My name is Olivia Bedford and I am a math teacher in Billings, Montana. I studied applied mathematics at the University of Montana and through tutoring students found a love of helping people understand and appreciate math. I then started my Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction at Montana State University Billings to earn a teaching license.  I just finished my seventh year teaching Algebra 2 and AP Calculus at Billings West High School. 

Billings West High School has around 2300 students of which only 22% of students qualify for free and reduced lunch. The teacher to student ratio is 16:1 and has a graduation rate around 89%. Our school also has 40 English-language learners (ELLs) and our city became a safe space for hundreds of refugees this year. 

In the seven years working in Billings, I have taken on several roles. I serve on the School Improvement Committee at West High School where we try to encourage common practices for all staff. For the last four years, I have served as a building representative  to the Billings Education Association (BEA). I have become involved in our state union Montana Federation of Public Employees (MFPE) by attending the annual conference for the last four years.  Three years ago, I accepted the Building Learning Facilitator role for my school which includes advocating for PLC needs to my principal and district leadership. In this role, I have been fortunate to attend two Solution Tree PLC Conferences and Corwin’s Visible Learning Conference. At those conferences, I learned a lot and brought a lot of interesting information back to my colleagues. It has reinforced that I am very passionate about teacher collaboration and its importance in education. The role has also pushed myself to become more involved in professional development for teachers. 

 Connecting Self-Assessment to Context 

Throughout my experience of TLI, I have been conscious of my own bias. One of the first tasks we had to complete were two bias tests. On both tests, I had a slight bias. I am an empathetic person and try my best to overcome implicit biases that I have.  I love to see the value, ideas, and cultures that students and other coworkers bring to my life everyday. I still struggle with biases that I have, but I tried to overcome them by thinking of how the other person feels at that moment. As a white woman, I recognize my privilege and feel fortunate that TLI has made me aware of other peoples constant and daily struggles, so I can aim to understand how my intentions and ideas can be taken. 

Overarching Competency #1 Continuing Learning and Education 

   Beginning: Developing Final Stage: Performing

During the 2022-2023 school year, I had started to present to colleagues more and more, but during 2023-2024 I developed more into the planning of our whole school PLCs. I was given a lot of freedom from my principal to select topics that our staff was interested in and asking for. Since I was the Building Learning Facilitator, I spent most of my free time this year either presenting or organizing other teachers to present to our school. I also presented for the first time at MFPE Educators Conference on the PLC Process, Math Instructional Tools, and Math and Art. This summer I presented at our district's IEFA (Indian Education for All) Symposium. 

Overarching Competency #2: Technological Facility

Beginning: Emerging Final Stage: Developing

I have made a lot of google slides for PLC presentations and a lot of google forms asking for feedback, but this year I have expanded into creating a space for others to work to create the professional developments that they want to present. This work was done as a group asynchronously and synchronously. I also was more aware of how to present information and links to my staff to make presentations and scheduling more accessible. 

Foundational Competency: Exploring and Challenge Inequity

Beginning: Emerging Final Stage: Developing

This year I was apart of a Math Cadre that looked at Culturally Responsive Teaching and best practices for Indian Education for All. During these sessions, I learned a lot from my peers and various articles about differences in how people learn and the inequities different cultural groups face. Being aware of differences and trying to promote equity has been an important part of my project. The main focus for our first Professional Development was introducing the SIOP method to help multi-language learners. Conversations during TLI also helped me acknowledge and recognize my privileges. 

Specific Leadership Pathway Competency selection: Instructional, Facilitating Collaborative Relationships  

Beginning: Developing Final Stage: Performing

I have always been a proponent of collaboration in the workplace. I have aimed to make the math department a welcoming place where people can share ideas and not have to ask about help in teaching a topic. This year I have aimed to spread that idea to other departments. With my dedication to the PLC process, I learned that one topic that my colleagues were interested in learning about was ways to help students who are multi-language learners. This led me to have discussions with my principal and other teachers who knew more than me on the topic to get the professional development my colleagues were asking for. It also led to me making more teacher teams to lead professional developments on researched topics. 

Connecting Assessment of Diverse Stakeholders to Context

Describe your work with diverse stakeholders, shared learning experiences, and how you anticipate your leadership pathway mindset might evolve during the TLI process. 

My stakeholders were teachers at my schools and the students who would be impacted by teacher learning. There are around one hundred educators at my school who are all in various departments and stages of their career serving students who come from various backgrounds. I have already been leading professional developments, but have realized that I need to support other people, who are not like me, to share their own research and teaching strategies. 

Describe how your awareness of those from different cultures, experiences, and backgrounds inform your chosen project. 

In the past, it had been intimidating being a young professional teaching teachers who have been in the career for decades, but the last year I have realized the appreciation that others have given me by stepping into the Building Learning Facilitator role. I think that appreciation came from my constant goal of seeking feedback from our staff in ways we can make learning more clear and confirming that ideas were interpreted correctly. My project is organizing other teachers to have discussions about professional development and creating the professional development that they want to enact. I am aware that not all of my colleagues learn best from me, and that other voices are required to lead professional developments. 

Context Artifact 1: Coaches Capstone Approval Form