Literature Review 1

Literature Review: Domain A

Erica Savage

National University

Abstract
Literature Review 2

In this paper, I will be reviewing two articles that pertain to Domain A of the Teaching

Performance Expectations. The first article is from the website Eudtopia and discusses five

highly effective teaching strategies that are linked to student outcomes. The second article I will

be reviewing pertains to the different learning styles of students.

Literature Review: Domain A

Literature Review 3

Domain A in the Teaching Performance Expectations pertains to making subject matter

comprehensible to students and contains TPE 1: Subject-Specific Pedagogical Skills for Multiple

Subject Assignments. Because this description seemed so broad to me when I first read it, I

wasn’t exactly sure of it's meaning; however, reviewing the domains more closely when reading

the document by the Commission on Teacher Credentialing made me realize that this domain is

all about using best practices in being able to teach the state-adopted content standards in English

Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. Not only do teachers need to be

experts in the content themselves, they also need to make the information available to students

with a wide range of learning styles.

The first article titled “5 Highly Effective Teaching Strategies” discusses five strategies

teachers can use to help students be successful including teacher clarity, classroom discussion,

feedback, formative assessments, and metacognitive strategies. According to Rebecca Alber,

“When a teacher begins a new unit of study or project with students, she clarifies the purpose and

learning goals, and provides explicit criteria on how students can be successful” (2016).

Identifying the learning goals with students allows students to focus on what is important and

what is being asked of them before the lesson even begins. Teachers also should engage the

students in class discussions. Not only will this allow for more student participation, students

will get to reflect on additional ideas from their peers. Feedback is another important strategy

that teachers can use to communicate with students and let them know what they are doing right

and what they can improve on. Throughout lessons, teachers should also be informally assessing

students progress. This way, the teacher can make informed decisions on their next steps. Lastly,

Alber suggests “Students are given opportunities to plan and organize, monitor their own work,
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direct their own learning, and to self-reflect along the way” (2016). Students will learn to

become independent by taking charge of their own learning.

The second article that I researched relates to the different learning styles of students.

According to the article, “there are currently seven learning styles: visual, aural, verbal, physical,

logical, social, and solitary” (Learning Styles). As teachers, it is important for us to get to know

all of our students so that we can create lesson plans that are geared to target all different types of

learners. This way, we will be able to reach more students in order to help them succeed. It is

important for us to incorporate a variety of activities into our lessons such as videos, hands on

activities, discussions, movement, music, group activities, individual activities, etc. with

different materials in order to engage a vast number of students.

A huge part of a teacher’s job is getting the students to meet the state-adopted content

standards as suggested in Domain A. In order to do so, teachers must plan lessons that are

comprehensible and engaging for all students. As the two articles reviewed suggest, there is an

array of strategies and tools to help do so.

References
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Alber, R. (2016, February 27). 5 Highly Effective Teaching Practices. Retrieved April 16, 2019,

from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/5-highly-effective-teaching-practices-rebecca-alber

Learning Styles. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2019, from https://www.time4learning.com/learning-

styles.shtml