What a WILD Week!

Tags

common core, education, teaching

PHEW! Is anyone else glad the week is over! Not going to lie, I am beat!

So, I have blogged on here about the common core and the myths.  I have blogged about data.  This week, it was talked about many times during my conferences.  I have made several observations about our educational system this week. Here they are:

1.  Parents become easily upset when their child does not get all Es for excellent.  Oh yes, it is true.  Surprise, your child is not perfect.  When they asked about it, I was very honest and said…..this is the first ten weeks of school and they are still adjusting to what is expected in third grade.  Third grade is a HUGE jump from second.  We go from oral learning to writing our responses..and using evidence.  Your child has an S, which means satisfactory.  An S is not bad – and it is HARD to maintain that E. I think some got it, and I think some just did not but we then went on to the real reason we have conferences – to discuss ways to help your child and to show parents what their child has been doing. To show progress. By the way, if they are making progress that is good which is S (satisfactory).
2. Parents do not understand the data – SURPRISE!  I do NOT make copies of my STAR data charts to give to parents.  I do share them with parents.  I also share them with my students.  I do not give them copies as it has way too much info on there that is not parent friendly, and quite frankly….they do not get all of it.  It all stays in my happy little data binder. I do share the graphs so they can see if their child is making progress, and if they are following their “trend line” that the computer sets.  However, some parents are like ohhhh what is my child’s lexile level.  Again, I show them IF they ask.  The reason is because I do believe that the exile levels are inflated.  I asked our reading teacher, who is a great friend of mine, about this.  She said that they are inflated.  So, when those parents ask…..the next question is…what does that mean?? HAHA. I knew that was coming.  Why are people worried about numbers. This is ONE piece of DATA!  But I do explain. However I am also honest with them and tell them it can be inflated.  I have some that I have to share their graph and tell the parents that I do not think it is a TRUE picture.  This is true, especially when I show them the book their child is reading in their guided reading group, and show them the questions they have been answering.  Again, lets look at AUTHENTIC assessment, and not computerized.
3. Parents are still upset over Common Core-especially the math.  When I shared the Common Core module assessments that their child took a few weeks ago – again they wanted a number.  They did not want a rubric, they wanted a number.  I was calm and explained again, that the rubric tells us what standards they are learning and mastering.  If they need a little more work, etc.  Most did calm down.  I also am very honest and tell the parents that I do like how they need to have a conceptual understanding of the math.  I remember learning multiplication where we just had to memorize facts.  I did it, but I had no idea the reasoning behind it.  Now, they are starting to understand the reasoning.  Yes, I did just send my kids home with flashcards and yes, they are starting to get timed fact quizzes, but that is because once you understand the concept then you should not have to draw arrays all of the time, etc.  Most parents did calm down.  Most parents were very happy that I do not send home any common core math homework.  Rest assured, it helped me to understand my homework theory again – they get a 4 square – which is a lot of spiral review – right now subtraction, addition, time, and word problems.  They are struggling with that – psssst parents it is still common core though :-P.
4. For the most part, parents were every respectful once things were explained. They have to understand that each year the work gets harder.  Also, I am big on their child becoming a responsible learner. I can NOT make your child learn the material. They have to want to learn it.  We do all that we can to convince them of it, and believe me most of my class is doing well with this.
5. Some families are going through tough times.  This is what breaks my heart.  I have one family – they are living in a hotel and have been.  I knew it from conversations with their child.  I was so so so happy the mom came.  I really did not think I would see a parent.  I was also so  grateful that she was honest and came in and just let it out.  I calmly explained to her that her daughter had told me and I was aware of it.  I thanked the mom for telling me and we talked about how yes, this is showing up in her daughter’s work – however that is to be expected.  She is fragile right now, she is 8.  It is NOT the child’s fault.  In this case, it is not even the parents fault. They are trying so hard.  We talked about ideas and strategies to try and keep things as normal as possible.  Also, she was given some Duffy Books so that her child can keep reading – which her daughter LOVES to do. But, when you have a fire and lose stuff and you can’t get you house to pass inspection so you can move back in – you need to find outlets.   Her daughter was very happy as the next day she came in and thanked me.  It really is the little things.  We need to be understanding and think about how we would feel if we were our students.
6. We need MORE mental health services in our schools.  We need to get rid of the stigma that mental health services are bad and means that we have “crazies”.  I had a very lengthy conference – an hour and a half people!!! It was my last conference.  Do not get me wrong, I had this feeling it was going to be bad.  I was glad that I had the reading teacher with me for support, and also glad the child came.  We called him in and asked him questions.  He almost broke down.  I am not going to lie.  I was hoping he would.  I wanted his mom to see how angry he is.  I explained how he is not going to produce anything academic because he is so angry right now.  He has every right to be.  He has gone through some horrific stuff.  Of course the mom blamed it on the dad, etc.  IT was not going well.  I did say though, that we seriously may have to consider outside services and possibly an alternative placement.  That did get moms ears to perk, but she quickly went to finding excuses.  I am not sure what is going to happen.  This has been going on since the kid was in kinder, so I do not have my hopes up. But, now I have documentation to back me up when we have another meeting on him.

