As part of our teacher evaluation system we must develop a Professional Development Plan (PDP). I chose to share mine here, due to the amount of time that was spent on it and the fact that my PLN has played such an important part throughout the year.
Goal 1:
By May, 2013 85% of third graders receiving gifted services will make a year or more progress in reading according to the Developmental Reading Assessment(DRA).
To what degree were you successful in meeting your goals? What evidence or artifacts support your reflection?
Based on DRA data from Fall 2012 and January 2013 and Successmaker performance 100% of gifted students in the third will our on track to making a year’s worth of growth in reading. General education teachers have been kind of enough to share both their DRA scores and/or SuccessMaker data with me. Other evidence would include: rubrics, lesson plans, walk through and formal observations
List any targeted professional growth opportunities:
I have very active online Professional Learning Network (PLN). There is a lot of ongoing learning towards this goal that takes places in these arena: Twitter, Facebook, Edmodo, Discovery Educators Network and Challenge Based Learning (CBL) website. With that said, it is there that I have been exposed to many articles and discussions related to authentic assessments. Some of the specific reading I have done this year regarding authentic assessment would include:
"Wrangle It with a Rubric" in Learning and Leading with Technology (November 2012) by Regina D. Royer and Jeffrey A. Royer -Learning and Leading
Marzano Research Laboratory Website article“Tracking Student Progress and Scoring Scales”
However, the most useful resources I have explored this year were :
Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Everything- Assessment and Rubrics
Jon Mueller-Authentic Assessment Toolbox
-Reflection on Goal 1:
For my first goal my strategies and behaviors were to develop and implement at least eight project related rubrics and four behavioral rubrics to use throughout the year with the gifted students. These rubrics were to be used to measure students' growth and improve instruction based on the goals found in the Florida Framework for K-12 Gifted Learners. Where this goal was completed, I feel I still have further work to do within the area of assessment.
After about halfway through the first quarter I began to see that some adjustments and/ or additions would need to be made to my original plan. Since most of the goals found in the Florida Framework for K-12 Gifted Learners are process goals a fuller picture of students’ progress would need to be painted. With that said, I found it was important to keep anecdotals along with these rubrics. The notes on my observations have really helped me track students growth as well as areas of concerns for students in different areas in ways a snapshot rubric couldn't. My observations on students have always been something I could rely on in the past, but I have not been quite as good at writing them down. This process is a bit time consuming, but it has allowed me to look for patterns in students. I have recognized strengths in certain students that I am not sure I would have noticed otherwise.
Some of the other things, I have done in regards to assessment this year was to rewrite the quarterly gifted progress this report and sought out revision advise from other educators from across The School District of Manatee County through email and Edmodo. This was done to better align the progress report to the Florida Gifted Framework. Through this process I was able to received some very good feedback adjusted accordingly. There are several educators throughout the county who are also using this same progress report.
Finally, I know I still have work to do, but I am proud of the progress made this year in this area. I truly believe that all true learning takes places within a process and feel I am in the midst such a process on authentic assessment right now. I know I still have more exploration and improvements to do in this area. However, one thing is for sure, how assessment has been done in Oneco's Gifted Program will never be the same.
Goal 2:
By May, 2013 85% of fourth graders receiving gifted services will make a year or more progress in reading according to the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA).
To what degree were you successful in meeting your goals? What evidence or artifacts support your reflection?
Based on DRA data from Fall 2012 and January 2013 and Successmaker performance at least 87.5% of gifted students in the fourth will make a year’s worth of growth in reading. General education teachers have been kind of enough to share both their DRA scores and/or SuccessMaker data with me. Other evidence would include: rubrics that are presented to the students before the task, lesson plans, walk through and formal observations.
List any targeted professional growth opportunities:
I have very active online Professional Learning Network (PLN). There is a lot of ongoing learning towards both goal that takes places in these arena: Twitter, Facebook, Edmodo, Discovery Educators' Network, and Challenge Based Learning. org. With that said, it is there that I have been exposed to many articles and discussions related to Constructivism Framework. A few of the things I have read that related to subject of constructivism and inquiry are the following:
Inquiry Circles, Comprehension and Collaboration by Stephanie Harvey and Harvey Daniels
I refer to this book often. It is truly a wonderful resource.
Why School? by Will Richardson (eBook)
Premise of the book is that now with the internet students no longer have to wait for the teacher to dispense knowledge and education needs to be reformed. This book touches on many of the principles of constructivism. Also, I participated in a book discussion on this book via Edmodo for several weeks in January.
Challenge Based Learning Website
I have visited and gathered resources here often.
Reflection on Goal 2:
My strategy was to add rigor to Oneco's Gifted Program by incorporating research based curriculum models (i.e. Challenge Based Learning, Big Six, Inquiry....) to promote students growth and improve instructions of the goals found in the Florida Framework for K-12 Gifted Learners.
As mentioned before, I have very active online Professional Learning Network (PLN). There is a lot of ongoing learning towards both goal that takes places in these arena: Twitter, Facebook, Edmodo, Discovery Educators' Network, and Challenge Based Learning. org.
Different verbiage is used in the different constructivist frameworks, but the principles and concepts are very much the same. I believe one author said it best-"Well, as long as real, student-driven inquiry is at the core, what's in a name?" I have been using the Challenge Based Learning frameworks for the last several years now, but feel I have only begun to scratch the surface.
In November, I was asked to present "Challenge Based Learning in the Gifted Classroom" at Gifted After Hours for other teachers of the gifted from around the district. From there several educators ask if I could work with them on implementing CBL into their classrooms. We decided to collaborate on CBL challenge during the second half of the year. This experience has been so beneficial the communication and collaboration on our struggles and the sharing of ideas has been so beneficial. We set up another Edmodo group for this challenge and have used Skype on occasions for communication. I have been part of other global collaboration in the past, but working towards the same goals with the same standards has proven to be invaluable. We are already discussing getting together to create a few things to help hone our process for later challenges. It is my hope that this experience mirrors my favorite quote from Steven Wolk’s article "School as Inquiry"-Inquiry-based schools at their very best do not just practice inquiry with their students, they also invite -even expect- teachers to use inquiry to improve their practice.
Also, one component of CBL is Reflection and at mid-year review time I was struggling with getting quality reflections journal entries from my students. Dr. Stancil spent some time looking at samples and helped redirect my role in the reflection process. I am not sure if the qualifies as professional development, but there have been a few conversations about different elements of our process that I have discussed with administration that have been very helpful. Unfortunately, I am not here half my week and miss most of the meetings, but I really do appreciate them taking the time to discuss my instruction specifically.
One final note, I do believe that these framework (esp. CBL) have played an enormous role in my classroom over the last four years, but there is always room to improve. Next year, I need to seriously evaluate when and where explicit mini-lesson need to be taught. For example, giving some explicit instruction on things like organizing and prioritized task, which is a necessary skills for any endeavor.
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