Kathryn McCollum

Induction Reflection
4/23/2021

Introduction

During my first year of teaching, I taught during a pandemic. This was a time of

uncertainty and constant change. My school started doing a hybrid schedule. I saw three classes a

day for two and a half hours. In October, we switched to everyone in person for four days for

about 70 minutes each period. For November and December, we were completely online. For the

spring semester, we have been in-person. I had to have multiple types of lesson plans ready

because I never knew when we would change the schedule again. When we were online, my

lesson plans consisted of recorded videos twice a week and an office hour twice a week. It was

hard to have google meets because of the limited WIFI abilities of the students. In-person I was

able to lecture to my students and have more participation.

One of the biggest challenges I faced was trying to keep my students motivated. I really

struggled with my juniors, since they didn’t see the point of doing work. It was hard to motivate

them when we were not able to play sports. I never realized before how motivating sports can be.

It took sometime, but I was able to find a math game the students really enjoyed. When the

students were good, we had a game day. If not everyone got their work turned in, we didn’t play

the game. Students were quickly motivated to stay on task.

Another big challenge for this school year was the constantly changing schedule. We

were on a different schedule each month. Students need to have consistency, and this lack of

consistency confused and frustrated many people. I think if we were in the classroom everyday I

would not have struggled so much with keeping students motivated.

 One of my biggest successes of the year was the amount of math talk in the classroom. At

the beginning of the year, students were very hesitant to talk during the lesson. Now at the end of

the year I have students who are able to make predictions of what they think a graph will look

like and students talk to each other about different ways to solve problems. During the work

time, I hear students using current and past vocabulary words when they explain concepts to one

another.

MobileMinds

For my first professional development I went through Google’s MobileMinds.

MobileMind is a certified Google Professional Development Services Partner, helping teach

educators how to use the Google Suite more effectively in the classroom. Within MobileMind,

there are lots of mini courses consisting of short videos followed by an activity using the tool in

the video.

I took all of the courses provided in MobileMind. Once I finished all the courses, I took

both Google Educator Levels 1 and 2 certification tests and passed.The entire process took me

about 40 hours to complete. I did most of the work when we were online and students did not

come to office hours.

MobileMind connects with Quality standards III and IV. Quality standard III says

“Teachers plan and deliver effective instruction and create an environment that facilitates

learning for their students.” Being able to utilize the G Suite helped my students to have access

to tools at home. One tool I utilized was Google Forms. It was nice to make tests the students

could take at home and be graded automatically. This gave my students immediate feedback.

Using all this technology is specifically met with element C, “Teachers integrate and utilize

appropriate technology to engage students in authentic learning experiences.” During this

pandemic, the use of technology was the only way teachers could do their jobs. Another tool I

utilized was Google Docs. I created some group projects using math outside of the classroom.

Students were able to work at the same time on the same document. Even though we were at our

own homes, students still worked together. By using Google Docs I specifically met Element E,

“Teachers provide students with opportunities to work in teams and develop leadership.” By

allowing students to work in teams, they need to each take a piece of the work and trust each

other to get it all completed.

I am thankful for Mobile Minds and taking the course during this time of online learning.

I think I would have struggled a lot more if I had to figure out different types of lessons for my

students to complete during this time online learning.

Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Learners

For my second professional development I did Mountain BOCES Culturally and

Linguistically Diverse Learners (CLDL). This course was at my own pace, going through

different modules. I went through 9 of the 18 modules for a total of 45 hours.

This is a course the Colorado Department of Education is requiring all Educators to

renew their license. It helps teachers understand all the different types of learners in the

classroom, and how we can better support our students. This aligns mostly with Standards II and

III. For Standard II, in order to “create a safe, inclusive and respectful learning environment for a

diverse population of students,” we need to understand where all of our students are coming

from. By taking the time to learn about the different cultures and backgrounds students come

from, teachers are able to better understand how to make students feel safe, included and

respected.
 For Standard III, “Teachers plan and deliver effective instruction and create an

environment that facilitates learning for their students.” If teachers do not know where our

students come from and where they are at, we are not able to create lessons to help them where

they are. It wouldn’t make sense for me to give an 8th grader a trig lesson when they have not

even learned about the Pythagorean theorem. We need to see where students are starting from to

then plan and teach lessons to help them grow.

Mentor

My mentor through the Induction program was Keith Berry. He was always willing to

answer my questions. If he didn’t know the answer, he knew who I could ask to find out. Most of

our time was spent talking through procedures, and expectations. The mentoring process is

Standard III element F “Teachers model and promote effective communication.” Sometimes it

can be easy to get into a grove. I had to make sure I was communicating my needs with my

mentor.

Throughout my year, I noticed Keith and I have very different teaching styles. It was nice

to see a different type. I think it's good to learn and see different styles. I was able to take the

idea of a weekly quiz to make sure students are keeping up with their studies.

Meetings

I enjoyed our sessions with Nicia. I think it was nice to learn some applicable ways to

differentiate in the classroom without having to write completely different lesson plans. I look

forward to going to future sessions with Nicia to continue learning how to better support my

students at different levels.

I also enjoyed the other sessions we had. I can’t remember who it was with, but they were

once a quarter on Monday mornings. One thing I learned was to have the weekly schedule where
the students can see it. Since I started having the weekly schedule up, my students have been

able to prepare for the week and have done a better job of keeping up.

During this time of a pandemic, having some control and knowing what to expect helps.

Students have not been in the classroom consistently, or even having the same schedule. Having

the consistency of seeing the weekly schedule can help to provide some of the consistency

students need.

Conclusion

Throughout my induction, I learned some helpful tools to improve my lesson plans. It

was also nice to meet a new group of teachers in this area. Since I am still new, I enjoyed

meeting everyone.

I believe I benefited from the Induction program. I learned through google classroom

how to make assignments engaging for my students while online. Through the CLDL course I

became more aware of the different backgrounds I see in my classroom. I have already started to

apply the knowledge I gained from my Professional Development trainings into the classroom to

benefit my students’ learning.