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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 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/reflect on:

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?

What opportunities do we see in the future to build on these successes as we think about returning to in-person instruction?

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My name is Jordan Perry. I am an Art Teacher and have taught PK all the way through 12th grade at various points in my career. I have been with middle schoolers for the last 8 years.  I have had the pleasure of working with several student teachers but this is my first year as a PUC mentor.
I currently teach 6th and 7th grade and am a part time administrator at High Tech LA Middle.  A small public charter of 210 middle schoolers.
I love organizing schedules, resources and lessons for other teachers and cannot stand doing any of the above for myself.
Most importantly I moonlight as a mediocore ultimate frizbee player.

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Hi there! I am currently serving as Assistant Principal at Larchmont Charter School on the LFP Campus. I have been an educator for 21 years. I taught Mathematics and then was an Instructional Coach for the first 20 years of my career. This is my first year as an Administrator. One fun fact about me is that I am obsessed with exercise! I especially love Barre classes as I was a professional dancer for several years in my twenties.

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Hello! My name is Lindsey and I am the 8th grade Resource Teacher and Special Education Coordinator at New Los Angeles Charter School in MidCity, Los Angeles. This is my fourth year as the 8th grade RSP teacher here at New LA. As a Resource Teacher, I wear many hats: I co-teach and co-plan with our 8th grade Math, Humanities, and Science teachers in the gen. ed setting, I teach my own small group/learning lab group focused specifically on literacy in the special ed. setting, and I am the 8th grade IEP case manager (which can sometimes feel like an entirely separate job altogether). As the 8th grade case manager, I conduct formal academic assessments, write academic reports, collect data on present levels and track IEP goals, as well as write individualized education plans (IEPs) and run IEP meetings. A fun fact about me is that I have an identical twin sister!

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My inquiry focus question was, "If I provide explicit instruction focused on building student's word knowledge (ie. academic and domain-specific vocabulary, and word morphology) as well as explicit instruction on text types (genres, text structures and features) will I see improved reading comprehension and writing skills as well as increased student engagement in reading and writing tasks as measured by review of student work samples and teacher observations?" I was motivated to focus on this for many reasons. Professionally, I wanted to grow in my ability to effectively support multilingual learners and students with disabilities towards achieving literacy across content areas. With the above in mind, I began to think about my students most pressing academic needs: vocabulary acquisition, reading comprehension, written expression, and collaborative engagement. I took these needs into consideration as I drafted my inquiry focus question. Overall, I felt that my focus question, in particular, was a good launching off point as I sought to dive deeper into addressing some of the barriers I often see in my multilingual learners and students with disabilities.

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As I reflect on my ILP, mentor observations, choice activities and professional learning activities, I am pleased with the growth I have seen in my students and feel that I have grown professionally as well. I have noticed increased levels of engagement as well growth in my students reading and writing skills when students were given explicit instruction in specific literacy skills. This has ultimately helped them engage in cross-curricular content in various ways. Through choice activities and professional developments, I have learned that the ways in which literacy skills are taught is very important. For one of my first choice activities, I attended the "Supporting Struggling Readers in Middle and High School: What Teachers Need to Know" webinar which was extremely informative and relevant to my inquiry focus question. The webinar taught me so much about literacy instruction and I learned about the "5 Components of Reading" and explored tier 2 and tier 3  interventions to support reading comprehension and vocabulary. This webinar equipped me with new strategies and scaffolds that I was able to use to support literacy development in my classroom. This webinar filled me with ideas and strategies which has pushed my lesson planning to the next level. Through another one of my choice activities, I attended a professional development webinar where I learned about collaborative constructive conversations and I brainstormed ideas and topics for collaborative constructive conversations with other educators in attendance. I took what I learned from this webinar and found ways to implement collaborative constructive conversations into my own lessons.

