Rationale for Student (Molly) Work Samples

Alverno Advanced Education Ability: Integrative Interaction Acts with

professional values as a situational decision-maker, adapting to the changing
needs in the environment in order to develop students as learners.
Wisconsin Standards for Educator Development and Licensure:
Standard 7 The teacher plans instruction based upon knowledge of subject
matter, students, the community, and curriculum goals.
While working with my student, Molly (name has been changed), in
Tier 2 math intervention, I was seeing a pattern of errors that left me
wondering how we could fill those gaps which were not being addressed with
our Tier 2 math program, Do The Math. After careful documentation of errors,
I discussed many possibilities with our instructional coach. With her
guidance, we came up with a plan to help Molly succeed in her Zone of
Proximal Development.
We analyzed the types of errors and misconceptions she was having
relating to her number sense and began a new path of instruction with her
and I in a 1:1 setting. The instructional coach and I created groups of lessons
based on the additional teacher resource, Teaching Arithmetic in the Do The
Math modules. Once the framework was built, I had freedom to build lessons
that made sense to Molly.
One notable lesson involved she and I taking an in school field trip to
find out how numbers were used. We toured our school stopping by
classroom doors, the library, the office, and taking a peek at the parking lot.
Mollys understanding that numbers could quantify, measure, or locate
(label) was a revelation for her. We followed up that lesson with one where I
wrote down 5 numbers that were special to me and listed what they
represented. She was asked to match up the numbers with the reasons for
importance (quantified, measured, or located.) Molly then repeated this
activity with numbers that were important to her. This began her solid
foundation for number sense.
In this assignment, I explored the many hats that the teacher has to
wear as the lead learner in a classroom. One of the many roles I explored
was classroom designer. In this role it is imperative that the teacher creates
a safe environment conducive to learning. Using professional knowledge to
make decisions on that environment and adapting to changes in classroom
dynamics demonstrates Alvernos ability of Integrative Interaction. Teachers

must be flexible and adapt to the changing moods of students, resources,

and time constraints in order to optimize the learning environment for their
students.
Wisconsin teaching standard 5 asks teachers to know how to manage a
classroom. Going along with classroom design is the intent to create positive
social interactions for students by flexibly grouping students for dialogue and
collaboration. When I described the role of the teacher as an astute observer,
I am demonstrating my understanding that keen observations can lead to
adjustments in social groupings or in environment so that students may
consistently be in their own Zone of Proximal Development.