Ivonne Morales

Teacher Work Sample

School and Community

Orozco Academy is a Chicago Public School located in the Pilsen neighborhood of

Chicago. Orozco currently serves about 617 students. Of that student population, 98.1% come

from low income homes, receive public aid, are supported in foster homes, and/or qualify to

receive free or reduced lunch. This rate is 11.5% higher than other schools in the district. At

Orozco, 8.7% of students receive special education services from teachers such as myself.

Orozco has a mobility rate of 6.6, where students enroll in or leave the school. One of the

figures that Orozco is often recognized for is its high attendance rate of 97.4%. The attendance

rate for the district is 92.5% and the state 94.4%. Another marker that Orozco is known for is its

high parent involvement rate, which is 100%- compared to 80.3% for the district and 95.3% for

the state (Illinois School Report Card, 2012).

Orozco’s school demographics of racial/ethnic history have been pretty consistent within

the past 10 years. Orozco serves a predominantly Hispanic population of students. The

percentage of that student population is 98.1%. Due to the high Hispanic population being part

of the migration culture from Mexico, 28.8% of students at the school receive transitional

bilingual, or ELL services. The next highest served population at Orozco is American Indian,

0.8 percent of the school’s student population. The remaining student population is Black (0.6)

and White (0.5).

Classroom Environment

The eighth grade, Social Studies classroom consists of twenty-five students who are a

part of an inclusion setting, meaning there are students from the general education program and

students with IEP’s. Eight of the twenty-five students have IEP’s which address their

individual academic and emotional/behavioral needs. All eight students have been diagnosed

with a learning disability, five boys and three girls. Four of those students have also been

diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder. Three of those four students display

behavioral/emotional problems which are disruptive to the classroom environment. Each of

those students struggles with at least one type of off-task behavior (i.e. socializing, bullying, etc.)

and turning in completed homework on a daily basis. Accommodations and modifications vary

by student and are incorporated into each classroom lesson in order to support students’ needs

and learning styles. These accommodations and modifications are implemented to support their

access to grade-level content. Additionally, six of those eight students have yet to exit out of

receiving ELL services. This is because they have not passed the annually mandated ACCESS

test. To support their language needs, teachers incorporate various QTEL materials and

strategies on an almost daily basis.

In the eighth grade, students are introduced to history (informational content) through

short texts and articles during the forty-five minutes of Social Studies, five days a week. To

increase comprehension, strategies such as Activating Prior Knowledge, Jigsaw, Clarifying

Bookmarks, and Mind Mirrors, which are all QTEL strategies, are incorporated into weekly

lessons. Students are assessed weekly through tests and quizzes, which in the past have been

both teacher and non-teacher generated. However, the tests are modified for the students with

IEP’s (entire test read aloud, reduced number of questions, removal of difficult vocabulary,

modified format, etc.). Normally information is orally presented to students, as I write it on the

board for students to reference to. PowerPoint presentations are sometimes utilized to depict

information visually to students.

Rationale

In order to align the 8th grade level content, with the currently implemented Illinois

Standards and the newly incorporated Common Core State Standards, the 8th grade Orozco

teachers created literacy units for each quarter. Each unit ties informational text content with the

application of reading and writing strategies. The units focus instruction on a common theme

through several short texts, articles and multimedia. The unit includes a variety of student

reading and writing activities, integrating those texts. The first quarter unit contained content

from WWII, the second quarter consisted of the Cold War and this third quarter focus is on the

Civil Rights. These units are teacher-designed with the intention that it will be of high interest,

incorporate essential questions, explore culture and the conflicts between them, and bind a

cluster of standards. The lessons presented here, will fall within our 8th grade unit on the Civil

Rights.

