, technology-integrated projects moving forward. Especially as the ease of cloud saved collaborative documents allow for multi-access and real time sharing students are empowered to control for pace and place of their work time and contributions. As such POGIL and other frameworks like it that provide defined roles and responsibilities for group member to build effective, interdependent collaboration and contribution are more necessary.

I am excited for the launch of POGIL at the start of the school year and incorporating it through daily activity as well as the PBL assessments throughout the year. I am eager to share the augmentations and improvements to the 90s Pop & Power Players lesson plan with my mentor teacher. Lastly, I am excited to see how these changes will enhance student learning, engagement within their groups and create a more meaningful opportunity to examine the impacts both then and now of the Pop culture and Political player and events that shaped the world in which they arrived.

EDTC 6431 - Student Expression, Creativity & Innovation (ISTE 1)

ISTE 1 - “Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.” 

My Module 1 Triggering Question: Which tools and procedures are best for recording, editing and sharing student-created podcasts? 

My research has helped me discover a gap in my triggering question. I recognize now that I may have been putting the cart before the horse where recording and production are concerned. That is, well before students are ready to record, edit or publish their masterpieces, they need to familiarize themselves with the medium and deliberately work on the pre-production elements of script writing, editing, reading aloud, and generally understanding the medium. Podcasting is not just talking into a microphone and demands deliberate planning and forethought.

Teacher Tony Vincent warns about the pre-production demands that both student and teacher may be unaware of saying "I've found that pre-production takes over three-quarters of the time to produce a podcast" (2008). He offers helpful reminders to students about determining exactly who their intended audience is and to make careful considerations where language and style are concerned.

Vincent also suggests that writing and recording the introduction last ensures that it reflects a concise teaser for the podcast that follows. This not only mirrors the styles of radio and television, it also mirrors the essay writing process. I have often encouraged students when writing a chunked and scaffolded essay with PEE paragraphs (i.e. Point-Evidence-Explain) to write their intro paragraph last. That way, it reflects exactly what the paper is about and that they are not unneededly pigeonholing themselves.

Considering mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery students need to familiarize themselves with the medium and the myriad genres within podcasting as a frame of reference before creating their own. I remember back to my journalism days in high school and college and the assignments where we were given a sample style and asked to write our next piece as if the sample author had written it. I think this could be a necessary first assignment for students to do a short five-minute podcast either autobiographical or a one-on-one interview and practice in the Fresh Air or WTF style of interview or the cliffhanger narrative style of Serial.

My research did yield some detailed resources to guide students to the best tools for recording, editing and publishing. When my students are ready to begin sampling the variety of available apps, I’ll send them to this EdTechTeacher link.

Greg Kulowiec gives a knowledgeable and succinct video tutorial of Spreaker which not only seems the most intuitive for me, especially where editing by clicking and dragging or selecting and cutting are concerned but also its accessibility. It is available for Chromebooks and for both Android and OSX mobile operating systems. I would encourage my students to peruse EdTechTeacher’s full list (pictured below) of sortable by column, free and field-tested recording, editing and podcast productions apps. (Kulowiec, 2016).

I am hopeful about the opportunities for student voice and creativity in production and assessment. I also believe that podcasts lend themselves well to group projects, considering their multi-faceted production elements. 

One intriguing finding from my research connected with my interest in differentiating modes of assessment. That is, what if we encouraged students to create a podcast in lieu of a research paper. I found a US News article that features an Edmonds-Woodway High School 10th grade English teacher Nancy Branum and librarian Karen Rautenburg who did just that. 

Branum noted that the structure of the podcasts paralleled that of conventional deductive style research papers but allowed, even demanded, for more creativity and intentional storytelling, which piqued student interest and engagement. “Just like a paper, a podcast needs a beginning, middle and end, Branom says. ‘You have to have a hook and an introduction with context. You have to introduce your interviews and you have to be able to decide, well, what chunk of this interview I'm going to take so it makes sense – kind of like evidence from a novel that you put in a paper’” (Pannoni, 2016).

