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Signature Assignment: Action Plan

Alexander Aguayo

Division of Teacher Education, Azusa Pacific University

TESP 502 Science of Teaching 1: How Students Learn- Educational Psychology, Neuroscience,

and Theory 

Dr. Catherine Hahs Brinkley

October 19, 2021

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Signature Assignment: Action Plan

Introduction

I am a high school math teacher and have earned my bachelor’s degree in mathematics

with a teaching concentration. During my tenure in my undergrad program, I began to develop a

deeper passion and admiration towards math. This allowed me to apply what I was learning in

my courses towards my job at the time (AVID tutor). Developing a deeper understanding in math

inspired me to continue helping those who struggle with the subject. This passion ultimately led

me to my current profession as I am now a high school math teacher. I do enjoy teaching high

school math because this is the moment where students start to build their own mathematical

foundation that can strengthen their problem-solving abilities. My class sizes are relatively

normal (approx. 25-30 students). Since I teach at a public school around a suburban area, there is

a diverse group of students not only in my class, but throughout the entire school as well. 

This signature assignment will highlight my learning experience throughout this course

and what I learn in my own classroom. I plan on incorporating my own personal learning style to

my lessons while taking into consideration the learning styles of my students. I will develop a

plan that can be accomplished for my students so that they may have a positive learning

experience. I will face many challenges and have to think critically about what is best for my

students as I begin to plan. Through this assignment, I will begin to develop as an effective

educator and continue to grow throughout my journey in this course and program. I will

strengthen my lesson planning ability based on common core standards, evaluate myself as an
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individual, student to this course and an educator to my students, and I will evaluate my own

teaching methods that I provide for my students. My understanding and growth as a teacher will

be displayed through my signature assignment, and I look forward to growing as I progress

through my career and program.

Self-Development Plan

I believe that I am a determined and goal oriented individual. This is reflective upon my

personality type (ENTJ – The Commander). Having this type of personality has allowed me to

focus on being both a team player and a team leader. “The Commander” personality can also

explain why I am a decisive individual that strives to improve. However, I believe my

temperament goes alongside my personality very well (The Guardian). This combination allows

me to be an effective leader while also listening to my team’s insight. It has allowed me to be

assertive with my ideas, but also open minded, which led me towards an educator’s career path.

My learning style has always been an observant type. I prefer visual representations and

demonstrations over reading instructions. Seeing something happen before my eyes has always

allowed me to fully grasp what needs to be done. I have found it beneficial to me when there are

visuals involved in my learning experiences. My multiple intelligence type is interpersonal. The

interpersonal intelligence type is a trait that I really value, especially in my professional field. No

matter what we choose to do as individuals, we must be able to communicate, collaborate and

listen to others effectively. Being interpersonal allows me not only to understand my peers and

collaborate with them, but it allows me to build connections with my students. The ability to

build connections with students is essential in the field of education. Being interpersonal is what

allows me to try my best to build connections with students, so that they may understand that
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there is someone willing to listen and help them. This can relate to my emotional intelligence as

well, as I have an excellent EQ. 

The combination of personality, temperament, multiple and learning intelligence is what

made me who I am today. It has made me an individual who is very passionate in their

professional field and is willing to take that extra step in order to improve. I believe that my

greatest strengths are being able to connect with people and being resilient. I am someone who

values a connection with people. This is usually the first step towards building trust that can

produce effective work from an individual and team. However, there will be adversities that we

will face throughout any journey. I am someone who understands this to the degree where I will

not dwell on a bad outcome or negative feedback. This is something that motivates me to work

harder and do better than before. This fuels my own self-improvement so that I may be the best

person that I can be for myself and my students. There is always room for improvement

however, regardless of the mastery of a concept. I can always improve my craft and personal

skills. No matter how well or poorly I do, I will always find a way to improve myself.

Having my style of learning is not the only way that I can teach. I understand the

importance of being a versatile educator. Learning from visuals however is a style that many

students have benefited from. Sometimes seeing a visual representation of specific situations is

the component that is missing for students to understand a concept. My teaching style will

incorporate my own learning style, but it is not the focus. I plan to incorporate the different styles

into my teaching so that my classes can become versatile students and adapt effectively. Not only

will this benefit my students, but myself as well. I will learn from my students as utilizing
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multiple styles in my teaching will allow me to develop a deeper understanding for them that I

can use for myself inside or outside of my profession.

