Educators demonstrate a broad knowledge base and an understanding of areas they teach.

Doing the research

For this standard, I believe that it kind of goes without saying that to create a meaningful learning experience you need to have a good understanding of the content to teach it. You wouldn’t go zip lining without a harness just like you would not teach on a subject that you don’t know anything about. For myself when it came to my final practicum I was in a kindergarten class so I had to have a good understanding of basic number sense and the foundations of phonics. These were a main focus for our class so it was something I already had an understanding of these things but, since I was explicitly teaching these things to my students I wanted to make sure I reviewed a little bit before I taught them. Such as knowing which letters can make more than one sound (like e) and so on. I felt this was important because for these students this is the base that will set them up to start sounding out words and reading so it was critical to be giving them the correct information to be able to build upon. This does not just apply to students that are just setting out on their education journey. It applies to when you are teaching at any grade level. I also think that this standard speaks to being prepared and flexible. If you have a good understanding of the content you are teaching the more flexible you are most likely to be. I argue this because then if you’re students need more time or information to learn about a certain topic you will be able to pause and meet them where they are at. If you did not have a great knowledge base to work with and your students needed more information to understand then you might run into a road block situation. But, I find in situations like this it helps to be prepared but be honest when you do not have the answers to everything and you and your students can explore together.