Artifact Reflection

Title of Artifact _Praxis II Exam____ Date Completed __3/3/2007____

This artifact includes Praxis Exam results in a variety of certifiable disciplines. In 1990, I took the Pre-professional Skills Test before being accepted into the School of Education at UW-Stevens Point. After graduation in 1993, I moved to Kansas City, and applied for certification in the two bordering states of Missouri and Kansas. Missouri required demonstrated proficiency with Praxis Exam 0010: Education in the Elementary School, which was successfully achieved in 1993. Kansas required successful completion of Praxis Exam 0520: Professional Knowledge.
(link to Praxis II: Technology Education results)
(link to other Praxis results)

This artifact primarily addresses Standard One: Content of the WSTDL Standards. Achievement in satisfactorily passing the Praxis exam in the content area within which I teach demonstrates proficiency in knowledge and skill necessary to teach the subject. It also provides assurance that I understand the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the disciplines I teach and can create learning experiences that make these aspects of subject matter meaningful for pupils.

This artifact secondarily addresses Standard Two: Development; Standard Four: Strategies; and Standard Nine: Refective. The Praxis exam tests knowledge of student development, and the strategies involved in successful teaching. The ninth standard must be included, as there is obvious metacognition involved in reflectively understanding the knowledge one holds in becoming a successful teacher.

I believe this artifacts best aligns with KSD1a: DEMONSTRATES KNOWLEDGE OF CONTENT AND PEDAGOGY. Meeting certification requirements within a specific subject area is only achieved after necessary classroom preparation is obtained.

This alignment secondarily addresses the following KDS Standards:
1. KSD3.c. ENGAGES STUDENTS IN LEARNING

I transferred into the area of Technology Education after having taught several core subject areas at the sixth grade level for two years, and Mathematics (grades 7-8) for four years. The attraction for me into Technology was the move into a modular environment which was more computer-based.
I felt quite capable of teaching Technology Education under emergency certification because of my knowledge of computers and computer-related communications technologies that were being taught in my classroom. I was less proficient in the area of industrial technology, including the sub-content areas involving the construction and transportation technologies. Those areas are where my greatest learning occurred, as most of the preparation necessary in providing effective instruction to my students involved learning new concepts I hadn’t already possessed. In most of my Technology Education classes, the learning curve was quite high as a result.