Wow. Whoda thunk it?? Here I sit, right smack in the midst of writing my final TNTP portfolio entries and making sure that my artifacts are up to par and properly linked for submission and review… can’t believe that all the craziness and stress and headache of this past year is wrapping up in just a few more weeks. We literally have 1 – O.N.E. – more seminar left, and then we’ll be done. And the last thing to do will be to hand in this (huuuuumungous) portfolio for pass/fail review, and then we’ll be done with TNTP and the challenges of being first-year teachers.
Our student surveys are all done and submitted and FedEx’d off to Brooklyn for independent review, and we wait only for portfolio review and our students’ EOG score results. Still don’t quite get how this “value added” stuff works, but somehow, someway, they’ve managed to figure out a way to determine just how much of a positive impact we’ve had on our students’ lives via their final EOG scores. Won’t find out about those for another few months, about July or so, from what I’m told… So much for going into my first summer break as an Elementary School EC Teacher with peace of mind and warm, restful summer days.
I know I’ve said it at various points during the school year, yet here it is again still so very fresh and real in my mind… I’m completely amazed that a full school year has gone by so, so, so fast. We have just 5 – count ‘em – f.i.v.e – more weeks of school left till we pack up everything and call it quits till late August. Just one more week of writing lesson plans and actual teaching/review, and then we march right into EOG week then retake week then 5th Grade Transition Meetings week then… LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL. Wowwww. Just incredibly, incredibly fast.
Seems like just yesterday when our class began our EOG countdown, and it was something like 15 weeks away. Can’t believe we’re actually down to five more school days till the big test. Even though I know what we do comes down to so, so much more than just a score on a standardized test, I can’t help but realize just how much this test means – how much it counts for my kids, for their placement in the next grades, etc. I do not look forward to seeing the faces of those of my kids who might need to retake the test at any point. All year long, we’ve looked at it as a challenge, something that they are well-able to beat, to do well on, to use as a means of showing just how hard they’ve worked and how much they’ve learned… and I’m so hoping that they will all pass with a 3 or 4 the first go-round and not have to sit through that stuff again for a second time.
The approaching EOGs and school year’s end also mean something else for me, though. They mean that I’ll no longer be a fumbling, confused, overwhelmed first-year teacher who doesn’t have a clue what the heck she’s doing. I’ve learned so much. I’ve started lists and plans and things to do/buy/make/laminate, etc. for next year so that I can be much more prepared and actually hit the ground running this time.
I’ve survived the office politics (LORD… who in the world knew that schools – teachers in particular – were so cliquey and could be so rough with each other??? Man, was THAT ever a real learning experience…) and I’m still in one piece. I’ve learned over the past nine months or so to remain pleasant no matter what’s going on, be helpful as much as I can and when all else fails and strong female personalities are clashing left and right all around me, go into the sanctuary of my own trailer and close the door… enjoy the peace and quiet and tranquility, and let it refocus me to what’s really, really important… my kids.
My plans for next year include:
· Starting my data tracking right away for all of my grades, using the same measurements that my school uses for consistency of data and truth in measuring growth over the course of the school year
· Setting up content-area binders per grade to house all my copies of worksheets and tests and activities… Imagine It!, Social Studies, 4th Grade LA Skills, etc.
· Designing and laminating all of my beginning of the year stuff NOW while the schedule is very flexible and we’re in testing time… taking advantage of the extra time that this month affords will help make me a very happy camper come August, I’m sure
· Going over the beginning Imagine It! Units (now that you finally know what they are!!! J) and making actual unit plans and activities up for my kiddos versus just teaching lesson by lesson and having them miss out of the big unit picture… Teaching them what the unit plan will be by using a top-down web for each one… visual and auditory… AND ORGANIZED.
· Setting up grading templates per grade level/service group early so that all I have to do is plug in the actual grades as I give the assignments and tests… never had a clue just how long it would take me to grade papers and record grades and get them to their respective gen ed teachers in time for progress reports and report cards… lesson well learned.
· Sending grades to teachers weekly instead of waiting and getting distracted by other things, then having them have to ask for them later on…
· Purchasing composition notebooks ahead of time for journals for my kids… the stores run out of these QUICKLY, so getting them ahead of time will ensure that my kids have the nicer looking journals that can hold their work and thoughts and hopes and dreams (awww!)…. Preparation is everything.
· Setting up my calendar of upcoming IEP annual and reeval deadlines so that I know what my monthly schedule looks like at a glance. .. prepared, ready, no surprises. Paperwork completed ahead of time, drafts sent to parents before the meeting happens, ready, ready, ready. J
· Starting the kids off early on tracking their own data – not just AR goals – but actual data connected to the objectives they’re learning about. Explaining all of this to them and having them do it themselves so that they can become well-verse enough in it to explain their tracking to someone else. Saw this at KIPP Academy and was thoroughly impressed.
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