BTSA Coach
"I have enjoyed working with Rachel this year. One of her many strengths is her organization and classroom management. She is always excited to try something new to better her classroom and her interactions with her students. I have enjoyed being in her classroom and observing how she has a place for everything and her systems make sense to the students in her classroom. They seem very comfortable with directing themselves in their classroom environment. The students know how and where to get supplies that they need without direct assistance from the teacher. This frees her up to work with students who need more one on one attention." -Glynis McIntyre 2016
"We have had so much fun getting to know each other and sharing teaching ideas, successes and struggles over the past 2 years. This year had a rough start but I was so excited to see you work through the tough stuff and move on to make the year great for your students. I loved seeing you try new things and being a risk taker. Your Project based learning lessons were amazing to watch and it made learning for the kids fun and exciting. Keep up the good work and congratulations on completing 2 great years of work and progress!" -Glynis McIntyre 2017
Glynis McIntyre was our BTSA Coach. Rebecca Davies and I were so lucky to have such an amazing mentor!
Colloquium 2017
Contributing to the Profession: Grade Level/Content Specific Resources
Colloquium 2016
Summary Statement
My reflective coach is Glynis McIntyre and she is amazing! I've loved working with her this year. She always has great advice and the best ideas for making my instruction more meaningful. And she is Teacher of the Year, how incredible is that?! I don't know how I got so lucky to have such a wonderful coach!
"I have enjoyed working with Rachel this year. One of her many strengths is her organization and classroom management. She is always excited to try something new to better her classroom and her interactions with her students. I have enjoyed being in her classroom and observing how she has a place for everything and her systems make sense to the students in her classroom. They seem very comfortable with directing themselves in their classroom environment. The students know how and where to get supplies that they need without direct assistance from the teacher. This frees her up to work with students who need more one on one attention." -Glynis McIntyre 2016
"We have had so much fun getting to know each other and sharing teaching ideas, successes and struggles over the past 2 years. This year had a rough start but I was so excited to see you work through the tough stuff and move on to make the year great for your students. I loved seeing you try new things and being a risk taker. Your Project based learning lessons were amazing to watch and it made learning for the kids fun and exciting. Keep up the good work and congratulations on completing 2 great years of work and progress!" -Glynis McIntyre 2017
Colloquium 2017
Introduction
Why do I teach? What is my teaching philosophy?
A. Describe a professional goal you have for yourself. Why have you identified this as a need or interest? What actions will you take? How will you assess goal attainment?
- My goal is to learn about and utilize more curriculum resources in my instruction. This is my professional goal because I feel that I used a lot of supplemental resources with the ELA curriculum. The curriculum could be overwhelming because it included so many leveled-readers, flip charts, and posters, and I found myself using skill-specific resources from outside sources. Now that I am more familiar with the curriculum, I see that a lot of routines would have been great to use from the beginning. I was never formally trained with this curriculum and I always followed what the other teachers did, rather than try the routines out for myself. In the future, I will be more proactive and attend trainings, webinars, and research the curriculum. I want to have a full understanding of the routines, visual aides, leveled-readers, and resources. I will know that I have attained my goal if I fully understand the curriculum and have adapted the resources into my instruction.
B. What actions can you take to remain a connected educator throughout your career?
- I plan on attending trainings and workshops to learn about new research, teaching strategies, curriculum resources and emerging technology. I've been fortunate enough to participate in development opportunities that have been offered within the district. In the coming years, I plan to attend educational conferences and trainings that are specific to my grade-level. I am very passionate about teamwork, and the importance of communication and collaboration. I plan on working with my grade-level team to ensure that we are always on the same page and are supporting each other.
C. What can you do personally and professionally, to sustain the energy it takes to be passionate about students, teaching, and learning? (Ideas from Edutopia)
- It always seems like my list of things to do is never-ending and it can get overwhelming. Making a to-do list each week helps me focus and manage my priorities. I also try to stay positive and see the silver-lining in situations. Teachers have to be flexible and a change in the daily plans, the curriculum map or school events can be frustrating. I always try to see the silver-lining in situations and look for solutions in problems because worrying about uncontrollable things is useless and doesn't change the outcome. I am a big believer in PBIS, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. My classroom management is largely focused on positive behavior and I have noticed that by focusing on the positives, my attitude and perspective is happier.
