Professional Practice

Program Standard 8

Background
When I got my undergraduate degree, I always knew in the back of my mind that I wanted to get my masters' degree someday, and I probably wanted to get it in education. However, I also knew that I wanted to wait awhile so that I would have concrete, real-world experience to apply to my graduate work. Now, as I near the end of my fifth year of teaching, I also near the complete of a graduate degree in Educational Leadership. This program has given the the chance to review teaching practice, to refine my instructional strategies, and to prepare to share my knowledge with other adults, instead of just with students in the classroom. In my first year, I benefited from the help of an instructional coach. While I am currently very happy with my school, my students, and my colleagues, I am glad that my work in this program has prepared me for many different ways to be a quality educator.

Learning
In the first few courses, we practiced observing peers in our SPU classes through videos and written lesson plans. As our knowledge of adult learning increased, we were asked to plan and present information to colleagues at our own schools. I developed a presentation about feedback methods and shared it with my department. I also designed professional development for fellow teachers who were preparing to launch interdisciplinary classes. I have also stepped up as grade level coordinator at my school, gathering data about the 9th grade and running meetings with the 9th grade team to address issues that we saw. My work in classes like "Accomplished Teaching" and "Communication and Collaboration" prepared me for these opportunities.
In addition to my work with my colleagues, I have also become a stronger teacher. I am planning a new course for next year, and I think I made the right choice in a masters' program because I had a wonderful time applying the principles of backward design and planning the formative and summative assessments before even starting to think about daily activities. I think that I have become more instinctual in the way I check for understanding with my students, and my lesson planning has certainly become more cohesive. I particularly enjoyed the classes "Standards-Based Assessment," "Curriculum Design," and "Survey of Instructional Strategies".

Next Steps
Like I said before, I don't see myself making any big changes in employment right now. I love my school, and we just hired a Director of Teaching and Learning so I'm really excited to geek out with her about all the things I have learned over the past two years. In the future, I could see myself becoming a curricular/instructional coach to help other teachers. Right now, I love my time in the classroom too much. I look forward to working with my colleagues and to using my learning to support them in any way I can.

References

Dean, C.B., Hubbell, E.R., Pitler, H., & Stone, B.J. (2012). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement (2nd ed.) [Kindle version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com.

Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers: Maximizing impact on learning [Kindle version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com.

Hilty, E. (2011). Teacher leadership: The "new" foundations of teacher education. New York: Peter Lang.

Wiliam, D. (2011). Embedded formative assessment. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Zepeda, S. (2008). Professional development: What works. 2nd Edition. New York: Eye on Education.

Moral Issues in Education

Program Standard 1

In the Spring of 2017 I took EDU 6085, Moral Issues in Education. I appreciated Professor Fritzberg's emphasis that moral does not necessarily mean morality, and that while SPU is a Christian university there is a desire to educate about what it means to live rightly more so than what it means to live as a Christian. However, I teach at a Catholic school and am Catholic myself, so I have a somewhat biased lens towards religion as a moral compass.

I see tension at my school, a liberal school in a liberal place that also has a Catholic identity. The liberal nature of our geographical placement leads to discussions about cloning, ideas about abortion, and the nature of relationships that can be at odds with our Catholic school identity. Furthermore, a teacher reported that during an end-of-the-year reflection session in her seminar class, one student stated that while it was kind of nice that everybody mostly agreed, she wished there had been more controversy at times to deepen the discussions. This contradicts reality- not all the students in the class agree, rather, the minority don’t feel safe speaking up because they know their ideas will be shot down, or they are afraid speaking their mind will change their classmates’ view of them. This shows that we need to reconsider how we structure discussions and how we teach dialogue at our school. Students (and many adults!) need training in listening skills so that they can better understand how to see those with differing opinions as people who are worth their time and energy to hear.

The classroom can also be an emotionally charged place. As a faculty, we watched the film Race to Nowhere and saw many of our students in the children interviewed. Students today are stressed beyond measure by pressures from home, school, and society. Even if as teachers we think we haven’t placed a large verbal emphasis on grades, every action we take belies that. Almost every assignment is graded, our walls are covered in college posters, and we prep for the SAT in English class. This is integrated in students’ minds with their parents’ desires for them to do well and to get into the “right” college. As much as our school tries to educate parents around what the “right” college really means, everything the parents see in the media about college says that “right” means “ivy league.” It is a vicious cycle that needs action in many areas to decrease that charge.

