Successes

Being a teacher has been one of the biggest achievements in my life. I went from a career in finance and not knowing what I wanted to do with my life, to finding something that I truly enjoy. When I go into school, I look forward to seeing my students and how they are doing. Every day that I get to go to work, I feel that that is a success.

I feel successful daily walking into my classroom. Every morning, I have the same students that come in to see me first thing, before heading to their 1^st period. I feel that that is a success in itself because not many teachers have that. I feel the best when I see that my students are going out of their way to say hi or even make small talk. That verifies that I am creating positive relationships and imprinting on these students in a good way. When I am teaching a lesson, feel the best when my students have that “ah ha” moment. Since a lot of my students are missing some of the crucial processes by the time they get into my classroom, I find that that moment is so rewarding for both the student and myself. I cannot think of a time that I do not feel my best when I am with my students in the classroom. It is just something that I look forward to every day and can a career I have been able to excel at.

In having success in my classroom, I recall a few students who entered my classroom in the beginning of the year with no motivation to learn or pass math. I remember talking with these students daily one on one, trying to help them with processes and scaffolding lessons more so to help them understand better. When I was not working with the students one on one, they would just stop working and it was like there was nothing I could do to encourage them. By talking more on a personal level with these students and understanding what their interests are and getting to know them did I find out that they liked things like videogames, basketball, football, and anime. With this information, I altered some of the upcoming lessons to incorporate their interests, current events, and real-world applications that related to them more. These students have graduated, but from time to time, they email me and come into my classroom to visit. They are in community college understanding more of what they do in their math course because of some of the things they learned while in my class.

Though I have had many success stories and experiences in my classroom, prior to joining an MAT program there were not as many. My MAT program has altered my way of thinking to having a more Growth Mindset and creating a more culturally relevant classroom. Relating to students, engaging them in more hands-on STEM type activities, and focusing on teaching to the individual and not the universal students has really made a difference in student performance and environment of my classroom. I can feel the difference in the classroom vibes when I walk in in the morning. I can see better student teacher relationships developing and my students really come in wanting to work for me. They come in ready to learn and I think that has been the biggest success of all.

Culturally Relevant Pedagogy

Culturally relevant pedagogy “means recognizing and celebrating those students who show up to our classrooms daily, welcoming their voices, demanding their reflection, and encouraging them toward self-discovery” (Fink, 2016). This helps to encourage those who may have been done wrong by our system to no give up and the we care about their success. In a culturally relevant classroom, the academic expectations are held high, there is an understanding based on differences in student teacher backgrounds culturally, and the inequality is acknowledged and addressed.

I teach at a predominantly black high school, where a lot of my students come in from the city. I did not grow up in the city and have not experienced life as many of them have. From coming from homes with a single parent to foster care to homeless home situations, it is sometimes hard to understand where my students are coming from. By creating a culturally relevant classroom, I can better relate to my students in understanding what they like and how they think, what they may have been through and what they can relate to.

In creating a culturally relevant classroom, there many things that I already do to incorporate this idea. In AP Statistics, my students read a lot of articles and analyze many different types of data sets. To make this culturally relevant, I try to use a lot of sport references and show a movie or video, here and there, that show these concepts. I work to make my materials relate to student interest and current events to gain student interests and engagement. I can use articles of different events that can relate to minority rights and civil disputes that have taken place in society that has made it what it is today.

Creating a more culturally relevant classroom, there are some things that I can do to improve my classroom environment. Instead of having students learn about what is, I can teach them to about what can be. In one of the articles I read this week, Dr. Jeff Duncan-Andrade stated, “Schooling is the process by which you institutionalize people to accept their place in a society… Education is the process through which you teach them to transform it” (Escudero, 2019). To do this, I need to focus the purpose of my lessons more in the academic and personal success of the individual student more than I already do. I do give students more culturally relevant texts, but I need to also give them more on the inequality side of the house. I need to be sure that I am addressing cultural competence, sociopolitical consciousness, and academic achievement equally and not one more heavily than the others.

References

Fink, L. (2016, February 21). Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. Retrieved from https://ncte.org/blog/2016/02/culturally-relevant-pedagogy/

Escudero, B. (2019, January 6). How to Practice Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. Retrieved from https://www.teachforamerica.org/stories/how-to-engage-culturally-relevant-pedagogy

Growth Mindset and Affective Assessment

When I first heard about Growth Mindset, I did not exactly know how deep of a concept it truly was. I thought that a growth mindset was simplistic, like having the want to learn. Through my MAT courses and other educational professional development course I have taken this year, I have come to realize it has a much larger meaning. A growth mindset means wanting to learn, never stop wanting to learn, facing each challenge head on. I feel that to teach with that mindset can be challenging, but as I develop innovative activities and give my students more opportunities to self-discover, I am helping them to develop that type of mindset.

