Eric Castro: Academic Review for FDB Meeting

January 2016
GENERAL OVERVIEW
In his plan submitted to the Faculty Development Board, Eric Castro states that he is interested in
pushing the boundaries of teaching and learning. Over the past six years he has accomplished
just that at St. Ignatius, serving his students and also playing a key role in helping the school move
forward with a number of initiatives. This year he has resumed the role of full-time classroom
teacher, and he has done a fantastic job in his AP Psychology class and World History 2 classes.
Eric is a deep thinker who exhibits tremendous enthusiasm in his classes. Never satisfied with the
status quo, he continually reflects upon his craft, always striving to find the best way to reach his
goals. His blogs, Intellectual Sprawl and the Restless Pedagogue, are beautiful reflections on his
personal teaching and educational theory in general. Erics students appreciate his hard work,
acknowledging his expertise in the classroom with their feedback in student questionnaires and
emails. In addition, Erics colleagues both within and outside the Social Science Department have
expressed gratitude for his support, openness to new ideas, and innovation. We are very lucky to
have Eric in the SI community.
Eric has addressed the following academic recommendations from the Faculty Development Board
that were proposed during his last tenure process:

1. The Board recommends that Eric continue to work with the World History I level to
increase collaboration through the unfolding of the Curriculum Design and Review
Process.
As Eric writes in his plan, his role at SI changed since this recommendation. That being said, he has
provided support for the CDRP process for the entire department. The curriculum for WH1 is posted
here.
2. The Board recommends that Eric continue striving to find balance between his work as
a classroom teacher and his role as the schools Educational Technologist, with the goal
of improving his availability to students.
In our Administration Survey on Erics role as Educational Technologist, faculty have indicated they
Erics availability in helping them with 89% of respondents stating that Eric responds to questions or
concerns in a timely manner always/often. Eric regularly is observed working with students during
Resource Periods and after school, and students indicate that Eric is available to them to a high degree
(avg. 5.65 on student questionnaires).
The following reflection is based upon classroom observations, student achievement data, and
student feedback, specifically: class observations (Nickolai: 10/18/10, 10/2/15; Christensen
10/28/15, 10/30/15; Molinelli 1/13/16; Ruff short visits; assessment data/final exams, EIT portfolios,
administrative evaluations, collegial observations, and student questionnaire information.

MISSION & IDENTITY

Cura Personalis:
Eric actively promotes Cura Personalis in his classes. Activities (like 1st day introduction activity
and 2x3x5 activity where students present info and then introduce the next speaker) promote
students making connections with their peers. He often uses teams for class activities, and this
also helps students trust and respect each other. As noted above, he makes himself available to
students and is the trusted adult on campus for a number of students.
Leadership:
Eric has served in various leadership roles in the past (Department Chair/Educational Technologist
to name a couple), and he continues to offer support to program heads on campus and collaborate
effectively with his colleagues.
PROGRAM DESIGN & INSTRUCTION
Content Knowledge:
Colleagues, observers of his classes, and students agree that Erics content knowledge is
excellent. As reflected in his blogs, his Twitter account, his published articles, and his written
curriculum, Eric has a keen understanding of how people learn. His pedagogical expertise is top
notch, and he has demonstrated the ability to teach at multiple levels in the Social Science
Department. He has deep knowledge of the AP Psychology curriculum and although the WH2
course is new to him and Eric feels as if he is learning as he goes, he has a very strong
understanding of the material and is able to make connections between 20th century history and
contemporary events. Eric continually improves his content knowledge through personal research
and extensive reading. A look at Erics Twitter account reflects his varied professional learning
interests.
Curriculum Development:
Erics curriculum development is to be commended. He has used a backwards design model to
create a curriculum with clear essential questions and learning outcomes along with assessments
that provide an accurate measure of student learning. Specifically, he has:

Implemented the use of good digital texts in AP Psychology and WH2

Focused on making material relevant to student lives
o Use of contemporary articles (i.e., newspaper article on Chinas 1 child policy)
o The Future unit in WH2 concentrating on contemporary world issues
o Multiple units dealing with adolescent issues in AP Psychology
Built an engaging WH2 curriculum
o Expanded list of WH2 term paper opportunities
o Worked to diversify the curriculum and provide minority perspectives
Created a fun, rigorous AP Psychology curriculum that not only prepares students for a
standardized test, but also helps them become better human beings.
Reflected upon data to inform future instruction

I encourage him to continue using the CDRP process to reflect upon and revise curriculum for his
courses as needed. Eric has expressed feeling somewhat stymied by the limits of an AP Psych
curriculum, and I encourage him to think about how the course would look without that set format.
Could students take the course Eric and Yosup would design it without limits and still take the
exam? I also encourage Eric to look at how he might build cross-curricular learning opportunities.
Helping students make connections between different disciplines helps students see that true
learning does not happen in isolated subjects. These suggestions will be impacted by current
curriculum conversations occurring in the Social Science Department.

