Masters Defense

[Nasrin Akther & UAGC High School]

Spring, 2021

I am teaching in a high school in upper west side of Manhattan called Urban Assembly for Green Careers.
I am currently teaching Geometry and Algebra I. This school has a unique teaching method that involves Unison
Reading, Interpretation Log, and Generalization. Also, the teaching is more student oriented such that it is the
students who defines their goals and learning experiences. The students research and learn after they decide what
knowledge and standards, they need to master. The school is located at the upper west side of Manhattan, which
is a very wealthy community with luxury apartments, restaurants and shopping places. More than 95% of the
staffs are white and light skinned. Majority of the students are Black and Hispanic. Also, most of the students are
not from the school area. All students from my advisory are traveling from far end of Bronx. Some come from
White Plain. Almost all students have an attitude that the higher education, i.e. going to college, is not for them.
The students choose to be in this school because they like that they have a lot of choices as to what they study
and how they learn. They also like that they do not have pressure for a passing score. They continuously set goals
and work toward them through their own choices. The 1 to 1 conference with the students provides a lot of insight
into a student’s academic and career life along with some hints of personal life.

I will be measuring academic progress for 9th and 10th grade Algebra I for Section 2. I wish to focus on
Section 2 that have 29-30 students. I do not wish to focus on all five sections because it is remote learning with
large group of students. Although I will be grading and will pay attention to every student’s progress, I wish to
record one section for this pathway tracker to not lose track of the learning opportunity through this practice. I
will be using the school created portfolio assessments for assessment modalities because this is the model set by
the school and followed by every teacher. I will be collecting three rounds of data. Because I am in a new school,
which does not give letter grades or traditional assessments, Relay’s Standards Mastery Tracker is the best choice
I have to collect data and measure student progress for this year. Also, Relay’s Standard Mastery Tracker will
allow me to measure growth over time because Jumprope tracker that school uses for grading overwrites the
previous grades with the latest grades. Also, the school only keeps the best grade of the student all through the
year. If a student gets C grade, then A grade, and then a F grade, there is no way to record that. The student always
receives the highest score regardless of when they obtained it.

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 Analysis of the Data

The below two charts/graphs display the overall score of all students from section 3 of 9th-10th grade Math
classes. This score includes the grades from portfolio, unison reading, and one to one conference. This data shows
that majority of our students are proficient in demonstrating their learning through various assessments.

Graphs of your student outcomes: (E is for Exemplary/100%, P is for Proficiency/80%, A is Approaching

Standards/60%, N is for Not Yet Proficient/40%, X is for Unobserved/0%)

Frequency of Students' Score

(E, P, A, N & X)

P
50%
A
20%

E N
9% X 21%
0%
E P A N X

FREQUENCY OF STUDENTS' SCORE

(E, P, A, N, & X)
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3

E P A N X

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 The below data chart demonstrates the students’ portfolio scores’ percentage for the skill-based
standards used in our school. These standards are listed below. For the purpose of the portfolio grading, I grade
the students on all outcomes except for # 5. During round one data, I also did not score students on outcome # 2.

Standards Round 1 Data Round 2 Data Round 3 Data

Outcome # 1 40% 35% 34%

Outcome # 2 - 34% 32%
Outcome # 3 35% 33% 29%
Outcome # 4 35% 35% 26%
Outcome # 6 33% 32% 25%

Outcome

1. I can create a core academic narrative by:

• Addressing the objectives of the formal curriculum
• Developing a schema of the discipline
• Planning, practicing, and exchanging information

2. I can create a transformation narrative by:

• Starting from my own intentions
• Acting within my own control
• Turning goals into strengths
• Critically reflecting on what I read, write, and experience to help form my unique personal identity

3. I can interpret texts by:

• Applying abstract reasoning by cooperating with the text; determining what the text says and what the author means
• Breaching and demonstrating cognitive control in resolving a challenge
• Analyzing multiple perspectives

