MSED Elementary Portfolio Project

Jonathan Daniel Itzkovitch

June 18, 2018

An Elementary Portfolio Project submitted to the

Faculty of the Graduate School of Education of

Medaille College

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Science in Education

______________________________
Jonathan Itzkovitch
Medaille College Graduate Student

______________________________
Dr. Belete K. Mebratu, Professor
Project Director
 Table of Contents

Section One: Teacher Candidate Introduction to the Elementary Portfolio Project……..… 4

Section Two: Teacher Candidate Background Experiences……………………………….9

Section Three: Teacher Candidate Artifacts……………………... ……………………… 6

Artifact #1: Annotated Bibliography…………………………………………….... 34

Artifact #2: ELED Assessment and Instruction Plan ……………………………...44

Artifact #3: Literacy Lesson Plan: Summarizing ………………… ……………….72

Artifact #4: Pecha Kucha Presentation on Cerebral Palsy …………………………87

Artifact #5: Math Lesson Plan: Telling Time …………………….……………….95

Artifact #6: Social Studies Lesson Plan: Global Communities.…………………...107

Artifact #7: Assessing Student Literacy……………………………………………118

Artifact #8: Stages of Developmental Writing Workshop…………………………136

Section Four: Alignment to Curriculum & Professional Standards ……………………….142

Section Five: Teacher Candidate Reflection …………………………………………..…..154

Section Six: Teacher Candidate Interview Video …………………………………………160

References ………………………………………………………………………………….166
 Section One: Teacher Candidate Introduction to the Elementary Portfolio Project

Introduction to the Portfolio Project

A teaching portfolio is a culmination of one’s work to showcase their talents and

achievements to prospective educational employers. A teacher’s portfolio should consist of the

author’s best work that highlights their strengths and informs the reader of the teacher

candidate’s viability as a suitable teaching professional. This portfolio is an aggregation of my

work as a Master’s student in the Elementary program at Medaille College, and my practical

training of sixteen weeks in the classroom. This portfolio will include selected artifacts that

showcase my ability to teach elementary students and outline why I am an asset to the teaching

profession.

In this portfolio, I will demonstrate that I possess the necessary tools and intellectual and

emotional intelligence, to be a valued member of the teaching profession. Over the course of my

Master of Elementary Education program, I have honed my ability to plan units and lessons in

math, science, literacy and social studies. My lesson plans include differentiated learning to

accommodate a variety of learners, as well as students with IEPs, 504s and ELL/ENL students.

In addition to planning and delivering lessons, I can assess students for content understanding,

both informally and formally.

As you will read, I have found that technology is an invaluable tool to accommodate a

variety of learners. As part of my instruction, I frequently create PowerPoints or Prezi

presentations, with relevant pictures and text that is easily digestible for a variety of learners.

Students enjoy the PowerPoints and are more engaged in the lesson. If I find a video that

compliments my lesson well, I will not hesitate to show students a YouTube, or other, video if it

helps deliver my lesson’s message. In addition to videos, SMARTboards are a fantastic tool
which I frequently use for student activities. I have incorporated SMARTboard activities in many

lessons, because students love to manipulate digital objects on the board and it encourages and

motivates learning.

Overview and Rationale

“I have a personal philosophy in life: If somebody else can do something that I'm doing,

they should do it. And what I want to do is find things that would represent a unique contribution

to the world - the contribution that only I, and my portfolio of talents, can make happen” (Neil

deGrasse Tyson). This portfolio represents me, as a student of the teaching profession, as a

viable teacher and as a person. Through my body of work, you will gain perspective of my

ability to teach elementary students and thrive in the teaching profession. This portfolio will

illustrate how I adhere to the grade-specific curriculum to advance students’ knowledge of the

world around them.

Using a variety of artifacts, you will see the various methodologies I use in my lesson

planning, activities and assessments. These artifacts will give you an insightful overview of the

strategies I use to teach in a classroom. Strategies that I use to engage student learning and

differentiate learning for various learners and students with special needs. Included in these

artifacts are lesson plans, activities, how I use technology in the classroom and assessments, just

to name a few. My objective with my portfolio is to demonstrate to you through my artifacts and

both work and life experience, that I am a strong candidate and an asset to the teaching

profession.

In the teaching profession it is said that one does not teach alone. A school is a

community of learners, teachers and collaborators. Though the work in this portfolio is my own,

I owe a plethora of gratitude to the school resources who I had the pleasure to learn from and
work with during my sixteen weeks of practical field experience. From the cross-curriculum

teachers to special support staff, I will seek guidance and will work closely with these invaluable

resources to ensure the success of my students. Some of the artifacts herein was developed on the

advice of the support staff at the schools where I did my practical training. They knew the

students better than I did. For example, graphic organizers, anchor charts and rubrics, to name a

few. The specialists taught me how the ELL students in my class learn best and how to work

with students with anxiety and other IEPs. I am grateful for these educators who guided me in

my practical training. This portfolio reflects how I effectively used these important resources to

create course material, not just for one type of learner, but for a variety of learners.

