Teaching with
intention has been my center point of teaching this year. In the past, I taught the lessons and
curriculum in a creative way with my students as the focus. This year I have
put a lot of time and thought into how and why I teach a certain way. Through reflection, I have been able to slow
down to evaluate the impact of my lessons and the environment I provide for my
students. I feel that I am constantly battling with myself. This is a good
thing, because it proves that I am thinking about how I can improve my teaching
with the values that I believe in.
Content
Improvements
·
Instructional
Strategies
o
I
have evaluated the instructional strategies that I use most frequently.
§ Are they valuable?
§ Do I use the same ones too much?
§ What level of thinking do my students
use to participate in this instructional strategy?
o
I
have added new/valuable strategies to my lessons.
·
Backwards
Design
o
Essential
Questions
o
Think
and Thin learning/questions
o
The
backwards design unit that I incorporated way by far the most enjoyable and in-depth
unit that I did in reading this year.
·
Intentional
Teaching
o
Reflecting
on the value and the changes that might need to be made after lessons.
Relationships/Environment
Improvements
·
Specific
Needs
o
I
have stopped to think about the specific needs (emotionally and academically)
of each child.
o
Classroom
Goal
§ This year, a goal of mine was to give
the “average” students more attention. I felt very successful in this area.
o
Interest
Based
§ I would like to continue to improve
in this area. I would like to differentiate lessons based on interest and
level, instead of always academic levels.
o
AGAPE
– Association and Generativity Improvements
I enjoyed
reading and sharing about assessment practices this year. Our school is
switching to standards based report cards next year. I am ready for this move. I am very excited to see how this style of
reporting improves our assessment process. I still struggle with what is best
for children when it comes to assessment. I know that we need tests like the
NWEA to see where our kids are at, but I struggle with the pressure that these
tests have on our kids. I feel that I have grown as a teacher and as a person
this year.
Hi Nikki - What great insights you have! I am curious to hear what you think of going to the standards based report cards next year. Would that involved the 4-3-2-1 kind of marks? The struggle with that here is that parents still want to attach a letter to everything, so instead of seeing a 4, they still see an "A". The tests will always be there because it seems there must be a standard for every student. High school students don't think about the tests at all. In fact, I see them looking at those days as days off. I always wonder when they switch from concern to apathy regarding state testing. Anyway, wonderful to hear your great ideas! :)
ReplyDeleteHi Jodee! I don't think that our middle or high school is moving to standards based report cards. Our two elementary schools are starting next year. I like how you said that parents put a grade with the 4-3-2-1 style. We talked about that in our district too. We are going with the 3-2-1 for that reason. I am sure parents will try to put a grade with these numbers too, but they might have a harder time! :-) Kids get tested so much even at our level. I wonder if that is why they don't think much about it at the high school level. Thanks for your insights!
ReplyDeleteNikki,
ReplyDeleteHaving the standards-based report cards has it's benefits but, as any grading system, has it's pitfalls too. I could tell my students were really starting to feel the pressure of the many tests they take and I worry that it was, in part, my fault. We're so encouraged to make them aware of their RIT scores and report card grades and help them to set goals that, for some kids, that's all they seem to care about. Then, when they get anything less than a 4 (which is exceeding, so not the easiest to obtain) they have a very hard time with it (some shut down completely). To try and avoid this I began using a target visual. It has 4 circles and their each a different color. The students and I came up with this rubric for each circle:
-The outer most circle means "I'm not able to do this task without a lot of help from my teacher or another adult
-The next circle: I am able to do this but with some questions or a reminder as to how to do it.
-The next: I am able to do this task independently and successfully
-The inner most circle or the "bulls eye": I am able to do this independently and could teach someone else how to successfully do it too.
I've noticed this rubric has really helped and is a great multi-purpose visual!