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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, focus CSTP indicators, 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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Me! My son Danielito, and my wife Nicolle.

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My name is Daniel Mendez and I am the Assistant Principal for grades 4 through 6 at Libertas College Prep. I am finishing my 9th year in education, 2 of which I spent in San Diego, CA as part of Teach for America and the last 7 years as part of the founding team at Libertas College Prep.

A fun fact about me is that I am a huge basketball fan (die-hard Lakers fan) and love to collect basketball cards an memorabilia.

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Hello Everyone, My name is Alejandra Ramirez and I am an RSP teacher at Synergy Quantum Academy. I am currently working with the 9th graders and co-teaching in English. This is my 6th year as an RSP teacher, previously I was an instructional assistant for 9 years.

A fun fact about me is that I love to eat. I also love to shop and I am a Dodger fan at 💓.

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Hello! My name is David Wagstaffe and I teach Spanish 1 and 3 to 8th grade and High School. This is my 4th year teaching, and I have been at Larchmont Charter School (LFP Campus) for 3 years. One fun fact about me is that I love watching soccer and watch the team Brighton and Hove Albion every weekend.

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- My inquiry focus question was as follows: "If I utilize more equitable teaching practices based off "Grading for Equity" by Joe Feldman (i.e. differentiated instruction, allow retakes, don't deduct points for late work, positive behavioral reinforcements, provide student choice for learning) will students overall understanding increase, as measured by average and median scores on summative assessments?
-  My CSTP Indicators were as follows: "1. Engaging and Supporting all Students in Learning" and "4. Planning Instruction and Designing Learning Experiences for All Students"
- The greatest factor that led me to pursue this area of focus was a desire to improve myself as an educator. I felt that I was utilizing classroom strategies that seemed outdated; however, I continued to stick to them simply because it was what I was taught and how I was taught when I was in school. The conversation about a more equitable classroom was presented to me last year during a book club, and PUC offered the perfect opportunity for me to try to put my aspirations to the test!

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Hi there! I'm Marlene Espinoza, a Spanish 1 & 2 teacher @ Larchmont Charter High School. I mainly teach 9th graders, however I have mixed grade levels and have the occasional 10-12th graders. This is my 5th year teaching, and I've been at my campus for 4 years. Fun fact, David is in my Spanish Department. Also I'm an LA Kings hockey fan and was very sad they lost to the Oilers in the playoffs.

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My inquiry focus question is , "If I collaborate with teachers on a weekly basis in order to find supports/accommodations for students as well as student progress monitoring, will students be able to effectively complete work in different subject areas with minimal support, as measured by student class work, assessments, observations (participation, student verbal responses, etc)".
My CSTP indicators were as follows:
6.3 Collaborating with colleagues and the broader, professional community to support teacher and student learning
6.6 Managing professional responsibilities to maintain motivation and commitment to all students
1.4 Using a variety of instructional strategies, resources, and technologies to meet students’ diverse learning needs
5.3 Reviewing data, both individually and with colleagues, to monitor student learning.
As a special education educator I provide the support and accommodations students need in order to succeed in the classroom. Everyone learns differently and it is my priority to explore each students needs. Collaborating with general education teachers creates an effective learning environment .

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Some of my strengths are communication skills, before anything I build relationships and introduce myself, to parents, students.  This helps me during IEPs, the flow is much better.  I always check in with my parents 2 weeks or so and call to let them know how their kids are doing, what they can do to support, etc. Many of my students are ELL, so we need to continue to practice with flashcards.  Need support with sight words, they are pretty low in reading. Continue on using advisory to support them with interventions.

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Students are able to complete 70% of the work with minimal support. With frequent check ins and guided groups students are able to complete about 85% of the work. When accommodations are given to students in guided groups during assessments , students are able to follow an anchor chart/sentence starters to support them when writing.

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My inquiry question: "If I incorporate a "differentiated practice station" into my class routine, student engagement will increase as measured by formative exit ticket scores, completed classwork and verbal participation."
CSTP Indicators:
1. Engaging and Supporting all Students in Learning 2. Creating and Maintaining Effective Environments for Student Learning  1.4 Using a variety of instructional strategies, resources, and technologies to meet students’ diverse learning needs
1.6 Monitoring student learning and adjusting instruction while teaching
2.5 Developing, communicating, and maintaining high standards for individual and group behavior 2.3 Establishing and maintaining learning environments that are physically, intellectually, and emotionally safe 2.6 Employing classroom routines, procedures, norms, and supports for positive behavior to ensure a climate in which all students can learn
2.7 Using instructional time to optimize learning
Greatest factors that led me to this focus:
This cohort of students have been very challenging to work with (at least the 9th grade). I wanted to address gaps left after a year of distance learning. I also wanted to focus on my classroom management after teaching online for year.