So, that was my week.  It was long.  They are long nights, especially when you are teaching during the day.  I am VERY happy to say that I had 100% though.  I think this is the first time in a long time that everyone showed up for their conference. For that, I am truly happy.  I do believe that people want to care about their child, we just need to make school a friendlier place where parents can feel welcomes and not overwhelmed. Face it, we teachers are overwhelmed with all of the changes going on.  These parents are just as overwhelmed too. Many feel they can’t help their child because they were not taught this same way.  As I have said in previous blogs, we NEED to change our schools culture and until we do that, we are going to have some uneasy moments.

Well, the weekend is here.  I am totally trying to relax and get myself back together.  Two days and then break.  We can do this!

Have a great weekend!

 

Facts VS Media

Tags

common core, data, education

First of all, YES I do believe that we need data.  It is important to have data to look at to help you plan, to assess students, etc.  However, my question still is –WHAT DATA is TRULY VALUABLE?  It is also report card time.  I have spent the last couple of nights looking at rubrics and assessments included in our common core modules.  I have to say, the ELA I am pleased!  I was even pleased with the Math Mid-Unit Assessment module.  To me, this was good information.  How to apply it to the report card (which is incredibly outdated and yes I have to handwrite comments!!) I am not so sure.  I will share the rubric and the testing data with the parents, but I am left wondering if they will even understand it.  Dare I say…will they care?  I have some that will.  But what I am finding is that parents are in uproar over this whole common core stuff. However, I really feel that it is because they do not know the facts.

Now, I am not a Common Core fact tracker.  However, I am tired of the media and how they are twisting the facts.  It, quite honestly, has made a huge communication problem between schools and parents.  People, I am sick of hearing the negativity! I am tired of the nasty parent letters saying Common Core is bad and they do not want their child learning Common Core, blah, blah, blah.  First of all, Common Core – it is a set of STANDARDS!  These are skills that your child should be able to do.  Quite honestly, when I look at the old standards we had to follow before Common Core came along….PEOPLE THEY ARE PRETTY MUCH THE SAME!  If anything the Common Core breaks it down even more.  If you look at the standards, I think you will like them.  They make sense.  Finding out the  main idea, writing, speaking, listening to effectively communicate, being able to add, subtract, multiply, and divide.  Yes, you need these skills!