I hope to incorporate my personality traits into my profession, so that I may grow

professionally and personally. I enjoy learning from my team and students and am always asking

questions so that I may continue to learn. I am willing to be a team leader that can motivate my

peers and students or take a step back and learn from someone with more experience than me. I

also plan on reflecting upon my lessons and how my students grasp concepts throughout the

academic years that are to come. Being able to reflect upon my work so that I may grow is

something that I look forward to. I will run into many situations throughout my career that I can

utilize to grow professionally. This reflection practice is something that I will also utilize in my

personal life as well. I am fond of learning new things and improving in my own hobbies. My

personality naturally produces a drive to keep learning and escaping my comfort zone. This has

created a growth mindset for myself that I will utilize to become a better person for my

community. I am aware that we as individuals have limitless potential, that is what inspires me to

continue honing my skills professionally and personally.

Student Development Plan

Everyone has their unique way of learning, there is no universal style. Some people are

visual learners while others may be aural. Having our own learning styles is part of what makes

us unique individuals. My personal learning style is visual and tactile (Figure 3). I enjoy

watching and learning through live examples and visual representations. I also enjoy learning

with hands-on tasks. However, what works best for me may be relatable to some students, but

not every student. Out of my current students at the high school level, only one of them [Student
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A] shares the visual and tactile style that I have (see Figure 1). Student B prefers a tactile

learning style over visual and auditory, and Student C is primarily a visual learner (Figure 2).

However, all students are interpersonal. Although my students may share some learning styles,

being able to incorporate every student’s own personal style into every single lesson is merely

impossible. However, we can incorporate bits and pieces from every learning style into different

lessons.

With my learning style being visual and tactile based, it would be ideal to teach in the

way that I learn best. Some students may benefit from this method, but there will be many others

who will struggle to understand. This does not ultimately rule out utilizing visual representations

and hands-on activities in my lessons. The use of visuals can be incorporated into many lessons

and concepts to help further understanding. However, I must be willing to alter my lessons so

that I can maintain a balance between multiple learning styles. With all my students being

interpersonal, I can incorporate many collaborative activities. Building lessons through

collaboration is a way that can help maintain a balance between multiple styles. These activities

can be informal discussions, formative and formal/informal presentations, informal assessments

(i.e., team competitions) and many more. The usage of collaboration and smaller groups allows a

teacher to get a better understanding of students and their needs (Hammond, 2015). Smaller

groups also provide an opportunity for students to work on the relationships between them, their

peers and teachers.

Healthy relationships are essential for us in everyday society. As stated by Dr. Caroline

Leaf (2018), “they are the foundation of all social, political, and cognitive endeavors,” . I believe

building a healthy relationship with my students begins to establish trust within the classroom.
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This built of trust then allows the class to develop a rapport and affirmations that strengthen the

connection between students and teachers (Leaf, 2018, p. 76). The collaboration with work that

can be done with my students will not only allow each learning style to be expressed, but also

build that trust within themselves. These trust-building activities do not have to always be based

around the subject of the class. It can be done through allowing students to socialize freely, with

no fear of answering questions and allowing a “brain break” (Leaf, 2018). The usage of groups is

something I will try to incorporate for my students, as the potential to learn from each other and

own personal styles is uncharted.

Understanding how students learn and how they work in groups will also encounter

where they are in their own personal development. A student’s personal development can be

tracked through the 4 different stages that are in Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

(Cherry, 2020). The different stages allow us to have a glimpse on how students think, depending

on where they are through their developmental stages. The knowledge of development is

something that I can use to construct lessons for my students. Like I mentioned earlier, Student

A, Student B, and Student C all have their own unique learning style. However, understanding

their development can help me incorporate specific learning styles that may be better for their

own understanding. A visual representation may be better for them than an auditory one

depending on their cognitive growth. These factors are things I will take into consideration when

planning. However, the learning strategies and their development can all be strengthened through

collaboration. This will help establish a trusting environment that can improve their social skills

and cognitive thinking.