4. I can acquire general academic and discipline specific language by:

• Clarifying the meaning of unknown and multiple meaning words
• Interpreting figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meaning
• Accurately using the language in full utterances in listening, speaking, reading and writing

5. I can develop the skills to be a rational thinker by:

• Engaging in peer-to-peer dialogue and articulating my own thinking and reasons
• Cooperating with others through evaluating the truth and validity of beliefs from a variety of sources
• Communicating my ideas with norm-based reasons and evidence while addressing criticism

6. I can share my learning by:

• Synthesizing content-rich research, multiple perspectives, and my own beliefs
• Integrating evidence from a variety of sources
• Achieving an intended purpose by adhering to the conventions of a genre (speaking, writing)

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 Although the portfolio scores show a decline for each outcomes’ score from one round of data to the next,
the overall scores of the students based on all assessments show that 50% of the students have demonstrated
proficiency in these outcomes. At the beginning of the school year, I wished for an improvement of 20% over the
year. Even though there is not a 20% growth in the students’ score, majority of the students participated one or
the other form of assessments, such as portfolio, unison reading, and conference. Because the students can pass
the class by doing well in either of these assessments, judging the students’ score growth from portfolio
assessment is not suitable.

Progress of students' portfolio scores

Round 1 Data Round 2 Data Round 3 Data

45%
40%
40%

35% 35% 35% 35%

35% 34% 34%
33% 33%
32% 32%

30% 29%
26%
25%
25%

20%

15%

10%

5%
0
0%
Outcome # 1 Outcome # 2 Outcome # 3 Outcome # 4 Outcome # 6

Looking at the portfolio data, majority of the students did well in outcome # 1, which is to create a core
academic narrative by: addressing the objectives of the formal curriculum, developing a schema of the discipline,
planning, practicing, and exchanging information. This shows that most students are capable of creating a learning
goal based on the course content standards. They are also capable of finding resources to resolve their breaches
related to their learning goals. Additionally, they can share their learning related to their breaches and goals. For
instance, Aixa, a 9th grade student, at the beginning of the year, she was confused about how to breach, form
learning goal and work on the portfolio. Over the year, she improved a lot, which is evident in her learning goal
section of the portfolio.

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As a new student to the school with a new approach of learning, Aixa improved quickly. She does not only
improve in her learning goal section of the portfolio but also in the daily practice where she displays her step-by-
step solutions to the practice problems. Below is an example of Aixa’s daily practice log where she resolves a
breach.

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 The area of growth that I notice is the outcome # 6, which is to share learning by: synthesizing content-
rich research, multiple perspectives, and my own beliefs, integrating evidence from a variety of source, achieving
an intended purpose by adhering to the conventions of a genre (speaking, writing). Except for some students,
majority of the students progressively showed less work in their portfolios. This could be due to the fact that the
focus of many students is to pass the class, which they can do easily through unison reading or conference. For
example, one of my students is Kevin. Although he has a fairly complete learning goal section of the portfolio,
he left his daily practice log empty. Some students show work, which is just copy paste information from various
websites that does not prove an evidence of learning. For instance, Stephon shows some work in his daily practice
log. However, it does not accompany a personal breach and resolution along with the step-by-step solution. She
also cites the work she did at khanacademy. Here is a snapshot of Stephon’s work.

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 In terms of outliers, I noticed that a few students did exceedingly well in their portfolio through learning
goal and showing works related to the learning goals. One of the students who shows extensive amount of
evidence of practice is Jaylene. She starts her practice with a breach, shows her notes from her research, and then
step-by-step practice problems. A snapshot of her daily practice log is below.

