RUNNING HEAD: Telling My Story 1

Telling My Story

Karen Bowler

National University
TELLING MY STORY 2

Abstract

Throughout the nation, performance standards for educators have been created and are

used to determine teacher competency. In the state of Nevada, these standards and

accompanying indicators, known as the Nevada Educator Performance Framework (NEPF),

reflect what teachers need to know and be able to do to support student mastery of the Nevada

Academic Content Standards (CCEA, 2014). In this paper, I will specifically discuss Standard 1

of the NEPF (New Learning is Connected to Prior Learning and Experience), my progress in

achieving competency of it, and my strengths and needs associated with it. I will also discuss

potential competencies to include in my Professional Development Quest Portfolio (PDQP) and

provide a rationale for selecting and completing the areas I identified as my professional needs

and goals within Standard 1.

TELLING MY STORY 3

Telling My Story

Not only do educator performance standards provide a framework for determining

competency of teachers, they also provide teachers with targeted outcomes in the knowledge,

dispositions, and skills related to effective teaching (Constantino & De Lorenzo, 2009). For me,

developing a deeper understanding of these standards helps me to set specific goals as I work to

progress in my effectiveness as a teacher.

Evaluation of Progress

Standard 1 of the Nevada Educator Performance Framework (NEPF) is identified as

“New Learning is Connected to Prior Learning and Experiences”. Within each standard, there

are four indicators or tasks that teachers need to demonstrate to meet the standard. As I evaluate

my progress within Standard 1, I believe that I am developing and improving in meeting these

tasks. Reflecting on my growth since I began teaching almost 3 years ago, I can definitely say

that I have progressed quite a bit in that time. While I realize I still have much to learn, I am

becoming a better teacher every day.

Strengths and Needs

With regard to Standard 1 of the NEPF, I feel that I show strength in Indicator 2 (Teacher

makes connections explicit between previous learning and new concepts and skills for all

students). Math is a subject where concepts build upon those previously learned. I believe that I

do well in helping my students understand how the new concept they are learning builds upon

those from previous lessons, and this helps students in developing a deeper understanding of how

the concepts are connected. I also feel that Indicator 4 (Teacher provides all students

pportunities to build on or challenge initial understandings) is also a strong area for me.
TELLING MY STORY 4

Because I understand that students learn in different ways, I strive to use a variety of teaching

methods and activities that appeal to all types of learners. Some examples include scavenger

hunts that allow students to be up and moving about the room (for kinesthetic learners), using

manipulatives (for tactile learners), and utilizing concept videos (for visual learners).

One area in which I need to improve is Indicator 3 (Teacher makes clear the purpose and

relevance of new learning for all students). Although I feel I do well in teaching math concepts

to my students, I need to do better at helping them understand the purpose for learning the

concepts and how they can apply them in real-life situations. I tend to provide more procedural

opportunities for my students than application opportunities, and my goal is to give them more

opportunities to see how to apply these concepts in real-life scenarios.

Potential Competencies

There are a few potential competencies that I plan to include in my PDQP. First, I plan to

include an example of a student project that we did this year in my classes. One specific project

involved the concept of calculating unit rates. For this project, students created a Google Slide

presentation that required them to plan a Thanksgiving dinner including a guest list and menu.

They were required to have a minimum of five traditional food items (they could add more if

desired) for which they were given a list of costs for each item from three different stores. They

had to calculate the unit rates for each item, select the best buy based on their findings, and then

calculate a total per-person cost for the whole meal. The students worked with a partner and

were encouraged to use creativity in designing their projects. This gave the students an

opportunity to do something a little different from typical math practice and helped them to see

how they could use this concept in real-life.

TELLING MY STORY 5

Secondly, I’d like to include some artifacts for Standard 4 (Students Engage in

Metacognitive Activity to Increase Understanding of and Responsibility for Their Own

Learning). As I reviewed the indicators for this standard, I feel that this is an area I, as well as

my students, need to improve. Helping students understand that they are responsible for their

own learning and facilitating opportunities for them to increase in this responsibility and

accountability needs to be a goal. This got me thinking about things I have already done that

could serve as evidence of this standard and what I could possibly create from this point forward

that could demonstrate evidence as well.

Rationale

As stated by Constantino and De Lorenzo (2009), “there is a direct correlation between

performance standards for student learning and performance standards for teachers”, and

according to the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (1997), “what teachers

know and are able to do is the most important influence on what students learn”. These are both

extremely profound statements! I chose Indicator 3 because I feel that developing and improving

my skills and ability to better meet this indicator will have a direct impact my students’ learning

and increase their ability to apply what they learn in the classroom to real-life situations. This

will help them to see the relevance of the concepts they are learning. I love the fact that creating

my PDQP gives me opportunity to reflect on my teaching, determine areas of success, and

develop goals for continued growth that will help me become a more effective teacher.
TELLING MY STORY 6

References

Admin., (2014). The Nevada Educator Performance Framework (NEPF). Clark County

Education Association (CCEA). Retrieved from https://ccea-nv.org/2014/09/17/the-

nevada-evaluation-performance-framework-nepf/.

Constantino, P.M., &De Lorenzo, M.N., (2009). Developing a Professional Teaching Portfolio:

A Guide for Success. (3rd Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.