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I teach 4th grade ELA/SS at Hughes Elementary. This is my second year of teaching - I started last January! My favorite place to vacation is New Orleans, LA. I love the history and fun that envelopes the city. (The food doesn't hurt either!)

Point to Ponder: I would like to focus on the positive with my students this year: what they got right instead of what they got wrong. Work with students to seek out positive, rather than focus on the negative.

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I teach 1st grade at Hughes Elementary. This is my second year of teaching! My favorite place to vacation is San Francisco. I would like to focus more on the questions my students got right as opposed to the ones they got wrong when grading.

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Golden Gate Bridge - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com

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Find out more about the history of Golden Gate Bridge, including videos, interesting articles, pictures, historical features and more. Get all the facts on HISTORY.com

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I teacher 7th grade Texas History at Medlin Middle School.  This is my 2nd year of teaching and I love it!  My favorite vacation spot is Provence, France.  We went there for our honeymoon and it was amazing.
I would like to incorporate more self assessment and reflection for my students this year. I think it's important for them to understand their strengths, areas to improve, and how far they have come.

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I teach 4th grade Math/Science at Clara Love Elementary. This is my 2nd year in 4th grade and my 4th year teaching. Before 4th grade I taught 2nd grade, but I really love just being able to focus on Math and Science now.
My favorite place to vacation is Ruidoso, New Mexico. I am an outdoor enthusiast and absolutely love to snowboard. The culture and town is very fun as well.

Point to Ponder:
The part in the article that really stuck out to me was when they were discussing how we can help students turn failure into success. In 4th grade we take a lot of CBAs, and one thing that we started doing last year was spending a day to deconstruct the test. To go through each question and show students the percentage of the class that got the correct answer. Students then had to check if they made a careless mistake, or if they really didn't understand the question. It was a big eye opener for students because they realized that they could've got the question correct if they had taken more time on it, or checked over their work to lessen these careless mistakes. I plan on using this again this year, especially for students to fill out the form so that I can use that data to form small groups based on student's needs.

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I am currently teaching 3rd ELA and Social Studies at Thompson Elementary. This is my third year teaching and third in the district. My first year I taught fifth grade and this is my second year in third grade and I LOVE it! My favorite place to vacation is the Cayman Islands. I adore the people, culture, and how beautiful it is there. I took my daughters there for the first time this past summer and it was amazing.
Point to Ponder:
I want to give students the opportunity to take ownership of their learning and be able to self assess themselves in a way that is meaningful to them. If the after assessment is relevant to them they will naturally become more engaged.

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I am currently teaching 5th grade ELA and Social Studies at Thompson Elementary. This is my third year in the district and at my current position. I've been teaching for seven years so far, beginning in Fort Worth ISD teaching 6-8 grade ELA. As for a favorite vacation spot, I don't really have one definitive favorite. The most memorable vacation would probably be my honeymoon. My wife and I spent a week and a half traveling throughout Italy. We learned a few days into the trip that when traveling abroad, it's probably best to stick to one area and soak in as much of it as possible. But we ended our trip in a tiny country town called Lucca. The buildings were all from the Renaissance period. The people were kind and mild-mannered. It was secluded from the business of modern life. It was a fairy tale kind of place.

Point to Ponder: Students that have grown accustomed to failure grow to accept failure as just another part of their life. Coincidentally, students that are often successful that also embrace failure equally accept it as a part of life. The key difference here is that those that continually fail either don't have the drive or foresight to look at their shortcomings as a learning experience, whereas those that tend to be more successful use their failures as a means to learn more. How do we help those that fail often and are okay with it look upon those moments as teachable moments?

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Boats and boating--Equipment and supplies

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I teach 2nd grade at JC Thompson. This is my third year in education and my third year at NISD!  My favorite place to vacation is the beach!  I love Perdido Key, Florida!
Point to Ponder: Scenario 2 really struck a chord with me. 2nd graders are quick to become discouraged when there is a failure, but it is our job to build them up and teach them to view the failure as a learning experience. Turning their failure into a success and then into many future successes because the life lesson extends further than that one assignment.

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I teach Kindergarten at Roanoke Elementary. This is my 8th year to teach and 3rd in this awesome district! I love visiting my family in Central Oregon as often as I can. My parents are very active and we love outdoor adventures when my husband and I go. We got married there last September!

