The Week That Was

Busy, busy couple of weeks.

Just finished my first week of my second student teaching placement. I am in an 8:1:1 Special Education classroom in Spencerport, which aside from the commute time is not that different from teaching at Freddie Thomas.

The days are busy and there are a million things going on. The hardest part for me is that I am actually only teaching social studies for about 40 minutes a day. The experience is great and my cooperation teaching has been awesome. I just have a hard time seeing myself taking over the room and doing all she does in a few short weeks.

Avi has been awesome. We are taking her ice skating this evening so I should have some new video and pictures up soon.

The teaching portion of my Master's degree is quickly coming to a close. I have a lot of loose ends to tie up so that I can say when this is done is a few months that I am going to be certified by September.

Went to go see "How to Train Your Dragon" last night with D. Not to name drop but my best friend is a producer for Dreamworks and he strongly recommended we go see it. Absolutely loved it.

Not sure if I would put it ahead of "Kung Fu Panda" as far as Dreamworks animated movies go. I really loved the Fu. But I would place it ahead of a few Pixar films on my list of favorite animated films.

The visuals were just amazing. It was almost the Anti-Eragon (don't get me started on my hatred of Eragon). I loved that the kid needed the dragon as much as the dragon needed him, it made for a very touching story.

I love leaving a theatre feeling content with the cash we just laid down.

As far as what is exiting me right now.

Check THIS OUT

Best. Thing. I. Have. Ever. Seen (thanks Drew)

Those who know me know that the list of things that I hate consists of the following in no particular order:

Aliens
Robots
Vamipres
Zombies
and Diseases

(Although I love Alien Robots)

But if there is an alien I love, it's Predator. At least Predator makes no excuses about what he is going to do to you. He is going to kill you. And if you put up a good fight, he is going to tear your skull and spine out of your carcass, he is going to polish it, and he is going to hang it on his wall with all his other trophies.

Unlike Aliens, who impregnate you with thier offspring and use you like some twisted incubator, Predator finishes you quickly.

And, Predator loves to kill Aliens, which is awesome.

This movie is going to be awesome. (Which is exactly what I said after seeing the trailer for Alien v. Predator Requiem, which failed, epically)

2-Week Notice

So I am done with Hillside until the middle of May as of next Wednesday. As I sit here on the couch (in my PJs, fulfilling every sterotype of Bloggers save the fact that I am at my house, not my mom's basement)it is 7:38 and I should have left the house 8 minutes ago to get to work at 8.

I haven't finished my coffee yet.

Definately on two-week notice time.

Student teaching starts the Monday we get back from Kansas City, and it would be fair to say that I am mildly panicking.

603- What My Grades Mean to Me

At first, upon reading this assignment, I thought this was going to be a fairly easy assignment. I was very wrong. The more I have thought about it the more I realized that my grades mean many different things to me.

My grades mean that I am accurately evaluating the level of understanding that my students are demonstrating, while at the same time giving my student's the greatest opportunity possible to display their true academic ability.

It will not be my goal to trick my students, or play "gotcha" with their grades.

My grades mean that my students are synthesizing the information that I am delivering to them, and are able to internalize it and display to me that they have understood what has been taught.

My goal is for my grades to be an accurate and reliable representation of what my student's have learned and what they understand.

My grades should reflect what I have been successful in teaching as well as those areas where there continues to be confusion within the student body.

I can be counted among those who are uncomfortable with assigning grades to my students, this is an area where I have room to continue to grow and learn.

My grades mean that I am doing a good job imparting knowledge and understanding to my students and that knowledge and understanding is reflected in valid grades.

603-Learning Targets, State Standards

1. Students will be able to define the key names and event of the Civil War.
(describe, identify, list, name, match)

Standard 1: History of the United States and New York
Standard 3: Geography
Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship, and Government

Comprehension
2. Students will be able to explain the major causes of the war as well as their effect on the outcome.
(distinguish, estimate, infer, paraphrase, summarize)

Standard 1: History of the United States and New York
Standard 2: World History
Standard 3: Geography
Standard 4: Economics
Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship, and Government

Application
3. Students will be able to produce a thematic or document based essay based on acquired knowledge.
(demonstrate, discover, manipulate, prepare, produce)

Standard 1: History of the United States and New York
Standard 2: World History
Standard 3: Geography
Standard 4: Economics
Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship, and Government

Analysis
4. Student will be able to outline the major battles of the war, describing their impact on the war at large.
(illustrate, relate, select, diagram, differentiate)

Standard 1: History of the United States and New York
Standard 3: Geography

Synthesis
5. Students will be able to summarize the major causes, events, and outcomes of the Civil War.
(categorize, combine, compile, compose, create)

