(Name Removed), PhD
Dossier
INSTRUCTION OVERVIEW
In the area of INSTRUCTION there is clear, consistent and convincing evidence of exemplary
practice in all four Department of Education Standards (DPPP09-11): Standard 1) The candidate
is committed to students and their learning, Standard 2) The candidate knows the content he or
she teaches and how to teach the content to adult learners, Standard 3) The candidate is
responsible for managing and monitoring adult learning, and Standard 4) The candidate thinks
systematically about his or her practice and learns from experience.
Standard 1) The candidate is committed to students and their learning:
I am committed to students and their learning. I demonstrate this by treating students equitably,
recognizing individual differences, developing student’s cognitive capacities, and adapting
instruction in response to context and culture. My syllabi are an example of how all students are
recognized as individuals and I strive to develop students’ cognitive capacities. In EDCI 611, all
of the assignments are tailored for individual students needs. Many of the students in this course
are not in K – 12 setting and need assignment modifications. In EDTE 523A, the students work
on a lesson study project where they analyze mathematical content and construct a lesson
suitable for their Practicum I (P1) placement. Not all students in EDTE 523A are in a P1
placement. I recognize this difference and provide students without a placement an opportunity
to teach their lesson to students in the class. This affords them the opportunity to still practice
teaching mathematical concepts and develop a lesson at the same time as students with P1
placements.
One area where I have made the most adjustments to my instruction has occurred in EDTE
523A. An area of concern for this course has always been the feedback that students receive. I
recently read an article in the Journal of Consumer Research titled “Tell me what I did wrong:
Experts seek and respond to negative feedback” by Finkelstein and Fishbach. The article
discussed the ways that experts verses novice respond to feedback. Experts want to know what
they did wrong (negative feedback) and how they can improve while novice want to be
encouraged and want very little feedback that critiques them. I have always given feedback that
has been more in alignment with the expert. My feedback is directed at how to best improve in
the most direct way possible, which would be defined as negative in this article. It occurred to
me after reading this article, that I have been treating my EDTE 523A students as if they were
experts when in fact they are novices. This semester, I am trying to give feedback that is geared
towards novice learners and progress them towards experts by the time they leave my course.
Standard 2) The candidate knows the content he or she teaches and how to teach the
content to adult learners:
I have established that I am knowledgeable and know how to teach content to adult learners. As
mentioned above, students in EDTE 523A work on a lesson study project that is practical and
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(Name Removed), PhD
Dossier
timely. Students in EDCI 611, Analysis of Instruction, practice observing fellow colleagues and
implementing new methods of instruction in their own practice. Both of these examples
demonstrate how I apply knowledge to real-world settings by assigning work to students that is
appropriate and beneficial. One student in my EDTE 536 class wrote, “The usefulness of this
class and information was infinite.”
Standard 3) The candidate is responsible for managing and monitoring adult learning:
I have demonstrated that I am responsible for managing and monitoring adult learning by my
optimal use of a variety of effective instructional technology and multiple methods for assessing
and evaluating student growth and performance. In all of my classes I use Blackboard to support
adult learning. All of the reading material, assignments, and supplementary material are located
on Blackboard. I also use TurnItIn in EDTE 523A, EDCI 611, and EDMA 696 as a way to
enhance to student learning. TurnItIn allows students to write peer review comments and
provides “originality” reports. Originality reports help students understand how to cite material
and use APA correctly. TurnItIn also allows me to grade student work. With the combination of
these three items in one location, my students can see if they have cited material correctly, view
my comments on their paper, and read peer review comments. I also use TurnItIn as one method
of assessing the understanding students have of the assignment and APA guidelines for graduate
students.
In addition to my use of technology, I am committed to offering my students a wide variety of
instructional styles. Not all students learn the same way, therefor in my courses I use a variety of
instructional models to reach all students. One student in my EDCI 611 course wrote,
This has been my favorite class in the program (MA in Education), mainly because Jennifer
practices what she preaches. She is perfectly in line with the course material of “different
ways to provide instruction” by utilizing a variety of instruction methods in these difficult to
fill 4 hour Saturday class.
Another student in the same course wrote:
This is by far one of the best courses I have taken at both the undergrad and graduate level.
The instructor has created this course to be manageable, interactive, and applicable for
every student.
Standard 4) The candidate thinks systematically about his or her practice and learns from
experience:
Throughout my instruction section of my dossier, there is evidence of how I think about my
practice. I gather multiple forms of feedback from my students in all of my classes. During the
semester I ask for verbal feedback and question students about the structure of the class. I have
used Survey Monkey to gather pre and post feedback from my students as well. I have used
written feedback from my EDCI 611 students as well as the SETs that the university provides.
Based on this feedback I have modified all of my courses from one semester to the next. For
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(Name Removed), PhD
Dossier
example, students in the fall 2010 section of EDTE 523A asked for more feedback from the
instructor on lesson planning. To accommodate this, the Lesson Study Assignment was created
so students could write and test a lesson over a 15-week time period and receive feedback from
the instructor as well as their peers. Additionally, students in the 523A course asked for more
tangible materials. In response to this, I created a binder over the 2013 summer that each student
was responsible for purchasing. This binder contains articles, activities, and much more.
Throughout all of my instruction, I have tried to accommodate as many students as possible
while remaining current and knowledgeable about my practice. I have also demonstrated that I
am capable of managing and monitoring adult learners. I am a teacher and I take my job very
seriously. I’m very passionate about making my classes the best learning environments possible
for all of my students.
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