WGU D629 Task 1: Identifies Growth Opportunities
| Passed on First Attempt |Latest Update with
Complete Solution
Task 1: Identifies Growth Opportunities
Keith Zimmerman
Master of Science, Curriculum and Instruction, WGU
D629 – The Reflective Practitioner
December 11,
A. Reflect on the scores you gave yourself on the attached "Teaching Practice Self-
Inventory" by doing the following:
1. Discuss the decisions you made during planning, instruction, and assessment for
this lesson, focusing on the processes you used.
My process for planning a lesson in my class begins with reviewing the materials
provided by the curriculum we use, the Connected Mathematics Project. As a problem-
based curriculum, each lesson features a multi-part activity, accompanied by “teacher
moves” (Lappan & D. Phillips, 2024), practice problems, and an assessment at the end of a
set of three to four activities. With all that is provided, I scored myself with 3’s and 4’s in
the planning section of the self-inventory, except for timing. This is always a struggle to
plan for, mainly because students are only in the second year of using a problem-based
, curriculum. They are still struggling with what is required of them in the activities and
lack the confidence and ability to determine what they are capable of and how to begin
answering these questions. Hence, things still tend to take longer than I would usually
plan for. I scored myself 3’s on gathering materials, preparing assessments, planning
transitions, and checking for bias, mainly because I believe the curriculum does a decent
job on these things. I do not often take the time to put in much extra thought into them
and trust that what is in the curriculum is appropriate. I spend a little extra time defining
objectives and incorporating non-academic skills, because my teaching philosophy
focuses on areas where students become proficient problem solvers and can work as a
team. In this particular lesson, I wanted them to work in small groups on whiteboards so
that everyone would be able to see the progress of the other groups and so that we
could discuss their processes at the end (Liljedahl, 2021). Due to this extra thought, I
scored myself a 4 in these areas.
In the instruction section, I often find that I have my biggest struggles, but also some of
my strongest teaching skills. As far as struggles go, like in the planning phase, timing is
often an issue. Obviously, since I struggle to plan accordingly for time, it would make
sense that keeping time during a lesson would also be an issue. However, since I am
using a problem-based curriculum, I really need the students to make some headway in
the activity before we can move on to consolidating or asking another question, so
sometimes I have no choice but to extend the time of certain parts of the lesson so that I
can be sure every student has some ideas about where we are headed. Differentiating
instruction is also another challenge for me, as I often lack access to extra materials, such
as manipulatives, that I should have available. I do try to differentiate the learning
through my questions and the work they provide. The questions I ask and hints I
provide are based on what I see they have done so far. As a result, some
groups/students might receive more guidance, while others may not need anything from
me beyond a simple check-in about their progress. My strong points in this category are
using evidence-based instructional strategies and evaluating student engagement. The
CMP4 curriculum offers “teacher moves” (Lappan & D. Phillips, 2024) that are evidence-
based for each lesson. Still, I have also included in my classroom the use of “vertical non-
permanent surfaces” as described in Peter Liljedahl’s research and book “Building
Thinking Classrooms” (Liljedahl, 2021).
As for the assessment piece of the self-inventory, I scored very similarly in the other
sections. I constantly assess students through observation, and I have created more
formal assessments to use at the end of each lesson, which are directly derived from the
questions provided by the CMP4 curriculum. Still, like in the previous sections, I struggle
to create differentiated assessments to “meet the needs of all learners.” I do not
| Passed on First Attempt |Latest Update with
Complete Solution
Task 1: Identifies Growth Opportunities
Keith Zimmerman
Master of Science, Curriculum and Instruction, WGU
D629 – The Reflective Practitioner
December 11,
A. Reflect on the scores you gave yourself on the attached "Teaching Practice Self-
Inventory" by doing the following:
1. Discuss the decisions you made during planning, instruction, and assessment for
this lesson, focusing on the processes you used.
My process for planning a lesson in my class begins with reviewing the materials
provided by the curriculum we use, the Connected Mathematics Project. As a problem-
based curriculum, each lesson features a multi-part activity, accompanied by “teacher
moves” (Lappan & D. Phillips, 2024), practice problems, and an assessment at the end of a
set of three to four activities. With all that is provided, I scored myself with 3’s and 4’s in
the planning section of the self-inventory, except for timing. This is always a struggle to
plan for, mainly because students are only in the second year of using a problem-based
, curriculum. They are still struggling with what is required of them in the activities and
lack the confidence and ability to determine what they are capable of and how to begin
answering these questions. Hence, things still tend to take longer than I would usually
plan for. I scored myself 3’s on gathering materials, preparing assessments, planning
transitions, and checking for bias, mainly because I believe the curriculum does a decent
job on these things. I do not often take the time to put in much extra thought into them
and trust that what is in the curriculum is appropriate. I spend a little extra time defining
objectives and incorporating non-academic skills, because my teaching philosophy
focuses on areas where students become proficient problem solvers and can work as a
team. In this particular lesson, I wanted them to work in small groups on whiteboards so
that everyone would be able to see the progress of the other groups and so that we
could discuss their processes at the end (Liljedahl, 2021). Due to this extra thought, I
scored myself a 4 in these areas.
In the instruction section, I often find that I have my biggest struggles, but also some of
my strongest teaching skills. As far as struggles go, like in the planning phase, timing is
often an issue. Obviously, since I struggle to plan accordingly for time, it would make
sense that keeping time during a lesson would also be an issue. However, since I am
using a problem-based curriculum, I really need the students to make some headway in
the activity before we can move on to consolidating or asking another question, so
sometimes I have no choice but to extend the time of certain parts of the lesson so that I
can be sure every student has some ideas about where we are headed. Differentiating
instruction is also another challenge for me, as I often lack access to extra materials, such
as manipulatives, that I should have available. I do try to differentiate the learning
through my questions and the work they provide. The questions I ask and hints I
provide are based on what I see they have done so far. As a result, some
groups/students might receive more guidance, while others may not need anything from
me beyond a simple check-in about their progress. My strong points in this category are
using evidence-based instructional strategies and evaluating student engagement. The
CMP4 curriculum offers “teacher moves” (Lappan & D. Phillips, 2024) that are evidence-
based for each lesson. Still, I have also included in my classroom the use of “vertical non-
permanent surfaces” as described in Peter Liljedahl’s research and book “Building
Thinking Classrooms” (Liljedahl, 2021).
As for the assessment piece of the self-inventory, I scored very similarly in the other
sections. I constantly assess students through observation, and I have created more
formal assessments to use at the end of each lesson, which are directly derived from the
questions provided by the CMP4 curriculum. Still, like in the previous sections, I struggle
to create differentiated assessments to “meet the needs of all learners.” I do not
