Teaching with Ms. Kal
Frequently Asked Questions
What is your overall plan for communicating with parents and caregivers of your students? How do you plan on including them in the education of their child?
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All communication will be handled through email, phone calls, in-person conferences if needed, and any other online forums that are provided by the district such as BLEND or Teams. When communicating with the parents and caregivers of my students, I will always begin by first sending out an introduction of myself which will also include my expectations for the students as well as the expectations they may have of me. My goal is to keep the initial contact positive, praising the work, behavior, or attitude of their child in the classroom. Future communication should continue to share these positive moments but also address any concerns that may arise.
Over the school year, I will also want to encourage parents to remain active and involved with their child’s learning. As the semester is often broken up into six or nine week grading periods, my goal is to also remain consistent with sharing their child’s progress at least two times during the period, once at the midway point and again near the end. This way, parents may stay informed as to whether or not their child has any missing assignments, opportunities for assignment corrections, or if their child has a failing grade. I will also share and make available any student resources that can be accessed and used at home for additional support.
Describe the expectations you have for your classroom.
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Here you can find an example of five expectations I shared with my middle school Algebra I class during my student teaching semester. The wording of each statement was chosen carefully with the intention to encourage students rather than discourage them with a list of ‘Don’t’s’. I aim to promote a growth mindset in students which can be done through efforts of encouraging positivity and praising students for trying and being a risk-taker. I also emphasize the value of each individual in the classroom. All voices deserve to be heard and we should be respectful of each other’s ideas. This is especially important when a peer has a question or offers a suggestion to solve a problem. Moreover, I want students to know that student individuality is something to value as each person brings a unique perspective into the class that should be shared and heard. No rude remarks or hurtful behavior is tolerated. I also make sure that the students know that I also hold myself to these standards and that is something they can expect from me.
How do you create a safe and inviting environment for your students?​
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Something I have found to be helpful in maintaining a safe classroom environment for students is taking the extra step to learn more about the students. Taking the time to hear from the students helps me gain their trust and allows students to feel more comfortable to approach me with any questions. One method I have used to get to know students better is through offering them to make me a quiz about themselves. Here I ask students to share their likes and interests. I also ask students to write something on the back if there is anything they feel that I should know about them. Ultimately, I hope that through this I could connect with students through their interest and also find ways to make the content relevant and interesting to them. I also hope that through this effort, students would feel comfortable in the classroom to ask questions, offer solutions, and share their ideas.
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Altogether, assuring that students feel comfortable, challenged, valued, and safe are all a part of the classroom environment that I hope to promote. All students have something unique to offer and they should know that they are to be valued by their peers and me the moment they step in the room. By building trust with the students, my goal is that they are more willing to participate and ask questions. With structure in the classroom and in the lessons, the environment should also minimize harm to student safety and consider student needs at all times.
How will you make sure that no student is discriminated in the classroom?​
Standard 3.4:
The educator shall not exclude a student from participation in a program, deny benefits to a student, or grant an advantage to a student on the basis of race, color, gender, disability, national origin, religion, family status, or sexual orientation.
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When teaching in a diverse classroom, the teacher should not discriminate students in any way. In my own classroom, I will hold these standards not only as an expectation for myself but for the students too. Each student should be respected no matter their background, what they look like, or what they believe. Students should have the opportunities to reflect and share about their own experiences while in the classroom. I aim to create a classroom culture in which students would embrace the qualities that make them who they are. I want to create an environment in which they can voluntarily share how past or current experiences help them draw connections to the topic at hand, while assuring that their ideas along with their stories are respected by their peers. If math itself is universal, I want my students to recognize how the concepts they learn are relevant to all, no matter where they come from. No student will be treated differently because of the way they look, what their beliefs are, or where they come from. I will teach with equal opportunity for everyone and keep the classroom as an open and safe space for my students.
How do you decide which teaching strategies to use in your class?
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When teaching a lesson, one of the most important things I ask for is student feedback. In my class, it is always my goal to keep students engaged and active in their learning throughout the lesson. When possible, I try to relate the content to the interests of my students while also finding ways to keep the material relevant to them. The best practices for effective student learning is always of upmost importance when designing lessons, so receiving student feedback is valuable in determining what strategies work and which ones need improvement. Feedback can also let me know if there are any areas that are worth reviewing as a class, what type of activity, such as individual or group work, would be most beneficial for student practice, and what changes, if any, should be done to improve the lesson for the next time I teach it. By taking their feedback into consideration and reflecting on how a lesson was taught, I can then determine what the next best steps are to move on as a class.
How do you design relevant lessons in a way that encourages student agency, ownership, and social emotional learning?
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When designing lessons, my goal is to always keep it student-centered. I have found that using inquiry-based learning and project-based instruction are helpful tools in promoting student agency and giving students more responsibility in their own learning. When students are presented with a goal or a project in which they can take ownership of their work, I find that students become more engaged and interested. However, it is also important to be mindful when designing such lessons that each student is unique and some practices work better for some more than others. So I make sure to provide resources and additional support for all, and I can check in with the students to assure that they are comfortable with the assignment. I try to have these individual check-ins and conversations with students as a part of SEL, providing praise for their work and support where they may need it, while also hoping to remove any overwhelming or stressful feelings a student may have with an assignment.
Describe your professional development plan for remaining current in your subject and best teaching practices.
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To remain current in my subject and with the best teaching practices, I will complete courses offered by my school, district, and UTeach that include CPE credit. During my time student teaching I was able to participate in professional development courses and practices including modules for Blended learning, creative and artistic learning by integrating music and arts into the classroom, and a book study focusing on the psychology of students from difficult upbringings. I am also a part of UTeach Maker where every month we meet and find ways to include Maker Education in our classrooms through different materials, resources, and technology. These are all opportunities I plan to continue and search for during my teaching career. I will also plant to attend conferences for education where and when I can to gain more insight on better practices for teaching in my classroom. Similarly, I will look at resources like the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics for conference and course opportunities to stay current in my subject area.
How would you address a wide range of skills and abilities in your classroom?​
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When designing lessons, I look for ways to differentiate activities in my classroom. Students work at different paces and levels, so when possible, I try to provide problems that vary on different levels of challenge for students to take on and also provide resources that allow students to go through the material at their own pace. By giving students agency on their own work and learning, students can evaluate and decide how confident and comfortable they are with the content and go from there. One way I try to facilitate learning in such a classroom is through the use of menu choice sheets, where students can pick and choose from a variety of activities and problems to work through. By also creating an open space for students to work collaboratively and ask questions, I hope that students can rely also on their peers for help and support. Overall, when developing lessons and choosing activities, I want to ensure that all students of all levels of skills and abilities are appropriately challenged and actively engaged in their learning.
Describe the skills or attributes you believe are necessary to be an outstanding teacher.​
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What distinguishes an outstanding teacher from a good teacher is the outstanding teacher’s ability to provide support, promote growth, and set students up for long-term success.
When delivering content to their students, the outstanding teacher makes sure to put students first by making learning student-centered. This teacher facilitates student learning with guided questions, providing lesson differentiation, and offering a variety of resources for the students to explore. Through this, students can be actively engaged in their learning while practicing skills such as group collaboration and communication. The outstanding teacher encourages student voices and ideas to be heard and promotes an environment where it is okay to ask questions, make mistakes, and persevere. Ultimately, both the good teacher and the outstanding teacher may know how to deliver the content and get great test scores, but the outstanding teacher also finds a way to connect the content in meaningful ways to their students. This way, students are able to apply what they are learning onto their own interests or passions in life. When students look back, it is the outstanding teacher that they remember more because that teacher showed true interest in the potential of their students.