January 28, 2013

It's shocking how behind I've gotten on these posts, but it's important for me to keep continuity during this difficult year...taking it day by day, entry by entry helps one believe in transitions and process.

This evening was memorable because Gras and I attended an area advisory council meeting that featured the county's school superintendent. It was interesting to hear what pressures and concerns the school system faces as well as to hear the concerns of parents who are worried that their children might be pawns in a transitional educational program. Parents and concerned staff members can't help but feel the strain. It's personal, and it hurts to feel trifled with by political and social systems and agendas.

January 26-27, 2013

It's time to draft the observation lesson. I will need my curriculum standards. I will need to reflect on how much background knowledge has already been built for my students to acquire new learning. Then I have to prime them, light the fire, foster connections...to the model...the guided practice...the independent practice...to the independent assessment.

January 25, 2013

Day 3 of the 15-minute mini-sessions with my (3) test-puppy first graders: their classroom teacher finally had to come over to shush us, we were being so loud! That is actually progress, eliciting evermore talk from these students. On Day 2, the non-Spanish -speaking student (Urdu) made two personal connections and even referred to his home country to access a precious memory.
I realized that, in the large scheme of things, I have actually gotten to know these students very little, in both quantity of time and quality. Time is short...make the most of it!

January 24, 2013

More kindergarten batteries and first grade speaking tests. If I don't record my fresh observations, I will be ruined! First graders have the potential to respond to a challenge by either shutting down or working harder: don't we all? ;). One first grader didn't appear to understand when more was required of him, without needing additional prompting. But that would invalidate this kind of test. There are limits. And, in the big picture, a student already displays a tendency for a set of descriptors, so one mistake does not really "do him in."

I see it takes so little to keep the stimulation and motivation positive...but a teacher has to pace and manage to dispel creeping frustration on the part of both student and teacher.

January 23, 2013

Conducting a battery of tests in the 4 domains--listening, speaking, reading, and writing--and administering it in a 1-on-1 interview-style format to kindergarteners has revealed to me weaknesses and strengths that I may not have considered, especially if had preconceptions about a child's intelligence. Again, I return to the progress reports to record relevant observations.

January 22, 2013

Now that the time of my next observation is drawing near, I'm getting nervous about the competences expected of a teacher, and namely, the big question, Do I know my students? I received a progress report completed by another teacher for a transferring student, and see how attentive she is regarding the student's measurable demonstrable ability in the four domains: speaking, listening, reading, writing. Moving forward, while I am conducting the English proficiency tests, this is my chance to observe the students' skills, if I haven't already.

January 21, 2013

There is no school today: it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Inauguration Day for President Obama's second term in office is also today, as well as significant 50-year and 100-year anniversaries for civil rights.

I'm glad that before standardized testing began at School B, I was able to have an "I Have a Dream" discussion with the group of struggling second graders (was 4, now 5) at School A about how our world became a better place as a result of this man's leadership and how there is still more for us as a society to dream and work towards. It was a meaningful discussion and so, was encouraging to the students in regards to their communicative competence. They were happy to receive my character value stickers instead of just stars and smiley faces on that occasion.