Reflection of Inspired

Philosophy of Education
By: Nermin Fialkowski
ATP 699
Masters of Science in Advanced Teaching
Practices

• My perspective of education has only been reinforced as

a result of this Program. As an educator, my goal is to
help students develop their reasoning and critical
thinking skills. And his program has provided me with
the knowledge, resources, and tools needed to do so
successfully. This Program has provided me with a sense
of urgency in which I need to provide my students with a
quality education through the means of becoming an
Inspired Educator.
Masters of Science in Advanced Teaching
Practices

• This sense of urgency has transformed me into an agent

of change. I will be taking my new knowledge from my
Specializations in instruction and assessment and
implement change into my school site, and hopefully
district in which there is a better alignment of
instruction and curriculum to assessments. This will
done by sharing:
• Curriculum-teaching

• Formative Assessments
Masters of Science in Advanced Teaching
Practices
Curriculum-Teaching
• Teaches to a body of
knowledge and/or a set of
skills (Popham, 2001) instead of
focusing directly on
individual/specific assessment
items
Formative Assessments
• Formal and informal processes
teachers and students use to
gather evidence for the
purpose of improving learning
(Chappuis, J., Striggins, R., Chappuis, S. &
Arter, J., 2012), while the learning
is still taking place. Focused
on how students understand
material.
Why I Teach

Have any of your courses given you new insights on your own motivation to
teach both when you started teaching and in the future?

• I initially became a teacher to help students learn math. To learn

to understand and appreciate math the way that I do. But as the
years have gone by, I now teach to build students’ reasoning and
critical thinking skills.
• This program has only reinforced just how important it is to
develop students’ understanding, comprehension, and critical
thinking skills
• These skills need to be developed
• Students need to be taught how to be students
• Students’ emotional states affect their critical thinking skills (Jensen, 2005)
Why I Teach

Have any of your courses given you new insights on your own motivation to
teach both when you started teaching and in the future?

• As a result of this Program, I learned some startling information

regarding college and career readiness- students are not ready.
This has only motivated me further in:
• Providing my students with a quality education
• Becoming an Inspired Educator
• Allow students to thrive socially-emotionally
• Allow students achieve academically
• Allow students to positively contribute to their community
Who I Teach

What new learning have you gained about your students and your
relationships with them?

• During my first year at my current site, I dealt a lot with student apathy-
learner hopelessness. I will teach students about a Growth Mindset as a way to
combat this issue
• Abilities can be develop
• Allows students to cope with challenges and difficulties
• Rewards focus on:
• Effort
• Strategy
• Progress
• Four keys (Ragan, 2016)
• Effort
• Challenges
• Mistakes
• Feedback
• In the end, it is people’s mindsets that play a crucial role as to why some people succeed
and others do not, even wen they are equally as intelligent (Ragan, 2016)
Who I Teach

What new learning have you gained about your students and your
relationships with them?

• I teach to a population with a significant amount of English

Language Learners and it is important to gather valid assessment
results that are truly indicative of student learning
• Assessment carries an underlining tone of culture and language
(Trumbull & Lash, 2013)
• These students are not only learning a new language, but learning new
content in that new language (Trumbull & Lash, 2013)
• Content knowledge vs. literacy knowledge
Who I Teach

What new learning have you gained about your students and your
relationships with them?

• “First, ELL students must filter their math knowledge-a

language all its own-through a second language, English.
So, in this case, math becomes the ‘third’ language.
Students face an extra challenge, then, as they attempt
to learn cognitively demanding, highly abstract
mathematical concepts while they are still learning
English” (Chamot, A.U., & O'Malley, J.M., 1994)
What I Teach

Have your recent studies contributed to or expanded the content and

materials you use to teach.

• Within this program, I have learned the benefits and importance of using
technology in the classroom.
• Increase in engagement and social/collaborative interactions
• Desmos
• Graphing Calculator
• Activities
• SBAC Interim Tests
• Flipgrid
• Kahoot!
• Providing students with a test blue print including:
• Learning targets
• Quantity of problems
• Points awarded per question
What I Teach

Have your recent studies contributed to or expanded the content and

materials you use to teach.

• After learning about the misalignment between classroom

assessments and high stake exams, my focused has been placed on
curriculum teaching and formative assessments
• Use of curriculum-teaching, with the guidance of clear learning targets
• Four Claims as identified by college and career readiness (California Assessment of
Student Performance and Progress)
• Concepts & procedures
• Problem solving
• Communicating reasoning
• Modeling & data analysis
• Formative assessments to monitor and support student learning
How I Teach

What new ideas, concepts or teaching strategies are you planning to

use in the future and where did they come from?

• One of the biggest take a ways I have added to my repertoire is

involving students in the assessment process (Chappuis, J., Striggins, R.,
Chappuis, S. & Arter, J., 2012)
• Self-reflection
• Track/monitor their own learning
• Sharing their own learning
• Curriculum-teaching to strongly align classroom assessments to
high-stake exams
• Teaches to a body of knowledge and/or a set of skills (Popham, 2001)
How I Teach

What new ideas, concepts or teaching strategies are you planning to

use in the future and where did they come from?

• Brian-based teaching to enhance learning and build

comprehension (Jensen, 2005)
• Needs to be continuous
• Constantly review material
• Relevant content
• Emotional states
• Physical environment
• Differentiated instruction to reach all students
• Student voice & choice in learning
• Catered to different learning styles
Resources

• California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress. Retrieved from:

http://www.caaspp.org
• Chamot, Anna UhI and J. Michael O'Malley (1994). The CALLA Handbook: Implementing the
Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
• Chappuis, J., Striggins, R., Chappuis, S. & Arter, J. (2012). Classroom Assessment for Student
Learning: Doing it Right- Doing it Well (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
• Jensen, E. (2005). Teaching with the Brain in Mind. Alexandria, VA: Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development
• Popham, W. J. (2001). Teaching to the Test? Educational Leadership, 58(6), 16-20.
• Ragan, T. (2016, November 6). Growth Mindset Introduction: What it is, How it Works, and
Why it Matters. [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/75GFzikmRY0
• Trumbull, E., & Lash, A. (2013). Understanding Formative Assessment: Insights from Learning
Theory and Measurement Theory. San Francisco: WestEd.