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Video Reflection and Self-Evaluation

As previously discussed, my request to video record or audio record a lesson
at the high school where I am student teaching was rejected by the Board of
Education of that district. Due to this, I have decided to provide you with all the
materials I used during this lesson. I am doing this in a way so that you get a better
understanding of how I taught this lesson.
I have purposely chosen one of the lessons I am most proud of, Section 1.6 on
Transformations of Functions with my Advance Algebra class. Usually, I teach this
class one section a day and I quiz them every three sections. This was because the
first month and a half with them was all review of topics they had previously
studied, such as finding the slope of a line. This was not my own decision, as it was
also theirs. One day they complained that all the other Advanced Algebra classes
were already on Chapter one and we were still on the review chapters (they study
trigonometry the first two marking periods, and then advanced algebra the other
two).
By the time I taught Transformations of Functions, I had learned the phase at
which I should teach this class. It is not the same rhythm I teach the Algebra 2
classes, which are also different one from the other. However, these students were
beginning to understand the meaning behind studying mathematics. Some of the
homework assignments I had made them do were, complete a multiple intelligence
survey and write a paper of your findings, write about math in your life, and watch
the Golden Ratio Video and write about your findings, among others.
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These assignments helped me to understand my students more, from their
interests to their understanding of this beautiful subject. I used the information I
gathered from the multiple intelligences survey and I divided my students into
groups in a way that every group was balanced according to these multiple
intelligences. Most of their answers about math were vague, like I use math when I
go shopping. Nonetheless most of them wrote fascinating thoughts after watching
the Golden Ratio video. Some students wrote things like, Math is all around us! I
never thought there is math in plants and flowers! and Math is a beautiful concept,
as it can explain natural phenomena from the waves in the sea to the unexplained,
which is out in space - my personal favorite.
I remember that I was concerned about teaching this lesson without
graphing calculators, so much that my cooperating teacher told me to skip it. I did
not want to skip it, as I thought this lesson was of great importance to
understanding the meaning of mathematics as a language. Functions are like the
verbs in any language. Since functions are repetitive and found in so many things in
life, a more in depth example of how this mathematical language would develop is
on understanding predictions or probability, and functions come into play in all of
that. I just kept thinking that being able to graph these functions would help my
students to better understand the topics we were about to begin studying, and
perhaps even from a different mathematician perspective.
The issue was that we did not have enough graphing calculators for
everyone. So, days before the lesson, I dug into my cooperating teachers closet
looking for more graphing calculators. Some of them were damaged with battery
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acid, some were out of batteries, and others just were not turning on. I requested
batteries but I did not get any luck. So when the time came, I had to buy them
myself.
I decided to use them on a lesson about finding minima and maxima in
functions, and it was a complete chaos. Most of the students had some sort of issue
that ranged from error messages, to windows that were out of range, etc. I realized
that just getting batteries for the calculators and getting them to turn on had not
been enough. I should have checked each one of them and made sure any
information that had been entered in them was all cleared up; that features we did
not need were unselected, and that the window size was the same for all of them of
them.
It was a Friday, the day I was supposed to begin the lesson on
Transformations of Parent Functions, I decided to give them a Graphing Calculator
Tutorial. At this time I had began using ActivInspire, a Promethean Board program. I
made up a guide as detailed as possible about how to graph a simple function, which
took me all night.
We went over how to get to the screen that allows us to graph, how to input
the correct commands to graph a function, such as x
3
(which can be obtained from
the menu found by pressing the math button). I took that chance to finish the
previous lesson on minima and maxima. I showed them that the calculator can find
these minima and maxima points of the function for us. This is something I did not
learn until I was in college and told them this was like top-secret information. They
appreciated it; I noticed they were beyond absorbed into the tutorial.
