Assessment

Excellence in teaching is impossible without a number of assessment tools in place. All assessment should enhance students’ learning and help make instructional decisions. Assessment is an ongoing process that guides planning and lessons. Pre-assessment tools, such as an anticipatory set, to determine how much students know before beginning the lesson. Assessment tools are also used throughout the lesson; group hand signals are helpful to achieve a quick and efficient understanding of the students’ comprehension. By involving students in self-assessment through the use of conferences and work portfolios; students feel a sense of ownership and responsibility about their work and thus can set goals and are more motivated to work toward accomplishing them.

Cognitive Development Researcher

When I tell people I teach, I normally get very similar responses: “Oh! Good for you, I could never do that, you must really like children.” I feel the bigger picture of what it means to teach is lost, blurred by the oversimplification of a twelve or more year personal experience spent in the classroom. As a student, you are only privy to one aspect of teaching, hidden are the planning sessions, the collaboration sessions, the differentiation considerations, and the post-lesson reflections. Because of this misunderstanding, I have decided Cognitive Development Researcher makes a more fitting title.

A Cognitive Development Researcher works on both the micro and macro level. On the micro level, the researcher is responsible for tracking and furthering the education of 20 or more individuals over the course of 180 days. This research requires the use of adequate assessment tools; knowing which assessment is best for each situation and differentiating for each student and each lesson. On the macro level, the Cognitive Development Researcher is responsible for collaboration and conferencing; sharing gained knowledge and using the advancements of others are essential in the role of cognitive development researcher.

Yes, I teach, but more importantly I research, I reflect, I make appropriate adjustments, I try innovative approaches, and I collaborate, so that each year my students are better prepared for what lies ahead, because, yes, I do “really like children.”

Educational Philosophy

· Education is about the journey and not the destination.

· Every child has the potential to learn. I set high expectations and expect all children to meet them. I understand that across a classroom, children will learn at different ways and through different methods but all children have the ability to learn and meet goals.