Weekly Assessment Data Analysis 

The first ah-ha moment I had was realizing that it is ok to ask for help. In the beginning of the year, I was drowning, and I didn’t think I could rescue myself. I had really high expectations of what my job as a teacher was that I was terrified to ask for help. I was completely overwhelmed and felt like a failure. Fortunately, the team around me started noticing and helped lift me back up. I told them my worries and stressors and they worked with me to make sure I was receiving the support that I needed. After, I felt like maybe I could be successful in this career which then brought me to my second ah-ha. 

 

I realized that even though I do have help in the form of lessons and curriculums it doesn’t mean that I must be married to everything. I started learning to adapt lessons to my goals and success criteria. Once I let go of the fear of making lessons and instead adapting what I had I got comfortable putting in things and taking things out. I had always been told to use the resources around me and not reinvent the wheel, but I wasn’t quite sure how to do that. Once I was provided with some resources, I could put that in practice. I am still not a master, but I am feeling more comfortable now. 

CTSPs

     1. Engaging and Supporting all Students in Learning

     2. Creating and Maintaining Effective Environments for               Student Learning

Engaging with students during the writing process is paramount for growth in not only this content area, but also for the development of the skills to self-reflect. Connecting with students about their writing (conferencing, leaving meaningful feedback, encouraging/supporting the revisions, and making sure students are following through with any revisions) is an area I find challenging, especially with the time constraints of the school day and life outside the classroom. I want to feel more confident in effectively providing constructive and timely feedback on student writing, with the end goal being that they build the skills to independently reflect and revise their own writing.

 

The mentor observations have been emotionally fortifying, and I attribute a lot of that to my amazing mentor. I can be my harshest critic with many a’blind spots for my own successes, but my mentor was really helpful in bringing these to my attention. For example, classroom systems is an area in which I feel I have a lot of growing to do, but from my mentor’s outside perspective, students seemed to be clear on systems I didn’t even realize were in place. She also reminded me of the very real importance of having a good rapport with students–I realized that I can be dismissive about this because it is something that feels natural to me, so I don’t even acknowledge it.  Some other blind spots that she illuminated for me was how I can speak fast (who knew?!) and that I can give too much attention to behavioral disruptions if I am not careful with how I choose (if at all) to address these. I also realized that I talk too much, which I think comes from nervousness. I skimp on modeling the skills I am teaching because I get so worked up in my head about making sure I get to all of the things I need to get to. Long story short, slowing myself down and staying grounded will allow for more spaciousness in my instruction. 

 

My biggest a-ha came from my student work analysis activity, and I’m honestly kind of embarrassed (I know I shouldn’t be) by how basic it is–evaluating student work is really important (I mean…duh). Working through the evaluation process solidified my theoretical understanding of the value of analyzing student work at the whole-class level. My a-ha moment was when I realized that I’ve been neglecting the “evaluating” side of the teaching triangle; taking the time to sort through student work and comparing the percentages of those who do not meet, are approaching, meet, or exceed the lesson target gives me a better idea of the strengths and weaknesses of my instruction. The data really informs the “planning” and “teaching” sides significantly, bringing balance. Being “on” all day at work wears me out and I have been taking shortcuts in a crucial area that should not be cut short.

 

Lastly, I learned a lot from observing my mentor teacher, particularly her organization of the teacher-created student document that accompanied the lesson. It was a strong example of a comprehensive, student-friendly document and it made me think about to organize student handouts. 

 

This school year was a year of firsts–the first year back in-person after a year and a half of virtual instruction, my first year at an entirely new school, my first year not having an English department team (our school is 5th-7th, with multiple ELA teachers in 5th and 6th, whereas I am the sole 7th grade ELA teacher), and my new school’s first year implementing the Writer’s Workshop program. I felt a tremendous amount of pressure and responsibility going into this school year, but I showed up in all my imperfect glory. I celebrate myself for this, as well as my capacity to be authentic with my students about my learning process teaching Writer’s Workshop. I was able to model for my students what it looks like to show up, to learn with them, and to get up and fall down and get back up again. I am most proud of seeing students soften in their approach to writing. Students typically come to 7th grade with unrealistic expectations of their writing–they think they are supposed to know exactly what to write, that they are supposed to spell everything perfectly, phrase everything just so, use grammar perfectly, all from the moment the pencil hits the paper. I appreciate and celebrate my students’ willingness to trust me and to go outside of their comfort zone and get messy in the writing process.

 

As intensive as the induction inquiry form was, it really helped me get back to basics in terms of having a clear lesson objective, teaching strategy, and data analysis. I will be referring to it as I plan future lessons until it becomes second nature for me.