Standard 1: History of the United States and New York
Standard 2: World History
Standard 3: Geography
Standard 4: Economics
Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship, and Government

Evaluation
6. Students will be able to draw conclusions about the impact the Civil War had on American History.
(appraise, discriminate, explain, justify, interpret, relate)

Standard 1: History of the United States and New York
Standard 2: World History
Standard 3: Geography
Standard 4: Economics
Standard 5: Civics, Citizenship, and Government

NYS Social Studies Standards

603-Final Assessment-Learning Targets

Knowledge
1. Students will be able to define the key names and event of the Civil War.
(describe, identify, list, name, match)

Comprehension
2. Students will be able to explain the major causes of the war as well as their effect on the outcome.
(distinguish, estimate, infer, paraphrase, summarize)

Application
3. Students will be able to produce a thematic or document based essay based on acquired knowledge.
(demonstrate, discover, manipulate, prepare, produce)

Analysis
4. Student will be able to outline the major battle of the war, describing their impact on the war at large.
(illustrate, relate, select, diagram, differentiate)

Synthesis
5. Students will be able to summarize the major causes, events, and outcomes of the Civil War.
(categorize, combine, compile, compose, create)

Evaluation
6. Students will be able to draw conclusions about the impact the Civil War had on American History.
(appraise, discriminate, explain, justify, interpret, relate)

603 Final Assessment Proposal

Original Post:

The unit of study that I plan on assessing will be a United States History (11th grade) unit on the Civil War. This will include the causes and consequences of the war. The students will have received information through a number of differentiated lessons ranging from observing and reporting back on a popular film ("Glory") as well as interactive lessons using the Internet, field trips, and traditional lectures. The mode of assessment that I will be utilizing will be a multi-layered traditional assessment that will include multiple choice, short answer and essay questions. I will use either a thematic essay or a document based essay on the exam.

The ultimate goal will be to give students some grasp of the depth and significance of the events being discussed while preparing them for the U.S. Regents exam which will be of a similar type. Other variations of Assessment for Learning will be applied during the unit.

Adding…

The final assessment for the unit will consist of 20 multiple choice questions drawn specifically from the learning goals of the unit. The questions will be based in material that was highlighted in the unit.

In addition students will answer 2 short answer items. These items will allow students to expand on their knowledge and demonstrate a more complete understanding of the material. Students will be instructed to complete these items in 2-3 full sentences. In addition to content knowledge, students will display a grasp of basic writing skills. These items will build upon work that has been done throughout the unit to improve writing skills and help prepare students for the essay question.

Students will have a choice of answer 1 of 2 essay questions. Both questions will require students expand on knowledge that was acquired throughout the unit. Students will be not be surprised by the content being assessed in the essay questions as they will draw specifically from material that was highlighted throughout the unit. Students will be asked to write a coherent 3-paragraph essay, including introduction, body and conclusion, that addresses the question being asked.

Students will have a full 90 minute period to complete the assessment.

603-Unit Assessment Proposal

The unit of study that I plan on assessing will be a United States History (11th grade) unit on the Civil War. Including the causes and consequences of the war. The students will have received information through a number of differentiated lessons ranging from observing and reporting back on a popular film ("Glory") as well as interactive lessons using the Internet, field trips, and traditional lectures. The mode of assessment that I will be utilizing will be a multi-layered traditional assessment that will include multiple choice, short answer and essay questions. I will use either a thematic essay or a document based essay on the exam.

The ultimate goal will be to give students some grasp of the depth and significance of the events being discussed while preparing them for the U.S. Regents exam which will be of a similar type. Other variations of Assessment For Learning will be applied during the unit.

603 Post-Performance Assessments

In my 12th grade English class we were assigned a long-term project as a form of Performance Assessment.

Our task was to collect works of writing, no matter the type, from all of our high school years. Once we had collected these, we put them together in a portfolio which we presented to our class. The goal of the project was two-fold. First we were to display our growth as writers throughout our years of high school. The second goal was to display an array of writing styles and our grasp of them. From short stories, poetry, book reports and essays, we as seniors were instructed to compile as many examples of our best work as possible.

We were graded on a rubric. The criteria for the grading scale was made availible to us prior to completing the assignment.

In my opinion long-term projects such as this can act as excellent indicators of learning and growth. Too often in Education we get caught up in what we, as teachers think is the most important content that students will take out of our classes. What gets lost far too frequently is how what a student is learning will translate to the real world. The essential question that needs to be asked is, what skills can I equip a young person with for their future, while at the same time, imparting on them the content knowledge that is also critical for graduation. These types of performance assessment translate to real world applications far easier than being able to answer a multiple choice test.

Having said that, performance assessments such as long-term projects are not applicable to all content areas or even all units within a content area. My goal as a teacher is going to be to find a balance between traditional assessments and authentic ones.

