What were your growth goals?

To further enhance subject matter knowledge and to stay up to date on

developments related to the subject matter

How would you measure your progress toward meeting those goals?
I have spent considerable time this semester research current events and learning
more about the subject matter. I am at the point where I can provide insight for the
students and give them concrete examples and anecdotes to help illuminate the
subject matter. AP students love to try to stump the teacher, but I can honestly say
that they were not even close to accomplishing that task this semester. I am
feeling much more confident in my command of the material. This can be
measured by student growth throughout the semester and level of student
engagement that I was able to achieve this year.

How have students benefited from your reflections and the learning that took place
in your inquiries?
The inquiry/reflection process has helped me to be a more proactive teacher. As a
result of reflecting on my teaching practices and making appropriate adjustments
my students experience a learning environment that is more closely tailored to
their individual learning needs. Furthermore, the students recognize that I have an
exceptional command of the subject matter. This relieves some of their anxieties
about the AP exam and makes them more confident that they can also continue to
develop their own grasp of the material. I have witnessed student engagement and
motivation increase significantly over the course of the year.

What did you learn about your students’ needs?

I leaned that many AP students like to go beyond the textbook description of a
concept. They want tangible information and examples. This provides opportunity
for analysis. If I can take the class discussion to a more analytical level I have
ensured that they will retain a more comprehensive understanding of the material.

What did you learn about differentiating instruction?

I learned that differentiating instruction is absolutely critical in today’s classroom.
Although certain goals may be the same for all students (i.e. state standards) the
specific instructional strategies used in the classroom must be varied to suit the
individual needs of students. As I developed different learning paths for students
(e.g. creative, analytical, cooperative learning) I witnessed student engagement
and performance increase significantly. In an AP classroom there always has to be
the opportunity for the student to go above and beyond. I worked to incorporate
these opportunities into every lesson and/or project.

What did your student assessments tell you about your teaching?
Although every student showed improvement, some students were improving
much more than others. As a result, I need to further develop differentiated
instructional techniques so as to better engage those students and close the
achievement gap.
When you made changes in your teaching, what were your expected student
outcomes?
My intention was to help students see the relevance and importance in the
material they were learning. Ultimately, I wanted students to demonstrate the
ability to think critically about the political/governmental process and develop
opinions about the events/topics being evaluated.

In what ways did you impact student success?

I was quite impressed with the quality of student work presented in the unit
projects. Students displayed their understanding of the material through various
means (e.g. analysis of current events, participation in a mock senate, powerpoint
presentations, analytical essays, etc.). Students were most engaged during these
assignments. The mock Senate, for example, gave them a hands-on understanding
of the legislative process and provided for some great subsequent discussion.

How did your students’ progress compare to what you expected?

Some students far exceeded my expectations while others did not show as much
growth as I would have liked. I take this as an indicator that I need to continue the
quest for developing new/efficient strategies for engaging students.

Reflect on evidence collected during the three modules in the following areas:

Focus students
I had a rather diverse group of focus students. The process of designing a unit of
study that provided for each student’s success was a difficult task. However, each
of my focus students displayed an impressive level of improvement over the
course of the unit. My special needs student showed significant growth. By the
time we completed the unit in question he was able to score a 6/8 on the AP FRQ.
This was a huge accomplishment considering that up until this point he was
scoring a 2 at best on the multiple-choice part of the exam. By the end of the
semester he was making the linkages and connections that are so important in this
subject matter.