You know what?? Kids can handle delicate topics.  Our ELA module deals with the power of reading and an education.  Hello??? GREAT topic.  TO understand the importance of reading and how reading is knowledge.  Getting an education will help you to succeed in life – WOW!  Makes sense, doesn’t it?  This module has some delicate conversations.  Parents – do not think your child does not tell us what happens at home :-P.  They do.  We have read some books that deal with the topic of war in this module.  They are true books.  I want you to know that the children have enjoyed them.  They have begun to understand that we live in a country that is free and that we are lucky to be safe.  When we read the first book together, which by the way is called Nasreen’s Secret School, the children were very quiet.  They could not understand the concept of children, let alone girls not being able to go to school.  They didn’t understand that this girl had her father taken away.  They did not understand the Taliban.  We had some discussions.  What they did understand – that it is not fair to have war.  It was not fair that Nasreen and the others could not go to school, so had to go to a secret school, they learned that Afghanistan was a beautiful country before the war.  They, again, learned that they are lucky to be in the USA.  Yes, I had a few kids go home and talk to their parents.  I know it because they came in the next day and said my parents want to know why we are reading about war and the book had a gun in it.  YUP – parents not understanding the facts.  I said well, does war happen? Yes they said.  I said are we learning about Veterans Day too? Yup, they said.  I said did we have Americans using guns and fighting in the wars to keep us safe? Yup, they said.  I said okay, are we glad that we live here and not where Nasreen lives? YES! Okay, the point of the story is to understand other people and where they come from and how the power of reading and an education helped her to understand life outside of Afghanistan.  It allowed her to see the good that does exist in the world.  However, unfortunately, not every child or person has it made the way we do in America.  I think the kids got it.  Did they go home and tell their parents? I do not know, but no other questions came up the next day.

We also read another book The Librarian of Basra.  Another true story about a librarian who risks her life to save book in a library while a war is going on.  After she and her friends save the books, the library is blown up 9 days later.  In the beginning it talks about how the library was a gathering place for people in the community to read, to talk, etc.  It then goes on to say ho the talk turned to the people being worried if the war was going to come closer.  Obviously it does.  Then of course you learn that people help save the books because they were precious to them.  They dream of peace  and war to be over.  Again, it was quiet and the kids said it was sad.  Yes, war is sad.  This book was part of their final assessment to the unit.  They had to answer text dependent questions using details from the text.  I am happy to say that I have looked at them and the children did well.  They did how I thought they would.  Do not get me wrong – not all of my kids are perfect nor are they all on grade level.  However, I have to have whole group instruction ELA.  I need parents to understand what is expected of their child at this grade level.  Do not worry, I still do guided reading groups where they read books on their own level.  I will be sharing this rubric and assessment with the parents.  Some will I am sure question the fact that the book was about a war.  It had a much better lesson and theme than the war people!  Get your head out of your arse! And, I think we can’t have our children living in bubbles.  They need to know what is out there.  Children can do WAY MORE than you think they can.  Quite honestly, we need to make children more independent thinkers.  I am asking parents to PLEASE let their child take risks in school.  They will learn.  They are going to fail at some of these things.  What is important is that they do NOT give up and keep plugging away.  They will get it! This is ONE assessment I will be showing parents.  This is what is expected of their child at this grade level.  Yes, your child may not be reading at this grade level, however you need to know that.  Wouldn’t you want to know what you child should be reading? I will also share STAR reading results.  This shows what level your child is reading on.  Quite frankly if I had a child that is reading two grade levels below I might become concerned and read more with my child or try to help her get on grade level.  The STAR will show the parents where their child is and also if they are making progress. If they are making progress, GREAT! If not, we really need to look at ways to help them to make progress.  Believe me all kids learn at a different rate.  I get that! I look to see that they are making progress.

This post is long already, so I am leaving it at that.  I will talk more about the math another time.  What are your thoughts on Common Core?  Please look at the standards and read them before you judge.  Do not necessarily believe the media.

Thanks for reading!

As for me, back to looking at data and report cards 😛

Welcome back to blogging!! Let’s Talk Education and Data!

Tags

assessments, common core, date driven instruction, education, standards

I am back! Sorry it has been so long since I have blogged.  Let me just say that life got in the way.  I have returned to work again this year after a bit of a family medical emergency.  Do not fear.  Everything should just be fine.  Was it the way I wanted to start the year? No, but it is what it is.  I am now getting back to a routine and we are moving right along.