Test Ethics

EDI 603- Ethics for Assessment

Personal Code of Ethics for Assessment

1. Accommodating Students with Disabilities: assessment modifications/ accommodations

In order to present an effective inclusive classroom, I as the instructor will have to craft assessments that touch on all forms of intelligences while at the same time being fair for all students. So often we hear the phrase: “Inclusion can work, when it’s done right”… It’s done right when time and care are taken to ensure that all students are being offered an opportunity to succeed and display their true intelligence.

2. To interpret students’ performance on one assessment by considering the results from other assessments (pg.92)

If I were to be judged to be worthy for qualification into the Teacher Education Program at SUNY Brockport based on my performance on a test that I took on my worst day, I would be washing dishes for a living (although, having said that, who would have known that a 2-year old could create so many dishes). Everyone has a bad day and there are times where it is necessary to consider a students’ track record when considering their score on an assessment.

3. To interpret a students’ performance as a way of evaluating his attainment of learning targets rather than as a weapon for punishing or controlling students’ behavior (pg.92)

Using the fear of passing an assessment as a form of motivation plays on a dangerous double edged sword. Getting students motivated to pay attention, or to study by inspiring fear may be effective at times, with certain students. However, that effectiveness is often overshadowed by the anxiety that it will inspire in students who we are looking to teach, not scare.

4. To score student responses accurately (pg. 90)

This is basically self-explanatory. If we are going to give assessments, no matter the form, we owe it to ourselves and our students to score their responses correctly. This can range from using an answer key for multiple choice questions to applying a rubric to short answer or essay responses.

5. To take my students culture, upbringing, family history and environment into account when creating and administering an assessment

There is more to education than simply teaching tests, gaining knowledge and passing standardized assessments. To Teach is to know both ourselves and those who we are trying to influence. We cannot do this if we do not know who our students are, what they can bring to the proverbial table from their own lives and how what they have experienced through the lens of their lives has shaped who and what they are. If we teach only to get people from point A to point B as quickly and cheaply as possibly, we fall flat on our faces in terms of solving the very real, and very tragic problems that face our education system and our students. We are teachers. We do what we are.

Class Post

I am using this blog for my class and I will be posting class assignments here along with my normal Mets, Penn State, Politics, Fantasy Sports content.

For those who are reading this for the first time, I am Terry Gilmore. I am in my second year of my Masters program at SUNY Brockport. I am going to be a secondary social studies teacher, hopefully in the near future.

I currently work at Dr. Freddie Thomas H.S. in the Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection program. My job is losely defined as helping students graduate. I love my job.

My life primarily revolves around Aviendha Shea, who turned 2 on July 23rd.

On This Day

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/5/29/736041/-Glory:-May-28,-1863



I am working on a degree is secondary social studies and plan on focusing all of my lessons and units on social justice. I wrote two unit plans as final projects last semester and both of them focused on the 54th.

Give 'em Hell

Where I'm At

Today I am hating Shane Victorino. He is actually becoming my least favorite player in the league, including Alex Rodriguez.

He has a fat face, which pisses me off. She, I mean He showboats then complains when Reyes Showboats. He interfered with Reyes last night, then stood there with this stupid look on his stupid face like, "got 'cha". I hate this fat little Hawaiian.

I guessed Manny was on steriods. This does not shock me, no one shocks me. If it came out today that David Wright tested positive, I would not be shocked.

We as a society have the most hypocritical stance on the subject of performance enhancing drugs. I don't care. I think the way we have portrayed Barry Bonds as an enemy of the state is unfair. Do I think he took drugs, knowingly? Yes. Do I care, No.

As long as a guy seems sorry, we are quick to forgive. As long as a guy has the good sense to get out before he gets caught, (yes I am looking at you Brett Boone), we don't care.

I don't care. I think Manny is still one of the best right handed hitters in the history of the game. Do I think Albert Pujols, arguably the best firstbasemen in the history of the game has done so without the assistance of something banned? No.

--------------------------------------

My semester ended this week. (aside from the project that I still have to do next week that I don't even want to think about right now).

Getting my Masters is harder than I thought it would be.

I saw Wolverine. It was sweet. It kicked off my summer movie extravaganza. Star Trek next, the Terminator, it just keeps getting better.

I assulted an elderly woman yesterday when I was supposed to voulenteering at an elderly home. I sprayed her in the face with purple puffy paint. Sorry Gladys.

It's Like Tipping a Rapist

Sorry I have not been posting more. School is kicking me in the balls right now. Actually it kicks me in the balls, turns around like it is going to walk away and leave me alone, and just as I let my guard down it turns around, runs full speed at me and cracks me in the balls again.

Needless to say, my balls are sore.

Buy my motorcycle.