In the current unit, students will use primary and secondary sources to examine the

various political and social changes that occurred as individuals and groups raised civil rights

issues and challenged the status quo in the 1950s and 1960s. The key events of the American

Civil Rights Movement include Brown v. Board of Education, the Montgomery Bus Boycott,

Little Rock Crisis, Marches on Washington, Birmingham and Selma, the Civil Rights Acts of

1957, 1960, 1964, the 24th Amendment, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Students will

conduct research using primary source materials and construct and narrate a visual/photographic

timeline. The performance assessment will require students to write a letter to the editor or an

opinion piece discussing civil rights from the past or today (student choice).

This teacher work sample will encompass two lessons, from the Civil Rights unit. These

lessons will take approximately a total of 12 days and consist of an overview of key terms,

events and people in the modern movement of American civil rights. The 12-day lesson contains

a teacher-made post-test, and a day of review prior to the post-test. The materials and lessons

being utilized come from the Teaching Tolerance kit, titled “A Time for Justice: America’s Civil

Rights Movement”. The lessons from the kit being taught include “A Time for Justice” and

“Facing Resistance”.

Outcomes

During the lesson “A Time for Justice”, the film A Time for Justice, will provide the

students with historical footage and an overview of key events and people, introducing them to

the modern movement for African American equality. The activities within the lesson will

support students to outline key events of the civil rights movement on a timeline, gather

information from the film, and assess how the civil rights movement changed the United States.

Overall, the film and activities will provide an overview of the movement and engage students

with some of the big questions the movement raises about the struggle for equal rights under the

law, about how that struggle was waged and about the importance of the civil rights movement

in United States history. Through the “Facing Resistance” lesson, students will learn about some

of the Americans who gave their lives in the struggle for civil rights. The activities within the

lesson will allow students to identify people who gave their lives fighting to achieve equal rights

and recognize patterns and generalize about violence against black Americans and civil rights

activists. Both lessons will help students recognize that, in addition to movement leaders,

everyday people participated in and made sacrifices in the freedom struggle.

Standards

 Pre-test Item  Standard  Objective  Post-test Item

   1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

ILS-1.A.3a Apply knowledge of word origins and derivations to comprehend words used in specific content areas (e.g., scientific, political, literary, mathematical).

Students will identify the meaning of words relative to the modern civil rights movement.

   1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

   9 ILS-16.A.3b Make inferences about historical

Students will identify and describe the

 10, 11, 14, 15. 16,

events and eras using historical maps and other historical sources.

historical events of the civil rights movement. 17, 18, 19

ILS-1.C.3d Summarize and make generalizations from content and relate them to the purpose of the material.

Students will generalize the historical events from the film.

  20

ILS-1.C.3d Summarize and make generalizations from content and relate them to the purpose of the material.

Students will summarize the patterns and generalize about violence against black Americans and civil rights activists.

20

ILS-1.C.3d Summarize and make generalizations from content and relate them to the purpose of the material.

Students will summarize how the civil rights movement brought change to the United States.

20

ILS-3.C.3a Compose narrative, informative, and persuasive writings (e.g., in addition to previous writings, literature reviews, instructions, news articles, correspondence) for a specified audience.

Students will describe the obstacles that civil rights activists faced.

20

10

ILS-18.C.3b Explain how diverse groups have contributed to U.S. social systems over time.

Students will identify people and the roles of those people, who gave their lives to achieve equal rights.

9, 13, 20

ILS-18.C.3b Explain how diverse groups have contributed to U.S. social systems over time.

Students will summarize how the civil rights movement brought change to the United States.

20

10 ILS-14.D.3 Describe roles and influences of individuals, groups and media in shaping current Illinois and United States public policy (e.g., general public opinion, special

Students will identify people and the roles of those people, who gave their lives to achieve equal rights.

9, 13, 20

interest groups, formal parties, media).

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

CCSS-RI.8.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts.

Students will identify the meaning of words relative to the modern civil rights movement.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

CCSS-W.8.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.

Students will describe the obstacles that civil rights activists faced.

20

WIDA-Listening: Identify the terms relative to the modern civil rights movement from oral directions.

Students will listen to teacher oral directions and then identify the terms.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

WIDA-Listening: Summarize how the civil rights movement brought change to the United States.

