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Claim: I try to act as a leader to my department and other staff.

Support: I frequently help other newer teachers to become comfortable with the school, procedures, opportunities within the school, and content.

Leaders are described in many different ways. They have many responsibilities, influence many different people, and set precedents, rules, and expectations. Leaders give advice, help others, and speak out for the general public. They are the voices of reason, the information-givers, and the ones to rely on. As a new teacher, the best way to learn is by talking to other teachers, especially teachers that are considered leaders. They are the ones that know how to handle difficult situations best; they are the ones that give suggestions on how to make the school, community, and the classroom better.
“As teachers in a school improve their practice and share their findings with colleagues, the collective wisdom increases” (Danielson, 2006, p. 35).

Attached is my presentation I created to share the cell phone policy with new teachers.

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Claim: My philosophy of teaching has changed

Support: original and revised Teaching Philosophy and discussion of similarities and differences

I feel that as a teacher, I have worked as hard as I can to improve myself for my students. It allows me not only to monitor my personal growth, but their growth as well. I work well with my community to ensure there is rigor in my teaching, and ensure students are applying their knowledge and skills.
“It is about teacher leaders who are creating learning communities that include rather than exclude, [and] that create knowledge rather than merely apply it” (Lieberman & Miller, 2004, p.13-14).  We works so hard to ensure the growth of our students. Their success make our work unbelievable.

Attached is my personal teaching philosophy.

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Claim: I work to meet each of my students' levels

Support: I am constantly breaking down information and creating spaces, such as skeletal outline and slotted notes that match my students levels

In an ever-changing society, the most important concept that can be applied is adaptability. To succeed, one must have the ability to adapt to surroundings. The same idea can be applied to succeeding within a classroom. Every year, new students come in with different needs. They rely on the classroom teacher to convey the information in a way that they can understand and apply it in the proper ways. Because students’ needs change from year to year, and from student to student, classroom teachers must adapt and differentiate their instruction in order to ensure student success. To be a successful modern-day educator, differentiation is crucial within a functioning classroom.

“Differentiation is a growth mind-set endeavor-it asks teachers to find an academic entry point relevant to essential learning outcomes, and to adopt a “whatever it takes” approach in doing so” (Tomlinson & Imbeau, 2010, p. 33).

Attached is my skeletal outlinefor their research paper.

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Claim: I am bettering my ability to create assessments that show growth and understanding.

Support: I work to create assessments that allows me to check off on  my students, offer different assessment outlets that align with different learning styles, and easily track their progress.

As units and specific lessons are pieced together, learning targets, goals, and outcomes are also incorporated into planning. We as educators strive to ensure our students are mastering content understanding and skill. By doing so, we place targets in mind while creating and introducing a lesson that are attainable for all, and that also allow for student transfer and assessment. From this, we have the ability to step back and watch the learning unfold, monitor our student progress, and track success not only in our planning, but in our student’s mastery.
Nitko & Brookhart (2011) state that “All types of assessment should be dependable in the sense that they provide achievement information and represent what students know, or can do (p.68-69).

Attached is an example of a google form that shows my growth in creating assessments.

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Claim: While I still guide my students’ learning, I allow them to be leaders in their learning as well.

Support: Instead of giving students every detail and consistently checking on their process, I step back and allow them to become leaders in their own education.

Students genuinely thrive when they feel their needs are being fulfilled, and their voices are being heard, and in a classroom, allowing a student's voice to be heard in the context that it will aide their success is crucial. When students are comfortable enough to be vocal, there is much more learning happening, not just from the teacher to the students, but from the students to the teacher as well. In listening to what dictates a student’s success and failure, and in entirely understanding how a class functions as a whole, students feel empowered and the classroom runs as well-oiled machine. Though teacher ultimately have the final say, knowing how students work and allowing them to voice their opinion is a great aspect of having a successful classroom.

Zander & Zander’s 2000 work Being a Contribution where he discusses playing a game to encourage becoming a contribution. By allowing a diplomatic approach to leadership, teachers can contribute to a student’s life by allowing them to express themselves and vocalize their needs. This game allows us to provide alternative framework for engagement and expression and growth, whisking us away from the grimmer context in which we hold the everyday (Zander & Zander, 2000, p. 5).

Attached is a student completed character chart from 1984.