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#1: After completing cycle 1, I realized that I had enough curriculum planned from previous years that I could focus more on being present with my students. I observed how lessons worked out or didn't, but I was confident enough to make changes at the last moment that benefitted this cohort of students. Once I learned the characteristics of this group of learners, I no longer felt tied to how I taught certain units based on previous outdated models.
#2: I changed my Inquiry Focus question for cycle 2. I felt that after learning to differentiate formative work, what I really needed to rework were my summative assessments. One I realized that, I made the needed changes and watched my students work differently as well. They were more much more creative, less stressed by exams, and happier when projects dates were announced (as compared when quizzes were announced.)

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Cycle 1 ILP: Differentiation Stations/Choice Boards- I'm on camera workshopping with a student while others worked independently in different stations. Students were working on 1.) Independent Grammar Practice 2.) Exit Ticket focused on reading comprehension 3.) Rough drafts for their final unit project (absent students) 4.) Signing up for feedback on rough drafts
Milestone: I was able to conference with all students 1:1 who had submitted a rough draft + check in on absent students who needed help getting started. It was this assignment that made me realize that fine tuning my focus question would be worth looking into. (Pivot from formative to summative assessments).

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What successes or celebrations are you most proud of this school year?
Typically I hyper focus on creating content and staying on top of my lessons that I barely have the time to made edits, adjustments, last minute changes etc even if it may improve the delivery and instruction. I used to be so scared of messing up that I would stick to my powerpoint as it was and move on. This year I am proud of how many times I reworked a lesson until I was satisfied-even if only 1-2 classes were able to see the final result. I have made it a habit to constantly fine tune as necessary so that next class, I can improve the flow of my instruction. Ultimately, my curriculum for next year will have better content because I decided to admit when something just didn't work. What's better is that now I've made that a habit, and hope to keep that momentum.

What conditions or assets made this success possible?
Going back to my focus question and the CSTPs. I kept asking myself "Am I employing classroom routines, procedures, norms, and supports for positive behavior to ensure a climate in which all students can learn?"
or "Am I using instructional time to optimize learning?" and if the answer was no, then I added supports, different examples, changed up an assignment, or creatively problem solved and went in a new direction. It helped me make the scary decisions like overhauling entire summative assessments, or deciding to improvise based on student engagement. Ultimately, I felt that they were my "North Stars" when I didn't know which way to go.

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Throughout the year I had multiple turning points and ah-ha moments. This year felt like yet another novel year -- coming back from a pandemic, new school protocols, and more. For me this also included my first year of trying a new style of pedagogy like I mentioned above. The plotline of this past year has many ups and down, but there are two specific instances I'd like to highlight.

#1 -- In the second semester of this year, my mentor had come to observe me. My students were analyzing documents in the target language (Spanish), and discussing the unit's topic on the environment and climate change. The observation ended and I had a mental list of the things that went well and that needed to be changed. At the top of my "Success!" list was written -- "Students were very engaged!" A few days later I met with my mentor and we discussed my lesson. She asked me what the standard and skill was that I was targeting, and asked if I'd felt that my students had demonstrated that skill. I realized that my students had been deeply engaged in the activity -- but that they were not actively demonstrating their mastery of any skills or standards. I had students discussing posters that were written in Spanish, but most of my students were discussing this in their groups in English. I asked students questions using the future tense in Spanish, but students often answered in English. My objective had been to have students practice speaking about the future using the future tense. And this objective was not met. I had students say "That was a great class - thanks, Profe!" and I had thought to myself "Wow, I'm so glad the class was engaged. This lesson went well." But it wasn't until the meeting with my mentor that I truly realized that engagement is not the same as learning. Engagement is a helpful tool that guides learning, but it is not a true replacement or even gauge of learning. This turning point helped me to realize that I needed to start planning backwards to ensure that all my activities were clearly linked with a standard. As much as I had wanted to create an equitable classroom, the barometer for my pedagogy could not be engagement -- I need to gauge success through mastery of content, demonstration of skills, and meeting of standards. Engagement would just have to be a great vehicle to use along the way.

