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Classroom Environment
Learning Experience
AI Integration in the Classroom
As an educator, I believe that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a valuable tool for learning when used responsibly, ethically, and with purpose. The AI guidelines used in my classroom are designed to support student learning, encourage critical thinking, and promote digital citizenship. Because AI policies and expectations may vary by school district, course, grade level, and specific assignment, students should always follow the expectations communicated for their individual classes and learning activities.
My personal classroom AI policy serves as the foundation for how AI may be used to support learning while ensuring that students continue to develop their own understanding, reasoning, and problem-solving skills. AI should enhance learning, not replace it. To help students and families better understand these expectations, please review the resources below:
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Guardian AI Information and Consent Form - Provides an overview of how AI may be used in the classroom, student privacy considerations, and opportunities for family engagement.
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Student AI Information and Consent Form - Outlines student responsibilities, ethical expectations, academic integrity guidelines, and appropriate uses of AI tools in the learning process.
I encourage all students and families to review these documents together and reach out with any questions regarding the use of AI in the classroom.
Equity
Throughout my coursework and field experiences, I have developed a deep awareness of student diversity and how it shapes lesson design, instruction, and assessment. In Classroom Interactions (CI), I reflected on students from various backgrounds and ability levels, learning that engagement and accessibility depend on connecting content to students’ lived experiences. These conversations guided me to make purposeful adjustments in my lessons, such as embedding real-world contexts, promoting collaboration, and integrating visual and interactive supports, to ensure all students could access rigorous content in meaningful ways.
In my Functions of Everyday Situations lessons, developed with a partner during Classroom Interactions (CI) course, I intentionally designed opportunities for students to explore exponential and logarithmic functions through multiple representations and group discussions. Using Desmos, real-world everyday situation cards, and collaborative graphic organizers allowed students to engage through both visual and verbal reasoning. This structure supported English Language Learners and students with varied processing speeds by providing multimodal entry points and peer interaction for sense-making. The inclusion of the Notice and Wonder strategy encouraged all students, regardless of prior math confidence, to contribute observations and questions. To support students who legally require accommodations, I implemented scaffolds such as guided vocabulary prompts, pre-highlighted graphs for visual accessibility, and the use of manipulatives for conceptual understanding. All of the situations were directly tied to the community in which the students were from.
My Equity in School Funding presentation further expanded my understanding of how systemic inequities, like disparities in property-tax-based funding, impact classroom realities and resource access (Baker, Di Carlo, & Weber, 2023). Recognizing these broader structures motivated me to apply Universal Design for Learning principles within my lessons, ensuring multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression. For example, in my revised CI lessons, students could demonstrate understanding through oral explanations, visual comparisons, or written justifications, which honored diverse learning styles and abilities.
Across CI, my equity presentation, and my extended PBI experience, I have learned that inclusivity is not simply about meeting accommodations, it’s about designing for equity from the start. By intentionally embedding flexibility, representation, and culturally responsive elements into my lessons, I aim to create a classroom where every student, regardless of language, ability, gender identity, or background, feels seen, supported, and capable of success.
Ethics
Ethics serve as the foundation of professionalism in education, guiding how teachers interact with students, families, and colleagues while upholding the integrity of the profession. The Professional Code of Ethics for Kentucky Certified School Personnel (16 KAR 1:020) outlines the expectations for ethical conduct, including honesty, fairness, and respect for all learners. Section A, “Ethical Conduct Toward Students,” emphasizes maintaining professional relationships, protecting student confidentiality, and fostering equitable learning environments, all of which are essential in my future mathematics classroom. I plan to uphold these principles by ensuring that every student feels valued, supported, and safe to take intellectual risks. My studies in Knowing & Learning and Classroom Interactions reinforced the importance of ethical decision-making and cultural responsiveness, particularly in STEM education where historical inequities in access and representation persist. In alignment with InTASC Standards 9 and 10, I will continually reflect on my professional responsibilities, adapt to evolving educational needs, and model ethical behavior that represents both my profession and the Kentucky school system with integrity.
Safety
Safety is my top priority as a teacher because students cannot fully engage or thrive in an environment where they do not feel secure, emotionally or physically. I strive to build a classroom culture grounded in trust, respect, and consistency, where every student knows they are valued and protected regardless of who they are. In all of my lessons, I intentionally incorporate safety considerations, from clear physical procedures to digital safety guidelines. For example, during my Classroom Interactions course, my gifted students used graphing software to demonstrate their reasoning in a card sort activity, and I provided an explicit online safety disclaimer to ensure they used technology responsibly. My Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) training has further shaped how I maintain a positive and safe learning environment by proactively teaching expectations, reinforcing appropriate behavior, and using restorative conversations to address conflicts. Additionally, the safety training and quizzes completed in Step 1 and PBI have deepened my understanding of maintaining safety in wet labs, inquiry-based investigations, and field projects. I consistently strive to ensure that every student feels physically protected, emotionally supported, and confident to take academic risks in a structured, caring environment.
Participation
In the lessons I designed and taught, including my five-day PBI mini-unit, I planned strategies that centered students’ interests, encouraged full participation, and made learning meaningful for all learners. The mini-unit was built around students designing a home that reflected their culture, preferences, and priorities, which naturally connected mathematics to their real lives. Every student had a defined role in their design team such as Bedroom, Kitchen, or Bathroom Specialist, ensuring that group work was equitable and that every student contributed to the mathematics in a meaningful way. I embedded scaffolds like client briefs, visual templates, sentence starters, checklists, and scaled cutouts so that students with different abilities and language needs could access the work and stay engaged. These choices aligned with the cognitive principles from Knowledge & Learning, such as reducing unnecessary cognitive load, connecting new ideas to prior knowledge, and helping students build understanding through hands-on experiences.
Across Step 1, Step 2, CI, and PBI, I planned engagement strategies that supported all students through inquiry, collaboration, and academic language. In Step 2 and CI, I used Notice/Wonder routines, revoicing, structured math talk, real-world contexts, examples and non-examples, and graph-to-situation matching tasks to help students make sense of polynomial, exponential, and logarithmic behavior. Students regularly used word banks and sentence starters to practice disciplinary language, and by the end of the PBI unit, journal evidence showed them moving from informal descriptions to precise terms like reflection, rotation, translation, and corresponding parts. These strategies supported English learners and strengthened all students’ mathematical communication. My assessments across these experiences: journals, matching tasks, discussions, and design presentations, were planned to give every student multiple ways to show understanding and connect mathematics to meaningful, authentic contexts.