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I provided them with color copies of what I had in the board to save them the
time of writing notes, and in that way they were able to fully submerge into that
experience. I wish I could have recorded that lesson. At one moment I stopped to
hear them express their emotions. I think it might have been the first time they saw
a device show them the shape of the cubic function, and it made me remember the
first time I took apart a TV and I thought about taking one of these calculators apart
and understanding how they work, but that would be something they could do in
their Shop Class. Nonetheless it could be something I could do with one of those
damaged calculators. Anyways, it was a magical moment.
We went over the ways we can zoom in and out of the window where the
function is graphed, and how we could change the window sizes. In a way to keep
things simpler, I taught them tricks I like to do when I change the window size or
use the zooming features, like using the zbox versus zoom in and zoomout, or the
zstandard that sets the graph in the center at a specific distance from the origin.
They were so thrilled about this tutorial, I was very happy with what I had
accomplished that day. Finally, I provided them with a handout that had all the
parent functions in it. We quickly went over how to graph constant, linear, absolute
value, quadratic, and cubic functions. As I ran out of time, I said, Memorize the
behavior of the graphs of these (specific) parent functions. You will have a quiz on
Monday. I expect you to know the name of the function, the way you would write the
function in algebraic form, and the way you would sketch the function.
Monday I asked them if they had studied, as I pulled up a presentation of the
visual quiz on parent functions they were about to have. They all replied, Yes! I
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looked at them and I smiled because I knew that calculator tutorial had served as an
extremely useful engaging tool. I said, So you guys are giving me 100s? To which
some said yes, no, and Well, Ms., You never know I said, that all depends on you.
It always does. Alright then, lets get ready for the quiz! It is going to be a short one
and we have a lot to do. One of the students even offered to hand out the quizzes
for me. The entire class attitude had changed. Suddenly everyone was awake and
excited about these parent functions, and inside of me my heart jumped of
happiness. I think this was definitely one of those teacher moments.
I began by asking them if they had ever had a visual quiz, but no one replied.
I explained the way the visual quiz would work, and I showed them I had placed an
example on their quiz. We did the example together, and I went over each one of the
five numbers in the quiz. I said, For number one, I will give you some kind of
information and I want you to give me? What? A drawing, most of them replied.
The visual quiz was a success. I do not have their grades on me but I do remember
there was a high percentage of the class that passed with a grade above 80. This
was all in preparation for the actual lesson.
After the quiz, we finally got to the lesson on Transformations of Parent
functions. As I taught the lesson, I made connections for them in a way to help them
remember which transformations were which. For example, There may be vertical
and / or horizontal shifts in a function. Vertical shifts of the form f(x) + c, where c is a
constant, are logical because, immediately we know, that if it is a vertical shift and it
is positive you would move c units upwards along the y-axis. They know that if they
go up along the y-axis they move towards positive infinite and that the opposite is
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true for negative infinity. This is what we had been doing in lessons prior to this one
with domain and range.
I continued, Horizontal shifts are illogical, of the form f(x + c). Notice that c
invades our space. It confuses us about the direction it is going. I remember I told
them, but dont let it fool you! Horizontal shifts are illogical because if it wants to
move positive c units, you move to the contrary, to the left along the x-axis. I
repeated this two times and I had them use their calculators. We graphed the parent
function of a parabola x
2
, and on the next line we graphed (x + 2)
2
, and they
understood what I was talking about.
I went over the other types of transformations we were focusing on,
reflections over the x and y-axis and I connected these ideas to the symmetry along
the x-axis, y-axis and origin, which we had seen in section 1.5. It is the same idea,
but now we can see that negative has a meaning. x
2
is reflected over which axis?
No one replied, so I said, Graph it. They saw the graph of x
2
reflected along the x-
axis and they began shouting, as if they all wanted to be the first ones to discover the
greatest discoveries of all, and I laughed.
