edTPA Planning Commentary

Modified from Task 1, Planning Commentary

Central Focus
a. Describe the central focus and purpose for the content you will teach in your
unit.
The central focus and purpose for the content of this unit is to learn about where
food comes from globally. By the end of the unit, students should have knowledge about
how people in all countries eat different kinds of food, which connects culture to foods,
and many foods are shared among countries.
Learning about this topic will allow students to think globally, while learning how
to act locally. Kindergarteners tend to think that their food just comes from their
refrigerator. This unit will allow them to explore where food truly comes from, and let
them start to think about different cultures connected with these foods.

b. Given the central focus, describe how the standards and learning objectives
of your unit address:

essential content in each subject area

requisite skills in each subject area

any connections to reading/writing development

The standards and learning objectives of my unit address essential content in each
subject area, as they make sure that students grasp the main concept of the entire unit.
Most activities, if not all, contain each of these objectives/standards. This content
mentioned in the standards/objectives is the focus that each activity incorporates. The
standards and learning objectives of the unit address requisite skills because they are
overarching goals of the specific learning goals of each activity. Each activitys specific
learning goal stems from the units standards and learning objectives. The standards
and learning objectives of the unit address connections to reading/writing development
by incorporating literacy standards, and the wording of the objectives incorporates the
language to fulfill reading/writing development.
c. Explain how the lessons in your unit build on each other to help students
make connections between the subject areas you have chosen.
Activities build on each other because they incorporate the content/material/skills from
the previous lesson. As students learn content in one activity, they learn in the next how
it connects to a different subject. For example, the first activity is the interactive map to
see where foods come from. After that, the Go, Slow, Whoa SmartBoard activity
discusses the idea of healthy and unhealthy foods in just the United States. Then, the
individual version of this builds the concept even further by incorporating different
cultures Go, Slow, Whoa foods.

Monitoring Student Learning

In response to the prompts below, refer to the three assessments that your group
created.
a. Describe how your 3 assessments will provide direct evidence that students
can use strategies and skills in each subject area.
The first assessment will provide direct evidence that students can use strategies/skills
in each subject area because they are sorting go, slow, whoa foods based on the given
culture/country of origin. This makes a clear connection between science and social
studies, and proves that students understand the concept of go, slow, whoa. The second
assessment makes a clear connection between writing, science, and social studies. It
will provide direct evidence that students can use strategies and skills in each subject
area because they have written about where their family comes from, and what foods
they eat that are associated with their culture/familys country of origin. The third
assessment is based on everything students have learned throughout the unit, which
includes literacy, science, and social studies strategies and skills. Students ideas
shared aloud is direct evidence that they can use the strategies/skills from each subject
area as they share foods and where they come from and if they are go, slow, whoa.

b. Explain how the design or adaptation of your planned assessments allows

students with specific needs to demonstrate their learning. Consider all
students, including students with IEPs, English language learners, struggling
readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic
knowledge, and/or gifted students.
The assessments allow students with specific needs to demonstrate their learning
because they each incorporate pictures/drawings, labels, guided questions asked by the
teacher as the students complete the assessment, and the teacher will have modeled
each of the assessments before having the students compete it. This takes into account
learners with different needs and learning styles.