P3 – Practice standards-based assessment

P3 – Practice standards-based assessment

This is a standard that I struggle with each year. Do I teach to the test? How am I not teaching to the test if I am preparing my kids for a standardized test? I have been teaching a long time and each year these questions arise. I think what it comes down to is that the standards are written as topics we should cover in our teaching. The idea is that if we are teaching the standards then we will be preparing our students for the test, without that being the purpose of our teaching.

I also sometimes have to make decisions about topics I won’t be covering because I do not have enough time or it is more important to make sure my students truly understand each topic rather than are just exposed to each topic. For example, this year I taught a section of 6^th grade math. I started working with my students on fractions going at the speed my teaching partner was with her 6^th grade math class. It was not working for my students. They were not passing daily assessments or quizzes. I had to make a decision and slow down. What this meant when I it came time for my kids to take the MSP was that we had not gotten to all the topics that would be on the test, but the topics we did cover, my students know. This will benefit them in the long run and will benefit their “long-term math careers” each coming year.

P1 – Practice intentional inquiry and planning for instruction

P1 – Practice intentional inquiry and planning for instruction

This is an incredibly important principle. When thinking about everything I do with my students I should always be planning intentionally. This year I have had the opportunity to not only plan lessons, but have them reviewed by both my mentor teacher and coordinator. This has given me feedback and ideas that I may not have otherwise gotten. I have been teaching for several years (11) and I have not written full lesson plans in a while. Having the opportunity to revisit this process has really allowed me to reflect on my teaching and planning. It helped me take a step back and reminded me that it is a helpful tool to periodically plan full lessons with such intense intent. I do not think it is a sustainable model, it took a lot of time to put together these lessons and I think that the purpose was not so much that should take with us the idea that we need to fill out a lesson plan like this each lesson, but more about reminding us about all the areas in each lesson that we should be intentional about. For example, there were a lot of sections on the lesson plan asking about academic language. When I first saw the lesson plan with this on it, it was not clear to me what that meant. After some conversations with my mentor teacher and coordinator, I better understood what was meant by academic language and realized that this was something I usually do incorporate into my lessons, the lesson plan was just asking me to be more intentional and explicit about explaining why and how I am using it. Here is a copy of a blank lesson plan that I used: Long_Lesson_Plan_Template

P2- Practice differentiated instruction

P2-Practice differentiated instruction

Differentiation is an important skill for a teacher to employ. Finding ways to reach all of our children through differentiation can be difficult. However, there are a lot of resources available that I found helpful in planning for differentiation. One such book is called Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom: Strategies and Technique Every Teacher can use to meet the Academic Needs of the Gifted and Talentedby Susan Winebrenner M.S.

One idea from her book that I really liked was called “most difficult first”. This is a way to help plan for students who are gifted and talented. What you do is choose five problems that are representative of a unit and the student has to get 4/5 correct. If the student is able to get 4/5 crest the student can move onto the next unit. When I first saw this I thought, why not have the student get 5/5 correct? The answer has to do with the student’s feeling the pressure to be perfect, and then he/she may not try at all.  I used this method with a student I have in my 6^th grade math class and it has worked great (although I used more than five problems to get my representation of his knowledge. It has helped give me direction as to what topics I should be planning for him. It has also made him more confident and happy in class since he is working at his level. He is so excited that he is having the opportunity to really show what he knows and learn at his level.

O1-Offer an organized curriculum aligned to standards and outcome

O1

Offer an organized curriculum aligned to standards and outcomes- This is an important concept in that it helps keep some uniformity in our teaching. There are thousands of schools across the country and we need to have some homogeneousness in what students are learning. Having state and now national standards will help keep the consistency while still allowing for schools and teachers to be unique in their instruction.

When thinking about what I am teaching my students I use the GLE’s (I will be transferring over to the common core this coming year- http://www.corestandards.org/the-standards). I have been using the GLE’s for the last several years (Here are the reading GLE’s I have been using- http://www.k12.wa.us/Reading/pubdocs/ReadingEALR-GLE.pdf#cover). Although I am not excited about moving to the common core and having to re-familiarize myself with a new format for standards, I really like the idea of having common standards that (ideally) the whole country will follow (currently 45 states have taken on the common core).

