Teacher as Diagnostician?

The more I teach, the more I realize that what I like best about the job is matching just right curriculum and process to learners in an effort to engage, motivate and teach.

I just spent the morning tailoring math lessons, practice packets and lists of online sites and games to boost individual students' performance and skill.

That's why no one curriculum, online venue, field study or program ever works for me--I teach in response to the students in front of me and the identified primary standards for success which include the following:

• reading comprehension/fluency
• writing skill/fluency
• mathematical/scientific understanding/skill
• identified content that matches students' passion/interests
• 21st century/life long learning attributes: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity.

Essentially I am invested in the role of diagnostician and learning coach.  

In that role, I find myself committed to these activities:

• Reading and research related to the science of learning.
• Searching for the best learning tools, venues and experiences.
• Listening to, and getting to know learners with depth and care.
• Responding to students' needs and interests.
• Coaching my students with positivity, vision, respect and kindness.

Does the role of diagnostician or coach match your definition of teacher?  How would you modify or enrich the activities list I've presented?  In what ways is this a role shift from the teaching role of the past?  What do teachers need with respect to structure, environment and support to perform this role with strength?

As I move along my professional journey towards teaching children well, I will continue to consider these questions and actions.  I look forward to your response. 

MCAS 2nd Analysis 2012

I received my son's MCAS scores which sent me back to analyze my students' present and past scores once again.  Like every teacher I want every child to score proficient or advanced.  So when I see students scoring in Needs Improvement or Warning, I'm prompted to analyze the scores carefully in light of the academic program and my efforts.

I've been giving the MCAS test at elementary school for a long time.  Over the years my scores have varied, yet they tend to hover around the 1/4-1/3 to 3/4-2/3 differential in both ELA and Math. There's been that rare year when everyone scored in proficient and advanced in a subject, but mainly there's a larger group in proficient/advanced and a smaller fraction in Needs Improvement/Warning.

Our students generally come from highly educated, loving families who have the ability to care for their children well and support our schools with care. Obviously, those are significant reasons why our students generally score well at all grades.

As I looked at the scores today, I was reminded of the following points to help our students do well on these standardized tests:

• Make sure that all children complete daily, meaningful practice in reading, writing and math.
• Strategically match students with teaching assistants and specialist teachers to support growth.
• Monitor progress regularly with formative assessments and adapt instruction when needed to promote growth.
• Nurture a positive, student-friendly learning environment.
• Embed standards in meaningful, engaging project base learning whenever possible.
• Provide regular feedback to students and hold students to high standards.
• In math, provide students who fall well below the grade level standards a chance to strengthen their mathematical foundation skills. 
• Create short term, challenging and realistic goals with students and strategize with children as to how to met those goals. 
• Collaborate with the teaching team regularly to share successes and challenges as a way of promoting the best possible collective program.
• Implement PLC (professional learning communities) and RTI (response to intervention) to promote targeted student growth.
• Regularly provide feedback and don't let anyone "fly under the radar" by not completing assignments in class or for homework.

Good teaching matters, and there are many strategies we can employ to help students learn well.  What would you add to my list?  What would you take away?

While some do not support standardized testing, I continue to be a fan of streamlined testing at fourth grade.  Since testing I have noticed greater attention towards those who are challenged by reading, and greater investment by all parents. Also, testing at fourth grade focuses on essential skills; skills that every child will need to move forward in their academic lives so these are standards I can live with. 

The key is to take these standards and make them a part of lively, meaningful student-friendly projects that also build 21st century skills of critical thinking, creativity, communication and collaboration. Onward. 

Weekly Pattern: A Typical Schedule

Scheduling is one of the most complex activities in elementary schools.  As we employ thoughtful attention to specific learning and professional development needs with the addition of special education teachers and assistants, reading specialists, coaches, regular education assistants and many volunteers, we find that setting up the weekly routine for best effect takes time.

At last my class has a routine that includes a positive variety for their learning interests and academic standards.  Take a look at our typical schedule below. Is our schedule similar to yours?  How does it differ, and how is it the same?

I use this template each week to add the specific lessons, activities and focus, then share out the schedule about one week in advance to all who work with the class.

Short and Sweet

I was known as the teacher who created long, complex packets for student learning. I liked the packets because in the days of old, prior to technology, the packets led students independently from a place of content review to challenging inquiry.

For the most part, the days of the "packet" are gone and have been replaced by short, sweet introductions, practice and formative assessments. The short, sweet assignments give students a chance to practice, learn and demonstrate knowledge without becoming overwhelmed, then the inquiry, challenge and review is there for the taking with collaborative projects and tech venues.

The short, sweet assignments are quick to review, provide adequate information for further teaching and are a perfect venue for quick, meaningful feedback which is important when you are responding to large numbers of students each day.  These assignments also serve to inform family members of classroom learning goals and students' daily performance.

As with all new learning in education, I wonder why I didn't discover this approach earlier, and I know there are many teachers out there saying, "She didn't know that."  But "short and sweet" has been so successful that I just had to share. Let me know what you think?

Examples of Short, Sweet Assignments

Weekly Spelling/Grammar: This weekly assignment responds to common writing errors students make each week.

Literacy Tickett: This assignment takes a similar format each day and leads students Literacy Studio work (reading/writing workshop).

Measurement Problem Solving: This (not as short and sweet) responded to the observation that students in general had a very difficult time drawing and manipulating simple measurement models to solve problems.

Mini-Research: This assignment was the follow-up to several information text read aloud books where we discussed informational text structure and reasons for and the process for reading informational text.

Best?

Now that excessive information is at our fingertips all the time, our job is to find the best information.

• What is the best, most flexible mathematical/scientific model to teach a concept?
• What is the best film to convey a specific content?
• What are the best methods to learn important information?
• What is the best field experience to develop understanding?

In the old days, we were satisfied to find a film, model, method or field experience, but now with the world at our fingertips, it is our job to find the best available.

While many are scurrying to produce online content sites, models, virtual experiences and methods--teachers have the responsibility to be discerning consumers of information, the masters who utilize continual processes of identifying, then utilizing the best of what's out there to teach children well.

Then those same teachers must guide students' to discern and identify information too so that they  become masters of the information they choose to use, not servants of the companies that produce the information.