Thien Van

3/28/14
EPS 541 - Final Paper

Unpacking Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) and Developing a Growth Plan

My concept map is focused on the central concept of obesity. The central ideas are
focused on who obesity affects, the causes of obesity, the effects of being obese, and how to
prevent it. The relationships among the concepts are tied together with linking phrases that
expand on each of the central concepts as well as provide examples for them. Having the
concept map developed this way allows students to be able to add much more content with
different branches for other thoughts.
As far as instructional strategies, I would have my students work or learn through a few
pre-made concept maps to see the information they hold, what the information means and
how to read it, how to fill in a concept map partially made, and then follow one and fill it in as
we go along. Following teaching what concept maps are, my instructional strategies regarding
this particular concept map on obesity would be to list all four major concepts we are looking to
associate with obesity: Who it affects, Causes, Effects, and how to prevent it. This will be done
with posters on each corner of the room. Students will be split into four groups, have 3-5
minutes at each poster to add everything they know about each concept regarding obesity.
They will rotate after that and each of the posters in the corners will fill up with a lot of
information coming from everyone in the classroom. From that point, I will take the posters to
the front of the room, go through each of the ideas presented on the posters and input them
into the concept map. From there we will decide as a class the linking phrases and where they
belong in relation to the concepts. Following linking phrases and sorting out all the ideas, the
students will also be asked to add examples to clarify some of linked ideas. For example, under
the Who? section of the concept map, there are two examples which are Kids and Women.
Students can further their learning by adding examples of Kids or Women that the can research
with a quick Google search of obesity and who it affects or even possibly people they may
know.
Students' conceptual frameworks and factual knowledge are being built at the same
time while considering where each idea fits into the concept map as well as when they provide
examples on their own. Their conceptual frameworks are strengthened as they incorporate
their own examples into something already concrete which is the concept map and its central
ideas. Students are about to capture something real about obesity and everything surrounding
it with their personal examples, owning the concept map and the information presented, all the
while it is done in a way that is easy to remember and apply. Their factual knowledge on the
subject is incorporated as well through every step of the instructional process. While writing
ideas from the small groups on the posters, students gain knowledge from other students' ideas
about concepts they may not have realized before. Following that step, while the teacher goes
through each idea on the posters and adds them to the concept map, the students factual
knowledge is strengthened by being able to see and talk through the connections of each idea
presented. Following the connections of each idea being presented, students add examples
either from their own lives, through peers' knowledge, or even the teacher's knowledge.
In terms of situational motivation, the instructional strategy I am incorporating
exemplifies and builds on every concept. The motivation is located in the interaction between
students in their groups. Students are responsible for management of an individual's
motivation as participants in the activity. While writing ideas on the posters, students learn to
manage oneself and in a social context. A students' attention is focused on the process of
participation and actions needed to accomplish the activity. The major underlying task is to
engage others who may have different values and perspectives regarding what they think
affects obesity while building a concept map to strengthen their knowledge. Through these
means, students are transformed intellectually by being able to receive information from a
number of different perspectives, process that information into a concept map, and then
synthesize prior knowledge or apply new knowledge to create examples. This model touches
heavily on Bloom's Taxonomy and is a concrete piece of information that the students created
and can keep for their future reference.
The beauty of this activity is that when students are split into groups, they are given
ample time to write all of their ideas onto the posters regardless of how relevant or profound.
The students are able pass their ideas along through other students to hear their opinions, build
on other students' ideas, as well as discuss the validity of each thought written on the posters.
The students are able to work through misconceptions with their peers and if there is
something confusing or the students have a misconception about they are able to write it on
the posters as a question and possibly address it as a classroom with the teacher's knowledge.
The learning progression with an activity like this is astounding. Students are able to think and
recall what they know, develop those ideas on paper, justify them for the concept map, and all
their own ideas. So much learning occurs and the students gain ownership over the material as
they present their ideas, discuss misconceptions, and eventually keep a concrete artifact for
their personal use.
I would like to improve on two different areas of my pedagogical content knowledge
and integration in my classroom. Those areas would be instructional strategies and student
knowledge. My content knowledge seems to be very solid and I pride myself on knowing my
content very well. As far as instructional strategies I feel like I lack variety and how to use each
strategy even if I knew more. The problem that I encounter is that I feel that the few I do know
work very well and cover a lot of topics that I would just like to strengthen my understanding
and use of those strategies. An example of that is the activity I provided previously in this
paper. I feel that having students receive information in this way is ultimately beneficial for the
students and teacher in terms of assessment by allowing students to help one another and
providing more active roles for the students in their learning.
My other area for improvement would be student knowledge. I want to be able to find
ways to learn more about my students as well as use their prior knowledge to lead my
instruction. On top of that, I would like to learn how to create and use more assessment in my
classroom to be able to gauge my students and their learning. My problem is that having to
create all that data and analyze it for all my students would be an unbearable task. With about
600 students that I would have to know in the school it would be no easy feat, not saying that I
am looking for the easy way out by any means. One way that I feel like I can make some
progress is through the years. It will not happen automatically but slowly and surely I will be
able to get that kind of information about my students as I have them longer and longer. As my
mentor has stated, most of the relationships with students become much more profound when
they have been with me for consecutive years and know that I will not be leaving as they realize
during the residency year. I am hoping that much of this growth that I am seeking will naturally
happen as I gain more experience in the realm of teaching and constantly seek to improve my
teaching in all areas of pedagogical content knowledge and integration in my classroom.