North Carolina Honors Level Course Portfolio

North Carolina Honors Level Course Portfolio

LEA Name: Alamance-Burlington

LEA Code: 010

School:

Course Name: English I

Course Code: 1021

Teacher’s Name:

Electronic submission of this portfolio certifies that honors level course portfolios for each teacher within the LEA have been reviewed using the North Carolina Honors Level Course Implementation Guide and Rubricand that this portfolio has been selected to represent the level of teaching and learning for this honors course across the LEA.

As part of the NCDPI Honors Course Portfolio Review, if you are submitting copyrighted material or material that has a user license, ensure that you have obtained the appropriate permissions to share this information.

I. Curriculum Content

1. Teacher rationale for curriculum content considering vertical alignment for advanced learners (intentional reflection & philosophy)
This is where you describe your personal pedagogy and explain how you have adapted and differentiated the curriculum content for this course for your advanced learners. This should be an intentional reflection of your teaching philosophy as it applies to this course and teaching at the Honors level. Questions to consider: How is it different than a standard level course? How does it challenge students through accelerated pacing, complexity, challenges and creativity? Identify how your course represents extension, acceleration and enrichment of the NC SCOS and CCSS.
Example:
The Common Core State Standards are a more rigorous curriculum design for our students. However, educators must still find ways to enrich and accelerate the curriculum for advanced learners. English I Honors extends, accelerates, and enriches the Common Core State Standards for English/Language Arts and Literacy for deeper learning. Incorporating more complex texts, conceptual thinking, enrichment opportunities, and creativity will challenge these advanced learners. Differentiating the curriculum is key for teaching an honors level course. Differentiation is when teachers use reflective practices to discover the learning styles and needs of students. It is not about requiring less or more work from students, but rather understanding the individual and varying needs of diverse learners. Identifying varying student interests and adapting them within content, process, and product can be a way to challenge students. When differentiating by content, teachers should focus on abstract ideas in order for the learning to be valuable. Higher levels of thinking need to be addressed in order to stimulate thought and investigation about a topic. This process, or how information is taught, needs to offer students the freedom of choice. Finally, the product will illustrate the tangible results produced by students. Students in English I Honors are also expected to be more independent and self-motivated.
2. Standards and objectives - how will the required standards and clarifying objectives be taught with extensions beyond the standard level for advanced learners?
Explain how you use the Common Core State Standards and extend them beyond the standard level to challenge accelerated learners. Questions to consider: How are students expected to show greater independence and responsibility for their learning? How will your expectations lead to higher quality work, while still in alignment with the standards? What brief examples can you include to prove that this is taking place in your classroom?
Example:
Common Core State Standards will be the guide for verifying that students are learning the material both independently and successfully. This will be done in a way where students are assessed on the quality rather than the quantity of the work they produce. Honors level educators base planning on both the CCSS and students’ prior knowledge. These standards allow students to communicate clearly, become proficient writers, and develop deeper understanding of the literature presented to them. Students also develop the critical thinking skills necessary to succeed at the college level and comprehend different genres of text. Students will increase skills connected to examining evidence and supporting claims and ideas. They also focus on higher order thinking skills of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Students will approach each unit through self-directed research, stylistic learning, independent reading, textual analysis, and written and oral expression. Students will gain an appreciation for global cultures through finding and using informational and literary texts that span various literary genres. Students will construct arguments using different argumentative structures; understand and model sophisticated diction and varied sentence structure in writings; publish digitally their findings.
3. Curriculum Plan (pacing guides, course syllabus, scope & sequence, curriculum maps, etc.)
[Insert text here to briefly identify file attachments (i.e. Pacing Guide, Course Syllabus, etc.).]
[Insert the name of a file attachment with the following naming convention:
“LEACode_CourseCode_TeacherLastName_Section#.file#” where the section indicates the component of the Honors Portfolio.]
Examples:
1. For Mr. Smith’s Biology Portfolio in Pitt County, the course syllabus would be named “740_33205_Smith_I.3.1”
2. Mrs. Mitchell’s English IV Portfolio pacing guide in Buncombe County would be named “110_10245_Mitchell_I.3.1”

