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Praxis III Domains

The George Washington University Department of Teacher Preparation uses these standards to evaluate student teachers. I am structuring this portfolio around them to show how my performance meets the  standards.

The Praxis III Classroom Performance Assessments consist of a framework of knowledge and skills for a beginning teacher that contains 19 assessment criteria in four interrelated domains. These domains embrace the teaching and learning experiences of the beginning teacher, including:

A.    Organizing Content Knowledge for Student Learning

A1: Becoming familiar with relevant aspects of students’ background knowledge and experiences
The intern demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of         why it is important to become familiar with students’ background experiences, describes several procedures used to obtain this information, and demonstrates a clear understanding of students’ background knowledge and experiences
A2:  Articulating clear learning goals for the lesson that are appropriate to the students
The intern articulates clear learning goals and provides a well-thought-out explanation of why they are appropriate for the students OR the intern articulates clear learning goals that are appropriate to the students and are differentiated for groups or individual students in the class.

A3:  Demonstrating an understanding of the connections between the content that was learned previously, the current content, and the content that remains to be learned in the future
The intern accurately explains how the content of this lesson relates to the content of previous or future lessons and how it fits within the structure of the discipline.

A4: Creating or selecting teaching methods, learning activities, and instructional materials or other resources that are appropriate to the students and that are aligned with the goals of the lesson
The intern chooses methods, activities, and materials that are aligned with the goals of the lesson, that are appropriate to the students in general and that allow a differentiated learning experience for individuals or groups of students OR the teacher provides a sound explanation of why the single teaching method or learning activity in the lesson is appropriate for all students.

A5:  Creating or selecting strategies that are appropriate for the students that are aligned with the goals of the lesson
The intern has a plan for systematically evaluating student learning that is aligned with the goals of the lesson and appropriate to the students and can describe how he or she will use the results of the evaluation in planning future instruction.

B. Creating an Environment for Student Learning

B1:  Creating a climate that promotes fairness
The intern is fair in the treatment of students and actively encourages fairness among students.

B2:  Establishing and maintaining rapport with students
The intern successfully establishes rapport in ways that are appropriate to students’ diverse backgrounds and needs.  

B3:  Communicating challenging learning expectations to each student
The intern actively encourages students to meet challenging learning expectations.

B4:  Establishing and maintaining consistent standards of classroom behavior
The intern responds to minor misbehavior consistently and with reasonable success, in ways that demonstrate respect for students OR student behavior during the lesson is consistently appropriate.

B5: Making the physical and emotional environment as safe and conducive to learning as possible
The intern uses the physical environment as a resource to facilitate learning. Provisions are made to accommodate all students, including those with special needs. If the intern does not control the physical environment, he or she effectively adjusts the activities to the existing physical environment.

C.    Teaching for Student Learning

C1:  Making learning goals and instructional procedures clear to students
The students seem to understand the learning goals fully. The intern ensures that all students, including those who may initially have trouble, understand and can carry out the instructional procedures for the lesson.

C2: Making content comprehensible to students
The content is accurate and appears to be comprehensible to the students. The lesson as a whole has a logical and coherent structure.

C3: Encouraging students to extend their thinking
The intern uses activities or strategies that are specifically designed to actively encourage students to think independently, creatively, or critically about the content being taught.

C4: Monitoring students’ understanding of content through a variety of means, providing feedback to students to assist learning, and adjusting learning activities as the situation demands
The intern monitors individual students’ or groups of students’ understanding of the content and makes appropriate instructional adjustments if necessary. If appropriate, students receive substantive and specific feedback.

C5:  Using instructional time effectively
The intern provides students with activities of instructional value for the entire instructional time and paces them appropriately. Any necessary noninstructional procedures are performed efficiently.

D.    Teacher Professionalism

D1:  Reflecting on the extent to which the learning goals were met
The intern accurately describes the strengths and weaknesses of the lesson in relation to the learning goals, supports his or her judgments with specific evidence from the lesson and describes how he or she could use the experience from this lesson in future instruction.  

D2: Demonstrating a sense of efficacy
The intern suggests specific, practical actions that he or she intends to take to help specific students who are not meeting the learning goals.

D3:  Building professional relationships with colleagues to share teaching insights and to coordinate learning activities for students
The intern demonstrates knowledge of resources and collaborates with colleagues outside of his or her own classroom to coordinate learning activities or to address other concerns related to teaching.

D4:  Communicating with parents or guardians about student learning.
The intern demonstrates knowledge of forms of communication that she or he can or has used to communicate with parents or guardians of students for various purposes and describes situations in which she or he has communicated or would communicate with parents or guardians regarding specific students.