This year we have been using the data we receive from far to determine where to start students off for DRA testing. Using this Data takes the guessing game away from were to test those students at the beginning of the year and throughout the year as we continue testing. Rather than just trying a level high then their previous if fair (or iStation) is showing that they have made significant gains it would save us on time to test them on more of a on level text. Not only does it save the time but having that consistent data to be able to refer to when discussing student achievements would come be very beneficial.
This year we have been using the data we receive from far to determine where to start students off for DRA testing. Using this Data takes the guessing game away from were to test those students at the beginning of the year and throughout the year as we continue testing. Rather than just trying a level high then their previous if fair (or iStation) is showing that they have made significant gains it would save us on time to test them on more of a on level text. Not only does it save the time but having that consistent data to be able to refer to when discussing student achievements would come be very beneficial.
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A Mighty Girl Bridging The Gap In Unfair Representation Of Diversity On Children's Literature2/15/2015 Last month blogged about an issue that has been haunting me for some time now. I find that children's literature has an unfair representation of diversity. Whether that diversity is racial, poverty, or even gender. Literature seems to focus heavily on white male protagonist. Just think of all the children books that have made it to the top of the charts and become well-recognized books. Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Dairy of a Wimpy Kid. All of these books feature a white male protagonist. Of course there are book that break this mold but they don’t come by as often. As depicted in the graphic below the number of books about white characters grossly out numbers the books about any and all other races. Even within the copious percentage of books written about white characters, the break up of these books by gender is lacking. According to an article by the Huffington Post "What Does it Mean that Most Children's Books Are Still About White Boys?" over half of the books feature a male character as the lead. I find this particularly dissatisfying when I think of my classroom (which has more female student) and my little sister. I don't want any of them to struggle to find a book that they can identify with the main character. I have finally found answer to issue. A site called A Mighty Girl. This site works to empower and inspire young female readers by providing them with literature, toys, music , movies and more. I implore you to read about this site and check it out. As an educator I plan to utilize this site to find books that not only represent girls but also books that represent different social issues. A Mighty Girl has a whole section dedicated to just this, below are the different social issues the site has began to categorize by. I have used this feature to find the next book for my Literature Circle group. I am happy to announce we will be reading Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood. Though I have found a way to get female representation I am even more motivated to find sites and resources that share A Mighty Girl's vision. I would love to find a site that helps teacher, students, and parents find books so that every student can read book about characters they can identify with.
We only have a few more weeks until the students are starting to take the FSA assessments. The first of these being the writing assessment. Next week we began breaking out instruction apart so we can meet all of the students needs. In order to help them in the areas that they need the most help in, as I talked about in my previous post. Because the students can either get an opinion or an informational piece we will be working on one of these pieces every week. We will switch back and forth so they are getting ample time with each mode. Though we are trying to prepare them for this test it really feels like a shot in the dark since we have never seen the test. Hopefully what we are doing is helping them become better writes in addition to helping them succeed on the FSA.
In my program we are being given time to do CFG’s (Critical Friends Group). I am pleasantly surprised at how this is working for me. I feel as though I have been given a formal outlet to express concerns so that I can really try and solve them. As apposed to just talking to others and never really coming to a consensus on what should be done. In the few weeks that we have done the CFG I have made headway to solve a major problem I have been facing all semester. I have also been able to help my colleagues with their issues. I am excited to see how my possible solutions help them become even more successful. Yesterday I got an opportunity to be a judge at Hillsborough County’s S.T.E.M Fair. As a USF student I was partnered with a teacher leader and we judged ten different group projects. We were assigned fourth grade life science, and I have to say I was definitely blown away! All of the students took such pride in their work. They were all very passionate about what they were talking about; they were able to explain to me exactly why they choose to do there project. It just shows me how important this process is to these students and how much of an impact it has. This one-day, even if they don’t win, experience could be what pushes them toward a S.T.E.M. career.
In this experience I also noted the difference between a student chosen and a teacher chosen project. Though both projects invoked passion in the students, regardless of who chose it these students were all excited to share what they did. However the ones who thought of it themself really were able to discuss the real world applications. They were also the ones who were able to tell me how they would change the project to find something else out. These students really took ownership of their work. I think this is so important to be aware of, when I am teaching next year I need to take their ideas or wonderings and find a project that works for them. Yes they can be passionate about one I give them but it just wouldn’t be the same. I also realized I am become a part of the education community. I knew many more people at the S.T.E.M. fair then I thought I would. From seeing and recognizing the leaders in the community like Michele Wiehagen to seeing other students at USF from several different programs. It made me realize how important keeping and maintaining a professional appearance will be in the education field. I am looking forward to participating in further events in the years to come. How did your peer support you in data collection?
In this program I am very fortunate to work with a resident from another school. When I get to collaborate with Rebecca Fiore I feel as those we make a great team. Rebecca assisted me in creating and modifying my assessments. After administering the assessment she took her time to help me look at the student responses. First we would find the students that completely got the concepts, and then all of the other students got sorted out from there. We took the responses and tried to find patterns, did they not understand the question? Were they confused about something particularly (an example would be the group that was confused on the difference between luster and color.)? Though she wasn’t at my school or in my classroom we had lots of meaningful conversations to analyze student responses. From there I bounced ideas off of her, to see what would work best for my students. With in this discussion we came up with plans to help the students understand their misconception and helped them get back on track. How did you analyze your data? As I said before I looked at all of the student responses and then saw how I could best support my students. We looked for patterns in the students responses and put them in groups that would best support they’re learning. We determined what they were missing and then we figured out what they needed to know so we could set a plan to best support them. What does your data tell you? It told me what my students didn’t understand so that I could better support my instruction. What progress have you made toward meeting your goal? I feel as though I haven’t fully met my goal. That being said I am beginning to understand how to utilize assessments to support my instruction. I was shocked to see how many of my students were missing pieces. For the most part they got the core concept but there were little things impeding their full understanding. Though they may have been “little” things if they go unnoticed they will build up and stop the student from progressing. This applies to all subject areas not just science. How can you continue to develop this practice in literacy instruction? I plan to continue using assessments in order to better my student’s instructions to make sure I see the things that are missing so I can fill in those gaps. When it comes to literacy I will have to look into other forms of assessments to use rather then the concept cartoons and more formal assessments I am using in my science instruction. For my science content coaching I set a goal to start implementing assessment in order to better instruct my students. For the first assessment I need to see if my students understood what properties were used in order to determine minerals and that they could distinguish between the properties luster and color. Here is the first assessment I created: This is the second one I created and administered: Their are three main reasons I changed the assessment to the second one:
Here is the results of my assessment: I separated the students based on how they responded. Which broke them into six groups.
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AuthorTeacher in Training Archives
April 2015
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