D. Include one quote from your reflective coach or administrator about your talents or strengths.
- "We have had so much fun getting to know each other and sharing teaching ideas, successes and struggles over the past 2 years. This year had a rough start but I was so excited to see you work through the tough stuff and move on to make the year great for your students. I loved seeing you try new things and being a risk taker. Your Project based learning lessons were amazing to watch and it made learning for the kids fun and exciting. Keep up the good work and congratulations on completing 2 great years of work and progress!" - Glynis McIntyre
E. What advice do you have for new teachers entering the profession?
- My goal is to learn about and utilize more curriculum resources in my instruction. This is my professional goal because I feel that I used a lot of supplemental resources with the ELA curriculum. The curriculum could be overwhelming because it included so many leveled-readers, flip charts, and posters, and I found myself using skill-specific resources from outside sources. Now that I am more familiar with the curriculum, I see that a lot of routines would have been great to use from the beginning. I was never formally trained with this curriculum and I always followed what the other teachers did, rather than try the routines out for myself. In the future, I will be more proactive and attend trainings, webinars, and research the curriculum. I want to have a full understanding of the routines, visual aides, leveled-readers, and resources. I will know that I have attained my goal if I fully understand the curriculum and have adapted the resources into my instruction.
B. What actions can you take to remain a connected educator throughout your career?
- I plan on attending trainings and workshops to learn about new research, teaching strategies, curriculum resources and emerging technology. I've been fortunate enough to participate in development opportunities that have been offered within the district. In the coming years, I plan to attend educational conferences and trainings that are specific to my grade-level. I am very passionate about teamwork, and the importance of communication and collaboration. I plan on working with my grade-level team to ensure that we are always on the same page and are supporting each other.
C. What can you do personally and professionally, to sustain the energy it takes to be passionate about students, teaching, and learning? (Ideas from Edutopia)
- It always seems like my list of things to do is never-ending and it can get overwhelming. Making a to-do list each week helps me focus and manage my priorities. I also try to stay positive and see the silver-lining in situations. Teachers have to be flexible and a change in the daily plans, the curriculum map or school events can be frustrating. I always try to see the silver-lining in situations and look for solutions in problems because worrying about uncontrollable things is useless and doesn't change the outcome. I am a big believer in PBIS, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. My classroom management is largely focused on positive behavior and I have noticed that by focusing on the positives, my attitude and perspective is happier.
D. Include one quote from your reflective coach or administrator about your talents or strengths.
- "We have had so much fun getting to know each other and sharing teaching ideas, successes and struggles over the past 2 years. This year had a rough start but I was so excited to see you work through the tough stuff and move on to make the year great for your students. I loved seeing you try new things and being a risk taker. Your Project based learning lessons were amazing to watch and it made learning for the kids fun and exciting. Keep up the good work and congratulations on completing 2 great years of work and progress!" - Glynis McIntyre
E. What advice do you have for new teachers entering the profession?
- My advice for new teachers is to not be hard on yourself. You're doing your best and that's all you can do! Teaching has its challenging days but those "aha!" learning moments or sweet times when a student tells you they missed over the weekend, make it all worth it. My other piece of advice is, don't be afraid to ask for help! Teaching is all about support and collaboration and it's ok to feel unsure and need help.
Contributing to the Profession: Grade Level/Content Specific Resources
- Shelby County Schools Kindergarten Kove
This website is amazing! It was created by a Kindergarten team in the Shelby County School District in Memphis, Tennessee. It is aligned with the ELA Pearson Reading Street curriculum our district uses. The website has practice worksheets, homework, fluency practice and assessments. Each week is aligned with a Pearson story, but the resources on this website can be used with any curriculum!
- ESGI
ESGI is an online assessment tool that makes life so much easier! It makes one-on-one assessment quick and easy. It even generates data into graphs, flashcards and conference letters. I can easily assess anytime! I can test all my students on testing days, or I can pull them for a quick informal test and get instant feedback to help plan my instruction. It's great for our grade-level report card testing because it keeps everyone on the same page. I love ESGI and highly recommend it to any teacher!
- Pinterest
Anyone that knows me, knows how obsessed I am with Pinterest! It's an amazing website that brings together so many teaching resources. I always find lots of ideas and strategies for any education-related topic. Whether I'm looking for a specific content resource or a general activity, I always find a plethora of ideas and pictures. Pinterest has also introduced me to the wonderful world of blogging. I've found so many great teaching blogs and social media pages to follow and I'm constantly learning about new activities, lessons and webinars. Some of my favorite blogs are, Miss-Kindergarten, Apples and ABC's, The Kindergarten Smorgasboard.
This website is amazing! It was created by a Kindergarten team in the Shelby County School District in Memphis, Tennessee. It is aligned with the ELA Pearson Reading Street curriculum our district uses. The website has practice worksheets, homework, fluency practice and assessments. Each week is aligned with a Pearson story, but the resources on this website can be used with any curriculum!