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Hello! My name is Myra and I currently teach visual art at Synergy Quantum Academy High School. It is my first year teaching at this school site. My school has never had a visual arts program before so it’s taken a tremendous amount of planning, love, and dedication to get this program up and running. I teach both Studio Art and Digital Art classes with a total of 6 classes and only one prep period. Since my content is visual art I get to teach all grade levels 9-12. This is my third year teaching visual art full time. I try my best to expose students to different art mediums, techniques, and styles. My list of teaching duties related to my content seems to be never-ending but I am able to manage even without a classroom assistant. If you walked into my classroom during any day of the week you’d be able to see the beautiful artwork on the walls that my students have created. I have a dedicated space in my classroom that serves as a mini gallery space where students get to frame and hang up their work. A fun fact about me is that I have two adorable pet bunnies. 🐇🐇

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My inquiry focus question was, “If I expose students to different methods of analyzing art, the students will be able to develop their critical thinking skills at the appropriate proficiency level, as measured by written reflections and analyses.” I was motivated to focus on this question because it is aligns to the vision I have for students which is for students to make meaning with art in the form of writing and discussion in addition to having meaningful art production. I was able to consistently implement Visual Thinking Strategies into the curriculum which enabled students to form opinions and judgements about artwork that are ultimately supported by evidence. I was intentional about exposing students to historical and contemporary art examples for discussion.  My vision for this school year was for students to have a consistent routine of self-reflection after completing an artwork. Self-reflection enabled students to reflect on the implications of the decision making and problem solving that is embedded in each art project.

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One of my choice activities involved looking further into the Feldman Analysis model of analyzing artwork. I came upon a research paper that explained the benefits of Feldman Analysis in classrooms. A key takeaway from this professional learning is that I was able to get a clearer picture of what I’m having students do by exposing them to different artworks and teaching them to read and analyze art. The ah-ha moment happened when I read the following, “The ability to simplify the critical steps and leave judgements based on observable facts and relationships makes the Feldman method objective.” For me, seeing the term objective in that sentence made me realize that that is what I’m trying to do with students. I am trying to move them from simply making subjective comments when they view/experience works of art towards having them make more informed objective observations.   I do not want them to completely remove their personal opinions but I want them to have the know-how to supplement their subjective opinions with objective evidence. The Feldman method allows them to do this and it is structured in a way that is replicable.

During one of my colleague observations I was able to go offsite to visit an art teacher in a high school in Lawndale. This was such a treat because I’m the only visual art teacher in my school site. Being able to see another art teacher in action reminded me of why I became an art teacher in the first place. When I walked into his classroom I was blown away by the amount of artwork on display. Every single student was engaged in manipulating wire for a sculpture project. Every corner I turned to I could find something new to observe. As I made my way around the classroom I noticed a pattern in the types of artworks on display. They were all three-dimensional. When I first started teaching I knew going into this practice that I wanted to expose students to different art mediums including 3D art. Because of my limited supply budget at my first year school site, the types of projects that I could implement were limited to two-dimensional work. Back then I had to had to plan for every cent that was in the budget and sadly did not have much left for 3D projects. Being at a new school site has brought about many new opportunities but I have yet to incorporate any 3D projects. Observing this teacher reminded me that I still have work to do and that there are an endless amount of ways to engage students in art-making that fall outside of the 2D realm. One of the next steps in my teaching practice is to be more intentional about incorporating 3D projects into my curriculum.

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The specific data for a class of 33 students on a painting project suggests that 93% of students met the learning objects with a C and above which is an accomplishment worth celebrating. This painting project required students to paint two objects of their choice using common objects found in their backpacks. They were to accurately mix colors using only the primaries and apply them to create a sense of three-dimensionality. Above you can view samples of students who earned A, B, and C grades for this project. The specific data shows that 33% of students earned between an A- and A+, 51% earned between a B- and B+, 9% earned between a C and C+, and 6% earned a C- due to incompletion. Student success on this project was due to a combination of the following: appropriate scaffolding, displaying samples and checkpoints for students to follow, frequent teacher demonstrations, and  individual & small-group check-ins. Student engagement was very high for this project partly because students had a choice in which objects to bring into the classroom to paint. Giving students choice in what to focus on in their work generally yields positive results. Painting is also a highly engaging activity that students generally enjoy because it is hands on and requires that students experiment.

Students were asked to reflect on their experience in painting the objects including how well they performed on color mixing and application. The data shows that students met the learning objectives for the reflection with ~72% earning an A+ or A, ~12 percent of students earned a B or B-, ~3% of students earned a C, ~3% of students did not meet the objectives, and 9% of students received a Missing grade. Student grades for subgroups fell into the B or A percentages. One change that I implemented this semester with written reflections was embedding a list of vocabulary words onto the student facing document so that students could utilize it in their writing. Having the vocabulary words listed served as a visual reminder for students as they reflected on their experience, which greatly improved their writing. The use of sentence frames has also continued to support student’s writing for all students, not just subgroups.