I think that it is important for teachers to be aware of standards and plan curriculum accordingly. Using the standards helps guide our instruction so that we have a road map to follow. In some schools teachers are given curriculum. In my school some of the curriculum is given to us to use, but many teachers supplement the curriculum in order to meet the standards and needs of the students in the short time that we have to teach each subject (note: I work in a dual curriculum school, so we have about three hours a day to teach the general studies subjects).

Several of the teachers in our school have begun to look at the common core and have used both the common core and GLE’s in planning for instruction this past year. My school has also brought in a math consultant that we have been using over the years to help the teachers make the move towards the common core.

Teachspark

 

This is an interesting website. The premise of the site is to help teachers collaborate with each other when planning for lessons. It is a nice idea, but I don’t know if I find this an easier method to get feedback than to just ask for feedback from a teaching partner. The feedback I got was helpful .What is nice about this site is that often times someone thinks of an idea that maybe I have not thought of.

For our class assignment we had to post something that we wanted feedback on for our cohort mates to look at. I posted a lesson plan on character traits. The feedback was helpful in that it gave me some ideas of how I can add some higher level thinking to the lesson or I can use it to extend the unit.

The other document I put up was our private school version of an IEP. We call it a Student Learning Plan. The first time I posted it, the feedback was that it was great that it is a simple straight forward plan, but one person thought it could use some detail about what assessments are given and a diagnosis. I thought this was helpful and added it to our form, along with a section that says “strategies that work”. I like that our form is straightforward because it means that it is easy for General Ed teachers to use as well as Special Ed teachers.

E2-Exemplify Collaboration within the School

E2 – Exemplify collaboration within the school.

There are several ways that I collaborate within my school. I attend a weekly lower school teachers meeting. I meet weekly with several of the teachers to discuss students we share. I meet weekly with the principal, two assistant principals and head of the Teacher Learning Project to plan for our Teacher Learning Project meetings that take place once a month with the  whole staff. I also meet once a week with the Learning Center team.

I think that collaboration and communication among staff and administration will result in a well-run school. It can be challenging to find time and people to be a part of different teams and meeting in order to keep all lines of communication open. At my school, the Teacher Learning Project has really opened the lines for us. It not only means meeting among our peers and staff, but part of the program also encourages us to spend time in each other’s classrooms, learning from each other. It is amazing how many resources we have right within our own schools. I think it is important that leaders in schools take advantage of the vast amounts of knowledge that already exist in our schools. In addition, we need to remember the importance of reflection and goal writing as part of our daily decisions and planning.

Below are some of the worksheets we have used in our Teacher learning Project meetings:

March study group

Reflective Journaling

EDU 6139- Disposition Assignment

1-What vision do you have of yourself as a developing and effective teacher?

I have a vision that as I learn new theories and practices I will be able to apply them effectively with my students. I see that each year teachers grow and become better because they are not only learning from each other, classes, or workshops, but that teachers learn from their students as well.

2-What do you think will make you a particularly successful teacher?

I feel really confident in saying that part of what will make me successful is my commitment to being a teacher. I know EXACTLY what I am in for in the next 25 years of my life and I am looking forward to it! I have had a lot of time to decide if this is really what I want to do. I have only ever taught in private schools, but I have taught several different subjects and worked with children of varying ages. I am doing just what I am meant to be doing. I am committed, patient, loving, and willing to learn. This is what will make me a particularly successful teacher.

Above is the post I made before beginning my internship about one year ago. After reading it, I don’t actually have any changes to make. I still love teaching, I love being surrounded by children and having the opportunity to teach them. It is amazing when you see the light bulb go off and they understand what you are conveying to them.

I am thrilled with all that I have learned this year. I have been able to immediately employ some of what I have learned and am looking forward to beginning next year with new ideas and ways to help my students be successful.  As I said in my previous post, it is so important to be a life-long learner and I know I will continue to keep up with what is new in education. It is good not only for me, but for my students to see as well.

I still feel the same excitement and commitment towards teaching as I did before this program, but I feel more equipped to serve my students even better than before.