Final Goals Reflection Academic Year 2015-2016

Domain 3:  Instruction Component 3d: Using Assessment in Instruction

Over the course of this year I set a goal for myself to develop learning scales to use with students and have them use the scales to reflect and receive feedback on their work through their blogs. At first - the learning scales were very challenging to write and was really hard to conceptualize how to use them with students. I am however, feeling more comfortable with the use of scales in my practice. Here are examples of learning scales that I used over the course of this year while collaborating with Jordy.

Personal Narratives:

Citizenship

Citizenship & Conflict

Explain and defend their own point of view on issues that affect themselves and society; use information gained from reputable sources.
	Proficient with Distinction	Proficient	Basic Proficient	Making Progress	Getting Started
Identifying Issues	I can independently find issues that have a large affect on me and society that I could act on and make real change.	I can independently identify issues that have an affect on me and society.	I can identify issues with teacher support that affects me and society.	I can pick an issue that affects me.	I can pick an issue.
Identify Sources	I can identify different types of reputable media sources on my own. (print, video, audio, social media, etc.)	I can identify more than one of the same media sources on my own. (all print sources, all video sources, etc.)	I can identify at least one reputable source on my own.	I can identify a reputable source from a variety of sources that my teacher gives me.	I can identify a reputable source that my teacher gives me.
Explain and Defend a Point of View	I can defend my opinion against opposing opinions on the issue.	I can explain my opinion in a clear way.	I can formulate an opinion on the main issue(s).	I can evaluate a source and identify the main issue(s) in it.	I can evaluate a source and identify the issues in it.

Immigration Learning Scale

		Levels of Proficiency
Graduation Domain	Learning Target (performance indicator)	Proficient with Distinction	Proficient (matches learning target)	Basic Proficiency	Making Progress	Getting Started “NOT YET” Language
Global Citizenship (Historical Patterns)	Describe how life in the United States and/or the world has both changed and stayed the same over time; explain why these changes have occurred.	I can identify how life in the United States and/or the world has changed and stayed the same over time and make predictions about the future based on historical patterns.	I can describe how life in the United States and/or the world has both changed and stayed the same over time; explain why these changes have occurred.	I can describe how life in the United States and/or the world  has changed and stayed the same over time.	I can describe how life in the United States and/or the world was in the past and how it is now.	I can describe what life is like in the United States and/or the world today.
Global Citizenship (Citizenship & Conflict)	Explain and defend their own point of view on issues that affect themselves and society; use information gained from reputable sources		I can explain and defend my own point of view on issues that affect me and society I can use information gained from reputable sources	I can explain my own point of view on issues that affect me and society I can  locate information in a reputable source	I can identify issues that affect me and society I can identify a reputable source	I can identify some issues in the world today I can identify sources of information

This is evidence of several of the scales that I used over the course of the year. Some things I still want to work on if trying to figure out how many proficiencies I should be having students work on over the course of the year and also trying to figure out what to do when a student reaches mastery before the rest of the class - or is struggling to meet mastery - what do I do? I also want to work on how I am reporting proficiencies and having students keep track of this work. I am hoping to continue this learning with schoology next year. 

I also have questions about which documents to use when it comes to what proficiency - for example I feel like the district level PBGR document has changed over the course of the year so I am not sure if I am using the most current language. 

Specific goal: 4d. Participating in Professional Community 4e. Growing and Developing Professionally

One of the other things that I have been working on this year is my collaboration with teachers around the state on PLPs. I have been working on a side project called PLP pathways with Don Taylor. We have completed monthly webinars which are available here. I have also been contributing to the professional blog and completed my final blog post of the year about the TIIE portfolio redesign day here.

I also contributed resources to their professional site and presented about PLP topics at two conferences this year. I have to say that as a teacher I have found this work to have a huge impact on my practice. It has been amazing to work alongside teachers from other schools to share in the challenges and successes of implementing PLPs. It is also fascinating to me the different approaches and philosophies to PLPs around the state. I am going to continue my work next year with PLP pathways and will also be attending MGI this year to continue working on how to use PLPs to help with student engagement. I feel that this really pushes me to think about my own practice and gives me to opportunity to collaborate with other educators outside of our school. 

After the work that the 7th grade team did this year with negotiated curriculum I am excited to see where this takes us for next year. I feel like this is a great framework to use with students for the PLPs. Through their personal passions, I feel like students are able to conceptualize goal setting and reflection because it is more tangible. I also want to work with students using the MRGs in a very clear and intentional way. I feel like this was missing this year and it lead to a lack of depth in student goal setting and reflection. I am also looking forward to working with students on our PLP instruction next year. 

March Reflection Update

PLP Pathways and Professional Community

Over the past few months I have continued my work focusing on my professional learning opportunities by staying connected with PLP Pathways. It is always so energizing to get together with other like minded teachers through out the state and talk about what is happening in our own classroom, as well as to problem solve collaboratively. Just this week I talked with Don Taylor about the link between PLPs and PBGRs.

I have continued to have a monthly hangout with a group of teachers on a variety of topics surrounding the implementation of PLPs. I wrote a blog article about the collaboration between 7th grade and 5th grade students here at PAML as a model to keep students engaged in their PLP. I was able to gather some data through a google form that has helped to remind me of the importance of multi-age opportunities.

Another opportunity that I had over the past few month was partnering with students at the Beyond Bullying Conference. At this conference I was able to work with students to design a presentation to give to both students from other schools and teachers from around the area on Digital Citizenship. It was a amazing way for me to develop professionally partnering with students in this way. I will continue to look for opportunities to develop professionally while partnering with students. One thing I want to look into more would be the Up for Learning organization and the work that they are doing around the state.

Learning Scales

For the learning scale development Jordy and I have really been grounding all of the work this year around the learning scales. We have our I Can statements clearly displayed, talk about them constantly in the classroom and think a lot about how we are breaking down the I Can statement into something that the students fully understand. We have been playing with the language of the scales and have been getting feedback from students about their reflections on their growth.

One great thing that happened with learning scales was the professional development time at Stowe this winter being able to share out with colleges. It was very striking as we were sharing how PAML is really progressing at a fast rate on our learning scales and that we are pretty aligned with our thinking and philosophies about how they are to be used in the classroom. I think that this provides a nice opportunity for learning from others. I am really looking forward to this work at Curriculum Camp this summer.

2/04/16

I have been very busy over the past few weeks. Here is what I have worked on Please press play to hear the MP3 reflection:



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Here is some of the evidence of what I have worked on:

http://plppathways.blogspot.com/2016/01/using-labels-in-blogger-to-support.html

Webinars:

https://sites.google.com/site/plppathways/webinar

Tarrant Blog Post:

Rights and Responsibility Scale

Reading Key Ideas Scales

MGI Presentation