Things to Ponder: I want to provide these techniques to my students in the kindergarten classroom since I have many students that come in ready to read and already mastered many of the math TEKS. I want to come up with strategies to better help these students continue to expand past what they know and prevent them from becoming "bored" in the classroom. I want to focus on the structure of this and help them become independent.

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I teach 4th grade ELA and Social Studies at Hughes Elementary. This is my second year in fourth grade and in teaching overall. One of our favorite vacation spots is to go to Colorado and stay in cabins in the mountains every summer. This picture is from our jeep day in the mountains!

Point to Ponder: I want to give my students the opportunity to take ownership in their goals through their own means. I would like to learn how they can differentiate based on what works for them to track their goals individually.

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I teach 4th grade ELA and Social Studies at Beck Elementary. This is my 3rd year teaching, but my first year in 4th grade and in NISD. My favorite spot to vacation is Destin, Florida with my family. This picture was taken during my last family vacation before I moved to Texas!

Point to Ponder: I want to give my students the opportunity to take more ownership over their learning.  I want to allow my students to help create rubrics/assessments and have a role in parent conferences. I agree that these changes could help keep my students on a winning streak.

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I teach 5th grade Dual Language ELA and Social   Studies at Roanoke Elementary. This is my 8th year as a teacher, 2nd in the district. My favorite place to vacation is back home in the island of Puerto Rico.

Point to ponder:
With the Assessment experience students are more likely to take risk and ownership of their own learning. It also focus in to turning failure in to success.

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I teacher 4th grade Math/Science at Justin Elementary. This is my second year at Justin, but my 8th year in education. I absolutely love traveling with my family, but my favorite place is Hawaii!
Points to Ponder:
How can I make the "after assessment" experience more engaging for my students? I love the idea of giving them a chance to re-evaluate their own work and see where they went wrong - whether careless mistake or truly not understanding the question

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I teach 2nd grade math and science at Hughes Elementary.  This is my fourth year in second grade. I taught Kindergarten for ten years and first grade for 6 years. We went to Spain over spring break and it was fantastic!
Point to Ponder:
We have our students set goals for themselves based on the pre-assessment we do for math but how can we follow through and make sure they take ownership of those goals.

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Hi!  I teach Kindergarten at Lakeview.  This is my 16th year teaching, and my 10th in NISD.  My husband and I lived in northern Italy for 4 years and our favorite place to visit is Lake Barcas.
Point to Ponder:
In Kindergarten we are preassessing daily. What do they already know, what are they struggling with? In math workshop we have the solo time where students process the problem independently for a few minutes and then talk about what they know and give the opportunity for fixing it.

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I teach 2nd grademath/science at Schluter. I have taught a total of 13 years, 7 of them in NISD.  My family vacationed in the San Francisco area this summer. We did touristy things, but also included a lot of beach/nature areas.
Point to Ponder:
I really liked the part where the teacher allowed the assessment losers to go back and really look at where they were struggling. She gave them a chance to delve into the problem and then gave them the chance to fix it. I love this idea(the format she used)!

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I teach 2nd grade ELA at Beck Elementary. This is my 4th year of education, first year teaching second grade. My favorite place to vacation has been the beaches in Hawaii. Nothing more relaxing then the sun, some scuba diving, beautiful blue water and have the great company of family members.

Thought to ponder: How can I better assess my students for learning? How can I implement this into my plans so that I am better assessing my students while also encouraging them to seek to better understand their unknowns. I want to create an environment where students see mistakes as a place of growth and an opportunity to learn, or better understand.

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I teach 6th and 7Th ELA at Pike.  I have been there 17 years, but this is year 20 for me.  I truly am not a traveler though I enjoy walking in the woods, preferably by a stream.

Point to Ponder:  Students must take ownership of  assessing their learning and challenge themselves as well.  Though they may be an expert in a field, there is still knowledge unknown or unchartered.  Teachers should model this as well.

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I teach 3rd grade math and science at Granger. This is my 14th year in education. I went to Alaska this past summer and it was breathtaking. I normally like to vacation at the beach.
Point to Ponder:
We need to help get the assessment losers to assessment winners by getting them more involved in having ownership in their learning. We need to model appropriate feedback and goal setting.