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 The connection that I can draw looking at the overall grades of the students, portfolio grades, and my
instructional practices is that the students learning different skills from the minilessons that they demonstrate
through their works in the portfolio, unison readings, and conference. For instance, during the minilesson, we
teach how to identify the knowns and unknowns. During the unison readings, the students read the given artifact
and breach over their unknows while communicating with their peers to expand their knowledge related to the
artifact. This also allows them to be able to solve the math problems with greater understandings of the content
and concepts. During the minilesson, we teach students how to define words and interpret them based on the
context. This skill the students demonstrated through their interpretation logs in the portfolio. As the students’
research and practice math content materials, they look up unknown words, define them after looking them up,
and then interpret them based on the context they are in. In the minilesson, we also demonstrate for the students
how to solve problems step by step. Although not all students show extensive amount practices in the content
materials, many students show detail works of the problems they solve related to their learning goals. Many
students solve the problems in their notebooks, then take pictures of the notebook pages, and insert them in the
portfolio to show evidence of learning and practice. Over the year, the students mastered one outcome or the other
from the six outcomes of the school’s rubric. The beginning of the year, the students were confused as to how to
create a learning goal based on the content standards. They were also confused about interpretation logs and daily
practice sections of the portfolio. Through each cycle’s minilesson, we demonstrated for the students how to
construct their learning goals, how to breach over the unknown words, define them through research, and interpret
them based on the context, and how to solve problems step by step. These skills have been reenforced through
one-to-one conferences and unison readings. Even though some students do not show enough works in their
portfolios, they show proficiency in these areas through conferences. This is one of the strengths of the students.

Research Question and Analysis

Every school has its own attendance policy. Some schools go an extra mile to make sure the students
attend schools on a daily basis. The schools have assigned individuals to call the absent students, to leave
messages, and to contact guardians seeking reasons for students’ absences. Some schools have policy and
guidelines for the teachers to call the absent students during the class time. All of these are done to make sure the
students are present in the schools on a daily basis. The attendance is not only important for the logistic and
financial reasons but also for the students’ academic performance. Through my students’ data, I want to
demonstrate that the students who are always present in the classes, most of them have better academic
performance compared to the students who are usually absent.
Throughout this pandemic, students’ attendance has been a big concern for schools and families. Although
we have more than 30 students per classes, we barely reach 25-30 students per classes on a daily basis. Some
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days, there are only about 20 students. This is along with the fact that our students and their families are outreached
on a daily basis through phone calls, emails, text messages, and voice messages. Additionally, the advisor of the
students goes over attendance and contacts family regarding it every week. The principal emphasizes that we have
to keep calling home so long the student is absent and is on our roasters. Being knowledgeable of all these matters,
I wanted to analyze the impact of attendance on the students’ academic performance.
In this data table below, the students’ overall grades are compared to their attendance. About 50% of the
students have either 4/4 or 5/5 scores with an average attendance score of 50%. This shows that the attendance
has a positive impact on the students’ academic performance. Two researchers, Latif and Miles, have found
similar outcomes in their studies. They conclude, “the study finds that after controlling for factors related to
ability and effort, class attendance has a significant positive impact on grade” (1). Another group of researchers,
Kamal, Waseem, and Mujtaba, also studies the impacts of attendance on academic performance. They talk
about many researchers finding positive trends between attendance and academic performances as well (1).

# Names Attendance Grades Letter Grade

1 Jaylene R 100 5 E
2 Noah Y 100 5 E
3 Jarrod S 87 5 E
4 Izayli R 99 4 P
5 Darling D 93 4 P
6 Deyonci Q 93 4 P
7 Wilkelis R 90 4 P
8 Alexa L 83 4 P
9 Misael T 80 4 P
10 Giancarlo S 77 4 P
11 Francisco T 68 4 P
12 Jailene T 66 4 P
13 Valerya S 55 4 P
14 Alexis R 52 4 P
15 Ximena R 49 4 P
16 Chelsea M 30 4 P
17 Sherlyn T 30 4 P
18 Madeline P 23 4 P
19 Angel P 10 4 P
20 Andy R 9 4 P
21 Jean O 100 3 A
22 Jasmine S 93 3 A