I think that my school is on the right track to help students cultivate more balance and acceptance. As we move away from the IB curriculum, we are finding space to breathe and to bring back a fuller, more comprehensive advisory program that will help our students think more critically about not just who they are but about how they fit in with the larger community. We are on track to help our students understand that talent and intelligence takes many forms and speaks many languages. For one of my inquiry projects for this class, I researched restorative justice models and the work being done to implement them in schools. Our new student-driven leadership model, with students working to enforce rules and accountability, is one way that my school guides our students in seeing the challenges that others face. I recognize that my school is not perfect, and that there is a lot of work to be done regarding equity and justice, but I think we are doing good work that will continue to deepen and expand with time. Regardless of the school's Catholic identity, our overall goal should be to create students that are capable of critical thinking and holding a conversation with someone who believes differently than they do.

References

Abeles, V. (Producer). (2010). Race to nowhere [video]. Available from http://www.racetonowhere.com/screenings.

James, J.H., with Schweber, S., Kunzman, R., Barton, K.C., & Logan K. (2015). Religion in the classroom: Dilemmas for democratic education. New York, NY: Routledge.

Pace, J. (2015) The charged classroom. New York, NY: Routledge.

Sperry, P. (2015, March 14). How liberal discipline policies are making schools less safe. New York Post. Retrieved from http://nypost.com/2015/03/14/politicians-are-making-schools-less-safe-and-ruining-education-for-everyone/.

Wirzba, N. (2016). The way of love: Recovering the heart of Christianity. New York, NY: HarperOne.  

Culturally Responsive Teaching

Program Standard 5

Background

The primary class for standard 5 was EDU 6525, "Culturally Responsive Teaching." Each week, we read essays from James A. Banks' compilation Multicultural Education, Transformative Knowledge, and Action: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives (1996). These essays, and other coursework, helped me critically examine the story that I tell, and how my story interacts with others'. I also became more aware of ways that some stories are honored and others are silenced.

Learning

Each week throughout this course, we examined a different part of "culture," from religion and language, to access and race. We were asked to complete an autobiography exploring our own cultural history or to examine the culture and identity groups around us and how that impacts our teaching. As a privileged, straight, white, middle-class, Christian woman, I know that I often struggle to see my own privilege since so much of what I do and believe is normalized in American culture. I chose to reflect on the different groups I see on campus, particularly the differences between the boarding or international students and our domestic students. Since my reflection contains photos and identifying information about students at my school, I have chosen not to link to it here. To summarize, I examined some of the ways in which language is a barrier to education. As the dorm program at my school expands, we continue to search for ways to make a better connection with the students and families from outside the United States. Recently, we held a meeting on campus for Chinese speaking families to help clarify some of the major changes that have been going on. The parents advocated for the formation of a Chinese Parent Council, in addition to or within our current Parent Association, to better serve international families. This is one way in which my school continues to grow in working with different cultures in a better way.

For the final project, I wrote a paper to encapsulate my learning about the role that culture plays in the classroom. I changed the names of anyone involved, so you may read my reflection here. In the paper, I describe different "types" of students and how my interactions with them have changed, or at least made me think more deeply about, my teaching methods. These students range from those whose disposition might make some teachers view them as "difficult" to those who are inclined to please and are seen as the "perfect" student- until you realize that they are blindly following everything you say. Both are problematic, and both are real examples of how different values lead to teaching challenges and teachable moments.

Impact

Reading stories about Mourning Dove, Mary McLeod Bethune, Allison Davis, and Carter G. Woodson gave me a lens through which to evaluate my teaching. As I plan a new 9th grade course on global issues, I hope to find a variety of ways in which to allow my students to tell their individual stories. Before we examine global issues with any depth or seriousness, students will need to identify their own values and think critically about how their background impacts what they value. This is one way that I can help students come to terms with their own identities and how it intersects with others'. Furthermore, my school is moving toward greater integration across curriculum with inter-disciplinary classes in the upper levels. As this trickles down to freshmen and sophomore classes, we will be able to get students to focus more on ways of knowing and critical thinking, as opposed to just studying for a test. Banks (1996) writes that the goal of the multi-cultural education movement is “to help students acquire the knowledge and commitments needed to make reflective decisions and to take personal, social, and civic action” (p. 344). By thinking about how my values and background impacts my teaching, I can help my students critically examine their own beliefs and empower them to stand up for what matters.

References

Banks, J.A. (1996). Transformative knowledge, curriculum reform, and action. In J.A. Banks (Ed.), Multicultural education, transformative knowledge, and action (pp. 335-348). New York: Teachers College Press.

Barnett, E.F. (1996). Mary McLeod Bethune: Feminist, educator, and activist. In J.A. Banks (Ed.), Multicultural education, transformative knowledge, and action (pp. 217-232). New York: Teachers College Press.

