OMG! Goal Setting

Ok so I have switched from teaching kindergarten to being our K - 12 District Literacy Specialist.  This is my first post under my new title.  I hope to share my experiences as I navigate this new life.

Finally finished my Goal Setting Conference with the Curriculum Supervisor.  In Delaware we have DPAS 2 as our teacher evaluation system.  With that I am now in Group 3 and the goals I had to sign off on for a Satisfactory rating or Exemplary by the end of the year are more than a little overwhelming.  To help others out in the Internet I will share what I work on with teachers during the year.

Goal 1 - Working with the High School CTE teachers - create 2 units per teacher that are aligned with CCSS in content area literacy and follow the Smarter Balanced performance task model.  Each unit will have embedded short text dependent writing along with a longer informational writing as a final assessment.  To be exemplary we will also create End of the Year projects aligned with Smarter Balance performance tasks.

Goal 2 - Working with teachers in Grade 3 - 8 and 11 create quarterly benchmark assessments in the Smarter Balanced format.  Each assessment to be designed and implemented on-time.  Grade 3 - 5 will create them for marking periods 2, 3, & 4.  Grades 6 - 8 & 11 will create them for marking periods 3 & 4.  To be exemplary assessments for marking period 1 will also be designed to be ready for fall implementation.

Goal 3 - Provide 10 research-based tools, resources, and/or shared opportunities for a maximum of 50 teachers.  Including units designed on module creator and the Literacy Institute on informational writing presented by the Diamond State Reading Association.  To be exemplary 15 resources will be provided.

Goal 4 - Research and organize all the resources needed for Year 1 of the districts Common Ground for the Common Core implementation plan.  Focus of elementary ELA designing professional development for the team to learn and then share with district staff.  To be exemplary also create a professional development on "How to increase Rigor in the Classroom."  to be implemented over multiple sessions.

Why yes my stress level just went up SEVERAL notches.  But you must "plan your work and work your plan" so wish me luck and send me prayers.  :)

I am so excited to share from Rockin' Teacher Materials that she to sharing a chance to win two tickets to the I <3 K convention in Las Vegas.  She will also be one of the presenters!!

OK it has been forever in my last post.  I seriously need to get better at this.  We have students 2 days this week, a grading day, and a Professional Development day then its SPRING BREAK!!!!!!  Excited to spend time with my kiddos and planning to visit my brother's family to snuggle with my newest nephew.  And since Maddi and Michael have a shorter break taking some time for myself to relax.

My kinders are bouncing off the walls between a combination of Spring Fever and snow.  Yes snow - it has been snowing all day today, which of course has them amped up.  Hope to survive the next two days with my sanity intact.  Planning some jelly bean graphing and sight word practice with shaving cream - pics to come.

I think I am better at blog stalking cruising than actually blogging.  It is just after Election Day and for those of us who live in Sussex County DE we also add in Return's Day.  Returns's Day is a tradition from when we had to wait til all the ballots were counted and then "runners" would bring the results to post them in Georgetown's town circle.

Things have been crazy the first two months of school we had a Early Childhood assessement to administer over 4 weeks to half of our classes and DPAS2 assessement benchmark items to administer to all students.  WOW!! talk about insane I felt like I barely taught the first month of school. 

Maddi and Michael not being in my building after school has helped me to be able to get housekeeping items done.  So I PROMISE to post pictures of my redone classroom and share some of the items I have created for my classroom ASAP.

Sorry its been soooo long

Wow!  It has been a long time since my last post.  It was a crazy end of the school year and summer hasn't shown a slow down yet.  Mike started a new job working nights and I have been teaching summer school.  I am looking forward to being able to take a break with my kids next week and do some fun things together.  Down side of being a teacher's kid - summer isn't always as fun as it could be. 

I did a major purge of my classroom at the end of the year.  After exploring Pintrest I was inspired to redo my classroom.  I have always been organized but with Mike working nights this coming school year and me being on my own with the kids during the week it is time to be uber-organized.  I brought home quite a bit of "homework" and will post pics of what I have been working on soon!

At the DSRA Leadership Retreat (Diamond State Reading Association).  So much fun last night!  SCR (Sussex Council for Reading) won the scavenger hunt last night!!Lots of great ideas flowing again this morning.  If you are a teacher in Delaware please contact me to join these fabulous councils that prompt literacy.

Where did my weekend go?

Ok so I worked like crazy yesterday on the computer getting different classroom things created and downloaded.  Somehow time slipped away and we didn't make it to the grocery store so no Cloud Dough was made.  It is on my "To Do" list.  I did however finish making sight word practice sheets for all of the sight words on our series, (Treasure from MacMillian).  Not sure how to show the image yet but here is the link.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6UGDF9PsOyPQVdJZDhVTEZSbW1qSjMwNUJUUXIyZw