Engagement, Management, Motivation:

Erics classes are extremely well organized and well-managed with students on task throughout
the period. He has fluid knowledge of effective technology use and has back-up plans ready to go
just in case a glitch might occur. Erics rapport with senior students is fantastic, and he has
indicated that he is enjoying teaching sophomores. He understands how underclassmen can have
a different sense of humor than seniors, and I encourage him to continue being sensitive to the
needs of each student audience.
Instruction:
Examples of Erics excellent instructional strategies include:

Use of blended-learning model

o Piloted specific units in WH2 this year for sophomores
o Students learning continues beyond the classroom
Fun activities
o Psych experiments
o Demonstrations
o Scary movie assignment on Fear
o Break a social norm activity
o Inside/Out Chew & View
Funny/fun Keynotes with good graphics and multi-media
Effective use of social media
Connections to real-world world activities
o St. Ignatius Free Clinic activity where students can diagnose psychological
disorders
Canvas account set up with clear organization = helpful learning tool
o Great links
o All handouts, activities clearly posted
o Multi-media
Quizzes used to promote student learning
Collaborative activities
o Google notes put together by class
o Group/Partner work (i.e., Totalitarian regime activity, Toy activity)

All of these promote significant student learning in the class. In several of his reflections, Eric has
commented that he wants to move more from direct instruction to student-centered teaching in
order to create an active learning environment that promotes deep learning. There is a certain
amount of lecture that should occur, especially in a senior class that prepares students for college,
but Erics desire to keep students actively engaged in their own learning reflects an excellent
instructional goal, and I encourage him to keep thinking about this. As noted in his plan, Eric is
also interested in developing his approach to blended-learning opportunities.
Assessment:
Eric has experimented with different assessment strategies over the years, and his current practice
of evaluating student learning is excellent. A few years ago he experimented with changing the
categories of assessment to more accurately reflect student achievement (i.e., Category of
Content knowledge/Critical thinking instead of Tests/Quizzes). More recently, he has used
quizzes and tests on Canvas. He has also expressed interest in following up on some standards
based grading explorations. His work will be helpful to the school as it moves forward on its
Program Evaluation/Data Literacy Accreditation action item.

The following assessment strategies Eric employs are to be commended:

On-line quizzes for assessments through Canvas

o Use of test question banks to provide individualized assessments
o Provides opportunities for students to learn from their performance
o Provides answer analytics
o Score links with PowerSchool
Grading strategies that prioritize mastery and minimize grade grubbing
o Re-assessment opportunities
o Formative practice quizzes that provide low stakes opportunites to show learning
o Examples of tests online
o Shooting the Moon offering
o Practice prep for midterm
o Allowing the midterm to trump earlier assessments
o Midterm reflection assignment
Multiple and varied opportunities for assessment
o WH2 quizzes, tests, Notability checks, papers, weekly news reviews
o Formative quizzes worth 5 points = minor impact on grade; opportunity to practice

In terms of an outside measure, Erics strong AP pass rate in Psychology reflects students high
achievement.
OPENNESS TO GROWTH
As reflected in comments above, Eric is extremely open to growth. Especially impressive is the
honesty, vulnerability, and humility he expresses in his personal blog. He sensitively reflects upon
feedback provided (posting all observations) and thoughtfully expresses his opinions about it in a
manner that is extremely open to growth.
PROFESSIONALISM & COLLABORATION
Eric models professionalism and effective collaboration, especially with his teaching partner, Yosup
Joo. They collaborate often, share curriculum and assessments, and analyze results to improve
an already great course. Eric has also worked extremely well this year with his WH2 colleagues.
In addition, Eric collaborates with many individuals outside SI through social media and
conferences; he has an extensive sphere of influence. Eric has received a grant and established
the NORCALTOPPS conference for teachers of psychology. Finally, his own blogs and twitter
feed are followed by thousands of individuals.
OTHER/Category IV
Please thank Eric for his:
Work as Educational Technologist
o Coordinating iPad program including proposal, implementation, and on-going
support
o Providing support, information, tours, and other expertise to tons of schools who
have visited SI to see how we did/do it.
o Working on Student Information System selection (PowerSchool)
o Working on full implementation of Google Apps for Education
o Working on LMS investigation
o Working on the new SI website redesign
o Working with and providing support to the Tech Department

o Presenting at numerous conferences

o Providing professional development seminars for a range of high schools
o Very positive feedback on Admin evaluation surveys of faculty
Serving on Professional Development Committee
Serving on Educational Planning & Policy Sub-committee of Board of Regents
Serving on Library/Learning Commons Design committee
Serving on the Diversity Inclusion Group
Presenting Stereotype Threat session at Professional Development In-Service (2015)
Openness to teaching Public Speaking summer school passion seminar

PLAN & FUTURE GROWTH

I endorse Erics planned action steps as stated in his FDB plan:

Participate in Social Science catalog/curriculum review

Create blended WH2 curriculum
Create Public Speaking seminar for summer school
Continue work with NORCALTOPSS and #psychat
Publish his book on high school education
Develop culturally responsive curriculum for WH2 (listed under Spirituality but could go in
this category)

In addition, I encourage Eric to look for opportunities for cross-curricular learning, learning
opportunities that connect students with real-world problems/issues. I think that Eric will naturally
do this as he continually adapts his courses.

Tenure recommendation: Highly Effective

Submitted by,
Carole Nickolai
Asst. Principal for Academics