Frequently Asked Questions
How would you address a wide range of skills in your classroom?
I would address a wide range of skills with my students by building relationships and differentiate learning.
By building relationships, I am able to have a better understanding of how my students learn and what their preferences are. This increases a connection with myself and the student and keeps them engaged when I create lessons geared towards their interests, all while being content-related. Additionally, when a relationship is built, students are more likely to express their feedback and give honest answers.
This is where differentiating learning comes in and is a benefit to all. An example of this would be to have students working independently, whole class, small groups, or in pairs. This will allow students to share ideas with one another and explore different ways to have a discussion. In math classrooms, it’s important to hear students discuss their math ideas and how to translate that into conversations. This allows me to walk around the classroom and know which students need help with math discussions and which students are doing great. Furthermore, feedback from the students is important and what helps me know the progress of my students’ learning. This can be done through a quick thumbs up or thumbs down, an exit ticket at the end of class, or a google forum asking if they have constructive feedback on certain lessons.
How will you create and support safe, inclusive, and culturally responsive learning environments for all students?
I want it to be known that I have a zero-tolerance policy on bullying, racism, and any other negative behaviors in my classroom. I will establish rules and guidelines with the students, together, to know we are both on the same page and have an understanding of what my expectations are from them. When I am making lessons and applying them to real-world applications, I want all cultures and people of color to be included to ensure all of my students can see themselves in mathematicians from around the world. Furthermore, I want to create a safe environment by ensuring the classroom is in an orderly manner and staying calm and control in any situation that arises. Safety isn’t only about being safe physically, but being safe emotionally by being comfortable enough to share your opinions and voice with other students respectfully and in a healthy matter, which is a classroom environment I want to establish.
How do you decide which teaching strategies to use in your class?
It’s important for teachers to learn information about their students and do their best to create a healthy relationship. An example of learning more about your students is giving them a survey that asks basic questions such as their favorite sport, favorite subject in school, aspirations they have, etc. This allows the students to have an open space and share their experiences and interests. I believe that once a student and a teacher have a strong relationship, trust is established. I figure out the teaching strategies that work best on my students by implementing them and receiving feedback. I do this by giving them a short exit ticket that asks about their experience after a lab or new activity. If I have noticed it is getting positive praise, I will continue to use the strategy. If I notice that students aren’t getting much content out from the strategy, I will ask to receive suggestions. The importance of this is letting the students know that their opinions matter to me.
How have you integrated technology and/or other tools into your classroom to create more personalized learning experiences for students?
When it comes to integrating technology into my classrooms, I have found that using the methods of Differentiated Instruction is the most useful. Differentiation learning allows me to integrate technology and personalize learning experiences for all my students within the same lesson. An example of accomplishing both aspects into a lesson is having stations in classrooms that focus on how the content is being presented to the students. I have three stations: direct teacher, independent online, and collaboration. The direct teacher station allows me to assist with an instructional video over the topic. The independent online station has students doing online practice where I can go in and check their responses. Lastly, the collaboration station is when students get into groups to work on practice problems with a few challenging questions. With differentiation learning and stations, I can reach the individual needs of all students to accomplish the content goals and objectives.
How do you design relevant lessons in a way that encourages student agency, ownership, and social emotional learning?
An example of student agency is when I had a classroom with basketball students and used a Desmos activity that involved predicting parabolas in basketball. This is student agency since this activity was relevant to learners and piqued their interest. I ensure aspects of ownership are involved in my lesson by having time for students to discuss their ways of solving a problem with their classmates. Through this, students gain experience sharing their ideas with others and being prepared to speak in front of the class. Lastly, I teach students how to work in groups by having multiple opportunities for collaboration since being able to work in a group setting is an important life skill. This is done by being consistent in implementing collaboration with each other and the students having a strong understanding of group work rules and expectations. I try to include these three aspects in all of my lessons.
What techniques do you use to involve families in their students' learning?
It’s important to establish and keep a positive relationship with the students’ parents since parents promote positive classroom behavior by ensuring their children do their homework, be organized, and validate their efforts. The beginning of the relationship involves introducing myself to the parents through email or take-home letter stating my policies, contact information, and my excitement about teaching their children. Additionally, I make sure that I know which languages my students’ parents speak and read to create an inclusive environment by ensuring my email or letter is in their preferred language. Another technique I use to involve families in their students’ learning is to send positive praise about their childrens’ learning and the growth that I have witnessed. Ultimately, I want the families to know that I am there in the best interest of their children and want to have a relationship where we are both involved.