Teacher Evaluations

"...teacher evaluations must be about improving teaching, not just rating teachers." —AFT president Randi Weingarten –

As stated in the quote as I prepare for teaching in the future and will be subjected to teacher evaluations throughout my teaching career what I would most appreciate from my mentors or observers would be feedback on how well he thinks the students grasped the content, whether my teaching tools were effective in delivering the content and how best I can improve my interaction with the students to motivate them to work effectively in the classroom.

Looking into teacher evaluation systems in the U.S , the district of Ohio uses the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System. It is used by school districts to provide the teachers a detailed performance report that focus on the specifics of teacher strengths and how the teacher can improve. The teacher ratings will be as follows

Based on the evaluation, teachers receive one of four ratings.

According to the Ohio Teacher evaluation system, the teachers are evaluated on two components weighted at 50percent on each section.

1.       Teacher performance rating,

Based on A professional growth plan, two 30 minute observations and walk through

2.       Student academic growth rating.

There’s now a -New Alternative Framework  

1. Where the teacher performance rating is weighted at 42.5 percent, determined from:   

  A professional growth plan, two 30 minute observations & walk through;

2. Student academic growth rating, weighted at 42.5 percent

3. Alternative component from the list below, using a instruments such as; Student surveys; Teacher self-evaluations; Peer review evaluations; or Student portfolios.

Another teacher evaluation system is the Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC): Model Core Teaching Standards:

According to the NEA Teacher Evaluation guide the InTASC offers a set of model core teaching standards that outline what teachers should know and be able to do to ensure every K-12 student reaches the goal of being ready to enter college or the workforce in today’s world.

These teaching standards have been based on research and exemplify effective teaching and learning in a transformed public education system—this is a system that:

•   Empowers every learner to take ownership of his or her own learning.

•   Emphasizes the learning of content and application of knowledge and skills to real world        problems.

•   Values the differences each learner brings to the learning experience

•   Leverages rapidly changing learning environments by recognizing the possibilities they         bring to maximize learning and engage learners. (Association, N. E. )

There are ten model core teaching standards covered in this model;

Standard #1: Learner Development.

Standard #3: Learning Environments.

Standard #2: Learning Differences.

Standard #4: Content Knowledge.

Standard #5: Application of Content.

Standard #6: Assessment.

Standard #7: Planning for Instruction.

Standard #8: Instructional Strategies.

Standard #9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice.

Standard #10: Leadership and Collaboration.

The Danielson Framework that is aligned to the Intasc standards is composed of 4 main domains within which there are 22 components;

1   1.      Planning and preparation

2   2.    Class room environment

3   3.   Instruction

4   4 Professional responsibilities.

Each component has a distinct aspect of a domain. The levels of teaching performance describe each component and provide a road map for improvement of teaching. The Framework maybe used for school, district mentoring, coaching, professional development, and teacher evaluation processes, thus linking all those activities together and helping teachers become more thoughtful practitioners.( Group, T. D. 2013)

 

I believe this frame work is much easier to use for assessment as it is separated into the specific domains therefore the teacher will be able to assess the area needing improvement easily work towards it.

 Finally in my school the Overseas School of Colombo, the teachers are evaluated once every year. The year begins with teachers setting SMART goals that are aligned with school curriculum policies. These goals are then discussed and approved by Department Heads and the Secondary School Principal. There are informal and formal observations done by Department Heads of specific subjects, the Secondary School Principal and the Head of School during the course of the year. The observations and feedback is given at the teacher’s year end goals meeting. Achievement of the goals and performance rates are used to give salary increments.  I believe using a rubric like the Danielson Framework although might be time consuming will be an effective tool to use for teacher observations and evaluations throughout the year, so that the teachers can receive specific feedback on their teaching strengths and weaknesses and keep it on record for improvement.

Works Cited

Association, N. E. (n.d.). Teacher Evaluation. National Education Association.