II. Instructional Materials and Methods

1. Teacher rationale for instructional materials and methods for advanced learners
Fill in with rationale and objective for instruction, and how units/lessons are adapted for advanced learners. In your rational, make sure to mention instructional strategies that you will use to manage differentiation, as well as strategies that indicate complexity above the standard level course, which may include, but are not limited to: teacher as a facilitator, coach, and model; student led learning and research; student exchange of ideas; project-based learning, problem-solving learning, and seminar style learning with a concentration of writing across all modalities; integration of other content areas with connections to real-world skills and context; and use of higher level critical thinking skills and creativity for advanced learners. Further, make sure your rationale includes key criteria for text selection, questions and tasks, academic vocabulary, writing to sources and research, and additional key criteria for student reading, writing, listening, and speaking.
Example:
The ideal classroom environment fosters freedom, discovery, independence, and higher levels of thinking in order to motivate, engage, and challenge students. Research indicates that there are numerous ways to implement differentiated instruction when planning for teaching gifted students. Creating assignments based on Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences, Sternberg’s theory of Successful Intelligence, and Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy can create tasks that foster interest and motivation for students. Students need to be challenged and engaged in the classroom in order for them to become lifelong learners. Varying tasks and offering options to students give them the opportunity to take control of their learning and ultimately their own success. Independent assignments, collaboration and group work, project-based learning tasks, and class discussions - through Paideia and Socratic Seminars - are all valid instructional activities that allow students to be thoughtful and to tap into their creativity. Actively seeking to understand students’ knowledge, skills, and talents can provide teachers a guide for assigning appropriate tasks that meet the learning needs of their students and in turn motivate them to succeed.
2. Instructional materials and methods (instructional resources, methods, strategies, equipment, and technology)
Fill in with instructional materials you will use to differentiate the Honors English course and resources, equipment, and technology needed for unit/lesson plan, such as: multiple texts and supplementary materials, use of computer programs, etc.
Example: (yours should be more detailed than this)
Genres:
Drama – Romeo and Juliet, supplemented with Much Ado About Nothing – compare and contrast the tragedy with the comedy; informational texts about feuds
Nonfiction – Picking Cotton, speeches (MLK Jr., President Obama); various essays, biographies, autobiographies, etc.
Short Stories – “The Most Dangerous Game,” “Cask of Amontillado,” etc.
Novels – Anthem, To Kill a Mockingbird
Epic – The Odyssey, supplemented with The Illiad; informational texts about Ancient Greece, Troy, etc.
Poetry – various; research project
Project-Based learning opportunities for each unit; tiered assignments based on Bloom’s Taxonomy to differentiate levels of learning; Task Rotation assignments
Technology: laptops, online tools, webquests, SmartBoard, etc
3. Sample units, lesson(s), and assignments indicating connections to real-world skills, context and use of higher level critical thinking skills and creativity for advanced learners
[Insert text here to briefly identify file attachments (i.e. Sample Lesson 1, 2, 3, etc.).]
[Insert names of file attachments with the following naming convention:LEACode_CourseCode_TeacherLastName_Section#.file# where the section indicates the component of the Honors Portfolio.]
Examples:
1. For Mr. Smith’s Biology Portfolio in Pitt County, Sample lesson #1 the file would be named “740_33205_Smith_II.3.1”
2. Mrs. Mitchell’s English IV Portfolio Sample lesson #2 in Buncombe County would be named “110_10245_Mitchell_II.3.2”
4. Student work samples
[Insert text here to briefly identify file attachments (i.e. Student work samples 1, 2, 3, etc.).]
[Insert names of file attachments with the following naming convention: “LEACode_CourseCode_TeacherLastName_Section#.file#”where the section indicates the component of the Honors Portfolio.]
Examples:
1. For Mr. Smith’s Biology Honors Portfolio in Pitt County, student work sample #1 the file would be named “740_33205_Smith_II.4.1”
2. Mrs. Mitchell’s English IV Honors Portfolio student work sample #2 in Buncombe County would be named “110_10245_Mitchell_II.4.2”

