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Candidates and Mentors, read each of your Induction peers posts from top to bottom.

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Create a separate post under your name for each of the following topic areas.  Please use the same titles below for each post. *MENTORS only need to complete the "Background" post.*

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Candidates and Mentors, for each of your peers, provide the following:
- At least two appreciations
(What do you appreciate about your peer's growth or the growth their students made this year?)
- At least one connection (What about your peer's learning experience in Induction, reminds you of your own?)
- At least one question (What question might push your peer's thinking and reflection on their growth or students growth this year?)

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Candidates and Mentors, share your content, grade level, years of experience, pertinent information about your school or teaching assignment, and one fun fact about yourself. Upload a photo of yourself or bitmoji to this post.

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Describe your inquiry focus question, CSTP areas of focus, and what factors (e.g. student area of need, professional learning goals, teaching context) led you to pursue this area of focus.

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Reflect on your ILP, mentor observations, choice activities and/or any other professional learning activities.  Identify at least  two major ah-hahs or turning points that shaped your growth this school year.

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Select at least one artifact or data point to share that highlights a celebration, milestone or significant growth area for you and/or your students.  Examples may include:

Formative Assessment Data (e.g. quiz, project, assignment)

Summative Assessment Data (e.g. NWEA, iReady)

Student Work Samples (e.g. pre/post focus student data, student work analysis)

Short video clip of instruction or student interaction, <5 minutes (e.g. Mentor observation recording)

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Choose one of the following reflection questions to respond to:

How did induction impact your growth as a teacher and/or your students this school year?

What successes or celebrations are you most proud of this school year? What conditions or assets made this success possible?

Which processes from Induction will you use again?  Explain how you plan to build on this work next year.

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Hello Everyone!
My name is Jessica Delgadillo and I currently teach 8th Grade math at PUC Triumph Charter Academy. This year is my 10th year in education. I have taught 2 years in Baltimore, Maryland during my 2 year service with Teach For America (TFA) and 8 years in Los Angeles, CA for PUC. In my years, I have taught 5-8th grade math. I aspire to be a math instructional coach. Fun fact about me is I have watch Game of Thrones (all 8 seasons) 10 times!

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Content: Geometry/Precalculus
Grade Level(s): 8 - 12
School: Larchmont Charter School (LFP)
Fun Fact: I competed in the 2008 Junior Olympics in Tae Kwon Do and won 2nd Place (Silver Medal)

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Inquiry Focus Question: If I establish and reinforce classroom expectations for learning, will students engage more frequently, and work collaboratively, as measured by exit tickets, student reflections, student redirections.

What led me to this question was observing that because of Covid-19 and distance learning, a lot of students forgot how to be students, and there was a huge disconnect between what was expected of them in the classroom and what they were used to during distance learning. A lot of students became really attached to their phones and it was difficult to engage them, especially at the beginning of the school year when things supposedly returned to normal. I realized this was an area where I really needed to step up, this year especially because of this.

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1. While I’m normally inclined to look for supports to directly address academics, I’m realizing with a lot of students it is equally as important to address behavioral issues which can have a huge impact on the learning environment for both the student committing acts of misbehavior and other students in the class. My focus student has shown a huge improvement in his behavior when compared to the beginning of the school year. He no longer usually slams the door open as he walks into class, or randomly bangs on the desk with his hands. He seems to engage more than before, although not to the degree to which I would like. Still, this is a pretty big improvement, and it goes to show that behavioral supports are just as important as academic supports

2. Observing my mentor/math coach/colleague teach different classes has been a really eye-opening experience, in that it has helped me see that there are multiple ways of approaching difficult situations with students and just running a class in general. It's helped me see that there are other teachers that I can identify with personality-wise, and may have a style of teaching similar to my own, though more well developed, and it may be something for me to choose to grow into as I further my career.

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Hi! My name is Cristina Garcia and I am an 8th grade math teacher and grade level lead at Libertas College Prep, a middle school in the heart of South LA. This is my 4th year teaching and I am happy to be back to in-person classes because I get to interact with all my students and advise ASB.  Fun fact about me is that I love eating diced veggies with tajin and lemon, on my lazy days I eat this for dinner.

