Continuing Teaching License (CTL) Digital Portfolio

I. Pre-Assessment and Analysis 

Candidate assesses the knowledge and skills of students in relation to long-term content goals and district standards and determines the knowledge and skills each student needs to meet the goals and standards. 
 

Human beings are not built on as assembly line. All students do not have identical parts and components that produce the exact same result when put together the same way. Wouldn't it be sad if my classroom was an "assembly line" and treated all students the same. It is not and it will not be. That is the beauty of teaching and joy of discovery which is different in each learner. However, our education system in Oregon and in the Beaverton School District requires students achieve certain content goals and district standards in the classes I teach. My primary area of teaching centers around school-to-work learning in the area of business. It is my goal that all upper level business students be given the opportunity to achieve the Certificate of Advance Mastery, or CAM by successfully completing Marketing 3, a three trimester class. In order to do this, assessing each students' knowledge and skill is paramount. How have I accomplished this pre-assessment?

I believe I have been quite successful in this by pre-assessing each student in two ways. First, by evaluating prerequisite course work through a one trimester "introductory" course. Secondly, by evaluating personal strengths and weaknesses of working independently on a project through cooperative learning and the creation of a complex business plan.

The prerequisite work requires the student to display a fundamental understanding of business and the factors that surround the world.  The areas of mastery required of the students include Ethics, Technology, and Marketing. This is demonstrated by the student through written work, group projects, Socratic discussion, as well as oral presentations.

Evaluating personal strengths and weaknesses of working independently, which is critical to success in Marketing 3, is done by working individually with the students on their business plan. As you can see from the assignment, the student must do research through the internet, phone calls, visiting businesses, referring to previous course work, contacting relevant individuals in the community, and discussing issues with their classmates, to name a few. This must be done independently because each business plan is based on each student's business idea. No one works on the same business idea! Thus all information needed is unique to each business plan. I have attached two student profiles describing the strengths and weaknesses of two students who successfully completed Marketing 1 before they  began Marketing 3. Because I have such an in-depth profile of each student through individual work I am prepared to better assist and ensure their success.

I have also linked to a  pre-assessment with scoring rubric of the first unit taught in Marketing 3 which gives you an idea of a more traditional, finite pre-assessment I undertake during the course of my Marketing 3 class.

Additional Reflection
 
Pre-Assessment is very difficult. I outline in this competency a pre-assessment period that lasts nearly an entire year. This allows for excellent pre-assessment. Most teachers with most classes do not have this luxury.  Each teacher needs to pre-assess at the beginning of each class and during the class as needed as  subject and content change.  However, the  key  to truly accurate pre-assessment is a formal process  which provides the teacher with background strengths and weaknesses on "new" students before he/she enters the classroom. Where do we find the time and money to set-up and implement this process? Good question. Unless this becomes a reality, teachers will need to pre-assess with similar strategies as laid out in this competency and make the best of it.

Every classroom I have had the privilege to teach has had students of multiple ethnic backgrounds, different learning styles, at various developmental levels and abilities, and with different interests. With Aloha High School's very specific CAM benchmark in mind, how can I ensure success with such diverse learners in my classroom?

I teach a "Personality Importance and Goal Setting" unit in Marketing 1 and more in-depth in Marketing 2 which directly applies to one of the required CAM benchmarks. With the specific unit goals in mind, I go about designing this unit by first coming up with an authentic performance assessment scoring guide. This allows me to be understand what each student should strive to obtain from this unit of study. How do I take goals and assessment scoring guides and turn them into good lesson plan and good learning for the diverse student population in my classroom?

The key is differentiation. The general acceptance of multiple intelligences has helped not only better lesson plan for my students but better understand my own personal learning. Each lesson plan I use usually incorporates at least 3 area of multiple intelligence. The end result is more students reached. Adding to this I have created differentiated lesson plans for this unit in three areas: learning styles, readiness,  and interest.  Using these lesson plans in the classroom, I observed a greater overall involvement of students in the class. The post-assessment showed me that more students were at benchmark level than I would have anticipated.

Additional Reflection

This unit involved sharing of some personal thoughts and beliefs which can be a deterrent to class involvement. By designing  this unit to take into consideration the diversity of the learners in the class, student involvement was tremendous.    

Candidate establishes a classroom climate conducive to learning, e.g. positive classroom management, a safe and developmentally appropriate environment, efficient organization of time and materials, and effective transitions. 
 

