Continued - Discuss the progress you've made in applying the strategies/techniques in the classroom.
DUE: Submit your Lit. Review Summary Report #2 that discusses assessment practices and strategies and how they can be implemented in instruction to promote accountability.
Assessment in Learning concludes that human beings are very complex; they need apprenticeship to function as adults. The availability and movement of open resources that have access to high quality learning materials is the prime importance to achieve education.
ReplyDeleteToday is our Leadership Meeting, we will continue to plan for our upcoming Professional Staff Development. Our focus will definitely be on Accreditation. We have so much work ahead of us...our goal is to submit our final report by December. We will be reviewing all focus groups' status reports (Action Steps, Status, Future Planning) based on key issues that we needed to address. Each Focus Group is assigned a task in planning for the Professional Development...Focus A Logistics, Focus B Agenda, Evaluations, Focus C Inform Parents/Community, Focus D Folders/Packets/Set-up/Supplies/Materials. After today's meeting we will decide on where we would go from here as far as finalizing our report.
ReplyDeletehello
ReplyDeleteOkay...Now what's going on? This is my second time to blog...I lost my information!
ReplyDeleteStarting over...Good Afternoon Everyone!
Today, our school had its Parent-Teacher Conference. While waiting for parents during the conference, I decided to look over the Social Studies workbook pages that I assigned students to complete yesterday. Most of the students did okay, but I found some workbook pages incomplete. So, I will give them a little more of time to complete the workbook pages.
Afterwards, I will give students art materials (crayons, color pencils, construction paper, etc.) to create their book about, "Ancient Greece." Then on Friday, the students will present their book.
For the third day of my practicum, I shared the feedback I received from my students via letter or IMPACT Response Sheets two days ago (we are on block schedule). It was interesting observing their faces while I was doing it. Some students seemed relieved, some puzzled, some amused. I also started looking at the numbers pertaining to our tutoring session for first quarter. I had a total of 75 visits and 52 re-takes of tests or quizzes. All students retaking the test/quiz performed better than the first time they took it. I was pleased. Now, my challenge is to start conducting tutoring differently from the way I conduct class instruction. This is where I feel professional development should get into play. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one caught in this conundrum.
ReplyDeletei plan on using the carrot, egg, and coffee bean story in my character ed class. i'm using powerpoint that day just to change it up for my students. i use technology in my class, but i haven't used powerpoint in nearly two months. i have three different stories that we're going to read together. the stories deal with overcoming obstacles in life and making yourself a better person because of those obstacles. i'm incorporating the carrot story to help them understand the stories' morals and lessons. we'll see how they resond.
ReplyDeleteToday is PTC day. As a counselor, I helped out in giving out the report cards to parents who came in to see the progress of their kids. We started at 8 AM and ended at 1 PM. I planned to give out SAT-10 results to parents as well but since I haven't got the results of our 6th graders we decide to postpone until next time. Anyway, aside from distributing report cards, I was reminded by our Accreditation Coordinator regarding the data he needed. So, I was looking into our SAT-10 results making graphs and tables needed to finalize our school report. As I was doing that, I remember the presentation of Dr. Li regarding using excel in working with data and statistics. Honestly, I'm not so comfortable in using excel as I've mentioned in my blog. I'm still using MS office Word in doing my report. Anyway, I do plan to be exploring excel this year. I've seen some teachers using it to make a test. It sounded and looked like that excel indeed is a versatile program to use.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Geraldine. There is a lot of planning for Professional Development.
ReplyDeleteWe ofcourse had our parent teacher conference and although I have several students come by to pick up their report cards and parents who wanted to know how their children are doing, I as a litte suprised at the high number of parents in SPED who came today incomparison to my ESL students last year. There was time to catchup on some of my work and I planned how I am going to set up my next assessment tool and that is "Digital Storytelling". I hope to introduce the brainstorming on paper then on 5 x 7 cards and then have everyone give it go on my laptop (old one). I may have my work cut out for me but hey, I'm willing to give it a go.
ReplyDeleteAs we prepare for Accreditation...
