Hi, this is Matt Hutson here and this is my TEACH-NOW Teaching Certification E-Portfolio. During this program, I will be updating this page with different exercises the program instructor has asked me to do. Below is the Module 2 video exercise talking about laws that affect ex-pat teachers or teachers in general.

Here is the Module 2: Student Data Analysis Exercise Infographic.

Behavior Management Plan – TEACH-NOW Teaching Certification E-Portfolio

Case Study 2 – Nancy

Nancy is a 13-year-old Grade 8 student currently living at home in Toronto with her two parents and older sister. She was referred to Springboard Clinic for an evaluation to further understand her focusing concerns and her current learning profile of strengths and concerns.

Nancy reports that she enjoys arts and crafts, and participating in social media websites such as “Tumblr.” At times, she experiences mood fluctuations and irritability; she noted that anger and frustration tend to be connected with her sadness. Drawing, listening to music, and swimming helps her to relax.

Since first entering school, Nancy has experienced difficulties with school work completion, inattentiveness, and distractibility, disorganization, impulsivity, and mood fluctuations. Nancy’s teachers describe her as a hard-working, cooperative student, but they indicate that homework responsibilities have been an issue. They also note that she is a very reluctant reader, and has consistently scored lower than average on reading comprehension and vocabulary tests. Psychoeducational testing indicated average cognitive abilities.

Nancy states that she is struggling to meet expectations at home and at school, complete academic work, and communicate effectively with others who do not share her interests. Nancy indicates that she often becomes anxious when she is asked to speak in public or to spend time with people she does not know. Her parents note that Nancy has difficulties making new friends and taking risks – she “longs to get invited, but won’t make the first move.” She experiences ongoing sleep difficulties, primarily with settling into routines at night.

Her parents report increased anxiety around school participation this year. Nancy reports feeling nervous when going to school because of presentations and homework. She describes hating school and experiencing difficulties completing her work on time because “she can never focus.” Her parents note concerns with negative body image and self-talk. Her older sister has been identified as “gifted” and appears to be highly motivated academically and almost “driven” to excel in all her life domains. (She later was diagnosed with a serious eating disorder). 

Both her parents are university graduates. Her father is a hard-working financier who stays fit, running marathons. Nancy’s mother is currently a full-time homemaker. There is an extended family history of alcoholism, marital relationship instability, and possible ADHD / LD characteristics.

Date:  19/9/21 Duration of Intervention: Three Months

Student: Nancy   Class/Grade: Grade 8

Goals:

1. Since Nancy is having trouble focusing and having a regular sleep schedule, she must create a written routine schedule that she prints out and follows on a daily basis for her morning routine, after-school homework (completing this before anything else for at least two hours every day), free time, and sleep for a total of 90 days. She should sleep no later than 9:30 PM on weekdays and 10:30 PM on the weekends. In other words, she should schedule her whole day and try following it as best as she can. ADHD daily routine is essential to anyone diagnosed with ADHD themselves or who has a child with ADHD. Daily routines provide a framework on which your life and processes can run more smoothly (Smith, 2021). 2. Nancy says that “she can never focus.” which is part of the problem because it is part of the negative self-talk. This is contributing to most of her problems at school and at home trying to meet the expectations of others. Therefore, Nancy needs to set expectations for herself by doing these three things: 1) Focusing on one task at a time. 2) Always saying that “she can focus if she only does one thing at a time.” before she starts on her tasks. 3) Always doing her best, nothing more, and nothing less. 3. Much of Nancy’s self-conscious insecurities come from the fact that she says that she cannot relate to others who do not have the same interests as her. Therefore, in the two weeks of setting this goal, Nancy should join a club at the school that fits with her interests. For example, arts and crafts and swimming. She would need her parents’ support in this, especially her father who seems to be busy with many of his own activities. In fact, it might do Nancy some good to do some running with her father two or three times a week if she agrees to it. This will increase her confidence in her body image and bond with her father. 4. Journaling is one of the best ways to reflect on one’s own progress. It is the perfect way to sort out one’s thoughts and feelings in a private/secret manner. Nancy should set a goal to write in her journal about her feelings and ambitions for a minimum of 5-10 minutes per day. How can writing make ADHD a more joyful journey? clarify your thoughts and feelings. know yourself better. reduce stress. Writing about anger, sadness, and other painful emotions helps to reduce the intensity of the feelings. You feel calmer and better able to stay in the present. solve problems more effectively. Writing brings an opportunity for unexpected solutions. resolve disagreements with others. Writing about misunderstandings, instead of stewing over them, helps you see another’s point of view (Jane, 2020).

