I continue to work on improving my teaching practices, so they will be the best they can be. I still am incorporating the developmental designs philosophy as I use the TAB and TAB Out, universal attention signal, and check and connect. I have taken what I have learned from my literature review and applied it to my teacher language as I have tried to remove my judgment from the feedback I give. I have tried to reduce the words, "Good Job," but I still use it at times. I have tried to point out and name positives in a neutral voice, so students have concrete evidence to believe in themselves. I am more careful with my words, as I know the power they hold. I say what I mean and mean what I say, so students know my words hold weight and need to be respected. I have worked at providing students with more wait time before calling on students for answers as this give them time to think, rehearse, or even gather the courage to speak at all. I have worked at cultivating the growth mindset with all my students through the words I speak. I am careful in how I praise students and I learned it is best to praise students for their effort than their intelligence. I also have incorporated using the MAP math site as an intervention for struggling students. I continue to learn more and implement strategies and ideas that are identified as best practices in education. I created a booklet based off of the template to serve as a reminder to me about what is important while teaching students.
Reflection: I have chosen and implemented interventions with students based on their needs. Specifically I have used Brainology with struggling learners. I have incorporated the help signal with my team taught math class. This year I have implemented the Developmental Designs philosophy through my everyday advisory and math classrooms. I have posted redirecting, reflective, nonjudgmental language prompts on my back wall as reminders for me to use empowering teacher language. I am working on removing judgment and saying "good job" with more reflective language. I am trying to be more of a mirror than a judge. I continue to wok on this piece as it has been very challenging.
Reflection:I think best practice is one piece teachers will always be striving to learn more about and improve on. I have read many articles on best practices throughout the masters program, and I feel I am definitely growing within this strand. I have tried new things in my classroom and learned from them. For example, I have tried entrance cards, exit cards, pair sharing, parking lots with post it notes, learning targets, desk cards, activexpressions, gender specific activities, writing more in math, and clothespins designating student choice. I am using a math word wall, and having students do more with math vocabulary. I am also trying to cultivate the growth mindset within my students by using Brainology. Students are watching videos, reflecting, and participating in classroom discussions and activities. They are learning the harder they work, the smarter they can become.
Our school has added everyday advisory where we are working at creating community and meeting the social and emotional needs of our students. I have attended two week long classes in the summer to learn more about the Developmental Designs philosophy. We are increasing our toolboxes as we add new greeting, games, and activities to our advisories. I am working on improving my teacher language as I try to remove judgement and use phrases such as "I notice" and "Who can remind me" I am trying to be more of a mirror than a judge.
We are also focusing on creating SMART goals within our advisory team. We are becoming more aware of our students' lexile scores and the lexile scores of our texts and reading assignments. I am taking steps to research and incorporate best practices into my classroom so my students can be as successful as possible. I enjoy learning about new practices and implementing them into my classroom.
Personal Baseline:
Who wouldn't want to use the best practices in pedagogy? I am interested in learning about the current best practices for my subject and my age level of students and then implementing them into my classroom. Part of this journey might entail determining which of the identified best practices works best for my classroom. There are many opinions our there, and so a personal, professional judgment needs to be considered as well. I am hopeful that reading the best practice book I selected will offer important, applicable strategies within the best practice pedagogy.
Questions:
What have been identified as the best practices in education?
How will these work within my content area and for my unique group of learners?
What strategies will best help my students construct personal meaning and truly learn and remember mathematics?
Do I need permission to try new practices when there is great focus on our state and MAPS test scores?