ReplyDeleteGeraldine said "there so much work ahead of us...our goal is to submit our final report by December. We will be reviewing all focus groups' status reports (Action Steps, Status, Future Planning) based on key issues that we needed to address. Each Focus Group is assigned a task in planning for the Professional Development...Focus A Logistics, Focus B Agenda, Evaluations, Focus C Inform Parents/Community, Focus D Folders/Packets/Set-up/Supplies/Materials. After today's meeting we will decide on where we would go from here as far as finalizing our report."
In addition to Focus Group reports, we need to start gathering student work (additional evaluations): Journals, Student Portfolios, Student projects (character and family projects), Artwork, etc. for our Accreditation Evidence Room.
During Accreditation we showcase student achievement through an array of assessments, evaluations, and data at our school.
The parent teacher conference at our school started at 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (no breaks in between). Nearly thirty parents signed in for the conference to see me; they were cordial and respectful. I also had the opportunity to discuss my most recent activity or strategy to the parents. I told some of the parents that their children were assigned to write about a page long testimony on how they feel or think about school issues such as school uniform, lunch detection, student activities, and among other school related topics. I told them that they are simulating a mock legislative hearing and will be presenting their view points orally in class. I have asked the parents if they could give them some words of encouragement not to be scared or feel nervous. Our mock legislative session resumes tomorrow. I will have my students work on their reflection paper as homework because we have an all day activity on Friday, October 29, 2010. A warrior coupon will be awarded to students for turning in their reflection paper. Good night everyone.
ReplyDeleteThe article I reviewed is "Accountability, Accreditation, and Continuous Improvement: Building a Culture of Evidence." The article is stating that with all the data collected by institutions, we need to utilize it properly and not only for funding purpose. We need to address the concerns of the students and improve their collections of learning to apply as knowledge. We need to change our perspective of standard comparison amongst schools as a district and resolve the failing academic achievement as a unit. Collecting data is essential to identify success. However, true assessment and accountability go beyond success and continues throughout our life span of learning.
ReplyDeleteAs Dr. Richard Giardina echoed the U.S. Department of Education to get with the time as an accrediting organization. Thus, we all need to get with the time and make the difference in our need of educating our future leaders.
For my third practicum, I used the 2nd grade class where I did the letter writing activity from Dr. Ellerton. I did an informaal perception survey. I asked 1o questions about what they had learned from the week before based on the letter writing activity about their teacher. After talking with the teacher about me doing a survey, she felt her students may not understand the concept of rating so we used happy and sad faces. I will share the results (data) with you on our next meeting date.
ReplyDeletePaul, I feel the exact way about excel. I've definitely tried using it but I cant seem to produce anything from it.
Today, I applied one of Dr.Kallingal's method to the parents of my students. I told them to nurture the child learning and listen to their cries for help. I told them that they can achieve academic growth through understanding and collaboration with teachers. I encouraged all my students parent's to be patience and not to become alarm with 1st Quarter grade. In the end, we came to an understanding that we can work together in applying true education where it matters. Overall, we met 41 parents and gave them a relief of confidence and with great spirit. I feel good today...YEAH!!!!
ReplyDeleteTO ALL EDUCATORS & ADMINISTRATORS:
ReplyDeleteThis week is "Hell Week" for all of us. However, we can make it a better place by encouraging spiritual our participating parents at our conferences. We need to inform them to see the brighter things in their child over their demonic statue...haha(joking). Needlesstosay, you've done a great job....
Maybe someone can point out what is happening...
ReplyDeleteI write my blog, sign into gmail, hit post comment, type in the confirmation word and then see it post. I go back to the Home page and then I do not see my post. What might be happening? I've posted twice already. I would appreciate if someone may know what I am doing wrong so that I can save time.
Thanks
The practicum that I am planning involves the use of digital story telling in my character education class. The lecture on digital storytelling created a new avenue when considering a thematic unit. I like the idea that students can create characters that relate to the theme. The theme that I would like to focus on is “responsibility to the environment.” I think that just like the example of deforestation, students can map out how they want to depict the theme.
