Welcome to #UTEDchat
I am Steven Phelps an HS Math teacher. Data measuring social emotional learning is vital to transforming teaching. Tonight we will be discussing ways to incorporate innovative data practices into classrooms.
Thank you for joining @HSG_UT tonight.
Welcome to #UTEDchat
I am Steven Phelps an HS Math teacher. Data measuring social emotional learning is vital to transforming teaching. Tonight we will be discussing ways to incorporate innovative data practices into classrooms.
Thank you for joining @HSG_UT tonight.
What made it exciting? And what made it overwhelming? Is this how you feel at the end of every year—or something specific to this school year? #UTEDchat
I started exciting new things like mentoring new teachers and the @HSG_UT Fellowship! That plus extra coursework on the side made for an overflowing plate. I knew it would be a tough year, but I figured I could handle it. Almost to the end...but definitely tired. #UTEdchat
Hey, y'all! Derek, EdTech Dir from @sedck12 finally checking in after getting all the kids showered and in bed, solo! The wifey has a meeting so #DadChat is in FULL swing tonight! Sorry I'm late for #UTedChat.
We talk a lot about data, but the trick is getting appropriate data - timely, comprehensible and actionable. That's a lot harder than it should be too often. I do use frequent informal formative assessment during class though. This is an area for me to improve. #UTEdchat
#utedchat Sorry! I'm lurking in the background...@NBPTS due tonight! I'm what you might call a little bit of a procrastinator....Sending love to @DeborahGatrell1 and you @tabitha_pacheco for your feedback and help!
I'm here, late, but here. #DadChat was a little more involved since I was flying solo after a neighborhood picnic in the park. Thanks for saving me a spot! #UTedChat
In reply to
@tabitha_pacheco, @covili, @LynetteYorgason, @bridget_varner, @coachbpreece, @4micheleJones, @misteralvord, @DebbieSciTech, @bamameghan, @disudds, @btalonia
Agreed. I like to look at end year data as well to see if there is a section that my classes are lacking in. That's something I need to focus on in the summer and find alternate methods of instruction. #UTedChat
A2: My team created common formative math assessments that we give every 4 or 5 lessons. They have been so valuable to help us adjust as we go. #UTedChat
A2 As a teacher I used surveys with students and parents, SAGE scores from previous year and current year to see trends in areas I needed to improve, discussions with my team. #UTedChat
A2: as a social studies teacher I always tried to use English SAGE scores to try to get a handle on the skills my kids had. As an ESL teacher their WIDA scores are essential planning tools to me making their progress plans. My informal data gathering, however, not great #utedchat
A2 As for being out of the classroom, I use my monthly/yearly reports of what I've done and where I've been, my yearly goals, and discussions with my team. #UTedChat
You must teach a SAGE subject... My benchmark tests aren't aligned well with the core, so I've never paid them much mind. But now we're being racked and stacked across the district so I have to care... We just finished writing new benchmarks for the new core. #UTEdchat
A3: Building relationships is key to student success. Even the hardest students will try to do hard things if they feel you care about them. Being there and asking how they are doing is super important #utedchat
It was different every year and sometimes it was similar but not always. I was a polarizing teacher because I had such high expectations so some parents LOVED me while others, not so much. #UTedChat
A3: We must help student see and focus on growth. At the end of the day does the percentage really matter? Owning and being able to apply a new skill or knowledge is what is really important. #UTedChat
Absolutely true. I've tried and failed to reach a few students I worry about this year. #UTEdchat Their lack of motivation or interest or effort makes me sad for them.
