Continued - Discuss the progress you've made in applying the strategies/techniques in the classroom.
DUE: Submit your Lit. Review Summary Report #4 that discusses assessment practices and strategies and how they can be implemented in instruction to promote accountability.
I posted something, but it went somewhere in cyberspace and didn't get posted. So here it goes again. I really liked what Rose had to say about service learning. I would like to know if you all think that having students pick up trash and record what they pick up (around school), categorize and graph it is considered service learning I would do it now and then again toward the end of the year to see if there was any change in trash categories. This is one of the activities I was considering doing
ReplyDeleteas part of an ecology unit as well as part of an effort to go green. It does also meet some of the skills that are on my skills assessment for 2nd and 4th quarters. Is this service learning or do I need to add something to it to make it service learning?
So we're all set for our Professional Staff Development on Monday, November 1st. We were able to complete our Professional Development Plan Worksheet. As usual, our Student Achievement goal is "To increase to 90% the number of students who perform at levels 3 & 4 on the SAT in all subject categories by SY 2013-2014". However, our Professional Development goal is "Using the baseline data of SY 2003-2004 SAT scores, teachers will see the yearly progress of students who performed at levels 3 & 4 and determine where to strenthen the curriculum to better meet the needs of the students. We will be looking at our SAT 10 data, what tools we will use to determine where students are now and whether they are improving, what do we want our teachers to know and be able to do to ensure that we achieve our goal, how will teachers learn new knowledge and skills, etc...there's actually a lot of work! However, we're all looking forward to this day, at least it gives us the "time" to analyze where we were, where we're at, and where we want to go...and having all stakeholders involve.
ReplyDeleteAs I read the article of "Tracking the Progress of English Language Learners," I reflected on how can I provide more opportunities for content area and ESL teachers to collaborate and focus on languaguage functions and student proficiency in the four language strands.Teachers need to work collectively to address how to be more methodical in identifying students' abilities to read, write, speak, and listen in order to ensure that students are improing their language skills. I am already making plans to meet with ESl teachers and prepare for our next Feb. 21 Prof. Staff Develop. It is really awesome when teachers collaborate and share their ideas and best practices!
ReplyDeleteTesting to check picture & change of name of PortHR to Beverly
ReplyDeleteHey Beverly, you did it! I can see who PortHR was -- you all along, but I know you as Beverly!
ReplyDeleteWe are all working it seems on our November 1st Professional Development Day for our teachers. Great minds think alike.
Many of our teachers have expressed concern about the degree to which student achievement may be used to measure teacher effectiveness. The fear, you must know, is that students' achievement results may be used to punish teachers for performance issues over which they have no control (like ESL students and homes that are unstable and non-supportive).
What do you think about this? In my readings, this has to be the major point in which educators fear with assessment and accountability.
Blog me back please!
Today, Students were given a spelling and vocabulary test. Using Dr. Kallingal's sentiments of "tesing students on what they know, and not test on what we expect them to learn" I gave students the option to choose words from the vocab. list and then define using their experience or rote memory comfort level. Students appreciated it. They showed understanding of the chosen vocab. words. Next week they will use self-chosen words from the list and create a creative writing piece. This should be interesting because the word list themed "election central."
ReplyDeleteToday, my school is having a Halloween Dance Activity Day, so almost all of my classes have shortened periods. However, every Friday morning before the first bell, I hold my Bible Club in my room, so I was still able to implement something today from the conference. I had about 80 students in attendance for the club today, so more than half of the students had to sit on the floor since I only have 30 desks in my classroom. The activity that I implemented was actually presented by Dr. Matilda--known as the digital storybook. I actually present my bible stories to the students using PowerPoint every Friday. I, too, believe it keeps them "hooked" on the presentation when they can see pictures and other visuals on the screen--especially in regards to topics from the Bible. Also, whatever I read from the Bible, I also post on the screen for the students to see. This allows the presentation to be more credible and the students are able to read along with me. I also like how PowerPoint has the option to embed videos, so it really aides me in explaining what point I want across to the students. I really enjoy storytelling--especially if it's from the Bible--and I'm really glad the digital world makes things easier for the students to be drawn in.