ReplyDeleteOne of the criteria that I observed in the presentation involved creating characters. The characters had a sense of personalization. In other words, students had to consider what the characters were feeling. They provided nicknames to the characters. They created stories that centered on how the characters reacted in a world of deforestation. I want to create a lesson that spans at least a week that emulates this lesson with the topic of environmental responsibility.
Prez, I admire with the positive nature and perception that you have when addressing a PTC. I think that it is a very constructive approach that unifies the effort of parents and teachers. I also think that this constructive approach reduces finger pointing.
ReplyDeleteYesterday was our PTC and so my teacher conducted the science and social studies pre tests for second quarter today to start using Dr. Soe's item analysis. I visited her room to guide her on how to use the excel add in software to calculate the results. I also met with my teacher mentor regarding the update on her mentee. Tomorrow I plan to visit her mentee and watch her teach a lesson. I would like to observe her lesson delivery, classroom management and interaction with the students. I will also visit my other teacher tomorrow whom I conducted a show off lesson to see any improvement on his sounds and format delivery. I will also perhaps offer the DI training available on Monday to further enhance his capacity as a teacher. Stay tuned for the final results.
ReplyDeleteToday was PTC. To make up for this day, I will try to work with the class longer on Thursday and Friday. We will continue with the reading lessons followed up with the "Write a Letter to a Friend Task" activity. The students seemed to have enjoyed this activity.
ReplyDeleteMy lit review article entitled "Assessing What Matters" by Robert J. Sternber relates that "Worthy assessments should reflect the broader capabilities that students need to thrive in 21st century. We should assess what students need to become active and engaged citizens of the world they live in."
ReplyDeleteAs I continue to work with the ESL teachers as they communicate with their students' parents in order to support their learning activities at home, I reflect on how essential it is to promote the ideals of preparing learners to be successful in school and work. We must promote the ideals in the classroom for learners to be creative, practical, and especially wise in this rapidly changing and competitive world.
In order to do this, we must help students to capitalize on their strengths and compensate for or correct weaknesses through collabortive teaching and cooperative learning opportunities.
We had PTC today, so I was unable to implement any of the strategies presented at the conference. However, for tomorrow, I'll be teaching decimals to my sixth graders. One of the sessions from the conference was a method of how to teach students, as presented by undergraduate students of the Elementary Education Program at SOE. I'll use their strategy on relating the concept to money as an anticipatory set to lead into the lesson. That is what I plan to do tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI like Prez's idea of what Dr. Kallingal said about nurturing the student and listening for their cries for help. I also agree with what Kallingal said about the fact that there needs to be a certain point where we transition the student from the concrete to the abstract. However, I disagree that all students should transition at the same stage of their lives. Every student is different, and again, every student needs to be nurtured with different types of assessment practices. Unfortunately, about 90% of my 6th grade math students are still in the concrete stage. My question is, how do we know when to wean them from one stage to the next?
ReplyDeleteToday was our PTC at Agueda. I had the opportunity to reflect with a parent on the shared responsibility we have in educating their child. I told the parent that the teacher and parent must team together to insure their child perform at grade level and that the maintenance of their education at home must be proactive and ongoing. I realize that we are in rough times and parents find themselves working two jobs but as I explained, they must find a medium that will meet the need of their child’s education and that complete feedback and communication must also flow between parent and child.
ReplyDeleteI feel that in order to make the parental involvement program more manageable, it is important to identify smaller objectives and their guided direction to reach the ultimate goal of achievement. One objective that is extremely important to any parental involvement program is to build a foundation of trust and respect between the school and parents. When the parent really feels that the school is only trying to lookout the academic well being of their child, that trust will occur. I achieved that bond of trust from that parent today and it felt pretty good
Pat, I hope that parent was listening and took your advice to heart. Parents today are more reactive instead of being proactive. If they work that collaboration with the child’s teachers they will be more inline with what is going on with their child in school. That sad thing about all this is that we as teachers must make the first move towards positive collaboration with pare. This is something I have already started doing, and it works!!
