Teaching Philosophy

I have set up my class as follows:

I set up a module per learning objective from the Utah State Standard we are currently working
with, plus an introductory module and a concluding module for the unit. This means I have generally 5,
and sometimes 4 modules per learning unit. The introductory module has information that is
informative and engaging to hook the student, and an introduction to the project for the Standard.
While the material in each module is sequential and competency based, all modules except for the
introductory module can be taken independently of other modules, even simultaneously if required. The
introductory module must be completed first, but is not competency based.
Each module is set up sequentially, with each sub-objective having at least one assignment associated
with it. The assignments are where I need to put the most work into in the future, but at the moment I
am simply plugging in assignments I am getting from other teachers into those spots. Each assignment
needs to, at minimum, help the student explore and practice using the information that they are
learning. This means each assignment includes links to YouTube videos and online articles that explain
the information in diverse ways. My end goal will be to have a choice of assignments for each level, so
students can choose to express their learning in the way that is most comfortable to them. After each
sub-objective, there is a short, simple quiz where students practice recalling the information they have
just learned in a situation where they are not looking at outside sources. They must score perfect on the
quiz, but the questions should be simple and focused directly on recalling newly learned information.
They can retake the quiz as many times as needed until the perfect score is reached, but there should be
at least 5 minutes between retakes so students can go and re-learn whatever it was that they missed on
the quiz. After they have progressed through the all the sub-objectives, there needs to be a culminating
quiz for the module to assess whether students have learned the material found within the sub-
objective and can now process that information in more difficult ways. This final module quiz should
include questions about important points from prior standards, as a way to practice retrieval of earlier
information. These review questions should only concern the big major points of prior standards and be
simple to answer.
The concluding module for the Standard we are working on in the learning unit is composed of a
location to turn in the project, the vocabulary quiz to retake as many times as needed, an interactive
study guide to prepare for the comprehensive test, the comprehensive test of all the modules in the
Standard, and an anonymous survey for students to complete about the class.
As an assist to the students to complete these steps of attaining mastery, we set goals on a
weekly basis. The students set goals based on which modules they want to work on, and how far in that
module they want to get. They also set goals on how far in the project they want to get, and on a growth
mindset that they will focus on while working. Before they set the goals for the next week, they must
look back at their earlier goals and answer a couple of questions about how successful they were at
achieving their goals, and how they can fix any problems they encountered. I provide a template for
them to work with while setting their goals, and try to review their goals with as many as possible to
help them work out their action steps. As students’ progress in their ability to set goals, the time we talk
will be more focused on me tutoring those students where they are stuck.
My goal is to have the flexibility to pull out small groups of students out from the class and give
individualized lectures that are tailored to each group’s needs; this means during these days, most of
the day the students will be working on individual work. 1/3 of my time I anticipate working with the
whole class, another 1/3 working with small groups, and the final 1/3 I anticipate working with
individuals. That means 2/3 of the time some people are working independently on the computers. This
ratio is not based on research, simply pragmatism of fitting everything in to the schedule.
Make-up work and approach for students who get stuck
When students get stuck, they should refer to the materials provided first. If those are
insufficient to help them gain understanding, they should refer to a classmate. If neither of those steps
work, they should approach me, the teacher. I will provide techniques and strategies to absorb
information, as well as clarification on points that are not understood. If all of this together is insufficient
for the student to achieve a high score on the module, that will not block them from doing well on
another module. Each module quiz will eventually be standards-based, and will exist to inform each
student on how well they understand the material, and then directly correlate to their grade. The
student can always retake the module quiz and improve their grade, if it is proctored and they have
studied and improved in-between retakes. This insures that their grade is directly correlated to their
understanding and mastery of material.
If students do not complete work on time, they can make up prior work only if they first
complete all the modules in the unit we are working on as a class. They must repeat the entire module
that is incomplete/late, and then come have me unlock the module quiz for them. If their current work
is up to date, I will go back and change the grades of all work that is completed. This approach means
that there is still an advantage to turning work in on time (because you have less items to stress about
or need to complete quickly), ensures that all work done receives credit, ensures that learning that is
tied to learning objectives is done, and allows compassion for those that have made a mistake and
didn’t get stuff done on time.
The preceding policy also applies to those who simply wish to get a better grade; if they want to
improve the score they have on a project or a module earlier in the year, they can go back and re-do
that project/module for a better score AS LONG AS they have already completed the modules in the unit
we are working on.

