My Experience as a Blueprint Math Fellow

I was born and raised in Nepal, the county with the highest peak in the world, Mt. Everest, and the birthplace of lord Gautam Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. I have been working as a Math as well as Physics teacher in my home country Nepal for about 28 years. I arrived in California on September 15, 2021. I had been chosen to be a Blueprint Math Fellow for the 2022-2023 school year, which was exciting to me. 

The work started in August of last year. I didn’t know about the education system here in the USA or how to start. But in my time as a Blueprint Math Fellow, I learned different teaching techniques which helped students learn more about the lesson. Gamification is one of the tools that makes students learn different concepts in a fun way. I have learned different models to present lessons like fractions, algebraic expressions, percentages, and ratios, etc. These models are really helpful as well as fruitful to develop concepts for the students in meaningful ways. Although mathematics is a challenging subject, it can be made fun in different ways such as with games like Jeopardy. 

Our Site Manager supervised and observed my way of instructions and gave me feedback which was definitely supportive for me to improve myself. The techniques of making students engaged and participating in the class such as “Turn and talk,” “think- pair- share,” and group discussion” are really vital important strategies that make students engaged in proper learning. The use of different data like accomplishments in exit tickets, post assessments, and the STAR test also plays an important role in the teaching and learning process. They could be utilized to motivate students as well as to make them responsible in their learning. My site manager as well as colleagues are helpful and supportive in the professional development sessions. The weekly professional development sessions also helped me to learn about teaching techniques that are applicable in the daily classroom situation. 

Working as a Math Fellow with the Blueprint Schools Network may be a golden opportunity in my professional life. I want to thank all the people so much who were involved from hiring to supporting me in the 2022-2023 school year!