Education, O. D. (n.d.). Ohio Teacher Evaluation Systems. Retrieved July 14, 2015, from Ohio Department of Education: http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Teaching/Educator-Evaluation-System/Ohio-s-Teacher-Evaluation-System

Group, T. D. (2013). The Framework. Retrieved July 10, 2015, from The Danielson Group: https://danielsongroup.org/framework/

Teachers, T. A. (n.d.). Teacher Development and Evaluation. Retrieved July 10, 2015, from AFT-- A union of professionals: http://www.aft.org/position/teacher-development-and-evaluation

PRE ASSESSMENT FOR DIFFERENTIATION

The Lesson Unit in Module 5 is based on the following standard 

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.3.D

STANDARD: Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and events.

The end goal of the unit would be that the students be able to incorporate sensory language in descriptive writing tasks such as small moment writing tasks of personal experiences and writing stories to convey experiences.

However before this unit begins a pre assessment of student prior knowledge is required to differentiate the work according to student readiness, make it appropriately challenging and address their learning styles. Hence pre assessments are an absolute necessity to meet the needs of the diverse classroom. Learning is multidimensional and through the pre assessment it will help me understand the learners are multidimensional as well. Hence as Lorna Earl (2003) notes, “if teachers know a precise learning destination and consistently check to see where students are relative to that destination, differentiation isn't just an option; it's the logical next step in teaching” (Tomlinson)

For this lesson unit the weekly objectives will be:

 - SWBAT Identify vocabulary used to express detail in all five areas of sensory language

 - SWBAT Write descriptive phrases using sensory language to describe pictures, objects & small moment experiences.
- SWBAT write a story based on a short video using vocabulary representing all five sensory language areas.

Hence my pre assessment will be based on

• -         Student recognition of sensory language and descriptive detail in texts.
• -         Student understanding of the types of sensory language.

I will use “Kahoot” to assess student understanding in my first lesson. The “kahoot” quiz taker will engage all students into the lesson. It is game based and they will be immediately engaged as it promotes a competitive spirit to do their best to answer the questions. While students answer I will take note of students who have difficulty answering the questions. I will take note of those who find it difficult to comprehend the question, those who cannot respond immediately and those with inaccurate answers. Since there are only 4 students in this class the “Kahoot” can be used effectively by monitoring the responses. However I do not think I’ll use it for a bigger class as the monitoring of responses will be difficult. The link to kahoot https://create.kahoot.it/#quiz/4b9f68ca-2866-46c1-94f1-d67fa06bae18

Once the pre assessment is completed I will separate the groups as reflected in the mind map below. It can be accessed on the following link- https://www.mindmeister.com/559408816

Group 1 :The students who answered the most, including the most difficult of the pre assessment;

These students can explore the other techniques used for descriptive writing such as using metaphors, similes and personification.

They will be given to research on metaphors, similes and personification. Come up with their examples after practicing on Quizlet

https://quizlet.com/21089826/metaphor-simile-and-personification-with-examples-flash-cards/

Thereafter they can be given "Take Metaphors to School" activity. It'll be a fun and funny exercise where I will have them compose a poem using only metaphors to describe a day in school. Maybe they can begin by describing class mates , the teacher or classes.

Following these activities an assessment can be given where students will be pushed forward to be appropriately challenged. 

They can be assessed through a class blog.The students will be asked to write in a class blog on a “small moment” that they experienced incorporating descriptive detail into their writing. As the end goal in this unit is to develop descriptive writing the students with their current knowledge of descriptive terms can apply it in their writing in order to develop it further in the coming lessons.They can peer edit each other’s writing to improve their skills further.

Group 2: The majority students who have some knowledge about the topic as shown in their score will be given the Edpuzzle https://edpuzzle.com/media/5541b244212df39f35dd5d4b

They will watch this You tube video on the narration of the Polar Express with much descriptive detail and answer the questions embedded into the video by the teacher. I developed the questions in this video. The students do not need monitoring as they cannot skip questions they have to listen to the whole video clip. The answers and progress made can be viewed by the teacher.

