Reflections from New Teachers....

Recent Reflections from New Teachers. 

  It's difficult to believe that almost 4 months of school will be in your past and will become part of your professional learning repertoire.  

At this point in your work, you have had the opportunity to experience many things,"teaching & learning." Just to name a few;  School start up, Report cards, Writing comments, Parent teacher interviews, Parent phone calls,  Lesson planning, Lesson planning for diverse needs, WE day, Halloween activities, Holiday concerts and the list goes on. 

Over the last few weeks, during my classroom visits and observations with teachers I have had the opportunity to have some very meaningful and insightful conversations.   One of the most common statements goes something like this:  

"They really don't teach you about all of these things in the Faculty of Education.  I feel that there is a bit of a disconnect between the theory of teaching and the practice of teaching.  We have beliefs about teaching and learning, and then there are the behaviors of how to do the teaching.  Sometimes, I feel like these two parts do not always come together so clearly."  

What are your thoughts about this?  

What do you think? Ken O'Connor - 15 Fixes to Make Grades More Accurate, Consistent & Meaningful

Our first official reporting period has come and gone.  Marks are entered, comments have been made and plans for the next steps in teaching and learning are being put into action.  Last week, I had the opportunity to host a grading webinar by Ken O'Connor a.k.a, the grade doctor.   A group of 14 educators K-12, consisting of teachers, administrators and coordinators assembled in a common place to listen to the webcast session.  During the web cast, we engaged in an online chat room using Today's Meet.  The technology allowed us the opportunity to post comments, questions and reflections about the content of the webinar.  Ken gave us plenty to think about with respect to our own grading practices. 

What do you think about our comments and questions stated below?  
Please post your comments, to become part of the conversation ;-)

• We need to give all students opportunities to respond at higher levels. 
• Creating safe learning places for students to redo and revise learning in light of descriptive feedback is critical for improving learning.
• We need to really focus on co-creating success criteria with students so that they clearly see the target(s).
•  Fair does not mean equal. It is about providing equal opportunity for all to access the learning.  What are your beliefs on fairness?
• Does everything need to look and sound the same for all learners?
• How can we design the learning environment so that students respect individual differences and needs?

 Learn, by Mark Brannan