M6U4A3: Evaluation

Evaluation of performance is pretty common and integral to all jobs. Evaluation is important to a teacher for the school but more so for the teacher. Formal evaluations give administration the chance to see a teacher perform and recognize how well the teacher is doing but also provide feedback on what can be improved for success. That feedback is what is most critical for a teacher, especially a new teacher like myself.

I have had the pleasure of being evaluated this school year and I loved it. I was notified of the need for evaluation and I chose the date so that it wasn’t a surprise. I provided a lesson plan to my boss the week before. I wasn’t nervous because I was eager for someone with experience to sit in my room and provide me constructive criticism so that I could gain foresight that I couldn’t even conceive with my inexperience.

The areas that I received evaluation were almost like a whole person concept. It wasn’t just my lesson plan and English but instead included other aspects of my class and my personality. Here are the areas that I think should be evaluated:

Environment: My professionalism, like my appearance and performance in the classroom. The consistency in which I enforced standards and norms, also consistency of expectations as far as student achievement and the distribution of information (like assignments and due dates, or formatting). The environment of my classroom is safe, as in students feel safe physically and emotionally. I should develop appropriate relationships with my students based on trust and respect.

Instruction: I should be well versed in the content and the content should be consistent with the standards. I should vary the methods for delivery of content and use differentiation. I should engage my students in the learning process to maximize their performance. My planning should include activities that teach the standards and assess students for comprehension.

Collaboration: I should be collaborating with my peers, seeking advice and providing support. I should be collaborating with parents, providing feedback and dialoging effective plans to support student progress. I should be participating in school events and seeking leader/support roles outside of my classroom.

Evaluation should occur regularly because even after I have more experience, there is always something that can be improved. Evaluation is a good way for a school to decide if a teacher is a good fit for their school too. The standards of evaluation should be provided to all teachers so that they can use the evaluation as a guide or scaffolding to design their classroom and career. If a teacher can’t meet the needs of a school then the evaluation is a good record to show a lack of improvement or change, which may translate to a lack of effort on the teacher’s part.The observation also lets a teacher decide if they don’t know how to execute something and ask for help or instruction. It also lets a teacher decide if they aren’t capable of fulfilling the requirements of the evaluation and opt to take another direction (e.g. change involvement in the district or stop teaching).

References:

“Teacher Evaluation: A Resource Guide for National Education Association Leaders and Staff”. NEA.org. Web. 15 Oct 2017. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzYfzjQoASL_eGdtNFdsbXRIRDQ/view

 

M6U2A3: Pre-Assessment

I created a Kahoot to pre-assess student knowledge before teaching standard 9.RI.06. The pre-assessment is meant to show me if students can identify persuasive techniques and if they know the meaning of pathos, ethos, and logos. The pre-assessment is meant to show me 1.) were students taught this before 2.) if they retained what they were taught 3.) if I need to start from the basics or if I can skip some if the rudimentary and move into the higher level analysis.

https://play.kahoot.it/#/k/0c8a8abc-9de7-43a6-ae73-70a70d6ab8e2

For the students who didn’t have a good understanding based on the pre-assessment, I would have a presentation for the class of rhetoric and how it is used. I would have the students with the lower scores in a group with a couple speeches and advertisements. These students would start with lower level questions like, “Identify the type of rhetoric used” and “Explain why the author used that technique”. Then the questions would move to higher level thinking like “Produce an advertisement with a partner that uses a form of rhetoric”.

For the students that scored in the middle, their group would have the same sample of speeches and advertisements but their questions would start at a higher level. Questions that ask, “Compare  and contrast the different types of rhetoric used” and “Create a diagram that identifies the persuasion techniques and examples”. Finally they’d have a question like, “Rewrite the advertisement so that it uses a different rhetorical style”.

The students who had the best performance on the pre-assessment would be grouped together and would start with the higher level questions. An example of the questions would be, “Categorize the articles and advertisements into separate rhetorical styles and evaluate if different styles are more effective in certain situations” and “Create and advertisement using a rhetorical style and assess its effectiveness on your peers”.

I will use their advertisements and the questions to assess their progress. At the end I will hold discussions with the groups to hear how well they grasp the concepts and use their advertisements to see if they can apply the concepts. The standard states that the student should be able to analyze the effectiveness of rhetoric and point of view. Through these questions and activities I can assess if a student can identify the rhetorical styles and determine its effectiveness or how to make it effective.

M6U1A3: High Stakes Testing

I am in my first year of teaching and I started pretty excited about the fun discussions I could have with students and the books and literature we would analyze. Mostly, I was excited to see what the students would produce with me as their guidance. Then the school year started and I learned that there is a calendar with standards. The standards are a state requirement, I must introduce each student to the standard and to check if I introduced the standard, the student will be tested. These are not the high stake tests. These tests let me know how well the student grasped the standard because the high stake test later on will test for that information as well.

