As a classroom educator, commitment to User-Centered Design has always always been a top priority. Structuring information in a way that reaches all students of varying learning styles, levels, and backgrounds is a skill that I've spent years developing. Below are samples of a syllabus, yearly sequencing, daily work slides, and unit warm up that I've built.
Composition II Syllabus
Teaching Dual Credit I had the flexibility to mix High School standards with the Community College Course curriculum to ensure students were achieving instructional goals from both organizations. This was a course focused on literary analysis composition. The challenge of a syllabus is to make expectations and course specific details clear, while also including all relevant college information. Additionally, I made sure to add a course overview week by week so that students could prepare themselves for the entire semester at once.
Yearly Sequencing: English I
After my first four months on the English I team, I was promoted to team lead and asked to revamp the entire curriculum for the following year. The curriculum focus was narrowing down the state standards (TEKS) to two that would be highlighted and reinforced for the whole year. I was able to develop a sequencing plan that kept the standards at the top of the priority while also ensuring that students were exposed to a variety of reading and writing genres.
Daily Instruction: English I Short Story Unit
When teaching hybrid virtual and in person, it was important to make sure students had clear and concise slide decks in order to follow along with the pacing, lessons, and resources for each unit. This is one section of the Short Story Unit I designed for our team, featuring a grammar lesson, introduction to plot structure, and the first short story they would be reading. I needed it to be colorful and engaging, but not too busy or crowded with information.
Daily Warm Up: Early Modern Fun Facts
At each school I taught at, I became the resident "Shakespeare expert" -- one of few in the department with a love of and passion for Shakespeare. My goal was to not just get students engaged in a Shakespeare unit (one that they had likely been dreading since the last time they had read a play), but also to get my colleagues excited for the unit they were teaching. I created this Early Modern Fun Fact slide show to share with my peers in a Professional Development and to use in class to build anticipation for the play we were reading. Finding clear and accessible language, and fun bits of trivia to break down the barrier between students, staff, and Shakespeare, was a fun challenge that produced excellent results! Students were engaged and excited, and these warmups started each day off in a positive way that stoked curiosity!