Students will listen to teacher oral directions and write a summary about the changes brought on by civil rights movement.

 20

WIDA-Reading: Use information to identify people and their roles.

Students will identify people and the roles of those people in the civil rights movement.

9, 13, 20

WIDA-Writing: Interpret a matrix and summarize the patterns.

Students will interpret the matrix posted in the classroom and summarize the patterns in the deadly violence that was committed against black Americans and civil rights activists.

 20

WIDA-Speaking: Orally recite a speech.

Students will memorize and recite famous civil rights speech, from a given selection.

21

Environment & Materials

Each activity found within the lessons, will be student-centered and involve cooperative

learning through pair/group work and discussions.  The desks are grouped together in fours to

further promote student collaboration. This will prepare students to participate effectively in a

range of conversations and collaborations and encourage them to build on others’ ideas and

expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

The 12-day lesson contains a teacher-made pre-test and post-test. The materials and

lessons being used come from the Teaching Tolerance kit, titled “A Time for Justice: America’s

Civil Rights Movement”. The lessons from the kit include “A Time for Justice” and “Facing

Resistance”. The materials featured in the lesson “A Time for Justice” will be a handout titled

Alone in a Crowd, the film A Time for Justice and the Civil Rights Movement Timeline poster.

The materials included in the lesson “Facing Resistance” will be a handout titled Facing Violent

Resistance to Change and 40 Martyrs Who Gave Their Lives for Civil Rights.

Assessment

1. What type of test questions did you create for the pre-assessment (multiple choice, short-

answer, matching, sentence completion, true-false)? Did you use various types of test

questions? How many questions total? 

The pre-test consisted of a total of 11 questions. Of the 11 questions, eight presented

vocabulary words from the unit where students had to rate their knowledge of each term. If they

scored their knowledge as a three or four, students had to either use it in a sentence or define it.

The other four were open-ended questions. The teacher read the directions, terms, and questions

aloud, as an accommodation for students with special needs and students who are ELL’s or

labeled as both.

2. Were the directions clear? Was the format of the test easily understandable? Was the

vocabulary too difficult? Was the test biased? Was the readability at level? Was there

enough time for all the questions? 

When I had originally written the pre-test, the directions were a bit unclear. But after

receiving feedback from my professor, I made some changes to the directions and the format.

After, I presented the directions to the students, I asked if there were any questions and no one

raised their hand. During the test, there were no questions relating to what the questions were

asking of them or what they had to do. The only questions that I received were about helping

them remember the names of specific people and events, which by answering would have helped

them answer the questions. The teacher-made test was age-appropriate and at the readability

level of the 8th grade students. The test was also read aloud to prevent any readability level

barriers. The students were given 45 minutes total to complete the pre-test and all the students

were finished between 5 minutes to 35 minutes.

3. What was the overall difficulty level of the pre-assessment questions? Were questions

given equal weight? 

The questions on the pre-test all rely on prior knowledge of the content, which was on the

Civil Rights Movement. So, if the students had not been exposed to the content prior to the pre-

test, either in class or through media, it would be difficult to respond to the questions in depth

and with accuracy. The open-ended questions were equally weighed because this test was meant

to determine what students already know and understand about the Civil Right Movement.

4. What type of content knowledge was covered in the pre-assessment? Mostly factual

knowledge? Skill-based knowledge? Conceptual knowledge? 

The pre-assessment covers factual knowledge. Problems one through nine presents

vocabulary words from the unit where students have to identify the meaning or apply the word in

a sentence to show knowledge of the term. Questions ten and eleven consists of open-ended

questions that allow students to show their knowledge of the Civil Rights Movement (people and

events).

5. What were the overall results of the pre-assessment? What information did they provide

in terms of determining the prerequisite skills needed by the students? What type of data

supported the levels of student readiness? How did you classify and categorize the students

based on the range of scores? 

