Your name and grade/subject taught.

Hi, my name is Brent Duerfeldt and I am a special education teacher at Jurupa Middle school. I teach 7th grade Social Studies and English Language Arts.  This school is a great fit for me, full of positive energy and culture, I am happy to be apart of the JUSD family.

Which CSTPs have you experienced the most growth and why?  

CSTP

1.4 Using a variety of instructional strategies, resources, and technologies to meet students' diverse learning needs

I have learned to use different technologies throughout the year to make the academic content more accessible and relatable to lessons for underserved students. I helped students' utilize the technologies to make it become routine so the students master the applications. The Role of Technology in Personalized Learning allowed me to use specific tools to create a lesson that was both engaging and educational. I used Chromebooks, google classroom, google slides, pear deck, Phillips speaker, projector, and more to make learning more interesting and effective. Integrating the technology makes it easier for students to navigate the lesson which gives more time for instructional minutes. My only concern is that students become to reliant on technology and may miss learning basic skills of learning in the event that technology is not available. Technology is ever growing and revolutionary to education but I need to remember it is still important to practice basic concepts and skills. 

Advice for new teachers 

• My advice for new teachers is to find an experienced mentor teacher on campus and become their bestfriend. Pick that teachers brain, talk strategies and lessons. Observe and learn from that mentor teachers and use ideas and techniques that work for you and implement those techniques in your personal teaching style. Do not forget to thank those mentor teachers.

Your impact on student success 

• My goal is to form a rapport and build relationships with the students. I want to understand their likes and dislikes and incorporate that knowledge into my lessons to make the learning more relatable and fun. I use technology and pop culture references to make learning more exciting and fun which makes students want to come to class and learn.

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