6. Educators have a broad knowledge base and understand the subject areas they teach.

One day during my practicum, I was teaching the class on a life cycle of Painted Lady butterflies and I asked the class what butterflies would do after they hatch from cocoon. Responses I expected to hear were either butterflies fly to drink nectar from flowers or find a mate. However, out of my surprise, one student said they fly to Mexico. In that split second, I remembered reading books about Monarch butterfly migration during the time I worked on creating a butterfly’s life cycle unit. I first praised the student’s response and led a conversation towards Monarch butterfly’s migration. We talked about reasons why Monarch butterflies migrate in context of climate and geography, and then moved on by taking answers from others students.

Having done a research on butterflies in various academic areas, such as Social Studies, Language Arts, and Science, I was able to communicate the learning contents effectively incorporating relevant subjects. I told myself I had to have funds of knowledge about butterflies and be passionate about butterflies like a lepidopterist.

I read a story about Monarch butterfly migration and showed the class a video clip about Monarch butterfly migration as well.

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

Albert Einstein

This quote sums up how I felt and what I learned during the unit. As a teacher I am aware that I should internalize what I know to be able to communicate the content effectively to students; therefore, I met this standard. If I cannot explain the learning content simply to five or six-year-old students, it shows that I am teaching something which I do not know well enough.