Description of Selected Professional Experience – Examples

Curriculum Development

Honors Biology and Advanced Anatomy and Physiology curriculum

In the summer of 1988 I was challenged to develop the curriculum for two courses: Honors Biology and Advanced Anatomy and Physiology. These courses are taken primarily by juniors and seniors at the high school. Armed with curriculum guides, state and ACT benchmarks, textbooks, laboratory manuals, and assessments, I set about facing this daunting task. With guidance from our principal and fellow science teachers at my high school and surrounding schools, I worked the entire summer creating a framework for both courses. The framework identified main topics, goals for the units, appropriate materials, and assessments.

When I began teaching Honors Biology and Advanced Anatomy and Physiology in the fall of 1988, I was both teacher and curriculum evaluator as I continuously monitored and adjusted the curriculum to address, more directly and effectively the concepts students did not understand. Teaching in this way requires and demonstrates advanced level understanding of life sciences, and of effective pedagogy in life sciences. One example: Students in Honors Biology were struggling with the importance of the nitrogen cycle. I now start the cycle talking about the living players, the names/formulas of the chemicals cycling, the end biological polymers that result from this cycle, and the importance of those polymers in maintaining life. When students have a framework for the importance and impact of a concept, the details and flow come more naturally. These changes are reflected in the scores of students on the Advanced Placement Biology exam. Students at our high school are required to take the exam, and 80% earned a score of 3 or better in 2016, compared to less than 50% of the students taking the exam statewide. See the College Board website for information about Minnesota scores in each of the AP exams. A score of 3 on this exam is considered the equivalent of passing the U of M Biology 1009 course. See the U of M website for information about AP test score equivalencies.

Another example: students in Advanced Anatomy and Physiology were struggling with the anatomy and physiology of a skeletal muscle. I created a simple lab where they start with 2 different types of pasta (to represent the actin and myosin) and end with twist-tie baggies (to represent the fascia and tendons). The idea of starting at the foundation and creating the muscle tissue step-by-step helps students to visualize and remember the key parts and their jobs.

I still make changes yearly to the curriculum to stay current with the Minnesota State Standards and ACT benchmarks. I add new laboratories, enhance my content, create projects that align with technology, bring in the most up-to-date applications, and differentiate my delivery techniques based on the individual needs of my students. For example, a recent shift in my curriculum is making “homeostasis” the focal point of every discussion and emphasizing the importance of the interaction of systems in maintaining life. Each year I tie in more laboratories (example: arm as a lever) and inquiry activities (example hypothalamus – anterior pituitary – posterior pituitary).

Discipline-Specific Leadership Role

Example 1: Minnesota State Math Assessment Advisory Panel

I have been a member of the Minnesota State Math Assessment Advisory Panel for the MCA, MCA II, MCA III, and GRAD Mathematics Tests for the past 13 years, reviewing potential test questions and student responses for possible inclusion on state-mandated math tests, and was recently selected as one of three leaders to present recommendations for standards for Grade 11 math assessments.

The Math Assessment Advisory Panel consists of members of the Minnesota Academic Standards Committee and classroom teachers with subject and grade-level expertise. The panel was charged with ensuring that test questions, written by specialists, would measure progress toward benchmarks and would be appropriate for students in terms of “grade-level difficulty, expected knowledge of grade-level mathematical vocabulary, life experiences, and reading level.” (See the test specifications for the MCA-III Mathematics exam on the Minnesota Department of Education website).

I believe this experience reflects the depth of my understanding of math, math instruction, and math assessment. My district recommended me for participation on the panel because of my expertise in these areas; I’ve participated on the panel for a significant amount of time; and I have been recognized for my knowledge and leadership by other panel members who selected me to make the case for changes to the assessment standards. It is simply not possible to do this work with a superficial understanding of math.

Example 2: Math Curriculum and Instruction Team

I have been a member of the Math Curriculum and Instruction Team at my high school for the past four years. This group includes teachers (from all grade levels) and administrators who are tasked with analyzing data, evaluating curriculum, and selecting new materials. I’m a member of the committee that gathers and analyzes assessment data to measure the success of our current curriculum. We look at grades on course exams as well as scores on Minnesota state tests, relevant Advanced Placement tests, ACT tests, and other assessments.

Three years ago we selected new core textbooks. We reviewed multiple texts and then taught a common unit from each one. For example, we offered 7 or 8 sections of Algebra II at the time. In each section, we covered a unit on quadratics from one of four different textbooks (including the text we were currently using) to see how well students would perform. We took note of the questions students raised during class and used pre- and post-tests to measure effectiveness. Three of the textbooks used a traditional approach to math instruction and one text used a discovery approach, similar in some ways to the approach used in the U of M course. We selected a text with a traditional approach, but having the opportunity to review the discovery text and test multiple concepts with students has given me quite a lot of insight into what is required to make a discovery approach work well. It takes a great deal of planning and testing—work that is better done with a group of experienced instructors offering the same course. That’s one reason I’m interested in offering the U of M course—the opportunity to work with other instructors teaching the same material is appealing and would allow me to stretch myself professionally.

Discipline-Specific Community of Practice

Example 1: University of Aix-en-Provence, France, Junior Year Abroad, 1982–1983

I spent my junior year in college studying at the University of Aix-en-Provence in the south of France, immersed in a French-speaking environment and taking a full load of courses taught entirely in French, including 19th Century French Poetry, the History of French Civilization, Philosophy of the Arts, and Comparative Political Economics. Not only did I improve my French proficiency and learn an enormous amount through the courses--knowledge that has been a part of my teaching from the beginning of my career--but I also learned extensively about French culture firsthand, through living there and interacting with native French speakers in a variety of settings on a daily basis. From linguistic blunders at the outdoor market to visiting and learning firsthand about historical wonders such as the Pont du Gard Roman Aqueduct, my year studying in France provided me with a rich base of knowledge and experiences that I have shared with my French students throughout my career.

