MY ACTION PLAN

Mary Feldmann - Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving 4-12 (Spring 2021)

CURRENT POSITION

● Emerging educator and second-year studying Applied Psychology and Human

Development and Interdisciplinary Math and Computer Science at the Boston
College Lynch School of Education and Human Development
● Student teacher at public, Thomas Edison K-8 School in Brighton, MA under the
K-3 STEAM Specialist, visiting six different classrooms across four consecutive
grade levels for roughly 50 minutes each week for “specialty time”
● Assisting with the hybrid teaching format with supervising practitioner and a
number of students attending class in person, fielding virtual classroom
● Supporting the execution of predetermined lesson plans with rare autonomy over
the content matter of the day beyond brief suggestions, focus on classroom
management

POINTS TO REMEMBER

● Teaching to solve problems is an education of the will.

● Cooperation implies a difference while collaboration requires a common goal.
● Interpersonal caring involves the students and their teachers in community by
which relationships are established and maintained.
● A classroom learning community exists when students and teachers “experience a
sense of belonging or personal relatedness.”
● Students need to struggle and learn from their mistakes as they grapple with
abstract concepts, while teachers affirm that they are measuring up to intellectual
criteria, not by showing them how to do it properly but by acknowledging that
every idea is worthwhile.
● When teachers take advantage of their opportunity to provoke curiosity by
helping students solve problems as opposed to seeking single solutions, they
prepare their social learners to approach challenges in unique ways suited to the
individual problems, increasing sound thinking and confidence that applies to
mathematics and beyond.

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 MY ACTION PLAN₂
Mary Feldmann - Teaching Mathematical Problem Solving 4-12 (Spring 2021)

GOALS

● Applying the multiple intelligences and abilities treatment, capitalize on my

ability as a teacher to convince students that no individual is smart in every
different way and everyone is smart in some speciality or another in order to
promote the active participation of all students and improve equal access to
information and higher-order thinking.
● Foster a shared emotional community in which students are cared for and
supported socially and academically.
● Engage students based on their interests with problems that peak into their
individual minds and give them plenty of opportunity for imitation and practice.
● Recognize my power as the teacher and use it to my advantage to encourage
learning and raise expectations of competence by giving public and specific
acknowledgement that is particular to the task to students at a greater frequency.
● Remain open-minded without relying on a single mode of instruction and
operation or becoming entrenched in a certain way of teaching too often.

CONCERNS

● Warranting respect as a new teacher with innovative teaching methods and

curriculum practices that may not be well-received by experienced teachers
● Tailoring complex instruction tactics to meet the needs of individual students
while challenging their zone of proximal development in a comfortable manner
● Balancing virtual classroom management with my content-based delivery lessons
● Tracking student progress reports without applying excessive performance-based
pressure to time sensitive assessments
● Prioritizing teaching for social justice on a daily basis regardless of subject matter