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Reflecting back on my teaching practice this school year, I believe I have a lot of celebrations to highlight. I believe that while the good things are happening in the moment we might not recognize them until we take a couple of steps back and observe what has been accomplished. One big celebration of mine is being able to successfully build up this art program at Synergy Quantum High School. It is not the first time that I’ve done this but it was quite challenging considering that it was also the first year back to in-person learning. It has taken a tremendous amount of love and dedication to create an environment where students feel safe and welcome to learn, to be themselves, to experiment, make mistakes, problem solve, reflect, and celebrate their hard work. Students have expressed their gratitude in so many ways. This art program has been made possible by my school administration for giving me the opportunity in the first place to make my vision come to life. It is their support that has kept me going, but most importantly, it’s the students who keep me going because they bring so much life and creativity to this art space. My mentor/coach has also been a huge figure in my life in offering support related to my teaching practice. She has helped me see my own strengths even when I could not see them for myself. Her support has been pivotal in the successfully implementation of this art program. Another big celebration of mine is being able to consistently display student artwork. My efforts to celebrate student work even won me an “award” during our school’s teacher appreciation week. It was always in my vision for this classroom to have a gallery space that would be dedicated to displaying student work and it truly feels like a full-circle moment to have fulfilled this vision.

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Summative Assessment Data (iReady Reading Diagnostic):

Reading Diagnostic 1 (8/31/21)- (Before Targeted Reading Instruction):
Overall Score: 424- Grade 1
Phonological Awareness: Tested Out
Phonics: Grade K
High-Frequency Words: Grade 2
Vocabulary: Grade 1
Comprehension- Literature: Grade K
Comprehension- Informational Text: Grade 1

Reading Diagnostic 2 (1/27/22)- (After Targeted Reading Instruction in foundational reading skills, vocabulary, and comprehension of informational text):
Overall Score: 538- Grade 3 (growth of +114 points)
Phonological Awareness: Tested Out
Phonics: Tested Out
High-Frequency Words: Tested Out
Vocabulary: Grade 4
Comprehension- Literature: Grade 4
Comprehension- Informational Text: Grade 3

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

The induction program has played a very important role in my teaching this year. After a year of teaching online, I was both excited and a little nervous about transitioning back to  in person teaching. That being said, I feel that going  through the induction program while transitioning back into the classroom has played an integral role in my overall growth as an educator. I believe that in order to grow as an educator, we must be reflective about our teaching practices- this is precisely what induction has allowed me do this year. The induction program not only provided me with the support and guidance to be deeply reflective about my teaching but it also encouraged me to partake in professional development opportunities, observe the teaching of my co-workers, and emboldened to do research on my own in search of new teaching strategies I could implement in my classroom. My inquiry question, which focuses on literacy, has guided me throughout this journey. Admittedly and importantly, I initially had to address my own misunderstandings of literacy- which I quickly learned encompasses so much more than reading instruction. Induction pushed me to learn about and broaden my understanding of literacy which really includes reading, writing, speaking and listening. More importantly, I began to understand the deeper and widespread implications strong literacy instruction has on special populations such as students with disabilities and multilingual learners. I made it my priority to learn about literacy development and sought to take a more targeted approach to my own literacy instruction. Induction helped me in my lesson planning as I took a more student-centered approach by identifying some of my students  most common barriers to accessing cross-curricular content and planned lessons that specifically address these barriers. I was more thoughtful in my planning of these lessons, implemented new strategies I had learned about,  reflected after each lesson, and made adjustments to my lessons, as necessary. Now, as I reflect on my year-long induction journey, I am proud of what I have learned and I am proud of the growth I have seen in myself and in my students. I am a much more confident teacher now, than I was at the start of this year.