This group can also be given pictures to write descriptive sentences on it. They can choose a picture they like and use it to develop a short  descriptive passages.

Thereafter this group of students can move onto a formative THINK- PAIR- SHARE activity: The teacher asks the question “How will you describe an object using Sensory language?” Each student will be given an object to observe and fill in an organizer with words that describe the object.

-    After each student writes what they think would be appropriate descriptions into an organizer they will share with their partner with words they came up with to describe their object.

-     The partner will listen and guess the object.
-   They will discuss and share with a partner their words and receive appropriate feedback from each other.
-They will present to the whole class their object and verbally describe their object using sensory words in descriptive phrases.

Group 3: The few students who appeared to have limited knowledge tells me that they need to identify what sensory language is and learn the vocabulary to be able to use it appropriately in sentences. I would station myself with this group and will begin by doing an introductory activity a station where smell, taste, sight, touch, hearing can be described. Students will smell perfume, spices, touch objects that are rough or smooth ,use earphones and a player to listen to a variety of sounds, have a few tasting bowls that‘s salty, bitter, sour, sweet etc. and encourage them to come  with words to describe. This sensory activity will enable their learning styles and expand their vocabulary.

Thereafter they can be given a vocabulary Quizlet activity to learn new words, they can be given cloze sentences to choose appropriate vocabulary will help them first learn the terms and its application context in sentences.

Finally then can do a small formative assessment in a lesson with a Carousel brain storming where they work in 2 groups to categorize a mix of sensory language vocabulary in to the 5 senses. They will work on poster paper and each group can review the other group and see whether they have hit the mark with the categorization and give suggestions.

Thus the pre assessment in this unit will benefit all learners to be appropriately academically challenged in the learning.

Works Cited

Tomlinson, Carol Ann. "Learning to Love Assessment." Educational Leadership- ASCD December- January 2007/- 2008 : Vol 65/No 4.

HIGH STAKES TESTING AND ITS IMPLICATIONS

"Assessment, thus, has many functions. It is only as good as its instruments, and it is defensible only to the extent that it actively forwards and enhances a child's learning."
-Theodore Sizer, Boston College (Testing)

When an educator looks at assessments it is important to look into whether that assessment has enhanced student learning as that should be the root intention of all forms of testing. Considering the plethora of assessments available to educators it is imperative that countries, education governing bodies, schools & teachers decide which assessment is going to help students achieve their best and that which will forward and enhance student learning.

Standardized testing comes in many forms. It has been a part of American education since the mid-1800s. The use of these tests grew when the NCLB (No Child Left Behind Act) mandated that testing should be done in all 50 states. Standardized testing means that a test is “administered and scored in a predetermined, standard manner” (Popham, 1999). Students take the same test in the same conditions at the same time, if possible, so results can be attributed to student performance and not to differences in the administration or form of the test (Wilde, 2004). For this reason, the results of standardized tests can be compared across schools, districts, or states.” (C. f. Education)

High stakes testing is a form of standardized testing that has consequences attached to the results. For example it can determine student grade wise promotion or graduation to high school. The AYP (Annual Yearly Progress) according to NCLB is called “High Stakes” as it bears consequences to schools and students. If the results are a failure the teachers and schools are held accountable(C. f. Education).

There are pros and cons of high stakes testing worldwide. To highlight some of the arguments the proponents in the U.S have put forth are;

• That the standardized tests are fair and objective measure of student ability.
• Standardized tests are reliable and objective measures of student achievement.
• The tests ensure inclusive and nondiscriminatory content to ensure relevance for all students.
• They argue “teaching to the test” can be a good thing as it focuses on essential content and eliminates time wastage.
• The tests focus on student basic skills that need to be mastered.
• It is not encouraging a “drill and kill” rote learning process.
• Testing is not too stressful for students. The US Department of Education stated: "Although testing may be stressful for some students, testing is a normal and expected way of assessing what students have learned." (U. D. Education)