A3 I think it's important to involve the students and their parents in the data you collect. Asking them their thoughts and opinions can go a long way. #UTedChat
*cracks knuckles* A3: Percentages are useful when you are looking for summative, aggregate data. For day-to-day data, consider checking specific indicators over time, like dipping a toothpick in a cake. #utedchat
A3: As an elementary school teacher, I am with my students most of the day. I think it's important to build a relationship with each one, help them to build a growth mindset, and watch facial expressions and reactions. #UTedChat
Amen! I wish WIDA scores were almost as mandatory to view for classroom teachers as an IEP, when you know what skills your EL's are lacking it is so much easier to modify for them. #utedchat
I teach math. I know a lot of my peers don't put much stock in SAGE, but if we are going to take it, I'm going to find a silver lining. My Ss get excited when I give them their growth %. Even if it's 1 to a higher 1. I also try to see what cluster I should work on #utedchat
A3: I think that this has to happen first to improve S learning. Students need to feel safe and have positive relationships at school before learning takes place. Then it can be a focus with learning through out the year. #utedchat
I know @washk12 has every grade-level come up with their Guaranteed Viable Curriculum (GVCs) and they then create Common Formative Assessments (CFAs) that they use to gather data with and help students succeed. It's awesome! #UTedChat
I need to do better with WIDA scores too, and brush up on my SIOP training. I was very pleased to remember how to access SRI scores recently when I decided to try Newsela as a differentiation tool. An English teacher friend showed me how to access them once & I did it! #UTEdchat
Dang! I was there too and didn't even get a chance to say Hi or grab a pic! I'm sorry I missed talking with you, but we appreciated you coming down and helping! #UTedChat#CyberCorps#sedck12
A3 I think it's important to involve the students and their parents in the data you collect. Asking them their thoughts and opinions can go a long way. #UTedChat
I love the growth component to it. I wish Benchmarks in Social Studies showed authentic growth. The district is starting to calculate scores (my dept first) but I have to figure out the math behind it to determine how authentic it can be with tests that aren't aligned. #UTEdchat
I love using data to help ME as a teacher improve my craft, but you're 100% correct! We have to recognize students don't need the data, they need the HUMAN teacher to help them have a real connection and relationship for growth & learning. #UTedChat
A3: I think one way we could do this is by teaching our students to be self-reflective and measure their own progress! Especially with secondary students, self-monitoring their social and emotional skills will make them so much more successful as an adult. #utedchat
Honestly? I don't in any formal way. It's 'not part of the core' and that's where we're supposed to expend our energy. I know that's wrong though, so I'll change things up for next year. Still, I try to model being a good human & I expect students to be respectful. #UTEdchat
We broke down behaviors on our progress report: gets along w/peers, asks for help, requires guidance to remain on task, does best work - check boxes. Gives context to letter grade for Ss. #utedchat
Relationships are the key to success in LIFE! I love when kids will push through struggles and difficult scenarios all because they know their teacher cares about them! If you don't build relationships you aren't really effecting the greatest level of change. #UTedChat
A3: Building relationships is key to student success. Even the hardest students will try to do hard things if they feel you care about them. Being there and asking how they are doing is super important #utedchat
A3: maybe we could have one on one sessions to ask students how they’re doing in our class and school. Ask them how we could support them better. #utedchat
THANK YOU for saying 'data informed' and not 'data driven.' Data should inform our practice. Too many folks, even in education, think data should determine every aspect of what we do, like a predetermined computer script. Makes me nuts. #UTEdchat
A4: Tough one. I think I just wing it. We are pretty rural. I know my Ss and the areas they are from. That helps in understand their home situations. I take mental notes at PTC and just try to interact. Get a sense of who they are. I don't have a real science for it. #utedchat
Yes, they do own their data, but they don't need it in the same way teachers do. Educators NEED the data to show them how they can improve their craft and make changes. But yes, we need to help the students learn they own their data. #UTedChat
A4: this year I focused on teaching my students the skill of dialogue in our last unit and gave them feedback on their abilities to listen and reflect and question. So far that's the closest I've gotten to measuring these kinds of skills. #utedchat
They (soft skills) may be tricky but oh how they're SO very important! I wish EVERY teacher would spend MORE time on them then they often do now. #UTedChat
Yes! We need to help them see their own Growth so they can see they are actually improving, even if it's only a little bit. The more students see growth the more likely they are to keep trying. #UTedChat
Building relationships, investing in students, taking time to know their passions/dreams/goals - if that foundation is built upon and fostered, integrated with best teaching practices - student learning becomes a reality #UTedChat
We have a Charactristic a month schoolwide for older classes (Cloud9). Younger classes use Michelle Garcia Winters Social Thinking and Unthinkables. #UTedchat
Oh yeah, the GVCs and CFAs aren't the important part, it's the discussions that happen while deciding what to choose and focus on. Those were some intense discussions, but man were they powerful! #UTedChat
Oh yes! I loved proving students wrong when they said they were "dumb" and couldn't learn. I'd just show them their own data and how much they grew and that was life changing! It was awesome! #UTedChat
Social Studies is all about people. Taking it the next step and helping students see themselves in those frameworks as survivors and recipients of the gifts of history as we stand on the shoulders of giants and take the next steps is where I need to go. #UTEdchat
A4: Social-emotional skills are part of the learning process in every classroom, and I think framing it that way make opportunities for measurement clearer. #utedchat
I agree 100% with you on the gut feeling. The hard part for me was then trying to find some data to back up my gut feeling because most admins and parents don't like "gut feelings" as reasons for student grades and/or scores. #UTedChat
A5: I'm not sure how innovative this is, but we track our pre and post tests in our math class. Students who need remediation will also track that test. At the end, they earn "badges." They like showing their parents their progress. #utedchat
Q6:
What other areas of student or teacher performance do you wish we measured more effectively?
