Task 1 (1)

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Western Governors University *

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MFT2

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Mathematics

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Feb 20, 2024

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docx

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12

Uploaded by kclinedinst

Kyle Clinedinst Student ID-001029234 Mathematics K-6 Portfolio Oral Defense MFT 2 A. Give an overview of your teaching philosophy in math by 1. Explaining how your approach to math teaching promotes a positive learning environment. My approach to teaching math deals with using hands on manipulatives and being the facilitator as much as possible. I am currently a 3rd grade teacher, and I firmly believe that young children learn by doing. I use many manipulatives in the classroom that range from counters, counting cubes, fractions strips and circles, base ten blocks and many more. I believe this promotes a positive learning environment because the students enjoy learning with manipulatives. They like to be in charge of their own learning, and nothing lets them be in charge like working hands on with objects. I also try to be the facilitator as much as possible. Early in my teaching career, I struggled with this, and I found it harder to motivate students. Over the years, I have learned to let students lead instruction as much as possible. This can be done in many ways, from small group activities, pulling sticks and having students give ways in which they solve problems, let students choose their activities, to instructional strategies with the teacher walking around adding input when needed. When the teacher is the facilitator, students are motivated because they are in charge of their own learning and have more opportunities to work together. 2. Explaining how the positive learning environment in A1 promotes student learning. Include one specific example from the environment Children often learn best from their peers. One thing I try to do is pair students in ways I think will be most beneficial and that allows me to act as the facilitator. A lot of times, this means pairing lower-level students with students who are on level or above level. But there are times I pair above level with on level or above level students to challenge or enrich their learning. An example of this is when we do a math scoot. A scoot is when there are multiple questions at each desk, and students move from one to another to answer the questions. A specific one we did recently was a fraction on a number line scoot. There were many fractions on a number line questions, and this concept is tricky for a lot of my students. Before the lesson, I paired children who I know would struggle with students who not only have a good understanding of the concepts, but also who I knew would be good teachers. I had them work together, taking advantage of peer assisted learning for 12 of the 20 problems. “The students can be paired with older students or
peers who have more sophisticated understandings of a concept.” -( Van De Wallie & Karp & Bay-Williams, 2012, p.99) Then, as an extension, I paired my high-level students together to complete 8 separate/ enrichment fractions. These were fractions greater than 1 on a number line. Example- 12/8 (twelve eighths). While they were doing the enrichment activities, the rest of the class finished their “normal” fractions on a number line scoot. 3. Describing two goals that you have for your elementary math students. Identify the grade level you are teaching or will be teaching. Currently teaching 3rd grade math. Goal 1: By the end of the first nine weeks, every student will have felt successful in at least one specific math area. (Does not have to be on grade level.) Goal 2: By the end of the school year, 100% of my students will show measurable growth according to district assessments. a. Explain how both student goals from A3 have affected or will affect your teaching. Goal 1: For my first goal, I want to make a point to recognize and celebrate every student for at least one math accomplishment early in the school year. For some students, this will be very easy. For those that struggle, this may mean working on below grade level standards in small tier 2 groups. But it is more valuable to recognize success for the “low” students because they often do not feel successful in math. If I can recognize them, this will boost self-confidence and hopefully encourage some motivation to be successful in the future. This will affect my teaching because I will first need to know every student's current ability level. To do this, I will use district data assessment, class summative assessment, and class formative assessment. Next, I will work on number sense concepts, (this is our focus the first nine weeks of school), at all different levels. I will teach a tier 1 whole group lesson and work on tier 2 or even tier 3 modifications and enrichment lessons to reach all students. Finally, I will recognize individual students' accomplishments in many different ways. Goal 2: My goal of having every student make measurable growth affects my teaching because in order to do this I have to focus on each student’s strengths and weaknesses. In order to grow each student, I need to teach them at their level as well as teaching the 3rd grade math standards as a tier 1. This means I will have to make modifications, find enrichment opportunities, work in small groups, and progress monitor throughout the school year. Our districts use NWEA MAP to progress monitor 3 times a year. I will use the first assessment to find specific math levels by standards. Then, as