On the other hand some of the opponent views on standardized testing are;

•  According to OECD the PISA results in 2012, showed the average for math, Reading and Science scores were 494, 496 and 501 respectively with China in first place and the U.S in the 36^th place with scores  481, 498 and 497 respectively(Statistics).According to the Guardian the U. S has slipped in its ranking from 18^th in 2002, 31^st place in 2009 and to 36^th place in 2012.Hence standardized testing has not improved student achievement. 
•  It is an unreliable measure of student performance.
• These tests are unfair and discriminatory against non- English speakers and students with special needs.
• Standardized testing does not measure "creativity, critical thinking, resilience, motivation, persistence, curiosity, endurance, reliability, enthusiasm, empathy, self-awareness, self-discipline, leadership, civic-mindedness, courage, compassion, resourcefulness, sense of beauty, sense of wonder, honesty, integrity" - Gerald W. Bracey, PhD,
• Teaching to the test is killing teacher creativity along with the rote learning that is replacing effective teaching practices.
• Testing causes severe undue stress on students.
• Excessive testing may teach children to be good at taking tests, but does not prepare them for productive adult lives.

         (ProCon.Org)

Therefore considering all of the above I would like to examine the standardized- High stakes testing processes in my school. The Overseas School of Colombo is an International School that follows the IB curriculum. The school assessment system covers internal and external assessments that are detailed by the IB curriculum. In addition the only high stakes exam that is taken yearly is the MAP Test–(Measures of Academic Progress Test). This test is conducted throughout Primary and Secondary school over a period of 2-3 weeks, testing student reading, writing and Math on grade level basis. The results are evaluated to enhance student learning and it is not used to retain or promote students through the grades, reward or penalize teachers. The teachers do not focus on the test components in their instruction however their main goal during lessons and key focus is keeping the IB curriculum standards. The students are prepped only mentally to be prepared for the test by advising them on eating and sleeping well before the test date. Hence there’s no loss of instruction time in prepping students for tests. During the test week the teachers would lose out 1-2 lessons which are already embedded into the school calendar.

On completion of the test the IB MYP (Middle years Program) and PYP (Primary Years Program) coordinators and the teachers take the results apart during staff meetings and discuss intensively on ,students on target, below target, above target, exceptional students and students with cause for concern identified through the Map scores. The teachers discuss in allocated grade level teams focusing on surprising results, strategies that would help to meet the whole class and students with needs and what supports the teachers might need to improve literacy across the grade levels. There are also EAL(English as an Additional Language) students and students in SEN (Special Education Needs) )who take these tests. Many are not traumatized by this test as they are told it does not count toward their promotion or any other grade in school. Once the test scores are reviewed their current support system is checked to see if students are being adequately serviced.

In comparison I would like to examine a local private school in Sri Lanka and effects of high stakes testing in the curriculum. Having studied and worked as a teacher in this school ,my views on high stake testing differ in this case. Although the school is a private school, its primary base of the curriculum is governed by the Department of Education in Sri Lanka. The students are prepped towards meeting these standards and more as the school curriculum policy mandates. The school administers internal tests in each grade however throughout the grades the ultimate goal is preparing the students for the GCE Ordinary Level (10^th grade) and the GCE Advanced Level (12^th  grade).These exams are state mandated tests to public school  and private school students.Hence even private schools have to prepare students for this testing. Success at the exam will determine their entrance to universities and other higher educational options. Many teachers are driven to teach to the test throughout each grade level. Many a time it is at the expense of student creativity, motivation and developing transferable skills. There are rewards for students and recognition for teachers in schools achieving high grades. The scores determine them moving from O’ level to A’ level. The pressure that is on the students to excel at these exams is insurmountable. As indicated in the video “In modernizing India, suicide is on the rise among young” by Andrew Macaskill and Tanya Ashreena (Reuters)where an Indian student commits suicide due to pressure, although not as common, it does happen in this country due to the overwhelming stress placed on students for success.

