RATIONALE CHECKLIST
Rationale IV
PART I:
Describe a teaching artifact that
represents the overall HTSB
standard
PART II:
Connect the teaching artifact to
a sub-standard and assess your
proficiency
PART III:
Improve your proficiency for the
HTSB standard
PARTS I-III DEFINED
PART I:
State standard, teaching artifact,
and course name. Provide an
accurate description of the
artifact. Provide a sufficient
description of the artifact results.
PART II:
Identify at least one appropriate
sub-standard and include the
entire language.. Connect the
language of the sub-standard
to the artifact. State your
proficiency level for the sub-
standard. Provide appropriate
evidence that supports your self
assessment.
PART III:
Identify an appropriate sub-
standard and clearly state a
desired improvement. Describe
at least two appropriate research
findings with viable resources.
Describe/demonstrate a specific
example how you plan to
improve.
ED 295A Module 4 (Week 15)
Part 1
I. HTSB OVERALL STANDARD
Standard 4: Content Knowledge
II. TEACHING ARTIFACT
Learning Activity and Guided Instruction
III. COURSE
ED284: Foundations of Inclusion
IV. TEACHING ARTIFACT DESCRIPTION
MAIN LEARNING ACTIVITY
Describe how will you provide meaningful, engaging and instructional
opportunities for your students to DEMONSTRATE the lesson objective(s)?
PART I: Please describe how your lesson activity is chunked or broken
down or scaffolded?
PART II: How will you engage students in multiple learning styles?
PART III: How will you incorporate technology into your main activity?
GUIDED PRACTICE
Describe how will you provide meaningful, engaging and instructional
opportunities for your students to RETAIN the lesson objective(s)?
PART I: Identify the content language that may be challenging for students
and describe one scaffolding technique you use to support students
reaching the learning outcomes.
PART II: What are the student tasks for completing the activity? Explain how
your instruction has shared content with students in multiple ways.
PART III: What examples or guides will you provide for the students?
PART IV: Describe how your instruction will utilize two or more grouping
strategies?
PART V: How will group work be facilitated by roles and outcomes?
V. TEACHING ARTIFACT RESULTS
For this assessment, I developed a main learning activity plan for one lesson
as part of the etched design unit plan. I took the overall lesson and broke it
down into chunks and assigned activities and assessments to each chunk. I
made sure to include a variety of learning activities. I also included grouping
strategies in the lesson to give students opportunities to learn from each
other and work out problems together.
 RATIONALE CHECKLIST
PART I:
Describe a teaching artifact that
represents the overall HTSB
standard
PART II:
Connect the teaching artifact to
a sub-standard and assess your
proficiency
PART III:
Improve your proficiency for the
HTSB standard
Part 2
I. SUB-STANDARD
4.4 (Focus Area 5):
CANDIDATE DEVELOPS LEARNERS INQUIRY OF CONTENT - Does
Candidate engage learners in applying methods of inquiry used in the
discipline?
II. CONNECTION TO ARTIFACT
I engage learners in applying methods of inquiry used in the discipline
by first teaching them the methods of inquiry used in design. In the
lesson plan I created, I introduced students to the design process and they
started learning an overview of each step. Then I had students start using
the research and brainstorming methods we went over in order to start
preparing to build their designs.

III. SELF-ASSESSMENT
PARTS I-III DEFINED I would rate myself as a 4 (Candidate always does this as a teacher) or
exceeds proficiency because I implement design methods of inquiry with
PART I:
every design project. Students use this process every time we do a design
State standard, teaching artifact,
project and we also review the steps as we go along. I also try to stress the
and course name. Provide an
importance of learning processes such as the design process because any
accurate description of the
type of job will involve starting from the base and building ideas. So, while
artifact. Provide a sufficient
methods of inquiry may differ from step to step for different fields, each field
description of the artifact results.
requires some type of process. So it is valuable to become accustomed to
following such processes.
PART II:
Identify at least one appropriate
IV. EVIDENCE OF SELF-ASSESSMENT
sub-standard and include the
In my lesson plan, you can see that we start with learning the basics - what
entire language. Connect the
are the steps of the design process? Then at the end, students start to
language of the sub-standard
demonstrate the beginning steps. Students begin using and applying step
to the artifact. State your
one of the design process to start creating their own original designs that
proficiency level for the sub-
will eventually be etched onto mirrors.
standard. Provide appropriate
evidence that supports your self
assessment.

PART III:
Identify an appropriate sub-
standard and clearly state a
desired improvement. Describe
at least two appropriate research
findings with viable resources.
Describe/demonstrate a specific
example how you plan to
improve.
 RATIONALE CHECKLIST
PART I:
Describe a teaching artifact that
represents the overall HTSB
standard
PART II:
Connect the teaching artifact to
a sub-standard and assess your
proficiency
PART III:
Improve your proficiency for the
HTSB standard
PARTS I-III DEFINED
PART I:
State standard, teaching artifact,
and course name. Provide an
accurate description of the
artifact. Provide a sufficient
description of the artifact results.
PART II:
Identify at least one appropriate
sub-standard and include the
entire language.. Connect the
language of the sub-standard
to the artifact. State your
proficiency level for the sub-
standard. Provide appropriate
evidence that supports your self
assessment.
PART III:
Identify an appropriate sub-
standard and clearly state a
desired improvement. Describe
at least two appropriate research
findings with viable resources.
Describe/demonstrate a specific
example how you plan to
improve.
Part 3
I. SUB-STANDARD TO IMPROVE
5.3 (Focus Area 5): CANDIDATE DEVELOPS LEARNERS CRITICAL THINKING
- Does Candidate engage learners in learning and applying the critical
thinking skills used in the content area(s)? Does s/he introduce them to the
kinds of problems or issues addressed by the content area(s) as well as the
local/global contexts for those issues?
II. WHAT TO IMPROVE?
I want to work on building my students critical thinking skills more deeply.
As first year design students, it is often a challenge for them to grasp some
of the more basic design concepts. So, building the critical thinking aspect
proves even more difficult. I want to work on more effective ways to get
students to think more deeply about what we learn about design and how
that applies to a larger context beyond the classroom.
III. RESEARCH FINDINGS
i. This article gives a suggestion of four key areas to focus on when trying
to promote critical thinking in the classroom. The four key areas are:
1) argumentation, 2) logic, 3) psychology and 4) the nature of science.
One area that stood out to me was argumentation because as the
article explains, arguing shows disagreement, which basically means the
students are forming their own thoughts about a topic and defending
their ideas. Another area that stood out to me was psychology and how
our minds consider things and arrive at conclusions based on beliefs,
values, biases and desires.
Resource: http://theconversation.com/how-to-teach-all-students-to-think-
critically-35331
ii. This article gives several tips for promoting critical thinking in the
classroom. One tip that stood out to me was do not always jump in
to help. This reminds me that I dont always need to provide easy
solutions for students and sometimes they should be required to create
solutions themselves and also turn to peers for help so they can all learn
from each other.
Resource: http://www.teachhub.com/teaching-strategies-promote-
critical-thinking
IV. IMPLEMENTATION OF FINDINGS
Based on my research, I plan to promote critical thinking more often using
the following strategies:
1) Allowing students to problem solve on their own when possible
2) Give opportunities for class discussions with opposing views
3) Have students work in groups when possible to help them learn from each
other and think more deeply about material
4) Discuss psychology of design and how different backgrounds can give
students different insights and evoke different feelings from different designs