ReplyDeleteOctober 27. It was an interesting day today. Although I had to deviate from my unit instructional plan, to accommodate a request to produce 500 pieces of Halloween-themed fondant toppers for 500 cupcakes that will be showcased at the upcoming Pastries in Paradise competition on Saturday, it was nevertheless a productive day. The sophomores got a taste of how it is like to work in a pastry shop, under time pressure, requiring patience and creativity. The activity today helped me assessed my students aptitude for this career and the students had realization of this career is for them or not.
ReplyDeleteI have been out from school sick for two days so I have not had the opportunity to see my kids. For my third practicum when I return to class tomorrow I will have the kids write a paper on what value do they see in what they are learning in class and how will they benefit from this lesson. My reason for this, If the kids see no value in what they are learning or how they will benefit then the instruction is useless. I must discuss their thoughts on this and let them see that this skill can be one of their life skills in the future. Kids today are always trying to asses and validate what they are learning in school. I will share the results and their thought on this topic.
ReplyDeleteRoger, that's a great project. It allows your students to learn about the environment and story development all the while being "eco-friendly" by using technology.
ReplyDeleteHi everyone -- love the new photos with your blog. I still laugh when I say blog because I can now say, "I AM A BLOGGER!" (Hey Joey, high five)
ReplyDeleteNow to our practicum -- I think I really learn more from your blogs or you reinforce the speakers in the conference over and over and I need that to really make it stick in my mind. So thank you all.
Our school is going through the mid-term accreditation visit and talk about accountability and assessment on a daily basis. You think you know about assessment, but there is more to learn. The literature review is demanding, but I learn more as I write and reflect.
Today was a busy day with the PTC in middle school. I thought that when I was an admin that I would have time for a cup of coffee. Many parents came to see me on guess what, "Assessment and Accountability" of our teachers. The end of the day came quickly because of the amount of parent issues.
As I read Vicky's blog, I wanted in on her activity on her 500 cupcakes. Sounds like fun, but seems like a lot of pressure to produce. I hope that you took pictures so that you can share with us the end product.
Enjoy all the blogs, remember "I AM A BLOGGER!"
It was a very busy day at FBLG Middle School’s Parent Teacher Conference. The library was full of representatives for the Family Outreach Program. After stopping by and visiting the teachers, the parents and students stopped by the library to see what was available. There was a good turnout. I will continue to delve into my Impact program strategy with my students tomorrow. I’m worn out right now and I am coming down with the flu. More to follow tomorrow…
ReplyDeleteA continuation of yesterday’s blog…Professional development was provided for the teachers with the purpose of building teacher skills, increasing opportunities for collegial support, and connecting teachers with experts. This was quite challenging at time with the limited resources available to the schools.
ReplyDeleteThe teachers were productive as a result of the time spent bringing school program coherence with sustained and continuous meetings.
Florence wrote, "I write my blog, sign into gmail, hit post comment, type in the confirmation word and then see it post. I go back to the Home page and then I do not see my post."
ReplyDeleteSUGGESTION--Home page is the main posting area. To see your comments, click on the link pertaining to the assignment you just contributed to. Use the links labeled "Older Post" or "Newer Post" to navigate from one post (and comments) to another. Hope this helps!
Wow Mrs. Schrage! That's awesome! I may be attending the Pastries in Paradise event! I'll be sure to look out for GCC's booth. They always have some of the best stuff!
ReplyDeleteMy day was mainly focused on SAT-10 scores of students. I had program and students requesting for the copy of the SAT-10 results. In addition from running back and forth from the offices, folders and copying machine our counseling department just received the news that our principal is requesting us to distribute SAT-10 results tomorrow during the parent-teacher conference. Such form of assessment is so valuable to the present education system. I can say that it does serve the purpose of accountability when it comes to keeping track of students’ performance. However, I always believe that SAT-10 should not be the only assessment that should be considered because it is not designed for everyone.
ReplyDeleteAccording to Dr. Ellerton, testing is one type of assessment, but the education system only focuses on one type of testing which in this case is SAT-10. This type of assessment neglects other important factors that students can be assessed on and only evaluates their cognitive abilities based on the test that ask question on things that are not relevant to our students on island. The SAT-10 assessment is widely used in the world. Hopefully it is being used for the right purpose and not only because it is very convenient for the school system to administer. We all know that creating any form of assessment takes great effort and I always believed that the type of assessment that can evaluate all the aspect of a person is the best assessment anyone can ever administer.