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Period 5 1984 Part 1 Characterization Chart

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Claim: Students are presented with content and information that encourages learning and meets their readiness needs

Support: I break  down content into pieces that meet their needs and levels

As an educator, my main goal has always been that my students are engaged and learning, and I will give them anything they need to be successful. This instruction and differentiation will in turn help me to reach my ultimate goal and from this, it is clear that differentiation is absolutely crucial for success in a modern-day classroom. “Recall that students cannot grow academically when work is too difficult or too easy for them, and it is inappropriate and ineffective to base a task on material a student cannot read” (Tomlinson & Imbeau, 2009, p. 91).

Attached are student completed slotted notes for our introduction to Beowulf.

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Claim: I work to match content and information with student’s readiness levels.

Support:Lesson plans reflect leveled differentiation and grouping

When looking at a class, a teacher has to understand that no two students are alike. They all require different practices, need different aid, have different strengths and different weaknesses. Differentiation is in turn recognizing that no two students are similar, and may have different ways of learning, recalling information, and applying skills. The greater understanding they have of the content, the better the connections they make to the real world, the better they will be able to comprehend future information.
“Differentiation is a growth mind-set endeavor-it asks teachers to find an academic entry point relevant to essential learning outcomes, and to adopt a “whatever it takes” approach in doing so” (Tomlinson & Imbeau, 2010, p. 33).

Attached is student work that is differentiated by level - high, medium, and low.

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Claim: I am incorporating assessments that are more than just recall and open-ended questions that require studying and cramming.
Support: Students complete assessments that range from projects, creating of different visuals, written interpretations, and whole-class discussions to show their comprehension.

For students, assessments can be the most difficult portion of education. As a teacher, I have always tried to find ways to assess my students that is fair, balanced, and gives equal opportunity for all. With this, I have been exposed to many new ways to approach testing that will in turn result in success for all my students. Not only do the students have the opportunity to grow from from this, but I do as an educator. Meyer, Rose, and Gordon (2014) state that “most learners are still being educated in standardized and uniform ways. Too many individuals continue to be under-challenged, stressed, or simply disaffected because of the narrow and rigid kinds of teaching and learning that schools continue to promulgate (p. 3).

Attached is a presentation the students completed for the The Canterbury Tales General Prologue. They were asked to read and show their knowledge of their assigned character though the presentation.

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Claim: I lead my staff in any new material or resources that is worth sharing

Support: I participated in a trial of after-school tutoring & introduced the subject to my coworkers

I try to work to be a teacher leader within my school. I have participated in many opportunities that have allowed me to research and report back on school-wide opportunities that not only help the growth of our students, but allow for opportunities to expand knowledge. The tutoring program allows for students to understand the content on a one-on-one level, while giving teachers opportunities to work and create deeper relationships with their students. “If relationships improve, school gets better” (Fullan, 2003, p. 57).

Attached is my Powerpoint presentation on Title 1 tutoring.

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Claim: I am open about changing my strategies and creating new and am willing to share

Support: I am willing to share any and all material I have on a content to any  teacher that needs it.

It is really crucial to listen to the voices of your staff members. As educators, we know what is best in terms of how our students succeed. In turn, we also know what keys we need in order to be successful. From this, we are not only able to aide our students in growing, but create well-rounded and deep relationships with other staff members, overall creating a better school setting“To maximize student learning, communication among educators within a school and at different levels is essential" (Danielson, 2006, p. 112).

Attached is an email chain with another junior English teacher that asked for access to one of my google forms for her work with Anglo-Saxon poetry.

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Claim: I have shared my findings with differentiation from the MAT program with my department members.

Support: I share differentiation strategies with my coworkers and they try to implement into their classrooms

As a teacher leader,  promoting professional development on differentiation for my coworkers that would like to better their knowledge and practice could be an effective way to progress and grow within the school community and will create a better, more well-rounded classroom environment for all. Tomlinson & Imbeau (2010) state that “Teachers who are most effective with differentiation operate from strong (and growing) knowledge bases that are rooted in a philosophy of what classrooms could be like if they maximized the capacity of each learner” (p. 10). By giving teachers all the tools they need to succeed in the classroom, we are in turn, creating success for our students.

Attached is a powerpoint presentation I have created for share with my department after completing EDU622.

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Claim: I have shared my assessment practices with others and encouraged other forms of assessment.

Support: Others in my department create assessments for their students that break away from the norm and share their assessment experiences with me.

As a department, we have gotten into the habit of sharing work, successes, questions, and issues. From this, we have moved heavily onto an online presence. Sharing assessment results would work the same way as sharing anything else. Because a majority of students are one to one, and have online access almost all the time, most of the assessments or projects I administer are online as well. Nitko & Brookhart (2015) state that “In your classroom, you control how you gather and use information to improve our your students’ learning” (p. 88).

