The five core propositions for teaching as the National Board provides have contributed to the development and enhancement of the performance of teachers in the past three decades. First set to imitate the Hippocratic Oath in the medicine field, the core propositions set forth the vision for accomplished teaching in the country. In this lesson, it is important to highlight and discuss the specific core principles that appear in the situations.
In this lesson, the situations fall under proposition two of the national board, which states that the teachers should know the subjects they are teaching as well as how to teach the specific subjects to the learners. According to this proposition, accomplished teachers ought to have a good understanding of the specific subject they teach and also appreciate how to create, organize, and link knowledge to other fields of disciplines as well as to real-world situations. Teachers should develop critical and analytical capacities for their children while still representing the collective wisdom of the American culture and upholding the value of knowledge. Furthermore, it is important to note that accomplished teachers should command specialized knowledge of the methods of conveying and revealing the subject matter to the learners. The proposition further emphasizes the need to know the specific preconceptions and the background that their learners bring to each subject. Moreover, the teachers must understand the areas of weaknesses or difficulties likely to emerge and how to modify the practice in response to such issues. Therefore, it is necessary that the accomplished teachers create multiple paths to the subjects they are teaching and also have a good understanding of the appropriate methods for delivering and solving the questions in class.
Based on the contents of this proposition, it is evident that the three cases fall within this specific area. In Case #153 where the teacher is aiming to develop communication skills using a friendship scale, it is evident that the topic is about “types of friends” that students should consider. The specific types of friends explained in the lesion are best friend, good friend, acquaintance, and peer. In the lesson, the teacher seeks to introduce to the students the fact that all friends are not similar. Rather, each person who is a friend to another falls in one of these specific categories. Furthermore, the teacher explains that it is important for each student to gauge each friend and determine the category in which they belong. Moreover, the teacher emphasizes the need for each learner to be aware that friends are expected to act differently based on their specific categories of friendship. In addition, the teacher uses examples to describe the expected outcomes of each category’s behavior towards the student.
In case #748, the teacher takes the students through a lesson on how to explore literature through sign language. In this case, the teacher’s main theme is to make connections between English and ASL. The idea, in this case, is to highlight the phrases and bridge words between the two languages. Besides, the teacher explains the meaning and applications of each bridge word and phrase in the language, which improves the students’ ability to understand the connection between ASL and the English language. In the same manner, the teacher creates opportunities for the learners to understand how to take turns using several activities in a card game. The specific idea is to make the students understand the meaning of taking tasks in turns as a team as a way of accomplishing daily tasks in someone’s life.
In the lesson, it is possible to identify the key essential vocabulary words that the teacher introduces to the learners. In case 153, the teacher teaches Vincent how to identify the different types of friends he is likely to have or meet in the future. The specific vocabulary words used in this case are friend, good friend, acquaintance, and peer. In this case, Vincent is introduced to a new aspect of life involving friendship that improves his awareness of the people with whom is developing associations. In case 748, the vocabulary words that the teacher introduces to Bianca include subtraction, addition, division, multiplication, sharing, and giving. In addition, the teacher introduces vocabularies that bridge ASL and sign language such as where, what, when, why, and how.
In the lesson, it is clear that teachers need some prior experience to introduce the topics, activate the learners, teach the background knowledge, and help in making a meaningful connection to the lives of the students. A review of the three cases shows that teachers need to have a good knowledge and background of such things as the idea of friendship, socialization through sharing, and communication. In essence, the teacher could not have taught the topic of friendship without knowing the definition of friendship as well as a good understanding of the specific classes of friendship from which every person belongs. In addition, the teachers must understand the bridging words and phrases between ASL and English, else it is not possible to introduce the topic and help the deaf students learn new ideas about language and communication.
In all three cases, the teacher strives to make the lesson student-centered and interactive by giving the learners enough time to own up to the session. The teacher uses the concept of introducing the topic in a few words and examples and within a short time and then allowing the student to take part in activities related to the topic. In this case, the student uses much of the time to complete the interesting topics while also learning new things on their own but with the guidance of the teacher. In essence, the student is the center of focus and interest throughout the lesson.
Materials are critical aspects of completing lesions in education as they guide the teacher and help the students learn new ideas. In all three cases, the materials needed include charts, computers, maps, books, videotapes, TV sets, and chalks.
In all cases, the teacher’s role is to guide the process while the students conduct the largest part of the involved activities. In general, the teacher allows the student to discover new things on their own using some interesting activities with minimal supervision. Also, the teacher ensures the lessons are meaningful by providing the necessary guidance to keep the entire lesson within the topic. The students are actively involved as they appear interested in the involved activities, including asking questions, responding to issues, and discovering new things on their own.
In all three cases, the teacher evaluates the students using specific assessments. The teacher uses questions, poses problems, and develops scenarios with difficulties for the students to solve as means of assessing the students’ progress. In these cases, the teacher modifies the content by developing new scenarios based on the previous situations or posing new questions slightly different from those provided in class.
Connections to the previous lesson are seen at the start of each case where the teacher asks the students to state things or recall the subjects learned in the preceding sessions. Also, the teacher ensures that the topic is slightly related to the one learned in the preceding sessions. At the end of the lesson, the teacher ensures smooth connectivity to the next lesson by partially introducing a few concepts for the next meeting. Reflection of the lesson is the last aspect of each case in which the teacher collaborates with the relevant people such as the parents to assess the impacts that the lessons have on the learners.