6.25 -- TE Reflections by Ryan Smith

Missed Opportunities 9-11th Grade

2025-06-25 14:40:13 UTC

I think a lot of the students I see who are a best fit are students who have had obstacles - in learning or personal life - and are ready to be "seen" and challenged Senior Year

Attendance

2025-06-25 14:41:05 UTC

Consistently here - which isn't always easy to predict because Senior Year...blah.

COD and Beyond

2025-06-25 14:41:56 UTC

While the best fit sometimes is the COD student, I have seen many kids who are not ready to say "I'm college bound" who are good fits - they just need the confidence and extra time and flexibility to learn

Assessment

2025-06-25 14:44:22 UTC

Feedback in the forefront - process over product - growth mindset

Voice

2025-06-25 14:44:57 UTC

Need to value student voice and identity - prompts reflect this, community building, writing voice/identity

Inconsistent Radio Signal

rlsmith1 — 2025-06-25 14:45:05 UTC

To borrow a comparison from the AP Language reading, the TE student is a radio signal that fades in and out. You can hear the song clearly at times, but the signal doesn't hold. These students need help with maintaining a consistent signal.

Authentic Audience

2025-06-25 14:48:18 UTC

Making sure this is a part of their assessments - incorporating publishing wherever you can

2025-06-25 14:48:55 UTC

students who have face diverse challenges perhaps at home and in their overall personal life, but still show up the best they can making that effort to figure out their goals

students who have the ability to be successful, but may be searching for the advocacy and communication skills

students who might not already realize how much writing is playing a role in their life — and they begin to recognize all the different ways writing is used in their daily routines (texting, social media, etc)

Values

rlsmith1 — 2025-06-25 14:49:29 UTC

1) Experimenting: trial and error

2) Making the student experience central to the work/avoiding the read-the-book, write-about-the-book practice

3) Multiple and varied opportunities: reflecting and revising

TE students...

smaldre1 — 2025-06-25 14:52:07 UTC

*Have goals that will require them to articulate in post-HS life, but lack confidence with reading and writing.

*May have bought into a narrative that they are "not good" at English. (But, English class as they know it might be largely lit. analysis...thus, they need help to redefine rhetoric and composition and find the purpose.)

*who would benefit from more authentic writing to help them reframe what "English class" or composition is all about.

2025-06-25 14:52:08 UTC

establishing confidence and a sense of voice

Students with Gaps

2025-06-25 14:52:17 UTC

TE Students who are missing background knowledge in disciplines outside basic elementary "subjects" which limit their reading comprehension or ability to apply conceptually in writing. They tend to need to build stamina in both reading and writing because it is work and not intuitive.

Student Voice & Autonomy

rrogers83 — 2025-06-25 14:53:45 UTC

As we prepare our students for college or career readiness, we need to make sure that they are feeling like they are being heard and that they are being given some choice over their own education as they become adults.

Still finding their way

jsimon137 — 2025-06-25 14:54:07 UTC

The TE student has been challenged from really excelling in school. The challenge could be stemming from a will issue, but it could also be skill.

2025-06-25 14:54:50 UTC

empathy!!!

rrogers83 — 2025-06-25 14:54:57 UTC

TE students are students who aren't sure what the future holds for them. This class is an opportunity to learn about who they are and what they value, which is a great tool for these students as they get ready to enter the "real world."

Building Stamina and Perseverance

2025-06-25 14:55:13 UTC

I value having students reading and writing daily, but very drilled down and clear about the skill that they are building: time on text, word choice, being brief vs being detailed and where, and finally foundational rhetorical moves that they will authentically use on speaking and writing as well as being able to interpret from the media messages they are continuously seeing.

Creating a positive environment

jsimon137 — 2025-06-25 14:55:44 UTC

The only way students will take a risk, the environment must be centered around respect.

Collaboration

smaldre1 — 2025-06-25 15:06:09 UTC

This is a challenge given the lack of confidence that may exist, but it is paramount to having them build the background knowledge and exercise voice.

Growth over mastery

smaldre1 — 2025-06-25 15:06:37 UTC

Single Point Rubric

jsimon137 — 2025-06-25 16:14:35 UTC

This makes so much sense. Why haven't I used these before!!

Station reflections

smaldre1 — 2025-06-25 16:21:31 UTC

Reflections:

Love single-point rubrics to reinforce the growth value and provide clear feedback...work more on incorporating mini-single-point rubrics this year for formative assessments and get students to gradually "create your own" single-point rubric.
Use a reading choice board to open up time for me to coach/teach targeted mini-lessons or provide 1:1 feedback on essays.
Share the CoD OER QR codes with my department. Use the ALP curriculum guide to align class activities.

Other projects from the choice board

rlsmith1 — 2025-06-25 16:22:52 UTC

1) Big takeaway: the choice board can be used to develop a larger reflection project: Who are you as a reader (reader profile: what strategies work best? What do you like to read? What reading was challenging for you?).

2) Develop some common/shared materials between NCHS/NNHS

Goals

smaldre1 — 2025-06-25 16:23:04 UTC

Work on state portability documents (transfer/update with LHS units where appropriate and hyperlink formative and summative examples); schedule a time to meet with CoD staff in early August to review the portability docs and prepare for submission.

Takeaways

rrogers83 — 2025-06-25 17:53:04 UTC

I think that the reading strategies and choice board is going to be great in my classroom. I plan to use it routinely, and I think it's going to be a huge asset for the course.