How am I spending my break?

Reading, Planning, Reading, Planning and a little Grading (yes I still have a few things to grade). My parish is starting a new teacher evaluation process next year and I am so incredibly lucky to be part of the pilot – I did inject a slight bit of sarcasm in that last statement.  I know that I really am lucky because I have a chance to see what is required before it becomes live AND I have an opportunity to make suggestions about what works and what doesn’t work.  The process requires that we maintain an extensive portfolio that demonstrates our effectiveness as teachers.

We will be graded on the following standards:

  • planning
  • instruction
  • environment
  • professionalism
Each of these standards has sub-components involved and we were given suggestions about what documentation to include to prove our competencies.  As I look at the suggestions and rubric requirements, I am pleased to say that I have some of the items and other items that I do not have I can easily create and implement.
This pilot evaluation process is helping me to focus my attention in a more direct way to develop materials, activities, procedures, etc. that will help drive student achievement.  I have created an ePortfolio to help me organize my thoughts, resources and documentation for the evaluation process.  I don’t know think that they had an online digital ePortfolio in mind but as I like to tell the kids – “That’s what I do.  If it can be done online, I will do it online – because Ms.B.isOnline.”
I was touring the Edutopia.org site and came across this video and the resources provided and it spoke to me.  It did not say anything that I don’t know to be true; it just helps to support my ideas about what needs to be done to move the achievement of my students from “barely present in class and doing the least amount of work possible” to “blowing the top off of the test scores and engaged to make their brains smoke from the effort.“
The video and resources were developed by Cochrane Collegiate Academy, a failing school that turned their years of failures to success.

http://www.edutopia.org/stw-school-turnaround-student-engagement-video

 

Check out their video, look at their resources and decide if what they have done is possible at your school.  I believe that it is IF you get 100% buy in from the faculty.