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 23 Lisa N 60 3 A
24 Erickson R 58 3 A
25 Kevin p 25 3 A
26 Jamaica T 17 3 A
27 Chris M 16 3 A
28 Luis R 78 2 N
29 Timothy S 19 2 N
30 Dontae M 14 2 N
31 Joelexa N 10 2 N
32 Brian R 7 2 N
33 Johan R 4 2 N
34 Gianni M 3 2 N

From the below bar graph, the relationship between the grades and attendance become more visual.
Majority of the students who have high grades have high attendance as well.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GRADES & ATTENDANCE

Attendance Grade %
100
100
100
100
100

100
99
93
93

93
90
87

8083
80
80
80
80

80
80
7780

80
80
80
80
80
80
80
80
80
80

78
68
66

60
60
60
60
60
60
60
60
58
55
52
49

40
40
40
40
40
40
40
30
30

25
23

19
17
16

14
10

10
9

7
4
3

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34

There are a few students who have a high grade with poor attendance record. Because our teaching method is
independent work for students, it is expected that the students are learning on their own while absent. I finding it
surprising that there are some students who have 90-100% attendance but still has a score of 3/5. I expected better
knowing they are in the minilessons always. The researchers, Kamal, Waseem, and Mujtaba, mention in their
paper that “attendance has a positive impact on students’ performance where one percent increase in the
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attendance has a 0.04 to 0.15 percent of improved performance” (2). Although my data is not tracking such detail
increase, it is clear that the students with low attendance usually do not have high performance score. In our
school, because the students always have the high score regardless of when they receive it, the students can take
attendance lightly. They can decide to come one day of the year to obtain the high score, which will remain there
regardless of their presence or absence. Even with this knowledge, we do have 50% of the students attending
classes 50% of the time. Because of the poor attendance of many students, we have taken initiatives to have one
or more conferences with the students to help them pass the classes. For instance, if we know a student is
habitually absent, we will conduct a learning conference with him/her the moment we see the student present. We
also call home and have a conference over the phone to help the student pass the class. I involve the students in
the minilessons to increase their interest in the class materials, which can motivate them to come to classes on a
daily basis.
Academic Data Next Steps
For my data collection, I focused on portfolio grades. In the future, I will consider collecting other
assessments data as well, such as conferences and unison readings. Looking at the portfolio scores and the decline
of scores over the three marking periods, I am thinking of possible next steps to improve students’ performance
related to the portfolio.
Because my students appear disinterested and not invested in the classwork, such as coming with learning
goals based on course contents, I want to provide choices and scaffolds to engage and interest the leaner (sub-
goal E1). To build the students’ interest in the materials, I want to use the “hooking the student” method. Through
this method, in my daily lesson plans, I can incorporate stories that align with students’ personal interests. I can
also invest the students in the content by stating a clear purpose at the beginning of the lesson. I can introduce
relevant problem situations that match scenarios the student encounters in their own life. In order to make the
students feel comfortable, I can incorporate call and response into my lesson to increase anonymity. Additionally,
I can give the students the opportunity to share with a peer or a teacher or write her/his response down before
sharing out whole group.
My students also seem to have trouble sustaining effort and motivation with their classwork. For instance,
their evidence of practice and learning declined over the year. As a result, I want to strategically group the scholar
with others at different instructional level so that she/he can support struggling peer or benefit from the strengths
of that peer. Furthermore, I want to plan frequent opportunities for targeted feedback throughout the lesson, so
that the student knows what she is doing well and what she can improve upon. I can do that by checking in with
that student first and circling back around frequently such that the student feels a continuous flow of support.
Moreover, I can set an academic focus with the student and provide feedback regarding just that focus until the

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progress is made in that area. Through these steps, I hope to see much progress and improvement with students’
performance in their portfolio along with other areas, such as union readings and conference.

