Section Three

Teacher Candidate Artifacts

The contents of this section will outline some of the artifacts that Ive collected during
my time spent in an elementary classroom. I find all of these artifacts useful for several different
reasons, as they all enhance the experience of the learner and help further the lessons for the
teacher and support staff of the room. I believe that classroom design, layout and instructional
signs throughout the room can really help reinforce lessons, concepts and be a reference point for
students, no matter how young or old. I often refer to signs around the room for students to refer
to; where they know they have a working instructional manual for any given assessment.
Anytime I create signage throughout the classroom, Im sure to include vocabulary that my
students will understand. Creating posters and instructions with convoluted words can be even
more detrimental than unclear verbal instructions. One thing that Im a supporter of is success
criteria. I find this extremely valuable because it constantly allows students to cross reference the
criteria and their own document and garner their own conclusions of how well theyve completed
the instructions.

Another valuable element of collecting artifacts is collecting student work samples; both
successful and unsuccessful. Firstly, collecting successful work can be a big confidence booster
to students and show the teacher what instructional strategy worked and what student gets it. On
the contrary, collecting unsuccessful student work does the same for the teacher. It shows the
teacher which instructional strategies didnt work, which main ideas need to be further explain
and can also be a reference point for the teacher to begin discussion with other colleagues about
how to improve instructional methods or techniques with a given subject.

Classroom design is also an integral part of running a successful classroom that caters to
all learning styles as well as does not inhibit any learners from their accommodations or personal
preferences. The thing Ive found interesting about classroom design is that although general
ideas can always remain the same (everyone should be able to see, hear, etc.), no two classrooms
will ever be alike. What makes classroom design so unique is that it really depends on the
personalities of the students in your room. You cannot simply have 24 desks sitting individually
if youd got an extremely social class that loves to do group work and connect. Likewise, if
youve got a very small group that has many different behavioral problems within the class, your
best approach likely isnt to sit them all together at a table or in a group at once. Below are some
of the images and artifacts that Ive collected throughout my time in elementary school
classroom settings and different instructional strategies and methods which I find valuable in the
school while catering to curriculum expectations.

Artifact 1

Artifact 1

The above image represents the way that myself and my associate teacher set up our
classroom during my tenure in grade 3 at Echo Place school. This is a demonstration of my
strong classroom management skills. We set the classroom up so that students were seated in
pairs. This scenario gives them a classmate to reference or conference with during work time, but
is not a big enough group that it provides distraction to students. All students are facing forwards
towards the SMART board without any restrictions of vision. The students with behavioural
problems are located in the closest proximity to the teacher to ensure they are monitored at all
times. We incorporated many of our procedural writing and important tasks at the front so that
the teacher can easily point to them or reference them at all times. The carpet located in the
middle of the room is for circle time, where we would often invite the students for read alouds or
watching videos on the SMART projector. I would often invite students to the carpet if I felt as
though they were getting restless or tired, in an attempt to give some down time and re-energize
the group. This is again one of my approaches for classroom management.

Artifact 2

Artifact 2

The image above aligns directly with the Ontario curriculum expectations and what
Ontario has been pushing for students across the province. The province is implementing an
inquiry-based learning objective and the activity that we did as a class in social studies directly
aligned with these goals. Prior to forcing students to commence inquiry based research
questions, we defined What is inquiry? and showed some examples on how we use it. The
objective of this artifact is to model the activity and lesson prior to asking students to complete it.
By doing it initially as a class, this gives the students the background information and the
confidence that they need to successfully complete the task. This artifact also expands their
educational vocabulary. The inquiry based lesson objectives derive directly from Ontario
curricula goals and demonstrate strong planning skills.

Artifact 3

Artifact 3

The image above is one of my personal favorites because it allows students to show off
their work. This aligns with the literacy standards and was a comparative writing exercise that
we did. We wrote pieces comparing two chairs (located on the top right hand corner of the
image) and with this, students were able to see the results of other students work as well.
Additionally, I created success criteria, which again aligns with the literacy standards and was
used as a tool for students to be able to follow their own checklist in order to cater to
independence and self-reliance. This artifact is in direct relation to instruction of students as well
as classroom management.