Explanation of my sequence/methodology
My end goal is that students learn, process, and master the material contained in the official
standards issued by the Utah State Board of Education. To reach that goal, I will utilize practices that
have been demonstrated to consistently aid students in reaching that goal. Every aspect of my
curriculum should have a defensible, research based reason behind its implementation. If there is an
aspect that is not based on currently supported research, and it is brought to my attention, then it will
be modified to be based on the most recent non-ephemeral findings.
At the moment, there are a couple of philosophies that are consistently producing superior
results in learning, processing, and mastering material. With learning material, students need time to
mull over the additional information and discover which areas are not making sense to them. The best
way to have them discover the areas where they need help is to have frequent, low-stakes chances to
recall information. This is best achieved with regular, low-point value quizzes that helps them identify
the areas where they need additional tutoring or more research in order to understand completely.
These quizzes need to be repeatable, because they are tools to identify weaknesses in understanding,
and tools should be available to be used whenever they need to be used.
To process information, the information must first be contained within the mind. Not only does
this reinforce the practice at recalling the newly-stored information, it also allows the processing to
actually occur. A pilot who has to have all his textbooks around him to know how to fly an aircraft is not
able to fly an aircraft. Similarly, necessary information needs to be contained in the mind before it can
be processed. Competency-based education provides the necessary tool-set here; it emphasizes that
before you can move on to further concepts, you must be able to recall the necessary information. For
that reason, I have organized my class around modules; each module is self-contained, and does not
require that you have mastered another module prior to completing any other module. The information
in other modules would likely be helpful, but not necessary. You work through the module sequentially,
building on each point and demonstrating understanding (see prior paragraph about low-stakes
quizzes), and then demonstrate mastery of the concept found in the module with a final quiz. I have not
found research that determines the best way to handle the module quiz; whether it should be treated as
a summative evaluation of the student’s mastery, or a formative tool to modify tutoring and further
teaching. As of now, I believe (not based on research) that it would be more helpful to use it as a
formative tool until the time for that term runs out, at which point whatever progress they have made
on that module becomes their final score. This is not due to my desired outcome, but due to the
limitations that having term grades places on instruction.
Full mastery of material should essentially show that students can create or use that
information in their own situation. This is where labs, projects, and presentations come into play.
Projects, labs, and presentations (heretofore referred to as “projects”) should be directly connected to
student’s own interests and the material being learned. While doing the project, information that they
have previously mastered should help them and enable them to do what is needed, and problems
encountered during the project should be evidence of need from the student on topics they need to
learn, process, and then try to demonstrate mastery again.

To further enable mastery of a concept, I subscribe to the constructivist model of education; information
is constructed in the mind. Mastery of a subject means that a student has fully constructed a working
model in their head of the information. To speed this process up means to teach in a way that allows the
student to begin building their self model as quickly as possible.

To sum up everything above succinctly; I have been convinced that students should demonstrate
competency on the topic they are learning before moving on. To further that end, it is important to give
the student access to information showing how effective their mental model is, which requires frequent
assessment. Those assessments should be visible to the student and directly tied to a specific standard.
As the student’s mental model improves, they should demonstrate that improvement on another
assessment that measures the same standard; I only care about current levels, not prior levels, so only
the most recent demonstration of ability matters. When students are exposed to their ability to master
concepts and grow in their ability, they become more confident in their ability to learn new information.