Target Replacement Behaviors: 

1. Nancy will follow her routine to the best of her ability especially when it comes to completing her homework before she does other activities and getting at least eight hours of sleep every day. 2. Nancy needs to take responsibility for her own actions and feelings. Rather than getting overwhelmed and frustrated or angry, she should focus on one task at a time. 3. Instead of saying or thinking that she can’t focus, she should say or think that she can focus especially if it is just one thing at a time. 4. Nancy should realize that she has the capability to do something just as well as anyone else as long as she always does her best, nothing more, and nothing less. 5. Instead of being shy to initiate a friendship and reluctant to take risks, Nancy should be the first one to offer a suggestion or try something new.  6. When she feels the urge to get angry or she is frustrated or confused about her feelings she should pull out her journal and reflect on what is happening and how and why she is feeling that way.

Student Feedback: 

1. The teacher will help Nancy to craft her routine and be there as a guide and to check on Nancy’s progress. Nancy will have to track her daily routines with a daily checklist to make sure she is following it. 2. The teacher will take note of Nancy’s attitude toward learning and progress of turning in and/or completing her homework on time. This will be tracked by the teacher and Nancy will be informed of her progress on a weekly basis. 3. Nancy will work with the teacher and her parents when trying out one or two clubs that match her interests. On a monthly basis, the teacher will have a short meeting with Nancy to see how she is getting along in the club. 4. Nancy will keep a journal tracker that her teacher or parent will check on a weekly basis (not read the journal).

Methods to Monitor:

1. Nancy will have her routine and journal tracker in both written and digital format. She will be able to check off what she has accomplished every day using this tracker. Teachers and parents will also be able to monitor it. 2. Nancy will have short monthly meetings with her teacher about how she is feeling about her progress in school and in making friendships within class and in her club activities.  3. The teacher and parents will work in collaboration to monitor Nancy’s progress in all areas that have to do with routine, self-image, homework, sleep, and building friendships based on her interests.

Family Communication: 

1. A parent-teacher and three-way conference will be held at the beginning of the goal-setting to make sure that all parties are on the same page and so that Nancy can feel assured that she has the support of both her parents and her teacher to help her succeed. 2. A weekly email will be sent to the parents updating them on the progress the teacher has observed from Nancy’s behavior and routine tracker.

Follow Through: 

1. A three-way reflection meeting will be held at the end of the 90 day period to reflect on what went well and what still needs to be improved and mainly to hear from Nancy about her own feelings and thoughts on her own progress. 2. Nancy can choose to continue writing in her routine and journal tracker after the 90 day period if she feels that it has helped her to become more responsible lf her own actions and beliefs about herself. 3. The teacher and parents can continue to observe Nancy’s progress after the 90 day period. If Nancy seems to be slipping into her old habits she can be put back on the plan.

References

Jane, D. (2020, October 9). Writing My Way to a Happier Me. Additude. Retrieved September 19, 2021, from https://www.additudemag.com/benefits-of-journal-writing-for-adults-with-adhd/

Smith, J. (2021, June 29). ADHD Daily Routine: How to Create Effective Structure. FastBrain. Retrieved September 19, 2021, from https://store.fastbraiin.com/blogs/blog/adhd-daily-routine

Matt Hutson’s Reflection on Managing the Learning Environment – TEACH-NOW Teaching Certification E-Portfolio

Norms & procedures

During this module, I learned a lot about how setting norms in my classroom can help create an effective and positive learning environment. Norms are basically positive reinforcement of how you want your students to behave or think. If you have students who have a tough time at school it is important to create structure and guidelines through the norms and procedures you create. This will help them to become better and more responsible learners.

One of my favorite norms to use in my classroom at any age is to help the students to have a growth mindset by eliminating the word ‘can’t’ or ‘I’m not good at…’ from their vocabulary. For example, if a student says, “I can’t turn my homework in on time.” you, as the teacher, would encourage the student to say, “I can turn my homework in on time if I create a solid routine working on it for at least 30 minutes per day rather than waiting until the last minute.” Or in another situation, a student might say, “I’m not good at speaking English.” you would encourage them to say, “My English needs improvement so I will continue to practice.”

Transitions

Moving from one task to another can be tricky for both students and teachers. Depending on the students, your transitions may have to be well planned. But regardless of your students’ abilities, the regular use of transitions helps both teachers and students to know when the class is going to shift focus to a different task. This could be as simple as letting the students know that they only have five minutes before they have to wrap up what they are doing and move on to the next topic or lesson.