I thought I would start in with a book that our school is reading.  We are, yet again, a LAPS school.  I will not lie…I am sick of this.  I also really work hard at my job.  I know many people that do! With the way education is changing we are starting to feel defeated.  I will talk about that another time.  I just know that myself and others in my building would love some help!

As part of our improvement plan, we have to read this book and we will be discussing it.  Actually, we are supposed to be discussing it in our team meetings. Please do not get me started on those!  I have not had the opportunity to discuss it with my team, but I have discussed what I have read with other teachers and staff in my building.

This is a book that you may want to read.  I will admit that I did start this book while on my mission trip.  I then finished it before the year started.  I am now reading it again to refresh my memory.  I think being in a school while reading, it helps. This summer I was not in school mode :-). It does seem dry at times, but it also makes sense.  Here is what I have taken away from it so far.  PLEASE BE ADVISED – I am reading it slowly this time and diving deeper into the text (what we now call close reading and being reading detectives 🙂 ).

Things I learned and am thinking about from the forward, introduction, and chapter 1:

First – I loved this quote: “If there’s teaching going on, but the students aren’t learning, is it really teaching?” – I really want you to think about that.  It makes sense! I think that so many are just looking at pinterest and saying wow great idea, or I am going to do that.  It may look like teaching – but is it teaching or fluff?  How do you know the students are actually learning?  I don’t know – that quote just stuck out for me.  I have it written on a sticky note and will be bringing it up for discussion 🙂

Second – Data driven instruction has 4 key principals. 1:  Assessment that is rigorous and meaningful.  2:  Analysis where you look at BOTH strengths and weaknesses. 3:  Action – do something proactive using the data. Teach effectively what your students need to learn. 4:  Culture – we need to create an environment in which data-driven instruction will survive and thrive. Quite honestly, this brought back the conference I went to in Georgia.  I know that I blogged about this before my mission trip. If you are interested read those blogs.

Third – This book reminds me of the backwards design theory.  We tend to look at assessments as the end.  This is not true.  Assessments are not the end of the teaching and learning process, they are the starting point.  As teachers, we need to look at and design effective assessments. Then, we use that assessment to design our lessons. Make sure that your assessments given throughout the year also include material they learned earlier.  Think of this as spiral learning. BRILLIANT! This way the students will keep remembering and practicing those skills.

Fourth – what I like about this book is that it talks about how we are so focused on state assessments. Yes, they are important, but do they really give us valuable information?  Unfortunately, they do not.  By the time we get the information back, those kids have already moved on.  Too much time has gone by.  What everyone needs to remember is that your state assessments that are given once a year, usually at the end, are not the END ALL BE ALL of your students.  You need to use a variety of assessments.  This is especially true with all of the testing mumbo jumbo going on (that is all I am going to say about that 😛 )

Now, how does this apply to me? Well, this year I have tried to be optimistic about our modules.  I am NOT a fan of scripted material.  I am sure those of you that know me or have read my blog know – I am NOT a fan of scripts.  I want children to be creative. I think that with scripts we tend to just create robots. For example, I really feel that math is just strategies.  We need to make them aware of many strategies not just the ones in the modules.  One math problem can be solved MANY ways. However, this year I am making an effort to stick to the modules.  I have done some tweaking! I think as teachers, we always have to adapt the material.  However, I am now using the exit tickets in math.  I have kept them in my data folder.  WAIT a minute – let me correct that….  I have them organized by lesson and thrown in my desk drawer :-P. They will be organized before parent teacher conferences.  However, I do look at them quickly to see who has it, who almost has it, and who needs extra help with a skill.  This is a quick way to assess.  With the ELA, I have done a better job sticking to the modules.  I have to say that I really am enjoying the first module.  The books have some challenging topics.  I KNOW that some parents are questioning the books.  Well, the kids tell me – believe me parents.. your child tells all.  However, I do believe that the books are helping the children to understand that we are lucky where we live.  I am quite sure this will come up during parent teacher conferences happening soon.

