There have been a lot of changes in my district this year, many being controversial. One of the least controversial changes has been the adoption of what we are calling “priority standards”. That is until I walk into the room.
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Building Relationships
How much do we know about our students? Do we know who they live with? Do they have pets? Do we know how many siblings they have? Do they have any other brothers/sisters/cousins at your school? One of the most
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Unintended Positive Consequences of Being an ASU ASAP Fellow
I was so excited to learn that I was accepted into ASU’s ASAP Fellowship. I would finally receive the support and resources I needed to help deliver more meaningful STEM opportunities in my class. I was expecting for this to
Read MoreThe Struggle is Real
When my students returned from winter break last month, our 3rd grade team promptly began a 5 week unit on fractions. These students were
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Reason #437 to love your IAs
I love my district. I really do! And as a teacher, I thrive on data, but I hate the process we have to go through in order to get the data. We used to proctor benchmark tests for math, ELA,
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Teacher Retention
Teacher retention It’s February, time to start thinking about next school year. Already??!! At my site, we are planning for state testing in April in addition to planning for summer school. Our admin is already sending out emails about what
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Tiered Interventions
It’s the alphabet soup of interventions! MTSS – Multi-tiered system of support RTI – Response to intervention EI – Early intervention IFSP – Individualized Family Service Plan EBP – Evidence-Based Practice IEP – individualized education plan PBIS – Positive behavior
Read MoreKnock, Knock
“Hi Ms. Brinkman, do you remember me?”- is a sentence I am beginning to hear more and more as I advance in my teaching career. Having been at the same school for my entire career, (17) the benefit is having
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Working Contract Hours
Tell me if you have heard this one…“I would love to be a teacher so I can only work when the kids are at school and have all of those breaks and summers off!” I have been a teacher for
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Taking the Data Dive
“What are we looking at?” “Data” “What are we going to do with it?” “Analyze, plan, teach, assess, intervene, repeat” Does this sound familiar? In my last post, I talked about all of the assessments that are being given at
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