I teach each unit, I will make modifications based on student needs. I will also use my class summative and formative assessments to progress monitor on a daily and weekly basis. 4. Describing two professional development goals you have for yourself as a math teacher. Goal 1: Improve parent/teacher communication involving student math progress. Goal 2: Improve active participation from students and become more of a facilitator. a. Explain how your goals from A4 have affected or will affect your teaching. Goal 1: My first goal will affect my teaching in a couple of ways. First, improving parent communication starts with building a rapport with the parents. I feel this is something I have improved at over the years. I use different forms of communication such as class letters, phone calls (positive and negative), and class dojo. After a rapport has been built, then I can make suggestions to parents on how to better help their child. I would like to improve on specific content communication. This will give the parents an idea of what we are working on in the classroom, but also help them better work with their child at home, in turn, help improve their child’s skills. I have found that a lot of parents teach math to their children differently than we teach common core at school. For some children, this is beneficial, but for many others, this only confuses the student. So, by improving my communication, I can help make sure the parents and teachers are on the same page. Goal 2: Over my 10-year teaching career, I have learned that students focus better when they have more control over their learning. 2 years ago, I felt that I was doing a great job being the facilitator. Last year, our district adopted a new math program that is very scripted and to me, seems very teacher led. Now that I have taught this program for almost a year, a goal of mine is to become more of a facilitator in the years to come. This will affect my teaching because the students will be more involved and engaged in the lessons. I will incorporate more peer learning and encourage students to share their ideas. 5. Describing one formative and one summative assessment that you use to understand student learning in mathematics. Include one specific example of each type of assessment.
Formative Assessment- Partner pair and share work using white boards. During this time, I walk around the room listening to students' ideas and strategies. Example- Recently, we were working on comparing fractions with the same numerator and different denominator. During this time, I had students working in pairs. Each partner had a white board and marker and fractions strips. I would put 2 fractions on the board. (2/4 and 2/8) One partner would make the fractions 2/4 with fraction strips and the other would make 2/8. Then, they would discuss the fractions to determine a number sentence. During this time, I was walking around the room listening to conversations for key words such as, “the bigger the denominator the smaller the pieces”, “this one has bigger pieces” .... This would let me know the students who understood the concept because they were able to explain their thinking correctly. Also, I was looking for correct number sentences. (2/4 > 2/8) Summative Assessment- Every week, we work on what we call “Math Boxes.” - (McCarthy, 2013) These are 4 common core problems a day, Monday through Thursday. This takes about 5 minutes and I use it as morning work. I pull sticks, and the students do one problem of their choice until we complete all 4. Then, on Friday, the students have 10 problems to work on as independent work. I take a summative grade from day 5 and use this data to drive my small group tier 2 lessons. An example of the max boxes is below and an explanation of how I use it to drive my lessons. Example- From this assessment, I can see that this student needs a tier 2 lesson on comparing fractions and fractions greater than 1.
a. Explain how the assessments in A5 are a valid measure of student understanding. Each assessment helps me measure the students' understanding differently. The formative assessment above helps me make a quick note of which students not only can write a correct number sentence comparing fractions, but more importantly who can explain their thinking. I was looking to see if one partner was dominating the conversations, showing me that we either need to work on how to be good partners, or that students are unsure of the concept and need more instruction. The summative assessment is a great way to drive my future instruction. For example, if I notice that only a few students struggle with a specific question or concept, then I know I may need to reteach that concept as a tier 2. But, if I notice that the majority of the class struggles after we have had our lesson(s) on said concept, then I know the lesson wasn’t effective or that I need to go back and reteach the lesson to the whole group as tier 1. B. Discuss how national or state mathematics standards build student understanding of mathematics as students progress through grades K-6. Include one specific example. Thus far, a big takeaway from this K-6 Mathematics Master’s Program has been standard alignment. I have taught for 10 years, and each year has been in 3rd grade. Coming into this program, I was very comfortable with the 3rd grade math standards and fairly comfortable with the 2nd grade and 4th grade standards. Admittedly, I understood number sense and other math concepts at each grade level k-6, but didn’t know how they were taught and how the standards build on each other. I now have a better understanding of how math concepts are taught in k-2. This helps me see where my below level students struggle and how the concepts were taught in the grades before. Also, I now have a better understanding of what students will be doing in the future. I have always worked on 4th grade concepts with my above level 3rd graders, but I now know how the 3rd and 4th grade standards build to the 5th and 6th grade levels. This helps me better prepare my students for the future. Include one specific example. One specific example of how the standards align is relating 3rd grade multiplication standards up to 6th grade geometry standards. In third grade we teach multiplication properties, such as the associative property of multiplication. Students learn they can multiply 3 numbers in any order. For example (2x3) x 4 or 2x (3x4). Before, I thought this prepared students for order of operations, which it does. But I also see how this relates to finding the volume of a rectangular prism in 5th and 6th grade. Students in 5th and 6th grade learn that volume is (L x W x H). So, they learn how to multiply 3 numbers in 3rd grade and use this skill in 4th, 5th, and 6th grade geometry.
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