edTPA Making Good Choices

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For this week’s readings, I focused primarily on the Making Good Choices article. I found this most helpful because it organized the sections according to questions that I commonly have about the edTPA process. I was very comforted by the questions. It is nice to know I am not the only one that is confused by the sections. I found myself focusing primarily on the section “Supporting Academic Language” and the subheading How do I identify the academic language demands of a learning task? The section clearly defined academic language as much more that it sounds, or that I originally thought of it as. After reading the section, I understand that academic language is far more that the vocabulary students will comprehend and be able to use, it includes students’ ability to “Understand (what will they need to read, listen to, think about); Communicate (what will they need to speak about, write about, connect to); and

Perform (what will they need to sing, play, demonstrate, express, read, create and expectations for acceptable forms)” (pp 17). The article highlights that, much like nearly all the steps of an edTPA, the reason behind the activity is far more important than the activity. Academic vocabulary is not simply the necessary vocabulary, it is the reason the student needs to know this, how I will ensure that they learn it, and what ways they will be able to apply it to classroom content and standards as well as outside of the classroom.  

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