What a crazy semester this has been; but oh how incredibly rewarding it has been. Working on this portfolio has given me the opportunity to reflect on some of the mathematics that I was able to teach this semester and the wonderful students that I was so fortunate to work with! Although I did not feel comfortable providing an example for four of the standards that are listed, I am confident that I would be able to discuss these standards with proficiency or develop an exemplar in the future (Student Teaching).
So a theme of this blog (in the few posts that are available: to be continued) is to raise more questions than answers, thanks in particular to professors that stress the importance of continuing to grow and to reflect in this profession, I have begun to try and ask how I can improve more than I can advocate for how well I have done, so what about now? How am I ever going to ask more questions about my abilities as an instructor from artifacts that I have already reflected upon?
I accept this challenge and have actually had more difficulty writing the support for these artifacts because I feel more comfortable asking how I could improve them than tell why they support my proficiency in the standards. So lets get on to these questions!! To begin with, a question that has been in the back of my mind all semester is how are all of these artifacts going to look if I take them into another class? How will they look when the group of students I am working with is completely new? I think that a continuum of these artifacts is going to allow me to adapt particular pieces to fit the students I am working with or the setting I am in.
Additionally, I am ever more curious about what others are presenting. Do I want to copy them? Do I want to know what I should submit? No, absolutely not! I want to talk with these colleagues, I want to discuss what worked and what did not work. I want to see how we can work together to find new artifacts that have not been used before.
Wow, look at me go, I am like a super teacher over here! I've got all of these artifacts, I am ready to try and adapt them to new settings, and I want to collaborate to make new products to help students learn mathematics. But that's not how I feel. I know so many other people around me have the same feelings, so many others are willing to do the same things and more! I'm more excited about this profession than I have ever been before and am excited everyday about the new experiences or ideas I may encounter! This doesn't make me a super teacher, nor do I feel like I am completely ready to run my own classroom and leave this whole college thing behind. But I do feel like I am ready to work with those around me to make this a great profession, ready to work with students everyday to find solutions to problems, and incredibly excited to continue working with those that can give such great advise!!
In regards to this collaboration and coming up with new ideas, let's look to a great mind to help us see how incredibly detrimental it can be if this piece is not incorporated into our profession:
Thank you. I just wanted to know where to ship it since I know now to keep producing it
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