Evolving With the World

Teaching is a profession that is constantly evolving. There are constantly new resources being created and new research about best teaching practices. I think the recent new technological developments (especially with AI) and the pandemic have demonstrated to everyone even more that, just like how people and times are changing, education needs to change as well. To continue being the best educator I can be to prepare my students for the world, I need to also evolve. While I have many ambitions, I have three main goals that I am planning on pursuing after my completion of graduate school with my specialization in literacy education: utilizing technology in the classroom, formatively assessing students, and learning how to effectively teach and differentiate math lessons.

Technology in the Classroom

Recently, I took a course in my MAED graduate course that revolved around adapting technology into education. Through that course, I dived into the world of AI. This course opened my eyes to how we can use technology to teach our students and help students engage with the lessons better. It also showed me the importance of teaching the ethics behind utilizing AI, such as how AI may not always be accurate as well as how AI copy others' work. To work towards my goal, I will be researching more AI tools to utilize through online research as well as through teachers' personal testimonies. Before utilizing the technological tools, I can evaluate the effectiveness using the Triple E Evaluation Rubric for Educational Applications as well as through personal trials and errors.

Improving the Use of Formative Assessment

My current school is currently revamping how we assess students, and one of the major ways it is revamping the idea of assessment is utilizing formative assessments, especially to communicate to us teachers on what we should teach next. There are many studies and research that talks about the benefits of formative assessments. While I do formatively assess students, I want to work on better documenting formative assessments and for students and I to utilize formative assessments to inform what the next steps are. I plan on working towards this goal by utilizing exit tickets and participating in professional learning communities in my school to learn and share ideas on formative assessments. I also would like to participate in the Student Agency in Learning (SAIL) professional development and implement aspects of formative assessment feedback loop ideas into my classroom.

Effective Math Lessons

This leads to my last goal, which is to become a better math teacher. This was mentioned in my other essay where I talked about how my new "quest" is to differentiate in teaching math and bring real-world math into the classroom. To do this, I have joined a book club in my school where we are reading and discussing about the book "Building Thinking Classrooms in Mathematics, Grades K-12: 14 Teaching Practices for Enhancing Learning." I will also utilize professionals in STEAM, such as from NASA, to provide possible ideas on how to incorporate math in the real-world.

These three goals seem vastly different at first glance. Math... Formative assessments... technology. However, they are connected overall to my ultimate (and never-ending) goal of becoming a teacher that is not stagnant but one that is evolving.

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Jones, B. et al. (2021). TE Feedback Loop [Infographic]. CSAA. https://csaa.wested.org/formative-insight/students-use-the-formative-assessment-feedback-loop/.

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