Example 2: Travel Organizer and Leader of twelve student trips to France, 1996–2016

I am the primary organizer of our high school’s travel and family stay programs to France, which happen about every other year. We work with a local travel organization, Language & Friendship, to create unique cultural and linguistic immersion experiences for our participants. In past trips, we have visited Paris and various parts of France such as Normandy, Brittany, the southwestern city of Biarritz, Avignon in the southeast, and more. In these places, students visit and learn of the culture and history firsthand, primarily in the French language. In addition, each of our trips have included a family stay portion, where students stay on their own with a French family for up to a week. This challenging and rewarding experience allows students to gain confidence in their ability to communicate in French, to spend time in French schools, and to be part of a French family for a time.

As the leader, I research the regions and sites we’ll be visiting so I can teach students about their cultural and historical significance. I communicate in French with the various family stay coordinators, hotel and restaurant workers, and all of the other museum, transportation and other employees who help us as we explore France. I visit the French schools that my students and their host siblings attend, to learn firsthand about the French school system. My frequent visits to
France have facilitated my ongoing efforts to remain fluent in French and to stay abreast of French current events so that I may integrate updated and relevant information into my curriculum in all levels of French.

Receiving an Award or Other Recognition

Grant Recipient

During my 15 years of teaching English literature and composition, I’ve written and received numerous grants—clear evidence of my own research and writing skills, and of my commitment to exposing students to a variety of perspectives.

• Classical Actors Ensemble Classroom grants (2016–present). I wrote an essay urging our local Rotary Club to help subsidize performances of Macbeth (2016) and As You Like It (2017) in the high school to engage students with Shakespeare’s work in a fresh way. While students often read the play aloud in class and watch clips from professional productions, hosting a Shakespeare troop on our own stage with some alumna playing key parts provided the students with an exceptional opportunity and intensified students’ personal investment. Even though one hour after the play was set aside for questions, most students were so engaged, they remained after the final bell querying the actors about psychoanalytic motivation, gender aesthetics, and the delicate balance between authorial intent and an individual director’s vision.
• Education Minnesota Classroom grant (2015). I created a nonfiction literature circle project that brought members of the community into the classroom for a student-led evening discussion of choice books to implement rhetorical, synthesis, and argumentation strategies with a real-world audience. From Mary Roach’s Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers to Dave Cullen’s Columbine, from Sudhir Venkatesh’s Gangleader for a Day to Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, I worked diligently to select literature diverse in content and in author background to drive students’ innate curiosity and engagement in reading. The surveys I got back from attendants were overwhelmingly positive, with many citing this as their favorite unit in the course. Members of the community passed on their enjoyment and appreciation to administration.
• American Indian History and Culture Smithsonian Institute grant (2005–2006). My grant paid to bring in an Ojibwe guest speaker for our unit on Green Grass, Running Water by native writer Thomas King, providing cultural context and modern connections in addition to providing a class set of novels. Inspired by the lecture and question-answer forum, students wrote editorials about contemporary parallels addressing their new knowledge of indigenous culture in relation to environmental issues.
• 621 Foundation Grant “Reflections on Japanese-American Internment” (2004–2005). I wrote a grant providing supplemental reading materials as well as internment camp survivor Sally Sudo to speak to students engaged in an in-depth examination of historiography in this era. We recorded the presentation, the students’ question-and-answer session, and the guest speaker’s reading aloud from the final chapter of the novel at the center of the unit. In addition to the nonfiction articles, primary source newspaper editorials from the time period, and a PBS documentary, we read Julie Otsuka’s When the Emperor Was Divine, detailing a family’s exile to a Japanese-American internment camp during World War II. We discussed historiography and the ways in which storytelling can add layers of understanding to hard facts that resonate with the audience long after the statistics fade from memory.

Participation in a Nationally Normed Assessment Activity Related to the Field

Scoring Advanced Placement Exams

I have participated in scoring open-ended questions on the Advanced Placement US History exam for two years. I score responses using a rubric that emphasizes use of historical thinking and analysis of historical evidence. My training included reviewing sample responses and appropriate scores, and then scoring sample responses myself using the rubric. My certification (see attached certification letter) means that I have demonstrated the ability to consistently and appropriately score responses, to the standards set by AP, and that, according to the AP website, “accurately reflect college-level achievement in US History.”

Published Textbook, Journal Article or Essay, or Similar Scholarly or Creative Work

Minnesota Articulation Project, Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, 1997.

As part of this project, I created the Music of Senegal Thematic Unit, which became part of the Proficiency-Oriented Language Instruction and Assessment: A Curriculum Handbook for Teachers, pages 553-573, originally published in Tedick, D.J. (Ed.). (2002). Proficiency-oriented language instruction and assessment: A curriculum handbook for teachers. CARLA Working Paper Series. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota, The Center for Advanced Research on Language Acquisition. (See copy of the cover of the publication and table of contents, listing my authorship.)

The handbook was created with world language teachers in mind, and offers ideas and resources for proficiency-oriented instruction. The unit I wrote includes 8 lessons that introduce students to information and a variety of activities on the French-speaking African country of Senegal and a specific type of Afro-pop music. It also introduced students to a traditional language spoken alongside French in Senegal, Wolof. I designed activities using all four modalities (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) and developed a rubric for assessing writing.