To support my students in developing a Growth Mindset, I do a number of things in my lessons. If a student is feeling defeated or I can see that they are giving up, I help them to realize that they can figure it out and I push them to do so. I give them some guidance when needed and give them an opportunity to get there themselves. I allow my students ample opportunities to practice materials, giving immediate feedback along the way to ensure mastery of as many skills as possible. My students have developed, over the years, a more fixed mindset, meaning they do not want to push themselves and if they keep getting something wrong, they shut down. I try to promote students to instead of look at a critique as a negative, use that to fuel the fire and to try again to get it right by scaffolding things even a little more to break it down for them. Having more collaborative activities, also is a way I push students to perform at the level of the highest of students and the best way to push that mentality is to use positive reinforcement and a competitive reward system.

In supporting student growth, I use different types of affective assessment to improve my student’s learning. An affective assessment helps me to gauge the comfortability of level of my students with concepts and by having them also demonstrate their cognitive understanding, I can see where that comfortability may be developing in the process. I tend to give more reflective exit tickets at the end of a lesson and sometimes a reflective recall type of drill. This allows me to see what most students may be getting incorrect, so I can make sure I address it the following class or even later in the lesson. I can be sure to squash any misconceptions and help my students adjust instead of getting stuck in a habit.

Having a more positive mindset and allowing students to not only learn from me, but me learn from them has helped me to foster a more Growth Mindset oriented classroom. When I push my students, they see it more as a caring approach rather than a this is the work complete it. If I show that I am willing to help them get it, they are more willing to push themselves to learn. This mindset has helped me gain a lot od trust from my students and have more students come to me for advice and help with their other courses. They see me more as an equal than a superior and feel that we are all in this together.

Cultural, Socio-economic, and Linguistic Diversity

At the current high school that teach, there are a lot of challenging in the population that effect my approach to teaching. The majority population of my school is minority, mainly consisting of Black, Latino, and Middle Eastern students. More than half of the school population is on Free and Reduced Meals. A lot of the Latino population that come into my classroom are Level 1 and 2 English learners, so there are some challenges when it comes to communication at times. A lot of my students also come from a variety of home situations, such as a one parent household, foster care, or homeless. With these challenges, it is important that I take these things into account when creating lessons and activities for students.

In adapting to theses variables, I do a number of things to ensure I am allowing every student a fair opportunity in being successful. When assisting my English Learners, I try to scaffold my lessons more. I write out step by step on mathematical processes, create diagrams and color-coded visuals, and have some Spanish worksheets that coincide with the English version. I also will teach to the class and work one-on-one with my ELL students to break down what was previous done.

In combating some of the gaps that there may be in my classroom due to home situations or prior loss of teachings in earlier grades, I use similar techniques as those for the ELL students. I create scaffolded lessons, multi-tier activities, and I work to use student interest in the problems and activities I create. A lot of my students enjoy basketball and football, so I use a lot of those types of references in my problem creations. I have students working in groups based on their comfortability with a topic and those that struggle the most, I try to give more one-on-one time for during the class period. I do what I can to spike student interest also through music, by using a reward system that allows students to pick their favorite songs to listen to while they do work. As long as students are working hard, I play the music they like to listen to most.

In working with a low of lower income and minority students, I have to be sure that I am addressing their needs. I have to create more lessons that are scaffolded and that lay out each step in a process. I have to be more thorough and allow them the opportunity to ask for help during class. I give students the opportunity for self-discovery and collaborative work during class time. Though my student may need a little more assistance at times because of their backgrounds, they still are willing and able to learn at the highest level.

Rock Star Theorists

Now that I am at the final stages of my MAT program, it is amazing how much my teaching style has changed. There have been many theorists that have influenced the way I teach from the creation of the lesson to the execution. The theorists that I feel most connected to in my teaching are Piaget and Skinner.

Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development has to do with four stages of development. The four stages are sensorimotor (0-2 years of age), preoperational (2-7 years of age), concrete operational (7-12 years of age), and formal operational (12 and up years of age) (American Psychological Association, 2020). The stage that of my students is the last stage of formal operational stage, which involves abstract logical reasoning and moral reasoning development. I connect most with this part of the theory because my students are from 10^th to 12^th graders. In teaching Geometry, the course is mainly about logical reasoning. In addition, I focus more on building the student rather than focusing on stressing about teaching straight math. I want my students to leave as better young adults and having more logical processing over just making impulsive decisions and not thinking about the outcomes, positive or negative.

