What Is a Work Sample, Anyway? --- Useful Tips to Create an Excellent Work Sample Gayle Y. Thieman, Ed.D. Graduate School of Education

A Work Sample is NOT  A case of total perfection..  A state of “stability” where lesson plans are iron-clad and no changes are allowed.  A compilation of perfectly written lesson plans.  JUST a requirement for TSPC and the GTEP program

A Work Sample IS:  Challenging: How come some students just don’t get it?  Unpredictable: Not everything goes the way I hoped.  Time Consuming: Don’t procrastinate  Difficult: What should I include and exclude in this work sample? BUT: A well-thought out work sample can be pivotal in career development.

A Good Work Sample Documents  Your students’ achievement  Your skill in working with students of various abilities.  Your constant reflection and modification to meet the needs of different students, such as LEP, IEP, ADHD, TAG, etc.  Your skills in curriculum design, instructional delivery, and appropriate and relevant assessment. AND WORK SAMPLES HELP A GREAT DEAL IN JOB INTERVIEWS!

 Demonstration of your learning and students’ learning gains in this process.  Integrated, theme-based unit plan and lessons that tie to state and district standards.  Appropriate and relevant pre- and post- assessment, and insightful analysis/interpretation of student data  Reflections, and possible ways of using student learning data. Focus of the Work Sample

2) Format of the worksample:  Learning Context: community, school, and class  Unit Goals and rationale  Pre-Instruction Assessment & Analysis  Instructional Plans (Lesson objectives)  Post-Instruction Assessment: Tool and analysis  Interpretation, use and reflection on student learning data  Personal reflection on unit experiences.  Attention to literacy standards

Useful Tips (1) The Learning Context:  All learning is situated. Therefore, community, school, and class characteristics are important in designing any curriculum.  Things to include:  1) Demographic, linguistic, cultural, economic, and academic data.  2) Tie this data to your rationale and goals of the unit.  3) Reflect on how your unit serves your students.  4) Reflect on how the learning data can serve the community.

Useful Tips (2) Unit goals, rationale, and objectives:  Unit goals and rationale need to be connected to: 1) Your big idea (Essential Question)  2) State and district standards and benchmarks.  3) Unit goals and objectives need to be able to encompass the goals and objectives of ALL lesson plans in the unit.

Useful Tips (3) Pre-Instruction Assessment: accurately  Design Pre-Instruction Assessment tool to reflect accurately ALL UNIT objectives.  Include both closed, and open questions.  Include a scoring rubric so that students’ data can be consistently analyzed.  Make sure that you include information about how you are going to score/ grade open-ended questions and drawings (if any).  Address similar questions/skills on pre-post assessment. Use a variety of assessment formats.

Useful Tips (4)  Lesson Plan Format in Worksample:  1) Lesson Goal  2) Lesson Objectives  3) Standards reflected  4) Materials needed  5) Introduction/anticipatory set  6) Body: Procedures, activities, and steps with time.  7) Closure/assessment (Informal or formal) 8) Accommodations or adaptations for exceptional learners  8) Reflections (It is very useful to write down reflections after each lesson when your memory is still fresh.)  NOTE: Make changes to your next day’s lesson to reflect your experience in this lesson! Principals especially like this kind of responsive teaching!!

Useful Tips (5) Assessment analysis should include:  1) Comparison of pre- and post-assessment data making explicit who has made what level of progress in relation to unit goals and objectives..  2) Disaggregation and comparison of learning data for specific students, e.g. TAG, IEP, ESL, SPED, etc.  3) Summary of data to provide evidence of individual students’ learning gains and whole class performance.  4) REMOVE STUDENTS NAMES from samples and tests you include in your work sample.

Useful Tips (6)  Interpretation, Analysis, and Use of student learning data: ¬.Analysis and reflection on why the data shows what trends, especially in connection to unit goals and objectives, but also to standards and benchmarks. ¬ Explain student learning in relation to the learning context.  Describe how you could use data on learning gains in subsequent instruction and in reporting progress to students, parents.

Literacy/Technology  Purposeful attention to literacy instruction based on content requirements, authorization level, and student needs  Teacher integrates appropriate technology that makes a noticeable contribution to learning.

Finally, ………………..  Reflections on the whole unit experience. – Unit outcomes – Insights into students – New understandings for teaching this unit in the future – Consideration of your strengths and challenges