Transitions happen usually at the beginning and end of class, when switching tasks, breaks, lunch, and at the end of the school day. Much of the time students will be anticipating the time before, breaks, lunch, and at the end of the day because they are excited to go spend time with their friends or go home. Therefore, transitions need to be well planned before the most anticipated times.

Setting High expectations

Expectations of the teacher and the students are very important to set at the beginning of the school year. When setting expectations, they should be clear and timely so that the students know exactly what is expected of them and what they should expect of themselves, their teachers, and their classmates.

When a student sets their own expectations for themself, they become much more responsible for their own actions. If the expectations are written down, then they have no excuse but the follow them. If for some reason they fall back on their own expectations, they can refer to their own agreement and correct their course of action before it is too late.

Using Technology Tools

Having spent a lot of time during the TEACH-NOW Teaching Certification Program on using technology in the classroom has helped me tons. The reason why is because before this program I had not been using many technology tools partly because I had not searched for any. But after joining this program, I have discovered many technology tools through the Virtual Class and the other cohort members and started experimenting heavily with several of the tools at the new school I just started teaching at in Surabaya called Sampoerna Academy. Some of the tools worked very well for my class and the activity such as Padlet, Google Docs, and Flipgrid. Others did not work out as well such as Mural and Pixlr.

These tools have helped to make my classroom a more lively and interactive place because the students get a chance to have hands-on activities where they can create their own projects using educative technology tools. We have to remember that technology is just a tool though and the thing that makes a lesson great is the structure and purpose of the lesson as well as the students’ ability to grasp its purpose and internalize it.

Communicating with parents

Communication with parents is very important as parents are the guardians of their children. Therefore, the parents should know exactly what is going on with their child in the classroom whether their child is doing well or not. Communicating through various forms, such as email, Google Classroom, or another Learning Management System is essential to creating trust. A teacher who communicates well is a good teacher. Having parents’ involvement in the development of their own child is also important for the child’s confidence in their own learning abilities. If the child knows that both their parents and their teachers care about their education then they will become better learners. 

Impact of video observations

Video observations are an essential part of a teacher’s continual development. Being able to rewatch a lesson you taught and got feedback from your principal or fellow teachers allows you to see things you would have not thought about before, or while teaching. After analyzing the feedback and rewatching the video of yourself, you can reflect and internalize what you will do to become a better teacher and what you will continue doing well for the future.

Watching other teachers and giving them feedback is also another way to learn how to teach better or observe what the other teachers can do better. I believe that all teachers should be given the opportunity to observe each other teach and have constructive feedback sessions.

Student-Centered Learning

Learning Environment Plan

Reflection: A positive classroom climate is one in which teachers, students, and their classmates are working well together. Each student will develop their individual sense of the classroom climate, but there is also a community sense among the students and the teacher. A positive classroom climate is created by the teacher personalizing their approach to teaching each student, creating a clearly structured environment with clear directions for each activity. Activities should be varied including opportunities for each student to participate in their own unique way. A positive classroom climate should be student-centered focused on allowing students to express their own opinions and ways of solving problems with the teacher being a guide to help them progress and give constructive feedback along the way. Students should be talking 70% of the time while the teacher talks only 30%. The classroom environment should be a place where students come to discover and explore their interests and abilities. It should be a place where they feel comfortable expressing themselves in an appropriate way. The main goal of having a positive classroom climate is to build a safe, respectful, inclusive, and supportive environment.

You can read the full document here with a Moreland University e-mail address.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/18_eAjw_Ce24XYp_JrMHcSsc6_sXj314wy04K4Qa5fjQ/edit?usp=sharing

Sample Lesson Plan

Teacher Candidate:  Matthew Hutson

Lesson Title: Who are the Amish?

Grade Level and Course: Grade 7 ELAR

Time Segment of Lesson: 60 minutes

Standard(s) Addressed in Lesson:  Cambridge Checkpoint English Coursebook pages 71-72

Overarching Unit Goal(s): This unit focuses on biographical writing, on adopting a different viewpoint and register, and on precise description. There are opportunities to write a formal letter, a job advertisement, and a CV, as well as descriptive pieces. Students will also practice new ways of forming sentences. 

Objective(s) of the Lesson:  Students will be able to …

Students will be able to understand more about how the Amish live and some of the history behind why they live the way they do. They will then write a short explanation of what they think of the Amish lifestyle in comparison to their own.

Student Diversity and Differentiation of Instruction

Identify students who will need differentiated instruction for this lesson.

Student Diversity	Differentiation of Instruction
Theo	His level of English is not nearly as good as some of the other students so he will need extra time and the use of a dictionary to help him define more difficult words.
Marco	Marco has some trouble focusing on the task when he is working alone, therefore he needs encouragement from his teacher while working on the task, asking leading questions to help him move forward.

