Running Head: TELLING MY STORY, SHEEDY 1

Telling My Story

Mekala Sheedy-Atkinson

TED 690

National University
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Abstract

This paper will focus on my journey as educator. It will specifically emphasize how I’m

currently doing in regard to the California Teaching Performance Expectation Domain A:

Making Subject Matter Comprehensible to Students. It will also go into my areas of strength as

well as my areas of improvement. Plus inform about the potential TPE competencies and provide

my rationale for the evaluation that I have provided myself.

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Progress in Achieving Competencies

The first domain in California Teaching Performance Expectations (TPE) is “Making

Subject Matter Comprehensible to Students,” (CTPE, 2013). This domain is supposed to focus

on making content comprehensible to all students in your class. Currently I’m applying this

expectation in my classroom through a variety of ways. To illustrate, I made a video (Artifact 1)

about the Inca Empire to introduce the subject to my students. This was a way to engage and

hook my students. It also allowed my visual and auditory learners to preview the content that we

were going to be learning. Having visuals also greatly helped my English Learners which is

important because this Domain focuses on the significance of making content understandable for

all students.

Strengths and Needs

One of my strengths in in this Domain is making the content comprehendible to all

students by changing up the way the that I present it to them. Instead of just reading out of a

history textbook I create/find videos, powerpoints, articles, pictures, and etc. that helps explain

the content to the students. I make sure to provide my students with a variety resources, so they

can best comprehend the material being taught. I have students at varying reading levels so

making sure that they understand the history textbook that is at a 7th grade level is very vital to

the students’ success.

One need/improvement that I have when it comes to this domain is making sure that I

allow students showcase their comprehension of the content in a way that is fitting for them. For

this domain I reviewed an article about BAWD (Build, Act, Write, Draw) which emphasizes the

importance of letting students chose how to demonstrate their comprehension (Boutelier,

McPherson, 2018). Although I myself practice this strategy when providing the students with the
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content I don’t always allow them to have the same flexibility when demonstrating their

comprehension of the content. Since I differentiate the way I present content to the students I

need to differentiate the way I let students display their comprehension. Some students do better

drawing out their notes based on the content while others do better writing formal notes Cornell

style, furthermore some students would benefit by acting it out.

Potential TPE Competencies

In order to be successful in continuing to implement Domain A into my classroom it will

be important to always know and understand my students. When I know my students then I

understand what it will take for them to comprehend the content. Some students will need more

scaffolding and differentiation than other students. In order for all students to be successful and

comprehend the material it is important that I provide them with various ways to learn and

express the standards.

Rationale

For this domain I chose to include Artifact 1 because it showcases how I differentiate the

material for my students. Creating a video allows visual and auditory learners the best chance to

understand the material. It is also helpful because in today’s society a lot of students learn and

retain information through video due to the internet and social media. Teaching to the way

students learn is a huge part of Domain A and that is what I did with creating an information

video. For Artifact 3 I reviewed an article that will help me better my skills and be aware of the

fact that I need to let students express their comprehension in a way best suits them. This

assignment has helped me reflect on what I can improve in order to make sure that I’m making

all the content comprehensible to all students.

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References

Boutelier, S. & McPherson, N. (2018). Playing to Students’ Strengths. Retrieved April 15, 2019,

from https://www.edutopia.org/article/playing-students-strengths.

California Teaching Performance Expectations. (2013, March). Retrieved April 15, 2019, from

https://www.ctc.ca.gov/docs/default-source/educator-prep/standards/adopted-tpes-

2013.pdf.