All students come from different backgrounds and have dissimilar strengths, interests, achievements, goals, and levels of motivation. No two

students are the same, which is the most beautiful part of teaching. As a teacher, I am given the opportunity to make a unique lasting impact on every person who walks in my classroom, and it is my number one goal to be a positive influence in each of their lives. I ensure this impression is made by allowing my students to construct their own knowledge, encouraging collaboration, and using varying types of assessments that appeal to all of my students’ strengths. Truly grasping mathematical concepts and theories can be very challenging, which is why I include a creative array of approaches to get through to each student.

I view my role in the classroom as a facilitator. Through constructivist teaching approaches, I present my students with situations where they 

can experiment with a topic in the broadest sense. I prefer beginning my lessons by immersing students in some activity or experience. Whether this is letting students design their own drawing on graph paper and coming up with a system of equations for it, or creating a “math maze” game for students to test their knowledge on order of operations, they are sure to face an exciting challenge at the start of class. From here, I will pose questions and allow them to seek their own answers and reasoning behind them. I value their questions, but before giving them an answer, I let them experiment through trial and error. After they begin to build their own knowledge on a topic by pulling on their previous beliefs, I will put them in groups to compare findings.

I believe group work and collaboration play a vital role in the classroom. I pull on strategies from the sociocultural theory by letting students

help each other work through their misunderstandings since they have similar zones of proximal development (ZPD). I strategically place students’ desks together in small groups and assign each student a role in their groups, such as the facilitator, recorder, timekeeper, and reporter. I consider this to be necessary for everyone to feel valued and appreciated. When students are encouraged to talk through their thoughts, they will be more active in their construction of knowledge rather than sitting in on a teacher-led discussion. I walk around and listen to their conversations and ask each group’s reporter to share their findings afterward. Only now will I move on to the lecture portion of class to clarify misconceptions I heard during discussion.

From experience, it is clear to me that students learn best from student-centered activities and group work. Even if they feel lost initially,

working through information individually and collaboratively before I give them the answers helps the material stick long-term. I then believe that the best way of assessing my students’ learning is through a variety of formative assessments, projects, and presentations. I provide opportunities for their answers to be open- ended and have a low emphasis on grades, which encourages students to be intrinsically motivated to learn class material. Instead of focusing on memorization for multiple-choice tests, I provide them opportunities to be creative and make their own projects, which better demonstrates their understanding.

Equity is also extremely important in my classroom. Students come from all different backgrounds and experiences, have been given different

opportunities, and have their own struggles, whether that be personally or a diagnosed disability. It is my job, and goal, as an educator to help, accommodate, and support each student so that they know they belong and will succeed in my classroom and their future. I aim to establish a bond with each of my students at the beginning of the year and help them create those relationships with other students in the class as well. By forming a tight knit connection through check-in circles and other classroom bonding

activities, students are more apt to collaborate and participate during class, which is when the real learning occurs.

I continue to develop and try new ways of engaging and assessing my students. By providing them diverse opportunities to learn, grow, and present their findings together, they are able to construct their own knowledge while I assist them along the way.