domain 4: Professional responsibilities
Repertoire of instructional strategies
Teaching, planning, curriculum adjustment notes
Various notes that I made in my paper plan book. Click each image to see a larger version.
Reflection is something that I constantly do. I enjoy the messy work of processing and thinking about what could be improved and what works well. In terms of my everyday planning, I write notes in my paper plan book. For other issues (resources not working, found better resources, corrections, improvements), I take care of those electronically right away. Sometimes it's as simple as making a note on a Flipchart, but most times I make corrections directly on my Weebly site.
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Attendance logs
Class Dojo for 6th grade; on seating charts for other classes Grades
Notebook for "evidence of learning" contains anecdotal information as well as assessment results (formal and informal) about each student. Here is an example for ONE of my 7th grade classes for 3rd marking period. Click each image to see a larger version.
I chose to do my attendance on my seating charts because I like to keep things as simple as possible. I often think, "What would be the easiest thing for my colleagues, a substitute or me to access in any event?" I keep my seating charts on a clipboard in my classroom. In the rare event of an emergency, the attendance and seating charts are very easy to find.
Last year was the first that I changed the name of my paper grade book to my "evidence of learning". Over the summer, I made some tweaks to the format of it to allow more room for comments. I like to include basic grading criteria and also make note of weaknesses and growth areas. The only thing that I could do to improve the form may be to include a box in the footer for grading criteria. |
Grade Book
A short description of each assignment (or the learning goal) is provided. Grading criteria are also included (or attached) for both formative and summative assessments. When appropriate, a link to the task is included. Web Sites
This is a Symbaloo Webmix for easy access to my main tools for class. My main tool for communicating with parents and students, to post links for class activities and to give assessments is Edmodo. I like the ability for small group or one-to-one conversations. It also allows parents to track their child's progress. I have used Edmodo with all of my classes, with my Advisory and with Spanish Club. I use the Weebly sites for curation purposes and as a back up for Edmodo. Back-To-School Night ~ Handout for parents
I have been making a conscious effort to better communicate what students' grades mean - what the criteria for evaluation are as well as how the tasks tie to the learning goals. I have not been making a "big deal" about students' grades; some of them are concerned about raising their grades. I deal with those concerns by asking: How they can show me that they have learned more? Is a student with a 95% only 1% smarter in this class? What does that really prove?
In communicating with students and their parents, my goal is to keep things as simple as possible. I limit the number of tools that I use; this helps everyone to be able to access class materials as quickly and easily as possible. |
School Events
Subscriptions and Online PLN
Teacher Mentor
Dori Hammer, 1st Year Computer Teacher Unofficially to Caislin Carr, Long Term Substitute Spanish Teacher I love to learn from others and to bring ideas that I learn about back to my classroom. Reading others' blog posts and best practice research is fun for me. I have connected with a few groups of teachers of Comprehensible Input on Facebook and Twitter.
I am also a good listener and am perceptive of others. These traits have been advantageous in my role as a mentor but also as a chaperone, a club advisor and a teacher. |
I am proud to be able to present again this year at OFLA. My session's topic is called "CSI Proficiency Appropriate Assessments: Connect, Share & Inspire". In addition, I attended a viewing party of EdmodoCon at a friend's house. I am also a member of ACTFL. In addition, I included some of the professional books that I have read. All of them directly relate to our curriculum changes and to help to support my colleagues in seeing the value of these changes.
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I have been the department coordinator for many years. Over time (not only in this role), I have seen a lot of growth in my leadership skills and in my maturity. This evolution has also been seen in my mentoring and in helping other teachers with technology integration.
This year, I have been working on presuming people's best intentions when collaborating. This became quite helpful when working on French Scope and Sequence. I realized that part of our disagreement may have been caused by staff members not having a good background in curriculum and instruction, a lack of understanding of WHY we doing the process nor of HOW the process worked. Stacy Winslow and I worked together to teach the members of this group about the process and to have a common vocabulary. |