Skinner’s Behaviorist Theory deals with following behaviors with positive reinforcement (Stevens-Fulbrook, 2019). By rewarding the positive behaviors and not responding to the negative behaviors, strengthens the “good” and weakens the “bad”. I connect with this theory when I reward my students with a show, movie, or some kind of food item. I reward students when they work hard and persevere in my class. I try to reward those classes that work hard with a movie day or extra credit video and questionnaire to follow, where they learn more real world applications for math. When students compete and work hard in my classroom, they are rewarded with a food item like Pop tarts or candy. This motivates my students to put more effort into their education when it comes to what we are learning in my class.

In my teaching, I take pieces from many theorists in creating my lessons for students. I try to do as much as possible to give my students the best chances in succeeding in my class. Though I do want my students to leave my class a better math student, I also want them to leave with more moral values. I want them to leave a better person than when they entered and teach them life lessons they can take with them forever. By incorporating multiple theorist’s ideas in my teaching, I am becoming a more adaptive and flexible teacher to teach to all kinds of students with different backgrounds and abilities.

Reference

APA Dictionary of Psychology. (2020). Retrieved from https://dictionary.apa.org/piagetian-theory

Stevens-Fulbrook, P. (2019, April 18). 15 Learning Theories In Education (A Complete Summary). Retrieved from https://teacherofsci.com/learning-theories-in-education/

Reflection

Throughout my journey in the Stevenson MAT Program, I have learned many things that can help me succeed in the classroom and further ahead throughout my career. In my classroom, I try to create a safe and comfortable learning environment that is positive and inviting. I want students to feel that when they walk into my classroom that it is time to learn and have fun. In creating this environment, I work to leave no space uncovered. I used chalk to draw diagrams of different functions and attributes on the concrete walls, hang student posters that demonstrate perfect precision of a skill, and multiple posters that have helpful resources and encouraging messages for students. I want a student to look around my room and be able to find a piece of information that is beneficial to them, whether it is to help with a growth mindset or on a particular problem we are working through. In pushing the envelope on creating an even more engaging and encouraging environment, transforming their perception on how this math can benefit them in the long run.

To push the envelope on my career, this program has helped me realize that I cannot just teach for one kind of student and I need to remain flexible and adaptive. My plan for being able to reach all students is to have more tier structured lessons. This will allow students who are exceling to push their thinking and those who are struggling and get a little more scaffolded assistance. I also plan to have more collaborative activities that have students grouped by tier as well so everyone can have an equal chance in learning the concepts. I want to be able to create an equal playing field for each student to be successful. I hope in doing so I can become a more universal teacher and all students that enter my classroom can succeed.

Communication with Administration/ Parents

A lot of times, especially dealing with seniors, I must reach out to administration and parents. This is because there are many interventions, we need to take in order to legally fail a student in our school system. One instance where I had to call a parent was due to a student’s attendance. The student was absent for over a week and was beginning to fail my class. The parent was aware of the student being absent and explained the financial difficulties they were having, so the student was working extra hours at their job. When the student came in the following week, we had a one on one conference and they explained their situation and the situation had turned around. Another instance where I had to contact an administrator was for a student who was being disruptive repeatedly in class. The administrator had a conference with the student and the situation was extinguished.

When dealing with situations with students I try to mediate the situation in the classroom first. Generally, if I level with the student and get to see where the root of the behavior is coming from, they tend to turn around or respond better when redirected. Talking with parents does not need to be an immediate disciplinary act but can be helpful when you are trying to better understand a student. There was one student I had that was in class daily but was more reserved and struggled with interacting with myself and other students. I reached out to their parent and they informed me of some of the issues at home and gave me some incite into what the student was interested in, which helped me to better address the student and get them to be more interactive. I try not to get the administration involved in some circumstances that I can mediate internally, but when it comes to my seniors, I must let them be aware of their status for graduating.

ED 645 Reflection

Classroom management is one of the most important things that a teacher needs in order to be successful. To have good classroom management, there needs to be norms and expectations set in place that students and the teacher need to be held accountable for. If these things are not set in place and the teacher is not consistent, it makes it hard to have an environment where your students will feel safe and want to learn.

When I started teaching in 2017, classroom management was scary to me. I have heard horror stories about some classrooms and how the students basically ran the show. Never teaching before and going into a school where the population is not what I had ever experienced was daunting, but I was going to have to figure it out. I came in stern and strict and soon realized that, that was not going to work. Making adjustments over the last two years, I think I may have found a system that works. I am more personable with my students, fair in my grading and treatment, and hold them accountable. My students respect me and my classroom operates smoothly since we all have a mutual respect and understanding of one another's expectations.

