Tim Coulter

See the following example lesson plans and lesson plan materials. The lessons highlighted here were for Trigonometry / Precalculus, since that's the class I had to spend the most time personally designing lessons. I followed an explore-learn-do-assess model, where every week students would get a chance to explore the material completely on their own, using tools like Desmos, before receiving direct instruction. After direct instruction, students were then given the ability to apply what they learned by solving real world problems. Finally, on the last day of the week, students were assessed on knowledge gained using standards-based-grading. See more about the assessment below.

It's important to me to correctly assess what my students know and can do. Points-based grading averages out knowledge across multiple topics and allows students to pass the class without ever showing full mastery in any specific subject. With that in mind, I structured both the course and the assessments around standards based grading. The example assessment linked shows how I assess students on their knowledge of the material, at every point linking the assessment with the standards that I'm assessing them for. Since assessments were given weekly, this is just one of the many attempts students have to show mastery of a standard, and they're required to show mastery of many standards in order to pass the class. I've also included student work from three separate students that show the range of mastery in my class for the given assessment. At least one of these students is an emerging English Language Learner that requires extra supports when receiving instruction on technical topics.

My experience as part of the North Bay Teacher Residency Program has taught me many things about teaching and education. By working with my mentor teacher John Williams, I was able to see first hand how building rapport with students early on helped improve classroom management and teacher effectiveness in the classroom. Our room felt like a place people wanted to be, including the students, and that had major effects on learning. We'd often compare putting effort into report to that of putting money in a bank: If you make a bunch of deposits early and often, you'll be much better off if ever you need to make a withdrawal. This philosophy showed with everyone in the classroom, including me, as my relationship with students directly influenced my ability to teach them. And it affected my happiness as well. Moving forward, I plan to continuously follow the methods I learned from John as well as all of the professors at SSU, to build an inclusive, emotionally safe, and fun learning environment.