Ch. 12, Assessment

One thing, as mentioned in this chapter, that I feel I'm strong at is giving assessments that are "doable" for my students. I think I'm aware/keen on what they can and can't do. Yes, I challenge them and try to broaden their thinking, but I never assess beyond their capability. My school is good at this too. They encourage us to challenge and have high expectations but also to do everything in our power to help the students succeed. If our assessments are on track and target our students' capabilities, then they have every chance to be successful. I think both my school and myself are good at conferencing with our students to see what they believe is their best testing methods. We attempt to give them input and listen to what they tell us. Another strong point for me in the area of assessment is the fact that I'm good at developing PASS-like questions. I aim to get my kids to be familiar with the types of questions they will see on PASS in May, so that's what I include in my assessments throughout the year.

One thing I'm not so good at, that I could definitely improve, is monitoring my students with things like watching for mechanical skills. Although it seems so easy, some of them aren't exactly sure how to correctly bubble in answers or where to write them. I could be a better monitor when it's test or quiz time. Another thing I could improve on is the rigor of my assessments. ALthough I think I'm good at challenging them, I could always become better at stretching their minds on assessments. It's hard for me to knowhow to challenge and stretch without being too hard. I figure this is something I will continue to improve on as I teach. I can tell my assessments are written better now than just a few years ago.

One way I could improve as an assessor is by talking more to veteran teachers and seeing some of their assessments. I could ask for their advice on challenging without being too tough. There's one teacher in our building who has excellent PASS scores every year. I could talk with her and probably glean great assessment advice from her. Obviously she must develop some solid assessments to come out with such excellent PASS scores every year.

Ch. 5--Classroom Management

I think I am good at clearly reviewing classroom management periodically. I reflect on strategies that are working and are not working to see what needs to be tweaked and how. I've learned that each year's group of students are different, behave differently, and have to be dealt with in different ways. I think I'm good at evaluating myself and re-evaluating how I am as a classroom manager. I can see that I've really changed from my first few years as a teacher in that I am enforce rules and expect them to see ME as the classroom manager. In my first years in this career, being younger, it was sometimes hard to be mean and enforce things as needed. Deep down I wanted to be thought of as cool and funny, but most of the time that just doesn't work. Now I don't care about their opinions on my management skills. Don't like me? Fine, but are you able to concentrate and focus and succeed under my watch? Yes, then that's what matters most. As the book points out, I have to judge as a "manager" whether the current conditions meet the most primary goal I have as a teacher, and that's if they can succeed academically under my care. I like that page 112 points out the fact that 85% of new teachers admit to not knowing how to handle certain student behavior. This is so true to me! I also think I am good at establishing a positive classroom environment, stating rules in a positive manner, and expecting things that are age appropriate. I think I'm clear on what I will accept and won't accept, and I've learned the students appreciate structure. They appreciate knowing what to expect and knowing the guidelines. I think I'm a very good delegator. I can delegate jobs and responsbilities well without sounding too bossy.

One thing I could improve on is preparing my classroom in a way that reduces interruptions and negative behavior. Sometimes I wonder if I re-arranged my seating, would that help? Another thing I could work on is letting go of some of the control I want to have when we do group work. I could let them pick their own partners, as mentioned on page 114. I could work on explicitly enforcing the rules by modeling more. I bet some of the kids don't know how to act because they haven't been shown. If I modeled, they might "get" it. I could do more role-play and repeat procedures more to ensure they understand. ANother thing I could improve upon is setting up expectations when I'm out and have a sub. I often feel like they don't treat the subs well enough and this is scary to me. I truly appreciate any sub who walks in the door, as I realize it's a hard job to fill. I want them to treat him/her as good as they would me, maybe even better! THis is something I need to work on. They need to better know what I expect with them and a sub.

I could use parents more in having effective classroom management. I've gotten better at this, but I'd like to continue using parents as supporters and using them more when needed in behavior issues. I've learned they want to be informed and want to give me support so that I can help their child. This is something I could continue to learn about and implement in different ways. I'd also like to implement more of the concept called "tootling". I think that's a neat idea that I'd like to look more into.