I am intrigued that student-created podcasts could drive student expression through storytelling and critical thinking and differentiate assessments as students interview experts or each other and create primary/secondary source evidence, gain media literacy skills and contribute to our growing digital record of contemporary history.

References
Kulowiec, Greg (2017). Podcasting: Using Podcasts in the classroom. EdTechTeacher. Retrieved from: http://edtechteacher.org/tools/multimedia/podcasting/

Pannoni, Alexandra (2016, Feb 29). High School Teachers Tune In Students With Podcasts: Podcast assignments can show teens another way to tell stories. US News. Retrieved from: https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/high-school-notes/2016/02/29/high-school-teachers-tune-in-students-with-podcasts 

Vincent, Tony (2008). Creating Podcasts with your students. Reading Rockets. Retrieved from: http://www.readingrockets.org/article/creating-podcasts-your-students

Comenius, Dewey & Authentic Assessment

EDU 6120 Week 5

During this week’s readings, podcast and lecture, I was most taken by Comenius’ notion that “classrooms should be spaces with as much pleasure as fairs.” Dr. Scheuerman qualified this statement by saying that classrooms should not simply be places of fun and engagement but should connect students to practical explorations and investigations of ideas and outcomes that apply to student’s and adult’s actual lives. He connected this notion to the contemporary jargon of authentic assessment and student performance that connects to adult world challenges, structures and tasks. This philosophy of education was further emphasized in Dewey’s progressivism as evidenced in Dr. Ellis’ outline of education philosophies. Dewey posited, “education should be life itself, not a preparation for living.”

Reflecting on education through this lens allowed me to recall my own high school and college experiences that paralleled such progressive construction. It was a small but powerful minority of my own teachers who espoused such a progressivism in their classrooms versus the status quo perennialism and inertia which – looking back – I believe guided the bulk of my teachers and their respective course designs.

My experiences first as a staff writer and then as the Editor-in-Chief of my high school yearbook were likely my most profound educational experiences to date and moreover, the greatest example of progressive education, authentic assessment and a classroom with as much pleasure as a fair that still resonates with me today.

Yearbook was a serious endeavor at Aberdeen High School throughout the late 90s and early aughts. As I took the helm as Editor-in-Chief in Summer 2003 and we (our adult advisor and team of 8 section editors) were off to Yearbook Camp (yes, we went to camp #NerdAlert) at the University of Santa Cruz; I was immersed in a world of copy writing, editing, design, theme development, advertising, fundraising and a comprehensive and real journalism education. Adobe had just recently put out a suite of software which included InDesign and Photoshop that I was tasked with the responsibilities of teaching myself and then working with my photo and layout design editors respectively, to master. We spent a week workshopping and ruminating on the perfect theme that would encapsulate the focus of our upcoming publication.

We took this project seriously and not just for our student body and local community. Our yearbook, the Quinault, had a history of receiving national recognition. The previous year’s publication, entitled Voices, was one of seven high school yearbooks in the nation to receive both: The Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s Gold Crown and the National Scholastic Press Association’s Pacemaker awards. We arrived at Santa Cruz on the warm August night and mingled with yearbook staffs from across the country – the vast majority from schools in much larger cities and vastly different metropolitan areas than Aberdeen, Washington. I was stunned to learn what a big deal our yearbook was to these other students. I’ll never forget during the first night’s book exchange with all the schools at camp, watching a student from a famous (in our mind’s) Sacramento, CA high school stand up on a picnic table proclaiming “I got the Aberdeen book!” This made our staff feel like rock stars.