In conclusion reflecting on the opening quote, "have these high stakes assessments forwarded and enhanced a child’s learning" continues to be debatable. In my opinion I agree with my IB school policy of using the assessments to develop and identify student needs as a positive step towards student learning whereas the high stakes tests for entrance to higher education might need to be transformed to ensure students have a holistic learning experience. An example of this could be the PAARC testing system (The partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers.)As college readiness levels are tested and evaluated through the grades where gifted students and students falling behind are recognized, I believe will add a holistic value to the testing system. (PAARC)

Works Cited                                  

Consortium, Smarter Balanced Assessment. Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium. n.d. 26 June 2015 <http://www.smarterbalanced.org/about/>.

Education, Center for Public. A guide to standardized testing: The nature of assessment . 15 February 2006. 26 June 2015 <http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Evaluating-performance/A-guide-to-standardized-testing-The-nature-of-assessment>.

Education, US Department of. Testing: Frequently Asked Questions. 17 November 2014. 26 June 2015 <www.ed.gov>.

GreatSchools. The secret to comparing schools based on test scores. 5 February 2013.

Guardian, The. Pisa 2012 results: which country does best at reading, maths and science? 3 December 2013. 26 June 2015 <http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/dec/03/pisa-results-country-best-reading-maths-science>.

PAARC. The PAARC Assessment. 2015. 26 June 2015 <http://www.parcconline.org/parcc-assessment>.

ProCon.Org. Is the Use of Standardized Tests Improving Education in America? 4 March 2015. 26 June 2015 <http://standardizedtests.procon.org/#background>.

Reuters, ANDREW MACASKILL AND TANYA ASHREENA-. In modernising India, suicide is on the rise among young. New delhi, 11 December 2014.

Statistics, National Center for Education. Performance of U.S. 15-Year-Old Students in Mathematics, Science, and Reading Literacy in an International Context-First Look at PISA 2012. 3 December 2013. 26 June 2015 <https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2014024>.

testing, National Center for Fair and Open. Organizations and Experts Opposed to High Stakes Testing. 17 August 2007. 26 June 2015 <http://www.fairtest.org/organizations-and-experts-opposed-high-stakes-test>.

Reflection on lesson planning

Reflection on lesson planning:

The 3 lesson plans in unit 7 were based on the English Language Arts Standard for writing- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.7.3.B
“Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, and description, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters.”

 I focused on the following objectives for my lessons in order to achieve these student performances:

Objectives:

Ø SWBAT discover the difference between direct and indirect dialogue used in writing.

Ø SWBAT create character identities through dialogue.

Ø SWBAT write detailed directions to communicate an experience

Ø SWBAT incorporate pacing to develop plot events in a story using a story mountain

Ø SWBAT create a story using descriptive words and pacing.

The 21^st century skills framework requires “the development of core academic subject knowledge and understanding among all students.” (P21). My lesson plans were designed for students in the Learning support Study skills program to be able to access requirements in their core subjects. Although these students are in the regular language classes they need assistance to fill the gaps due to varied learning needs to be on par with the grade level students. As the 21^st Century framework requires essential skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, communication and collaboration to enable student success, on analyzing my learning plans I noted the following:

 

Creativity & Innovation requires that students use a wide range of idea creation techniques. In my lessons the students are required to create a small moment story with dialogue, description and pacing to communicate a story where prompts are given to assist their thinking. Although the framework requires them to “Create new and worthwhile ideas (both incremental and radical concepts)”(P21),considering their needs  firstly having the prompts from the narrative grid will give them a head start however I could also be limiting their creativeness if they had more ideas than the  prompts and if they were asked to something new altogether. I could have also included peer review for their final product for the purposes of refining and analyzing to improve their creative efforts.

Another aspect of the creativity and innovation is that students are able to communicate their creativity with others and be open to feedback and input.