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I teach 4th grade ELA/SS at PVE. This is my 9th year in education and my first year in 4th. I love to travel. This summer I traveled to Bermuda and explored a cave. My point to ponder was about making students aware of their achievement targets. As teachers we figure out how to get data and analyze it. We need to make sure students understand what our expectations are so that they can succeed.

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I teach 2nd grade math and science at Roanoke Elementary. This is my 1st year in education. My favorite place to vacation is Paris. I went to Paris this summer and it was a wonderful trip. I would love to go back again!

Point to Ponder:
Assessments need to not only be used to show what students have learned, but must also be used to guide future instruction in order to help all students make gains in their learning and understanding. Assessments become more meaningful when we involve students by having them reflect on their assessment results and set goals for themselves.

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I teach 4th grade math & science at Cox Elementary. This is my 7th year teaching. My favorite place to vacation is the beach. As long as there is sun, sand, water, and a tropical smell I am all set.

Point to Ponder:
Instead of assessing students merely for progress monitoring, we can assess students for learning. Students can take ownership of their learning as well as their progress on assessments when they are given the opportunity to do well. When students feel as though they are set up for failure, they are most likely not going to do very well. As teachers, we can create a culture in which students are not afraid of assessments, rather they are encouraged to succeed/meet learning goals.

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I teach 2nd grade self contained at Lakeview.  This is my 23rd year in education and 18th at Lakeview.  We love to take driving vacations together, so my favorite vacation is anywhere we end up.  My photo is from our trip back home to Missouri this summer.

Point to ponder:
Why wouldn't we want to set all students up for success and give them the confidence needed to succeed. Assessment, student and teacher feedback, and goal setting can be powerful.

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I teach 2nd grade at Roanoke Elementary. This is my 5th year in education and I'm on the team teaching adventure with a fabulous friend. I love vacationing anywhere that allows lots of sleep and provides lots of food.
Point to ponder:
The more we, as teachers, share our targets, expectations and feedback to our students the more equipped they will be to set personal goals and self assess.

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I teach 5th Grade Math at O.A. Peterson.  This is my 15th year in education, and what an awesome adventure it has been.  I love vacations that involve exploring.  This summer I went to the Canyonlands in Moab, Utah, and I can wait to go back.

I was really encouraged when I read the article "Assessment Through the Student's Eyes." It mentioned that students feel encouraged when they can give themselves feedback after an assessment and can see how they must grow. We do this av lot after larger assessments. My thought to ponder is how can we make it easier to use this best practice for all assessments...

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I teach 3rd grade Math/Science at Lakeview Elementary.  This is my 10th year teaching, and my 7th year in NISD.  I love to vacation in Cabo at the Hacienda! It is beautiful and peaceful.
Point to ponder: Set students up for success by showing examples that exceed the expectation and examples that need revision before beginning a task.

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I team teach in second grade at Roanoke Elementary.  I specialize in ELA and Social Studies.  This is my 6th year at NISD and Roanoke but my 26th year teaching.  My favorite place to vacation is back home in Michigan.  I especially love Lake Michigan in the summer time!
Point to Ponder:
An assessment needs to be more than a moment - it needs to guide the next moments in every students' learning. They need to self-assess and re-assess as they learn concepts.

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Bianca Phillips and I teach fifth grade Dual Language Math/Science at Roanoke. This is my 3rd year teaching. My favorite place to vacation is anywhere with my family, but I do love the beach and the outdoors. I love to travel and would have to say that anywhere new to discover is always ideal for me!!

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Bianca Phillips and I teach fifth grade Dual Language Math/Science at Roanoke. This is my 3rd year teaching. My favorite place to vacation is anywhere with my family, but I do love the beach and the outdoors. I love to travel and would have to say that anywhere new to discover is always ideal for me!!

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Point to ponder:
Assessment for learning begins when teachers share achievement targets with students, presenting those
expectations in student-friendly language accompanied by examples of exemplary student work.

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My name is Cindy Slye and I teach 5th grade Science/Social Studies at Kay Granger.  This is my 29th year teaching.  My favorite place to vacation is anywhere with my family but the beach is always great!!

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My name is Cindy Slye and I teach 5th grade Science/Social Studies at Kay Granger.  This is my 29th year teaching.  My favorite place to vacation is anywhere with my family but the beach is always great!!

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Point to ponder:
Students that take ownership of their own process have better success with the lessons that they are learning.

