What are the 3 most important things you learned during this course?
The most important thing I learned was how to build a data team in a school. There are several development points that I wouldn’t have included if I were to do this before this class. Setting group norms and developing culturally proficient approaches to the data are not processes I would have normally put a team through, but I now understand how important they are to understanding the data. The next important thing I learned was how to structure data for disaggregation and how to use multiple types of graphs to show the changes over time in the different group. The third important thing I learned is the value of monitoring and re-evaluating. Providing evidence for the strategies you are using and constantly evaluating these strategies makes you a more efficient teacher because you can see where the deficiencies in your student learning are, and when your strategies are working to fill the gaps.
What was the most valuable field experience in this course and why? (Elevator Speech, Data Team Summary, Data Inventory, Instructional Initiatives Inventory, Data Overview, Action Plans)
The drill down was the most valuable assignment we completed. While the data was not my own, it taught me how to manipulate the data in a step-wise fashion. While I dream of a day where that much data is available from state tests, I can use this with my benchmark analysis and my own formative assessments. With a class constantly producing, data I can monitor my instructional decisions’ effectiveness in a real time environment.
How do you plan to continue applying this learning in your school?
I will be developing formative assessments I can monitor student progress with. I will be analyzing the data from these assessments to see where students are before I teach them to make sure I focus my time on their deficiencies. I will administer these multiple times so that I can measure growth and monitor the student learning problems.
What challenges do you anticipate as you continue to implement these ideas in your school?
Simply put, the time to develop, grade, analyze, and record all the data will be a challenge. I doubt this year I will have it all down, but If I can add one assessment every unit, each year I can eventually have enough information to compare my growth as an instructor and see where my “teacher-teaching” problems are.
The most important thing I learned was how to build a data team in a school. There are several development points that I wouldn’t have included if I were to do this before this class. Setting group norms and developing culturally proficient approaches to the data are not processes I would have normally put a team through, but I now understand how important they are to understanding the data. The next important thing I learned was how to structure data for disaggregation and how to use multiple types of graphs to show the changes over time in the different group. The third important thing I learned is the value of monitoring and re-evaluating. Providing evidence for the strategies you are using and constantly evaluating these strategies makes you a more efficient teacher because you can see where the deficiencies in your student learning are, and when your strategies are working to fill the gaps.
What was the most valuable field experience in this course and why? (Elevator Speech, Data Team Summary, Data Inventory, Instructional Initiatives Inventory, Data Overview, Action Plans)
The drill down was the most valuable assignment we completed. While the data was not my own, it taught me how to manipulate the data in a step-wise fashion. While I dream of a day where that much data is available from state tests, I can use this with my benchmark analysis and my own formative assessments. With a class constantly producing, data I can monitor my instructional decisions’ effectiveness in a real time environment.
How do you plan to continue applying this learning in your school?
I will be developing formative assessments I can monitor student progress with. I will be analyzing the data from these assessments to see where students are before I teach them to make sure I focus my time on their deficiencies. I will administer these multiple times so that I can measure growth and monitor the student learning problems.
What challenges do you anticipate as you continue to implement these ideas in your school?
Simply put, the time to develop, grade, analyze, and record all the data will be a challenge. I doubt this year I will have it all down, but If I can add one assessment every unit, each year I can eventually have enough information to compare my growth as an instructor and see where my “teacher-teaching” problems are.