Richard, I strongly agree with you regarding having various type of assessment to properly assessed the different abilities of students. I believed that it is always best to give students the chance to show their special qualities.
ReplyDeleteFound a good article on authentic assessment to review for my lit. review #2. The article reiterated the importance of authentic assessment and explained the five types of authentic assessments: performance assessment, short investigations, open-response questions, portfolios and self-assessment.
ReplyDeleteFor my practicum today I implemented the authentic assessment method of "self-reflection." A few of the evaluative questions I asked students are: What are your current strenths and weaknesses in English 10? What changes have you incorporated to continue your academic success in English 10? There are a few more questions but a cloud is over me right now. I Will look at data in the morning and keep you all posted.
Roger, your class project is very exciting. Good Luck.
Vicky, your Halloween fondant project sounds devine and very creative. Your designs will be fabulous, no doubt. The artistic talent and imagination teenage students possess is remarkable. Good luck on the competition.
Parick, 41 parents--good job.
Literary Review - 2 down, 2 to go....
ReplyDeleteThank you Rose, Jody, and Annette for your kind words.... Good night!
For some reason my posts will go up for a few seconds and say it has been submitted, but then goes away. Anyone know what's going on? I tried posting over 5 times already!
ReplyDeleteThe article I read was about assessment for ELL's: It is called Classroom Assessment: Minute by Minute, Day by Day; The things that I picked up from this article that I intend to use in my classroom are having the students hold up different colored cards,each with the letters a-d on them, and ask multiple choice questions to assess what students have grasped. I think I will used a-e because that is what the SAT10 uses. I am looking forward to using this method and seeing which students grasped the concept or the vocabulary definition that I have taught. It is also a great review idea.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what's happening, but my post won't stay. I know it's not too long because it's only three paragraphs. Weird! My shorter posts are showing. I don't know what else to do!
ReplyDeleteFinally!
ReplyDeleteOk, Now it's gone!! That is so weird! I guess I'm just gonna email it to Dr. Rivera.
ReplyDeleteI let the kids write on the worksheets and they were quiet. This is my formative assessment. I have one for each class session. This was in the article i read last night. I am not confident in making my own tests. That is discussed in tonight's article.
ReplyDeleteOctober 27, 2010: I was able to catch the tail end of Dr. Richard Giardina’s talk on 10/22. on for-profit-educational institutions as they were a spreading investment but were not being made accountable for authentic student achievement, whether their degrees, certifications meet standards and requirements, and if student admittances and entrance exams. He implored the Federal government to have Accreditation organizations to enforce all institutions to meet accreditation requirements, laws, rules and regulations to maintain standards of prominence rather than allowing them to fall low.
ReplyDeleteAccountability then plays a major part in sustaining the integrity of colleges and universities. University of Guam’s Accreditation must be preserved, and advanced to readily absorb the pursuit of higher education.
Sorry i havent blogged, but am online now and from reading the other blogs about PTC and Prof. Development planning, i will also share on the same topics.
ReplyDeleteOur PTC on October 26th went well. We began at 7 am with an activity treat for our parents called "Second Cup of Coffee". Our PTA provided coffee, orange juice, water and doughnuts for our parents for the first time, which gave them a warm surprise. They enjoyed socializing with the administrators, staff and other parents before heading to see their child's teacher. This activity is part of the Solutions Network component of our school reform program called Success for All(SFA). After the light refreshment, parents reported to teachers to receive report cards and SAT10 results of their children and to see what progress they had made during 1st quarter assessments.
One cause for celebration at my school is that our 1st graders were among the 5 schools whose reading pecentile score beat the National Ave. Yeah!!!
Professional Development
During our Professional Staff Development we also focused on Accreditation. Each focus group continued working on the status report in regards to their goals and objectives, key issues and future planning. Then each focus group presented to the entire faculty and staff their present updates and next steps for each component of their action plan (Measurement of Accomplishment, Person Responsible, Evaluation Criteria, Resources Needed, Due Date, and Timeline.
ReplyDelete