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Students may not always be able to retain all the information that is being thrown at

them, which is understandable. However, establishing a trusting environment can allow my

students to feel safe when working in my class. With this environment, they can collaborate more

and reduce the fear of being wrong. Reducing the fear can also encourage my students to learn

while utilizing the different learning styles. The exposure to different styles can also help their

own personal growth and development as they begin to understand how different styles can be

more beneficial than others in specific concepts or tasks.

Common Core Lesson Plan

This lesson fits into the section of Functions and Interpreting Functions (refer to

Appendix for complete lesson plan). This lesson will be used as an introduction to functions so

students may develop an understanding of them and how they can be related to our everyday

lives. This understanding will also be applied to future lessons (i.e., linear functions). The lesson

will begin with going over academic vocabulary that is used for describing functions. After

going over the vocabulary, I will give a few examples of mathematical functions using graphs,

tables and diagrams. I will then relate the meaning of a function to a real life example that

represents a function. I will demonstrate how a real life example represents a function (i.e., a

keyboard on a laptop). Through this example, I will demonstrate how every key that we press on

a keyboard types the key we selected onto the computer. After the demonstration, my students

will be able to identify the academic vocabulary that is covered in this lesson through their

examples. My students will make their own presentations of a representation of a function in real

life. My students will be able to identify each component that makes up a function (i.e., domain,

range, no repeating inputs) in the example they chose to represent a function.

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Reflection

Throughout the common core lesson plan attached in the appendix, I received a great

amount of feedback from my colleagues, host teacher and professor. With everyone’s feedback,

there are many areas of my teaching that I can improve on. I hope that with the proper feedback

and guidance that I receive through this program, I can continue to improve my teaching so that

my students can have a great learning experience. I plan applying what I learned from my three

sources of feedback towards my future lesson plans. I believe that their feedback was helpful and

that it will guide me throughout my growth as a teacher.

I appreciate feedback I received from my colleagues. Knowing that the majority of us are

in our first year of teaching through an emergency credential is helpful. We are not all as

experienced as we would like to be at the moment, but their feedback was still as beneficial as

my host teacher and professor. My colleagues were encouraging me throughout my lesson plan,

while providing positive feedback. I appreciated the meaningful comments they provided on my

plan. They advised that I should elaborate more on how I model a concept. They believed that I

was a bit vague on my plan but with more details and elaborating on this component will

ultimately strengthen my lesson.

My host teacher had similar feedback to my colleagues. She also believed that I was a bit

vague in certain areas. However, she also commented on a different component of my plan. She

asked me if there was a different way that I could check for my students' understanding of the

concept. My host teacher did not believe that having an informal discussion with the entire class

was a bad way of checking for understanding. She thought that some students may not want to

participate in a class discussion, thus making it more difficult for the entire class to understand
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the concepts. She provided me with the idea of allowing my students to talk amongst themselves

and record their thoughts on a formal document. This would allow my students to talk amongst

themselves informally, while converting what they discussed into some form of documentation.

This method can really push the students to think critically about the concepts while providing

them with the opportunity to bounce ideas off of each other.

My professor’s feedback was similar to my colleagues and the host teacher. She stated

that I was vague and lacked detail in certain areas. With my sources of feedback all saying that I

was lacking detail, I now understand that I must include a step by step description of my lesson

plan. My professor provided me with the idea that my lesson should be written out in a form that

can be taught by anyone who steps foot in my classroom. I understand that a detailed plan is

essential because it lays out how effective a lesson will be. However, a different area that my

professor commented on was on my differentiated instruction. This is one of the most difficult

areas to have a great plan for. The differentiated instruction I provided was reasonable, however,

it did not have a great diversity of meeting specific student needs. There is a wide variety of

students with specific learning styles and or disabilities, thus being able to meet everyones’

needs is a difficult task to accomplish. However, I believe that through more careful

consideration and effective planning, I will be able to increase my ability to have an inclusive

classroom. Having an inclusive classroom provides an opportunity for students with disabilities

to learn in the same environment as other students without disabilities which emphasizes the

principles in IDEA (Mastropieri & Scruggs, 2018).