Hillis, M.R. (1996). Allison Davis and the study of race, social class, and schooling. In J.A. Banks (Ed.), Multicultural education, transformative knowledge, and action (pp. 115-128). New York: Teachers College Press.

Miller, C. (1996). Mediation and authority: The Native American voices of Mourning Dove and Ella Deloria. In J.A. Banks (Ed.), Multicultural education, transformative knowledge, and action (pp. 141-155). New York: Teachers College Press.

Roche, A.M. (1996). Carter G. Woodson and the development of transformative scholarship. In J.A. Banks (Ed.), Multicultural education, transformative knowledge, and action (pp. 91-114). New York: Teachers College Press.

Teacher Evaluation Protocols

Program Standard 7
Throughout the course of my graduate program, I have become familiar with a variety of ways to grow my reflective practice as well as evaluate my work and that of my colleagues. In my initial reflection for the very first class I took, here's what I wrote:

Understanding of TPEP Framework (Danielson)I have very little understanding of the Danielson Framework, nor do I know if it will be the framework used by my school going forward. Beyond my student teaching, I have never worked at a public school, so I am unfamiliar with a lot of the current standards and practices that schools in public districts deal with. My experience with teacher evaluation has been for administrators to drop by my classroom at various points in the year to give me some feedback on whatever they happened to observe. At the end of the last school year I received an "annual snapshot" that gave notes in three areas: Teaching and Learning, Community/Professional Responsibility, and Leadership. I feel like this  hits on three of the Danielson areas: Classroom Environment, Instruction, and Professional Responsibilities. However, this wasn't very useful to me on a day-to-day basis as I planned my lessons and assessments. Throughout the course of this class, and this program at SPU, I hope to become a more reflective and informed teacher so that I can back up what I "feel" to be good or what seems to be working in my classroom with actual evidence.

Throughout the course, I learned more about how the Danielson Framework is used, and I practiced applying it to my work. For my accomplished teaching synthesis paper, I wanted to improve my instruction of academic writing. I focused on feedback and incorporating more opportunities for smaller, practice writing assignments. Here's how I related my work to elements of the Danielson Framework:

This skill relates to domain 3 of the Danielson framework, the TPEP framework I am exploring. This part of the framework refers to instruction. 3a- communicating with students- asks that teachers communicate clear expectations to students. It is possible that part of the problem I am having with my students’ writing is that my instructions are not clear enough. 3d- using assessment in instruction- also is important to my area of focus because I use the essays as the primary mode of assessment for my juniors. Some examples of distinguished teaching in this area include reminding students of the assessment criteria, providing substantive feedback (both from the teacher and from peers), and self-assessment. 3e- demonstrating flexibility and responsiveness- fits what I have been doing, since I have built in a lot more essay practice in response to my students’ difficulties in writing.

This is an example of a writing assignment I give my 9th grade students,
using a historical fiction book they have read.

This is an example of feedback I might give, with
clear correlation of feedback to the requirements of the assignment, as well as
suggestions for resources if the student needs help improving her work.

While my school has not yet incorporated the Danielson Framework, or any standard TPEP Framework, I have grown in my understanding of teacher evaluation and I plan to be on a committee that will work to formalize and grow our teacher evaluation program. In my grad school work, I have found many ways to use all sorts of frameworks to evaluate teaching. I practiced observing colleagues for the course "Survey of Instructional Strategies" and evaluated my own teaching through video clips. For "Engaging Communities" I looked through the lens of a principal and created a plan to meet various benchmarks of the WA state principal program, including evidence of how I would know the goal was met.

I think that evidence is the most important part of any observation. A good teacher asks, "How do I know I accomplished what I set out to do?" This leads to all sorts of quality practices, including backward design, learning targets, and data-driven work. However a teacher is evaluated, this ideal should be the driving force.



References

Berg, J. H. (2010). Constructing a clear path to accomplished teaching. Theory into Practice, 49(3), 193-202.

Chalikandy, M.A. (2014). Reflection: Tool for professional development. Researchers World, 5(3).117-124. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1547695051?accountidid=2402

Danielson, Charlotte (2011). The framework for teaching evaluation instrument. The Danielson Group. [PDF].

Farrell, T., & Ives, J. (2015). Exploring teacher beliefs and classroom practices through reflective practice: A case study. Language Teaching Research, 19(5), 594-610.

Gray, J., Kruse, S., & Tarter, C. J. (2016). Enabling school structures, collegial trust and academic emphasis. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 44(6), 875-891.

Research-based Practice

Program Standard 3

Throughout my work at SPU, I have taken two classes on reading and interpreting research. These courses helped me be a critical consumer of research and to think about how to conduct research in my own classroom.