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Image Interpretation of a dream "Beach" #05

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My name is Keni Scott and I teach second grade self contained at Lakeview. I am starting my 9th year with NISD. Currently, my favorite place to vacation is anywhere with a beach. We hope to eventually move to a beach

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My name is Keni Scott and I teach second grade self contained at Lakeview. I am starting my 9th year with NISD. Currently, my favorite place to vacation is anywhere with a beach. We hope to eventually move to a beach

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My name is Rayna Anderson and I teach 2nd grade math and science at Peterson! This will be my third year teaching! My favorite place to vacation is the beach!!

Point to ponder: getting students to progress monitor and showing them that it is about setting goals and reaching your goals.

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This will be my 9th year of teaching 6th grade math at Chisholm Trail Middle School.  I have been teaching for a total of 12 years.

My favorite vacation place is Interlaken, Switzerland.

I found it interesting that the students on the "winning streak" of assessment have a positive outlook and display the attitude of the growth mindset. I also like the idea of the students viewing learning as a partnership between student and teacher. This will definitely increase the "I can succeed" attitude.

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I teach 3rd grade math and science at Nance elementary. This is my first year, but I student taught here at Nance last year. My favorite place is Itay. My husband spent a year there doing mission work while we dated. I spent 5 weeks over a summer there, also for mission work when I was in college. My husband proposed there in Bologna, Italy!!

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My name is Cindy Bruce and I teach 3rd grade ELA/SS at Lakeview. This is my 7th year  in education, and 4th year in Northwest. I love to travel, and this summer my husband and I visited San Diego. This picture is from the beautiful Balboa Park.

Ponder: I found the idea of students analyzing exemplars to create a rubric very interesting. I wonder how this could be done with younger students to yield the same ownership and understanding of expectations.

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My name is Brenda Hladky.  I teach 5th grade Math and Science at Seven Hills Elementary.  This is my 14th year to teach and my 4th year at Seven Hills.  I absolutely love spending time with my three sons and their wives anywhere on at a lake house.  We enjoy tubing, skiing, and just relaxing and playing games together. 

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My name is Brenda Hladky.  I teach 5th grade Math and Science at Seven Hills Elementary.  This is my 14th year to teach and my 4th year at Seven Hills.  I absolutely love spending time with my three sons and their wives anywhere on at a lake house.  We enjoy tubing, skiing, and just relaxing and playing games together. 

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Point to ponder: Getting students involved in tracking their own progress and monitoring their own success. The focus should not be on pass/fail, but on continuing growth

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My name is Nicole Wallis. I teach GATES at Prairie View and Seven Hills. This is my first year to teach GATES and my 5th year in education. I enjoy spending time with my family exploring outdoors - camping, hiking, playing sports, etc. My favorite place to vacation is definitely the beach! 

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My name is Nicole Wallis. I teach GATES at Prairie View and Seven Hills. This is my first year to teach GATES and my 5th year in education. I enjoy spending time with my family exploring outdoors - camping, hiking, playing sports, etc. My favorite place to vacation is definitely the beach! 

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Things to ponder are how we can use assessment in order to give students relevant information that will help them to self-assess and set goals in order to encourage progression.

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My name is Amanda Wise, I am a kindergarten teacher at JC Thompson Elementary. I have been teaching for three years and love it! My favorite vacation spot is Colorado!

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My name is Amanda Wise, I am a kindergarten teacher at JC Thompson Elementary. I have been teaching for three years and love it! My favorite vacation spot is Colorado!

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Ponder: I like the idea of a kids own assesment and looking at their success, but how could this be managed at a young level, like kindergarten.

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My name is Catherine Baker. I teach 2nd grade at Cox.  This is my 5th year in NISD.  

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My name is Catherine Baker. I teach 2nd grade at Cox.  This is my 5th year in NISD.  

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Things to ponder are how are we are assessing our students. We need to be aware of the kinds of feedback and messages we deliver because any kind, positive, negative, or constructive have an effect on students.

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My name is Lindsay Trinkle and I teach 3rd grade ELA/SS at Schluter. This is my 13th year to teach. I have spent 10 of those years in NISD. My favorite place to vacation is definitely the beach!

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My name is Lindsay Trinkle and I teach 3rd grade ELA/SS at Schluter. This is my 13th year to teach. I have spent 10 of those years in NISD. My favorite place to vacation is definitely the beach!

