Well it feels good to finally be getting to the nitty gritty of it all and meeting the kids and their families! I really enjoyed the teacher prep days and have a ever-growing stash of papers and materials well started. As my mentor is doing her principal internship as well I was able to sit in on some interviews as they are trying to find (last minute!) a 5th grade teacher and it was helpful to be "on the other side" so to speak, behind the scenes. So far I have remembered half of the new names of staff (of course, sure to get the office staff and support staff right away:) Our open house on monday night was successful, with almost twenty families coming for the K rooms combined. According to the teachers, this is a better turnout by far than the previous years, so we will hope that marks a year of strong parent involvement! Interestingly enough, one of the dads was a friend of mine from college in Arizona that I hadn't even know was here in Anchorage...small world!
K profiles started today and it was interesting to see how that process works. It still feels stiff to me to do testing on the first real meeting, and the less outgoing children had a hard time with it. I was able to do the testing for one of the children and that worked well while the teacher spoke with the parent. I know it gives a good idea of where the children are at, and is a chance for the teacher to be one-on-one without the rest of the class, but I can't help but thinking that testing and assessment is not the most welcoming activity for a first meeting. My teacher was awesome at them and made the kids as comfortable and easy going as Dibels can be, but how easy going is it when there is a timer involved?
Laurie,
ReplyDeleteIt was fun to read your post. How wonderful that you are already easing into your school community and even know one of your student's father!
Thoughtful reflection on testing as a first impression for your kindergarten students.
Hope you take time to rest up this weekend.
Karen
Hi Laurie,
ReplyDeleteThanks for inviting me to your blog. How did you do that!?
Is the testing mandatory at the school you are at? What school are you at and is it Title 1?
I look forward to talking with you about the different experiences we are having. Have a great week and have fun!
Hi Kimmer!
ReplyDeleteI went to my profile page and selected the settings tab and then under that I selected permissions and it gave me the option to make my blog private and invite certain users, so I did that and just invited all the interns/profs from our program...I still haven't figured all the stuff with this blog out quite yet either :)
I am at Spring Hill and they are Title 1 but they are in a probationary year for the funding because they didn't qualify last year. So they have the funding this year, but depending on their student population this year they may or may not qualify for it next year. And so yes, that testing is all mandatory.
I loved your welcome board...you're an artist!
Enjoy the sunshine this weekend--see you Mon :)