#2 -- I also had a turning point in one of my grading practices this year. I had initially been offering retakes to all students in an attempt to reward learning at any time. Students quickly started taking retakes on every assignment one day after another, without any time for reflection. Therefore, one of the changes I made was requiring that students had completed at least 60% of their homework to qualify for a retake. . This procedural change helped build in a reflection period for students to review their work. In some cases, it also gave them the time to complete the homework for the first time and then try the assessment again. I am very happy with this approach and plan to replicate it for the full year next year.

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I have been very happy with the student growth and data I have collected in my classroom this semester. In my focus class, 25 of a total of 30 students took at least one retake assessment in the second semester. (We had 9 summative assessments.) I also found that my SPED population was more likely to utilize this retake policy and that it had a positive effect on their overall understanding. These equitable grading policies have gone in tandem with the No-Penalty-Late-Work Policy that I've tried for the first time in the classroom this year. While initially fearful that students would take advantage of this policy, it has proven to be very helpful for students. Data showed that this also helped students to eventually be able to complete work on time. For example, my focus student submitted 25% of his assignments late in the first semester, but only 8% of his assignments were late this semester. This trend holds true for the full class as well. As the year went on, retakes continued to rise, and late work submissions continued to decline. Overall I'm so proud of my students' growth in this area. It has demonstrated to me that they are capable of taking charge of their own learning. Not I need to continue to grow and learn how to spend less time grading the retakes and late submissions! This has been a great process this year but has added a lot to the amount of work that I bring home with me.

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

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As a teacher: This process helped me realize how subjective a lot of my teaching was during the first few years as an educator. I used to look over the gradebook and see a student who was often tardy or had work marked down for being turned in late every single time. I used to think to myself "What a bad student, if they had just done the assignment on time they would have really benefitted." I'm so glad that I've been given the opportunity to reevaluate my pedagogy and analyze student behavior separately from student learning. Now, some of those students who are missing large amounts of class, turn in all assignments late, and fail the initial summative exam, are working extra hard and doing great in class. What's more, once we were able to break that "cycle" of late work and failing grades, some of those students have seen improvements in their behaviors as well as their academics. This mindset shift is one of the biggest ways that I've grown as an educator.

For my students: I truly believe that students are able to succeed and demonstrate their understanding of mastery when the proper protocols are in place for retakes and late work acceptance. We have been using the old system of merging behavior with grading for too long. When I finally separated the two I realized that many of my students were able to reach their potential even if they were "late bloomers" or needed extra time. The thing that amazed me the most? Some of my most difficult students realized that their behaviors were separate from their grades as well. I started getting more work from students who normally wouldn't have done any of it. When the system changed, I believe that students were able to see their own potential to learn and improve themselves. In the end, building this self-reflection and grit in them is so important. When I got rid of 0's in the gradebook, offered retakes, accepted late work without penalty, and used positive behavior reinforcement in class, it gave the students the tool to finally get out of the hole they dug themselves in earlier in the year. I'm very proud of them for doing so.

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My name is Jessey Duran. The attached picture is from Grad Nite last week. This was the first time I was able to attend, and it was a blast! This year is I’m the Learning and Engagement Coordinator at PUC Lakeview Charter High School. Formerly I was an Inclusion Specialist. I was happy to mentor Ms. Cardoza this year who teaches 12th grade English at LCHS. It was a great experience getting to spend time in her class and reflecting with her. One fun fact about me is that I love travel – pre-covid I was able to take a group of students on a Europe trip to Rome, Madrid and Paris. It’s now one of my favorite memories with students!

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I want to support all my teachers with the students.  Science and history often get left behind.  I do use collaboration time, but it's not enough time, I want to be able to go into their classes and see how they're doing.  I also have to keep in mind all my tasks, such as writing IEPs, co-teaching in English.  I would like to manage my time effectively, and provide just enough support to my students, as well as find new strategies to support them. My next steps are to keep working with my students in groups, create anchor charts for them when writing an assessment. Students are comfortable using a cheat sheet with grade level vocabulary/definitions. Moving forward I would have students use their group partner for support and not depend on the teacher as much.

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My question for you will be how can we make student accountable for their grade at the end of the year? Can we implement this policy school wide or design a grading system?

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I appreciate your student conferencing sessions. Having the opportunity to meet with each student improves the relationship with each student. When it comes to addressing students needs or supports it is important to have a good relationship with them.