Formative and Summative Assessments- include open-ended questions that will lead students to think deeply about the content and will also build on prior knowledge.

Formative Assessment	Summative Assessment
Students will be writing in their own research that they discovered about the Amish in their individual sections of a class Google Docs then share and discuss what they have learned so far with the rest of the class.	Students will write a two-paragraph essay about what they learned about the Amish lifestyle in comparison to their own lifestyle then submit it to the teacher through Google Classroom.

● If there is no summative assessment in this lesson, what/when will the summative

assessment be/take place

Questions for formative assessment during and/or after the lesson.

1. Describe what the Amish lifestyle is like.
2. What facts were you able to discover?
3. What religion are the Amish?
4. Why don’t they use technology?

Big Ideas to be Addressed in the Lesson: 

This lesson is tied in with the unit about people’s lives and how we think and write about them. The big idea is to help students read about drastically different lifestyles to try and understand them and make connections with their own life.

Discussion Questions

Write out questions that you would like students to discuss in class, before class, or after class because they are interesting, support higher-order thinking, and make for a lively and engaging discussion. If discussions must happen outside class, what tool will you use to facilitate the discussion (e.g. Twitter)?

These questions will be discussed during class before the students write their own essay comparing their lifestyle to the way the Amish live.

1. What do the Amish do for entertainment?
2. How do the Amish get their education?
3. What type of jobs do the Amish have?
4. What are the Amish religious beliefs?

21st Century Knowledge and Skills

21st Century Knowledge and Skills	Teaching Strategies
Critical Thinking – The students will have to look at a type of people who are completely different from themselves and compare their lifestyle.	Cooperative Learning – The students will be given a collaborative task that will allow them to search for information in a particular category and share what they find using a shared class Google Docs. The students will then be able to access this doc when writing their own essay, using it for references.
Information Literacy – The students will have to search for relevant information about the type of people then sort the most relevant aspects about those people into categories, eg. religious activities, entertainment, jobs, and education.	Visualization – Students will see a picture and a short video about the Amish people, then discuss some discussion questions about what they saw and think about the people and their lifestyle.
	Inquiry-Based Learning – Students are asked to think about the differences and similarities between the way the Amish live and their own life using the research they did as a class to compare.

Teaching Strategies and Related Student Activities (Include Web 2.0 activities and innovative strategies,as appropriate): 

Teaching Strategies and Activities: What are the teaching strategies and activities that you plan to use to help students meet the lesson’s objectives? What are the steps that you will take to deliver this lesson (e.g., introduce the author, read the poem, ask students to…)? Make this section as detailed as possible. It should allow you to hand it off to a substitute teacher. 

1. Engage/Anticipatory Set/Warm Up (We do it): Show a photo of the Amish and ask:

• Who are these people?
• Where do you think they are from?
• What year do you think it is?

Reveal that these people are from 2021.

2. Explore/Explain (We do it): Show a quick video start at 0:16 and ask the Ss to take note of the factual information about why the Amish live the way they do and be able to describe their lifestyle and beliefs.

• Describe what the Amish lifestyle is like.
• What facts were you able to discover?
• What religion are the Amish?
• Why don’t they use technology?

3. Elaborate/Guided Practice (We do it): Ss will take 10 minutes to do as much research about the Amish they can do and record it in a class Google Docs also defining the words at the bottom for reference when they read the passage from the book. 

• Ss will read page 71-72
• Have Ss read once through by themselves and take note of the way the author feels about the Amish.
• Have Ss define the meanings of words from Text 5D. Include a space for the definitions on the Google Docs.
• Ss record what they have learned through their research and the textbook in the class Google Docs
• Ss will verbally share what they have written
• The whole class will have a short discussion on some of the points brought up by the students.

4. Evaluate/Check for Understanding (You do it): Ss will write at least two paragraphs using Google Docs explaining what they think about the Amish way of life including aspects about their religion, jobs, education, and entertainment in comparison to their own life. Ss may use the research from the class Google Docs created during the lesson to help formulate their essay.

5. Closure (You do it): Teacher will call on one or two Ss to read their writing aloud then other Ss will give verbal feedback.

6. Ss will submit their essay in Google Classroom.

Teacher/Student Input: Write a note on what you expect the teacher and students to do as a part of this activity. Include a note on whether this is an “I do it”, “We do it” or “You do it” type of activity.

Review: Write down ideas on how you will review the topic, including notes on types of formative assessments that you will use during the lesson.