The following year and my management of a $75,000 project was an education unlike any I’ve known since. I was managing a creative process and a team of 23 peers who were my staff to encourage, reprimand and collaborate with – depending on the day. We were selling advertising to local businesses and parents who wanted to congratulate their graduating seniors. Many of the yearbooks that we encountered at camp sold their books to students at the end of the year for somewhere between $75-100. This was reasonable considering the amount of money that went into a hardbound, 11-inch 420 page, much of it color, publication. We however, were selling the Quinault to the students of Aberdeen High School – an economically depressed, former fishing and logging town where unemployment stood at 10% long before the housing crash of 2008. We sold ours for $35. We had to underwrite that cost with advertising dollars.

The year included the management of staff, deadlines, actual editing of copy and design, as well as two separate presentations with the school board where I lobbied on behalf of our team in order to feature a story about the growing prevalence of hard drugs like cocaine and meth in the AHS party “scene.” We wrote profiles on students who wanted to drop out, students with different religious backgrounds and beliefs, students in the vocational education track, students celebrating Quinceneras and even a friend who’d gotten into a life-altering car accident, which left her paraplegic. I was also responsible for writing the obituary for a much-beloved English teacher who early in the school year had committed suicide amidst a scandal. This was authentic assessment.

This was real learning. It was ongoing and had real impact on our community. I thankfully still have the hard copy proof of that year of my life. It was a year where the ideals and ethics of journalism fused with my academic and professional character and ambitions. That year taught me so much about time management and organization for myself and for a team. I grew as a leader and creative voice as we produced our also award-winning publication the Truth.

I have taken this experience with me into the classroom as a teacher these past 8 years and it shapes my philosophy of education as I get to reflect on it now. I am hopeful that I will someday be a part of a school that prioritizes such flexibility and creative agency for me to create a space for student creation and management of a long-term authentic assessment that can connect them to passion and skills that will still be empowering them 13 years later.

A Career Ladder: The First Step in Ed Reform

EDU 6120 Week 4

There were significant ideas that stood out from this week’s readings about the Roman cultural influences on formal education as well as some ideas for consideration from Ellis’ appraisal of the American Education reform movement(s).

I am interested to hear what detail Dr. Scheuerman will offer about Quintillion, Cicero and Plutarch. Reading through the notes it is apparent that many of the ideas and practices of these educators and thinkers remain influential in current framework for education.

For example, Quintillion’s methodology that great teachers should be choosing tasks appropriate to a student’s interests is important to me. Considering that standardized tests take us further from such opportunities, it is an important reminder that there are ideas in education that are quite old and value student agency and creativity. Moreover, the emphasis on plasticity and interdisciplinary thinking and the integration of knowledge are important ideas for the overall learning and motivation of students. By placing each content area into a separate silo, we discourage students from making broader connections about the world around them and their place in it. I am guilty of this too. We ask young people about their favorite courses, teachers, etc. and almost immediately make the incorrect “square peg round hole” inference about what kinds of jobs such juvenile and ephemeral interests may lead to.

When I read “plasticity” the pop-up in my brain reminded me of work I did with a professional development group of teachers a few years back. We considered the language we were using with students to help re-enforce a “growth mindset” with our students. In other words, by language we chose for praise, critique and redirection, how were we contributing to our students’ beliefs that their brains were plastic and they could continually improve? We felt this work was especially important considering our students of lower academic performance who did not experience teacher or academic praise with the same frequency as their higher performing peers. Consider the differences how a student might internalize the two different examples of teacher returning a successful test and offering whole-group praise to a student. Firstly, there is: “Great job on the test Billy! An A+ Wow. You are so smart.” versus: “Great job on the best Billy! An A+ Wow. Congratulations on your hard work.” Each of these can produce a different internal response for a student regarding something intentional they did that contributed to their success versus an innate characteristic (i.e. “smartness”) of which they have no control. Language is powerful.

