Monday Morning Message 2018-2019

Formative assessments are an important part of effective teaching. They should be integrated into the teaching and learning process. Formative assessments are "for" learning while summative are "of" learning. These assessments should help teachers identify concepts that students are struggling to understand, skills they are having difficulty acquiring, or learning standards they have not yet achieved so adjustments can be made to lessons, instructional techniques and academic support. The goal of formative assessments is to collect detailed information that can be used to improve instruction and student learning "while" it is happening. Grace recently asked everyone to fill out a survey on what formative assessments you are using. As a district, we are moving towards common formative assessments. I found two articles below that does a great job explaining formative assessments further. Within the articles, they give questions that you should be focused ...

A few weeks ago, our Monday Morning Message discussed the 5 Dimensions of Teaching and Learning.   We discussed Purpose that included information related to standards and learning targets and teaching points.   Today I would like to cover Assessment for Student Learning.   We learned last week that Element #13, reflecting on learning, is one way to assess the progress of your class toward the learning goal.   Research has shown that asking students to identify and record what they are confused about enhances their learning.   Reflection data are also useful for diagnosing errors or gaps in students’ knowledge (Butler & Winne, 1995; Cross, 1998).   The use of reflective journals, think logs, exit slips, knowledge comparison, and 2 column notes are just a few ways teachers can help students reflect on their learning. When looking at assessment for student learning, we want students to be able to assess their own learning in relation to the targe...

Good morning, November is a time to give thanks, show appreciation, and share gratitude. We can not let our busy lives and schedules take away from the fact that we still are incredibly thankful for many things in life. Each day in November I challenge you to name/think about one thing you are thankful for. I hope having that as a focus for your day will bring you joy. No matter the circumstances around us or in our lives we are all blessed. There are so many outside factors that play into our happiness but one thing is for sure, if we lean on one another and work as a team we grow in a positive manner. We learn to appreciate the little things in life. Grace and I are very lucky to work alongside each and every one of you. We are thankful to have a supportive, loving, and hard working staff. You continuously go above and beyond making sure we are meeting our students needs behaviorally, socially and academically. Your time, effort and hard work does not go unnoticed. For the month of...