PS2 Professional Goals

Goals for Professional Semester II

Goal #1: Incorporate at least 3 different instructional strategies that promote engagement for various
learning levels.

By the end of the sixth week of PS II, I will provide multi-modal learning opportunities in mathematics by
providing students the choice of showing their understanding concretely, pictorially, and symbolically.

Teaching Quality Standard Reference: Demonstrating a Professional Body of Knowledge 3a: planning and
designing learning activities that: are varied, engaging and relevant to students

Strategies Resources Timeline

a. I will offer choice in how
students demonstrate their
understanding by offering
multi-modality
b. I will provide pictorial
examples and solutions for
visual learners.
c. I will provide higher-level
challenges to engage
advanced learners.
a. Smartboard and Each strategy should be applied
Whiteboard (ask and show during each lecture class, approx. 5-
students different ways to 10 times in both math 5/6 and math
write and solve equations). 7/8 class. I should have done this by
White board student the end of my practicum.
tables.
b. Smartboard, Google
Jamboard, Images on
Worksheets. Drawing
equation (pictorial) group
challenges. Image patterns
on Powerpoint.
Concrete manipulatives,
such as: food
manipulatives (e.g.,
smarties) and connection
manipulatives (e.g., string,
tape, paper.
c. White board, smartboard,
concept checks,
worksheets.

Indicators of Success:

After lessons in my mathematics classes, I will reflect upon how engaged students appeared to be during the lesson.
This will not look like worksheets finished and tests finished, but rather, I will focus on the questions asked and the
way students decide to explore their work.

For e.g., when working with linear equations, I am looking for students who:

1) Ask or demonstrate another way of showing their work (finding a relevant way for them to display their
work, making it more meaningful and engaging for them).
2) Take a task, such as creating a storybook or creating a pattern rule, and making it relevant to themselves;
for e.g., I have students who are creating storybooks about their favorite movies and creating equations
they’d see in the movie.
3) Have group discussions about how to solve a challenge problem and who are interested in identifying how
to solve it. For e.g., I had one student who tried various ways to solve the famous locker problem
4) Noticing the connection between, for e.g., word problems and algebraic equations that are visually similar
to images they saw or created before. For e.g., some students have been able to solve linear word problems
that looked or sounded visually similar to their storybook equations.

Formative Reflection:
As I attempt to incorporate different strategies to engage learners, I will reflect on each lesson type after it has
occurred. I will reflect upon whether I noticed if students were engaged and what this engagement looked like
(whether it was them asking questions, teaching other students, etc.) and whether I believe that my incorporation of
the mentioned strategies helped students find relevancy and engagement. By addressing the benefits and challenges
of my implementation of these different learning styles, I will better understand how to better apply them in order to
help all learners remain engaged. Additionally, I believe by focusing on engagement, it will better help me
understand what true engagement, not merely compliance, should look like within the classroom. Ultimately, my
reflections will help me better determine whether I have appropriately implemented these mathematical learning
strategies in order to help students remain engaged in the classroom.

Purpose behind this goal:

I think it is important to, when teaching a class, not to merely aim in the middle to attempt to meet the needs of all
learners needs and styles. In a class, you do have what might be perceived as the average, but there are also learners
who are currently lower-level and higher-level learners that have different learning styles that best suit their current
understanding. I have noticed already that there are many students within class that better connect and finding
relevancy and therefore engagement with math that is visually presented to them. Once they are presented later on
with a, for example equation or concept, they are able to make meaningful connections to their prior pictorial
lessons.

Ultimately, everyone sees math in a different way, and therefore, it needs to be taught in various ways in order to
engage all students. By providing open-ended opportunities for students to explore different ways to not only learn
but to show and demonstrate math, they are able to find meaning in what is being taught. When higher-level
mathematical learners are able to experiment with concepts and formulas, they appear to not just find the work
challenge but engaging; it piques their interest and they become curious as to why certain concepts can be shown in
different ways.

By trying each of these strategies’ multiple times during my time teaching math, I aim to not just differentiate my
lesson but to support both higher and lower-level learners in a way that I am able to meet their learning styles and
needs rather than just forgetting about them when aiming for the average teaching strategies.

In one class, we had a simpler and more challenging plotting graph. This made it so the lesson stretched in both
directions, for lower- and higher-level learners, rather than aiming at the middle to push lower-level and find
compliance in the higher-level learners. By providing a visually similar, yet varying challenge (one example used all
four quadrants while the other did not), each student was able to remain engaged at their own level whilst still being
challenged and therefore engaged appropriately.
 Goals for Professional Semester II
Goal #2: Use various instructional strategies that ensure that students find relevancy and meaning in their
learning.