The overall results of the pre-assessment showed that from a total of 24 students who

took the pre-test, 16 students had 0 out of 11 questions correct, 6 students had 1 out of 11

questions correct, 1 student had 2 questions correct, and 1 student had 3 out of 11 questions

correct. This indicated that most students had anywhere between 0% and 27% accuracy. The

students demonstrated that they needed support with civil rights related vocabulary terms, such

as: discrimination, de facto discrimination, de jure discrimination, integration, nonviolence,

retaliation, segregation, and unconstitutional. Students also showed that they needed support in

being able to describe what the American Civil Rights Movement was, historical events and

significant people involved in the civil rights movement and the roles they played. As figure 1

and figure 2 indicates, with such a low percentage of accuracy for each question number, all

students will be supported with the same level of support.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

-6

-1

4

9

14

19

24

Number of Correct Answers on Questions

Question Number

Num

ber C

orre

ct

Figure 1- Indicates the number of correct answers for each question number.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1118

19

20

21

22

23

24

Number of Incorrect Answers on Questions

Question Number

Num

ber I

ncor

rect

Figure 2- Indicates the number of incorrect answers for each question number.

6. Did you use the results of the pre-assessment to set goals and objectives for the

subsequent teaching of the unit? Was it truly “assessment-driven instruction”?

Due to such low student accuracy on the pre-test, I decided to specifically cover the areas

which were assessed (vocabulary, people, and events of the American Civil Rights Movement).

As a result, the pre-assessment results drove my instruction for the unit. Students will then

receive a post-assessment to reassess their knowledge in those areas. Once it is established that

those prerequisites are mastered, then we will move into other areas of the Civil Rights

Movement and how it relates to present day.

7. What was the total number of points a student can gain from the pre-assessment? What

was the grading scale? How did you score the pre-assessment? 

The students could gain a total of 11 points for the assessment.  Each question was worth

1 point or 9% on the test.  For questions 1-9, students could define the word either correctly or

incorrectly.  To determine that, I looked for specific key words that had to be incorporated in

each definition. I did not score students on their vocabulary word knowledge rating for questions

1-9. The rating simply allowed students to assess their own knowledge of the terms. For

question 10, students had to list known historical events of the civil rights movement and

describe the events, with specific key words describing each historical event. For question 11,

students had to list known people involved in the civil rights movement and specifically describe

the role they played. Students could receive no credit, half credit if they described the event or

person’s role with some accuracy or full credit.

Pre-Assessment

Please see the attached.

Lesson Plans and Activities

Lessons and activities that will take place in the classroom to prepare students to take the Civil

Rights Post-Test:  

Lesson 1

Day 1

In pairs, through discussion, students will analyze a photograph of Elizabeth Eckford

taken in 1957.

As a class, students will brainstorm they already know about the civil rights movement,

who comes to mind, and name the important events in the movement that they know

about.

Day 2 and 3

Students will create a physical timeline of the events featured in the film A Time for

Justice.

Students will watch the film A Time for Justice twice: once to get the big picture and

understand the emotional impact and again to pause at each segment and take some notes.

Day 4

In groups, students will be provided with questions for discussion to generalize the events

they have seen through jigsaw.

Individually, students will list the changes brought on by the civil rights movement.

Day 5

Individually, students will create a before-and-after photograph display.

Lesson 2

Day 6

As a class, students will brainstorm more examples of what happened to civil rights

activists as they worked for freedom.

As a class, students will analyze the photographs on the handout Facing Violent

Resistance to Change.

As a class, students will add the situations shown to their list of ways that some white

Southerners resisted the movement for equal rights.

Day 7

In groups, students will read about the people they have been assigned from the 40

Martyrs handout.

Day 8-10

In groups, students will write details of the individuals who were killed (name, race, age,

who killed them, why they were killed).

Students will post their information, creating a matrix, which will reveal patterns of who

was killed and why.

Each group of students will share the information gathered with the class.

In groups, students will answer a set of questions relating to the patterns.

Individually, students will write a statement that could be posted at a civil rights

memorial in honor of the people they learned about.

Day 11

In groups, students will review for the post-test by reflecting on learning, vocabulary, and

activities.