I went over what we had covered briefly again, and I asked one of the
students to hand out an in-class worksheet I had found online on transformations of
parent functions (homework). We went over the first and third problem together. I
asked them, What do you think we have to do with this assignment? They took
their time and one student replied, find the transformation? I said, Very good, and
in order to find the transformation of the function in the graph what should we
know? They looked at it and said things like that the graph is red, find a point
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They did not have an idea. I rephrased myself, What should we know about the
function before we can think about what kind of transformation there was in the
first place? Then a few of them said, The parent function. I said, Correct. Identify
the parent function, and then notice the transformations in it. We will do problems 1
and 3 together and the rest you will finish for homework. Then the bell rang.
The next day my supervisor came in to observe me. I was worried about not
teaching anything, as I had prepared an extra credit activity in the form of a game. I
went along with it and I figured he would like a little interaction. I began by
breaking the students into their multiple intelligence groups, and we reviewed the
homework. They immediately volunteered to go on the board and solve the
problems but I told them I had prepared a really fun activity where they would be
able to obtain extra credit, and that I wanted them to take full advantage of that. I
said, Are there any questions on the homework? and of course there were. I said,
Let me tell you the answers first that way you know if you got the problems correct
or not. As I went over the answers, I could hear the students say, Yes! I got that one
right! It was funny.
After I told them all of the answers, we went over three of the homework
problems. Before starting the parent functions transformations game, I reviewed the
types of transformations briefly (same last slide from the visual quiz). I reminded
them about the logical and illogical aspects of these transformations, and I
connected these to the problems we had just reviewed. Then we began the game.
I told them the rules for the game in brief, and I remember stressing that
yelling was not allowed. I specifically remember myself saying in a sarcastic but
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funny way, My supervisor is back there in case you have not noticed. You guys will
not become a zoo on me today, or will you? They all laughed. I began the game by
showing them a first slide of what to expect. There was an example slide just like in
the visual quiz, with a graph of a function. Students had to identify the parent
function and write the new transformed function equation.
According to my supervisor and cooperating teacher the game was a success.
My supervisor even got up and started writing notes while looking at the students
work, and he walked around them, and even took a picture of some students
working (I never saw this picture). I on the other hand thought it was a bit messy.
There were 7 groups. It was very hard to look at their answers, look at my
answer sheet, make sure their answer was correct, provide a suggestion if it was not
correct. Then the other group was calling my name, to which I would say, Ok, you
guys are next, and you are second, and you are third, and aside from all that give
each group points according to the order in which they came up with the answer
and go and change the slide! It was hard, but it was also a lot of fun for them. My
supervisor said I am my own worst critic, which is good because I help myself strive
for perfection and I have to say that I learned from this experience in another game I
did with them later.
We got to do about six slides and they all earned about 10 points. I was
worried that the points earned were too much as the material seemed to have been
mastered, and that maybe I should have assigned less points or saved such activity
for another lesson. I decided that they had earned it, and any points not needed
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could be used in the future. The next day I did not see them because of a PLS
meeting for the faculty.
The next time I saw them, we went over sections 1.5 and 1.6, all the
homework they had, and any other questions they still had about the material. I
advised them to study, as they would have a quiz on those two sections the next day.
The next day they took the quiz and finished rather earlier than I had anticipated. I
decided to have them graph five parent functions using the table method, using x
and y values for at least 8 points.
I remember that I worded it like this, You have seen what the parent
functions sketches look like, now you will go through the painful process of
graphing these functions using at least 8 points I am counting this as a quiz. They
began working on it right away and almost everyone got a 100 on that. The next
time I saw them, I had all of their work graded. I had scanned one of the students
work and I intended to show it to the class as an example.
This student sits in the back, and even though I know he is bright, he does not
apply himself much in the class. He rarely does the homework, and his quiz grades
never go higher than an 87. When I handed his quiz, I told him he had done a great
job. I walked away to let him sink into the feeling of his first 100. Then I went back
to him and I asked him for his permission to use his work to show the rest of the
class what I was looking for. He said yes.