Ss will write at least two paragraphs using Google Docs explaining what they think about the Amish way of life including aspects about their religion, jobs, education, and entertainment in comparison to their own life. Ss may use the research from the class Google Docs created during the lesson to help formulate their essay.

Materials and Resources for Lesson 

Materials, Technology, and Websites	Required Preparation
Picture of Amish people	Download and have prepared at the beginning of class.
Checkpoint 8 course book pg 71-72
Google Docs (individual and shared)	Create the template with the research points and student names in the designated columns.
Short YouTube video about the Amish	Search for an appropriate and short video about the Amish people. Have loaded before class.

Professional and Continuous Learning TEACH-NOW Teaching Certification E-Portfolio

In this part of the TEACH-NOW Teaching Certification E-Portfolio I would like to show the scavenger hunt that I took part in as one of the assignments. There are only ten of them so here we go.

1. Get academic: Share a recently published academic article or journal in your subject area that you would like to read and why.

Here is a link to a PDF that I downloaded and read: Comprehension of the Co-Operation of Professional Identity and Metacognition of English Teachers in Pedagogical Problem Solving

I believe that metacognition is a very powerful tool that all teachers should take advantage of themselves as well as teach their students to use this strategy to think more critically and be more reflective.

2. Develop professionally: Share an upcoming conference or academic event that you would like to participate in and why.

LinkedIn Audio Event: How to Advance Your Career Using LinkedIn

Event by Eric SimAudio eventWed, Feb 16, 2022, 7:30 PM – 8:30 PM (your local time)

About this event

Our first LinkedIn Audio Event. Frank Koo and I welcome you to check out LinkedIn Audio Event, and at the same time, learn how to use LinkedIn to advance your career. Use it to build your external brand, to grow your network, and to learn industry knowledge. This event is also a networking session.

Why I want to go to this event

I see LinkedIn as a wonderful platform to make good connections with like-minded people who are interested in developing themselves. I have never attended a LinkedIn Audio event and thought it would be a perfect opportunity to try it out.

3. Build life skills: Host a scavenger hunt activity for your students on life skills or social-emotional learning and take a picture of items collected by students.

I did not get a chance to do this.

4. Create awareness: Implement an activity with students to overcome any one stereotype towards culture, ethnicity, gender, or learning differences.

A few months ago we had a great lesson about Marley Dias, a purpose-driven 16-year-old founder of #1000BlackGirlBooks and author of Marley Dias Gets It Done: And So Can You! The 2021 Ambassador of National Educational Association (NEA) Read Across America. Host and Executive Producer of Netflix’s Bookmarks: Celebrating Black Voices.

5. Create a memory: Take a picture with your cohort with any educational prop. 

We will be doing this during the next Cohort meeting on 14 February 2022 and I will update it to my TEACH-NOW Teaching Certification E-Portfolio.

6. Find common ground: Show pictures of a hobby or interest that you share with a teacher colleague at your school.  (e.g. pictures of you and your colleague trekking)

I don’t have a picture of it yet, but my colleague and I both are avid readers and every morning on the way to school (I pick him up from his house) we listen to an audiobook version of The Wheel of Time.

We will also be starting our own little book club discussion sessions in the next month about other books we’re reading both nonfiction and fiction. Both of us have huge bookshelves lining the walls of our house. I would say he probably has about 900 books while my collection is at about 350 books.

7. Get social: Add a post on the Twitter hashtag #tncohort or on the Facebook Cohorts community page with one important thing you learned during your clinical practice. 

8. Share an achievement: Share the biggest learning challenge you faced in the program and how you overcame the challenge. 

The program has actually not been too terribly challenging, but if I were to pick one thing it would probably be balancing my time between work, family, my master’s program, BookMattic, a little bit of fun here and there, and the TEACH-NOW Teaching Certification.

I overcame this by breaking my tasks down into smaller chunks by doing a little bit every day rather than waiting until the last moment to get things done.

9. Get personal: Share one professional ethic that you always live by.

As an educator, I am committed to the profession. This is my number one ethic that I will always live by because I believe that as an educator I must continually develop myself by attending workshops, reading books about learning, and getting certifications and master’s degree(s) not only to help myself to become a better teacher but to also help the students to become better learners.

10. Get finished: Complete and submit the TEACH-NOW Teaching Certification E-Portfolio that you started at the beginning of the program.

My TEACH-NOW Teaching Certification E-Portfolio has been uploaded to the platform already.

What are your thoughts about this TEACH-NOW Teaching Certification E-Portfolio?

If you’re interested in the TEACH-NOW program visit this website here.

Visit my online course to learn how to read better.