1d - Demonstrating Knowledge of Resources

Examples from Charlotte Danielson:

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The teacher's knowledge of resources for classroom use and for extending one's professional skill is extensive, including those available through the school or district, in the community through professional organizations and universities, and on the internet:

• I maintain an extensive professional library in my basement, referring to books on a regular basis in order to meet the needs of my students. 
• I scour Amazon on a weekly basis to find the newest professional books that are being printed.
  
• I participate LIbraryThing's advanced copy program where I read a book each month, provide a rating and review, and the books are given to me for free. Each of these books that I choose happen to be education-related.
• Dave Burgess Consulting and many other publishers send me copies of their manuscripts to review and write endorsements for, allowing me a sneak peak into the newest ideas and free professional development!

​I integrate the following resources into lessons throughout the year:

• Range of Text: We start the year by reading a whole class novel (Wonder or Fish in a Tree) to build our classroom community, set up routines & procedures, and to have common language to use for the rest of the year. As the year progresses, we read books from Schoolwide and student-selected Literature Circle novels (out of 10 choices) that vary from genre to genre and ranges in reading levels. As students finish Lit Circle novels each round, they choose books from our classroom library that meet their interests. Books that I choose to offer range from my lowest student's LEXILE to my highest student's LEXILE. I let them know the LEXILE's of the books but don't require them to choose books at their level (but most students generally enjoy the books at their level better after experiencing "too easy" & "too hard" books!).

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• Internet Resources: Since I teach in what is called a "Blended Learning" style, internet resources are a daily component of many of our lessons. Blended Learning implies that some learning is being done in person and some is done online. I try to put as much of the material online as I can so directions can be easily found, and I try to get most student work to be uploaded to each student's ePortfolio for sharing and revision purposes. 

 
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• Material provided by professional organizations: Nowadays, I have a tendency to integrate lots of games-based education into my curriculum. And this means that I'm using several third-party websites to teach my students the material that they need to learn. For example, I love iCivics for their games that teach students about the various aspects of our government. I also enjoy using EverFi for financial literacy and entrepreneurial skills. This year, Everfi provided my 4th graders with four different game-based learning modules for free that the kids loved!
• PD or professional groups: I use Twitter for most of my PD, but I also read blogs, attend online group chats, collaborate on Voxer, etc. I use the information that I learn from my PLN to improve the quality of instruction in our classroom and the integrate the best instructional aides available. I host many Twitter chats in order to learn new things about various subjects like Math Workshop or new web tools.

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• During Passion Time, my students often need supplies in order to complete their project or creation. I just ask them to write what they need on a Post-It with their name on it & put it on my laptop, and I'll bring it in to school the next day! Over the years, I've bought Legos, arts & crafts supplies, and collected toilet paper tubes & newspaper. I'm thankful to Amazon Prime for quick shipments of modeling clay and glue! Love seeing my kiddos' excited about learning and creating!

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Evidence from Previous Years:

• Guest Speakers: I invite experts to Skype with us or actually come into our classroom to teach us! We've had Judges, Olympians, Authors, Scientists, Park Rangers, Nature experts, Historians, Older student experts, etc. I plan with each speaker to ensure that the time we spend together is valuable for both parties. I ask my students to take notes online, prepare questions ahead of time and during the presentation, and then interact with each speaker. These have been extremely effective at disseminating information, increasing passion for the topic, and wowing my students! I also continue to encourage parents to do Art Appreciation in our classroom (see image to the right).​

• Community Resources: In the past, we've worked with our mayor to enact new rules that protected youngsters who wanted to hang out downtown. We've gone to a Teen Council Meeting at the Teen Center to learn and share our perspective on certain issues. We've led an Arbor Day Celebration (complete with a song and a collaborative student-written play) at Pioneer Park for community members and the Park District. We've visited and toured the village police department (and taken mug shots of ourselves in jail). We've interviewed local businesses in an attempt to help make our city safer for all of its residents.