(I could go on forever and I think you can see why my other assignment was so
short. Let me touch upon the other points you are looking for. )
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Strengths
As my supervisor and cooperating teacher said, that game on parent
functions transformations was a great. My supervisor said that I am my own worst
critic and I believe that to my one of my best strengths. I am always looking for ways
to improve myself and it shows. For example, putting a slide with an example in the
visual quiz, and in the game were things I had not done until that day. These ideas
just come up to me as I do not have anyone tell me how to do things or what to do, I
did remember from one of my education classes to model expected behaviors and to
use the me-we-you models where I model how to solve a problem, we all try
together and then you try. So far everything has been successful. My cooperating
teacher always likes everything I do, and the same is true for my supervisor.

Weaknesses
I am constantly reflective about the way I do things. There have been many
things I have mentioned above that I could have done differently but I will focus on
one. I have been working very hard at the way I express myself to the students. I
want to seem fun but strict when it comes to their duties. I want them to know that I
expect nothing less than what I ask from them. Sometimes I do not explain myself
well. This happened when I gave them the visual quiz. I did not like that I used the
word write to refer to write the equation of the parent function. I should have
thought about this more. I could have used the word equation instead. Luckily the
students understood what I meant. That example I put in the quiz helped a lot.

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Caring
I believe that a caring teacher is one who never gives up on her students, no
matter how low their performance is. A caring teacher will request the student to
speak privately to him or her in a way to find out if there is a factor in the students
life that is causing the decline of applicability in the classroom. I have spoken to
many of my students privately.
When I took over the class there were about ten students that were failing
the third marking period. It only took one talk to get five of them back on track. The
others were harder to persuade. One of these students I am most proud of. This
student is the joker in class, the first one to make fun of me, or anything possible. I
went along with his jokes, and I began joking to him about applying himself to the
class. Sorry I cannot quote myself as I do not remember specifically and anything I
say would be a lie.
I picked on him occasionally to do things like the do now problem, but he
would stare at me and say I have not done it. I would let him go and ask others to
take his place, by saying, who wants to earn the do no extra credit points! and
everyone would say me! I would always choose the student that needed the points,
but at least he saw that I had chosen him to earn those points. Also, when I would
check the homework and his was not done I would say to him in a friendly way, You
are letting me down man I know his problem was not of capacity but of push, and
I tried to push him lightly to where he wanted to do the things we were doing in
class.
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This student was getting 52s in almost all his quizzes. One day he told me,
Ms. I work, I do not have time for this. I told him, I stay up until 3 am every day to
get a lesson presentation ready for you guys, and on the weekends I grade all your
quizzes so that we can go over them as soon as possible before it is too late. I am
young; I want to go party on the weekends. They all laughed. I continued, The
truth is that everyone in here has something going on in their lives that is taking
their time away, and unless you work hard at school right now, you will keep
working physically hard and earn minimum wage for a while. I do not want you
guys to go through that. I went through that for a while and trust me, it is not fun to
brake your back and not earn enough. Some students that work said, True that,
true that.
Long story short, he got his first 100 on the next quiz. I remember that as I
gave everyone their quizzes I said, I was very pleased with these quizzes, you guys
have shown me that you can do anything, as long as you push yourselves, how many
of you studied? Almost all of them said, I did including him. At this point I was still
handing out the quizzes when I said, I am most proud of one student who has
showed me enormous effort, congratulations [name of student] you got a 100. I am
so proud of you. Every one looked at him and smiled and we all clapped. I have
done this with other others and they have gotten better with the exception of three
who I cannot seem to reach no matter how hard I try.
A caring teacher will also show interest in the students life. For example, I
have a student who is constantly absent because she has a baby and babies are so
delicate they can get sick easily. We keep in touch online, through e-mail. I ask her to
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do 50% of the assignments everyone else would normally complete at a 100%. For
example, if there was a homework assignment with 20 problems, I pick 10 for her to
do. I also ask my students about the sports they play and I include those things in
my lesson.
