Running head: DOMAIN C LITERATURE REVIEW 1

Domain C Literature Review

Ashlynn Griffith
National University
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Abstract
The following literature review provides the rationale for my artifact selection in Domain C of

my Professional Development Quest Portfolio. All the artifacts demonstrate my progress in

engaging and supporting students in learning. Within this literature review, I will reflect on each

of my artifacts and make a connection between my artifacts and the article “The First Rule of

Engagement” by Corwin Connect.

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The article “The First Rule of Engagement” states that “Teacher Clarity is the precursor

to student engagement.” The article also states that although John Hattie, a researcher in the field

of education and the author of Visible Learning, ranked teacher clarity in the top ten influences

on student achievement. Although educators are aware of the importance of teacher clarify and

student engagement, “there is no consensus as to how they are defined” (Corwin Connect, 2018).

This article has provided detailed definitions and examples of teacher clarity and student

engagement and how they correspond to student success. I will be using this article as a resource

as I reflect on how my artifacts have demonstrated my development in engaging and supporting

students in learning, as outlined in Domain C of the California Standards for the Teaching

Profession (Commission on Teacher Credentialing, 2013).

Artifact #1: Best Practices that Support Students with Language Needs was selected

because it shows my progress in TPE 7: Teaching English Learners. Within the standard of TPE

7, teachers are expected to “know and … apply pedagogical theories, principles, and

instructional practices for comprehensive instruction of English learners (Commission on

Teacher Credentialing, 2013). When I asked myself the question, “does the artifact support a

performance standard or theme?”, I was able to confidently reply that this artifact is clearly

aligned with TPE 7 (Costantino, 2009, p. 49). I created this artifact during my first year of BTSA

and it helped me learn and reflect on the best practices that I should be using within my

classroom to support students who were learning the English language. At this time, I had eight

English learners in my classroom. This activity helped me understand what I needed to do for

these students and understand the best practices that I was already demonstrating.

Within a portfolio, a teacher is wise to include “one’s best work in the area of assessment

or evaluation” (Costantino, 2009, p. 49). I included Artifact #2: Equity for All Students Needs
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Assessment because it is a great example of my self-assessment during my second year of

BTSA. On this self-assessment, I was asked to rank myself as emerging, exploring, applying,

integrating, or innovating in many areas of best practice within the realm of supporting equity,

diversity, and access to the core curriculum. Although this artifact could be applied to many

standards within Domain C, I feel that is the best example of my progress with TPE 4: Making

Content Accessible (Commission on Teacher Credentialing, 2013). I believe that this self-

assessment shows how I was working towards making content accessible to diverse learners. At

this time, I honestly ranked myself as applying in most areas. This demonstrates that I believed

that I was meeting the expectation, but not progressing beyond it. The next artifact in my

portfolio shows how I planned to move beyond the applying stage in all of the statements on the

self-assessment.

Within Artifact #3: Diversity Action Plan, I identified my needs from my needs

assessment, identified research tools that I could use to improve, summarized and reflected on

the research, applied the research strategies in my classroom, and then reflected on the success

of each new strategy. This process helped me focus on my areas that needed improvement and

develop effective teaching strategies to meet the needs of my diverse students. I chose this

artifact for this domain because I felt that it was a great example of all TPEs that focus on

engaging and supporting students in learning.

My final artifact, Artifact #4: February 20, 2017 Performance Evaluation is my best

example of TPE 5: Student Engagement. Within this TPE, the teacher is expected to “clearly

communicate instructional objectives to students (Commission on Teacher Credentialing, 2013).

Within my performance evaluation, my Principal stated that, “Mrs. Griffith communicates the

learning expectations she has for her students before each lesson.” Within the article, “The First
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Rule of Engagement,” the author states that “There are four critical elements in addition to

clarity of speech.” The four elements are: clarify of organization, clarity of explanation, clarity of

examples and guided practice, and clarity of assessment and student learning (Corwin Connect,

2018). I have been focusing on teacher clarity for the last year and I am working hard to clearly

communicate learning goals and success criteria to my students before, during, and after my

lessons. I am proud of my accomplishments and I am happy that my principal noticed this

practice in his observation.

“Educators who had a precise objective or target and were intentional in creating and

executing a plan to hit the target, yielded better student outcomes” (Corwin Connect, 2018).

During my first year of BTSA, I started to learn what the target was with student engagement

and supporting students in learning. During my self-assessment and diversity action plan, I

created a plan to hit my target with student learning and achievement. My performance

evaluation demonstrates that my administrator believes that I have been hitting the target of

being clear in my student expectations for learning. My goal now is to continue progressing in all

of these areas so that I can continue to yield better student outcomes throughout the rest of my

teaching career.
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References

Commission on Teacher Credentialing. (2013, March). California Teaching Performance

Expectations [PDF]. Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

Corwin Connect. (2018, September 24). The First Rule of Engagement [PDF]. Corwin Connect.

Costantino, P. M., & De Lorenzo, M. N. (2009). Developing a Professional Teaching Portfolio:

A Guide for Success (Third ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.