Instruction II:

Poudre High School

I'm placed in a freshman Geometry and Construction class

Introduction

The School

Poudre High School serves students from a wide variety of backgrounds and cultures. The cultural of the school is extremely welcoming and promotes the feeling of family throughout the whole school. The school slogan is Ubuntu which is an African word that means "I am because we are". Their philosophy is to not only give students a well-rounded education but allow to give students an opportunity to explore areas of study that extend the traditional high school curriculum. The Pathways program gives students a curriculum aligned towards their interests including engineering, agriculture, culinary arts, entrepreneurial arts, arts and humanities and more. In my classroom I have a wide variety of students in every pathway and though the idea is to separate students into pathway driven classrooms I think this specific mix of students have a great dynamic. The first two weeks I was tasked to know every student's name and get to know them, with this as my only focus I was able to connect with students very fast. One of those students is an international student from China theis is his first year in the US and it was obvious he was struggling with the culture, comprehension and got frustrated easily. He was the student I got to know really well and made the most connection with. In class I go over word by word of what we're doing and when he get isolated from other students I find a group and tell them they need his help. My expeirience with him as made me consider looking into the ELL progam and being an ELL teacher. As a whole this specific class is really special because of the lessons we are achieving in and outside the classroom.

Standard 1: Demonstrates mastery of and pedagogical expertise in content

Educational Resume
- In my educational resume, you'll find that throughout my last four years at CSU I've had been involved with many jobs and programs that have helped me gain a well-rounded expertise in mathematical practice. Through the Mathematics Undergraduate Program, I've gained an understanding equivalent to a degree. As well as being a student I've been a tutor since high school tutoring over 12 students ranging from high school to college and varying in content.

Hyperbolic Coral Project
- This project was for the undergrad math upperclassman poster competition. For this project, my goal was to model hyperbolic functions on tangible physical models to make hyperbolic properties easier to understand and eventually be able to advance in mathematical theory. The best model I found for hyperbolic functions was a coral reef. Through researching different types of coral I discovered how detrimental environmental effects have been this. Coral reefs will slowly become extinct and their loss could have major effects on our environment. This project quickly turned from a pure math project to a conversation project; using math research to protect study coral reefs.

Geometry

This portion of the classroom teaching math concepts that cover all of the geometry curricula. Every concept taught in class is connected to the construction of the house and real-world skills that students can apply to any career they pursue.

Construction

During this time of the class, students build a full-scale house from the ground up. This house gets donated to a family in the community who cant afford housing. During construction, students learn valuable life skills like measuring sawing hammering and many other kinesthetic experiences of math

Standard 2: Establishes a safe, inclusive and respectable learning environment for a diverse population of students.

· Expectation sheet

This expectation sheet gives a guided instruction for the structure of the classroom. Students know what they can expect from me and the fill in the blanks what I can expect from them. The guided element gives a structure to the classroom yet there freedom for each student to express respect and inclusive traits in their own way

· Slope Lesson Plan

This lesson introduces slope through the concepts of Taoism and the thoughts on the rate of change throughout our lives. This lesson establishes a safe inclusive respectful environment by allowing students to share their thoughts in a safe space and letting student explore

Standard 3: Plans and delivers effective instruction and creates an environment that facilitates learning for students

Interdisciplinary lesson

This lesson delivers instruction through the process of inquiry and creativity while gaining global perspectives through research. This creates a safe learning environment because students can have a self-guided experience of learning and gain knowledge through their own means which is a comfort for some students. Though there is a self-guided aspect, the procedures are clear enough that students have specific goals and parts to the assignment are on a timeline and have structure. The balance of structure and freedom of creativity is met within this assignment which reflects on the culture of the classroom.

MTV Lesson

This lesson taught the strategy "Connect Extend Challenge" where students learn a new concept by connecting it with something they already know or something related to their life, then they extend the basic concept by learning more about it and digging deeper about the content and then they think of challenges they could face in this topic and challenging problems that involve this concept. This creates a suitable learning environment because it allows time for students to reflect on what they know and practice expressing their personal thoughts about the subject. Not only do they express what they know but they also express what they don't which allows room for growth and learning.

Standard 4: Demonstrates professionalism through ethical conduct, reflection and leadership

Parent Teacher Conference

The Parent Teacher Conference was a completely new experience for me and gave me a lot of perspective of the conversations and professional relationships teachers need to develop. I was very impressed by my cooperating teacher; he had a great reputation with the parents and knew his students very well. I learned that you have to know your students to teach them and to know them you should know whom they come from. This experience gave me insight into how to manage constructive and professional relationships with parents, other teachers, and the importance of knowing your students

Evidence of Reflection

As a teacher, one of the most important dispositions is to be able to reflect and improve on your practice. Throughout the semester there have been many opportunities to take criticism and grow, one of which was the homework assignment for my slope lesson plan (linked at the bottom). This homework assignment gave me a lot of insight into how students process math and how paying attention to the small details can improve clarity and understanding in an assessment. I also learned so much from what the class was excelling at and needed more work in. Though it wasn't assigned I wrote a reflection of what I learned about each of the problems I assigned.

Conclusion

In conclusion this expeirience has helped me get closer to being a professional in this feild, plan better lessons, and has structured my thinking process of teaching in the classroom. The Geometry in Construction program has inspired me to explore how how math can allow students to make a difference in the community as well as help students gain really important life skills alongside math. Poudre High School has taught me the importance of school culture and how its reflected in the students as well as the teachers. I've also gained a lot of perspective by attending staff meetings, safety trainings, parent teacher conferences, and collaborating with outside companies like Habit for Humanity. There are still elements in the dispositions I need to work on like developing good mediation skills, planning on a daily basis, and having an understanding of my teaching style; all of which I plan to improve on my student teaching next semester.