I confess that I learn things by trying to teach them. I’m new to edTPA. Like most “new” subjects that I teach – I first try to:
- Understand the content / skills.
- Find a way to simplify and describe to someone else.
- Designing learning experiences that model the content / skills.
As I first started looking at edTPA to see how I’d integrate it into my classroom, I was struck by (1) at it’s core it promotes good teaching practices , but (2) it’s presentation is complicated and I‘m not good at reading instructions.
Here’s my understanding at this point: In our social studies methods class, we will be responsible for focusing on the commentary portion of the edTPA Tasks 1 and 2. Note: Your University supervisor and other courses in the program will focus on different aspects of edTPA and tasks from your Clinical Handbook.
Think of Planning Task 1 as a thoughtful explanation that describes what you intend to teach (prompt 1) and how you have determined it is well-designed for YOUR students (prompts 2 and 3). Next you go teach and capture some video clips (Task 2 / Rubric 9) that show how you interacted with your students to support their learning.
How our assignments and class activities model the edTPA content / skills
Learner selfie describe yourself as a learner and find a way to explain it to someone else Task 1/ Prompts 2 and 3
In Class 3 the focus is on essential elements of lesson design – content, process, product, assessment. Task 1 / Prompt 1
Lesson study describe the essentials of your lesson plan. Task 1 / Prompt 1
Historical Thinking Task 1 / Prompt 1
Document Based Lesson Design Project Task 1/ Prompts 1, 2 and 3
Methodology Lessons from classes 7,9,10,11,12 Task 1/ Prompts 1, 2 and 3
Media@UP Link edMethods Video Fun Club – we curate videos here
FAQs Unit Plan and edTPA 80KB pdf
Steps for Completing the Unit Plan 49KB pdf
edTPA Assessment Handbook Secondary History / Social Studies 1.5MB pdf
Planning Task 1 (edTPA Assessment Handbook p 10)
Prompt 1 – Central Focus
Planning Rubric 1: Planning for history/social studies understandings (edTPA Rubrics p 4) HSS1: How do the candidate’s plans build students’ understandings of facts, concepts, and interpretations or analyses to build and support arguments about historical events, a topic/theme or social studies phenomenon?
Prompt 2 – Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching
Planning Rubric 2 Planning to Support Varied Student Learning Needs (Rubrics p 7)
HSS2: How does the candidate use knowledge of his/her students to target support for students to develop understandings of facts, concepts, and interpretations or analyses to build arguments about historical events, a topic/theme, or social studies phenomenon?
Prompt 3 –Supporting Students’ History/Social Studies Learning
Planning Rubric 3: Using Knowledge of Students to Inform Teaching and Learning (Rubrics p 9) HSS3: How does the candidate use knowledge of his / her students to justify instructional plans?
Task 2: Implementation in SS Methods Class – video clips
Primary goal of video clips is Rubric 9
Rubric 9: Subject-Specific Pedagogy (Rubrics p 21) HSS9: How does the candidate support students in using evidence from history/social studies sources to build and support arguments?
As an option video clips may also be used to demonstrate:
Rubric 6: Learning Environment (Rubrics p 15) HSS6: How does the candidate demonstrate a positive learning environment that supports students’ engagement in learning?
Rubric 7: Engaging Students in Learning (Rubrics p 17) HSS7: How does the candidate actively engage students in evaluating accounts or interpretations of historical events or social studies phenomena?
Rubric 8: Deepening Student Learning (Rubrics p 19) HSS8: How does the candidate elicit student responses to promote their ability to interpret or analyze sources or accounts of historical events or a social studies phenomenon and support their arguments?
Rubric 10: Analyzing Teaching Effectiveness (Rubrics p 23) HSS10: How does the candidate use evidence to evaluate and change teaching practice to meet students’ varied learning needs?
Image credit: Ray and Charles [Eames] Working on a Conceptual Model for the Exhibition Mathematica. 1960. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. A-22a.