Culturally Responsive Teaching
After reading the five stages, I consider myself to be at the conscious cultural
incompetence level. Most of my students are Hispanic. I am Hispanic, which allows
me to understand that beyond the Hispanic community there are people from
specific countries and some tend to spend most of their time with people from the
same country, while others can socialize with everyone. I believe this to be the
process of Americanization, becoming part of the melting pot.
However, I think that there is something special about who we are as
Hispanics. There are many things we should celebrate, like our sense of humor. I
know that all of my students speak Spanish. I have heard every single one of them
say something in Spanish more than once. Their written assignments have shown
me signs of bilingual students who were recently transferred to this monolingual
class.
I kid around a lot in that class. I love those students, and I am so comfortable
with them. Sometimes I use these expressions when I teach a lesson that I sense
they got confused with, for example what! In time What! became Juat! and now
is Que! Que? They love it. It breaks the ice, and it makes them laugh. I usually
continue with Hold up, hold up. Lets go over that again. It keeps them engaged.

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Future Professional Goals
I have been thinking about the many things I want to do this summer in a
way to prepare myself to be the best teacher I possibly can be. One of them is to
prepare a whole lot of lesson presentations, as they take up so much time. However
it would be a waste of time to do these things that will have to be done in the future
regardless, when there are other things I may not be able to do in the future because
of short time.
I would love to have a list of videos for every lesson that could be short and
straight to the point on how math relates to real life. Since I have watched many
videos about natural phenomena that I could include in my instructions
(SharkWeek, and Into the Universe), I would love to learn how to save a specific
video frame from one of these movies, or even find out the legal way of going on
about this.
Assist to more seminars and workshops. I recently attended to one of the
STEM workshops at NJCU, and I liked it but I left wanting more. I watch a lot of
TEDtalks looking for ideas to engage my students and to keep them focused. I was
talking about these things with two of the teachers at my high school recently. One
of them told me to join Google+. It is like facebook in the way you share information
but you can control who can view what you share. Students can join and you can
separate them by classroom. It reminded me of Edmodo and I told the teacher about
Edmodo but he was not familiar with it. Which bring me to my next point.
I want to search and re-search the web for ways to connect online with my
students. This would cover issues of student absences. I would also like to find more
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interactive sites where students could see functions (as an example) hopefully in 3D.
That would be awesome. I already joined some sites before student teaching and I
downloaded a whole lot of apps which have come helpful like The Teaching
Channel A+ Groovy Grader and Core, Common Core.
Finally, I want to read some books I have in my bookshelf that I know are
very interesting but I have not been able to finish. These books are,
1. Frames of Mind, The Theory of Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner
2. Emotional Intelligence, Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman
3. How to Talk with Teenagers by G. Wade Rowatt Jr. (this one I picked up from
a library, it was on sale for fifty cents. It talks about the Bible, which kind of
turn me off but I will still read it.)
4. Teaching In America, The Slow Revolution by Grant and Murray
5. The Motivation Breakthrough, 6 Secrets to Turning On the Turned-Out Child
(This one I received from my Buddhist mentor, who is a Spanish Teacher and
I really need to give it back, so I will probably read this one first).
6. Seeking Common Ground, Public Schools in a Diverse Society by Tyack (This
book was an assigned reading when I was in Montclair State University and I
did not finish reading it. It is hard reading but it is very interesting).
7. Americas Failing Schools, How Parents and Teachers Can Cope With No
Child Left Behind by W. James Popham (Also got from a library sale)
8. Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman (I got this one from a class in
NJCU and it was not required for us to read so one ever read it and so I
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stopped reading it because it was not a priority and I had a lot of other things
to do. I am sure it is good, so it makes my list).
9. Vocabulary builder from Merriam-Websters Dictionaries.
10. Finally, Texas Instruments, TI-83 Plus Owners Manual. Even though I am
pretty good with the graphing calculator, I think using this wonderful tool at
the secondary level is very important, especially if the students take high
math level courses.