Instruction: Dimension 2.2
Dimension 2.1 Content Knowledge and Expertise:
The teacher uses content and pedagogical expertise to design and execute lessons aligned with state standards, related content and student needs.
Clarifying Statement:
This dimension focuses the teacher's knowledge of the content, structure of the discipline, as well as the ability to connect the content being taught to other ideas and concepts to help students create cognitive maps, relate one idea to another, address misconceptions, and connect ideas within and across disciplines to real life experiences. This knowledge and expertise is critical to successful teaching and learning.
Standards Basis:
Standards Basis: 1A, 1C, 1E, 1F, 2C, 3A, 3B, 3C
Possible Sources of EvidencePossible Sources of Evidence:
- Conferences and Conversations with the Teacher
- Formal Observations/ Walkthroughs
- Student Growth Processes
- Analysis of Student Data
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T-TESS Alignment to Practice
- Teachers exhibit a comprehensive understanding of their content, discipline, and related pedagogy as demonstrated through the quality of the design and execution of lessons and their ability to match objectives and activities to relevant state standards.
- Teachers understand the major concepts, key themes, multiple perspectives, assumptions, processes of inquiry, structure, and real-world applications of their grade-level and subject- area content.
- Teachers design and execute quality lessons that are consistent with the concepts of their specific discipline, are aligned to state standards, and demonstrate their content expertise.
- Teachers have expertise in how their content vertically and horizontally aligns with the grade- level/subject-area continuum, leading to an integrated curriculum across grade levels and content areas.
- Teachers keep current with developments, new content, new approaches, and changing methods of instructional delivery within their discipline.
- Teachers demonstrate content-specific pedagogy that meets the needs of diverse learners, utilizing engaging instructional materials to connect prior content knowledge to new learning.
- Teachers make appropriate and authentic connections across disciplines, subjects, and students’ real-world experiences.
- Teachers regularly highlight key concepts and ideas, and use them as a basis to connect other powerful ideas.
- Teachers understand how varied types of thinking are applied in classroom lessons and how instruction is structured to provide ongoing opportunities for students to use different types of thinking skills at increasing levels of complexity.
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Key Questions
- What processes does the grade level, department and/or school implement to ensure that teachers have extensive content knowledge of all subjects taught, including closely related fields?
- How are learning objectives and sub-objectives integrated with other disciplines and grounded in real-world experiences that students can relate to and understand?
- How do teachers know and anticipate student misunderstandings and proactively address these?
- How do teachers expand their expertise of the content in ways that allow them to present the information in multiple, differentiated ways?
- How is instruction sequenced in a way that coherently makes sense to all students?
- How is thinking modeled and purposefully taught with the expectation that students engage in various types of thinking at higher, complex levels?
Distinguished
The Teacher
- Displays extensive content knowledge of all the subjects she or he teaches and closely related subjects.
- Integrates learning objectives with other disciplines, content areas and real-world experience.
- Consistently anticipates possible student misunderstandings and proactively develops teaching techniques to mitigate concerns.
- Consistently provides opportunities for students to use different types of thinking (e.g., analytical, practical, creative and research-based).
- Sequences instruction that allows students to understand how the lesson fits within the structure of the discipline, the state standards, related content and within realworld scenarios.
Accomplished
The Teacher
- Conveys a depth of content knowledge that allows for differentiated explanations.
- Integrates learning objectives with other disciplines and realworld experiences.
- Anticipates possible student misunderstandings and proactively develops teaching techniques to mitigate concerns.
- Regularly provides opportunities for students to use different types of thinking (e.g., analytical, practical, creative and researchbased).
- Sequences instruction that allows students to understand how the lesson fits within the structure of the discipline and the state standards.
Proficient
The Teacher
- Conveys accurate content knowledge in multiple contexts.
- Integrates learning objectives with other disciplines.
- Anticipates possible student misunderstandings.
- Provides opportunities for students to use different types of thinking (e.g., analytical, practical, creative and research-based).
- Accurately reflects how the lesson fits within the structure of the discipline and the state standards.
Developing
The Teacher
- Conveys accurate content knowledge.
- Sometimes integrates learning objectives with other disciplines.
- Sometimes anticipates possible student misunderstandings.
- Sometimes provides opportunities for students to use different types of thinking (e.g., analytical, practical, creative and research-based).
Improvement Needed
The Teacher
- Conveys inaccurate content knowledge that leads to student confusion.
- Rarely integrates learning objectives with other disciplines.
- Does not anticipate possible student misunderstandings.
- Provides few opportunities for students to use different types of thinking (e.g., analytical, practical, creative and research-based)
Student-Centered Actions
Teacher-Center Actions
