edTPA Response

Okay, so this whole TPA thing is a little baffling at first.  I mean, really, we have to write down each and every time we write a new lesson plan how many boys and girls there are in our classes?  We have to look up the state standards and know what they are?  I get it, the TPA is a great tool for us to learn about why we are teaching the lessons we teach and know how it fits into the bigger picture.  But it is really necessary, once we are in the classrooms to have to write that down 14 times a quarter?  It seems a little like busy work to me. 

That being said, I do appreciate the skillsets that the TPA is helping to hone.  It makes sure we future-teachers are thinking about ensuring our lesson plans are going to maximize the learning for every student.  The questions it asks are important to think about as we go into the future.  “WHO are the students in this class/group?” or “WHAT conditions might impact the planning and delivery?” are important things to consider.  A problem I see in how specific the whole thing is what happens when things don’t go the way we planned?  There are so many “what ifs” that could happen on any given day that having such a specific target may be unachievable.  Sean just told us the other day how his favorite part of teaching is when our conversations lead us into something more interesting than what was planned.  If the lesson leads you that way, and the students are really engaged and participating, how are we really going to assess what they learned?  We can’t grade them based on things that happened spontaneously.  The TPA can’t really account for those types of learning sessions.  The students may develop a desire to learn and know what was discussed, but our TPA’s may not have the appropriate assessment.

The TPA’s assessment questions are detailed.  Duh!  There are so many things to think about how to ensure the students are actually grasping the ideas and concepts we are trying to provide to them.  I like how it is broken down into ‘formative’ and ‘summative’ but it’s a little ridiculous that the first question under each heading is asking exactly what formative and summative assessments are. 

Overall, I think the TPA is a great learning tool.  It forces us students to think about all that teaching a lesson has.  I do look at my cooperating teacher, and see how well he does with just a little note in his calendar.  Obviously, he’s been doing for 20+ years, so he’s got the ‘routines’ down and helps out the IEP and 504 students on their own terms.  Sometimes I feel as if doing the TPA over and over and over and over again is a little excessive, but I appreciate being over-prepared than under.  I don’t actually see the practicality of it being brought into our professional lives.  We will use the skills gained doing this, and formulate our own processes of creating workable lesson plans.