Day 12

Individually, students will be assessed on their learning through the Civil Rights Post-

Test.

Results/Findings

1. How valid was your post-assessment? Did it match what you actually taught in the unit

and how you taught the unit?

I believe that the post-assessment was valid. The vocabulary portion had the same

vocabulary terms that were assessed in the pre-assessment. The rest of the assessment

incorporated questions which were about the people and events highlighted throughout the unit.

Additionally we had a review, the day prior to the post-test, specifically addressing the content

that would be assessed on the post-test.

2. How many objectives were covered in the post-assessment? List the objectives below:

There were 14 out of 16 objectives covered in the post-assessment. The objectives are

listed in the pre-implementation section.

3. Did you think beforehand about what types of responses a student may make based on

the multiple directions s/he can take for each question on the post-assessment?

Before giving the post-assessment, I looked at the wording of the assessment and made

sure to omit any unnecessary words and phrases in both the directions and throughout the

assessment. None of the terms found in the assessment were new or unfamiliar to the students.

4. What were the learning outcomes as a result of both the pre-assessment and post-

assessment? What information did you gain about your students’ learning?

The assessments indicate that from the time of the pre-test to the post-test, students

learned of key terms, events and people, introducing them to the modern movement for African

American equality. Additionally the film and activities must have provided them with an

overview of the movement and engaged students with some of the big questions the movement

raises about the struggle for equal rights under the law, about how that struggle was waged and

about the importance of the civil rights movement in United States history.

5. How much did they guess on the post-assessment?

Aside from the few students who missed several days of school during the unit due to

suspensions or illness, students did not guess because they were familiar with the terms and

content that they were being assessed on.

6. Did you review for the post-assessment?

Yes, we had a review the day prior of the post-assessment to recap the unit.

7. Are the test items on the post-assessment free of clues?

No, the post-test was not completely free of clues. However, if the students had not

learned the content, the clues would not help them in deciphering the clues. So, the

students would have to have learned the content, in order to be able to use the clues to their

advantage.

8. Upon reflection, what test questions on the post-assessment would you like to have

changed?

None, I was very happy by the test question posted.

9. Should the test questions on the post-assessment have been familiar to the students in

terms of content and format?

For the most part, students were familiar with the content and format of the post-

assessment. The only thing students were not familiar with was the cut-and paste portion of the

test. The eight grade students were surprised that it was part of the post-test but were happy that

it was a part of the post-assessment.

10. What types of questions on the post-assessment were most valuable? Was there a

variety of test questions?

There were two valuable parts of the test in my opinion. The first one being the

vocabulary portion, where students had to match the vocabulary terms to their definitions. This

was important to me because these words are now a part of their vocabulary. The other

questions, which gave me a lot of insight into their newly acquired knowledge and their view on

that knowledge, were the open ended questions.

11. Did the post-assessment measure mostly factual knowledge or conceptual knowledge?

The post-assessment measured mostly factual knowledge.

12. What factors affected the reliability? Would you get the same results if the students

were retested? If so, then why and how?

I believe that if I were to retest the students, I would obtain similar results. The

assessment demonstrated that the lessons within the unit were effective. I would have liked to

have had time to have the students who missed some of the lesson/s to “catch-up” so that they

could have also been successful.

13. How well-designed were the pre and post-assessments? Did you write it well in

advance?

Changes had been made to assessment drafts with professor input. The pre-and post-

assessments were designed well before the unit was implemented.

14. Did the test questions on the post-assessment align with the ISBE/WIDA State

Standards?

Yes, the lessons, content and test questions all align to CCSS, ISBE, and WIDA

Standards.

15. Was the post-assessment easy to administer and grade?

The post-assessment was easy to administer but not easy to grade. Since the post-test

was not only multiple choice or true/false, then it was very time consuming to grade each one.

Post-Assessment

Please see the attached.

