I conducted a feedback survey for my students.

Students were asked several questions

and the questions were structured around what they might have struggled with, most successful

with, or how my teaching style might have affected their learning. All of the questions answered

by the students were accurate and very reflective of how I taught the content. Out of all of the

questions, students were able to identify their strengths and needs of the unit. Most students

struggled with comparing fractions, adding or subtracting fractions with uncommon

denominators, and reducing fractions. This is not surprising, most students struggle with

multistep problems or processes, which is one of their IEP goals to be working towards. Students

were most successful with multiplying and dividing fractions. I taught students to multiply

straight across, then reduce if possible. Some students would forget to reduce, but I wouldn’t

have the last step entirely affect their scores. The next question I asked was how challenged

students were throughout each of the lessons. Most students throughout the unit were challenged,

but one student was not challenged. Due to my class structure and schedule, the one student

should be in the general education mathematics class, however, at that time, that class was in the

middle of a different unit, which would not have been a good transition, from my class to the

other. Due to most concepts I taught in this unit, a lot of the questions were multistep, so students

had trouble recalling information. However, with the fraction resource papers students were able

to recall this information easier. After the unit was completed, most students understood the

content and felt as though they could teach the materials they learned.

In the samples I have given in my Teacher Work Sample, the learning goal that was most

successful was the fractions digital escape room. The escape room was given after the

assessment. The escape room covered multiple standards and all students escaped successfully.

One example of how it was successful is when students were able to use a variety of teaching
materials to help them be successful. For example, depending on the class I would also play an

instructional video. Sometimes the students found it easier to be hearing a different person

re-teaching previous concepts. Another example that benefited students' success was the use of

the fraction resources. I would leave example problems on the board for students to refer to

throughout the class period, however if they were taking a quiz, these references wouldn’t be

available. By making these resources available to students, they were more successful, compared

to the students who did not have them out for independent work. Based on my own observations,

my students need examples and various resources in order to be successful. If they do not have

these accommodations or modifications, students would be receiving partially meets or does not

meet on the content standards. Whereas, if they have these resources available, they will be more

likely to earn a partially meets, meets, or exceeds on content standards. My students show needs

in the areas of recall and multistep problems. With these examples, students are able to recall

information of previously taught concepts more easily.

A learning goal that was least successful was comparing fractions with uncommon

denominators using symbols or models. One reason students were not successful with comparing

fractions is because they had a hard time recalling which way the symbol was supposed to be

facing. In order to alleviate student confusion, I would tell students to always eat the larger

fraction. Occasionally I would draw teeth inside of the symbols to “eat the larger fraction”.

Another possibility is that I had too many supports in place for students. By using more than one

model to represent the fractions, students could have become more confused on how to compare

fractions. By implementing more than one way to solve the problem or represent a problem,

students become overwhelmed by the materials. If I were to do this again, I would select one of

the models and choose that to represent the fractions.

 After completing this unit, there are two professional learning goals I would like to work

on. The first goal is asking students less ambiguous or too complex questions. I noticed that

when I would ask students these questions, they would have a hard time understanding what I

was asking them to answer the first time. However, when I rephrased the questions, students

were able to understand the questions and be more successful. My last professional goal is to

give feedback on assignments more quickly. I had a hard time giving written feedback on

assignments to students within a reasonable amount of time. This is not fair to students because

if they need re-teaching or fixing questions, they often would get frustrated if the assignment was

from two weeks before. My goal is to give written feedback on assignments faster on future

lessons and ask more direct questions.

Overall, I felt as though I did my best to present content to students. I could see the

progression of students understanding concepts over time. Compared to the beginning of the unit

plan, I did overall improve my teaching practices. When students entered the classroom, they

gathered their materials, grabbed a snack, and began the warm up all within the first few minutes

of class. At the beginning of the unit, these small transitions would take ten to fifteen minutes.

Now it takes less than five minutes for all of these transitions to be complete. Overtime, I did see

myself becoming more clear with concepts and creating differentiation throughout all of the

lessons. I also tried to make concepts as simple as possible. For example, at the beginning of

multiplying and dividing fractions, I would only require students to multiply straight across.

Overtime, I also added that students had to reduce the new fraction if it was needed. If I began

teaching students to cross multiply fractions instead of multiplying straight across, students

would have struggled more. By doing it this way, students were able to grasp the materials easier,

and we were able to move onto other concepts faster. I also believe over the course of the unit,
students were able to understand my instruction more. There were more than one students who

felt as though the content they learned, they now could teach the materials to their peers.