These ideas brought me to Dr. Ellis’ review of the Porter and Brophy research that yielded the 11 descriptions of effective teachers. I thought this list was illuminating both as a benchmark for my own self-critique and as aspirations and tenets for the field. The two in particular that stood out to me were 7 & 8. Considering my informal training during my first 8 years in the classroom coupled with the unconventional and non-standardized subjects I taught (Computer Applications and Media Literacy) I think I have developed habits and strengths in these regards. Number seven describes a teacher who does not rely on one almighty source (namely a textbook) from which to create the breadth of a curriculum. Teaching two courses that I designed from the ground up, without textbooks, forced me to be creative and continually discerning about the sources of information I curated for my students. I often shared this process with them, which created a meta-lesson about source selection in life and informing yourself with myriad opinions and options – not just letting inertia and convention inform you.

Number eight revisited metacognitive strategies, which I have mentioned here before, but I thought were interesting considering Ellis’ inclusion of the phrase “problem-solving.” One of the major standards or takeaways from my computer applications course was to empower 9^th-grade students to be patient troubleshooters. Some many of the “problems” we, as end users, encounter with our computers can be mitigated if not entirely solved by a deep breath, reading the dialogue box that has popped up and a willingness to troubleshoot through trial and error. These three steps are essentially what I relied on to teach myself the basics of personal computing as a student and are absolutely skills that I challenge myself to employ as an adult. This is a disposition more than a technical skill set. And coupling this strategy with a framework for learning styles and reflective metacognitive practices can be essential for student success in our digitally academic, professional and social spheres.

I appreciated Ellis’ illustration of “the Answers” to education reform. I am a proponent of the proposals for more rigorous teacher pre-service training programs. In the cases of some of the other countries that often out-perform the US like Finland, there is a much greater social status, financial compensation and prestige in becoming a public school teacher. And yes, simply paying teachers more could incentivize a shift in the initial applicant pool, but I think the lack of an actual career ladder is the logical first place to improve and reform the teaching profession.

Ellis writes, “the beginning teacher holds essentially the same rank as the veteran of many years.” This is not only true with regard to rank but ostensibly job duties and responsibilities as well. This is absurd. Think of any other profession where this is the case. Teaching is missing the adequate steps of apprenticeship by graduating up to the status, pay and responsibilities of a veteran in the field. A brain surgeon for example, has a residency that is seven years long, according to UCLA neurosurgery residency website. It is not expected that a first year would have the same knowledge or expertise as a fifth-year resident, let alone a surgeon with 20 years experience.

The education career ladder should be deconstructed and reworked entirely. Instead, we over-burden our under-experienced teachers with not only a full-load (which likely shouldn’t be the case) and often place them with the most challenging students and courses. It is not a wonder then that, according to The Atlantic in 2013 anywhere between 40-50% of new American teachers were burning out and quitting before being in the field for five years (source).

I am not sure that merit-based pay (especially problematic when based solely on standardized test scores/gains) works considering the art of teaching and dynamics involved in teaching students of various abilities and backgrounds. But Ellis’ logic is sound when he criticizes the status quo metrics for teacher raises, which are mostly limited to years of service or additional credentials earned. Neither of these guarantees or in anyway measures the improvement of a teacher’s skill or their students’ outcomes.

Reflecting on Reflection

EDU 6120 Week 1

Metacognition plays a necessary role in the education process. As a contemplative and critical thinker a student can unlock their own continued curiosity, self-fulfillment and self-discovery, all of which are core aims of education. 

Students however, need to be given both structured time and strategies in the classroom to explore “thinking after.” It takes continued practice before it can become natural. I remember as a high school student finding it such “busy work” and completely boring when teachers would ask me to “reflect on my work.” My reaction was likely the result of my teachers only giving me the space and opportunity for reflection but not offering the most important components of reflection – the strategies HOW to reflect and also the WHY I was reflecting in the first place. Ultimately, a big hook for many students (especially I’d argue the higher performers in a class) is to let them in on the WHY of their work.

Students value intentionality and transparency especially when that deliberateness is what you are asking of them. As we discussed night one, the teacher plays a diversity of roles in the classroom and I have found that openness around ‘teacher as learner’ and what I am trying to learning from and about my students is simultaneously a way to gain their trust and also a way to model contemplative and meta-cognitive thinking as I investigate how my students are learning and what I can do to improve my practice.

