The Breakfast Club – #BFC530 – is a 15 minute, 1 question Twitter chat every weekday. We chat in 4 timezones Mon-Fri – 5:30am Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific Times. The mission of BFC is to empower participants to make a difference in education by engaging in consistent reflective practice in a supportive community that inspires and challenges one another.
A would like to not have to complete reports that are sanitised... happy to talk about my students but not when it's written in such a way that I don't recognise the kid in the writing #bfc530
Mine goes with this...but I know it is not my principals decision, but stop evaluating me on the Ss scores. Come in and see what I am doing. Evaluate me on that. #bfc530
Morning #bfc530 We have common Quarterly Assessments between two schools. I'd prefer all #PBL. I just don't like cumulative tests. Kids cram for them & don't really retain the info....
Hoping to hear some good comments on this one, but as an administrator I have to attend way too many meetings that lack productivity. That is my one thing to get off the plate. #bfc530
Since I just finished them...over 40 hours of report writing could ‘come off the plate’ (for future). I much prefer meeting with parents, face-to-face. 😊 #bfc530
Lockstep assessment tools (watered down agreed upon rubrics)to be used a certain number of times by a certain date for the sake of data that tells teachers nothing. #bfc530
Agreed. Meetings for the sake of meetings.... some feel that the only way to LOOK productive is to have a meeting about something. Ugh. Not. Always. Necessary. #bfc530
The Sunday night scramble to seek out lesson materials because you have a weak or patchy curriculum has Got To Go!
Math T’s have had it especially bad... the MS math curriculum space has been painful (until this week!). #bfc530
Maybe this goes beyond the scope of the question, but I'd ask to take away report cards. I always loved teaching kids, but I never liked grading them. #bfc530
Maybe this goes beyond the scope of the question, but I'd ask to take away report cards. I always loved teaching kids, but I never liked grading them. #bfc530
Then again @CoachJonCraig: it's not duty for me. I choose to be in this venue as a privilege and opportunity.
Maybe I wouldn't like it so much if it wasn't my choice. #bfc530
Too. Many. Meetings. Or at least they understand that as a single mom, meetings cost me $$, and scheduling them without ample notice makes it hard for me to make childcare arrangements. It seems like common sense . #bfc530
Funny you're not the only one who said that. I actually like lunch duty. You get to see the kids in a social situation. I love talking to them:)
#bfc530
I know this is out of his control, but start seeing students as students. See the wonderful and fabulousness that they are; and not a number on specific test on a specific day. Students worth should never, ever be a test score #bfc530
Anything that creates redundancy. If I am to complete something digitally, don't also have me do it on paper. Sometime I think tech has increased my workload. #bfc530
Indeed, teaching is much more than a set of scores. Finland has very little in the way of standardised testing. It seems to work for them. @pasi_sahlberg#bfc530
You know, sometimes I want more things on my plate but they won't let me do it for one reason or the other ( be interdisciplinary for example). So take off rigid thinking and replace it with some freedom and innovation #bfc530
Anything that creates redundancy. If I am to complete something digitally, don't also have me do it on paper. Sometime I think tech has increased my workload. #bfc530
One year I was going to weigh my class at the start of the year and then again at the end to see how much mass we had gained as a class but I was told that was not politically correct #bfc530
You know, sometimes I want more things on my plate but they won't let me do it for one reason or the other ( be interdisciplinary for example). So take off rigid thinking and replace it with some freedom and innovation #bfc530
Sitting on a committee to move us to SBG and that is a recurring conversation, in conjunction with "how do we assess" and "what do we *really* assess" vs "should be assessing". The feedback loop is a big spin-off topic of this.
#bfc530
We could stop having meetings where we passively listen, keep restating the problem in different ways to see who sounds the smartest, or assign tasks to complete on our own time. We could use meeting time to learn together, make decisions, and do collaborative work.
#bfc530
Data Collection for the sake of collecting data. Teacher driven data collection is more specific, more useful and better for the students then simply gathering data to pass upwards. #bfc530
That is on them then. If a T can’t read their email and misses important info..that is on them (and me too as I sometimes miss things) #bfc530
But it also speaks to how many emails we get in a day.