I greatly appreciate the feedback that was provided to me by my colleagues, host teacher

and professor. It is not an easy task to create a good lesson for students with any learning style. It
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is more difficult to create a great lesson on a daily basis. However, I am dedicated to improving

my teaching. I know that through practicing with my own classes and learning throughout the

credential program, I will continue to grow as an educator. I know that it is impossible to meet

every student’s needs in a classroom. However, that fact does not stop me from trying my best to

make sure that my students can have the best learning experience that they possibly can. I am a

self-determined individual who will continue to try even after any adversities. Despite being a

self-determined individual, I welcome any outside help or feedback. I am and will always be a

student at heart. Thisonly motivates me to learn from the people around me, so that I can reach

my full potential.

Conclusion

Through my time in this course I have grown as an individual and as an educator. Being

hired as an emergency teacher with no experience in a credential program was a tough

adjustment. However, I feel fortunate to have taken this opportunity. I grown through the things I

have learned (i.e., how important it is to set a tone early in the year) in this course. Although my

journey in education is only beginning, I am excited for what the future holds. Even through the

class assignments, fieldwork experience, and signature assignment, I believe I am a better

educator than I once was before stepping into my own classroom. Being able to apply my new

learnings into my own classroom has been beneficial for me and my students. I am grateful to be

part of this program and teach simultaneously. I know that I will only continue to grow from

here, and after I have completed this program, I will continue to learn not only from my

colleagues, but from my future students as well.

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References

Cherry, K. (2020, March 31). The 4 Stages of Cognitive Development:

Background and Key Concepts of Piaget's Theory.

[Link]

Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: Promoting authentic

engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students. Corwin.

Leaf, C. (2018). Think, learn, succeed: understanding and using your mind to thrive at school,

the workplace, and life. Baker Books.

Mastropieri, M., Scruggs, T. (2018). The Inclusive Classroom: Strategies for Effective

Differentiated Instruction. Pearson.

Medina, J. (2014). Brain Rules, 12 Principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and

school. Pear Press.

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Appendix

Personality Type Temperament Learning Multiple Emotional

(mention the Style Intelligence Intelligence

name of the test

that you took)

Student ENFJ = The Idealist Main learning Top Ones: Excellent EQ

A Teacher styles: Musical

45% Visual Linguistic

40% Tactile Interpersonal

15% Auditory Intrapersonal 

Student INFJ = The Guardian Main learning Top Ones: High EQ

B Counselor styles: Interpersonal

15% Visual

40% Tactile

20% Auditory

Student ESFP = Performer Artisan Main learning Top Ones: High EQ

C  (Typefinder) styles: Interpersonal,

40% Visual Logical

25% Tactile Linguistic

25% Auditory  Visual 

Figure 1
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Figure 2

Personality Type Temperament Learning Multiple Emotional

(mention the Style Intelligence Intelligence

name of the test

that you took)

Mysel ENTJ = The Guardian Main learning Top Ones: Excellent EQ

f Commander styles: Interpersonal

35% Visual  

40% Tactile

15% Auditory

Figure 3
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Figure 4

Common Core Lesson Plan

GENERAL PLAN
Grade and Content Area 9th Grade Integrated Math
Academic Content Standard/s HSF-IF.A.1: Understand that a function from one set
(California Curriculum (called the domain) to another set (called the range)
Frameworks/Common Core assigns to each element of the domain exactly one
Standards) element of the range. If f is a function and x is an
element of its domain, then f(x) denotes the output of f
corresponding to the input x. The graph of f is the
graph of the equation y = f(x).

Lesson Objectives (Write in clear, Students should be able to identify relations and
specific, measurable terms what determine whether certain relations are or are not
students will be able to functions. Students will also be able to represent
do/demonstrate by the end of your functions in various ways: graphs, tables, or mapping
lesson.) diagrams.
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Assessment (This is what students The assessments given for this lesson will be an
will do to demonstrate mastery and informal discussion and a formal presentation including
to what extent - Describe how you their specific functions and representations. A class
will assess all students. learning. discussion will be used to help bounce ideas from one
Include diagnostic, formative, and/or student to another. Through this discussion, students
summative assessment tools. Tools will be required to describe the definitions of relations,
may include, rubrics, tests created in functions, domain, and range. Once students begin to
a document or a variety of other develop an understanding, a formal presentation will
diagnostic tools.) be done in groups. This presentation will require
students to create their own functions through a
real-world or mathematical example. They will be
required to describe what makes their example a
function and identify their domain and range.
Lesson Summary (State the purpose This lesson fits into the section of Functions and
of the lesson. Describe how this Interpreting Functions. This lesson will be used as an
lesson fits into the general context of introduction to functions so students may develop an
what you're teaching is this the first understanding of them and how they can be related to
lesson in a unit, in the middle or at our everyday lives. This understanding will also be
the end of a unit).) applied to future lessons (i.e., linear functions).
Time Allotment and Context One 1-hour class period
approximate length lesson will take

