IOWA TEACHING STANDARD Five
Uses a variety of methods to monitor student learning
Criteria| The Teacher:
5a. Aligns classroom assessment with instruction.
Click for artifact.
Reflection: I would not know what type of instruction I would use if I didn't have assessment and data. This artifact is an example of one type of math probe that I give. This probe is created by me through the wonderful generator on mathfactcafe.com. I put in the skills that I want to assess, the number of problems, and the range of digits I want to use. Then the generator creates for me math assessments that I use every two weeks to see the progress my students are making toward their goals. After I see the areas of errors, I then create my instruction from there.
5b. Communicates assessment criteria and standards to all students and parents.
Click for artifact.
Reflection: Communication to students, families, colleagues, and communities are very important especially if there is a student with disabilities and multiple people need updates on that one child. I am communicating throughout the day each day, all week with my parents, co workers, and anyone that is part of my students' IEP teams. This artifact just shows one example of how I communicate. I communicate through emails, phone calls, and behavior charts. However, for parents who are busy and on the go, sending them a quick email to let them know how their child's day was works very well for most parents. I know my students pretty well but their parents know them even better. Having good communication with parents shows that I am willing to do anything and everything to meet their child's needs.
5c. Understands and uses the results of multiple assessments to guide planning and instruction.
Click for artifact.
Reflection: If I only used my IEP probes and observations for each of my student's goals I would not be a very good special education teacher. I like to look at each math and reading test my students take even in their general education class to see what needs to be worked on in more depth. In addition I look at their Iowa Assessments (if they are at that age) as well as their Dibels and STAR tests that we use as district-wide assessments. For my artifact for this criteria, I chose the scores of a few of my students in the area of STAR Early Literacy. These scores show me where they are at in reading as well as particular areas the students need to work on. For example, while looking at the data, I notice that phonemic awareness is an area I need to plan to instruct with my students.
5d. Guides students in goal setting and assessing their own learning
Click for artifact.
Click for artifact.
Reflection: I think it is very important for me to make goals and assess myself so why not give my students the accountability to do the same thing. These artifacts shows the data of a student then a graph he created to show himself the progress he was making. I continue to do this with my students when they read for me if their goal is words correct per minute. We will read the story the first day of the week and then the last day of the week to show how much growth the student has made in just a few days. Each time I IEP probe they create a graph to show themselves how much growth they make in two weeks with the stories becoming more difficult. This is a great way for the students to understand how important goals are and to think for themselves what they can do to make progress with my help.
5e. Provides substantive, timely and constructive feedback to students and parents.
Click for artifact.
Click for artifact.
Reflection: Here I have two artifacts that provide evidence of student learning not only to families but to students and staff as well. I send the IEP report card home during each quarter. In the report card I write the student's strengths of his/her goal as well as something that needs to be worked on. I feel as this artifact shows the the student's learning to the families and gives them an idea if their child is meeting their goal or not. In addition with the IEP report card, I like to send home the monitoring log and graph so they can see the actual data. All of this is assistance to staff such as the student's general education teacher as well so they are able to see their progress in the special education classroom. Student's too, are able to see their progress through this step. I believe I am very strong in showing students, staff, and families data that shows their child's growth. I am constantly in communication with parents, staff, and students through the month, week, and day. The report card is only one piece of communication I have with the student's team. The second artifact I have above, is another way showing how I am giving feedback to parents and students. The letter that you see is an example of a weekly letter I send home with my students. A letter as well as spelling words and extra math and reading activities go home each week for the students to practice. This is not homework but it gives the parents the opportunity to help their child and see what we are working on for that week.
5f. Works with other staff and building and district leadership in analysis of student progress.
Click for artifact.
Click for artifact.
Reflection: At our school we have grade level data teams. Meeting with data teams for me is difficult because teachers usually meet during their prep but since I have a range of grades, my prep is not during other teacher's preps. Since I have more students in one grade than the other grades I have became part of their data team. We meet once a week usually to discuss the types of activities I am working on with their students and if they are seeing progress as well as if they have specific skills they see that needs to be worked on that I can teach/reteach. In addition I meet with each of my student's teachers once a week whether it is before or after school. I also have four associates under me, so I meet with each associate as well to discuss new strategies and data with the student they are working with. Student progress is obviously important and I cannot help the student make progress only working with myself. I need to work with multiple teachers and associates to collaborate and bounce ideas, strategies, and techniques off one another to help our students as well as discuss data.
