Go-to Assessments to guide teaching

• learning continuum (standardized system)

  • Helps look at class as a whole.

  • base lesson/start with standard always.

• small groups!

Best Advice For New Teacher

• don't walk alone - we are better together.

Constantly look for new things, but still have your Core books that shape your classroom.

WIG (Wildly Important Goals)

• students set their own goals and then track them throughout the year.

• Teacher has a goal as well, and watches the teacher to see if she is reaching her goal.

• sometimes the teacher doesn't meet her goal, which shows to students that it is okay.

Anchor Charts - great engagement tool!

• Make anchor charts continuous.

The teacher has stuff on bulletin boards as a display.

• looks at assessment different because of SPED

• pure observations

• achievement tests (IEP)

• social skills checklist

• Truly depends on what you are looking at!

Uses Anecdotal Notes and Data

• behavior charts

Assessments that guide teaching

• FNP's (benchmark)

Smarter not Harder

• Strategic resources and lessons

• understanding where to pull lessons and resources from

• use veteran teachers

• don't reinvent the wheel use other people!

You will always have those students that you will remember.

Personal Definition of Assessment

• any time of your life where you have a goal and you have to assess whether or not if you have completed that goal.

• "im at this point, i have this much left to do"

Go-to Assessments

• educator rubric

• create own rubric so you can determine the standards/what you are asking students.

• need rubric to match expectations for performance.

Why Teach?

• teach for kids

• care for opportunities for kids to develop

• want them to be able to be productive members of society.

• it is a tool to determine what they know and what they are ready to learn next.

• It is not to see how "smart" they are. It is simply to see where they stand.

Go-to Assessments

• Hands on activities

• Look at standards

Practice rules and routines many many times

• don't get mad, just keep practicing.

Work smarter not harder?

• have a good work life balance.

• Set boundaries.

• she plans every Tuesday for the following week

• work ahead and prep ahead

• work with your team!!

You are where you are for a reason!

Why teach?

• it is not for everyone, but everyone needs a great teacher.

• can students apply the knowledge

• doesn't care how they show, but can they do it?

Work smarter not harder?

• take a piece that makes the most sense to you and ace it to the best you can and then repeat!

Why Teach?

• We need education the most when we are going through rough times.

• Having a consistent adult in someones lives can help them out tremendously.

• Its the life long impact we have one people.

• make observations day to day

• what do you notice?

Go To Assessments?

• put every child in a small group

• don't forget about the high achieving students

Divide and conquer

• find what you are good at and utilize it

• work with your team

Why teach?

• it is the impact you have

• you are responsible for helping every single student think about what they could do with their life

• when those students go on to do great things, you have played a small roll in that journey

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• an estimation of a kid on that day in that specific state.

• assessment is not end all be all.

Go-to Assessments

• general education assessments

• exit tickets

• day to day assessments

• cognitive assessments

Work smarter not harder

• have a process and framework

• know how you're going to use assessment and be consistent

Why teach?

• Instant impact

• you are investing in humanity and our future.

• I noticed that all their advice involved relying on your resources. Multiple times I heard "you are not reinventing the wheel." This honestly really helped me realized that i'm not and I have resources to help me, including my team. Almost everyone said to create a strong relationship with your teaching team and the people in your building to help make teaching more enjoyable! All the guest speakers advice under "why teach" were motivating. I get to be involved in a child's life and help their future and that is special to me and motivating.

  
  

  2. What are the strategies that you hear most often? 

• The strategies that I heard the most often were to use my resources and create great relationships within my team and building. I also heard multiple times that assessment is an everyday activity and not just at the end of a unit. I will make observations and assess my students everyday. I also heard to let the students show their learning in a way that best suits them. TJ Ulmer even said, "I don't care how they do it, but can they do it?" Using different assessment types to assess students and giving them different opportunities to show their learning is a great strategy that I hope will thrive in my classroom.

3. What lessons will you add to your toolbox from listening to these mentors? 

• A lesson I will add to my tool box is having the mentality that "every kid grows, no matter where they started." Having this mentality will help me personally see each student and their individual learning growth. Another lesson I will add to my toolbox will be having clear expectations and being consistent. Oftentimes, it is hard for me to differentiate and balance between the "cool teacher" and having consistency and clear expectations. Letting certain things slide one time, and then not another time really confuses students and is not effective classroom management. Being a teacher who has clear expectations and not letting my students walk over me just because I want to be the "cool teacher" is not benefiting them or me. I will definitely use this in my toolbox!

4. Which Mentor did you connect with? Explain why!

• A mentor I connected with was Andy Heinicke. I connected with his answer to "why teach?" He said that us teachers have an instant impact on students and we get the opportunity to invest in humanity and the future. His answer aligned with my "why teach?" Most of the time I hear teachers "why" being the children and although that is extremely important and apart of my "why" as well, being inspired to teach because I get the opportunity to invest in something so important is awing and inspiring.

7. What are one or two questions you would like to pose to a Mentor Educator?

• What are some outstanding classroom management skills that help make your classroom orderly and calm?

• What do you do when a student just does not care? They do not care about their grades or consequences or their future. I care a lot so this is really hard for me and often times I take it personal. What do I do when they do not care? Are there ways I can get them to care about themselves, their work, and their future, other than giving them positive reinforcement?