By the end of the sixth week of PS II, I will implement at least 3 different instructional strategies targeted towards
creating relevancy and meaning in students’ learning.
Teaching Quality Standard Reference: Establishing Inclusive Learning Environments 4f). employing classroom
management strategies that promote positive, engaging learning environments;

Strategies Resources Timeline

1) I will provide multi-modal
activities or projects in order
for students to find relevancy
through choice.
2) I will incorporate examples,
problems, and stories that
relate to students’ background.
3) I will provide opportunities for
students to reflect upon their
learning by using reflection
logs.
1) Projects, rubrics, materials
(e.g., paint, canvases),
various modalities (essays,
interviews, etc.)
2) Smartboard, whiteboard,
Verbal story-telling,
Worksheet (also concept
checks and term tests) that
have relative word
problems, templates (for
e.g., budgeting templates).
Classroom discussion and
reflections.
3) Reflection log online
(www.hapara.com)
Each project created in this
practicum (math 7/8, Finance 1010,
and art) should incorporate choice
throughout the process of student
learning.
I will have attempted to incorporate
a story, problem, or example in
each class (not including gym) that
relate to student’s background, etc
(this should be done at least by the
last week).
I will ensure that students
periodically reflect on their learning
process in order to provide
relevancy in courses at least 3 times
by the end of week 6.

Indicators of Success:

After incorporating at least one of these strategies in my class, I will reflect upon whether it appeared to provide
relevancy for students. Indicators of success would look like:

 Students writing in reflection log go from general ideas from student’s reflection upon the concept’s
relevancy in their own life.
 Students adjusting project modalities (e.g., art canvas) to what is interesting and/or challenging for them
personally
 Students discussing or providing examples as to how content connects to them (e.g., students discussing
together what should be included in a budget)

Formative Reflection:

As I attempt to help students find relevancy and meaning in their learning experience, I will reflect on each lesson e
after it has occurred. I will reflect upon whether I noticed if students appeared engaged and whether I believe that
students are finding lesson, activities, and projects relevant and meaningful to their own individual situations. By
addressing the benefits and challenges of my implementation of relevant and meaningful material, I will better
understand how to better apply them in order to help all learners find learning interesting, engaging, and relevant to
them personally. Ultimately, my reflections will help me better determine whether I have appropriately implemented
these various relevancy strategies in order to help students find the connection between their learning and
themselves.

Purpose behind this goal:

Incorporated into my teaching philosophy is the belief that students should find connections to their learning and to
the working world, or even merely their own perception of the world in general. I believe that when students find
personal connections to their learning and are able to identify the purpose behind their work in school, they are able
to become more engaged due to the authenticity and relevancy of their learning.

Multi-modality provides students choice and responsibility which, if performed correctly, can help students find
meaning behind the products they create. In art, when students created fear projects, students felt comfortable
enough to explore their own personal fears through art expression. I had one student completely change their
modality (swapped their canvas for a mirror) to better exhibit the feelings and perceptions they were experiencing
with fear-like emotions. However, it is not just in class that my students were able to reflect about the meaning
behind their work.

In math, there were many times that the stories, problems, and examples used in class examples were relative to
students. I incorporated student interests (e.g., anime, animals, vehicles) to gain basic interest. This was more
applicable when students were presented or even created their own word problems that were relative to their world.
For e.g., by creating stories relative to agriculture, an important aspect of the school’s community, students were
able to understand how patterns and number sense could be applied to outside the classroom. Even when students
created a connection line of various patterns, students were able to better identify patterns in their life and therefore,
were able to understand the purpose and relevancy of learning about patterns in class.

Even if Finance 1010, concepts learned have been applied in a way that best meets students’ personal needs. We
began with determining what a financial goal of theirs might be, to determining potential career choices and
connecting their identified personal inventory (e.g., skills, interests, values, traits) in order to create budgets and
investment portfolios that were relative to where they believe they would be in the future. This way, students were
able to identify how the concepts and content presented to them was about their goals, wants and needs.

By having students periodically reflect in reflection logs, this permits students to feel free to connect to the work in a
potentially deeper level. Rather than writing what they perceive as desired by the teacher, students are able to follow
a question relative to concepts learned and apply it outside of the classroom. I believe that just as important as
learning the material, it is just as meaningful for students to reflect as to how their learning personally applies to
them.

My hope is that by offering choice, relevant material, and opportunities to reflect, students are able to better connect
their school life to their everyday life.