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Assignment 1 Observations First Impressions

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edTPA seems like a great framework for guiding and mentoring new teachers toward becoming extremely effective. It appears of be a lot of work as multiple students were interviewed mentioned the lengthy writing, “all-nighters” constant reflection. But the rigor and focus it provides will undoubtedly be beneficial; especially if you are able to humbly reflect on your performance. I also think the self-reflection aspect will be very beneficial as we interview for fulltime positions. Not only will we have the grades and certification requirements, but we will bring deep personal insight on our current teaching practice (strengths and weaknesses) across a linty of areas that other candidates, who haven’t had an edTPA experience, will be missing.

Knowing the challenges that I, and other classmates have experienced in getting placed for observation & student teaching though, I’m wondering how much districts have bought into this framework thus far. Do districts, department chairs, sponsoring teachers viewing this as extra work for them? Also, in comparison to the Danielson framework, I think I'd prefer Danielson, because it appears more straightforward (less academic jargon) and more focused on concrete learning as opposed to language usage.

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Academic language

Language Demands

Language functions

Discourse

"Demonstrate the connections between quantitative and qualitative patterns of learning for individuals or groups."

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https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/75ab7027-4280-4baa-ae26-3953e27288c9

PIN: 0423969

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My five takeaways on School Climate and Culture

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My five takeaways on School Climate and Culture

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1.    School climate and school culture are different, but the differences are very subtle Climate = short term behaviors and believes of individuals, Culture = the collective believes and values of all the individuals in the school

2.    Honestly, this is still confusing to me.  Is a gang-ridden school a climate or a culture issue? Is diversity a climate or a culture? I realize that a strong football or band tradition = culture and an annual homecoming bonfire would be culture. I really don’t see a lot of value in understanding this distinction other than knowing that subtle changes that rub against cultural norms will likely fail.

3.    Positive school climate leads to academic success, increased student feeling of belonging, decreased bullying, teacher retention, etc.

4.    Defining, altering, and assessing school climate is a significant undertaking that is typically lead by administrators and results can be seen in 3-5 year to feel the change.

5.    There many grants and 3rdparty organizations to assist schools in improving their climate.

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My 5 takeaways on Differentiated Instruction: 

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My 5 takeaways on Differentiated Instruction: 

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1.    In one classroom a teacher is likely facing a thousand different needs and perspectives from students (cultural backgrounds, languages, backgrounds, sense of security, level of confidence with the subject..).

2.    Differentiated instruction a work in progress for teachers; it’s not something that will be mastered in year.  It’s an ongoing commitment

3.    Differentiation = responsive teaching. Catering the activities and instruction to the individual needs of students.  Requires on-going formative assessment.

4.    Diversity and differentiation is the interesting aspect of teaching. If all our students had the exact same needs and emotions, my career choice would be tragically boring

5.    We cannot just teach content, we have find ways to relate it to student schema’s nurture meta cognition as they participating into the lesson so they can internalize the content and make it their own.

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Dennis,
You pose an interesting question re: a gang-ridden school--culture or climate?  I suppose it could be both, especially gangs impact/influence the entire school environment and teachers/administrators have given up completely. It is possible for individual classrooms to have a positive climate in spite of this predicament.
LP

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Dennis,
Although I couldn't get into the Kahoot, I'm impressed that you decided to use this platform for your True/False quiz!

LP

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Yes, but you survived it!
LP

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You only need to respond to the one rubric I posted for the video assessment assignment.
You have an appropriate list of ed theories that you can make references in your edTPA as well.  You did not write the definitions, so I am assuming you understand them.

LP

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Myth #4: Little can be done for students who are not motivated to engage in learning.

I could see how this this philosophy could be prevalent amongst secondary teachers who are used to channeling struggling students toward vocational programs. Many of these teachers have view the motivations of struggling students in decline and rather than “fighting an uphill battle” in trying to remediate their challenges, they see an easier path in training them to be productive in the vocational ranks. I think the gravest fallacy with this mentality is that vocational occupations require less literacy and math rigor. I believe this is largely the opposite in this day and age where many vocational occupations require diligent usage of schematics, geometry, and technical literature.  If we wish to direct some students more toward technical literacy and math, that has merits, but to track them in a way that requires less math and reading all together isn’t setting them up for success in any well-paying career.

How RTI impacts a classroom teacher:

RTI will assist secondary educators in getting the specialized assistance they need for student who are struggling but do not meet the benchmarking criteria needed for special education.  Rather than trying to coach the students on literacy or math, they can use an outside source to help catch the student up and also ask for their assistance in providing these students with differentiated instruction.

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What did school personnel identify as the major challenges of RtI implementation?

Master scheduling issues and the required credit courses for graduation were getting in the way. They needed a system of enabling students to move fluidly in and out of classes and to get more creative with credits to enable the students to meet requirements while also getting the extra needed help.

What is used for universal screening for RTI? Efficiently describe the tier 2 intervention used in this school.