How would this feedback better inform instruction?
#UTEDchat
A5: when it comes to tests, I believe in mastery instead of a one-shot test. So my students can retake their missed questions over and over, letting them see where they are and get to where they want to be. #UTedChat
It's a fun place to be, certainly, but there are plenty of landmines too. Math is far less controversial. Students want my opinion on current events and I have to be careful. It's tricky being impartial these days. #UTEdchat
In reply to
@KiltedMath_T, @lars3eb, @Vote4Kami, @marrica5, @washk12, @disudds
A5: For each chapter in math I do a pre and post test. The students graph their data, and even if they don't do as well on the test as they hoped to, they can see their growth. That's what we focus on. #UTedChat
A5: This isn’t innovative, but it’s effective. When we would have benchmarks, I would pull each student aside and tell them how they did. The next benchmark, they had a desire to know. We would celebrate growth and talk about challenges one on one! #UTEdchat
I have OFTEN found that my gut feelings can be backed up by data. I can't tell you how many times I have had specific concerns about a student that have been validated by data and more information. #UTedChat
A4 I don't really know, but I feel like I need find out some ways to do it and soon with my new job next year. Being back in a single school with a single school community I'm gonna need to be able to help teachers with that. #UTedChat
A6: I wish there were a way to measure attitude. I've seen such growth this year in my S's confidence when tackling math. I've been super proud of them. #utedchat
A5: At SAGE time, students examined reporting categories, & predicted how they would perform, and what their +/- s might be. After, they self-assessed their use of learning strategies while testing. Helped students own the experience and be proud of their work. #utedchat
I agree, I was merely stating that I had to find data to help back up my gut feelings. It wasn't usually difficult to do but it took longer than just pulling out a Math test. #UTedChat
In reply to
@LynetteYorgason, @TheTimDrury, @KiltedMath_T
A6: This might be controversial. I think student surveys should be a requirement. In house, to facilitate awareness and growth, not as a means to judge teachers. I always find them enlightening & they help me do better. Some teachers are oblivious to poor practice. #UTEdchat
Q6:
What other areas of student or teacher performance do you wish we measured more effectively?
How would this feedback better inform instruction?
#UTEDchat
I heard of a technique recently where students rate how hard they think something will be before and then after they do it. Perhaps doing this over time could help students see their growing confidence? #utedchat
We talk about the concept and draw the badge together as a class. It goes on our data folder. I was thinking of making them from stickers, but they seem to like creating them. They are typically associated with "I Can" statements #utedchat
A5: I wished we acknowledged effort and creativity in both students and teachers. That students could express what they know beyond an assessment, in a piece of art, a movie, a conversation, etc. #UTEdchat
We had some similar boxes as well before @washk12 switched to more of a Standards-based Grading system. At that point I ended up adding those items to the comments sections. #UTedChat
Exactly, not all teachers have the same ability to understand and interpret their gut feelings accurately. But the good ones usually had it down pretty good. Unless they were eating left overs for lunch. #UTedChat
In reply to
@KiltedMath_T, @LynetteYorgason, @TheTimDrury
A thousand amens, for many reasons. I think the most important of which is that is clearly sets the expectation that students are supposed to have a stake in their own learning besides just a grade. #utedchat
I'm going to be the Library Media Coordinator at Tonaquint Intermediate School in @washk12. I'll be leaving @sedck12 and going back to my home district. Sad to leave but VERY excited for a new chapter and adventure. #UTedChat
A6: For me, it's progress over time. I would love to see a day where teachers, parents, and students can see progress over the entire length of K12, not just disparate scores now and then. #utedchat
Q6:
What other areas of student or teacher performance do you wish we measured more effectively?
