Week 1

    Hello, everyone! I'm Jenn, and I currently teach 7th grade math in Maryland. I have been fortunate to have had several unique experiences in my 21 year teaching career. I began teaching first grade in a K-2 school in the Bronx, New York. I spent two years teaching at a private academy in South Korea before joining their Research and Development department, specializing in early childhood literacy curriculum development. During my time there, I collaborated with Korean staff to create animations, online games, and print materials for use in all schools in their network. I volunteered for a year with WorldTeach in American Samoa, teaching fourth grade in a small, remote village and returned to the territory on a government contract to teach for two more years. I also taught in a small international school on the shores of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala, where I commuted by boat each day. My experiences give me a perspective on education that differs greatly from the norm, and I strive to create authentic learning experiences for my students. In the future, I hope to work as an instructional guide at my current school, where I would support teachers to provide real-world connections to the curriculum.

    Seventh-grade math students at Monarch Academy are enrolled in class periods randomly, which results in heterogeneous groupings of students with a wide range of proficiency. To support a differentiated classroom and meet the needs of students on vastly different levels, students can engage with designed learning paths on our Brightspace learning management system (LMS). This style of differentiation aligns with the Empowered Learner indicator of the ISTE Standards for Students, in which students, “leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving, and demonstrating competency in their learning goals” (ISTE, 2017, p. 40). An example of a self-paced learning path for CCSS 7.G.4 includes interactive experiences, video explanations, and independent activities with immediate feedback. Students could engage in an interactive, exploratory activity on circumference and area of circles using the Desmos platform. They could refer to an online video that aligns with the Illustrative Math curriculum lesson 7.3.3 on circumference. An activity built into the Brightspace platform could provide students with the opportunity to independently solve problems about circumference and receive immediate feedback on their understanding. This activity would also provide teachers with feedback on student performance. Finally, students could engage in their choice of hands-on, authentic performance assessment of circumference by accessing instructions from a digital choice board.

    Using an LMS to provide self-paced and differentiated experiences for students aligns well with Kolb’s Triple E Framework. Students Engage with content through online activities. The ability to curate content by proficiency level gives students easy access to motivating material and activities. Including opportunities to interact, such as the ability to share one’s thinking with the class on Desmos allows students to collaborate and build on each other’s ideas. Students’ learning is Enhanced by the ability to scaffold activities to meet individual needs. The online nature of the LMS Extends students’ ability to engage with material outside of the classroom and to make real-world connections to the content.


References

Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2021). Grade 7» Geometry | Common Core State Standards Initiative. www.thecorestandards.org; Common Core State Standards Initiative. https://www.thecorestandards.org/Math/Content/7/G/

ISTE. (2017). ISTE Standards for Students: A Practical Guide for Learning with Technology. International Society for Technology in Education.