Artifact 4

Artifact 4
The above artifact was created as a success criterion for procedural writing in a grade 3
classroom. Students need to have their own checklist throughout the completion of a task to

promote independence and further understanding of a task. This was a grade 3 class, so the steps
of assessment were limited to three to give students an easier example of how to follow the
criterion and ensure its easy to understand. By having an independent checklist for students to
reference, theyll understand further why they were given a specific mark for an assignment. The
teacher is able to go back and reference the criterion and explain what the student lacked or
succeeded with.

Artifact 5

Artifact 5

The reading response success criterion was specifically built to give students a better
understanding of the expectations of the EQAO standardized testing (given to all grade 3
students in the province of Ontario) and to demonstrate to the students what it takes to
successfully pass the test. Often students can read a passage or respond to a passage, however the
comprehension lacks due to either word calling or failing to comprehend the main idea of the
text through lack of deductive reasoning or comprehension issues. This criterion was created to
show the framework to students of what specifically they need to look for. The most crucial
points explained to the students were finding proof and making a connection. If the student is
able to do both of these things, it demonstrates an understanding of the material and shows the
marker that theyve taken the information in.

Artifact 6

Artifact 6
The above artifact was added to demonstrate the criterion needed to successfully
complete a creative writing task. Writing is an essential tool to be able to express ideas,
arguments and emotions and this was introduced in grade 3. The bubble beside the word voice

was imperative to teaching this lesson. What does it mean to have a strong voice in writing?
was brainstormed with students throughout the lesson and I asked them what they find people are
doing well in strong written pieces with voice. I gave an example of The 3 Little Pigs as a read
aloud. We then read the same story but from the wolves perspective. This allowed students to see
what they viewed as important or key details and we ended the lesson with students choosing
who they believed had the stronger argument. This criterion demonstrates an assessment tool for
both my students to self-check, and me.

Artifact 7

Artifact 7

Artifact 7 represents the Daily 5 station that we use to promote reading and writing
strength in grade 3. This artifact is very important to me and particularly effective because it
promotes reading and writing from 5 different perspectives. As you can see above, the 5 stations
of reading are read to self, work on writing, read to someone, word work and listen to reading.
Read to self gives students the opportunity to choose their own personal reading material and can
get enjoyment through reading and make it fun. Work on writing is essential because it forces
students to relate the material back to personal connections and also make inferences and gather
proof through the text. Read to someone relates to Dewey and active learning because it allows
students to discuss the content and reading materials with other students and gain additional
perspective. Word work essentially builds student vocabulary and allows students to gain
additional knowledge in spelling and root words, allowing them to produce better written
material. Finally, listen to reading is a nice break for the students, but the catch is that they must
follow along with the text version of the book, while they hear the words being pronounced.
Again, this promotes further understanding and allows students to see the words as they hear
them. This can be even more effective than a read aloud. This artifact is essential in being able to
produce strong work related to the literacy and language curriculum and is a building block for
future grades. This artifact also directly involves student engagement and literacy.

Artifact 8

Music Lesson Plan Critical Analysis Process

Josh Stickle
Medaille College
EDU 577: Student Teaching Placement #2
Presented to Anthony Scarfone
May 5th, 2015

I.

LESSON DATA:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.

Candidates First & Last Name:

Subject/Content Area:
Grade Level (PK-12):
Unit Topic:
Lesson Topic:
Duration of Lesson:
Materials:

Josh Stickle
The Arts
Grade 5
Music
Music Analysis
50 minutes
Speakers, chart, YouTube videos

II.

INSTRUCTIONAL PROCESS:

A.

Standards: NYS P-12 Common Core Standards, NYS Learning Standards and
Ontario Expectations
1.

NYS P-12 ELA Common Core Standards ELA & Literacy

Standard Strand: Writing Standards K-5
Grade: 5
Topic Strand: Key Ideas and Details
Item Number and Statement: 2d: Use precise language and domain-specific
vocabulary to inform about or explain the topic.
2. Standard Strand: Responding to and Analyzing works of art
Grade: 5
Performance Indicator: 3a: Through listening, analyze and evaluate their own
and others performances, improvisations, and compositions by identifying and
comparing them with similar works and events.
2.
Ontario Expectations: Language
Overall Expectations:
BytheendofGrade5studentswill:Applythecriticalanalysisprocessto
communicatetheirfeelings,ideasandunderstandingsinresponsetoavarietyofmusic
andmusicalexperiences.
Demonstrateanunderstandingofavarietyofmusicalgenresandstylesfrom

thepastandpresent,andtheirsocioculturalandhistoricalcontexts.
SpecificExpectations:
C2.2:Identifytheelementsofmusicinthemusictheyperform,listento,andcreateand
describehowtheyareused.
C2.1:Expressdetailedpersonalresponsestomusicalperformancesinavarietyofways.
C3.2Demonstrateanawarenessoftheuseofmusicandmusicalinstrumentsinvarious
traditions,fromearlytimestotoday.
B.

