ASSIGNMENT 1 – TELLING MY STORY USING MY PDQP 1

Assignment 1 – Telling My Story

Kerry Nugent

National University

June 9, 2019

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for

TED 690−Capstone Course

Dr. Carol Shepherd

ASSIGNMENT 1 – TELLING MY STORY USING MY PDQP 2

Abstract

This assignment outlines the six domains of the thirteen California Teacher Performance

Expectations (TPEs). Three chosen artifacts are briefly presented and explained. This

assignment discusses the progress in achieving competencies in Domain A, TPE 1B –

Teaching Mathematics in a Single Subject Assignment. The author discusses her strengths

and needs are identified, potential TPE competencies to be used on the PDQP are

addressed, and a rationale for selecting and completing areas of professional needs and

goals achieved for Domain A, TPE 1B – Teaching Mathematics in a Single Subject

Assignment.
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The Teaching Performance Expectations

Teachers are constantly looking for better ways to teach their students. The process of

finding new and better methods to help our students learn Mathematics is a never ending search.

To help me improve my teaching, I must turn to the thirteen Teaching Performance Expectations

(TPEs) and the six Domains that they represent for guidance. These performance standards will

guide my practice of effective teaching.

The six Teaching Performance Expectations (TPEs) Domains are:

A. Making Subject Matter Comprehensible to Students

B. Assessing Student Learning

C. Engaging and Supporting Students in Learning

D. Planning Instruction and Designing Learning Experiences for Students

E. Creating and Maintaining Effective Environments for Student Learning

F. Developing as a Professional Educator

Our textbook, “Developing a Professional Teaching Portfolio, A Guide for Success”

written by Patricia M. Costantino and Marie N. De Lorenzo (2009) states that “There is a direct

correlation between performance standards for student learning and performance standards for

teachers. What teachers know and are able to do is the most important influence on what

students learn” (p. 11). The domain that I will be writing will be Domain A: Making Subject

Matter Comprehensible to Students, Teaching Mathematics in a Single Subject Assignment.

I began substitute teaching about four years ago and found that delivering understandable

lessons to students came easier to me than I expected it to. I have had many successful years of

experience in business and being at home with my children prior to going back to work in our

local school district. I took my experience with helping my children through their homework
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and applied it to the children in my classes. I could see and feel their frustration and confusion in

learning many lessons in Mathematics. I felt that if I applied my motherly caring and

encouragement with my business sense and experience together than I could help these frustrated

students find confidence in their ability to learn Mathematics.

The first artifact that I have chosen is an assignment example from my students who

were learning about Equations and how to use them to represent real-world solutions. This

work fits well with demonstrating my adherence to Domain A and Making Subject Matter

Comprehensible to Students. The students worked on math equations and their own

creativity to draw these math posters about real-world problems and solutions. It was

engaging and students learned more about equations as they worked on the posters.

The second artifact is an article review of an article, entitled Using Artwork to Explore

Proportional Reasoning, by authors Sarah B. Bush, Karen S. Karp, Jennifer Nadler, and Katie

Gibbons. The teachers describe how they introduced their 6th grade mathematics students to the

concepts of ratio and proportions by using artwork. It was an interesting article about how these

teachers helped students connect museum art pieces to their math to make math more

comprehensible.

The third artifact that I have chosen is an activity that my students worked on last week

to better understand Dot Plots and Histograms using student data and then analyze them by

comparing them with data from other classes. I had students report their shoes sizes for the

Dot Plots and their heights for the Histogram. We then compared the Dot plots and the

Histograms of one class to the other classes to see which class had shorter/taller students from

the Histograms and smaller/larger feet from examining the Dot Plots. It was a fun lesson that

allowed students to make Statistical Mathematics more comprehensible.

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Telling My Story

I have spent the last four years in classrooms, getting to know students, Mathematics

curriculum, various teaching styles and getting to know myself as a teacher. I was successful in

business before becoming a mother to two daughters. My oldest daughter is special needs and

needed me to focus a lot of attention on her when she was young and into high school. She is

now 19 years old and taking classes at Saddleback College with aides through the Capistrano

Unified Adult Transition Program. My youngest daughter is a Junior in high school and a

wonderful artist and student. She is starting a program next week with Girls Who Code at

Blizzard in Irvine and she is over the moon about getting to spend part of her summer at her

dream job in one of her favorite places in the world. She wants to be a graphic artist for gaming

or movies when she grows up.