Nowhere have I found the Latin adage “repetitio est mater studiorum” (repetition is the mother of study/learning) to be most true. The consistency required to get reflection exercises to stick can seem excruciatingly dull – not to mention the sacrifice to content time that reflection eats into. However, as Ellis notes, there are numerous academic studies that demonstrate the value of reflection and its benefits for the learning of knowledge. Thinking about how and what a student learned is of much greater value than simply getting students to recall key vocabulary words in a rote fill-in the blank exit ticket. 

I appreciated the tangible strategies that Ellis and Scheuerman lay out in their piece as a toolbox for daily self-reflections with my students. I must admit that I was a little worried that my first masters’ grad class about education history and philosophy might be too theoretical, but this list is already incredibly useful. I especially am interested in trying out the “Clear and Unclear.” This not only will provide me with critical feedback about what students took out of the lesson and how they organized it and will also provide a higher-order thinking task for my students (per Bloom or Marzano). This will challenge students to integrate and evaluate new information they’ve just learned and also provide me with crucial feedback about the day’s lesson.

I am also interested in using “This week in Review” to challenge students to make cross-curricular connections. Too often, especially in high school, students’ course work is so siloed that teachers and especially students are not making the useful connections between content and strategies in each of their classes. Whitehead agrees noting, “There is only one subject for education, and this is Life in all it manifestations.” Students noticing those parallels and zooming out to appreciate how their education is a unified process will help them to grow.

One of the easier ways I have found to introduce a metacognitive framework to my students is to begin the term with a learning styles inventory at the beginning of the term. This would ask survey-styled questions to get students thinking about their propensity toward visual, auditory or tactile types of learning.

Informally, I would poll them for moments or types of activities or even strategies (if they could frame it as such) that they had not enjoyed in previous classes. This probe served two functions. It demonstrated that I valued their opinion and wanted to learn from them. Moreover, it introduced the most basic form of metacognition – thinking about teaching strategies or environments that had not been effective for them.

This survey data gave me a starting point to gauge my different sections and could help me to create different small groups based upon different learning techniques and offer a diversity of media when it came to introducing and/or practicing content.

Program Standards & Elements of a Model Entry

Program Standards

Expected outcomes are expressed as program standards, which are aligned with State-designated teacher preparation approval criteria shown in WAC 181-78A-270. Program standards include criteria (e.g. 1.), elements (e.g. 1.1), and examples. Any level of the program standard is appropriate for reflection, feedback, or evaluation.

1. Expectations – The teacher communicates high expectations for student learning.

1.1 Demonstrating Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy

E.g. Teacher recognizes the value of understanding students’ interests and cultural heritage and displays this knowledge for groups of students.

1.2 Communicating with Students

Teacher’s explanation of content is appropriate and connects with students’ knowledge and experience.

1.3 Engaging Students in Learning

The lesson has a clearly defined structure around which the activities are organized. Pacing of the lesson is generally appropriate.

2. Instruction – The teacher uses research-based instructional practices to meet the needs of all students.

2.1 Using Questioning and Discussion Techniques

Most of the teacher’s questions are of high quality. Adequate time is provided for students to respond.

2.2 Engaging Students in Learning

Most activities and assignments are appropriate to students, and almost all students are cognitively engaged in exploring content.

2.3 Reflecting on Teaching

Teacher makes an accurate assessment of a lesson’s effectiveness and the extent to which it achieved its instructional outcomes and can cite general references to support the judgment.

3. Differentiation – The teacher acquires and uses specific knowledge about students’ cultural, individual intellectual and social development and uses that knowledge to adjust their practice by employing strategies that advance student learning.

3.1 Demonstrating Knowledge of Students

Teacher recognizes the value of understanding students’ skills, knowledge, and language proficiency and displays this knowledge for groups of – students.