- ESGI
ESGI is an online assessment tool that makes life so much easier! It makes one-on-one assessment quick and easy. It even generates data into graphs, flashcards and conference letters. I can easily assess anytime! I can test all my students on testing days, or I can pull them for a quick informal test and get instant feedback to help plan my instruction. It's great for our grade-level report card testing because it keeps everyone on the same page. I love ESGI and highly recommend it to any teacher!
Anyone that knows me, knows how obsessed I am with Pinterest! It's an amazing website that brings together so many teaching resources. I always find lots of ideas and strategies for any education-related topic. Whether I'm looking for a specific content resource or a general activity, I always find a plethora of ideas and pictures. Pinterest has also introduced me to the wonderful world of blogging. I've found so many great teaching blogs and social media pages to follow and I'm constantly learning about new activities, lessons and webinars. Some of my favorite blogs are, Miss-Kindergarten, Apples and ABC's, The Kindergarten Smorgasboard.
Colloquium 2016
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| Lots of people sharing their presentations and BTSA experiences! |
My Induction experience has been a positive learning experience. Each cycle gave me the opportunity to try new things with access to lots of resources and support from my fabulous mentor. I did lots of self-reflecting and learned a lot about my own teaching style.
Where I've Grown the Most
My biggest growth has been in my lesson differentiation. In Kindergarten, it is common for students to be at very different academic levels because it is the start of a school career and kids have different backgrounds. Some kids come from TK or preschool and some come without any school experience. A few of my students knew all alphabet letters the first day and others could not hold a pencil! I really had to differentiate ALL lessons and assessments. For example, there was a number sequence that students have to complete at independent table during our rotating centers. Even after completing similar worksheets several times, I was surprised that I still had to model it by filling in the missing numbers! The higher students could complete the worksheet independently, which was great. The middle group would reference my model and a posted hundred chart, but the low group could only copy my model. I've learned that I really have to differentiate everything for my students' needs and set different ending goals. Most importantly, I learned that it is completely okay that a couple of my students needed a lot of support and modelling! These lower students may have different ending goals and even with them copying the model, their brains are working, they are still learning, and they aren't losing confidence with tasks that are too difficult.
Something New I Tried
I love using tablets in the classroom and love how excited the kids get! Our tablets have a variety of alphabet tracing, number sense and sight word apps. I learned about QR codes in a tablet training and couldn't wait to use them but never found the time! With the cycle 4 focus on student-centered learning, it was the perfect opportunity to try QR codes. I had an activity from the tablet training that practiced HFWs. There are different sets so we can practice different words. The students had to scan the code, read the word on the tablet, find the word card, and then write it on the recording sheet. It was challenging because it was a new skill for the kids and they had to match the word with the number on the recording sheet. They loved using the lens and scanning the codes and I was really impressed with how well they did! I was able to differentiate this activity too. The low group had a hard time scanning and transferring the word to the worksheet. I had my modelled worksheet so they found the word cards in the basket and wrote it. After they finished, they got to scan the codes so they didn't miss out on the fun! The high group differentiated themselves, they didn't need to find the word card and I noticed those kids writing the words straight from the tablet. This activity was fun for the kids and a great way to practice HFWs!
The QR codes are posted on the back of the tablet cart. The cards are laminated and the lights made a glare, so kids scan them on the carpet where they can stand above and block the light! The basket of word cards is on top of the tablet cart and kids find the word before writing it. Here's a video clip of one student doing the QR code activity!
Student Success
I have quite a few students who started the school year with zero English language skills. It's been so amazing to watch how quickly they learn to understand and communicate in English. We started doing an independent writing time in the mornings and I was so impressed with one student's writing. She didn't know any of her letters or sounds at the start of the year and now she's writing independently! Her writing is neat and she's able to phonetically spell the words correctly. She was so proud of how much she wrote and I was so proud of her for writing independently and spelling such challenging words!
Another proud moment was during reading centers when I was working with my high reading group. We usually review some words, read chorally, then take turns reading sentence-by-sentence or they read independently (depending on how challenging the story is). This group was so excited to read, they didn't want to review or read chorally; they wanted to read by themselves! I gave them the plastic phones and let them read, and I was so impressed to see them fluently reading and sounding out the cvc words. I loved how excited they were to read and how proud of themselves they were after they finished!
Future Goals
I want to continue to appeal to all different learners. Using different visual, auditory, and kinesthetic aids make the learning accessible for all my students and help foster deeper understanding. This is especially important at my school because the student population is 95% Hispanic and about 60% of students are English Language Learners. At the start of the year, I had a handful of students who did not speak any English! Some of the concepts and skills are challenging enough for Kindergarteners, just imagine having to learn a new language too!
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