 

There were two group activities that the students were able to communicate their creativity with one another. In lesson one they developed a dialog between two characters and presented it to class. In lesson two they will pair up once again to write detailed directions to communicate to their partner how to make a burger. They will be able to discuss what details they missed out on when working on the directions.      However I think giving them a more open ended task for the summative with specific guidelines would help them to further develop their originality.

 I would like to help them to understand that “failure is an opportunity to learn & creativity and innovation is a long-term, cyclical process of small successes and frequent mistakes” (P21)after the summation of the activities. Many students are fearful of creativity as they would feel a failure. I would want to encourage them to be fearless in this area.

·        Critical Thinking and Problem Solving is also an area that I have focused in these lessons. I developed the critical thinking process on the following lines of student performances throughout the three lessons :

The areas of student performances I concentrated on were:

·         -Knowledge: Students will be able to discover the difference between direct and indirect dialogue.

·         -Comprehension: Students will be able to describe using detail to communicate an experience.

·         -Application: Students will be able to apply the process of pacing and dialog to write narratives.

·         -Synthesis: Students will be able to create a small moment story using descriptive words, dialog and pacing.

The objective in my second lesson was to write detailed directions to communicate and experience. I believe through the tactile learning experiment they will be able to comprehend that detail in description is necessary in writing.

In addition another of my objectives in my third lesson was that students will be able to apply pacing and details to a create small moment writing task. Part of critical thinking is to reflect critically on learning experiences and processes. Even as students are guided through this activity I would expect them to listen – think- feel and understand through the visuals and videos how in reality they would feel when reading a story. Hopefully this will filter into their writing when they are asked to apply their knowledge in using dialogue, description and pacing in their summative task present their understanding through the creation of a short story which will be presented in written form and digital media. They would have to problem solve with non-familiar problems in both conventional and innovative ways when they work with digital media.

It is important that in these lessons that the students know that writing is a complex system that involves many parts to have an overall outcome. Even as the 21^st century framework defines this as “Use systems thinking- Analyze how parts of a whole interact with each other to produce overall outcomes in complex systems”- (P21)
  I need to ensure that at the culminating activity I address this and ask that students to write a small reflection on the process of creative writing and what they learned.

         Communication and Collaboration in The 21^st century skill framework requires

“Use communication for a range of purposes (e.g. to inform, instruct, motivate and persuade).

-Utilize multiple media and technologies, and know how to judge their effectiveness a priori as well as assess their impact.-Communicate effectively in diverse environments (including multi-lingual)” (P21)

 

In considering the above and understanding that the students in the classroom today are digital natives ,it is important to recognize as rapid changes are happening in the world of technology using it wisely in the classroom can bring in another dimension to learning. In my lesson plans my instruction would be mainly through power points, videos and digital applications. All my lesson instructions were done on a power point to enable student understanding visually. The videos were incorporated as an auditory and visually learning tool. Hence I could say I have used media and technology skills to inform, instruct & motivate my students. Varying the technology is important to assess its effectiveness. In my lesson plans the students use the storyboard in a summative assessment to create a story.I would think of incorporating more technology in formative assessments in the next line of lessons.

 I would also explore further in time to come in incorporating relevant technology to enhance student learning as the students and I gain gradual confidence in its use.

            In communication in the 21^st century skills frame work it requires students to “Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts.” (P21)In my lesson plans student communication has been worked into a class summing up activity where students present a dialog.In lesson 1, they present it with expression to communicate a cartoon dialog they created. In lesson 2 the students read directions to a partner to complete making a burger thus communication will be once again encouraged in this activity.

 

Overall I believe there are some aspects I still need to incorporate into my lesson plans as noted earlier such as peer review, more open ended creative tasks, reflections & varied technology in their lessons to build a more comprehensive learning to prepare them for the 21^st century complex life and work environments.

Bibliography

P21. (n.d.). P21. Retrieved 3 22, 2015, from Partnership for 21st Century Skills: http://www.p21.org/about-us/p21-framework/60