edTPA | Questions and Answers with complete solution

Learning Segment - A set of 3-5 lessons that build one upon another toward a central focus, with a clearly defined beginning and end. Each discipline has its own requirements for the learning segment (see Handbook) Commentary - Submitted as part of each task and, along with artifacts, make up your evidence. The commentaries should be written to explain the rationale behind your teaching decisions and to analyze and reflect on what you have learned about your teaching practice and your students' learning. Formal Assessment - "[R]efer[s] to all those activities undertaken by teachers and by their students . . . that provide information to be used as feedback to modify teaching and learning activities. Assessments provide evidence of students' prior knowledge, thinking, or learning in order to evaluate what students understand and how they are thinking. Formal assessments may include, for example, quizzes, homework assignments, journals, and projects. Informal Assessment - "[R]efer[s] to all those activities undertaken by teachers and by their students . . . that provide information to be used as feedback to modify teaching and learning activities."14 Assessments provide evidence of students' prior knowledge, thinking, or learning in order to evaluate what students understand and how they are thinking. Informal assessments may include, for example, student questions and responses during instruction and teacher observations of students as they work. Central Focus - central focus: A description of the important understandings and core concepts that you want students to develop within the learning segment. The central focus should go beyond a list of facts and skills, align with content standards and learning objectives, and address the subject-specific components in the learning segment. The subject-specific components for elementary literacy include an essential literacy strategy and the associated requisite skills for comprehending or composing text. For example, the central focus for a primary grade literacy learning segment might be summarizing narratives. The learning segment would focus on the essential literacy strategy (summarizing) and requisite skills (e.g., decoding, recalling, sequencing). The central focus for an upper elementary learning segment might be persuasive writing. The learning segment would focus on the essential literacy strategy (using evidence to support an argument) and requisite skills (e.g., writing paragraphs, using correct verb tense, or other conventions). See the Making Good Choices resource for suggestions on selecting your central focus.