• 10 years teaching

• Math coordinator in Olathe public schools

• MTSS director

• Wants to couch football

Definition of assessment

• A procedure of making inferences.

• Making observations and inferences from their education

• Make sure to understand the validity of your assessment and how far it can go. Do not make an inference that does not have support.

Go to assessments

• Keeping students opportunities to respond high.

• Done during scaffolding

Working smarter not harder

• Designing assessments strategically and efficiently defining a line between at-risk and proficiently

• Having a clear purpose for assessments

• Know where you are going make sure you have an end goal

Books and podcasts

• teacher clarity play book- quality of your instruction is about being cognitively engaged.

• IIS practice guide in many subjects

• John Pegg books

• Learning happens by Paul Kirchner

• 17 years teaching

• Resource teacher the whole time

• K-12 certified from University of Central Missouri

• Masters in Autism in KU

Definition of assessment

• They can be very informal like observation or very formal to standardized test. They can test about everything about motor skills and comprehension. Checklist can make something’s easier to assess.

Go to assessment

• Reading- running records and FMPS (benchmark assessment)

  • Seeing what they can do int here read aloud reading

How to work smarter not harder

• Things she is using are strategic. That means she is not using a lesson plan but different resources with each student.

• Use the resources around you

Advice and strategies

• Be careful with who you surround yourself with. Make sure they are positive people and surround your self with positive in media as well.

• Stay positive and remember you are making a difference.

Resources

• Filtering out the stuff and making sure you have what you need.

• Make sure to reflect on why and how you are doing things.

• Started teaching in 1992

• 7 years of teaching ELA

• Current Instructional couching coordinator in Olathe

• Works with 21 teachers to support them and having professional learning for them, and having PLC’s.

Definition of assessment

• When you have a goal or objective and being able to assess if you are there in you goal or where you are in the goal, that being formative or summative.

• Believer in SMART goals.

Go to assessment

• Educator rubric

  • 6 standard with indicators of what they mean

• Rubrics making this more objective and making sure that it matches the end goal.

Working smarter not harder

• The rubric helps you as there is no guessing and the students know why and where the grade comes from.

• Using formative assessment to see where students are instead of grading everything and putting it in the grade book.

• Using exit tickets, whiteboards, thumbs up and down.

• Build good relationship to make sure students will participate in you classroom.

Strategies

• Having procedures and routines to make sure students establish habits

• Do not go in blank. Make sure that you have procedures so that students know and having time to teach this at the beginning of the year.

Resources (books and podcasts)

• Learning by doing- high functioning PLC will increase student learning.

• Excellence in every classroom- teaching pyramid

• Cult a pedagogy- podcast

• Think again- leadership books

• Adam Grant podcast

• Kindergarten teacher

• 21 years teaching kindergarten

• Taught 1 year of 4th grade and a little bit of Pre-K

• 14 years in Olathe

Definition of assessment

• Assessment is necessary and it is a tool that will help determine what students know what they are ready to learn. It is not about seeing who smart you are but a guide for teachers.

Go to assessments

• hand on, fast and easy

• Having a tool kit where they can show you what 5-2=3 is with cubes and math manipulative.

• “Show me”

Working smarter not harder

• The first month practicing what the routines and procedures are. When they make mistakes do not get mad but tell them that it might have been out fault for not telling them.

• Planning every Tuesday for the following week

• Getting to school early for prepping for the next day. Being prepared helped you be on top of everything.

• Working with a team and seeing who has more knowledge somewhere.

Advice

• Be nice to the secretary and the custodian.

• Listen to your team and your co-workers

• Take a risk and try something but also do not change everything everyday.

• Stay off your phone. Students need to see you

• Do not take yourself too seriously you are going to make a fool of yourself. Laugh and joke!

• Leave your home problems at the door!

• The power of words “my best day is when you are here”

Resources

• Out of my mind by Sharon Draper

• Having a representation in your literacy

• The power of read aloud practice your voices!

• 23 years of teaching

• Started as a 5th grade teacher and then taught 7th and 8th grade science, then AVID.

• Assistant principal at the middle school level

• Helped orchestrate remote learning in Olathe

Definition of assessment

• Can student apply the knowledge, can they show you what the standard is. Making sure that students can show you and apply the knowledge to you not just to show you on a test.

Go to assessment

• Assessments are open they are able to have the freedom of showing the teacher their learning.

• Assessments had the same five objectives and topics that the standard had.

• Students can test out early if they already know and they can teach what they know to the class in order to take it a step further.

• Students were able to keep track on their standards and they know what they miss.

Working harder not harder

• Start out slow do not try to go fast. Have time to process.

• Looking at things as a compass instead of a map.

Advice and strategies

• it does not matter the route that you are taking we all have the same end goal.

• Having a good team to work helps meet the end goal

• Making sure to have good relationships with parents, staff, and students.

• Parents must know that you care about their students and that you are there with them and making corrections.

Resources

• Culture code

• Small bets

I noticed that some of them gave similar advice. Making sure we have a good grasp of what our resources and making sure we work as a team with other teachers. I think that this is very important as being a teacher is not just a solo show. Knowing to work with others is important specially to get things done!!

Which Mentor did you connect with? Explain why!

I think I connected the most with Marsha Reeves. I thought her energy was so positive and I could feel it through the screen. She gives off excitement and her love for teaching and that is how I want to be.

What surprised you about any of the mentors?

Something that surprised me was the way they all spoke with so much pride and excitement about their jobs. It was amazing to see them all ready with advise and topics to talk about.

What are the strategies that you hear most often?

Being kind and positive to your team was something I heard all the time. I think being kind makes difference in how students see you and it impact the effectiveness of our teaching.

What are one or two questions you would like to pose to a mentor educator?

I think one of questions would be what do you do when someone in your team is doing something that you do not agree with? What would be the steps? Something else I would ask would be how do you handle conflict in the classroom and the workplace?