Student Perspectives (CRT) Pathway and Analysis

I conducted the Student Perspectives survey to collected the data for this Student Perspectives pathway
checkpoint # 3. The Student Perspectives Pathway Tracker seems to have some errors. I am confused about how to
complete it. As a result, I shared the links to all 3 surveys with the data here, Student Perspectives Data Spreadsheet # 1
& 2 . Student Perspectives Data Spreadsheet # 3.
Through the survey I asked the students these questions where they rate (1-5, one lowest & 5 highest) and explain
their ratings. The questions are: In this class, I feel proud of who I am and my background (rate 1-5); In this class, I've
learned new things about my culture and/or community (rate 1-5); In this class, I have the chance to learn about the
culture of others (rate 1-5); In this class, I have the opportunity to make a choice about my work (rate 1-5); In this class, I
feel like an idea I shared was taken seriously by my teacher (rate 1-5); In this class, my teacher responded to student
suggestions to make our class better (rate 1-5). These questions give me an overview of how the students feel in classes
and how culturally responsive my instructions are. The responses from the students help me modify my instructions to
provide more culturally responsive teachings as well.
Looking at the data for all 3 rounds of survey shows the same pattern for each question. For instance, if we look
at the first question, which asks the students to describe how proud they are of their background, the students replied in
the same way all three times. This is visually represented through the pie charts, below. Majority of the students always
Round # 3 Round # 1 & 2

feel confident about their backgrounds. They have same rational to justify their ratings over the year as well. For instance,
during the first round, a student said, “I am proud of who I am and my background because I feel comfortable in this class
and also I think most of the students are Hispanic so I am comfortable in this class, but my accent still bothers me because
I think most people find it annoying trying to figure out what I'm saying.” During the third round, a student said, “I don’t
really think my background matters for this class because this is just math class. but with regards to myself and who I am

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as a person, i am more than happy to express myself because I’m not ashamed.” I notice that some students picked one
for rating because they thought one is the highest rating. A student explains, “I picked 1 because I feel proud.” Perhaps,
the questions were not clear as to which number means the highest and which number means the lowest. However,
beside “I don’t know” responses, majority of the students responded that they feel proud and safe about their
backgrounds in the classrooms.
Looking at the data for two other questions, learn something new about my culture and chance to other about
other cultures, the students responded fairly the same way. I find this disappointing as I tried to involve students about
their cultures as well as others’ cultures. Sometimes, I feel that some students do not consider some topics such as talking
about NASA, Women’s Month, Mother’s Day, and other topics related to cultures. Regardless, here is a visual
representation of students’ responses.
Round # 3 Round # 1 & 2
My culture My culture

Other’s culture Other’s culture

The visual data shows blue/one for low opportunity to learn about one’s culture. The Round three data shows 25%
purple/five rating to show more opportunity to learn about one’s culture. This looks better than the first two rounds where
only 7.5% shows positive opportunity to learn about one’s culture. Looking at the students’ responses, the students have
same feeling all through the year. This makes me feel accomplished because 25% is definitely a great increase compared
to 7.5%. For instance, during the round three data, some students responded saying, “we don't talk about culture,” and
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“Because it's about math,” as was done during round one and two. However, during this third round, I see a student
acknowledges my attempt to connect to their culture before Christmas. The student mentions, “For Christmas, before
class started Nasrin would call on students to explain what their families traditions were and their different foods.” I also
notice other students acknowledging teachers’ attempt to incorporate cultures into the lessons. This is definitely
something that makes me happy. Additionally, the visual pie chart for the opportunity to learn about the other cultures,
for the third round we have higher ratings, 4 and 5 compared to previous records which shows more of 1 and 3. This is a
great improvement compared to before. Despite the positive ratings, the responses show lack of learning about other
cultures. For instance, some students responded with “we don't talk about it,” “because no one talks about their culture,”
“Because all we talk about is math,” and “I have but I wish we could do this more.” These responses are similar to the
responses I received for round one and two. I see a desire from the last student’s response that he/she wishes for more
opportunity to learn about other cultures. This is something I have to put more effort in as I feel the students still do not
notice my efforts to incorporate cultures into the math lessons.
Despite the ups and downs, I am proud that most of my students feel safe and proud about their backgrounds in
my classes. This is a great accomplish on its own. Additionally, this data helps me see how comfortable my students are in
the classes and what they wish to see more of and see the less of. As a result, I can understand my students’ needs, which
helps me improve my instructions.