Collaboration

I think collaborating with my peers is extremely important. My school is involved with the TAP program, so we meet to collaborate every Tuesday during one of our planning periods. We collaborate during these weekly meetings. I also collaborate when I attend a mandatory district meeting with fellow 7th grade ELA teachers. We meet for an hour once a month to collaborate. We just finished collaborating ideas and strategies on informational text and research. We will next discuss and share ideas on the new common core standards that's going to be implemented in the next few years. This weekly collaboration time is mandatory, but I would still make time to collaborate regardless. I do find time to collaborate with the other 7th grade reading teacher on my hall. We talk 3rd period every single day. We run ideas by each other and reflect on what we've tried. Collaborating with her, since she teaches the same material, is extremely helpful to me on a daily basis.

I wish I could collaborate with the other reading teachers in my building more. However, we have different planning periods and they're on different halls. This makes finding the time to talk much more difficult. This is something I wish could be worked out. I know I could glean good information from them and vice versa.
Collaboration is a great way to reflect upon yourself and glean great, new ideas from your peers.

Chapter 2

I have a current Autistic student who I have a great relationship with. He is highly intelligent and is in my GT class. He has the 3 characteristics as listed on page 55. He has trouble verbally expressing that he needs help with an assignment. I can't think of one classmate he is personal friends with. He has unique, repetitive habits with his pencils and the way he holds his papers. In spite of all these things, he's a very likable boy who is a joy for me to teach. I feel like I've established a really good rapport with him. Coming into my classroom, I had been told that he would get easily upset and shut down. So way back in August, I purposely set out ways to establish a good relationship that would help him thrive. I use humour with him, and I'm patient and open-minded with him, which from what I've seen, is exactly what he needs. In spite of his unique ways, I've helped him thrive within my classroom because of things I've done to establish a good rapport with him. I've seen him succeed and am excited to see how far he can go this year under my watch.

One way I could improve as an educator is to learn more about low-incidence disabilities, other than Autism. I have never taught a student with Rett Syndrome or CDD. Therefore, I am not knowledgable of these disorders. If I were to have a student with one of these diablities, I would have to learn more about them quickly! Another way I could improve on is finding additional ways to help my Austistic student. Sure, I feel like I do a pretty good job now, but I could always find additional activites and things to help him thrive evern further.

I would like to read more material on various low-incidence disabilities. Another thing I've always wanted to do is learn sign language. I don't need it now, but who knows when I might have a student who could benefit from it. I realize it would be best to learn before I really need it.

Chapter 1

As mentioned on page 28-29, I think I do a good job of assessing and identifying my students who seem to be struggling with my assessments, whether formative or summative. I think one of my good characteristics as a teacher is I'm insightful. I am pretty keen, and I always look for puzzled facial expressions, students "holding back", and verbal and written expressions. I feel like it comes natural to me to spot students in my class who are struggling. I also fee like I'm pretty in-tune with these students who seem to be socially withdrawn from their peers. I try to find ways to praise them and offer them plenty of opportunities to share what they're feeling through speech and writing. I feel like this is one thing I do right, and I want to keep being on my toes in this area!

One thing I could improve upon is identifying with the students enough to solve the problem they're struggling with. Since I did not have a learning disability of any kind, I often have to MAKE myself realize that some of my students may simply not "get" a skill I'm teaching just because I picked it up so easily when I was in their shoes. Yes, I'm good at identifying there's a struggle, but I could definitely improve in being a problem solver when I DO see a struggle. I could improve the way I strategize. Another area I could improve upon concerning this area is the way I deal with my many ADHD students. Being a very laid-back, easygoing person, it's very hard for me to sometimes empathize with them. A lot of times I get frustrated that they just can't be still long enough to listen to what I'm trying to teach them. I could work on being more patient and empathetic to their needs.

One way I plan to improve as an educator is becoming more aware of my students and their individual needs from the very beginning. I would like to take the time to learn who they are at the beginning of the year. I think this would help in many ways.

RTI

I would score my school as a 2 for RTI. I would score us as a 2 because I don't think we respond for interventions soon enough or pursue it seriously enough. Personally, I don't think my adminstrators value our (teachers) view on students as seriously as they could. Sometimes it feels like our opinions and insights are swept under the rug or just not looked into like they could be. Yes, of course, I think we have a good school and do a lot of things right, but this is one area we could improve in!

Introduction!

Hello, my name is Shannon Vaughn, and I teach 7th grade ELA at DMS in Pickens County. I am in my seventh year of teaching. I mainly focus on the standards related to writing and grammar. We have another 7th grade Reading teacher who mainly focuses on teaching reading. However, I cover a few novels as well.
I love teaching my students how to have effective skills in communication through writing, reading, and speech.