Carolina Oliver-Barone 1

Video reflection and Self-Evaluation

This paper is a personal analysis of my teaching experience during a whole period of Algebra
2. My 20 students range in ages from 16 to 18 years and about half of them are struggling
with their grades at this point in time. This lesson specifically is a review of material students
have seen throughout the year, due to an upcoming standardized test in our locality. I had
planned a variety of exercises, which might be covered in the exam. During the 45-minute
period, students have a chance to do some individual work, and partner check after a certain
period of time. The sitting arrangement is rather generic, with individual desks arranged in
rows and columns. All of them are facing the front of the class, where the teacher desk and
the main smart board are located. In the next few pages I will summarize the main points of
my reflection, reviewing my performance as a teacher and identifying future actions for
improvement and growth.

Strengths
There are many things a teacher has to accomplish in the classroom during a specific
lesson. Not all of them are centered in delivering the content knowledge. Public
perception is that teachers stand in the front of the class; teach students what they know
of the subject, grade papers and nothing more. On the contrary, many of the things a
teacher has to do are not centered in the subject matter but on everything else, such as
preparing a meaningful lesson; having the classroom clear of distractions; multitasking
to be able to get the most out of the 45 minute long period; making sure everyone is
ready and able to learn; and be prepared to interact with the class during the entire
lesson to promote student involvement at all time, among other things. To have
pedagogical strengths has to do with the way we practice teaching, which to me, means
to put the practices I previously mention in motion.
During this specific lesson I demonstrate some strengths in various areas. I like to
practice the Socratic method. I enjoy asking students to say the answers out loud
because students not only learn from the instructor but also from one another. I have
developed the habit of asking a second or third student whether they feel their
classmate is correct or not (evidence from 1:00 to 5:00 min on video.) At that point
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students can engage in critical thinking and reflect upon their answers.
Another one of my strengths is my ability to multitask. Anyone who has ever taught in a
classroom knows how important is to be able to do this. 45 minutes go by really quickly
and time is of the essence. I feel that students must spend every possible minute
engaged in the activity. When teachers stop that flow to give out homework or to talk
about something other than what the lesson requires, it takes many minutes to bring
students back on task again. On the video I show that during the first 10 minutes of the
lesson I am able not only to give instruction to the students about what they have to do,
but I am walking around answering questions, assigning students to answer questions
on the board, and I am giving back their assignment folder for them to put away the
projects I will be giving away at the end of the period.
Finally and probably most importantly I feel one of the highlights of the lesson was at
around minute 15 on the video. One of the assignments on the board was for students to
write in their own words the process they followed in order to solve the problems. I was
lucky that one of the students raised the question: Why do we need to write, if this is a
math class? Because of that, I was able to redirect the question to the class and got great
feedback. Students talked about how by writing about it the student can understand the
process better and understanding what we read makes us better at math. It is a
misconception that math and reading and writing are not related. I am glad I was able to
share my understanding of it with all my students.

Weaknesses
While watching the video recording the first time, I was able to capture some of my
weaknesses that I did not realize existed while I was teaching. For example, I did not
realized how boring this lesson was. Even though students had to review for a future
test, there should be no excuse to plan a lesson that is boring and filled with problems
that are unrelated on the board. No wonder students lose interest right away. I still see
lesson planning as a real challenge but I understand that planning for a lesson that is fun,
challenging and interesting for students can bring a lot of benefits to both, the student
and the teacher. The student can engage easier if the problems they are working on are
related to other areas of their life, therefore they would be more willing to learn. The
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teacher can work in an environment that feels alive, in which students can share the
same passion for the subject as he/she does.
Another one of my weaknesses is the fact that I did not plan anything different for
students who are at different learning levels. In this particular lesson there are a few
students who are ahead of the rest in terms of grasping the material. There are also
some students who are behind the rest of the class. It would have been a good idea to
pair students before the beginning of the lesson. I should have paired the students that
have high understanding with those who are falling behind. Students learn and are also
inspired by other students who understand the subject better. On the other hand,
students who are capable to tech others are more likely to do even better in the future. It
is a win-win situation that I did not take advantage of when I had the chance. At least
there is no evidence of that on the video recording.

