Instructional Practices

    My instructional practices and philosophy is consistently adapting and changing as I continue to navigate through my experiences, research and reflect upon my lessons and success criteria. To put things in perspective, I have only been a certified teacher in my own classroom for one full calendar year, which was my first year! Since then, my second year was interrupted by a pandemic, and as I continue in my third year, it has been just as impacted, with limitations on ways in which I typically instruct. Above all else, I find the most success in my life when I am connected to people, this includes my classroom. I always begin with creating a safe, collaborative, fun, reflective environment where, by not focusing on the grades, but rather the process, we make enormous strides and find success. I stress that we should not take ourselves too seriously, and look forward to feedback and reflect in difficult situations. I inject humour into my lessons constantly, and model learning and being okay with making mistakes. We know when it is time to work, when it is time to have fun and most importantly, how to begin to handle adversity. I start every year with lessons on growth mindset and the work of Carol Dweck. I have a visual in my classroom that reads, "A growth mindset means that you believe intelligence can be developed, you have a passion to learn which means you embrace challenge, learn from criticism, keep going when things get tough, are inspired by others and see effort as the path to mastery" (Dweck 2006). I often refer back to this visual before assessments, when reviewing assessments and when we are about to encounter tough material. I find it has completely changed the perspective of many of my students, and has not only positively impacted the way they perceive math, but also life. 

    A typical daily lesson involves the student making a personal connection to the material before we begin. For example, if we are discussing angles and using a protractor to measure in degrees, I ask the students to think of real life applications of the concept, or ways in which they have or might use the knowledge they are currently exploring. I find this creates more of a student centered/motivated classroom, and they begin to engage in the material. From there I move to direct instruction, which is typically a traditionalist method where I am at the front of the room while my students are watching and taking notes. The difference between what I do compared to a completely traditionasut method lies in the way in which I conduct myself at the front. I am intentionally silly, joking and engaging the students through weird examples and having them create examples with me. I often will also have students predict what I might do next, which allows for deeper thinking and critical thinking opportunities. As we know, not all students learn this way, but I value and truth of this change in perspective has also masked that fact that some students do learn best from this way as well, and that by completely shifting to a constructivist approach, we have lost some intentional, linear, auditory/visual learners along the way. Ie, 'Discovery Math'. This is why I choose to start this way, then proceed to formative feedback tasks where student work together to solve problems. I encourage students to get out of their desks and comfort zones to find new ways to approach a problem, or help in the form of their peers. Peer evaluated work is sometimes the most effective way to inspire a class, and truly see them learn from their mistakes in a safe and caring environment when the stage is set the proper way. 

I have based many of my decisions instructionally on the work of Jo Boaler as well. Jo Boaler wrote a powerful book titled Mathematical Mindsets where she takes the research of Carol Dweck and Mindset, and uses it to relate to innovative instruction in Math. This book dissects the way in which we can unleash a students potential by interviewing the power of a growth mindset in combination with Mathematics. One of the best takeaways from the book is where she spoke to the idea of asking the problem before teaching the material. I have found profound success in this, but only when I feel my class has adopted a growth mindset of their own. it is now one of their favourite activities when we start a new unit of concept. I create the toughest grade level problem that they would encounter and pose it to the class before teaching the necessary knowledge and skill outcomes needed to solve the problem. I explain to the class that this will be the hardest question they will see in the unit. This does several things. They first are all intrigued, because who wouldn't want to know what you need to know by the end of the unit? It forces the students to try and fail in a safe environment where there are no expectations, which in turn also provides the opportunity for the brain to create new synapses with the idea of being okay with making mistakes and being wrong. It also motivates students in a few different ways. First, it inspires our high achievers, because they love a challenge. It also inspires the majority of the class by making them come to the realization that they need to work hard and pay attention in order to have the ability to solve this type of question in the coming weeks. Third, it provides the students with an opportunity to be creative thinking and use intuition. Nearly 100 percent of the time a student will feel successful if they are able to simply guess what needs to happen to solve the question, even if they don't have the skills yet. 

     The final piece the this puzzle that ties everything all together is my passion for assessment. I am finding extreme value in taking a careful, analytical and most importantly collaborative approach to the way in which I create and assess assessments. I am very much data informed due to my intentional assessment practices which has made me a better instructional teacher, thus in turn allowing my students to improve at a rapid pace. As an instructional leader, I think it is important to realize that this method does not change when applying this philosophy to adults. We need to be data informed when making decisions and collaborative in our approach. The only disconnect I make between being a good teacher and a great instructional leader is that I truly believe you cannot move from one to the other without being a great coach. This is something that is external to being a teacher and sometimes even an educator. This must come from your own drive to improve in this area, outside of just an educational setting.