Initially screen every student coming from middle school and for those who are placed in a program additional screen in takes place to ensure they are slotted in a place where there needs are most met.  Two tier intervention = 15% slotted in a program that requires moderate interventions, and 1-5% slotted in a position to get significant interventions.

Reading intervention became the actual English class and they also added another English course as an elective, so that they get a double dose.  Class sizes are smaller, and giving them time to absorb the content to constantly scaffold and overlap.

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My question is more about curriculum.  Can a teacher do this on their own or do we rely on a district-wide program?

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Why is it called balanced assessment?

It's looking at a abundance of info rather than basing the student's RTI consideration solely an initial standardized test.

�How does this approach differ from the structure provided at Tigard? Argue for the approach that you think is more compelling in responding to student needs?

The Shawano method is superior to Tigard because they used multiple methods to assess students, they got some outside coaching to retrain teachers to implement activity based learning as well.

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I looked through many of these and they all seem like packaged curriculums that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for a district to implement. I focused on reading and looked for the ones with the most red circles, but honestly, none of them stood out as incredibly differentiated from one another.  To make a purchase decision like this, administrators would likely need visit a trade show and sit through detailed sales presentations.  At any rate, I chose Read Right because it has both a teacher-lead version (with coaching support) and an online version. The description of this product used a lot of sales terminology so it was difficult to understand exactly what would set this apart from competitors. It looks to me that this is used primarily within the African American and Hispanic communities in middle school -9thgrade. Honestly, I think I would need a class to understand the metrics described in these tables (likely something an administrator learns about when earning a Type 75).

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1.    Most districts implement RTI by purchasing packaged curriculums (T)

2.    Shawano school district’s assessment practices were robust for identifying students who require intervention (F)

3.    15% of students in most districts require the highest amount of intervention and accommodations (F)

4.     Accommodations are practices and procedures in the areas of presentation, response, setting and timing/scheduling that provide equitable access to the general (core) curriculum during instruction and assessments for students with disabilities (T)

5.    Interventions require either the teaching of a researched based strategy or a skill that is focused on increasing the at-risk student’s proficiency in the targeted area, either academically or behaviorally. (T)

6.    Pulling a student out of class to work with a reading specialist is an example of an accommodation (F)

7.    There are very few RTI curriculums designed for high school (F)

8.    RTI is more prominent in elementary schools than secondary schools (T)

9.    RTI was a trend in the 1990’s that has fallen out of favor because of its focus on quantitative data (F)

10.  RTI is has similarities to tracking (T/F - It could go either way, time will tell)

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Your responses are excellent, Dennis.  Do you see any of RtI-related strategies  in place in your school?

Attendance credit for Week 9.
LP

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Never omit any info.  You must complete the box re: ELL as well.
9 points/10 points
LP

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One thing I'm confused about is where do I actually provide the lesson plan in EdTPA?

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Video 1: https://youtu.be/qBwbjDpcJHg

Video 2: https://youtu.be/Vy3sETRbf9k

It was difficult to find good video that demonstrate both instruction and formative assessment during group activity due the the rules that videos cannot be clipped or edited.

I'm glad I'm doing this as a trial run for the spring EdTPA, but I really think they are boiling the ocean with the EdTPA process in general. The only valuable aspect in my mind the question 5 where we reflect on how we could improve. Much of the rest is redundant questioning and research/justification exercise.

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Great points!
Attendance Credit for Week 11
LP

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This WebQuest will be an alternative group activity in Lesson 1 of my Unit Plan
https://dsentrepreneur.weebly.com

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A veered a bit from the traditional 50 minute plans due to block scheduling at Maine South

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Assignment 2 - Classroom Layout (Intro to Business)

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Assignment 2 - Classroom Layout (Intro to Business)

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Question 1: Classroom layout – Eight ½-circle tables are spread out in front of the teacher’s desk. The teacher’s desk has a desktop computer and some technology that enables overhead projection.  Behind the desk is a whiteboard as well as a screen for projecting.  I think the space is used as efficiently as possible.  The half circle tables enable solid collaboration and instill students to face forward.

Question 2: The physical arrangement can be improved by removing the storage sections and sliding the teacher’s desk left.  This would enable some to the tables to be brought forward; enabling more space for walking.  On the desk, I’d slide the monitor to the right so that I wouldn’t have to look over the top of my monitor to see students. Finally, I’d ask the maintenance team to hang hooks on the walls for back packs.  These backpacks are currently a hazard for those walking between tables.

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Assignment 5 - Cooperating Teacher interview

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Assignment 5 - Cooperating Teacher interview

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Assignment 5 Cooperating Teacher Profile

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Score = 5 points/5 points
LP

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Summary Evaluation of Cooperating Teacher

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Summary Evaluation of Cooperating Teacher

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On blackboard the link to the description for this assignment is broken. I'm guessing it just requires the submission of the following docs.  If this is not the case, please let me know

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Score = 5 points/5 points
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Score = 5 points/5 points
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Score = 5 points/5 points
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Score = 5 points/5 points
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Score = 5 points/5 points
LP