With the math – I am making a better effort of doing guided math groups.  We have JUST started this the last few weeks.  I am still in the process of finding materials.  Honestly, I am finding that our module right now deals with multiplication and division, and I have way to many students who are not fluent in addition and subtraction.  Right now my math centers are literally simple addition and subtraction “games”, some multiplication flashcards and projects, and IXL, a WONDERFUL program I will talk about at another time.  Then, I also meet with groups each day at the “teacher table” to work on skills they need help with. This is where you can use your exit tickets, maybe go over work that they missed or struggled with. For my lower group, literally I am working on subtraction with regrouping.  I think you have to teach where they are.

What bothers me about education today? It seems that we are always trying to get the kids behind to catch up and we tend to forget about the ones that are succeeding and can be pushed more.  That is where I am struggling.  Hopefully this book will help!

Well, that is all I have for you! This is just the first 50 pages!  Be warned..I have another 125 to go haha! I am just hoping that we actually have some good discussion. We shall see!

Thanks for reading! Are you reading any educational books or articles? What are your thoughts? Please share!

Data, Data, Data

Tags

adventures, common core, data, data driving instruction, positivity, Professional Development, teaching

So, today was another day of professional development.  It was on DDI (Data Driven Instruction).  After getting lost on the way (par for the course!) I made it!  I have to say that this topic is something that is a bit out of my comfort zone.  However, it is very important.  We do need to look at data to drive our instruction. After today and after some of the workshops I attended in Georgia, I am not as afraid.  I can handle this challenge and be an effective member of my districts data team (thinking positively here folks).  Taking this as a new adventure in my life.

What I liked about today’s Data Boot Camp (that is what they called it, and it does make sense and is a great title!) is that we are focusing on the wrong data.  We need to change school culture and educate parents to understand this.  Again, it all goes back to Georgia.  Let’s face it…the only data that is ever reported in the media is what people?    State test data!!! I don’t know about where you are, but we had a lot of parents opt-out their child.  However, I truly feel that it was for the wrong reason.  That is due to the media.  As I have said before – I do NOT have a problem with the Common Core Standards.  I actually like them.  Where I have a big problem is how the modules were  rolled out.  It seems as though they put the cart before the horse.  But, I do NOT mind the Common Core Standards.  I feel they are very good and make sense!  This is where we have to change the culture.  This is something that we are going to try to do this year.  We want to have more parent nights to talk about how they are not scary and they do make sense.  We need to make the parents understand that they are not scary. We also need to get parents to understand that state test data is ONLY ONE PIECE!  Hopefully, we can accomplish that.  I would appreciate your prayers on that one!  It is a big step and a big challenge, but it needs to be done if we want to work as a team to help all children succeed.

What I also liked about this conference was it talked about how, in all honesty, it is your summative and formative assessments that give you immediate feedback.  This is what you can look at and use to help drive your instruction.  You see, state test data does not really do a good job of that.  State test data is out after the school year is over.  What it does give you is trends.  If you really want to use data to drive your instruction you need to use many forms.  At our school, we just started using STAR this year.  It was a learning experience, but I do believe that it was accurate to a certain point.  It was accurate in telling me which students needed urgent intervention, should be on watch, and were doing well.  Overall, I found that true.  To be honest, those of us from my district who were at this professional development training today, we said that there is so much information on STAR that we have not had a chance to really look at it all. We hope to get a bit more training in that.  That program has so many graphs and interventions it was amazing.  I know myself, that I could spend a few hours on the site clicking around on different students, class charts, etc.  It did give me lots of information.  This information could be used right away to help drive their instruction.  This was true especially when it came time to do guided reading groups.  One thing you have to understand is that your groups will change.  I always had kids moving around depending on how well they did on certain book levels, looking at their benchmarks, progress monitoring, etc.  However, I also used other reading assessments (quizzes on their guided reading books and novels), observations listening to them read, or their written responses to questions they had to answer based on their guided reading books. Today, I felt a bit more reassured when the presenters said that this is the real data that you can get fairly quickly. This is good data that you really need to look at to drive your instruction.

