Chapter 3: Beginning with the End in Mind

Chapter 4: Describing Success

Group Members: Charlee A., Abigail G., Hailey J., Bridget M., Kari M., Kianna W.

In chapter three, we discussed how it was important once you figure out your end goal (outcome) to come up with a variety of ways for students to show their work. Forcing someone who is not good at art to draw a poster in English is not going to be a fair evaluation for that student. Similarly, forcing someone to write (unless it’s the outcome) is not always the best way for students to explain their thinking, some may want to do a presentation, make a video, draw a poster, or some other creative way. We all agreed that when an assignment was open-ended, they ended up being the ones we enjoyed doing the most.

In chapter four, our main discussion point was how important it is to provide samples of student work. One member brought up that parents are one source of anxiety for her when she becomes a classroom teacher and we all agreed that they can be intimidating and defensive of their child. We felt that by having student samples we will be more prepared to justify the grades we gave to their child. Show them what you were expecting and then show them the child’s work, try to be kind and uplifting and let them know what they/you will do to help uplift the student.

Then came the discussion about where to get these samples because I brought up the fact that this text seems to assume that you have been a working teacher for a few years, and when we enter our first classroom, we won’t have a plethora of student samples to reach to. We talked about how important it is to create a positive teacher community in your school and perhaps you could copy another teacher’s samples; maybe you’ll have to compare the samples from the grade below or above what you’re teaching and meet in the middle; maybe the teacher who you’re taking over for has examples you could use; perhaps there are resources from the curriculum sources. We also talked about creating your own samples but I feel you would still need a grasp of what the expectations are for that grade for your school division.

My group members and I were on task for much more of this conversation than last week. Again the conversation was between the two individuals, but I feel there was more input from the other people as well. I just need to feel more confident speaking up even if it’s not a complete silence so my voice will be heard more.