The high stake tests from eighth grade determine if a student makes it into honor classes in ninth grade. The students test once every week or every two weeks. I have a limited amount of time to get them to understand a standard because once they test it is time to move on to the next standard. If the student didn’t get the standard then they have another chance to test again but with very little time for review. Remember, I said it was time to move on to the next standard so there isn’t much time to go back to that standard they didn’t get. Just to be sure the student didn’t get it the first and second time, at the end of the quarter they take a benchmark to tell me a third time that the student doesn’t know what they are doing. These tests affect the student’s grade but they can still move on to the next grade.

At the end of there year they take AZ Merits. This is a state-wide requirement but it measures student’s progress in Math and ELA (What is AzMerit?). I’m glad to know that the test doesn’t impact the student’s ability to graduate but it does reflect on the school and the district. There are benefits to getting a good grade for the school, like funding, it also effects the reputation of the schools and boosts attendance numbers. Attendance also equates to funding.

While students in Arizona spend a lot of time taking assessments, removing consequences like grade advancement removes the pressure from students to perform. However, the U.S. is very college oriented and that puts a pressure on grades and SAT/ACT scores. I don’t think the pressure is as high as places like South Korea, where students commit suicide due to performance pressure and perceived failures (Student Suicides).

As a new teacher, I felt pressure to get my students to perform. There aren’t consequences for failure. In fact, my school has really great and supportive systems in place to help each teacher teach what the students need and that equalizes the learning in the district. Each student has the opportunity to learn the standard but is still required to put forth the effort to earn the grade to graduate or get credit for the class. The standards still provide freedom to the teacher to emphasize the skills a student needs to function outside of high school and into college or the work force. Those skills just aren’t necessarily tested.

References:

Student Suicides in South Korea. (n.d.) La Voix Des Jeunes. Retrieved from http://www.voicesofyouth.org/fr/posts/student-suicides-in-south-korea

What is AzMerit? (n.d.). Expect More Arizona. Retrieved from https://www.expectmorearizona.org/arizona-aims-higher/assessments/faq/

M5U5A1: Diversity in lesson plan

Of all the subjects in high school I would have to say (in my most biased way) that English is the easiest class to explore cultural diversity. Literature comes from all over the world and throughout time. Regardless of the standard being studied, material that represents a certain culture, sex, age, and experience can be included. Cultural diversity is about exposing students to a culture and perspective other than their own. To analyze the literature not only improves the student’s skills in English but improves their world view and the way they analyze life.

Starting after the fall break, my students will be analyzing text for rhetorical styles. What better way to teach rhetoric than to have them compare and contrast rhetorical styles from other cultures. What works as far as ethos, pathos, and logos in the U.S. may not necessarily be the best or same route to take in another culture or country. By seeing different advertisements and political speeches they can compare to what they are familiar with and then understand from a different perspective. That new perspective can take them out into the world and be able to meet and apply it to new people. That new perspective develops their 21st century skills like communication and critical thinking.

I will give my students a project that gives them a new identity and with the knowledge that they research about a certain region or time, they will create presentations about an argument using pathos, ethos, or logos, and justify that argument. This presentation will be one of the ways that I can evaluate if my students understand the impact of the author’s point of view on cultural diversity. Also, when analyzing text and poetry, I will know if students use the origin of the author to help them understand the passage.

The district that I teach in isn’t very diverse but I grew up in a very culturally diverse area. I understand the importance of exposing my students to different cultures and to help my students think outside of the box of their own private worlds.

M5U3A2 Differentiated Lesson

Ninth graders love writing essays said no teacher ever. With that being said, ninth graders need to learn how to effectively communicate through writing to prepare them for the million papers they will write in college and also to prepare them for life after college. This week students will write explanatory essays based off a chosen essay prompt. To make the task less daunting I will break the assignment down into parts for them.

First, I will start with a presentation on writing explanatory essays. I will probably use a Prezi presentation because the movement of the slides is more entertaining than clicking through Powerpoint or Keynote slides. After they have had their presentation, I want the students to practice together identifying topic sentences and thesis with two or three sample essays. This is a Think-Pair-Share activity that will assist ELL students through partner work and analyzing English essays. The group activity will also assist my students with ADHD since they can be paired with model behavior students (Strategies for Students with ADHD, 2014).