Central Focus:
Students will begin to analyze the specific elements of songs and discuss the facets of
genre, tone, mood and era. This lesson fits as lesson 1 of the unit because it engages the
students in many different types of music and gives them an overall perspective before
breaking music down from an instrumental perspective.

C.

Objectives:

Students will be able to identify the characteristics of era-specific music. Students will do this
through discussion and worksheet.
D.

Assessment Plan:
1. The teacher will formatively assess the students abilities to differentiate between
sounds
2. The teacher will formatively assess the students ability to fill out a music
characteristics chart.
3. The teacher will collect the chart after discussion and mark for completion.

E. Opening/Anticipatory Set
1. After students walk in and have sat down, I will explain that we are going to start talking about
music and how music is a big part of our society and culture.
2. Students will be asked if they ever like listening to music, in the car, at home, on an ipod and
when and why do they listen to the music?
3. Anticipated responses: To dance, when Im sad, because Im bored.
4. Teacher will prompt students asking if theyve ever listened to music even older than
themselves.

5. Teacher will explain that often in our society music is a very important aspect of both culture
and everyday life.
6. Today, were going to listen to some songs from all different time periods. Were going to
discuss what makes these songs different. How do we feel when we hear them.Teacher will
explain the chart and the expectations for how it should be filled in while we listen in class.
F. Main Body/Procedure:
6. I will select 3-4 songs from all different eras of time.
7. Students will be instructed to listen quietly and enjoy the song in their head as to not distract
others around you.
8. Teacher talk While youre listening to this song, I want you to imagine what year it was made
it. What are you picturing when you hear this song?
9. Teacher will play She loves you by The Beatles
10. The teacher will circulate throughout the time we fill out our chart to monitor progress.
11. Teacher will stop the song after listening and create brief discussion on elements of the song.
Deeper discussion of the chart will take place in the period the next day where we have more
time to analyze.
12. Teacher will repeat these steps for the next 2-3 songs depending on time.
13. Students on a language IEP will be given a worksheet with emotions already typed onto it.
Rather than come up with their own and spell it, they can choose to simply circle one.
14. Teacher will instruct IEP students that they do have the freedom to write in new ideas if they
choose to do so or use teachers suggested emotions as a brainstorm.
15. Teacher will ask students throughout what they believe make a good song and what makes a
poor song? Is it simply the sound or do you take into account what the artist is saying?
16. Teacher will reinforce that we are not watching the videos along with the songs because I
dont want to create bias or giveaway answers as to what you should see in your head or what
emotions you should feel.
17. Teacher may also take an opportunity to praise some of the students that have given creative
answers or come up with good musical connections.

18. Teacher will pose the question to students What make genre or era do we think we liked the
best? Class will vote and we will record votes and discuss why majority liked one or the other.

G. Closure/Ending:
1. Teacher Talk: Today we worked on discussing songs in society from as far back as the midearly 1900s to now.
2. Teacher talk: Can we think of any reasons of why it would be good to know more about
older music and compare it to now? Class answers.
3. Teacher Talk: Music can definitely help us with is understanding history. What was
happening at the time in society?
4. Teacher instructs students to please put work away into music book.
5. Teacher talk: Really great job today. Teacher will now collect all pages to that are
complete and tell other students to continue working on this the next day.
III.

