A Half Day, Already?
Posted by on 10/1/2015 11:04:00 AM
Welcome back! Our schools are bustling with smiling faces
of students acclimating to the new school year. Thank you for helping your
children transition back into the school routine.
Last night one of my friends posted on Facebook, “Third week
of school and…half day!” I could tell my friend was a little frustrated because
she has three young students who need daycare while she works and half-days are
tricky for her. While we do understand this dilemma and have decreased the
number of half days from last year’s calendar, there may be times when schools
need to provide teachers with extra time.
On Friday, October 2nd, BCSD teachers will
have time to collaborate with departments and/or grade levels to discuss what
they are seeing from this year’s students to write Student Learning Objectives
(SLOs). In essence, each teacher will
carefully look at multiple data points to set a goal for their students. Teachers carefully monitor student progress
during the year to ensure that each student is growing and thus maximizing
his/her potential.
What do teachers use to set goals for students? We
encourage teachers to look at many things.
It is critical for teachers to know and understand all aspects of a child;
therefore, teachers spend a lot of time in September getting to know their
students. We gather informal data from observing students while they work and
interact with other students. We collect daily work samples, quizzes, homework,
and unit test results. Teachers also have access to historical files including report
card grades, Regional Assessments and New York Assessment results.
As a district we challenge our teachers to help students
answer rigorous questions through writing. All contents ask questions during
each lesson. By asking students to write an answer to a question we see what
the student is thinking. This provides a forum for teachers to discuss how
students are answering questions in written form. Therefore, having time to
collaborate on a half day will assist teachers in developing appropriate goals.
As a district, we strive to develop critical thinking and
problem solving skills. Asking good questions causes students to think
critically and having them write an answer opens the door to help us know what
they are thinking and how they solve problems.
You are commenting as Anonymous