Content Standards
All of the research that I did, from the AP Institute, to reading additional texts and
exploring online resources have been to increase my grasp of the content. In fact,
the objective was to know the material on a much deeper level than textbook. I
want to function as a resource for my students rather than someone who directs
them through the learning process. I do not think that this aspect of professional
growth should ever stop and I’m excited to think of the amount of knowledge that
I will have developed in the next 10+ years. I will continue to explore the
resources that I have used this semester and I will continue to look for others as
well.
Instructional standards
For my inquiry I focused on CSTP 3.1 (Understanding and organizing subject
matter for student learning –Demonstrate knowledge of subject matter content).
The reason I picked this standard was because this is the first time that I have
taught AP government and I wanted to make sure that my command of the subject
matter was as refined as possible. I spent many long hours this year simply doing
research and trying to develop the best way to present the subject matter. For
example, my subscription to govtrack.com has enabled me to do extensive
research and stay abreast of developments in Congress. I tracked the complex
movement of the recent healthcare bill through the legislative process. Each day
in class we discussed any new developments. Many students felt strongly about
the subject matter, so it was a perfect opportunity to engage them and teach them
about how a bill becomes a law. It also provided served as an opportunity to get
to know various members of Congress and their political views. I also had the
students research a senator of their choice, looking into their legislative record
including major accomplishments. The students used the website as one of there
primary research tools. The results were good. The students were very engaged in
the discussions about the healthcare bill. They displayed a genuine interest and
curiousity about the complexities of the process and had a lot of questions about
what the outcome was likely to be. Due to my extensive research I was able to
field these questions and provide the students with informed insights.
The students conducted thorough research of their senators. They explored the
website, viewed video footage of their senators, and explored their political views
and legislative accomplishments.

Assessments
I had a very diverse group of focus students. The process of designing a unit of
study that provided for each student’s success was a difficult task. However, each
of my focus students displayed an impressive level of improvement over the
course of the unit, as indicated by the various assessments. Still, my ELL did not
show as much growth as I would have liked on the summative assessment. She is
a very smart student but she does not receive much support from home and it can
be very difficult to get her to complete any work outside of class (e.g. study for
exams). I have this to be one of the most frustrating aspects of teaching. I take this
as an indicator that I need to continue the quest for developing new/efficient
strategies for engaging all students and provoking their interest so that they will
be more likely to continue their education outside of class.

Provide evidence of the connections between the subject matter you taught, your
instruction, and your assessment.
It is absolutely critical that teaching strategies and curriculum closely align with
the assessment. If they do not, you will unable to accurately assess student
learning. The various formative and summative assessments included in module C
demonstrate the connection between my instruction and assessment. Through a
process of backward planning I developed a unit of study in which all learning
activities directly correlate with the standards and the assessments. For example,
 the Mock Senate activity is used to help the students understand the complexities
of the legislative process. Students are expected to write about and analyze the
pros and cons of this process for the summative assessment. This process of
backward planning enables me as a teacher to have more accurate assessments
and to more effectively use those assessments to design/modify instruction as I
go.

Highlight the best evidence that illustrates a change/improvement in your teaching.

The FRQ student sample that I have included is the best indicator of my growth as
a teacher. The response was drafted by my special needs focus student. He had
been struggling all year, receiving low scores on many of the earlier exams. At
several points he considered dropping the course, explaining to me that it seemed
like other students were succeeding with minimal effort and that his long hours
studying seemed to have little effect on his grades. I urged him not to drop the
class, I worked with him on a one on one basis to help him develop a more
rounded understanding of the subject matter. The result was phenomenal. His
grade on this particular FRQ was a 4 out of 6, by far the highest test score of the
year and an indication that he was truly developing a sound understanding of the
subject matter. I feel that my maturing practices have enabled me to more
effectively reach those students who need modified instruction. I hope that this
piece of evidence represents a positive trend in my teaching efficacy.

What will you continue to investigate/focus on as you move into your next year of
teaching? Why?
I will continue to focus on refining my understanding of politics and the
governmental process. I do not think that this process should ever end. In addition
to that I plan on focusing on my organizational skills. I have found that as I
accumulate more teaching materials my system of organization becomes strained
and I end up wasting time trying to find materials or reorganize. An area of
primary concern is my accumulation of electronic files. My computer has
inundated with video clips, pictures, documents, etc. I think that once I develop a
more efficient filing system (and data backup) I will be able to spend more time
focusing on the teaching strategies, etc.