After the Think-Pair-Share, students will be given the next part of their assignment. They will choose one of four essay prompts and will have to fill out a graphic organizer with supporting resources for their topic. Breaking the instructions down into parts will help my ADHD students keep track of their assignment (Strategies for Students with ADHD, 2014). I will orally give all instructions (Marburg, 2015) in addition to posting the graphic organizer to the online classroom will help my ADHD students and my visually impaired students. The visually impaired can manipulate the font size of their organizer. ADHD students can have a written reference of what they are suppose to be doing in case they become distracted.

While students have organized their source materials and developed their thesis statements, they can begin writing their explanatory essay. For my ELL students, I will keep a list of defined words on the board like topic sentence, thesis, formatting, and quotations. The words will also be defined on the online classroom as a reference. In addition to posting to the online classroom, I will periodically ask questions to my ELL, ADHD, and visually impaired students to check for understanding so that I may clarify for them individually. Link to my flowchart https://mm.tt/943447712?t=3i9IRpxjcq

Resource:

Malburg, S. (May 2015). Looking Through Their Eyes: Teaching Visually Impaired Students. Retrieved from http://www.brighthubeducation.com/special-ed-visual-impairments/62427-ideas-for-how-to-teach-visually-impaired-students-seeing-the-big-picture/

Strategies for Students with ADHD. (Oct 2014). Education.com. Retrieved from https://www.education.com/reference/article/add-adhd-strategies-tips/

M5U2A2: Performance and Formative Assessment

Teaching Ninth grade English is no easy feat with a generation of kids who don’t like to read and only write through social media domains or using devices that autocorrect their spelling. With that being said it is all the more important for me to not only teach a writing standard but to ensure that the students understand what was taught to them through assessment.

The standard W.02 states that the student will be able to write highly effective explanatory texts to convey information clearly through analysis of content.

A summative assessment would be for me to offer them several texts (2-3 samples) and then ask them a prompt like, “How do the works you have read accurately examine and convey cultural tradition?”. This would require the students to read and analyze the text, create a thesis, and then write an essay that informs the audience how the texts convey cultural tradition. The students will have to use text evidence to support their thesis. I will know if they are performing well if they can develop a thesis that is relevant to the prompt and if they can support their thesis with well selected facts from the text.

A formative assessment would be to give the students a graphic organizer of essay structure. I would then have them fill the graphic organizer based from text that I have provided. This allows me to see if they understand the concept of identifying topic sentences, thesis, and the topics of supporting paragraphs. Then I would have them fill a graphic organizer for their essay.

Another formative I would give during the week is a Think-Pair-Share. The partners would have an essay that they could help each other identify the thesis and the supporting facts. They would then stand and share a summary of their essay including the topic and how the evidence supported the thesis. This shows me if they can recognize how the thesis is developed and what makes supporting evidence sufficient.

Resources:

60 Formative Assessment Strategies. (n.d.). Teach-Now. Retrieved from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BzYfzjQoASL_bXVxYUg4SE1lSk0/view

Whys and Hows of Assessment. (2015). Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved from https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/basics/formative-summative.html

Backwards Mapping Reflection

I was pretty familiar with the Arizona standards but what I like about backwards mapping is that I can design activities with specific goals in mind. Sometimes I feel like I am talking at the students with no way of knowing if they are retaining the information until it is too late. I like designing activities that engage the learner but sets a specific goal that I can monitor and adjust.

The standards can be very large and daunting. Backwards mapping breaks the standard into smaller, workable pieces. If I ask, “What is this suppose to look like?”, I can then start with smaller tasks or, at least, define a starting point. For example, I started a writing standard that has to do with revision, editing, and rewriting. Before, I may have had the students write a paper and then I would have graded it for feedback which would have taken me hours. Instead, I had them write an essay and then trade with their peers, thereby accomplishing the standard because they do the editing instead of me providing them feedback that they may not have retained. Like McTighe (2012) mentioned in his article, “Lacking the capacity to independently apply their learning, a student will neither be college nor workplace ready,” this defeats the whole purpose of my job if I impart useless knowledge.

It’s important to read the standard and understand it as well. In the first week of teaching I though I had an easy standard dealing with mood. I found all these examples of mood and felt like my students were really grasping the information. Then, when it came time for the formative, turns out the standard was on how text organization creates mood. The questions were about organization and all my students answered with mood. If I had used backwards mapping I could have focused on the verbs in the standard to create relevant objectives.

Resources:

McTighe, J. (Dec 2012). Common Core Big Idea 4: Map Backward from Intended Results. Online. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/common-core-map-backwards-jay-mctighe-grant-wiggins

Backwards Mapping

Starting next week at Cienega High School, the ninth graders will be working on Arizona state standard 9.W.02, which states, “The highly proficient student can write highly effective informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.” (Standards: ELA, 2016). I am choosing this standard because I have to build a lesson plan for it anyway so now I can get credit for the work and then I can implement my lesson plan with my students.