Portfolio Development

This portfolio is made up of six distinct sections. It is designed to give you a thorough

and comprehensive understanding of my pedagogy, methodologies, philosophy and experience

as they relate to education. It commences with an introduction to the portfolio, this section -

Section One, which gives you an overview of who I am, the rationale for creating a portfolio and

how the portfolio laid out for you. Section One also includes an introduction to the theorists and

theories I use to justify my teaching methodologies. I have studied and researched educational

and child psychology educators like Benjamin Bloom, Jerome Bruner, Lev Vygotsky and Jean

Piaget. The relevance of these educational theorists continues today and cannot be overstated.

With concrete examples from my lesson plans, you will see why these theorists play an

important role in my pedagogy.

Section Two will take you on a journey of my work experience through my resume, prior

to entering teacher’s college, and the reasons why I decided to enter the teaching profession. I

will also share with you my work experience as it relates to education. I will walk you through
my educational background and share some of my educational experiences at Medaille College.

In this section, I will also write about my sixteen weeks of practical training, what I learned from

that experience and the new perspective on teaching I gained from teaching primary and middle

school students. Lastly, I will delve into my philosophy of education and my rationale behind it.

In Section Three you will view examples of my work in the form of artifacts. These

artifacts will take you on a discovery of my teaching pedagogy by reviewing my lesson plans,

activities and assessments. My artifacts range from Grades 1 through 6 and cover a variety of

subjects, including literacy, math, science and social studies.

As an extension to Section Three, Section Four will illustrate my ability to align my

lessons to the course curriculum. Using the New York State Core Curriculum Standards and the

Ontario Standards, all my lessons align to the grade and subject-specific expectations. Each

lesson plan aligns to both Ontario and New York State Standards, which has been laid out in the

Standards Chart for you in this section.

In Section Five, I will reflect on my experience creating this portfolio for you, as well as

my overall experience in my teaching program. I will reflect on my preparedness as a teacher, by

outlining my lesson planning skills, classroom management skills and my technological skills in

the classroom. I will review my strengths and prove my preparedness for the teaching profession.

In Section Six, I will showcase my technology skills by providing you with a video link

of me in an interview simulation. In this interview, you will view my professional disposition

where I will highlight my ability to handle difficult interview questions, as well as my teaching

philosophy. In this section, I will also provide you with a link to my professional website, which

you can peruse at your convenience. My website contains classroom rules, safe use of

technology, resources for parents, and more of my teaching artifacts.

Theories, Theorists and Experts in the Field of Education

My teaching program at Medaille has exposed me to wonderful theories on pedagogy, as

well as theorists in the field of education who trailblazed many of the ideas that we have in

practice today in the classroom. Like many educators, Benjamin Bloom, Jean Piaget and Lev

Vygotsky have shaped my pedagogy and their contribution to the field of education cannot be

overstated. Benjamin Bloom founded Bloom’s Taxonomy, a classification of educational

objectives. Bloom’s Taxonomy starts with knowledge based on facts (recall) and continues with

the hierarchy of learning including, application, analysis, synthesis and finally evaluating student

learning. Bloom’s theories on education continue to shape the pedagogy of many educators

today, including myself. Bloom’s Taxonomy has helped me create lesson plans with concrete

objectives.

Jean Piaget, a Swiss theorist and psychologist, also classified children’s cognitive

development into four distinct stages: sensorimotor stage (Birth-age 2) the stage during which

sensory input and motor responses become coordinated; preoperational stage (2-7 years) the

period of cognitive development when children begin to use language and think symbolically;

concrete operational stage (7-11 years) the period of of cognitive development when children

begin to use concepts of time, and number and; formal operations stage (11 years and up)

intellectual development is honed and developed in this stage, along with abstract, theoretical

and hypothetical thinking. Piaget’s ideas on cognitive development are fundamentally important

to education, because we cannot teach children concepts that they are not developmentally

capable of grasping. I will delve into Piaget’s work later in this portfolio, as I discuss my lesson

planning and rationale behind why I plan my lessons with Piaget’s notion of CD in mind.
 Lev Vygostky, a psychologist and educator, theorized that childhood development is a

product of a child’s social environment. This includes parents, teachers, peers and other family

members. In addition to social development, Vygotsky believed that childhood development is

correlated to toys, books and other activities that help children grow cognitively. It is because of

Vygotsky’s theories that, where it makes sense, I incorporate activity centres in the primary

grades and group work in the middle grades. These forms of learning are important aspects to

childhood development.

Conclusion

In this section, I have provided you with a brief introduction of myself and a taste of what

you will further learn about me in this portfolio. This portfolio is a culmination of my planning

and preparation that I created to teach in the classroom. This portfolio serves as a evidence to my

ability and preparedness to create thoughtful course content, and teach to the grade-specific

curriculum. Moreover, you will see my ability to teach from Grade 1 through 6 and how I can

adapt my teaching to suit each grade and a variety of learners. This includes teaching to students

with special needs, for example, struggling learners/readers and gifted students. I know you will

find this portfolio insightful and comprehensive, and a demonstration of my ability to be a valued

member of the teacher community within your board.