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Why Teaching?
Why Teaching?
When I was in school, campus was my second home. I spent hours in the band hall practicing for upcoming competitions. I had a community in which I felt like I belonged. No matter what was going on in my personal life, school was a constant. I want to provide a classroom that gives that same sense of belonging for my students.
Why Math?
Why Math?
Math prepares students with not only academic skills for future careers in STEM, but also skills that they can use throughout the rest of their lives including logic, number sense, and problem-solving. It is present all throughout nature and reflects the world that we live in; understanding math helps us see patterns and develop an appreciation for life and human ingenuity.
My mission is to facilitate mastery learning in a classroom that provides students a place to belong, in order to prepare my students with the skills necessary for future STEM careers and for everyday life.
My Teaching Philosophy
My Teaching Philosophy
My lessons follow a guided-5E approach with an emphasis on practice. The 5E model consists of:
Engage - At the beginning of each unit, I introduce the main idea by using a theme which may consist of a real-world example, historical context, or a life skill that engages students in the unit. I also use a daily warm-up to assess and recall prerequisite knowledge and skills.
Explore - Providing a constructivist learning experience through a guided exploration or demonstration enables students to derive theorems and inquire about patterns. This can be done in both teacher-led and student-directed contexts, depending on the topic and the amount of time dedicated to that topic.
Explain - After students observe patterns and make conjectures, the teacher defines concepts and works through examples as students take guided notes to keep in their binder. Notes help give clear form to their learning, and it is especially important in mathematics as each concept is a building block upon which further concepts are based. The “Explore” and “Explain” portions can be cycled if there are multiple concepts in which it makes sense to explore and explain those concepts sequentially.
Elaborate - Students cement their learning through practice. While “drill and kill” is often looked down upon as an outdated behaviorist method of learning, I believe it serves an important role in developing procedural fluency, but only after the conceptual understanding is established. I primarily use Delta Math to give students individualized practice with unlimited attempts, new questions, and immediate feedback. Assigned problems should become progressively more challenging, requiring higher-order thinking, as well as relating to real-world examples.
Evaluate - I do a daily "Cool-Down," in contrast to the "Warm-Up," to have students show a simple understanding of the concept learned that day. District Progress Monitoring Assessments, or PMAs, serve as informal assessments to gather common formative assessment data in order to assess individuals and groups of students, identifying common misconceptions, and adjusting instruction. These daily formative assessments also help students monitor their learning in order to prepare for summative assessments.
Why Small Groups?
Why Small Groups?
In my classroom, students are assigned seats in pairs facing the board to create a quiet, orderly environment and optimize attention for note-taking. However, every week, I make time for group work.
These groups of 3-4 are formed randomly by drawing cards at the beginning of class. These groups may be kept for the duration of a grading period to allow members to go through the stages of group development including forming, storming, norming, and performing. I believe that giving students longer periods of time to work together enables them to not only learn how to use conflict-resolution skills to work through disagreements and other issues, but it can lead to lasting friendships with students that they maybe would have never interacted with before.
One way that I like to make practice more engaging is by having students work in small groups at whiteboards on the walls, including elements from Building Thinking Classrooms by Peter Liljedahl, which makes their thinking visible and incorporates the benefits of cooperative learning.
I am also interested in using cooperative learning roles, such as a leader, materials manager, and time manager so that each student is held accountable and given the feeling of having something valuable to contribute to the team.
Online Resources
Online Resources
Two types of resources that I think are important for students to have access to are videos and a class website. With the technology available today, these resources can serve as an organized backup for students to refer to, which is especially beneficial for students who are absent, students who struggle understanding the lesson in class, and especially English Language Learners.
With videos, there are options that enable closed captioning for students whose home language may not be English, and the immersive format of videos serves as a richer experience than catching up using keys or a textbook.
Growing Pedagogy
Growing Pedagogy
At the end of each quarter, I plan to have a Google Form that students can fill out to anonymously put in any suggestions they have on how I can improve my teaching methods and ideas for activities, as well as insight into their experience as a student. This is crucial so that I can have feedback in order to improve the way that I teach so that I can continue to grow as a teacher to be the best that I can for my students.
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