Attached is a powerpoint I have created to show my staff how to make online assessments.

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Claim: I am changing the way teachers teach and learners learn

Support: I am working to ensure that I am bettering myself as a teacher though professional development, and improving my students' materials so they can grow as learners.

Lieberman & Miller (2004) discuss the concept of teacher leadership and working to create a better practice by applying policies: “It is about teachers who take leadership in their school, whether formally or informally, and learn how to turn an educational policy into a constructive practice” (Lieberman & Miller, 2004, p. 13). From my personal growth of as an educator, it is clear  that we should have the opportunities to further our knowledge and apply our skills in the classroom.

Attached is my log of all the professional development and outside work that I have done to better myself as an educator.

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Claim: My instruction works to push student boundaries and have them enjoy their content

Support: I create activities that are fun and interesting, but also incorporate the content.

As a teacher and a researcher, I believe that I work toward overall students mastery of skills with my students. I research ways to meet the needs of individual students, and this ranges from how information is delivered, to how they are approached in a behavioral situation. I work to give my students as much information as I possibly can. My lessons incorporates deeper elaboration of topics and connections to the student’s lives and the real world to ensure they are understanding the topic fully, even when they feel it does not relate to them. Mills (2008) states that “As teachers, we are constantly observing our environment and and adjusting our teaching based on what we see” (p. 74).

Attached is a creative assignment I present the students with, called a "Body Biography" which gives students a creative outlet while encouraging them ti characterize important characters.

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Claim: I am changing the way that struggling students learn

Support: I modify as much as I need to ensure students are getting what they need

Differentiated Instruction introduces the idea that it allows for different means of student understanding by offering different paths to learning, or different options. I try to lead discussions, create activities, and create guides that meet all their individual needs and work with their engagement.  As stated in Leading and Managing a Differentiated Classroom “when student interest is engaged, motivation to learn is heightened, and learning is enhanced” (Tomlinson & Imbeau, 2010, p. 16-17). To move forward as successful educator, and as one who differentiates effectively, student engagement is crucial.

Attached is a modified assessment given to my juniors with IEPs and 504s, as well as for students that re not classified that are struggling.

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Claim: I have proven students should not

be intimidated by a test, and that it does not measure who they are and what they know.

Support: I have done this by incorporating assessments that break away from the norm.

Student engagement ensures students are obtaining the necessary material, understanding it, and applying it. If they are doing so, they are more confident and excited about their learning. The find they have the ability to connect their lives to to the texts they are exposed to. Students are also given an opportunity to show how they interpret certain parts of texts, as well as giving them a creative outlet. Jensen (2005) states that “when students realize they may experience, for example, increased satisfaction, this discovery creates emotional hooks” (p. 37).

Attached is a Socratic Seminar assessment and rubric.

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Macbeth Socratic Seminar Questions & Rubric

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Danielson, C. (2006). Teacher leadership that strengthens professional practice.

Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Fullan, M. (2003). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Jensen, E. (2005). Brain-Based Learning Strategies. In Florida Education Association.

Lieberman, A & Miller, L. (2004). Teacher Leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Danielson, C. (2006). Teacher leadership that strengthens professional practice.

Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Meyer, A., Rose, D.H., & Gordon, D. (2014) Universal design for learning: Theory and practice, Wakefield MA: CAST

Mills, G. (2003). Action research: A guide for the teacher researcher (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Nitko, A. & Brookhart, S. (2011). Educational Assessment of Students. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Tomlinson, C. A., & Imbeau, M. B. (2010). Leading and managing a differentiated classroom.

Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Zander, B. & Zander, R.S. (2000). The Art of Possibility: Transforming Professional and

Personal Life. Being a Contribution. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business Press.

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The past year and a half has been a time that was dedicated to balance; balance between completing graduate work, school work, and all that fell in between. Over the course of the MAT program, I learned that balance was key. I learned how to balance my curriculum. I learned to create balanced assessments to meet the needs of my students. I learned to share my balance with my coworkers, and from this all, I managed to better myself as an educator, a student, and a leader.

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There are so many things that I have taken away from this program. Each class has opened my eyes to new strategies to not only help the growth of my students, but also to make changes within my school. I find myself now working even harder to incorporate practices and procedures into my day to day lessons that encourage students deeper understanding. I am thankful for everything I was able to prefect and apply to my classroom procedures. I look forward to continuing to do so, and continuing to find my perfect balance.