Evidence 1. Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics (VCTM) 2019 ConferenceIn March 2019, I attended the Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics annual conference. This evidence includes the description of each session I attended and an explanation of what I learned. Among the sessions I went to, I learned about kinesthetic learning in Algebra I, classroom management, conceptual learning of fractions, interactive notebooks, and using Algeblocks in Geometry.
This relates to Standard 9, Professional Learning and Ethical Practice, because I was engaging in the ongoing process of professional learning and I have used what I learned to continually evaluate my practice. For example, in one session I learned an extensive amount of strategies for classroom management. The presenter gave us numerous examples of how to turn review games into an extremely motivating and engaging class period. One of the ways I incorporated this in the classroom is with class competitions for Quizizz review games. I realized that students were not very motivated to perform well on Quizizz games without a reward at the end. Now, each time my classes play a Quizizz, we record their class average. The class with the highest average at the end of five games wins donuts. In this way, students have motivation to perform well and are encouraged to assist their peers because that would impact the class average. The games were a group effort since their competition was not in the classroom with them at the time. This shows that I revise classroom practice based on reflection and feedback. My eagerness to attend this conference shows that I seek feedback and evidence that I can use to continually evaluate my teaching practices. At the time of this conference, I had not started my field experience or internship in education, so I did not have a lot of classroom experience. In the majority of these sessions, I had the opportunity to hear from and converse with many veteran teachers. I took notes on their teaching practices and what has helped them be successful. This shows that I collaborate with colleagues to improve and enhance instructional knowledge and skills. The input I received from presenters and other teachers gave me encouragement this early on in my teaching career and I began to develop ideas about the types of lessons I wanted to teach. I listened to teachers whose class focused on interactive notebooks and others that spent every class period playing games. I realized that there are so many styles to teaching and I would need to pick and choose what strategies would work in my own classroom. After attending this conference, I began to identify areas of my own teaching practices that I needed to work on and determine my philosophy on. I was able to identify areas of personal strength and weakness related to professional skills and their effect on student learning. One session talked about student engagement and using hands-on activities to help kinesthetic learners. I learned from this session that it is important to use a variety of instructional strategies, such as Desmos activities, hands-on investigations, and real-world applications. This shows that I analyze other courses of action based on feedback. This evidence is important to me because I attended this conference very early on in my teaching licensure program. This conference was a great time for me to talk with educators and review ways that I wanted to set up my classroom and present content. While I did not have much teaching experience at the time, I learned a lot from other teachers about what works for them and how they improved their teaching practices. It gave me a lot of great tips to use in my own lessons later on. |
Evidence 2. Roanoke City Public Schools Professional DevelopmentIn October 2019, I attended Roanoke City Public School’s professional development sessions along with my cooperating teacher for my Early Field placement. We went to three different sessions and had the opportunity to discuss new teaching strategies and how we could apply them to our classroom. The evidence I provided includes confirmation of my attendance along with a brief description of each session and what I learned. This relates to Standard 9 because it shows that I engage in ongoing professional learning and uses evidence to adapt my teaching practices to meet the needs of each learner.
The first session was about creating anchor charts. I have not seen these used in practice before and my cooperating teacher, along with some other math teachers at our school, discussed how we could use them in the classroom and created a few of our own relating to the upcoming unit. This shows that I collaborate with colleagues to improve and enhance instructional knowledge and skills. I liked that the charts are generated by students and saw how beneficial this could be in helping them remember new content. I decided that I would try and use anchor charts in my own classroom at least once a month. In doing so, I set goals for improvement of my teaching skills and professional performance. The second session was about creating mindfulness in the classroom. We heard from experts in the field about their experience with implementing this philosophy in a local middle school. My cooperating teacher and I reflected on how this would go in our own classroom. Based on my classroom observations in my Early Field placement, I was able to identify a few students that could really benefit from having a moment at the start of class to calm themselves and others who would not appreciate the practice and may cause disruptions. In our first period class, we already gave the students time to settle in and finish breakfast before starting the lesson. While this took away from instruction time, it was important to give the students some personal time to get in the right mindset to learn. We decided that incorporating a “mindful minute” in this time may help some students without changing the routine too much. This shows I use classroom observation and information about students to evaluate teaching and learning. The final session introduced me to a new online gaming system that teachers can use for review games and class activities. The game was similar to Quizizz and Kahoot, both online games used for educational purposes. While I do not think I will use this program in my classroom that often, this session gave me the opportunity to reflect upon classroom practices and think about what other courses of action I would take as a teacher instead of using this review game. I chose not to use this online platform because there were a lot of restrictions on what I could do unless I paid for a premium account and I found that many of the features were very similar to Quizizz, which I already used in the classroom. This shows that I revise my classroom practices based on reflection and analyze other courses of action. This evidence is important to me because I think it reflects the growth I had made between the time I attended the VCTM conference and these sessions. In between these professional development events, I had been involved in my early field experience and had the opportunity to start planning and implementing lessons. I think that it is evident that I moved from observing and taking notes of teachers’ experiences to reflecting on how I would incorporate this new information into my own classroom. It is encouraging to see my own growth in the profession and how I am adapting my practice to meet the needs of each learner based on my experiences. |
Evidence 3. Geometry Lesson with 5 PracticesThe attached lesson was designed for a Geometry class but was presented for other mathematics education graduate students. I designed this lesson as an investigative activity for students to develop the formula for finding the sum of the interior angles of a convex polygon. Students were asked to look for patterns in the sum of the angles of various convex polygons. It is an open ended task that the students were able to approach in multiple ways. I wrote out possible student solutions and how I would sequence these strategies during the class discussion ahead of time so that I was prepared for using the students’ ideas throughout the class. I also included accommodations for ELs, students with ADHD, gifted students, and struggling learners. In this lesson, I incorporated the 5 practices for fostering mathematical discussions in class from the book 5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematics Discussions.