By the end of this unit the student will be able to introduce a topic, develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, and establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone. To assess their knowledge, first I will quiz them on the requirements of an expository essay after a presentation. Then I will have them choose one of four topics and they will fill a graphic organizer with relevant and sufficient sources for their essays. I will assess their formal and objective tone by having them write an expository essay on their chosen topic.

In addition to this I would like for them to bring in a one page expository article that they found interesting and have their peers summarize and compare it in an expository essay as an activity to build examining and convey complex information. For a group activity, I will have them write a two page paper of their own faction (Divergent reference), with specific prompts as a manifesto that describes their faction’s values. This activity is for the student to practice organization of text. One last activity would be to have them site references in MLA format, which will develop their ability to effectively select supporting documentation.

Resources:

Standards: English Language Arts. (Dec 2016). Arizona Department of Education. Retrieved from https://cms.azed.gov/home/GetDocumentFile?id=585aab01aadebe12481b8455

Applying the Rules

I’ve already experienced the first week of school and so far it has been repeatedly going over the rules and the standards for the class (five periods worth of repeating). I think that I could do a better job at praising the students who are doing a good job but I’m also balancing a fine line of not immediately punishing the rule breakers (hey, it’s the first week), while reminding everyone that it’s not okay what their peer is doing.

I like the idea of sending praising emails home. In fact, I took a few student’s names down because I plan to send a couple emails out this weekend. During the Open House on Thursday I made sure that I praised students in front of their parents. For the students that have some undesirable behaviors I mentioned their “over contribution” and insisted that (while making eye contact with the student) it was an issue that I was sure they could handle and contain themselves. The school I work at also has Phat Cat cards which are little prizes and treats for the students and enters them into a drawing for a bigger prize.

When a student has a behavior that I don’t want to continue, or that breaks a rule, I address it immediately. If I see a cellphone, I don’t call the student’s name but I loudly say, “Put it on silent and into your bag, I don’t allow cellphones in my class.” Because it is the first week I am just reinforcing the rule. Starting next week I will take away ethics points (affects their grade), assign detentions, and finally contact the parents. For talking during class, I have already moved a few seats (to remove their temptation), I also announce loudly, “It is inappropriate to talk when I/peers are talking, we need to be respectful and listen.” I also have told them that if they waste my time I will collect the wasted time after the bell or have them come back during lunch time. Persistent behavior will get detention and contact with the parents.

Overall, I think staying consistent with applying the rules and being consistent about how I enforce the rules, whether that’s praising or disciplining, will be my most effective tool in the classroom. The students will know what to expect whether they are good or bad.

High Performance and Learning Environments

While watching the videos Roller Coaster Physics, Chinese Math, and Whole Brain Teaching, the classes were being taught in very different ways. I’ll start with the first video of Roller Coaster Physics and my opinion of it.

The teacher had high academic expectations of her students. She was letting them create their own roller coasters using physic concepts they had just learned. She let them make their own hypotheses and then test for failure or success. She encouraged the children to collaborate in a a respectful way of sharing their ideas and then using their peers to improve their ideas by explaining what problems they were having. This behavior is critical in real world application when you can recognize flaws, seek constructive criticism, and know how to give feedback. The procedures in her classroom allow each student to feel comfortable to share their ideas knowing that they are valued members and have valuable contribution.

The second video is a class learning math in Chinese. The academic expectations are high because the students are not Chinese, so they are learning new concepts in a foreign language. She is using a method like corral response but has to test individual mastery by calling on individuals to answer parts of a single problem. To get the children’s attention she says something and they respond with words and actions, then she knows they are paying attention and ready to listen.

The last video using Whole Brain Teaching was interesting to watch. The teacher had hand signals to use while teaching content. She could see the students mimicking her motions which meant they were actively listening. She had a call and response when she wanted their attention for something else. I liked the hand motions because when the students were engaged in group work she could visually see who was participating and who was not instead of hearing students talk and assuming that they are focused on the topic given. This method is a good blend of audio, visual, and kinetic learning.

In my ninth grade English class I don’t see using many of the “whole brain” ideas. I would like to find ways to get my students stimulated visually, audibly, and kinetically but not to the degree of the video. I believe that the corral method, used in the math video, works in English because of poetry and literature. Those topics are meant to be read aloud and with feeling and rhythm. From the science video I took away the emphasis on the language. She wanted the students to use the proper terms for what they had just learned. When a student can express their ideas accurately with the proper vocabulary, there is less chance for them to be misunderstood by their peers. That is the whole goal of my class this year is to allow my students to find value in their thoughts and opinions and be able to voice that with proper vocabulary so that they are understood.