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My focus question was, “If I use a variety of techniques to increase student-think ratio, then student mastery of grade level standards will increase as evidenced by monitoring the frequency and quality of student written/verbal responses and meeting or exceeding mastery on exit tickets, quizzes, tests, and the NWEA MAP for Math.”

CSTP:

4.4 Using a variety of instructional strategies, resources, and technologies to meet students’ diverse learning needs

5.5 Promoting critical thinking through inquiry, problem solving, and reflection

As a 4th year teacher, I’ve come to realize that math is a universal language that is in desperate need of dialogue for conceptual understanding. I chose this focus question in order to challenge myself as an educator through my teaching practices with intentionality and direction. In addition, I wanted to further support my students who were coming back from being online and distant for the past two years.  By focusing on increasing students think ratio, I also wanted to push math talk through structured thinking time to ultimately have students take ownership of their own learning.

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In order to implement by focus goal, I had to change the entirety of my lesson structure. This was a major turning point in my teaching practice as I constantly saw myself using excessive teacher talk in my class recordings at the beginning of year. Through mentor observations and constant feedback on a weekly basis, I was able to rebuild guided instruction and push turn & talks, thinking time and whole class discussions. As a result of this, students became equipped with the habits needed to stamp key points or lesson conjectures themselves. Students then became empowered and math hacks where no longer being memorized but discovered. This turning point was essential to push the think time ratio and math dialogue needed to empower students within their learning.

Another turning point we saw this year was on the growth of student work. At the beginning of year, student work time was short and scratch work during assessments was poor. More specifically, explanation portions of assessments and exit tickets were not being completed or even started. However, throughout the year I was able to identify a change in the quality and quantity of work being done, through data analysis on unit assessments. In order to achieve this, I had to push myself to give students more practice time and in-time feedback. Which lead to their enhancement of written responses. My own ability to analyze student work and address student gaps has grown due in great part to spending more time with my department and coaches looking at student work and noting trends. Furthermore,I want to continue to grow this area so I can become a data expert.

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I am so excited to share that 72.8% of students met or exceeded their individual growth goals in their NWEA MAP Math test. I would like to highlight my focus student. My focus student has shown tremendous growth over the past 6 months since beginning the Induction Program. He began the year at a 210, dipped to 202, and rebounded to 242 which places him at exceeding the Grade Level norm. His NWEA MAP Growth Report can be seen above.

For context, this student is charming and hilarious but also the student I have had the most behavior challenges with this year. By fostering relationships we have both grown together. I have learned how to better understand my students needs and he has demonstrated a lot of growth in showing work, building habits that will organize his thinking and further more support his learning by increasing his motivation and developing error free answers.

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Induction has impacted and challenged my teaching practices most and as a result also impacted the quality of learning students are receiving in my classroom. The development and execution of my inquiry focus challenged me the most when I began to doubt myself and my capability to be the teacher my students need. Taking into consideration the gaps I had to fill in while teaching new content was an overwhelming thought but induction gave my structure and support through intentional choice activities and a mentor who went above and beyond to help me in anyway he could.

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Hello, I'm Maria Villanueva and I am the 6th grade math teacher at PUC Triumph Charter Academy. Our school shares its complex with another two PUC high schools in the community of Sylmar. This is my second year as a teacher and who am I kidding feels like my first year as we are back in person. This year has been interesting but so many memories were formed. Fun fact is I usually spend all my vacation time in Mexico, therefore you will never see me in the states during that time. Also I am afraid of heights yet plan to sky dive one day.

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My inquiry focus question for this year was, "If I ask 5 check for understanding questions per learning cycle, will students use correct mathematical terminology to explain their process, as measured by exit tickets or weekly progress checks with 75% accuracy?".

I choice my focus question based on one of our focus school goals which was 3.4 checks for understand & adjustment of instruction. After speaking with my mentor in our initial meetings I realized in order for one as an educator to  that have strong and consistent successfully target the school goal was to be consistent with data gathering. Our school focused in literacy in all classrooms but one of its focus especially with COVID-19 and essentially a year and a half of learning loss was to become a school of literacy and numeracy. Being a school with a strong DELD population and students with an IEP it was crucial to provide scaffolds and to target student discourse for them to show mastery in class, diagnostics and state tests. I wanted to increase the use of mathematical terminology in class where students can not only do the math but have the ability to explain it to their peers.