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My name is Cameron Christensen. I am the Theater and Creative Writing Teacher at PUC CALS Early College High School in Eagle Rock, CA. I teach primarily 9th and 10th graders. I also head the LGBTQ+ Alliance and Music/Songwriters club on campus. This is my 4th year teaching theater and my 2nd year teaching creative writing. One fun fact about myself is that I play in two bands outside of work. The first is a self - titled project in which I write my own original song and the other, The Strayngers, I play bass in.

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My inquiry focus question was as follows:

"If I embed more opportunities for student self - monitoring within my lessons and assessments using checklists, will students overall achievement increase, as measured by their formative and summative assessment scores?"

What led me to pursue this area of focus was evidence gathered through various means (assessment data, anecdotal data, etc.) throughout my 4 years of teaching. A large portion of my assessments, both summative and formative, are project based. Those projects involve multiple steps that the students must follow in order for them to meet all success criteria. It is incredibly difficult for me to monitor the progress of every student/group on my own in every class period. When conducting check - ins with students regarding their assessment progress, I observed a large portion of them were unclear on what they were supposed to be doing, despite the details of the assignment being outlined in rubric and overview. When I would work those students/groups 1:1 they would remain on task. However, as soon as I would leave them to continue on their own, they would discontinue working on the project, not making any progress until I checked in with them again. I drew the ultimate conclusion -- which led to my inquiry question -- that the students would be able to more effectively complete the assignments and meet the success criteria on their own if they were given more tools to help them self - monitor their progress on their assessments. Some of these tools included: Detailed checklists outlining success criteria, graphic organizers with visual aides to guide them through each step, and self - reflections at the end of the class period to help them better compare their progress on the assessment with what was expected of them.

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The biggest turning point that shaped my growth this year, came towards the end of my inquiry cycle #2. As my mentor and I were analyzing and reflecting on student data in relation to my inquiry questions, we discovered this: there was a large group of students who were able to appropriately utilize the self - monitoring tools that were given to them in the classroom and large portion who were not. The students that were able to utilize these tools saw increases in achievement, quality of work, and completion. However, upon further reflection, those students were the ones who had been meeting, or exceeding the standards all school year even before these tools had been fully implemented in my classroom. This led me to realize that the students on the other end of this spectrum, those whose achievement was not positively affected by these tools, needed a different type of support. When analyzing the students within that subgroup it was apparent that there was not one single solution. These students had varying needs that all required different accommodations not related to my inquiry question. One of the main strategies I found most effective was culturally - responsive material. This leads me into:

Ah-ha #2

My 2nd ah-ha moment is centered around my focus student choice activity. I chose a student with an IEP that had an accommodation list longer than any I have seen before. Upon interviewing the student I found that they merely viewed school as an obligation. For insight, when interviewing the student they answered "relaxing" to the question, "What is your favorite part of school?" This helped me better understand their work ethic. Therefore, after this interview I decided to modify the upcoming project in their class to suit the interests they stated in their interview. The project involved them coming up with original story premises using the different types of conflict and dramatic structure. Since the student expressed interest in sports, namely the Chicago Bulls and the Las Vegas Raiders, I told them that they could complete the project using those interests. When they asked if they could write about Michael Jordan, I confirmed. Once this happened they completed the assignment with barely any need for a check - in from myself, nor an inclusion assistant.

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Despite the 1st ah-ha describe in the previous section, there were some students who were not already meeting/exceeding the standards who did benefit from the self - monitoring tools implemented throughout the school year. One example of this was a student who struggled mightily with the content in the first semester. This is despite those tools. However, as the school year progressed and I worked with them, they came to better understand how to use the tools provided for them. This led to a much better performance in 2nd semester as opposed to 1st semester. The student became much more engaged in class and actually became one of the more significant participants in class discussions.

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1.  Induction impacted my growth as a teacher by helping me develop the tools I can utilize for students to help them with their self - monitoring through my inquiry question. This has allowed me to create more impactful methods to increase student achievement for those students who respond positively to that specific kind of intervention. The students who did not respond positively forced to me to evaluate these shortcomings in my practice and discover new strategies in support of these subgroups. As a result, I have new methods I plan on implementing into my classroom next year. These methods include, but are not limited to:

1. Culturally - responsive teaching that is specific to the individual, not just the class as a whole.

2. More strategic homogeneous small grouping that will allow me to work more intensively with a group of students with similar needs.

3. Varied accommodations/instruction for all students for each assessment based on learning style.