On this page you’ll get a formal synopsis of me – educational history, transcripts, and so forth. But for a lot more detailed & rich information, check out the tabs above. I think you’ll like what you see!

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY (a work always in progress)

Enthusiasm about math is infectious. Students learn from both discovery and direct learning. I try to constantly show my students that I care about their learning. I always try to teach to just a little higher level than my students think they can accomplish, but give them the tools and infinite encouragement to reach that level. I know, not just believe, that having clear and consistent expectations for students works.

DOCUMENTATION

Teaching portfolio. You’ll want to include some evidence of successful teaching, such as sample syllabi, summaries of course evaluations, presentation handouts, and letters of recommendation from former supervisors or colleagues, etc. Video of your teaching or an in-person presentation. Focal skill is a training organization. We are implementing training program on digital marketing in Himachal Pradesh India. We are looking for trainers with 3 to 5 Years of Experience in Digital Marketing. Teaching experience will be given preference. Job Duration 'Maximum 1 Year'. Assignment value: Rs.52500 for 350 Hours (Rs 150/ Hours).

• Ms Jackson: And that in July 1991 you had added to your portfolio the Ministry of Mines. Hon Miss Martel: That is correct as well. Ms Jackson: And that from October 1, 1990, until you had that additional portfolio added to your responsibilities, you were also the government House leader. Hon Miss Martel: I was.
• Other income was $194 million, higher than anticipated due to the recording of mark-to-market gains in our equity portfolio. Our effective tax rate was slightly above 17%, in line with expectations.

MIT (undergrad) Transcript [PDF]
UCLA (grad) Transcript [PDF]
Massachusetts Teaching Certification [forthcoming]
Letters of Recommendation to get my job at Packer: D. Kaiser [PDF], N. Wise [PDF], S. Traweek [PDF]
Recommendation from former Packer department head and CSTI mentor: A. Williams [PDF]

EXAMPLES OF STUDENT WORK

I want to respect the privacy of my students, so I don’t feel comfortable scanning in documents, but here are some projects they have done/worked on.

1. My Multivariable Calculus class does a project in the 4th quarter — on a topic of their choice. In 2009, one of my students worked on creating a harmonograph which draws damped Lissajous Curves. He then explained the theory behind the harmonograph, and wy the parametric equations being drawn took the form that they did. A video of the Harmonograph is below.

Transcriptsms. Schrader's Teaching Portfolio Strategies

2. For our Algebra II classes in 2007/8, the other Algebra II teacher and I created a “video project” which was used to promote student communication in mathematics. Each student signed up for a topic and created a video “teaching” the topic (with an example) to the rest of the students in Algebra II. They were put up on a blog called Logarithms, Rational Functions, and Trigonometry! Oh My! Feel free to click on the name to visit it, or to visit the post mortem (analysis) on my blog here.

EXAMPLES OF MY WORK

I teach most of my classes using SmartBoard, sometimes alongside worksheets I create.

1.You can read my paean to Smartboard here. But you probably just want to see samples.

2. In 2008/9, when studying quadratic regressions, my Algebra II class collected some data from pendulums of various lengths and analyzed them. The original idea for the “lab” is here, and a blow-by-blow for the lab, our thought processes, and our conclusion, is here.

3. In 2008/9, in Algebra II, I made a series of packets to teach linear and quadratic inequalities. The topic list is here. The packets are:

Packet I: Linear and Quadratic Inequalities on the Number Line (PDF)
……….Additional Homework on Quadratic Inequalities (PDF)
Packet II: Linear and Quadratic Inequalities on the Coordinate Plane (PDF)
Packet III: Systems of Inequalities (Linear and Linear-Quadratic) (PDF)
……….Additional Homework on Systems of Inequalities (PDF)
……….Pop Quiz on Inequalities and Quadratics (PDF)

Thirteen weeks and a plethora of knowledge has worked its way into the file folders of my mind.

I set out this past May to start to apply some of what I had learned so far in UBC’s MET program and to fill in some of the gaps that then felt like abysmal vacuums of knowledge and know-how. And so, through ETEC 565, perfectly combined with ETEC 532 for my purposes, I have. In May, I set out some personal learning objectives for this summer. I have attained some of them, and those I am yet missing I now feel competent enough to learn on my own when the time comes. Work accomplished through these past two courses have scaffolded me to a place of improved comfort. I am not yet on my laurels, nor will I be for some time (and that’s a good thing), but rather I rest at that happily-motivated-to-go-on-having-tackled-the-first-big-mountain-and-feeling-like-I-will-actually-make-it-to-the-top place.