Caring
I believe a caring teacher is one that helps create a positive, engaging, and stimulating
teaching environment for his/her students to focus on learning. A caring teacher shows respect
to the students and is always setting up a good example for them. Furthermore, the teacher
believes in his/her students and wants them to succeed. Some of the ways a teacher can let
his/her students know he/she cares about them is by coming to class prepared. The teacher
wants to anticipate students questions or even stimulate critical thinking. By reviewing
exercises prior to class the teacher can guide the students to think beyond the answer. When
students are thinking critically they are more likely to understand the concept they are
studying. The teacher also prepares good examples and uses adequate materials for the lesson,
because she understands how much students need to use time appropriately. In most cases
there is not enough time to cover all the topics a teacher needs to cover. By selecting exercises
before class starts, the instructor has time to pick those that are most useful.
Beyond lesson planning, a caring teacher also listens to her students to learn more about them.
I believe most students want the teacher to know who they are. How they are as people, what
their interests are, and what is important to them at that point in time. By knowing this, the
teacher can understand the reason behind not doing homework, why they do not engage in
classroom discussions, or why a student does not come prepared to class. Most of the time
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there is something on their mind that makes them space out during a lecture. Asking a student
a simple question as are you doing ok? can make a big difference on the next day. Students
notice right away when we care about what is going on in their lives and most of the time they
start reacting the same way towards you.
Two more ways a teacher can show caring behavior is one: by staying after class to answer
questions. I believe this is very important because it gives the teacher an opportunity to
interact one to one with the student. It also shows the teachers dedication, which is a quality
students are likely to emulate. Two: giving project-based assignments. Specifically in the area
of mathematics projects are an important learning activity. Students can apply their creativity
and think beyond memorizing a logarithm to answer a question. The teacher in this case can
also make comments on the project for students to improve what they did or keep doing the
same if that makes sense. For example the comment can say, I loved the way you used a real
life scenario to describe this equation, however is it possible for a person to drive at 300
mph? Comments like that can help a student improve the next time they select data, but also
the student is more likely to keep using a real life example again.
During the recorded lesson I gave back projects the students had worked on during the spring
break. I wanted to give them back at the end of the period because I was concerned they
would get distracted from that days lesson if I had done it any earlier. Like I said before, time
is of the essence and I did not want to use any of the 45 minutes answering questions about it.
The next day I started the lesson saying to the students that I would be happy to answer their
questions or addressing their concerns on the project after class. However, it would have
made more sense to say that as soon as I gave the projects back.
I believe there are many things I do to show my students I care about them. I always stay after
class to talk to them if they need to do so. I also check homework at the beginning of the class
and I give them a check (for job well done) as long as they attempted it. At all times I come to
class prepared, on time and ready to work. This is also evident on the video. I started class as
soon as the bell rang and the work I had prepared was already on the board for them. Finally
and probably something I feel very strong about is the fact that I always ask my students with
a please and a thank you. I want them to know that I respect them and that I see them as adults
who should behave properly at all times. Creating certain habits takes time, and because our
students spend more time in school that they do at home, I feel strongly about staying on top
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of them when it comes to manners. My cooperating teacher believes students can take
advantage of us if we ask for things politely, however it has been my experience that students
tend to imitate behavior instead.