REFLECTION
1. Culturally Responsive Teaching:

Our classroom is expected to always adhere to our rules of respecting one another at all times
during our work together. Students are working independently for this assignment so no groups
will be needed. All items needed for this assignment will be provided by the teacher. These
items include the songs and worksheets. There are no costs to the students, taking into account
the socio-economic situation of all students. During discussion, I will be conscience of every
culture and society when pointing out examples of societal norms
2. Accommodations:
All of my students will be given proper accommodations necessary to fulfill any IEP, 504
or other personal learning habits that I deem to be constructive for that particular student and do
not disrupt the flow of the class room(i.e. sitting on the floor, stretching legs at the appropriate
time). I will use a variety of teaching methods ranging from auditory discussion, to visuals and
kinesthetic learning as well. During this lesson, 2 students have been designated with an
accommodated lesson plan where they work on their reading/writing skills simply by identifying
the emotions that have already been included on their worksheets and circling one. Students will
also have the freedom to add any other words or terms they deem necessary. There are no
auditory accommodations necessary for this lesson but they were taken into account.
3. Prerequisite Skills:

The requisite skills required for this lesson are the ability to discuss different types of
music and discuss emotions in relation to them.. Students must be able to make an educated
guess as to what era the music came from. Students must also possess the ability to use different
forms of vocabulary as well as follow through a created chart for them where they simply fill in
the accompanying information.
4. Anticipated Misconceptions
It is anticipated that because this is a class dealing with different types of music and different
eras, that students may believe they were all created in the same year and decade. It is also
anticipated that students may only seek out one or two words in the song and suggest this is what
the entire song is about. It is anticipated that some students may believe all music older than
them is bad music or music that isnt popular. We will work to expel these notions.
5. Academic Language
There will be many terms discussed during this lesson. Some of these terms students will have
previous knowledge of, and other terms the students will be learning today for the first time.
Older terms that the class will be familiar with include song, verse, lyrics, volume, instruments,
bands and records. New terms that I anticipate students have not heard yet or associate with
music may include era, The Beatles (and other bands), culture and analysis.

Music lesson worksheet:

Song
title and
Artist

What
era do
you
think
this
song is
from?

How does
this song
make you
feel?
(Emotions
)

What do
you
picture
in your
head
hearing
this
song?

What do
you
think
this song
is about?

Artifact 8
The above artifact is a lesson plan created for the grade 5 music curriculum. This lesson
was created around the learning goal of students being able to critically analyze music that they
hear. Students completed a worksheet through the lesson, listening for distinctive sounds and
themes within the given music piece. I found this lesson valuable because it forces students to
think of social, political and historical elements within music, as well as listen for distinct
instruments and sound. This lesson directly aligns with grade 5 music standards, both Ontario
and New York State. Through discussion of music, many topics were touch on with my students,

ranging from sexuality to ethnicity, and how music can change perceptions and stereotypes as
well as be a form of expression.

Artifact 9

Social Studies Lesson Plan Urban and Rural Communities

Josh Stickle
Medaille College
EDU 577: Student Teaching Placement #1
Presented to Anthony Scarfone
March 9th, 2015

I.

LESSON DATA:
H.
I.
J.
K.
L.
M.
N.

Candidates First & Last Name:

Subject/Content Area:
Grade Level (PK-12):
Unit Topic:
Lesson Topic:
Duration of Lesson:
Materials:

Josh Stickle
Social Studies
Grade 3
Living and Working in Ontario
Urban/Rural Communities
60 minutes

II.

INSTRUCTIONAL PROCESS:

A.

Standards: NYS P-12 Common Core Standards, NYS Learning Standards and
Ontario Expectations
1.

New York State Standards for Social Studies

Strand: Communities around the World Learning About People and Places
Concepts/Themes: a) Physical Systems
b) Environment and Society
Content Understandings: a) The factors that influence human settlements differ in
world communities
b) Lifestyles in world communities are influenced by
environmental and geographic factors.

2.

NYS P-12 ELA Common Core Standards ELA & Literacy

Standard Strand: Reading Standards for Informational Text K-5
Grade: 3
Topic Strand: Key Ideas and Details
Item Number and Statement: 3 Describe the connection between a series of
historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text.

3.

Ontario Expectations: Science and Technology

Overall Expectations:
BytheendofGrade3,studentswill:Identifythedifference(s)betweenurbanand
ruralcommunities.
SpecificExpectations:
B1.2 describe some major connections between features of the natural environment
and the type of employment that is available in a region, with reference to two or more
municipal regions in Ontario

B.

Central Focus:
Students will recognize the characteristics of an urban and rural community. Students will
be focusing on separating these characteristics into separate groups (urban or rural) and be
discussing them as a class.