IMPLEMENTATION Directions: Describe the essential elements or steps of your lesson and
the instructional strategies to teach this concept/skill.
Be sure to describe transitions from one activity to the next.
Anticipatory Set/Engagement (How will The way I will capture my students’ attention is by
you capture students’ attention and focus using images and real-world examples of functions
learning for the lesson?) (i.e, keyboards, claw machines, vending machines,
etc.) before defining a function.

Input (Describe how you will explain each Teacher Activities Student Activities
new concept/skill.)
The way I will explain a new The students will be
concept or skill will be through discussing their ideas
examples. Through these and examples with their
examples it is important to peers, while recording
relate it to the mathematics the academic vocab
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behind it and how we define we define for future
functions mathematically use.
and realistically.
Modeling- “I Do” (How you will The way I will model the concept is by using examples
model/show/demonstrate the concept?) that students can relate to (i.e., phone operations,
chromebook keyboards, video game controllers, etc.).
These are everyday tools that students use and
understand how they operate. Through these
examples I will demonstrate how each one is a
function and what that means mathematically.
Guided Practice- “We Do” (What will For guided practice, we will use representations to
students do to practice the new skill or help visualize relations and functions. Through these
develop the concept with the guidance of representations, students must utilize their academic
the teacher?) vocab we have defined to understand the connection
between the visuals and written examples.

Check for Understanding (How will you To be able to determine whether a relation is a
check to see if students are grasping the function, a given example will be utilized to help show
concept? NOTE: this needs to be done whether a given relation is a function. The example
throughout the lesson and you should will be a broken vending machine (NOT A FUNCTION).
aim for at least 80% of the students to Through this, students will work with their peers,
“get it”.) determine what it means to be a function, and how
their definition can be used for this example (all
through a class discussion [informal]).
Independent Practice- “You Do” (What Students will create presentations (formal assessment)
will students do independently to where they create their own functions through
demonstrate understanding of the real-world examples or mathematical examples.
standards addressed in this lesson?) Students will be required to reason why their
examples are functions and define their domain and
range for their examples. This will be done in groups of
approximately 2-3 students.
Closure (What will you say to I will end with how we utilize functions in our
conclude/summarize the lesson?) everyday life. This leaves students with the idea that
math is applied in our own personal lives while
developing the understanding of what makes a
relation a function.
Student Grouping (Describe how Students will be grouped with their elbow partners.
students will be grouped for this lesson. Each group will consist of 2-3 students. In this group,
Include size of groupings; how and why students who are strong in the subject will be placed
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groups will be formed; and instructions with those who are not as strong. This will allow
for how students will perform the students to develop leadership skills while aiding their
grouped task – step by step.) peers in understanding the concepts.
Differentiated Instruction (Describe in In this lesson, the assessment will be done online. This
your lesson, specific strategies that you allows students to use translators if needed, utilize
will include to help students with special images and videos. With technology, students can
needs (i.e., Special Education students, access more resources that will aid them with their
English learners, students at–risk of disabilities.
failing, and gifted learners) meet or
exceed the standard(s) addressed in your
lesson.)
Materials/Resources (Describe The materials that will be utilized are notes that
materials/resources you will use to teach students will take, their chromebooks, and any online
this lesson. Also, describe tools (i.e., PowerPoint, graphs, tables, desmos). Since
materials/resources students will use to we are moving in a day and age that utlizes technology
practice the concept/skill taught.) in everyday life, it is important for students to learn
how to create formal presentations and complete
Technology/Resources (Describe the type
formal assignments online. This could also be used as
of technology resources you will use to
a tool for any future assignments.
teach this lesson. How will students use
technology to assist in their learning? If
you create teacher/student materials in
the form of a document or a web page,
upload the file or link)
NOTES: