Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teaching. Show all posts
Response to Instruction
It's that time of year, when the kid talks and problem solving teams start getting together. This year, my team started last month. It was not as bad as I imagined--it always helps when teachers come to these meetings ready to talk and with current, relevant data in hand. This is a challenge when in between benchmarks. My team gets together for kid talks (the first step) every four weeks with follow up every six.
This is where the team helps the classroom teacher, create a SMART goal that they will monitor until the follow up. How did we get to this place? Well, it was lots and lots of clean up last year and building capacity with data collection. The team spent last year tackling the students who never seemed to leave RTI--either they went through the special education or made progress to be on par with their classmates and were sent back to tier 1.
One thing that the team and our building has embraced is collecting the data and doing something with it. As teachers we are swimming in data and many time it either sits and gathers dust or it's used to drive instruction. Using it is what makes students grow--no mater where they start. For example I have a students no has many bad habits including talking when not their turn or off topic, not attending to the task at hand or the details. She wears you down to where you can no longer keep up and give in. Over the last three years she has grown little but using the data showed that she had been getting the intervention. This year, I focused the intervention to comprehension and decoding strategies. In the six weeks, she has started to attend to the details while she reads. She rereads and reads for meaning. (HEY) These are firsts.
The success that she has had has drive conversations with her teacher and our ELL Resource teacher. We have aligned our instruction to focus on a couple of targets and not worrying about everything she needs to do. And yes it's a very long list as a fifth grader. I have hope that these early successes will drive her to herself and take a more active role beyond self monitoring. Without data, I would be doing the same tier three that she'd been for the last two years.
I created a document that has helped me keep track of the goals and data for students no matter what tier they are in. I hope you find it useful--I know my student look forward to weekly progress monitoring and seeing their growth. Have a great week.
"Loving Wisdom for New Teachers" Linky Party!
It's hard to believe that the new school year is just around the corner for many of us. I'm linking up with Fabulously First to bring new teachers words of wisdom. Its hard being a new teacher. New building, new staff, new families--its hard work. The world of education has changed so much since I graduated from University of Colorado in Colorado Springs that each year I'm also learning something new.
I want to welcome all of you as new teachers and say that as you enter this profession for the first time this year just be prepared. You will learn quickly who will and will not help you and those that will help without asking. It's tough work being a teacher. This year my state has moved towards pay of performance. This is no joke even for those who have taught for several years. You have to really love teaching to take that on everyday. But I wouldn't trade that work for anything-I love the students I work with and the challenges they bring. Each day is something different and no matter how prepared I think I am some days just get away from you.
I want to welcome all of you as new teachers and say that as you enter this profession for the first time this year just be prepared. You will learn quickly who will and will not help you and those that will help without asking. It's tough work being a teacher. This year my state has moved towards pay of performance. This is no joke even for those who have taught for several years. You have to really love teaching to take that on everyday. But I wouldn't trade that work for anything-I love the students I work with and the challenges they bring. Each day is something different and no matter how prepared I think I am some days just get away from you.
You will find by keeping your door open others will feel welcome to visit your classroom. Be willing to accept their words of wisdom as you move through the year. It will help build friendships and teaming with your teammates.
You learned many things will in school but none of it will help take on the real world of having your own room. Each building, each grade level, and each team have their own way of doing things. You will not have been trained in everything out there. Your first year is not a time to be shy. Ask questions and ask for help if you need it. Don't wait until your underwater and have limited ways out. You will find teachers in your building that are more helpful than others. If its not your teammate-find someone that you can plan with and trouble shoot with.
As you start your year, you have come across new ideas and new thinking. Decide what makes sense to take one. If you don't have to take it all on-DON'T. Stick to what you HAVE to do and do it well! The rest will come and you master your day.
Lastly, love your students. There will be days you will remember and days that send you screaming through the halls. Kids remember even longer what is said to them. Watch your tone and the words you use. You have power to motivate and the power to crush. Be wise with what you say-you can't take it back.
P.S. Above else--love what your doing! Smile each day. Find something to laugh about. Be present and the day will come to you.
Check out other words of wisdom:
With warm wishes and the best of luck-
More on Framework for Teaching
My district moved to an evaluation process that is similar to Charlotte Danielson's "Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching." Danielson's rubric is broken down into four domain:
- Planning and Preparation
- The Classroom Environment
- Instruction
- Professional Responsibilities
A Framework for Teaching
Two years ago my district moved to an evaluation process that is similar to Charlotte Danielson's "Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching." Danielson's rubric is broken down into four domain:- Planning and Preparation
- The Classroom Environment
- Instruction
- Professional Responsibilities
This framework doesn't directly tackle the my role as a special education teacher but my coach hooked me up with another district exception's who had.
What does Danielson's work and my district have in common?
What does Danielson's work and my district have in common?
In my district it's called strategic compensation. I'm part of the pilot to answer: What helps teachers be effective, and does additional pay make a difference for student learning? It's a unique partnership among the teacher's union and the district, this innovative pilot in 20 schools involves more than 650 educators and 8,550 students. It’s national research to test new teacher pay and supports, such as individualized job-embedded professional development from master and mentor teachers; multiple observations by two evaluators (administrators and peers); frequent, useful and specific feedback to improve instruction; and more time for teachers to work together and share expertise.
So, I'm observed formally at least three times over the year (twice before Christmas Break and once Marchish) by both principle and a peer observation. The peer evaluators are hired by the district and are higher trained on the teacher rubric. Both of them pop in throughout the year gathering informal information about what things are like in my room. I try to get them in when I'm doing something that I needed to work on or something new and want feedback. Its hard to get them to come-the peer evaluator is split between like four or five schools. (Talk about tough!!)
I have been working on creating a document to help me when I'm planning to make sure that I"m getting the most bang for my buck. Mostly because this rubric is unlike anything I've come across. It's tough keeping all the targets needed to make "Effective" and "Distinguished." The Framework below is a mesh of what I'm expected to do as a special education teacher plus the teacher expectations. All those items are in bold. The others are taken into consideration for students with autism or ADHD. I'll share my checklist later on. Have a great week!
Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: How Can I Be a Better Teacher Next Fall?
A. Major things you will definitely do
B. Minor changes you will make
C. Major things you will never do
D. Minor things you will never do
I think when I break down things this way it helps to clarify what I'm wanting to take on next year and not take on.
So what things will I definitely do: I'm going to move to being paperless. I'm sure how but with 1 to 1 iPads in small groups-I'll find a way. I think that the benefits for my students would include motivation, immediate feedback through our class email, and more timely communication with their classroom teachers. I'll share as I work out kinks. I think by moving to being paperless, will also help me to tighten up how I work the "science of teaching" but give me room for the "art of teaching." I"m also going to push for a four day seeing students schedule with one day being meet with classroom teachers, paperwork, testing, and all those "other" things that I have to get done during the week. I NEED to strength students knowledge of "how" and "why" they are using an iPad to complete instruction-so they can understand and explain to someone else why they are doing the assignment on the iPad and not on paper or explain why they chose to use a particular app over another.
My minor changes increase how my students use iPads. Now that I have my feet wet, I'm ready to dig in and make some big moves with how I use them in my daily instruction. I think being part of iPUG will help with new ideas and ways to use them. I'm hoping that maybe I can get more of my building teachers on board. Maybe-we're still worried ALOT about PARCC. I need to create a better way to assign iPads to students if they are going to have more than one student on them. I'm also going to do more anchor charts and force students to use them as resources. We do them together but I don't always force them to use them-I give in and give them the answers but why should I when they were created as a group and have the information on them that students needs to be using in class. It might help the careless mistakes.
I don't have any major things I not doing. A minor thing that has gotten to me since Spring Break is the way students walk in and out of the room. I think I'm done letting them bring themselves as nice as it is it has started to drive me crazy-maybe I should have been more on top of it when it first started to fall apart after state testing. I'm not going back to interactive notebooks. I love the idea of the foldables and have encouraged other teachers to use them but if I'm going to move to a paperless classroom than they I think they are on the way out the door. My students loved them and used them during math since Spring Break but I'm not sure I see how they are work at there best if they aren't being used in the classrooms. I'm thinking on the iPads that I'm going to strip them down to only what we used this year, instead of having over 100 apps on them because I think we only used maybe 30 (if that) on a regular basis. I think would make it easier for me to maintain them--so they are look more alike.
This is something you could also do with students. It would interesting to see what they would have to say/ Anyone have changes they plan on making for next year? Have a great weekend.
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