3.2 Demonstrating Flexibility and Responsiveness in Lesson Adjustments

Teacher makes a minor adjustment to a lesson, and the adjustment occurs smoothly.

3.3 Demonstrating Flexibility and Responsiveness in Persisting to Support Students

Teacher persists in seeking approaches for students who have difficulty learning, drawing on a broad repertoire of strategies.

4. Content Knowledge – The teacher uses content area knowledge, learning standards, appropriate pedagogy and resources to design and deliver curricula and instruction to impact student learning.

4.1 Demonstrating Knowledge of Content and Pedagogy

Teacher’s plans and practice reflect familiarity with a wide range of effective pedagogical approaches in the discipline.

4.2 Setting Instructional Outcomes

All the instructional outcomes are clear, written in the form of student learning. Most suggest viable methods of assessment.

4.3 Designing Coherent Instruction in the area of Learning Activities

All of the learning activities are suitable to students or to the instructional outcomes, and most represent significant cognitive challenge, with some differentiation for different groups of students.

4.4 Designing Coherent Instruction in the area of Lesson and Unit Structure

The lesson or unit has a clearly defined structure around which activities are organized. Progression of activities is even, with reasonable time allocations.

5. Learning Environment – The teacher fosters and manages a safe and inclusive learning environment that takes into account: physical, emotional and intellectual well-being.

5.1 Creating an Environment of Respect and Rapport

Teacher-student interactions are friendly and demonstrate general caring and respect. Such interactions are appropriate to the age and cultures of the students. Students exhibit respect for the teacher.

5.2 Managing Classroom Procedures through Transitions

Transitions occur smoothly, with little loss of instructional time.

5.3 Managing Classroom Procedures through Performance of Non-instructional Duties

Efficient systems for performing non-instructional duties are in place, resulting in minimal loss of instructional time.

5.4 Managing Student Behavior by Establishing Expectations

Standards of conduct are clear to all students.

5.5 Managing Student Behavior by Monitoring

Teacher is alert to student behavior at all times.

6. Assessment – The teacher uses multiple data elements (both formative and summative) to plan, inform and adjust instruction and evaluate student learning.

6.1 Designing Student Assessments around Criteria and Standards

Assessment criteria and standards are clear.

6.2 Designing Student Assessments with an Emphasis on Formative Assessment

Teacher has a well-developed strategy to using formative assessment and has designed particular approaches to be used.

6.3 Designing Student Assessments to Inform Planning

Teacher plans to use assessment results to plan for future instruction for groups of students.

6.4 Using Assessment to Provide Feedback to Students

Teacher’s feedback to students is timely and of consistently high quality.

7. Families and Community – The teacher communicates and collaborates with students, families and all educational stakeholders in an ethical and professional manner to promote student learning.

7.1 Communicating with Families

Teacher communicates with families about students’ progress on a regular basis, respecting cultural norms, and is available as needed to respond to family concerns.

8. Professional Practice – The teacher participates collaboratively in the educational community to improve instruction, advance the knowledge and practice of teaching as a profession, and ultimately impact student learning.

8.1 Participating in a Professional Community

Relationships with colleagues are characterized by mutual support and cooperation.

8.2 Growing and Developing Professionally

Teacher welcomes feedback from colleagues when made by supervisors or when opportunities arise through professional collaboration.

Elements of a Model Entry

There are different formats for writing portfolio entries. However, responding to writing prompts 1-6 helps to address desired performance on professional knowledge and skills, along with identifying steps for having a greater impact on K-12 student learning.

1. Citation of the program standard (either criteria, element, or example) along with an interpretation of what the standard means.

2. Presentation of evidence with description. The description includes context and related research or theory associated with the creation of the evidence.

3. Justification of how the evidence demonstrates competence, or emerging competence, on the program standard.

4. Summary of what was learned as a result of creating the evidence or having the experience.

5. Comment on the implications for student learning.

6. Propose specific changes or next steps to increase effectiveness in the area under examination.