Classroom climate is critical to student success. The classroom must be a place that encourages respect and rapport teacher/student and student/student interactions and dealings. This is challenging but has been accomplished in my classroom. What follows is a narrative and exhibits that show how I am able to create a positive classroom environment with challenges of diverse classes, challenging students, and different learning styles.

A sample of the diversity in my classes can be found at the AHS Website where ethnic make up shows the diversity of my classes. In addition, this year the poverty rate is at 52%. As explained in Diverse Cultures, I set up my teaching to have as much one-on-one contact with students as possible. This is important for the academic learning which is shown with my Marketing 2  syllabus which communicates the varied ways in which students are going to be evaluated. This allows for more individual instruction of students. In addition, I feel it important for teachers and each student to have some relational item not related to course work. I found out student interests through a student survey and one-on-one conversations. It is important that I make a connection not related to the class material with a student. Their involvement in a sport or activity, their unique family history, a subject of particular passion or something else of interest. Class behavior issues seem to fade away when the student feels a personal connection the teacher.

It is easier to make academic inroads with a student, if they feel I am interested in them as a person and their success. I feel this is particularly important when dealing with difficult and high achieving students. Both need special attention to ensure they reach their potential in class. Bottom line, if students feel they are cared about and have a positive rapport with their teacher and fellow students, classroom climate takes care of itself.

I believe in flexible seating in my classroom as many assignments are project driven and thus involve working in groups. Group work can be destructive to the classroom environment or make a classroom operate optimally for all students involved. I put together groups and tasks based on my knowledge of students through 1-on-1 interactions, student surveys, and assessment of individual work. The first unit of Marketing 3is based on excellent classroom climate. You will note outside adult participants and many diverse activities and assignments in this unit. This is only possible because I have had these students in a previous class and was able to to put together excellent working groups.

All group assignments and classroom assignments need to be reevaluated and changed as necessary to ensure excellent classroom climate. Even with knowledge about students before hand, sometimes groups do not work out well. I will sometimes adjust the task, situate groups in different areas of the room to avoid conflict, or simply change the members of the group. Monitor and adjusting is critical.    

IV. Implementing Instruction 

Candidate implements instructional plans that employ knowledge of subject matter, use research based educational practices that reflect how students learn, and are sensitive to individual differences.   

It is important to acknowledge that different students learn in different ways. Knowledge of subject matter by the teacher allows creation and use of different formats of assessment which allow students to use their knowledge of the curriculum covered. A final economics project  I have used gives the student a variety of ways to show their learning and was able to used only with master knowledge of the subject matter by the teacher. This project allows for sensitivities for how individual students learn.

This economics projects acknowledges recent and accepted research of learning differentiation as well Gardner's work on Multiple Intelligences. A recent research paper I completed addressed addressed variables affecting student academic achievement. It is critical as an educator to take into consideration any variable which may enhance or inhibit student learning and implement that in my teaching. This particular personal research helped me to better identify and take into account students lives outside the classroom and work that into my instruction. 

While the economics project and research paper take broad overviews from research in implementing instruction, my Marketing 1 pre-assessment and Ethics Unit pre-assessment take into account day to day adjustments necessary to properly implement instruction. The ethics unit is one of the units in my Marketing 1 curriculum. I use these tools to get a perspective on the current knowledge of students from an entire class overview all the way to the more confined unit knowledge. This gives an even broader ability to see individual differences and act upon them to better able individual students to reach their potential. This is enhanced by giving a non curriculum related student survey at the beginning of each class to get a better understanding of the student as a person. Making a connection with each student as a person is critical to reaching them as a student and is an emphasis for me as  a teacher.

My research based practices for implementing student learning in my classes allows to me be a better communicator to many different students with different  learning styles. This has made me a much better educator.

V. Collaboration 

Candidate collaborates with parents, colleagues, and members of the community to provide internal and external assistance to students and to their families, if needed, to promote student learning when necessary.   

I am very fortunate to have 14 working computers in my classroom. Because of the poverty level (52.8%) at Aloha High School, any work requiring an electronic product (word processing, tables, graphics) can be problematic because of many students' lack of necessary resources at home. My lab is available at 6:30 AM (1:15 before school starts), at lunch (approximately 45 minutes), and after school for students needing to complete school work.

We take annual trips to Seattle and Sunriver, Oregon to enhance the students'  learning experience and communicate the necessary information with parents, community members, and appropriate school and district employees. Both in the classroom and during our trips we utilize appropriate business contacts to both enhance the learning experience and to get the community at large more involved with Aloha High School.