ReplyDeleteToday I was able to present the deforestation lesson to the 2nd grade elementary class that I have been working with. They got to have content lssons today in science because they have DI on every other day of the week. They were able to get the concept of the lesson and they enjoyed th art activity (drawing) but i'm not so sure they really understood the lesson. Unfortunately, I did only have about 30 minutes and I wish I had more time. I think I would have been able to get more and probabl even use the letter to a friend activity to evaluate whether or not they truly understood the lesson.
ReplyDeleteGOOD AFTERNOON
ReplyDeleteI was impressed with the comments from Richard on his use of technology in his Bible Club in his room. I attended the digital storybook presented by Dr. Matilda Rivera and enjoyed the ELLs work.
ReplyDeletePowerPoint is so useful to use and just when I think I know what to do -- another update comes along. I struggle to keep up with programs so I commend you for using this technology with your students. Maybe you can share this when we meet on November 2, 2010.
As the last day of my practicum, I analyzed the data I gathered my means of the response sheets and the letters to a friend. Both served their purpose.
ReplyDeleteThe data from the response sheets match the wide variety of needs of my students. What works well for some students doesn’t work for others. Some of the skills important and mastered by some are still a mystery to others. Question 3 on Response Sheet B asks how students feel in my Language Arts class at the moment. Here below are the compiled answers which exemplify my previous statement:
interested, relieved, worried, successful , interested, interesting, confused, clever , worried, happy, rushed , creative, stressful/stressed
Although response sheets provided me with pointed feedback from my students, the most interesting data came from the letters. In this case, students had to choose a focus and expound on it. The feedback I got was absolutely endearing.
Good Afternoon Everyone! The students continued their class project that they had started on yesterday. That is, creating a book about Ancient Greece. Some students were absent, so I had to give them instructions on how to go about creating their Ancient Greece Book. I will let them know that I'll continue to give them time on Wednesday to continue their creating a book project.
ReplyDeleteMonday, is Professional Developement and Tuesday is a Holiday. So, the next time I see the students will be on Wednesday. I'm hoping they don't forget the information they read about of Ancient Greece. Well, I plan to give them a short review of what we had read about Ancient Greece and ask them to write an essay of what they can remember about Ancient Greece.
I observed my teacher again today who did the show off lesson strategy and so far his sounds and format practice is improving. The teacher will also attend Monday's DI professional development to further refine the instructional delivery. I also observed my mentor-mentee teachers and I noticed an improved positive teacher relationship. Students who are mostly ESL in her class respects her and are very engage during instruction. However both teachers want more time and collaboration to sustain this strategy. The teacher who implemented the assessment emailed me the results of her pre tests for second qtr. in science and social studies using Dr. Soe's item analysis. She expressed her interest in continuing to use the template as it helps her hone on skills that are labeled as hard. She expressed that it's just tedious inputting student answers on the template. However, the results is specific and its definitely a useful tool to use specific data in improving student achievement. Overall, I am very pleased with the results.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBeing a Friday, it is almost impossible to get the most out of students as they really are not up to putting forth their best effort. Couple that with the shortened periods in preparation of a Halloween dance and the excitement factor almost assurs a productionless day. I was able to atleast intoduce the PPT software to students who surprisingly were not all that unfamiliar with the hardware but most knew very little of PPT itself. I was able to atleast create a few files for some but will have to follow-up next week. In a perfect world everyone has a personal computer or access to one. The hardware may be more of an obsticle than I thought. The students were ready to go to the dance and complained about the work compared to other classes who were not working.
ReplyDeleteokay, I've done this four times trying to post and when I log off it disappears. I am posting a second messgae just to make sure the first one sticks.
ReplyDeleteso far the fist is still there -- lets see again if the real message stays.
ReplyDeletemaybe it is too long -- it is not staying!! Here it is again. --cut in half! sorry
ReplyDeleteProfessional Development is the word of the day. I enjoyed reading the other posts. It seems as if everyone has gotten further in their understanding of assessment and has enjoyed the reading assignments and practicum.
As for me, I finally finished the presentation on common assessment and presented it to my team. We will be going over it tomorrow.