Learning Analysis

The post-assessment mean was found to be 91.9%. According to the Orozco grading

scale, this is a low letter grade of “A”. This median of the post-assessment was a 92.5%. The

mode of the post-assessment was 100%. The range is 33, which is large, and was expected for

those students who missed much of the lesson/s. Finally, for the standard deviation, it was 8.27.

I am glad that the data from the post-test aligns with my observations and other assessments

throughout the unit. Based on the data, we can continue on with the Civil Rights Unit, without

having to review.

Teaching Performance & Effectiveness

1. What elements of your teaching were successful or could remain the same if teaching this

unit again? What successes and celebrations did you experience? Why?

If I were to reteach this unit again, I would implement all of the same activities again.

Many of the materials and lessons that were utilized came from the Teaching Tolerance kit, titled

“A Time for Justice: America’s Civil Rights Movement”. The lessons from the kit that were

taught included “A Time for Justice” and “Facing Resistance”. During the lesson, “A Time for

Justice”, the film A Time for Justice, provided students with historical footage and an overview

of key events and people. This helped introduce them to the modern movement for African

American equality. The activities within the lesson supported students to outline key events of

the civil rights movement on a timeline, gather information from the film, and assess how the civil rights movement changed the United States. Overall, the film and activities provided an

overview of the movement and engaged students with some of the big questions the movement

raises about the struggle for equal rights under the law, about how that struggle was waged and

about the importance of the civil rights movement in United States history. Through the “Facing

Resistance” lesson, students learned about some of the Americans who gave their lives in the

struggle for civil rights. The activities within the lesson will allow students to identify people

who gave their lives fighting to achieve equal rights and recognize patterns and generalize about

violence against black Americans and civil rights activists. Both lessons helped students

recognize that, in addition to movement leaders, everyday people participated in and made

sacrifices in the freedom struggle.

2. What elements of your teaching were unsuccessful or what would you change or adapt

in planning, instructing or assessing if you taught this lesson again? Why?

From analyzing the data and personal observations, I do not believe that there were any

unsuccessful elements of my teaching. If I were to reteach it, I would teach it similar to the way

I did on this trial run.

3. What have you learned from planning and teaching this unit?

I learned that in order to have a successful unit, I have to plan all my units in the manner

as I did with this unit. Time in planning is one of the most important components to creating a

successful unit, which includes the pre-and post-assessments. Additionally, incorporating

activities that are student-friendly and interesting to students is also extremely critical to having a

successful unit.

4. How will the feedback you received from your supervisor or cooperating teacher/mentor

about this unit impact your future teaching?

I will use the feedback to continue to reflect on my teaching and future unit creation.

There is always room for improvement and having feedback from someone more experienced is

always a positive.

5. Describe any feedback you received from the students and how this will impact your

future teaching.

The students really enjoyed the unit activities which were hands-on and included a

variety of learning modes. The students also shared that the assessments were different from any

other assessments they had taken previously. They said they enjoyed the format of the

assessments and wanted to see similar formatted assessments in the future. The downside is how

time consuming it is to create these types of assessments and then grading them. So although

similar formatted assessments can be created, teacher collaboration in creating them would help

minimize the amount of time it takes to create them. Also, with continued practice, it should be

easier to create these types of assessments in a shorter amount of time.

6. What are your proposed next steps for your own professional development that are

logical outgrowths of what you have written here?

Since the CCSS and the curriculum is still new I will continue to attend Literacy PD’s

correlating to the strategies and curriculum.

7. Provide specific examples that demonstrate what you have learned about teaching and

learning?

I learned that by having the student’s interest in mind and applying best practices,

students will be able to learn the content and successfully demonstrate their learning. I also

learned that assessments do not all have to be multiple choice or true/false. Other forms of tests

can be utilized to assess student growth.

8. What have you learned about yourself?

I have learned that I can create and implement successful units that students can enjoy.

9. When you reflect on the context and students’ opportunities to learn, are there issues of

equity or justice that need to be considered? Are there any other moral or ethical issues

that came to light through this experience?

No. Actually, the lessons contributed to the later discussion of issues equity and justice

that the students have experienced or witnessed.