C.

Objectives:

(Will attach after reference to curriculum)

D.

Assessment Plan:
4. The teacher will formatively assess the students abilities to identify differences urban
and rural communities.
5. The teacher will formatively assess the students abilities to sort scenarios/words into
groupings (rural or urban) on the handouts given.
6. The teacher will collect the groupings done by the students, assess the results and
return them with a mark.

E. Opening/Anticipatory Set
1. After students walk in and have sat down, I will explain that we are going to continue our
living and working in Ontario unit. Students will be asked to volunteer as Im looking for discuss
a big word today density. Teacher will have 6 or 7 students stand in a hoola hoop on one side
of the classroom, while 1 or 2 students stand in a hoola hoop on the other side of the classroom.
2. Teacher will ask What community do you think would be cleaner to live in? The hoop with 7
people or the one with 2? Students will give answers and we will discuss possible outcomes.
3. The teacher will ask different scenarios while students are inside the hoola hoops. For
example, if everyone in the hoop was eating lunch in their right now, what do you think the area
inside the hoola hoop would look like? Anticipated student answers include dirty, garbage all
around and messy.
4. Teacher will select a student from each community to walk to the grocery store. We will
discuss as a class, what community arrived there first? What do you think people living in urban
communities can do to solve this problem? Do you think they buy more all at once so that they
have to make less trips?
5. Teacher will ask students to return to their seats for further discussion.
F. Main Body/Procedure:
6. Teacher will show map of Ontario on the board. Teacher will ask students where they
think most of the urban/ rural communities are located.
7. Teacher will refresh memory of students discussing the type of jobs and transportation in each
community.
8. Teacher talk So if someone often is milking cows or it takes 10 minutes to walk to their
friends house, what kind of community do you think they live in? Student response: I think they
would live in a rural community.
9. Teacher will ask students to elaborate further on why they believe this person lives in a rural
community.
10. The teacher will have several images on the smartboard for a drag and drop activity as a
group.
11. Drag and drop activity will include pictures (i.e barn, subway system, apartments) and
students will be asked to come up to the board 1 by 1 and sort these items into their appropriate
category.

12. Teacher will turn this into a fun interactive game by keeping a score tally at the top for
points.
13. After completion and discussion of examples, teacher will pass out individual charts
for students to cut out and glue onto their own urban/rural page. This assessment is attached.
14. Teacher will circulate to check for understanding from students and assist them. I anticipate
spending more time with students who have specific reading accommodations so they can better
understand the scenarios.
15. Teacher will also ask students to write a question on the back of their page What would you
like to know more about? This will help with our inquiry focus in this unit.
16. Teacher has also modified a worksheet for these students which includes more pictures rather
than the word scenarios, so that students can better distinguish urban from rural.
17. Teacher will ask any students that finish early to add a few of their own words or pictures to
the bottom to further engage the gifted students or students who work faster.
18. Teacher will ask students to finish their work and pay attention to the front of the classroom
as were going to take up many of the words or scenarios.

G. Closure/Ending:
6. Teacher Talk: Today we worked on sorting out the different characteristics of an urban/rural
community. Remind me again what an urban/rural community looks like please.
7. Teacher talk: Do we find communities like this all across Ontario? Class answers.
8. Teacher talk: Are there any questions that you have boys and girls after our lesson today?
No? Great! Im glad we all had fun and I hope we learned a lot!
9. Teacher Talk: Tomorrow we will be discussing the specific jobs each part of our province
has and we may be taking a virtual trip through a mine that Ive heard about in Northern
Ontario! Would that be exciting?
10. Teacher instructs students to please put sheets away in their Social Studies binder.
11. Teacher talk: Really great job today. Teacher will now collect all pages to double check for
assessment and give a mark for completion/ comprehension. Teacher will also check for
inquiry based questions from students to see what they would like to know more about.
III.