I was curious when I read Richard’s blog – have you gotten the latest update on addressing religion as a classroom teacher? If you would like the latest updates from the department’s legal counsel, just let me know and I can email it to you. There may be some issues that you should be aware of being the Bible club advisor.
crossing my fingers it stays.
ReplyDeleteWell done Annette, the students will learn upon their selection of a word and defining it will be challenge. Therefore, they can appreciate the usage of the word and understand its meaning... Great job!
ReplyDeleteso far so good. Hope this is the last time - -I need to edit my review to send it in.
ReplyDeleteRay & Rose, I agree to Florence comment. "Professional Development is the word of the day." Today, my colleagues and I (accreditation committee) were steam rolled. Our "professional development" is schedule on Monday and we are the bearer of great news to our groups. Thus, we will eventually come out under the steam roller and use Dr. K's five major systems - intra-personal; inter-personal; spiritual; contextual; and meta-cognitive. It’s going to be one hell of day. We will all be praying to our favor saint (All Saints Day – Nov. 1).
ReplyDeleteMy fourth article "Closing the Achievement Gap: The Experience of a Middle School is great." A school community can achieve greatness through an understanding leader with shared vision. Thus, the Guam Department of Education needs to assess leaders that can be accountable and ensure students first. We must change our ideas of education as relaying information into information becoming applied knowledge through life learning skills. We need to make a new direction by reading the data correctly and implement change quickly.
ReplyDeleteToday, I continued my character education lesson on environmental responsibility. I expanded today's lesson to have students create and draw another personalized character. They drew a fish. I prompted them by make sure they understood that they had to personalize the fish and envision what the fish might say.
ReplyDeleteI am plan to expand this lesson by incorporating service learning. I think that the idea of linking a lesson on environmental responsibility, with an opportunity for students to go outside and be environmentally responsible touches on the systems of learning that Dr. Kallingal talked about.
I agree with what Port HR is doing. ESL teachers definitely need to collaborate to make their strategies current and effective. There are other ways to assess those skills. Teachers can even spice up their lessons along the way. It wouldn't hurt.
ReplyDeletePrez, thanks for reminding me to consider those systems from Dr. Kallingal when I collaborate with my focus group.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, thank you Rose for your positive comment!
ReplyDeleteAlso, thank you for addressing the question, Florence. I forgot to clarify that my club is held BEFORE instructional hours, that non-classroom teachers are the main speakers, and that administration has allowed such a club to meet for the past 3 years now. Would you happen to also be a Bible Club advisor? I'm curious to know what you may have to share.
Assessment, Assessment, Assessment, my article is on “Political Dilemmas of Formative Assessment.” The system needs to decide on whether or not to use formative assessments or Data Driven Decision Making processes. Which gives a true snapshot on what are kids have learned. Lets just concentrate on life long skills and focus on that and lean more to DDDm.
ReplyDeleteRichard, I agree with you. We could all use a little spiritual insight. it was on of the five systems kallingal mentioned in his presentation.
ReplyDeleteToday my class was set up for voting. The voting booths were ready with pencils. The kids filled out their registration cards. I made voting ballots. We reviewed the candidate choices, and went over instructions for voting. The kids were coloring their badges "I Voted." As they were doing this, each voter had to bring up their registration card, sign next to their name on the voter registry. They were given their ballots and directed to the available booths. After they had marked their perspective candidates, they placed their ballots in the ballots boxes. They went back to their seats to complete their badges. After everyone was done, we went over the steps they took before voting. My content area is not long enough for the class to see the results. They will have to wait until Wednesday. I wish I had more time.
ReplyDeleteRoger your point about spicing up lesson is quite true. Today I asked all my student, what could the school do for them to make learning more interesting. 90% said that the teachers could make the lesson fun and enjoyable. There needs to be more creative interaction and sensativity with our students. Keep them happy.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was teaching in Arizona, the team of teachers I worked with believed in students conducting self and peer assessments. We designed the instruction and assessments to be student led and driven. Centers were established with rules and procedures. Peer led activities predominately occurred during this time. Students were assigned as leaders for alphabet and word walks. Centers were interchangeable based on students completing their tasks. Our role was to monitor, guide and provide immediate feedback when student leaders needed assistance. It had taken a few weeks before students were able to function on their own with minimal assistance from us.