Reflection on Goals

I have now not only learned what Moodle is, but I have created a course in MET’s Moodle. The design is a blended approach to enhance and extend the learning from my face-to-face (f2f) classes. I am quite happy with what I designed, but I can see a shift from the balance I originally expected. My students will be writing quite a bit online, which fits with what I want, and I think this will have a positive effect on our f2f time, allowing us to be more interactive rather than needing to sit down to write quietly quite as often. I am now capable of using html tags. I remain limited in how many I know, but reading html is not as intimidating and I have dappled in and used with reasonable proficiency some of the more common tags, including those for linking. I have been able to trouble-shoot by reading code. Blogging and online discussion forums are tools I am now excited to use in my teaching, instead of hesitant and anxious. Wikis and online tests and quizzes, I think I can handle them from an instructional standpoint. I have created a digital story on Roxio’sPhotoShow and cartoons on Toondoo. I have been able to embed them in my course site.

But I’m not done yet. I have not integrated let alone learn more about online whiteboards – an exciting tool I saw on another MET student’s teaching site back in my first semester – and I have not yet learned much about alternate LMSs. I have dappled in the Vista sandbox that was set up for us and learned a bit about Desire2Learn (D2L). There are some in my district who are interested in D2L and Moodle, so I have hope these will soon be active and available in my context – perhaps with assistance from my proposal, also written within the context of ETEC 565. I have learned that the tools are seemingly endless, but I have also learned how to better evaluate them, choosing wisely which will be most appropriate for my students’ needs.

The Toolkit

Transcriptsms. Schrader's Teaching Portfolio Assessment

Thank you, John, for the toolkit!

Whereas I could have posted endlessly to our discussion forum, “Does anyone know how to…” and “Can anyone tell me…,” or spent so much time on Google as to invest in shares, the toolkit allowed me to work through the foreign until it became friend – a friend I could then call upon when times were rough. This is one site I will bookmark outside of Vista BB.

Transcriptsms. Schrader's Teaching Portfolio Allocation

I am most familiar with the LMS and HTML-authoring/Web-design toolkits. These were integral to setting me in the right direction. The m-learning box was interesting when it came time to take advantage of online learning’s online benefits and travel. I learned my mobile limitations (m-limitations?) beforehand and was able to plan accordingly. Multimedia and authoring tools was probably next most relied-upon, with wikis, social media and blogs being more familiar from the outset. Synchronous tools sat on the line of familiar and unfamiliar, with Wimba being the new biggie for my own repertoire. Already a Skype lover, it was great to get into Wimba both in the toolkit and in our class sessions to broaden that horizon. Elluminate, I have on my summer reading list, with regrets for not having investigated it much as of yet. Many fellow METers seem to see good benefit in Elluminate, so I will have to visit soon.

The Overall – ETEC 565

I am so glad, and fortunate, to have chosen to take ETEC 565 at this stage of my MET experience. I was feeling scarce in the technological skills department of my educational technology adventure. ETEC 565 has pushed me off the edge of the pool into deep water… but not without first teaching me the principles of treading water and then swimming.

Transcriptsms. Schrader's Teaching Portfolio Organizer

As with each of my MET courses, I have met great colleagues who have taught me much as well. If ever I find in the research a finding that suggests discussion forums are less than beneficial, I will be sure to scrutinize the study for error in application, for the collaboration and community of knowledge that comes through this not only phenomenal, but motivating, motivating to challenge myself further, to consistently do my best, to participate and contribute, making both personal and academic connections to people, text, and teaching contexts.

Next Steps

And so I leave ETEC 565feeling enabled. I have not completed everything, but then, I’m only 4 courses in. 6 to go. And then – no, not “and then.” And now, having enough to begin to feel both confident and competent, I can begin to adjust my practice to reflect 21st Century teaching, appropriate to the Net-generation (Tapscott, 2004), and as I move along, I will continue to add to my repertoire, adjust my practice as my pedagogy is influenced by the power of technology in education.

Reference

Tapscott, D. (2004). The net generation and the school. Custom Course Materials ETEC 532. (Reprinted from Milken Family Foundation.)http://www.mff.org/edtech/article.taf?_function=detail&Content_uid1=109.