REFLECTION

1. Culturally Responsive Teaching:

Our classroom is expected to always adhere to our rules of respecting one another at all times
during our work together. Students will be placed in hula hoops by the teacher to ensure an
inclusive class atmosphere and to ensure that no students are isolated or feel left out. This will
also ensure all students get a unique perspective and are respecting and promoting the prior
knowledge and views of other students. The teacher will model this behavior by always showing
respect to students whether teaching a lesson or in a disciplinary manner. Students in my
classroom are encouraged to be themselves and bring all prior knowledge and unique
perspective to the table.
During this lesson, we are discussing urban and rural characteristics of communities. All
students can relate because they are part of a community in Brantford, therefore this topic is
inclusive. All materials for this experiment will be provided by the teacher, so there are no costs
to any students, also taking into account socio-economics in my classroom. Urban sprawl/
population density is a worldwide concept and every community has characteristics of one of
the other so this topic is universal.

2. Accommodations:
All of my students will be given proper accommodations necessary to fulfill any IEP, 504
or other personal learning habits that I deem to be constructive for that particular student and do
not disrupt the flow of the class room(i.e. sitting on the floor, stretching legs at the appropriate
time). I will use a variety of teaching methods ranging from auditory discussion, to visuals and
kinesthetic learning as well. During this lesson, 4 students have been designated with an
accommodated worksheet where they will be working with more pictures and less words for
their sort. This will help these students process the information better and I can elaborate with
them through discussion their findings. These students will also be permitted to work in partners.
3. Prerequisite Skills:
The requisite skills required for this lesson are the ability to recognize that different
communities have different characteristics. Students will be able to distinguish between urban
and rural communities and be able to sort them. Students must be able to use scissors and be
able to read words related to living and working in Ontario. These words include pollution,
townhouse, and subdivision. Teacher will be able to further explain these when circulating for
clarification.
4. Anticipated Misconceptions

It is anticipated that because this is a younger class and many students may believe that everyone
lives the same lifestyle or that some students have not seen an extremely urban or rural
community. It is anticipated that some students may confused the words urban and rural because
they are spelled similar and have the same number of letters. It is also anticipated that students
will have questions regarding some of the vocabulary not yet covered, including Niagara
Escarpment and Conservation Area. I will explain/define these terms prior to the lesson
beginning for students.
5. Academic Language
There will be many terms discussed during this lesson. Some of these terms students will have
previous knowledge of, and other terms the students will be learning today for the first time.
Todays new vocabulary includes high density and low density. The previous academic
language that students should be familiar with includes urban, rural, suburban, economy,
resources, travel, transportation and smog/pollution.

Artifact 9
The above lesson plan demonstrates my use of both technology and my professional
development in being able to plan according to standards and accommodations. This lesson plan
was specific to the grade 3 social studies curriculum and allowed students to differentiate
between urban and rural communities. Differentiating also demonstrates use of Blooms
taxonomy, again showing professional development. Students were working in groups as well as
with their hands, through cutting out materials and creating a Venn diagram to ensure my
students were engaged in active learning.

Artifact 10

1) Label the number of vertices on the shapes below:

a)

Number of vertices: ______

b)

Number of vertices: _____

c)

Number of vertices: _____

2) Circle the sides on the shapes below

a)

Number of sides: _____

b)

Number of sides: _____

c)

Number of sides: _____

3) Which angle below is a right angle? Circle it.

Which angle below is smaller than a right angle? Circle it

Which angle below is bigger than a right angle? Circle it

4) I have 4 sides and 4 vertices. All of my sides are equal length. What shape could
I be? Write your answer below. Draw a picture if you would like.

5) Im a shape with 5 sides. What am I?

6) Fill in the chart below. How many green triangles can fit into each shape?
1 hexagon = _____ triangles
1 trapezoid= _____ triangles
1 rhombus= _____ triangles

7) Look at image below. Lukas says he is going to use only 1 red trapezoid to help
fill the pattern. What other blocks could Lukas use to complete the second half?
Explain what other blocks Lukas can use here:

Use only 1

8) Draw the flip of the images below.

Does this shape have any lines of symmetry? Explain your answer

Artifact 10
The above artifact is a geometry unit test that was created in relation to the math
expectations of the curriculum, both Ontario and New York State Standards. This specific test
was made for my accommodated students who were on learning IEPs and struggle in the field of
mathematics. This test was created using an increased amount of colour, shape and a variety of
geometry related questions to ensure all learning needs were being met. The expectation was that
students finished as much as possible without assistance, however could ask questions to gain
further understanding throughout the completion of the task. This artifact demonstrates planning,
accommodations as well as implementing the math curriculum and core curriculum standards in
accordance with learning goals.