Most professionals have a way to demonstrate their expertise in their fields, whether through experience, licenses, certifications, or awards. How can teachers and instructors demonstrate their expertise and effectiveness in the classroom? A teaching portfolio allows you to demonstrate your teaching abilities to current and/or prospective employers. It includes documents and materials that, taken together, suggest the breadth and quality of your teaching ability. In this course, you will create a series of documents that will serve as the foundation for your teaching portfolio. An instruction plan is your first document for the Teaching Portfolio. An instruction plan is a common document in a teaching portfolio because it represents how you effectively develop, organize, and deliver your teaching materials. It also contributes to the assessment strategies that you may employ to evaluate student learning. This week, you will create a lesson plan for a class lecture or discussion. What factors must you consider when creating an effective lesson plan?

Review the Learning Resources, including the Improving Student Engagement video from last week and Griggs’ Psychology: A Concise Introduction textbook, to aid in the selection and development of your assignment topic for this first Teaching Portfolio Assignment. Choose a lecture or discussion topic that will serve as the foundation of your instruction plan for a 1-hour in-person lecture or discussion and an activity. The activity for the lecture instruction plan should be one that a class of 200 students in an introductory psychology course can complete during the lecture. Plan your activity for 25 students if you decide to have a discussion-based class. What do you believe are the most important elements to address in terms of content and activities? What kind of classroom atmosphere are you attempting to create, and how will this discussion or lecture contribute to that development? You also make a PowerPoint presentation to go along with your discussion or lecture.

Submit an 8- to 10-page instruction plan using the template provided using the Turnitin submission link labeled “Assignment Part 1 Turnitin – Week 4.” Your 8- to 10-page document should include a 2- to 3-page APA-formatted paper explaining the rationale for your lesson plan. Please see the Instruction Plan Example and the Instruction Plan Template documents for more information. The following should be included in your rationale paper:

A justification for the active learning methods, strategies, and theories you used in your lesson plan.
An explanation of the classroom atmosphere you are attempting to create and how your lesson plan may contribute to that atmosphere
In addition to any course readings, cite at least three resources that support the learning methods, strategies, and theories you chose.