In my advanced business classes, my students have responsibility for various entrepreneurial endeavors and collaborate with students and teachers in Accounting, Fine Arts, and Industrial Arts to pool resources and strengths to improve the results of each project. The accounting students routinely provide financial records and statements for the various entrepreneurial endeavors. Fine Arts has created fliers and posters, electronic presentations and I-movies for various groups to helps in many promotions. The industrial arts have designed our new student store (architecture) and built a new coffee cart (woods) to help ensure success of two of the student entrepreneurial projects. Additionally, my students meet more regularly with the high school administration than I do presenting proposals and ideas for projects that would enhance Aloha High School. The students create the business processes to ensure proper collaboration from so many sources. It is quite impressive to see the level of coordination by these students. An example is a student manual from a few years ago which is completely student created. This type of work is repeated by many students in many projects multiple times every year.

There have been many students on IEP's that have successfully run businesses, earned their CAM, and grown personally and academically in my business classes. Accommodating IEPs at this high level has proved a challenge but also very rewarding. An example is a student that struggled with the ability to write but was able to communicate verbally very well. He had a knack for understanding the employees and customers in the coffee business he was involved in and had their respect. I reshuffled the employees of the coffee business and put this young man in charge and made sure he had detail oriented people under him to take care of the written communication and financial responsibilities. This turned the business around and is an example of working with an IEP.

Finally, collaboration would not be complete without healthy communication with parents. I work with parents on a regular basis communicating via letter, phone,  emails, and face to face. I have worked on community advisory boards and am anxious for parents to see what we are doing and solicit what they like and don't like about Aloha High School and particularly the Business Program.

VI. Evaluation 

Candidate evaluates student progress in learning, refines plans for instruction, and establishes alternative goals or environments for learning when necessary.  

Not every class and not every student is the same. I have often had two Marketing 1 classes on my schedule which start out with the same curriculum and plan. I have never had the teaching, curriculum, and learning be the same in any of these classes. While basics need to be covered for every Marketing 1 class to meet instructional goals, criteria, and standards, I use evaluation during the class to adjust not only projects, tests, and assignments but also curriculum.

Economics is a required class and thus the diversity of the students is exceptional. I have this economics project to give me a number of ways to evaluate the learning of students that provides ways for students to succeed that takes into account multiple intelligences and learning disabilities. Not everyone's  strengths are the same and this allows for alternatives for students to accomplish goals and learn the necessary content. An alternative way to evaluate the concept and learning of "packaging" in my marketing 1 class is done with this packaging assignment. This use of establishing alternative goals and ways for for students to accomplish success is simply a part of the way I manage my classroom.    

I always feel it important to provide a test review and evaluate the results before giving the test. The test incorporates questions which help me evaluate the learning of the student on the material covered. A good test review usually means better success for the student on the test. However, there are times when the test results indicate a need to go over material as a class again. This is usually done in a different manner than previously taught and is evaluated differently using such evaluation techniques as individual discussions, oral presentations, or written work. I use many different assessment tools in my evaluation.

An appropriate scoring guide is very important to evaluating curriculum. In this case, it gives me the guidance to properly evaluate students in many different areas of assessment . For me in particular, it can showcase strengths and weaknesses in a student's overall learning and learning styles. It not only helps me evaluate the unit at hand but also gives insight into developing, modifying, and enhancing future units of study.

VII. Documentation 

Candidate documents and reports the progress of students in achieving content goals and district standards.
 
I keep electronic classroom grade records with the school district server as back up. I also print out hard copy of grades at the end of each school year and turn them into school administration for storage in the event they are needed at a time in the future. This approach creates a double back up for grades to protect this important information in the event a parent, teacher, administrator, college, or student need to access this information.  Grades are obviously very important in credit accumulation and recording student progress not only in my content area but in overall credits which go toward diploma and graduation requirements for my students.

Students need credits in "career" areas to meet state of Oregon and Beaverton School District graduation requirements. My classes meet this "career" criteria.   My classes also fall in the Business and Management Career Pathway at Aloha High School. This has also been referred to as Certificate of Advanced Mastery (CAM) in previous sections of my portfolio. I have issued over 100 CAMs at Aloha High School the past three years. The graduating class of 2008 will be required to have a CAM. My students have been meeting that requirement since 2004. It is important to document student progress  and provide assistants to students with a CAM checklist. The CAM and Career Pathways enable a student, upon their completion and high school graduation, to be better prepared for their next step in life.

