Evaluation Time

This week, many of the teachers and aides were being evaluated during our Math and Reading MTSS programs. MTSS, for those not familiar with the terminology, stands for Multi-tiered System of Support. We use this system to help give differentiated learning for all of our student levels. Some need more support than others and some need more challenges to meet their educational abilities.

Our program is evaluated once in the Fall and once in the Winter time, with a follow-up after each evaluation. The feedback is then shared with parents during Parent-Teacher conferences and with the teachers involved. We can tweak or enhance each tier based on the results of the evaluation.

We have a director who oversees our MTSS program and she is the one who evaluates each of the teachers and aides. She looks at class sizes, classrooms where the instruction takes place, student/teacher interaction, student behavior, and use of materials for concept teaching. We generally get feedback in the form of an email from our director and its shared between the teams. She invites input and feedback from us as well.

I generally get a little nervous when I'm getting evaluated. I want to do a good job teaching and I hope that the students are learning from me and enjoying class with me. It sometimes gets a little nerve-wracking when a student misbehaves and I have to discipline him/her. I want to know that I disciplined the student in the right manner and don't want it to distract from the lesson I am teaching.

I have never had a "horrible" evaluation, but have always had things that I have heard are strengths and some areas in which I can improve upon. Overall, I think evaluations are good for teachers to have and I like that they are held a couple of times a year. I am glad that my evaluation is not tied to pay scale or that my evaluation is not tied in with student assessments. I could see where some schools may want this as a motivational tool to help retain excellent teachers, add bonus pay, and motivate those who need to improve themselves. I like the overall feedback it gives us as teachers and shows us where we can improve upon our classes to help our students succeed. Parents like the feedback; as well, so that they can see how their child is being taught in school and what concepts are being practiced. They can help their child at home with this type of feedback. It also creates more communication points with the parent(s) and teachers.

Technology in the Classroom

In my opinion, technology, is not always "My Friend."  Last Thursday, I actually had a positive experience with technology, when I gave I-pads to my Third grade Reading group and had them record themselves reading a short story. The students were instructed to record themselves reading the story, listen to the recording, and "grade" themselves on their rate, fluency, and expression. All of my students enjoyed recording and listening to themselves read. They asked me if they could do that each week. It was a great way for them to hear themselves read and for me to keep a record of their reading; so that, I could go back and hear their improvement over time. This idea made the class more enjoyable for the students and made them want to participate more.

I have had a negative experience with technology lately. Over the last couple of weeks of school, my document reader attached to my smart board, has been flaky. It does not work when I need it to work and it makes my classroom instruction plans to be adjusted. I often like to show documents for my younger classes on the smart board; in order, to help them better understand the lesson being taught. I now have to waste class time or planning time, trying to "fix" the document reader by turning the machine off/on; resetting my computer, or just foregoing its use all together. I have an older reader and the school does not have extra ones for swap out, nor does it have it in the budget to upgrade the older readers. Just plain frustrating! 

First Post

Welcome to my blog! This is my first post.