In the coming years of my teaching careers, I am hoping to perfect my classroom management. I hope to do this by trying to find more ways to help relate better to my students and get them more motivated to learn mathematics. I want to find things that interest them and make my lessons and real world scenarios more relateable to their lives and the communities they live in.

Final reflection

Over the past few weeks, I have been trying different methods of teaching. There is a growing push for the use of technology in the classroom and now that all students are given laptops in my school building, they should be used more often. I have been decreasing the number of paper assignments and note sheets and replacing them with online work. My students are seeming to respond better to this method based on their participation in class and improvement in their grades. I have been trying to have students do more exploratory and lab-based assignments that require students to learn on their own a little more. It has seemed to be helping with their retention because I have noticed on the last quiz they took, a lot of my students scored highly.

To be an exemplary teacher, one needs to be patients, caring, and versatile. An exemplary teacher needs to be patient because no everyone’s learning style is the same. If a student does not get it right away, a teacher should have patience and try to find another way to teach it. Being caring is very important as well because as a teacher, students look to you for guidance and if you are not showing that you care, then your students are not going to be willing to learn. Versatile, I think is the most important characteristic because like I mentioned before, not everyone learns the same. Teachers need to be able to adjust on the spot at times for whatever reason. Not all lessons will run smooth or how one plans, but it is important to do your students a service and prepare them for the future.

For the next semester, I have a few goals in mind. I want to one, finish this MAT program and become a certified teacher. I want to make sure that I prepare my AP students for their exam in May the best I can. I am hopeful that I will have a few students do well on this exam. I also want to guide my bridge students in completing their bridge projects, so they can graduate in May, as well. I want to be the best teacher I can be and be a role model for my students. I want to help prepare them for their next chapters in their lives after high school.

Observational Reflection 2

My most recent observation was last week during my AP Statistics class. We were just beginning our probability unit, so we were doing an exploratory lab. Students were to complete a candy lab, which compared colors that come in different types of candy. We looked at Mike & Ike’s, Starbursts, M&M’s, and Skittles. Each student had their own sample of candy they were to predict and collect data with. Then once they collected their data, they were to come together as a group and compare findings, followed by combining their data together. Once they compiled the data, they were to combine the data as a class and compare the findings. The overall idea of this was to use probability to see if we could determine the more popular color candy. I believe it was somewhat successful, but because the lab had a lot of parts to it, it was tough to have a good group discussion at the end due to time.

This lab has proved to be a good indicator of how I could have created mini-lessons to help with the time aspect. I could have had students using the smaller data to do different things and then have another lesson using larger data and then talking about the difference in sample sizes. I think that this would have help with their fluency because they would have been doing multiple hands on activities, which would have made the lessons stick better, than rushing through one big activity. I think this also would have given students time for the information to stick in before beginning a new idea. Though students responded well to the activity, I could tell that the concepts did not fully stick. Most likely there will have to be a reteaching aspect of future lessons. I think mini-lessons for this would have been more effective.

These past two weeks have been hectic. The first quarter was coming to a close and, of course, students had been coming up to ask what they can do to bring up their grade. This time I feel is more stressful for the teacher than the student. I need to have everything from the first quarter graded, grades finalized in the grading system, complete other teacher obligations in the building, and still plan meaningful, effective lessons for three different subjects. I find the close of the quarter to be my busy time.

Being in my third year, I should have this down pat on how to deal with the different stressors teaching has to throw at me, but this one never seems to have an effective solution. In talking to my colleagues in what they do to cope with the stress, I have learned some good tips I want to try next quarter when grades close. One of my colleagues had suggested just not taking work that is more than 2 weeks past due. This is a rule across the board for most teacher and I have it in my syllabus, but culture in the building makes it hard to stand behind this rule when so many kids are failing at once. I think by standing more firm on my rules and expectations, I can eliminate the pressures I feel in grading more than I already have to.

On top of being the end of the marking period, I also had multiple observations. I had a formal observation by my assistant principal, two informal observations by the principal and the department chair, and one by my teacher mentor. When my teacher mentor came, I made sure to plan a lesson that would not be too outside the box and relaxed. I wanted her to see that my classroom operates in a smooth manor with everyone on the same page. I did not let the stress of having an observation get to me and I made sure that everything was as organic as possible. I think the key to having a stress-less observation is to just roll with it. Just do what you normally do, and everything will fall into place. I made sure that day one I set the tone and created a good rapport with all my students, and I think that also helps when it comes to teaching them and making sure they are gaining the knowledge they need to succeed.