III. Assessment

1. Teacher rationale for assessment practices for advanced learners
Fill in with rationale for assessment practices. In your rationale, describe what type of assessment you used and how it was adapted for advanced learners. Provide some details about the format of the assessment and how it measured student growth and understanding. Be sure to explain grading practices, including how rubrics and scoring guides are used, as well as the specific skills that you assess throughout the course (for example: comprehension, citing evidence, analyzing text, applying knowledge, structural analysis, etc.)
Example:
Pre-assessments, formative assessments, and summative assessments will be used in order to guide instruction. Students will be assessed through traditional measures as well as non-traditional measures, such as Project/Problem Based Learning tasks where rubrics will be used to assess learning. While assessing reading, students will be asked to transfer ideas and understandings about literary form and themes from text studied to text never before seen. Constructed responses in the form of essays, paragraphs, journals, and other informal writing assignments will be graded with a rubric as well. Formal writing assignments will be assessed using the ABSS Writing Rubric, grading focus, organization, elaboration, style and conventions. Speaking and listening, in the form of speeches, both impromptu and formal presentations, will be assessed using a rubric that incorporates the standards.
The following categories will make up the student’s grade: Homework/Classwork (10%), Tests/Quizzes (30%), Projects (30%), and Writing (30 %).
2. Assessment practices (grading practices, use of rubrics and/or scoring guides, use of formative and summative assessment)
Fill in with the types of assessment you utilize throughout the course (pre-assessment, formative, summative) and how your assessment practices are based on the honors level blueprint provided in your Standards and Objectives section. Questions to consider: how do your assessment practices provide ongoing feedback to the advanced learner throughout the entire course (with evidence of differentiated instruction based on feedback); how/why are your scoring guides and rubrics at the appropriate level; how do your assessments provide real world and industry standard feedback to advanced leaners?
Example:
Pre-assessment data will give an opportunity to find out student readiness and assist in creating differentiated instruction. Formative assessments will be used throughout the unit to gain insight into what needs to be reviewed or retaught and which students need acceleration or scaffolding. Summative assessment data will be used to find out what students have learned, but also what standards need more instruction in future units of study.
Students will be given scoring guides and/or rubrics with the project assigned so they will know the expectations (average score) and the need to challenge themselves to go beyond those expectations (above average score). Honors level students need to be assessed through performance-based and portfolio techniques that are based on higher level learning outcomes and vary from the more traditional types of assessment.
3. Assessment samples (pre-assessment, description of formative assessment, andsummative assessment)
[Insert text here to briefly identify file attachments (i.e. Pre-assessment samples 1, Formative Assessment sample 2, Summative Assessment sample 3, etc.).]
[Insert names of file attachments with the following naming convention: “LEACode_CourseCode_TeacherLastName_Section#.file#”where the section indicates the component of the Honors Portfolio.]
Examples:
1. For Mr. Smith’s Biology Honors Portfolio in Pitt County, assessment sample #1 the file would be named “740_33205_Smith_III.3.1”
2. Mrs. Mitchell’s English IV Honors Portfolio assessment sample #2 in Buncombe County would be named “110_10245_Mitchell_III.3.2”
4. Student work assessment samples
[Insert text here to briefly identify file attachments (i.e. Pre-assessment work sample 1, Formative Assessment work sample 2, Summative Assessment work sample 3, etc.).]
[Insert names of file attachments with the following naming convention: “LEACode_CourseCode_TeacherLastName_Section#.file#”where the section indicates the component of the Honors Portfolio.]
Examples:
1. For Mr. Smith’s Biology Honors Portfolio in Pitt County, student work assessment sample #1 the file would be named “740_33205_Smith_III.4.1”
2. Mrs. Mitchell’s English IV Honors Portfolio student work assessment sample #2 in Buncombe County would be named “110_10245_Mitchell_III.4.2”