I have actual student portfolios available for review. These portfolios are student documentation of important components of the CAM. I also have binders for your review of collection of evidence which show student documentation of this very important piece of receiving the CAM. These portfolios and binders are also reviewed by the school principal as well as myself. After a recent review, a CAM progress memo was sent to certain students to formally let them know of their need to complete certain tasks in order to receive their CAM. I also regularly meet face to face with students to assess progress and schedule due dates as well as schedule necessary "help" sessions to keep them on track for receiving a CAM. A recent memo I sent to the school administration about CAM recipients indicated four more students had met the CAM standard and three that originally scheduled to get their CAM were not going to meet standard after all.

Candidate uses emerging research on teaching, learning and school improvement to enhance practices. 

I remember a class I had on human development about 10 years ago and I remember my professor saying, " this is the best information available today on how the brain works but it will likely be different tomorrow". How true. Research is ongoing and it is important to stay abreast of new developments. Experts have come to recent staff development sessions at AHS and talked on the new research findings on poverty and academic achievement, literacy, and class rigor in high school and the connection to success in college, to name just a few. I believe our school district does a good job of requiring its teachers to learn about the most recent research findings and how to apply it to the classroom.

At Pacific University, instructors have used and shared research to support their curriculum in areas such as technology in the classroom, differentiation in learning, lesson planning, and overall teaching strategies. I have done my own 
research paper and have applied my learning from it and these other classes to make more informed decisions about my instruction. Specifically from this research paper, I try to find what things in life are important to a student and use that information in the classroom to try and find ways to motivate he or she. I am also working on a research project on the impact of extracurricular activity on academic achievement which is final review stages.

Specifically, and as an example of research used in my recent teaching, for my goal setting and group dynamics unit in my upper level business class I have used these resources to improve it. I used these people, resources, and research to create a team teaching unit with a math teacher.

The research I have studied and performed has a profound impact on my teaching that can't be completely explained by a list of resources or a paper. I better understand individual strengths and weaknesses as a student and my own strengths and weaknesses as a teacher and I bring that with me to the classroom every day.

The most profound research and data that I have found and used in my classroom centers on different learning styles, the need for rigor in curriculum, the importance of personal connection with students, student connection to a school and the impact it has on academic achievement, and the role poverty plays in academic achievement. As the world changes and demands for education change I must continue to stay abreast of recent trends in education research.

Candidate participates in designing, evaluating and improving opportunities for teaching and learning in an educational institution.
 

I am the first teacher at Aloha High School to develop and issue a CAM to students. This started in 2004 and this year marks the 3rd year issuing these awards. From its meager beginnings of only a handful of CAM recipients, in May 2006 nearly 50 Business CAMs will awarded to Aloha High students. The Business CAM I have developed has evolved and been used as a model for other areas of the school. Fully 135 students from different disciplines will be issued CAMs, including a certificate, in 2006.

I was appointed a Career Pathways Officer (CPO) for the 2005-6 school year as a result of the success in the Business Program with CAM development. The CPO's work with administration to help design, evaluate, and hopefully improve teaching and learning at Aloha High School. CPO meeting minutes give a flavor for the work I've been involved with. This lead this year to my students hosting a breakfast for local businesses at Aloha High School. An agenda for this breakfast is attached and gives a flavor of the incredible opportunities this provided the students. We also asked the business participants for input and are using some of these suggestions to better design our educational programs.   

I also periodically go through a PTE review. This is an opportunity for me to evaluate the business program. It gives others in the school, the district, as well as the community at large an opportunity to evaluate my program. This provides  valuable information for designing the program to promote better teacher which of course leads to the more important prospect of better learning.

Candidate works to enhance job performance and advance teaching as a profession. 

I am considered the resident CAM Expert by our principal. I have enhanced my understanding of career pathways and CAM by going on on-site visits to two large Portland metro area high schools that were and are developing CAM and career pathway curriculums. I have used this knowledge, my 11 years  of experience in private business, and my contacts within the community and other teachers to enhance my class content knowledge. I have also visited other schools to learn about their curriculum. This has allowed me to change and improve the curriculum in classes I inherited when first taking over this position. I have created a Sports Marketing and Marketing 3 class which didn't exist before I arrived. I also attended the Oregon Association for Career and Technical Education Conference (OACTE) to share what our program is doing and learn from other experts in the state to bring back new ideas for improvement to Aloha High School.

I have supported local service and business groups. I have been a guest speaker at the local rotary club to share my experiences and promote our program at Aloha High School. The local rotary club has provided a weekend entrepreneurial academy for some of my students the past 3 years called Camp Enterprise. This came about as a result of my involvement and interest in rotary as a tool to enhance my students' learning. I also work with other teachers and teaching programs as evidenced by this Camp Enterprise letter to help those interested in teaching or improving their teaching skills.

