PLO 5: Professionalization

Preparation to include the creation and demonstration of innovative lesson plans, where appropriate, along with a completed resume, curriculum vitae, letters of interest, cover letters, and letters of recommendation. Professionalization preparation is also to include participation in an international/multicultural immersion experience and verified examples of leadership, service, and collaborative endeavors.

This is a rather interesting PLO to think about as I try to incorporate professionalism in everything I do. The artifacts for this PLO include my completed resume, curriculum vitae, letters of interest, cover letter and the letters of recommendation that I have included in this portfolio. These documents are vital to my future success, as such they have been completed in a professional and concise manner. In addition to these documents, I am using two artifacts, Artifact 4a and 4b, both were collaborative integrated lessons designed in the dance class TA 4440 during the Fall 2022 semester.

Artifact 4a and 4b are activities from an integrated lesson plan my partner and I did. Artifact 4a is titled The Foot/Hand Story. It is meant to be done in a classroom with feet, however since the class was done online, we tweaked it to be done with hands. This is also a form of accommodation that could be used in the classroom. It uses concept from the dance class, however the actual lesson/activity itself is a 2nd grade social studies lesson on building timelines. The story uses multiple forms of learning styles to tell and act out a story, while paying close attention to the timeline of the story. After completing the story, the teacher builds a timeline on the whiteboard, step by step with students. Artifact 4b is titled Level Boogie. It too is a 2nd grade social studies assignment that teaches students about building family trees. In this lesson/activity students line up across from one another and as the music plays, the first two students across from each other call out a family member, and dance at the level they would be found on the tree, grandparents at the high level, parents, aunts, and uncles at the middle level, and siblings and cousins on the lower level. The interesting thing about this assignment though was that we found a way to modify it using music from different cultures and timelines. For example, incorporating this lesson into a cultural lesson about our different cultures and ancestors, the music is changed to reflect different times and cultures. While practicing this activity and incorporating Hispanic culture, when a student said “grandma” or “abuela,” the music would reflect that cultures musical interest 40 – 60 years ago. This provides us with an opportunity to create awareness in other cultures and incorporate culture into our teaching. They offer students a different perspective on cultural experiences and allows them to make connections between their own cultures and new or different cultures.

My partner, Yesenia Briceño and I worked together on both of these activities and presented them and led the activities with our classmates acting as participants. I lead the activity represented by artifact 4a, telling the story, then asking guiding questions to direct classmates as we built the timeline. Yesenia led the activity represented by artifact 4b, explaining the rules, then using me to provide an example and show our classmates how it was done.