ReplyDeleteLeadership is necessary for a different system to function in an intergrated manner. Each human being is a complex functioning system. Children spend a significant amount of their formative years in school. If teachers provide opportunities for children to grow in an intelligent way they will become not only be literate but also functional socially. They will be able to achieve growth in those different systems and as they become adults they will be able to function as socially responsible individuals.
ReplyDeleteWow, Richard your Bible club is wonderful and unique. I believe that students in both pubic and private schools need a dose of religion in the classroom, especially with all the tough influences students face today. Religion will help teachers reenforce the good values of life, love, peace and importance of education. I admire your courageousness to advise a club like this.
ReplyDeleteBobbie, I have seen many teachers struggle with the limited instructional time given to them to teach other content areas. They usually teach the same lesson for 1 to 3 days to ensure students met the objectives. I have observed that students retain and master the skills when they have more opportunities to demonstrate it.
ReplyDeleteI will focus my post on the use of technology in the classroom. I am currently working on a digital presentation for the students regarding bullying and also the laws of Guam that I feel are very important for the students to know. I enjoy using technology to educate the students. Speaking from experience, most of the students pay attention when technology is involved. I believe that it is all because of the bright light on the white board or wall and also the animated pictures and sound effects. I am a visual learner and I always assume that many students are the same way. So I work on what motivates me, which is a digital presentation. In addition to my presentation, I also involved the students by having them read parts of the presentation and by asking questions as well.
ReplyDeleteHumor is also important to me. I always make sure that I include some type of humor into my digital presentations. I try my best to be educational with it as well. However, it is very challenging to do most of the time. There are times whey the students do not get my joke and they look at me like I am so old and out of it or when I put funny pictures from my time and they do not understand because they consider them old school. I always try to stay updated with the generation and it is very difficult to do. So, I take the opportunity to learn from the students as much as I can. I let them know that I am more than willing to learn about their generation and often times the students begin to share whenever they hear me say that.
I am looking forward to teaching the students about how to care for themselves and others. I hope my digital presentation catches their attention and learn at the same time.
Annette, I agree with you about sharing some religious belief with the students of this generation. I think that many students now, particularly the teenagers, are lacking the knowledge of their spirituality. I wish there can be ways to teach children about the beauty of life, especially in public school, because I think that that can help them in some ways.
ReplyDeleteThis is a test.
ReplyDeleteBeverly, I like the title of your article, Is that from the Kappan? This class has been so interesting and I have been able to reconnect with a lot of people I knew from years ago. I have also learned a lot about assessment and accountability. I will miss our daily blogs when the class is over
ReplyDeleteHello everyone! I hope I'm not the last one to post my blog for tonight. To begin with, Today I was supposed to meet with one more teacher to help me out in administering the GDOE content standards assessment project. I found out that this teacher was contemplating on filing leave because his wife is due to give birth on the 3rd of November. I was about to push the panic button but his team mates stepped up to the plate to help him. I'm really thankful to this middle school concept of grade level teams.(hooray!) Anyway his team mate volunteered to administer test on that day. It was really a relief for me and I'm so happy to see this team working together. Also on the same day, I spoke with our data clerk regarding the demographics that I needed for this pilot testing and she assured me that she is going to work on it the first thing on November 3rd. Well, for now I hope and pray that everything turns out okay on the 3rd....For the meantime Happy Halloween to everyone!!!!!
ReplyDeletei like vocab quiz that annette used for her students by allowing them to choose the vocab words they for which they feel most comfortable. my last vocab quiz i gave, the students learned a key word in the definition of each vocab word. i'd like to try annette's vocab quiz method. testing the students on what they know and not what they're expected to learn may ease the anxiety of my students. thanks for the idea, annette.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you Neet...Yes...I'll miss blogging when the class is over too...Janice...It's TRUE...I have to teach the same lesson for a few days to meet objectives...also...some students were absent and I will give them another day or so to make-up their work.