This is further evidenced by the two student teachers I have hosted. This is a year long commitment which hopefully results in the fostering of an environment which allows the prospective student teacher to develop into a person ready to start their teaching career which was clearly the case in this situation. I appreciate the great experience given to me by my mentor teacher and I hope in some small way I am continuing that tradition.

The curriculum has developed to such an extent that my students are engaged with students in other classes to work together on their entrepreneurial projects. Accounting students work with my students to create financial records of the business activities and computer application and graphic art students work with my students to create I-movies, graphics, and electronic presentations to help in the success of the entrepreneurial activities. This requires team and peer teaching with my colleagues to ensure success of all the students involved.

Candidate demonstrates the appropriate and thoughtful use of technology.

Technology in my classroom is used as an:

    1. Authoring Tool

    2. Communication Tool

    3. Resource Gather Tool

    4. Instructional Tool

While this is done in various ways in my classrooms and applied differently depending on class content, size, learning styles, and diversity, my best example is this Sports Marketing webquest I created in a graduate class at Pacific University. I have used this successfully for two years. I encourage you to explore it.

I am fortunate to have computers in my classroom so access to the internet allows this assignment and webquest to work. This fosters authoring through use of inspiration software and inspiration software located on my computers' software suite. 

Communicating happens through access to all requirements of the project with detailed explanation of the requirements in the webquest. Students have a link to my email if they are accessing the webquest outside my classroom.

This webquest is a great resource gathering tool as it provides links to helpful websites to assist the student in completion of the project.

These elements clearly make this webquest an excellent instructional tool. I find student questions are less frequent but much more substantive as a result of using this webquest.

Technology is often a great tool in my classroom to improve student learning as evidenced by this webquest example.

Candidate demonstrates the ability to use reflection as a tool to improve his or her professional skills.
 

I look back over 8 years ago when I decided to change careers and become a teacher and I realize how little I knew what I was getting into! Going from financial services to education was a dramatic change. While I agonized over the decision and spent a lot of time researching and discovering what it would be like to become a teacher, I still had no experience as a teacher to use as a basis. In essence, I was leaving a field in which I had expertise and an understanding of the profession to one in which I had no expertise! One of the major ways I became successful in my previous career was routinely reflecting on work I had done and determining what I could better. I have used the same approach in teaching.

I remember my first year of teaching and just attempting to stay just a little ahead of the students as I tried to learn the curriculum and figure out how to teach. I asked more experienced teachers for advice and had them sit in on my classes. I struggled with staying organized and learned tips from some of the veterans. I learned the hard way how to deal with behavior issues after failing a few times and realizing I needed to change my approach. Again, other teachers helped me through this process. While reflection is still an important part of the process I use to improve my teaching today, Constant reflection during my first year helped me not only to strive but really thrive as a rookie.  

"Not every class and not every student is the same. I have often had two Marketing 1 classes on my schedule which start out with the same curriculum and plan. I have never had the teaching, curriculum, and learning be the same in any of these classes." This quote was taken from the Evaluation section of my portfolio. It means that reflection is necessary for a teacher in his 7th or 25th year to remain an effective educator. I have never taught the same class twice. They may have had the same title ( e.g. Marketing 1) but they were different because individual classes and students are always unique. I reflect daily on lessons taught. I don't always write down my thoughts as I did 6 or 7 years ago, but I reflect every day. I reflect to varying degrees on the day, the lesson, the unit, the class, or the year. What went well? What needs help? How can I change or what can I do differently  to be a better teacher. As an example, for improvements next year, I have been reflecting recently and I have decided to create more defined procedures for my independent study students, solicit ideas from the administration this year on projects for my students so they can be implemented at the start of the next school year, and figure out projects which are more user friendly for special needs students as they are becoming a larger and larger part of the student body. These changes will occur because of my reflection.

I have reflected on my strengths: passion, energy, commitment, sense of humor, vision, thirst to learn, desire to make our world a better place and my weaknesses: taking on more than I should, procrastinating, organization, impatience. I believe I do my job well but I know I need help. I also know where to get help from peers, friends, community members, administrators, and from furthering my education. There is so much expertise out there. I am willing to say I need help and be happy to receive it. While I know I am a much better teacher than I was 6 years ago, I also know I need to continue to improve by reflecting on how I am doing. As a person, you are either getting better or worse, there is no static. I choose to get better as a teacher and a person.