¶ … Tracking Progress
As a social studies teacher, one of my proudest accomplishments is when students take a real and meaningful interest in history. I love hearing students talk about how they enjoyed a historical movie or television series with their family and can identify things we studied in class on the 'silver screen.' I also delight when we have discussions about current events and students can make comparisons between 'then' and 'now.' I was very proud when the class had a group discussion to 'debrief' us all regarding the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The students were able to discuss the situation so compassionately and with such insight. They were able to use the critical thinking tools I have tried to give them as a teacher very well.
Because I have to meet state standards as part of my requirements as a teacher, I try to strike a balance between teaching the core, basic information students must learn and allowing students some creative leeway. Although I use tests and examinations to prepare my students for taking the standardized tests necessary to graduate, I also try to assign fun activities as well to encourage children to feel that the information they are learning is not something they only need to know for a test.
I track student progress using a variety of methods. I do use grades on tests and quizzes to monitor how well students comprehend the material and how hard they are working. I also use these methods of assessments to tell how well I am doing as an educator, to see if I am making the material sufficiently clear to students. However, as well as objective methods to determine student achievement, I also have students compile a portfolio of work that they feel represents their work over the course of a semester. This enables me to take into consideration the trajectory of student improvement as well as measure students...
I appreciate having a second pair of eyes to critique my performance in the classroom. As you observed, this class has been exciting as well as challenging for me to teach. Although the majority of the class is eager to learn, a number of students face personal challenges regarding their attentiveness in class. I have revised the seating assignments accordingly, to ensure that these students do not 'hang to the back' of the classroom and socialize. One of the disadvantages of the size of my classroom is that it is very difficult to monitor students in the back. I will also make more of an effort to meet with students individually who are struggling or who have disciplinary problems. I am pleased that I have instilled in all of the children the importance of writing down homework assignments and going to the next class in an orderly fashion, but performance during class time remains a work in progress for some students. By the end of the year, I am confident that they will have mastered these skills.
I was concerned to read that some of the ESL students appeared not to be listening to the lecture, which indicates to me that they may have difficulty in comprehending some of the assignments. I already try to modify my assignments when necessary for these students by giving these students reading passages with simpler vocabulary until their skills are more on parity with the rest of the class and I define difficult words when teaching the class as a whole. Teaching ESL students with different comprehension levels of English requires a very individualized program for each student. Based upon your concerns and the underperforming of several ESL students on recent quizzes, I have spoken with the director of the school's resource…