ReplyDeletePre-Halloween at Southern was exciting
ReplyDeleteStudents covered in masks or dressed as fairies
The haunted house was absolutely scary
Students fretting, perspiring--
But yet, kept returning
Goodies were given and received
Coated with hugs and great spirits
Teachers actually smiling and mingling
Oh Dear, wait! Are they just students dressed in oversized costumes?
Amazing resemblance.
On this pre-goblin and ghost day
All went well.
Witches cast no spell,
Werewolves and Zombies
Vampires and freaks hid in dungeons
far-far-away.
Many kind Thanks to the great
Jeckle-n-Hide master-mind
Whom we call---Principal.
Hee-Hee-hee-hee, Happy Halloween!
I "Agree" with Annette and Jose with having students choose their vocabulary words their comfortable with....maybe...I'll try that idea next week Wednesday=) Thanks...Annette and Jose!
ReplyDeleteToday was a fairly uneventful day in the Counseling Office. Most students who came by were very spirited and I enjoyed being able to see them in their creative costumes! I took some time to work on a counselor survey that was given to me by UOG's Educational Talent Search program. Because this is the last year of funding for their grant, they are working on a new one in hopes of continuing what I feel is a very successful and helpful program for students. It provides tutoring, college counseling, and weekend workshops on various topics to assist students in moving towards college after high school. The information I need to provide consists of data from the current and previous school years. Hopefully the grant gets approved and they are able to keep the program running.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I received the list of my students who have failed classes in the 1st quarter. I now need to send out letters and make phone calls to parents about their child's status and explain that if they are unable to pick up grades in the 2nd quarter, it may be possible for them to fail the semester, and thus, not earn credit.
October 29. It’s 11:48 pm. and yippee! I’ve just completed emailing Dr. Rivera my final literary review . Although my brain is completely on “overdrive” with all the “uploading” and “downloading” of information I did this week, I enjoyed researching and reading different articles on assessments - I truly learned a lot from it! Performance task assessment and three-color ink quiz formative assessment are two assessment strategies I will definitely incorporate into my instructional plan beginning this quarter.
ReplyDeleteI have about 20 minutes before midnight to post my blog and to submit my literature review via email. It has been a busy night with friends calling over to the house.
ReplyDeleteI finished my practicum on the mock legislative hearing, but today was our third annual United Nations Day sponsored by the Social Studies. It was very exciting because we started off today with the parade of nations (gym), and cultural dance performers from Talofofo Elementary School, the Republic of Belau cultural dancers, and G.W. cultural performers dazzled the students with their chants and colorful outfits. There was excitement in the air. After lunch, the students reported to the various breakout sessions, whereas each grade level gave presentations on the history and culture of Fiji, Australia, The Republic of Belau, New Zealand, Philippines, and the Federated States of Micronesia. It was really a successful event after months of preparation by the S.S. department. Each content area sponsors a culminating event as part of our educational school action plan. Finally, I have managed to asked several students to write a reflection paper based on the United Nations event. It was such an awesome day.
ma, I agree. Students are one of the best resources for continuing education especially in technology. What we don't know students will educate us.
ReplyDeleteAnnette and ma, if you want to be creative with technology, check out this brand new tool for teachers and students. I just found it and trying it out. Here's the link:
ReplyDeleteedu.glogster.com
Had a hard day today. Admin expects teachers to do everything. Only two team teachers showed up and we had an activity. So we had take care of 100 kids. That was just one day. They want us to have tutoring session before school and during lunch. How dare they. We have "homebase" every morning and it is supposed to be non-instructional.Now we have to tutor and teach.
ReplyDeleteYes Neeti the last couple of articles I've read were from Kappan. It has been an enriching learning experience taking this class. I've enjoyed all your interesting insights! It is always such a great opportunity to meet & interact with fellow educational professionals who are the pride of Guam!
ReplyDeleteJoseph, it is hard to be a teacher these days. I'm for tutoring but certainly NOT during lunch. It should be embedded as part of instructional time. The weekend is here. I hope you can get some rest.
ReplyDeleteHi - just wanted to say thank you to Grace for the glogster EDU site. I was just exploring glogster and it looks quite creative and educational so far. Thanks for sharing and being classmates!