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As many other teachers, this year has been a year of growth, reflection, adjustment and even wins! Undergoing induction as a second year teacher being in the classroom for the first time was interesting because it truly felt as my first year. I was adjusting to in-person learning and learning how to adjust and reflect on different strategies to not only help with my inquiry question but other personal goals. Mentor observations and coaching with my principal who was a former math coach and teacher truly created a significant change in my experience; comparing first semester to second semester. One of my ah-has was learning how to adjust instruction and formative assessments (exit tickets). I found myself wanting to rush through my lesson because I did not want to fall behind or it was the opposite and I had to go slower and would not get to my exit ticket as consistently as I wished. This caused me to find it harder to collect data my first semester, however with the help of my mentor on adjusting lessons and gradually raise the D.O.K. levels on my exit tickets throughout the lesson segment showed a lot of improvement in my data and student understanding of content. Another ah-ha was when I began to implement the constant use of whiteboards and the strategy of think-pair-share. I saw how students to engage in academic discourse either in writing or verbally. Students were more eager to share their answers because both strategies provided a low-risk environment. I began comfortable being able to let go of my role and hold more conversations with students and their mathematical thinking.

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As my focus question focused in engaging in explaining their mathematical process using mathematical terminology, one data point was seeing an increase of student achievement go from 54-60% my first semester to being 72-80% accuracy second semester. Students were using complete sentences to explain their thought process opposed to first semester over 50% would just write their answer with no explanation.
My focus student recently finish his last NWEA MAP diagnostic test where he went from Fall '21 scoring a 189--> Winter '21 scoring 191 and finally a score of 212. He is an EL student that struggled with expressing himself in writing. He would shut down firs semester with any test given or diagnostic. His confidence in math was low although when sitting with him 1:1 or in a small group he excelled more than others in class. A huge growth in participation during class time especially during cold call. He was able to write his work and work diligently on his test with 0 breaks. He was able to reach his RIT project goal. Students behavior overall in class improved with the strategies of sentences stems and pair work. He is not at grade level but his growth in confidence and test taking skills will help him continue growing in 7th grade.

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Induction has given me the support to continue to grow and learn as an educator. Although I recently finished school; induction has helped me to keep learning and practicing new strategies to help my students improve academically and social-emotionally. As my first year, it helped me get the support from a mentor while teaching. I appreciation the flexibility for my process with edTPA and the liberty to be independent while also giving resources for my own goals. Creating an inquiry focus question helped me learn how to become more consistent with my own teaching practices. I am already finding new ways to adjust my own teaching styles for the upcoming school year and create a new focus question that will further my knowledge and experience at PUC. I am excited to see how my new students will grow with implementing new strategies earlier in the school year.

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One artifact/data point to highlight a significant growth area for my students is academic achievement. The year was off to a rough start as we came back from distance learning and motivation was very low—much lower than I expected— and as a result, student achievement was lower than anticipated. However, as the year progressed, with more support, students were able to increase their academic performance. As we returned to in person learning, it was difficult to remind myself about what students really need as a structure to be good students. One example of that is planning daily warm-ups as much as possible so that students see connections between material and also to help with retention. One student in particular who was my focus student showed huge improvements in this regard.  After several weeks of implementing this I noticed students generally became much better about taking out their notebooks/classwork from the previous class.

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A success this year was with my focus student (and other IEP/504 students). He did  a complete 180 in terms of his engagement and willingness to participate in class such as volunteering in whole class discussions (initially he would simply sit and not touch the classwork or use his phone constantly in class). Throughout the year, he showed improvement in confidence as well, and that was very pleasing as his teacher to see. Working with the counselor and Ed specialist to change the students schedules helped me realize that it is crucial as a professional educator to also rely on my colleagues, and coworkers for support when appropriate. For example, meeting with the ed specialist and discussing how to best change some students' schedules based on looking at all of my other rosters, and then meeting with the counselor to also get her opinion on how to change the students' schedules and then actually execute the schedule change really helped me see that when we work as a team, we can really make measurable progress with the students and learning environments.