You know, sometimes I want more things on my plate but they won't let me do it for one reason or the other ( be interdisciplinary for example). So take off rigid thinking and replace it with some freedom and innovation #bfc530
You know, sometimes I want more things on my plate but they won't let me do it for one reason or the other ( be interdisciplinary for example). So take off rigid thinking and replace it with some freedom and innovation #bfc530
Ok, I have to think of something positive now. I can’t leave here with this bag of frustration in my head. The kids need us. And we are up to the task!! #bfc530
Anything that creates redundancy. If I am to complete something digitally, don't also have me do it on paper. Sometime I think tech has increased my workload. #bfc530
Morning #bfc530 toss the grades! It's about learning not compliance! Let's offer successes & not yets with suggestions! And, toss meetings that can be in an email. Meet to share best practices & change outdated systems!
I'm all for assessment to track growth. But assessing with the hyper-frequency we do it. Scores drop bc we suck the fun of learning from 9 year olds. School should BE work, shouldn't FEEL like work.
#bfc530
Morning #bfc530 toss the grades! It's about learning not compliance! Let's offer successes & not yets with suggestions! And, toss meetings that can be in an email. Meet to share best practices & change outdated systems!
Do you get a lot of paper copies at the moment? I keep forgetting to check my mailbox because there's never anything in it anymore which I love 😁 #bfc530
I'm all for assessment to track growth. But assessing with the hyper-frequency with which we do it?
No, just no.
Scores drop bc we suck the fun of learning from 9 year olds. School should BE work, shouldn't FEEL like work.
#bfc530
I'm all for assessment to track growth. But assessing with the hyper-frequency with which we do it?
No, just no.
Scores drop bc we suck the fun of learning from 9 year olds. School should BE work, shouldn't FEEL like work.
#bfc530
There a lot of “illusion of choice/voice” that happens. I keep thinking it will improve when people become more secure, but it just morphs instead. Hard to feel inspired when things feel so managerial. #bfc530
On the note of meetings, why hasn’t that been innovated. Come on! There are so many tips to make meetings shorter and more objective. Take this one: https://t.co/o9XzWiTcBz#bfc530
Despite how many emails Ts receive a day, at least double that number for the admin. I remember at my busiest times receiving an average of 120 emails a day. However, it was an average of 50 emails on slow days. #bfc530
“We are the system! We are the change we need! It's up to us to promote diversity, creativity, ideation, critical thinking, problem solving, and responsiveness. It's our responsibility to be the change! “ #bfc530#21DAYTBC
Honestly, many of the surveys are leading and restrictive. I think that makes me the craziest. Don’t waste my time on data that corroborates a predetermined outcome. My voice is more important than that to me. #bfc530
When you used them (the AOWs), how did you follow up with the students on them? They are a mandate for us, but I'm trying to get my head around some additional ways/processes to use them. #bfc530
Realistically, I’d get rid of the growth data spreadsheet. #bfc530 Dreamworld? Reduce just one class for 2 full hours of planning and grading. I’d be so much better (mentally, physically, for my students, for my family) with fewer people to keep track of.
I totally agree. They are a snapshot and so stressful and time consuming to complete. I can have more meaningful conversations with parents that would never total 40 hours! Assessment and evaluation is a hot topic! #bfc530
#BFC530 having to report on four out of five of the math strands each report card. It is the most artificial division of my curriculum the high schools don't have to do it that way, I don't understand why I do.
I would ask to get rid of the stack ranking that sorts us into "groupings" for dismissal. It makes evaluation so much less about growth & more about gotcha. #BFC530
I like it when my administrators ask what you need to be successful? What resources or tools can we provide to strengthen what you do for students? #bfc530https://t.co/NBqHF3ckH7
Face to face is good. However, it is not always possible. If staff and associates understand protocols for emails, it makes this form of communication an effective experience. #bfc530
In reply to
@BrysonBridget, @LaurenPorosoff, @kathyiwanicki