This relates to Standard 9 because it shows that I engage in ongoing professional learning and uses evidence to continually evaluate my practice. In this lesson, I give students a high cognitive demand task and have them individually explore it. I also outline key questions that I used to advance student thinking and help them make connections among concepts. In addition, I outlined possible student solutions and how a teacher should select and sequence various solutions. These are all strategies that I learned how to do in 5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematics Discussions. This shows that I comprehend and apply current literature that enhances knowledge of educational issues, trends, and practices. This lesson also shows that I adapt my practice to meet the needs of each learner. The accommodations I provided at the end of the lesson show that I am thinking about the individual needs of each student and use this information about students to evaluate teaching and learning. This evidence is important to me because it shows the progression I have made from taking notes on teaching practices to directly applying them into my teaching practices. After the VCTM conference, I still had not taught my own lesson. Now, I am using the knowledge I have gained from professional development sessions and my own teaching experience to improve my practice and adapt to meet the needs of every learner. Smith, M. and Stein, M. (2011). 5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematics Discussions. 2nd ed. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. |
Evidence 4. Video ReflectionThe following evidence is a reflection I wrote after watching a video of myself teaching. In the lesson I videotaped, I was teaching the class how to factor first- and second-degree polynomials by grouping. I had prepared an investigative task for them to work on, but with limited class time, I had to redirect the lesson and do more instruction up at the board to help students with the investigation.
This is related to Standard 9 because it shows that I use evidence to continually evaluate my practice, particularly the effects of my choices and actions on learners. In the reflection I discuss some of the decisions I had to make during the class period to change the lesson plan. One of these was rewording questions from the investigation to make them more clear. I realized very quickly in this lesson that the questions I had written into the investigation were confusing and not written in a way students would understand what I was asking. I chose to go through many of these questions with the whole class so that I could restate them and clarify what I was asking students to do. I reflected upon the impact this had on the learners, specifically my concerns about reducing the cognitive demand of the task. This shows that I use classroom observation and information about students to evaluate teaching and learning. Changing the lesson on the spot also shows my flexibility in adapting practices to meet the needs of each learner. This lesson is one of many in which I had to make a decision on the spot to clarify instructions or speed up the task. Throughout my internship in education, I reflected on lessons before, during, and after instruction. While writing lesson plans, I thought about my students and how they would respond to various tasks. During lessons, I had to evaluate how productive the class period was and whether I could do something to make the class more engaging. After lessons, I reflected upon what went well and what I could improve. This particular evidence is an example of the reflections I went through after each lesson. While I did not write them out in as much detail as this one every time, I still revised my classroom practices based on reflection and evaluated and identified areas of personal strength and weakness related to my effect on student learning. This evidence is important to me because it shows my growth as a teacher. This is the most recent of the four artifacts I included for this standard. I have reached a point in teaching where I can reflect deeply upon the decisions I make during a lesson and use these reflections to improve in the future. I think this particular reflection shows that I am not afraid to point out shortcomings in my own teaching and work on solutions or improvements for them. In Evidence 1, VCTM Conference Sessions, I thought of myself as a student who was learning from other teachers and professionals. Now, in Evidence 4, it is clear that I now see myself as a teacher and can productively reflect upon my own practices. |