Student Perspectives (CRT) Pathway Next Steps

I notice that at least 50% of my students feel that they do not learn about their cultures or others’ cultures
in math classes. To improve in this aspect, I can create minilesson artifact that involve cultural artifacts and
activities. For instance, I can create math problems related to Christmas spending. I can use names that are specific
to different cultures, such as Spanish and Arabic names. In the math problems, I can use names of places from
different country and cultures, such as Trinidad, Mekka, and Elis Island. In addition to this step, I can also have
1-2 minutes peer to peer dialogue sessions where students will be given opportunity to share with each other about
their cultures. I believe these two activities will be a great boast to a culturally responsive teaching.

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 Teaching Portfolio

# 1. Artifact
One of the assignments that had a positive impact on my instruction is the midterm assignment I completed
for Math 301on Sep 30, 2019. In this assignment, we were tested on Scope & Sequence, Learning Objectives,
and Content Knowledge. Also, for this assignment, I had to pick a cluster of standards, create objectives for 5
lessons, and give a rationale for my objectives. I found this assignment really helpful during the year of 2019
because it helped me plan for my lessons purposefully. Currently, I also plan for lessons looking at a cluster of
standards, specifically, the objectives for the lessons.

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 # 2. Artifact
The next assignment that had positive impacts on my instruction is the Final Portfolio of Math 302 that
was completed on May 18, 2020. In this assignment, I had to plan a lesson where I had to show a complete plan
for my discussion that details how I will implement a math dialogue in a future lesson. I also had to give a
reflection based on my planning of the math dialogue. This assignment was intensive. I worked a whole day in
completing this lesson with extensive details. I had to plan the kinds of response I will receive from the students
along with kinds of solutions to the math problems. Next, I had to plan what kind of responses I will give the
students and what kind of discussions they will generate. This assignment was a big help when I was teaching the
7th graders. It helped me prepare myself in a way to be more supportive of my students on a daily basis. These are
the same kinds of planning and thoughts I have to have on a daily basis in my current teaching position. I have to
plan the questions I will ask the students, think about the responses the students will give, and what I can do for
a productive discussion that caters to the lesson’s objective.

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 # 3. Artifact
The third assignment that had a positive impact on my instruction is the Year 2 Pathway Data Checkpoint
1 of SGA 314, which was completed on Dec 7, 2020. This current assignment is a progression of it. In this
assignment I had to give a survey to my students to learn about how culturally response my teaching practice is
and how my students feel in my classes. This assignment also allowed me to track my students progress from
different rounds of assessments helping me see the growth and progress of my students. This data tracking
assignment also allowed me to understand where my students need to improve and where my instructions need
to be modified to support my students more effectively. Previously, this assignment helped me notice where my
students were good at and where they needed help. After learning that, I modified my teaching to cater my
students’ needs. Currently, looking at the students’ data, I understand the needs of the students, such as their need
to show more evidence of practice and learning. I have to modify my instruction to support my students to be able
to demonstrate their learning, which is visible to the students as well as the teachers.

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 Works Cited

Ehsan Latif, and Stan Miles. “Class Attendance and Academic Performance: A Panel Data Analysis.” Economic

Papers, vol. 32, no. 4, Dec. 2013, pp. 470–476.,

doi:https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1759-3441.12054.

Kamal, Muhammad Faisal, et al. “ Comparative Analysis of the Effect of Attendance on Academic

Performance of Management and Finance Course Students.” World Applied Sciences Journal, vol. 24,

no. 12, 2013, pp. 1651–1655.,

doi:https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.569.1446&rep=rep1&type=pdf.

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