Thursday, September 19, 2013

A Standards Routine

Yesterday our teaching staff met to discuss standards base report cards. Yes, yet another change, but a promising change that will serve to direct our eyes and practice with specificity.

The new standards are upon is in multiple ways including revised scope and sequences, new language, and updated weekly routines to meet all standards language and intent.  Further, I'm working diligently to embed these standards into worthy learning design, design that's brain-friendly, student-centered, engaging, and rich in breadth and depth.

The only way I can do this is to continue to build an efficient lesson planning and response pattern each week on my own and with colleagues.  How will I continue to grow this practice?  In what ways will the collegial groups I work with use time to optimize this effort?

1. I'll continue to use UClass as my inroad to the standards--as I create lesson after lesson to match current units, I'll use their templates and resources to help me with the process.

2. Next, I'll work to incorporate a successful feedback system both to inform teaching efforts and to build a learning conversation with parents and students.  Right now as students learn and work, I'm collecting a host of assessment data to use as parents, teachers, and students set goals in the coming weeks.  On a daily basis, I'm checking in with students with regard to their classroom work.

3. I'll create a chart of the report card standards and student names.  I'll target lessons on these standards and keep track of students' progress as we move forward.  That will provide a clear picture of how we're doing with regard to meeting each standardards for each child.

4. I'll continue to read about renewed processes such as close reading, writing process, and math problem solving--processes which serve as the foundation for most other standards. There's lots to learn with regard to detail and action with regard to these processes--processes which are truly life long goals.

5. I'll focus on my SMART goals--goals which I've chosen after analyzing student data from last year.  I noted areas of my practice and the weekly routine that could be changed for better effect.

Why do I continue to write and write and write about the same topic, repeating often.  I do this, as I've mentioned before, to cheer myself on as I embark on this teaching/learning journey as there are so many distractors in the school setting which can easily take us away from our primary mission which is to teach each child well.  Hence continued effort to create a meaningful, efficient, targeted process to embed best practice, new research, optimal tools, and student-centered, engaging efforts remains.  I look forward to the continued encouragement and insight of my PLN near and far as I travel this road.