As you know, this year we are going to be using Lucy Calkins Units of Study for our writing.  I am excited about that.  We were saying today how that will give us some good data as well.  It requires the students to do on demand assessments, both at the beginning of a unit and at the end of a unit.  Then, it gives you rubrics to use to assess.  The most important part of this, is that you have to establish norms so that your entire school is on the same page and you are accurately using that rubric.  It is a holistic rubric – which makes more sense.  Again, this data will drive you instruction so you will know what kids to group when doing small group conference groups, as well as what to talk about in your individual conferences with students.  This is good data!

We also used STAR for math this year.  I will admit I did not use it that much.  The reason, is because we went to using our state Common Core Modules.  We are just now getting used to that, and I am not quite sure if the STAR is aligned to our modules.  It is something we want to look at.  However, I did look at the data after my kids took the STAR math benchmarks.  I found it fairly accurate in terms of which kids were struggling with math or were doing well.  The problem was that we really could not do a lot of differentiated math instruction.  Common Core math is a whole new way of thinking mathematically.  All of the kids have to learn this process, so we focused mostly on whole group instruction.  At the end of the day, during extra center and/or read to self time, I would try to pull kids who were struggling.  Or during work time after doing whole group math, I would pull kids who were struggling to give them extra help.  We did say today that we seem to focus so much on reading that we can’t ignore math.

Basically, what I liked about today is they really focused on the fact that we need to focus on the summative and formative assessments.  These are our unit tests, tickets out the door, book tests, quick checks, etc.  We need to look at STAR as it immediately gives you results.  Plus, you need to have the kids involved and looking at their own data.  This helps make them more accountable for their learning, as well as keep their motivation up.  At one workshop, one of the administrators said that at their school – the kids actually graph their own data.  That way it is available to them and they can see if they have made progress or if they have slipped a bit.  Plus, she said they are learning math by doing the graphing.  The graph was relevant, as it related to their learning.  We need to share the data with the students.  I really liked that.  I did show my kids their STAR graph after they took the reading tests on it.  We focused on if the line went up or down.  However, we made it positive.  It was wow, your graph is going up, look at where you are now.  You are growing as a reader.  When they went down, it was well you went down.  We will try again next time and we know we have to work a bit harder.  You do have to make it a bit positive.

This day also really reiterated what I came back fired up about after I came back from Georgia.  We need to change our school culture.  We need to have data teams that include teachers, administrators, Board of Education members, and community members.  Schools make up a big part of the towns and villages.  We need to work together.  The children are our future, so it is important that we all take part in that.  The presenters said to have visible data graphs available for people to see.  That is also something that we decided today.

So, I am not so afraid of data now.  I have my work cut out for me.  I will be reading a book on Data Driven Instruction.  Also, I will be getting more training.  I am going to take this opportunity as a new adventure. I have never been a member of a data team.  I think now is the time.  I am a bit of a nerd and like to look at data.  However, I am never quite sure what to do with it.  It seems every year we used to look at state test data only.  I would say that is great, but this is old.  Those kids have moved on.  Now, we know what we need to really focus on.  Hopefully this year those of us chosen to be on this team – hopefully we will accomplish lots! We do know that we will have to change the culture and take baby steps.  It is important that you try to get everyone on board. We said today at the end, that is going toe hard to do at our district.  However, we are all up the challenge!

What are your feelings on data?  Anyone out there ever been on a data team? What were your experiences?  I would love to hear! Do you have any words of wisdom? Let’s work together on this!  Thanks for reading!