Culturally Responsive Teaching
I believe that the bottom line for every teacher is for the students to learn the given content. In
order to accomplish this, the way teachers deliver that content as well as the meaningful
experiences the instructor gives out can help make that content stick or not. Culturally
responsive teaching has to do with making those real life experiences matter to them, and
understanding the way their knowledge is being expressed is particular to each culture.
To see students as being all the same is ignoring they all come from different backgrounds.
Embracing such environment makes the student feel important and that he/she is being
acknowledged and respected for who they are. By doing this students can show the same
respect to others outside of the classroom.
There are many students in my classroom who come from Hispanic backgrounds. In this
collectivistic culture people are loud and talkative at all times. Students from this culture help
one another, which most of the time means they talk to them. Understanding this helps me
deal with those students in the classroom when all they want to do is chat with the person next
to them. Because I know they are used to doing this, I do not take it personal and I overlook
the chatting as long as they are working and letting others do the same.
On the other hand some of my students come from individualistic cultures and their approach
to classroom participation and response is very different. For example some students are quiet
and work by themselves. That does not imply they are better students but simply that to them
working with others is seen as cheating.
In addressing Noel Burchs four stages of culturally responsive teaching, I believe I have a
conscious cultural competence. I like to think of my students as very different people. I
embrace those differences and let them work in the way they are more used to doing so. In the
video there is evidence of student chatting in the background. All it means is that some of
them need to speak to others while working. I also understand that it takes more than letting
them chat to be culturally responsive. It is really hard to come up with lessons that are
culturally meaningful to everyone. I also know it is not possible to do so every time. For the
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project I had ask them to think of their own experiences and likes. To implement what comes
natural to them. Some of the students included family trips and holidays in writing about
slopes and equations of a line. I always enjoy learning about them. However in this particular
lesson when we are just reviewing before a test it becomes a personal challenge to make it
more culturally meaningful.

Improving Instruction
There is a lot of room for improving any of my lessons and the way I deliver them. I would
have a very boring career ahead of me if I thought there is nothing else I can improve on.
Particularly I would like to focus on my weaknesses in regards of lesson planning. I strive to
make lessons that are fun and interesting instead of solving problems on the board. Students
like to learn and want to learn. Us teachers make it difficult for them sometimes. I believe
learning happens when students can work hands on, discovering rather than listening. Class
discussions on the topic cannot be left only for history and literature. Math labs are a
wonderful way of encouraging this setting. I am looking forward to implementing new things.
For example in the topic of quadratic functions, instead of telling students that the number in
front of the first term will affect the width of the parabola, it would be much more fun and
interesting to have students discover that by exploring using their calculator.
Something else I would like to improve on is to include more culturally responsive lessons in
my planning. The material we use in a lesson is only relevant if the audience thinks so. It is
detrimental to know who our audience is before putting a plan together. I would like to find
ways to accomplish this outside of doing projects.

Future Professional development Goals
Based on the fact that I would like to improve on better lesson planning, I would like to
further develop my lesson preparation skills. I feel the teaching courses I have taken are
appropriate but lack on teaching new instructors how to create lesson plans that are more
hands on and foster discovery. We have talked about that in many of my university classes,
but other that putting a few of them it into practice in my math methods class, we have not
done it enough. My 2 action plan steps would include participating in a workshop and
applying what I learn in the real classroom. I know that THE RUTGERS DEPARTMENT OF
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MATHEMATICS and DIMACS (Center for Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer
Science) offer workshops that help teachers relate the content to real life situations as well as
making he lessons more engaging. I would be very interested in participating in one of them
in order to further develop this skill.
As I mentioned before, I would like my students to work on discovering patterns and
behaviors of functions using a calculator. I always explore using a calculator myself before
asking my students to do the same. Sometimes I find that I am not even ready to ask
something of them because I do not fully understand how to use this type of technology. Last
year I participated as a volunteer at a conference given by the Association of Mathematics
Teachers of New Jersey. One of the seminars I was able to attend to was about learning about
calculators. I found it to be very interesting. I would love to participate in a seminar like that
one again. I also know that NJCU offers a course called Calculators in the Classroom. My 2
step action plan would be to take a semester long course and to participate in a hands on
seminar such as the one I mentioned before.

Overall this reflective paper has helped me understand some of the topics I need to work
harder on while teaching Mathematics, but it has also helped me embrace the things I do well
and help me succeed every day. It is important to keep in mind that to work in the field of
education is an evolving profession. Teachers need to constantly evaluate their teaching
methods, and their knowledge in the content area. By doing reflections like this one we can
focus on our learning as well as whether what we are teaching others is current with the times
we live in.