The artifact I chose to successfully represent Standard Three: Planning for Differentiated Instruction was an investigative lesson I developed

with a peer in my educational cohort. The lesson was originally created to be completed in one small group setting. However, after teaching the lesson once and debriefing about the results of the lesson we created a second lesson to be retaught in a series of small group lessons. We felt that our second attempt at the lesson was more effective because it allowed us to break down the overall lesson then dive deeper into the most important, meaningful aspects of the lesson, which I believe is evident in this artifact through the thoughtful change in design and content of the original lesson to the reteach lesson. Both the original investigative lesson plan and the modified lesson plan encompass the essence of Standard Three because it anticipates differentiation in student characteristic through the anticipated response section. This section includes specific phrases and answers to questions that I assumed the children would come up with (i.e. what color will be on the inside of the apple? Answers will be red, white, brown, green, etc.) Furthermore it keeps in mind curriculum goals by addressing specific language arts and mathematics goals such as Math Standard A: Demonstrate and apply a knowledge understanding of numbers, number names, and numerals and B: Begin to make estimates of measurements, as well as Language Arts standard C: Use language to convey information and ideas in the lesson. By separating one long lesson into multiple small group lessons, I believe I am able to address these goals more in depth while maintaining the interest and attention of the students. By developing an initial lesson plan then modifying the plan to better suit the needs of the students based on the responses and outcomes of the initial aspect I successfully addressed Knowledge Indicator D and Performance Indicator F because in the modified lesson, I developed alternate paths for the lesson to address specific student needs, which is evident because in my first lesson I had the students cut their apples in half and count the seeds inside after talking about how small or big the apples were; while in the reteach lesson I had them first talk about which one they thought was biggest and smallest then had the measure their apples using string; leaving the cutting for a separate small group lesson. I felt that by measuring the apples first the students were able to get a better grasp on size differentiation and spend more time going over different sizes rather than briefly talking about which they felt was smallest and largest then moving right into cutting the apples. My investigative lesson plans effectively demonstrate my growth and development as a teacher because they show the critical thinking done to modify an original lesson plan to explicitly meet the needs of my students. Furthermore, the creation of the original lesson, debriefing and then modification done for this investigative lesson was a collaborative effort which demonstrates my ability to work well with othersa crucial aspect in developmental growth of any profession, especially teaching. Being able to provide ideas and insight and welcome opinions and suggestions from my peers to help my ultimate teaching goals helps me grow in experience and ability.