Click here to return to the "Iowa Teaching Standard" page.
5a. Aligns classroom assessment with instruction.
Click for artifact.
Reflection: I would not know what type of instruction I would use if I didn't have assessment and data. This artifact is an example of one type of math probe that I give. This probe is created by me through the wonderful generator on mathfactcafe.com. I put in the skills that I want to assess, the number of problems, and the range of digits I want to use. Then the generator creates for me math assessments that I use every two weeks to see the progress my students are making toward their goals. After I see the areas of errors, I then create my instruction from there.
5b. Communicates assessment criteria and standards to all students and parents.
Click for artifact.
Reflection: Communication to students, families, colleagues, and communities are very important especially if there is a student with disabilities and multiple people need updates on that one child. I am communicating throughout the day each day, all week with my parents, co workers, and anyone that is part of my students' IEP teams. This artifact just shows one example of how I communicate. I communicate through emails, phone calls, and behavior charts. However, for parents who are busy and on the go, sending them a quick email to let them know how their child's day was works very well for most parents. I know my students pretty well but their parents know them even better. Having good communication with parents shows that I am willing to do anything and everything to meet their child's needs.
5c. Understands and uses the results of multiple assessments to guide planning and instruction.
Click for artifact.
Reflection: If I only used my IEP probes and observations for each of my student's goals I would not be a very good special education teacher. I like to look at each math and reading test my students take even in their general education class to see what needs to be worked on in more depth. In addition I look at their Iowa Assessments (if they are at that age) as well as their Dibels and STAR tests that we use as district-wide assessments. For my artifact for this criteria, I chose the scores of a few of my students in the area of STAR Early Literacy. These scores show me where they are at in reading as well as particular areas the students need to work on. For example, while looking at the data, I notice that phonemic awareness is an area I need to plan to instruct with my students.
5d. Guides students in goal setting and assessing their own learning
Click for artifact.
Click for artifact.
Reflection: I think it is very important for me to make goals and assess myself so why not give my students the accountability to do the same thing. These artifacts shows the data of a student then a graph he created to show himself the progress he was making. I continue to do this with my students when they read for me if their goal is words correct per minute. We will read the story the first day of the week and then the last day of the week to show how much growth the student has made in just a few days. Each time I IEP probe they create a graph to show themselves how much growth they make in two weeks with the stories becoming more difficult. This is a great way for the students to understand how important goals are and to think for themselves what they can do to make progress with my help.
5e. Provides substantive, timely and constructive feedback to students and parents.
Click for artifact.
Click for artifact.
Reflection: Here I have two artifacts that provide evidence of student learning not only to families but to students and staff as well. I send the IEP report card home during each quarter. In the report card I write the student's strengths of his/her goal as well as something that needs to be worked on. I feel as this artifact shows the the student's learning to the families and gives them an idea if their child is meeting their goal or not. In addition with the IEP report card, I like to send home the monitoring log and graph so they can see the actual data. All of this is assistance to staff such as the student's general education teacher as well so they are able to see their progress in the special education classroom. Student's too, are able to see their progress through this step. I believe I am very strong in showing students, staff, and families data that shows their child's growth. I am constantly in communication with parents, staff, and students through the month, week, and day. The report card is only one piece of communication I have with the student's team. The second artifact I have above, is another way showing how I am giving feedback to parents and students. The letter that you see is an example of a weekly letter I send home with my students. A letter as well as spelling words and extra math and reading activities go home each week for the students to practice. This is not homework but it gives the parents the opportunity to help their child and see what we are working on for that week.
5f. Works with other staff and building and district leadership in analysis of student progress.
Click for artifact.
Click for artifact.
Reflection: At our school we have grade level data teams. Meeting with data teams for me is difficult because teachers usually meet during their prep but since I have a range of grades, my prep is not during other teacher's preps. Since I have more students in one grade than the other grades I have became part of their data team. We meet once a week usually to discuss the types of activities I am working on with their students and if they are seeing progress as well as if they have specific skills they see that needs to be worked on that I can teach/reteach. In addition I meet with each of my student's teachers once a week whether it is before or after school. I also have four associates under me, so I meet with each associate as well to discuss new strategies and data with the student they are working with. Student progress is obviously important and I cannot help the student make progress only working with myself. I need to work with multiple teachers and associates to collaborate and bounce ideas, strategies, and techniques off one another to help our students as well as discuss data.
Click here to return to the "Iowa Teaching Standard" page.