About four and a half years ago it became apparent that my children did not need me to

be at home for them as much and that it was time to find something that could fulfill me in the

years to come. I had always wanted to be a teacher and I was always good at Math and Science,

3 years of study later, and I will be a Math teacher in a few months. I am currently student

teaching in Fountain Valley for 6th Grade Math.

I worked really hard to help my oldest daughter make sense of math and her assignments

when she was in school. We got creative, made her lessons as simple, as hands on, and as

meaningful as we could so that she could understand the lesson and complete her assignments. It

was hard at the time, but now it feels like a blessing as I can communicate that to my students

when they struggle with making sense of their lessons and assignments. I still have a lot to learn
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but I feel that I have a good foundation for making Math lessons comprehensible for my

students.

After 30 years away from formal school Mathematics I studied and relearned all of the

math concepts from 5th grade through college to pass and excel in the CSETs and prepare me for

teaching multiple grade levels of Math. I know first-hand the struggle of understanding and

learning Mathematical concepts…..I just did it. I can empathize with students and understand

their struggles.

Strengths and Needs within TPE Domain A:

A. MAKING SUBJECT MATTER COMPREHENSIBLE TO STUDENTS

TPE 1: Specific Pedagogical Skills for Subject Matter Instruction

TPE 1B: Teaching Math in a Single Subject Teaching Assignment

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Area for Growth: What

do I want to learn more

Domain Strengths
about? Where can I

strengthen my skills?
Teaching Mathematics in 1. Business Background in 1. Learning where to find

a Single Subject Sales, Real Estate and resources that are

Assignment Property Management. interesting, challenging

2. I’m able to demonstrate and adhere to Common

multiple ways of Core State Standards.

approaching any problem, 2. Learning to differentiate

making it easy to instruction to address the

understand, and getting needs of all students in the

the same solution. class.

3. Fostering teamwork to 3. Learning to engage

develop understanding of students more fully when

Mathematical concepts. they are simply listening

4. Empathizing with to teacher directed

students in their struggle information.

and finding ways to 4. Getting students to

persist when it gets hard. participate more fully in

5.Creating engaging and class discussion groups.

fun projects to support

learning.
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Potential Competencies to be Used for the Professional Development Quest

As I work on my PDQP, I feel that I will be able to highlight my strengths and probably

weaknesses in each of the competencies. I am not afraid to admit that I have weaknesses as I

will then make it my mission to learn and grow in that area. Creating this PDQP will highlight

those skills that I currently have and direct me to skills that I need to improve upon. Costantino

(2009) states that “Reflections should provide evidence of your ability to think critically,

problem solve, make decisions, relate theory to practice, learn from experience, and analyze yoru

performance and growth (pg. 57).” I believe strongly in reflecting on what worked and what did

not to make me a better person and better teacher. A potential competency to be used for my

PDQP will be the appropriate use of instructional time and providing a safe social environment

in the classroom. I encourage students to take every opportunity to be present in their classroom

to complete everything they can prior to leaving the room and not allow assignments to be put

off until they get home. I also feel very strongly that our classroom is a safe place where they

should feel welcome to be brave in their attempts to learn Mathematics and to persist even when

they struggle with a concept.

Rationale for selecting TPE Domain A

The reason that I chose TPE Domain A is that I feel that making our curriculum

understandable and the concepts comprehensible to our students is the only way that students can

make sense of the subject matter. They have to make sense of the lessons if we want them to

demonstrate understanding of it. They won’t use the knowledge we give them if they can’t

understand it. TPE Domain A is essential to having students that can take that knowledge and

use it in other aspects of their school or home lives. I really feel like we are doing a jobs of

teaching when students will say, “I get it.”

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References

Costantino, Patricia M., De Lorenzo Marie N., & Tirrell-Corbin,Christy. (2009).

Developing a Professional Teaching Portfolio: A Guide for Success. Upper Saddle

River, NJ: Allyn & Bacon/Pearson.