TPA Guideline Response

Having worked a lot with the TPA format for the past couple of quarters, I am very familiar with the layout. I will admit, however, I am still learning how to best use the format to benefit my planning. What's different about the layout posted on the class blog and the template we get through the education department is that the template provided here has several good prompting questions and highlights. I was completely lost when trying to plan my first couple of lessons during the classroom assessment course about two years ago, and having something that provided these prompts would have been very helpful.

The academic language portion of this prompt in particular is one piece that really sticks out to me. That's the portion I've always had the most trouble with and having several different types of terminology to point out really helps. In fact, I asked my supervisor on Monday what exactly needs to be included in that piece of the TPA. Although talking with her helped me understand it better, this template helps clarify the couple of questions that still lingered.

Another portion that I really liked is that the portion in Instructional Strategies about student voice was in bold. I sometimes forget to put the objectives and tasks into student voice and having it in bold like this is a great reminder to watch for it.

Finally, the differentiated instruction also stuck out to me. Part of this extra notice was because of the fact that this was where I needed the most focus after teaching my lesson on Monday, as well as the fact that we had the discussion in class on Wednesday, but also because it's worded in a more easily understandable way. I always considered differentiated instruction to be meeting the needs of the lower learning level students and making sure your lesson either meets their needs or can be altered for their needs. Until Monday's lesson, I hadn't put much thought into how to accommodate the higher learning level students, or those who simply worked quickly. The wording in this layout really makes it clear that it's supposed to be a level playing field for everyone in the classroom. By stating that we need "equitable learning opportunities," we see that it's not just the lower level students that need focus, but that everyone needs the same opportunities to learn the most they can.