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My name is Diana Cruz and I currently teach mathematics at PUC Inspire Charter Academy in Pacoima, California. This academic year was my first year teaching both 6th and 7th grade math and overall I have been teaching 7th grade math for four years. One fun fact about myself is that I enjoy exploring/cooking new recipes when I have time. :)

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My inquiry question during this induction program was, "If I provide a hardcopy clear criteria for success (rubrics) that lists the components required on one weekly key assignment, will students be more aware of how to fix their work during the allotted time with the support of anchor charts and worked out examples (ex:GIPHYs on PPT slide), as measured by their resubmissions, exit tickets that follow, formative and summative assessments."
My CSTP areas of focus were:
- 4.2 Establishing and articulating goals for student learning.
- 3.2 Applying knowledge of student development and proficiencies to ensure student understanding of subject matter.

One of the main reasons for why I became a math teacher is because I noticed a lot of people would always have a negative reaction or fixed mindset to mathematics. I wanted to change that, specially in the Latinx community and I wanted to make math a more accessible language. With this in mind I noticed that this year a lot of our students weren't as focused in math and weren't able to articulate or express what they needed help in. A rubric was a perfect way for students to start getting in the habit of self-reflecting so that it would become easier to understand what I expected of them in terms of the work they needed to complete/goals they needed to meet. This also made it much easier for me to identify what each student was struggling with or should I say which part of a math problem students were struggling with.

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My ILP has really helped me gather and organize my thoughts and from looking at it at the end of the academic year, I am able to see how much my thinking and teaching has grown. My mentor observations have helped me tremendously because I have been able to observe myself (video recording) and reflect on the feedback provided to me by my mentor.
My first ah-ha came to me after discussing what the ideal rubric for my students looked like with my mentor. I was really, really, struggling with how detailed I needed to be in order to convey to them what I wanted to see from them without overwhelming them. I didn't want to overwhelm them because our students aren't used to reading in math class I had to make the rubric simple but straight forward all while incorporating their weekly vocabulary. I decided to make weekly rubrics with a list of "I can..." statements that they needed to master/demonstrate that they knew how to do through their work in their packet. Once I created the rubric things started coming together and I continued adding more components to the rubric page, like a list of the weekly vocabulary with their definitions, worked out examples, and the weekly standard.
My second ah-ha was probably an obvious one that I wasn't expecting to necessarily put into action after a couple of weeks of having implemented the rubric in class. When I observed the 8th grade math teacher I noticed that in order for her to receive more accurate self-reflections then it was best to go over it at the end of class with the students and point out exactly what they did for the day at the end of class. This was something I was hoping I didn't have to do because I was trying to have students be independent but I did notice a decline in the quality of reflections. I started going over the specific part of the rubric that they completed for the day at the end of class and it helped guide my students and self-reflect much better. In addition I noticed that they weren't rushing through it as much either.

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My focus student is a very shy and quiet boy who just  immigrated to the United States with his family about 3 years ago. He is also an EL student and mostly speaks Spanish. When the school year first started he only spoke if I spoke to him and he would never ask for help or he would never have any questions. This second semester he has learned to ask more questions and he doesn't wait for me to approach him, he will now ask for help.
iReady Scores for Math:
Initial score at the beginning of the school year at the kindergarten level.

Final score at the end of the year was second grade level.

Work Habits:
My focus student also started showing more work and turning in more completed work.

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Induction helped me grow as a teacher because it helped me set up a process for how I have my students reflect about their progress in the classroom. I'm excited to hit the ground running this upcoming year and improve on their reflection process as well as the feedback I provide them. I'm really proud of incorporating literacy in my classroom as it is something that we are all working on as a school. I'm very happy that I provided them with their vocabulary on their first page of their packet and that it was incorporated in their academic language use in the classroom. I plan on continuing to use the rubrics that I created this year and I plan on focusing on my EL students and perhaps having them take their iReady math assessment in Spanish (only available in Spanish) to see their actual level of understanding in mathematics without worrying about whether or not they understood the English portion of the test.

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Hi everyone!
I'm Nestor Garcia and I teach Algebra 1 and Geometry at Bert Corona Charter High School in Pacoima. This is my 12th year teaching. I taught at our MS my first 5 years and have been at our HS since we opened in 2015. A work related fun fact is that I unofficially teach music or at least provide a space for students to practice drums, guitar, bass, piano, etc. A personal fun fact is that I love spending time with my wife and two beautiful and silly daughters.