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My name is Jen Hall and I teach 5th ELA/SS at Clara Love. I enjoy vacationing at the beach. This will be my 2nd year teaching in NISD and 7th year teaching. Point to ponder: Developing assessments for learning that are designed to encourage growth through self assessment, and reflection.

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My name is Jen Hall and I teach 5th ELA/SS at Clara Love. I enjoy vacationing at the beach. This will be my 2nd year teaching in NISD and 7th year teaching. Point to ponder: Developing assessments for learning that are designed to encourage growth through self assessment, and reflection.

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My name is Jessica Dodt, I teach 1st grade at Prairie View and this is my 2nd year. I enjoy vacationing at the beach:). My point to ponder is when it talks about how students strive to be successful. What or who defines that success and depending on the perspective could a failure really be a success? How do we help students not only strive for success but feel successful. 

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My name is Jessica Dodt, I teach 1st grade at Prairie View and this is my 2nd year. I enjoy vacationing at the beach:). My point to ponder is when it talks about how students strive to be successful. What or who defines that success and depending on the perspective could a failure really be a success? How do we help students not only strive for success but feel successful. 

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Hi!  My name is Jennifer Hammond and I teach 3rd grade at Schluter Elementary.  This is my 9th year of teaching.  My favorite place to vacation is Colorado.
Point to Ponder: Assessments for learning are designed to encourage growth through self assessment, reflection, and to "prevent failure from becoming chronic."

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My name is Kelly Miller and I teach at Peterson Elementary. This will be my 6th year teaching kindergarten. My favorite vacation place is the beach.

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My name is Kelly Miller and I teach at Peterson Elementary. This will be my 6th year teaching kindergarten. My favorite vacation place is the beach.

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Point to Ponder:
I want my students to take pride in their goal setting and feedback.

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Hi! My name is Niki Butley and I teach at Hughes Elementary. This will be my ninth year teaching kindergarten and eighth year in NISD. I absolutely love my job!!! My favorite vacation place is the beach. Every year we go somewhere in Texas with the whole family to spend time together and make memories. This summer we went to Lake Travis near Austin.

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Hi! This will be my first year in NISD and at Byron Nelson High School. I am the assistant orchestra director there. This is my 12th year to teach full-time, with more years than I can count in part-time and auxiliary roles. My favorite vacation was in Greece.

Point to ponder: giving students opportunities to participate in their own assessment of their work and knowledge.

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HI! My name is Kristina Clark and I teach 2nd grade at Clara Love Elementary. This will be my 4th year at NISD and CLES. My favorite place to vacation would have to be the beach, but don't get there near as often as I would like. As a family we usually take a trip to Dale Hallow Lake in Tennessee every year.
Something to ponder from the article:
What spoke to me in the article is students participation in their own assessment. We strive for students to take their assessments and set goals and learn moving forward. What we need to be asking ourselves is what does that mean for ALL learners in our classroom? "High-quality assessments encourage further learning; low-quality assessments hinder learning."

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Hi!  My name is Beth and I teach 1st grade at Lakeview.  This is my 4th year teaching in Texas.  My favorite vacation spot is at my cottage in Michigan where we spend time with our family and friends.
I worry that rubrics hold back the GT student. I have seen a child only do what is expected per the rubric instead of pushing themselves to justify further or create a visual to go with the work.

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 My name is Briana Pollock and I teach first grade at Clara Love Elementary. This will be my 8th year with NISD. My favorite place to go on vacation is definitely the beach, but this summer we road tripped it with our 1 year old twins to see family in South Dakota and Arkansas. 

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 My name is Briana Pollock and I teach first grade at Clara Love Elementary. This will be my 8th year with NISD. My favorite place to go on vacation is definitely the beach, but this summer we road tripped it with our 1 year old twins to see family in South Dakota and Arkansas. 

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Something to ponder from the article...are we thinking about how a test score discourages those failing. Also, how powerful the learning trajectory can be.

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Hello! My name is Savanna and I will be teaching 4th grade math and science at Beck ES this year. This is my first year with NISD and my first year to teach. I'm very excited for this year! My favorite place to go on vacation is to the beach. This summer, my family and I went on a cruise to Roatan, Honduras and Cozumel, Mexico.

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My name is Audra and I am the Advanced Academics Coordinator for NISD. I am beginning my 23rd year in education & my 2nd year in Northwest