ReplyDeleteLoved your poem, Annette! Especially the ending, what a blast, too funny.
See you all at class.
Janice: You did some AWESOME work in Arizona.
ReplyDeleteRoger: Service Learning is a GREAT learning
extension to your environmental
responsibiltiy lesson. Teaching our
students to be more conscientious of our
environment is extremely important.
Here I am...trying to get in to the blog site. Like Vicky, I've really enjoyed researching and also reading different articles on asssessment and especially classroom asssessment strategies. I've really learned a lot and I intend to continue to practice these strategies. The students enjoyed doing the "Write a Letter to a Friend Task" activity and I continue to practice with my questioning stategy. Increasing waiting time after asking questions was rather difficult to start with, but I am getting better at it.
ReplyDeleteHow 'bout that! I finally got through...........what a relief! Thank you Dr. Rivera, I really enjoyed these assignments........indeed I have a lot to work on. This is quite a learning experience.
ReplyDeleteThe Staff/Faculty Professional Development was very long.
ReplyDeleteHere’s what was on our Agenda:
1. SAT 10. Results. Graph & comparisons of decline or increase,
FBLG maintains its 3rd place standing.
2. Accreditation Part I. Jessica Fejeran, Leader for Accreditation.
3. Accreditation Part II. Teacher Issues and Resolve? Concerns for overload,
of teacher assignments; lack of collaboration, Principal has too much control and teachers input is meaningless.
4. BULLYING. Bully proof method for students: This is what we decided to do for the methods: Say “STOP with hands straight up, TALK and WALK AWAY comfortably.
Hollywood Wanna Bs’. Starring Irene Cabral and Erlinda Young
P.E. Department- Jamindang, Deseo, and Tulagan.
Others…
In preparation for our presentation on "Using Data to Improve Student Achievement (Leaders of Learner's) session, the 4 assistant principals met to plan their presentation.
ReplyDeleteIn a nutshell, the focus of our professional learning community presentation was to use SAT10 Item Analysis data to Improve Student Achievement." By the end of the session, 3 outcomes were to be achieved: 1. (12) identified weak SAT10 skills were to be listed and taught to mastery for success in the upcoming SAT10 test for our students. 2. In small groups, teachers will discuss and share best practices being implemented at their school to address these weak skills. 3. Use the SMART goals to create a plan of Acion to meet these skill.
As portHR said,it is wonderful to see teachers collaborate and share best practices to meet student needs.
I found everyone's blog very helpful and will go back and reatrace some of their ideas. I know the more teaching strategies the more helpful to be able to select from them to determine authentic assessments that may allow me to "...understand the cognitive and affective profiles of each student." (Ellerton's speech, UOG2010) Last year our faculty did presentations on strategies that were to produce student achievement and only showed student's application but did not provide for survey wether the strategies could be used for authentic assessments proving its effectiveness and whether increased student performance was in fact achieved. I as a teacher will now avail only authentic assessments as much as possible because, I can now recognize failed and successful accomplishments of my students to better devise curricula that can help them more efficiently. SAT 10 is by far a tiny implication of our student's progress still very far off from the national standard unless we begin to pull from research and bind them in binders as top selection methods to increase student learning. So authenticity affirms my students need for them to become top of the line, constructivist learners.
ReplyDeleteHi Gloria, the method you enumerated is exactly what we use at FBLG Middle??? Wha....t up with that and still no recorded evidence or assessment is provided as to that strategy. When are teachers going to be allowed to truly, seriously collaborate. We need to try new methods by teachers not administrators (Ellerton, UOG2010). We do need them sanction our goals and lobby for their acceptance as they support us. It does happen but in such minute situations wherein the results are not reviewed or assessed. Im ready to contribute and be rotated if necessary.
ReplyDeleteAnother objective that we accomplish during our Professional Staff Development was all teaching staff was able to design pre-tests and post-test for each subject area in all grade levels to better monitor student progress. This is a good thing, that way all teachers are consistently teaching the same skills, and all their doing is modifying their teaching strategies during the implementation of their lesson/s to meet students' individual needs.
ReplyDelete