How would this feedback better inform instruction?
#UTEDchat
I think one on one conversations work better than surveys on the elementary level. If I ask a student for feedback on a lesson or activity, they are usually willing to give me productive feedback. #UTedChat
A6: I wish we could somehow graph kids progress in conjunction with the difficulties of their whole lives. It's hard for me to remember as a teacher that maybe they bombed my test and/or class because something hard happened outside of class. #UTedChat
Q6:
What other areas of student or teacher performance do you wish we measured more effectively?
How would this feedback better inform instruction?
#UTEDchat
A5 Not really a reflection, but one thing I still do, is I help the Ss to realize SAGE tests won't keep them from success in life. I downplayed EVERY test I ever gave and told students they were for me to improve my teaching only. Anxiety went WAY down & scores went up! #UTedChat
I think there is always a place for one on one or focused response. Too much is lost in surveys. Just like too much is lost in multiple choice. #UTedChat
Seems reasonable. Constant turnover between secondary class periods makes that more difficult, & there is the peer pressure of not wanting to disagree. But I do sometimes get interesting comments when I ask students what they REALLY THINK, in person or on a survey. #UTEdchat
On my back burner is organizing arts courses into "pathways" like CTE and tracking completion and concentration like that program does. It would help schools understand if they are fostering students' creativity and critical expression. #utedchat
And we wonder why our students are struggling with anxiety so much in school? We need to find different and BETTER ways to assess our students without all the stress! #UTedChat
I've been trying to tell kids that this year, they were so shocked that the tests were more to tell us teachers how we are doing. I think I want to be more honest with my students that when I test them, I'm testing my teaching as much as testing their knowledge. #utedchat
That can certainly be true. I keep my surveys short and sweet though. Method depends on a lot of factors. Sometimes I will just ask one or two students at the end of class what they think as everyone else is leaving. #UTEdchat Still insightful comments.
This would be a great way to keep SEL at the forefront of the conversation with students. I bet the could give an indicator of how they applied their social-emotional skills to their learning tasks, even if it's just red-yellow-green light coding. #utedchat
It will make a HUGE difference! I always leveled with my students and told them all kinds of "teacher secrets" so they'd do better. But helping them see tests as a teacher tool was HUGE! #UTedChat
A3 we could have students respond to a couple case-based scenarios at start of year and then at end and look for qualitative improvements in solutions to problems #UTedChat
@UTedChat Doing surveys today. In fact, we are doing surveys of all of our students in every period across the school. When I said survey time, their eyes rolled.
I wish there was a better way to do teacher evaluations that didn't end up involving the "dog and pony show" that typically occurs. Helping teachers to loosen up and not be so stressed about those evals would be nice. #UTedChat
@UTedChat We had our all-class reunion and I saw students that I taught nearly 25 years ago. This longitudinal study of sorts show that for the most part our students turn out fine in life. And RELATIONSHIPS matter and what is remembered most.
@UTedChat Doing surveys today. In fact, we are doing surveys of all of our students in every period across the school. When I said survey time, their eyes rolled.
@tabitha_pacheco@DeborahGatrell1 I did it! I submitted my @NBPTS before the deadline. WOOHOO! ....Now I only have to wait seven more months to hear back....an I'm not a patient person. #utedchat
And if you have an environment where it's okay to try new things, even if you fail occasionally but you won't be marked down for that failure then that's when the school will really thrive! #UTedChat
