Eli Rolfes
Algebra II Teacher
Hello! My name is Eli Rolfes. I am a math teacher in Covington, Kentucky. This website hosts information for my portfolio for the Master of Science in Education at Johns Hopkins University. I hope you enjoy learning about my classroom and my approach to teaching math through a challenge-based curriculum.
My resume and experience can be found here.
About my Classroom
Covington, Kentucky
The city of Covington, Kentucky is situated just south of the Ohio River across from Cincinnati. The city boasts a rich history and bustling urban culture. The relative affordability and proximity to a major economic zone has drawn people from all over to Northern Kentucky. As a result, Covington's demographics have become increasingly diverse over the past decade. There is a sizable and growing Guatemalan immigrant population in the city.
Holmes High School
Holmes High School serves as the only secondary
school in the Covington Independent Public Schools
district. As of the 2017-18 school year, total
enrollment was 773 students. Student demographics
are fairly diverse, with 44% of students identified as
white, 32% African American,14% Hispanic, and 9%
bi- or multiracial. Over 80% of students at Holmes
qualify for free lunch, and 14% of the school are
considered English Language Learners. Holmes’
special education department serves the 15% of the
student population with IEP plans. The plurality of
graduates (43%) enter the workforce immediately
after graduating, while 27% attend college.
My Classroom
I teach Algebra II five class periods a day. Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, classes are fifty-five minutes long. On Wednesdays and Thursdays, classes alternate between a length of thirty-five minutes and ninety minutes, with the reverse schedule happening the following day. This year, I have ninety-six students, with somewhere between 18-24 students per class. I have an even split across genders - 48 male and 48 female students. My classroom reflects the general demographics of the school ethnically and academically.
Teaching philosophy
Culturally Relevant Teaching
The meaning of "high expectations" has changed for me throughout my teaching career. When I first began teaching, I understood this as simply not having low expectations for my students. My first year, I focused on my mindset as a teacher and how I could avoid the pitfalls of unintentionally lowering the bar in my classroom. I saw myself as sidestepping the narrative that many have written for my students. I did not find out what it really meant to have high expectations for my students until I began planning my curriculum for Algebra II. I’ve redefined for myself what it means to be an educator in acknowledging that I am more than the messenger of state standards. High expectations for my students can’t just come from me - they have to believe it for themselves. This is what defines my purpose. Math is a particularly difficult subject for students in terms of confidence and self-efficacy, and I believe that every student should have the opportunity to see potential in themselves. My goal for the year is that students in my class see math as an opportunity for leadership on important issues facing our community.
Often, the depth of mathematics and its presence in our lives is ignored to focus on its tangible outputs, and I believe this serves an antiquated vision of what a math classroom should look like. Rote practice of the mechanics of math offers nothing of substance in an era where the cell phones in our pockets can handle computations for us. The focus instead is on students understanding broader concepts of mathematics and seeing how they connect to their lives. My curriculum, classroom goals, and delivery of content are all centered on the idea that students need to be invested in the work they do. We are far removed from a time where teachers can expect students to learn simply because they directed them to. Pedagogy must adapt to the needs of the child. Connections and relevance to students’ cultural histories and ambitions are what enable students to take ownership of their own learning. Math is a process, not an end result. Participating in and practicing this process is what learning should look like in a math classroom.
A Modern Math Classroom
For my students this year, I’ve created a series of challenge-based learning units that let students define goals and parameters for themselves. Each step of the process involves students utilizing high-level concepts of math but applying them in personally relevant circumstances. My philosophy of teaching revolves around the idea that some of the best learning doesn't happen on purpose. My role as a teacher is to provide students with as many opportunities as possible to engage with something new and exciting and let the development of mathematical principles form individually for each student. For example, students can develop a strong understanding of exponential functions when they explore investing, credit, and retirement savings.
Serving students' needs is paramount in my classroom. The content I teach is driven by preparing students for the math portion of the ACT. There are significant gaps in knowledge that I have to address in a short amount of time. In the time students spend inside my classroom, we focus on the how, including dissecting and analyzing word problems. Students take notes, talk and write about math using plain English in discussion groups, and participate in regular reflection about their understanding of the content to bolster their literacy skills and conceptual understanding of math. Outside of the classroom, my students complete practices on the fundamental skills they need. Each week, students take a diagnostic to know what skills they need to practice that are relevant to the content we’re covering. I have a handful of practices at 7th, 9th, and 11th grade levels available as starting points. Students complete a summative quiz and reflect on their learning at the end of the week to get a fuller understanding of the work they need to do.