In Winter 2017 I took "Applying Research in School Settings," and learned some statistics for the first time in my life. Throughout this quarter, I read and critiqued research articles, commenting on the effectiveness of the study and the reliability of results. I liked that I could review articles on topics that applied to my classroom. I teach a lot of international students for whom English is a second language, so I read Gándara's "Rethinking Bilingual Instruction" (2015) to learn about the benefits of bilingual education. This article examined studies on the cognitive advantages of speaking another language, and I had to be able to critically interpret Gándara's claims. Even the assigned article, such as Mergendoller, Maxwell, and Bellisimo (2006) on problem-based learning allowed me to interpret how this study would apply to my own classroom. As I update my curriculum to a more project and problem-based approach, understanding this data is important to me.

Since I had never taken a statistics class before, all of this was new to me. Like many others, I was daunted by the tricky technical language, and I did appeal to my husband for help on some homework. By working my way through Ravid's Practical Statistics for Educators (2011), I also learned how to interpret data, such as for my data analysis paper. Then, in Winter of 2018 I applied this information to my own classroom.

In the course "Action Research" I learned how to design and run an action research project. One resource I found useful for this course was Sagor's "Guiding School Improvement with Action Research" (2000). Sagor outlines the steps for designing an action research project. By applying my understandings from the previous year, I was intentional about the types of variables I wanted to include and how I would measure my results. I designed an intervention to improve citation skills in my 9th grade classroom. I used resources from the Purdue OWL, Turnitin.com's WriteCheck, and other MLA quizzes to supplement other assignments on citations throughout the course of my project. You can read about my methodology and results here. Overall, through this class I learned how to identify and solve a problem in my classroom. It is important to note that classroom action research experiments are not truly experimental environments- all students get some type of intervention, rather than having a control group!

The information from these classes has helped me to think twice about data that I hear. As a social studies teacher, one way I can apply this in my classroom is through the current events work that my students do. It is important to get information from many sources, and to investigate why different sources have different information. Beyond the usual bias, there are times when data can be interpreted differently to suit a cause. This has happened recently with gun violence statistics, as there is argument over what constitutes a mass shooting, what types of incidents should be included, and if that data should be taken raw or seen as percentage of people. The data interpretation skills I have gained through these research classes allows me to better explain this to my students.




References

Gándara, P. (2015). Rethinking Bilingual Instruction. Educational Leadership, 72(6), 60-64. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.spu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip&db=a9h&AN=102241670&site=ehost-live

Mergendoller, J.R., Maxwell, N.L., & Bellisimo, Y. (2006). The Effectiveness of Problem-Based Instruction: A Comparative Study of Instructional Methods and Student Characteristics. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-based Learning, 1(2), 49-69. http://dx.doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1026.

Ravid, R. (2011). Practical statistics for educators (5th Edition). Landham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Russell, T., et al. (2016, Aug. 2). MLA formatting and style guide. The Purdue OWL. Retrieved from https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/

Sagor, R. (2000). What is action research. Guiding school improvement with action research. ASCD.

The Multiplier Effect

For my latest class, Action Research, I am reading a book called The Multiplier Effect, by Wiseman, Allen, and Foster. A follow-up to their original, this book applies leadership principles to the education world. The authors argue that it is not enough to be smart and talented to be a good leader; you must also know how to maximize the talents of others. Those who do this well are called "multipliers," and those who do not are called "diminishers."

There is a quiz you can take to find out if you are an "accidental diminisher" (spoiler alert: I think most of us are!). I took the quiz, and I scored a 23, the low end of the 21-30 point range that says I'm "likely an accidental diminisher." After taking the quiz, in addition to your score, you receive a report on the questions that contributed to a higher score. While I think some of the scenarios didn't really apply to my position in my school, I definitely agreed with the label "micromanager." I know that I have difficulty letting go of tasks, and that there have been times I stress myself out with the desire to do it all because it is simply easiest that way. I don't have to explain my thinking or teach others how to use the tools, and they would have to consult with me anyways so... I might as well just do it. This also means that I have difficulty asking for help when I need it, or I wait until the last minute to reach out because I am so sure that I can do it alone.

I think that in the classroom I have gotten a lot better at redirecting this side of myself, especially working with senior students. Theoretically, I should be teaching my students that it is okay to take risks and fail. We try to model a growth mindset, and being a micromanager can stifle that in my students and colleagues. As I grow into my role as teacher leader, this will be an aspect of my personality that I will need to keep an eye on. I look forward to reading more of The Multiplier Effect to learn about ways that I can do so.