SMART GOALS UPDATED January 15, 2011
SMART GOAL 1: Curriculum Development and Assessment, Best Practice Pedagogy, and Teacher Leadership
My Reality: I am spending a lot of time with the new reading and writing curriculum. Social Studies is getting less time and focus. I need to do more with less time. I am not teaching to mastery or testing the units. Class meeting days can be spread out; sometimes we meet only two or three of six days.
My Goal: I will implement best practice into each of my Social Studies lessons.
I will share my best practice activities with coworkers.
My lessons will align with State Standards for WI HISTORY.
Timeline: Beginning January 17 – May 27, 2011.
Strategies and Action Steps: Each lesson will use best practice to increase knowledge and retention of the Social Studies Curriculum.
Examples include but are not limited to:
*Use of primary sources/artifacts.
*Graphic Organizers.
*Exit Slips
*Group Projects/Presentations
*Note taking skills
*Presentations/Role Playing
Evidence of Effectiveness: Students will complete a pre- and posttest of interest level in Wisconsin History Class. Students will be encouraged to make comments.
SMART GOAL 2: Learning Community and Democracy, Diversity, and Social Justice in Education, Teacher Leadership.
My Reality: Our class is continuing to build community. Sometimes students are not doing their job (completing work, being kind, have stellar behavior). We have discussed Rachel’s Challenge, a school-wide initiative on kindness (being the change we wish to see). Community needs to be rebuilt all year. Students need to learn to set goals, time to talk about how they are doing toward these goals, and to acknowledge each other’s kindness.
My Goal: To implement a positive start of the week allowing students to set goals and acknowledge each others biggest hopes and dreams for our classroom. To build class community through compliments in an end of the week Kindness Ritual.
Timeline: January 17 – February 25, 2011
Five minutes at the start of the week. Ten minutes at the end of the week.
Strategies and Action Plan: Mondays: Students will take 5 minutes to state a goal or dream for our classroom at our morning meeting. Each day of the week, the teacher will remind students to think back to our hopes and dreams to set a positive climate. Fridays: Students will have 10 minutes to compliment each other on the things they noticed about each other during the week that helped us succeed as a kind class.
Evidence of Effectiveness: Teacher will monitor through a Monday and Friday tally chart the number of students speaking on Monday and the number of students complimenting or commenting in a positive way of Friday.
Students will be asked to complete an exit slip each Friday. They will be asked, “Is our classroom improving in kindness, behavior: (Yes, No, About the Same).
SMART GOAL 3: Technology in Education
My Reality: Every year I take my students into the computer lab once a week, but I never check ahead to see what knowledge base the students have. We also have two student computers where students can practice these skills. I would like my students to feel comfortable and confident and grow in their skills with many forms of technology.
My Goal: Students will be introduced to a new form of technology, or a more indepth training with the technology to raise their independence and knowledge of technology.
Timeline: January 17 – April 29, 2011
Strategies and Action Plan: Students will take a pre survey where they will rate or write about their knowledge and independence with the technology they will be taught. Categories: (I’ve never used it.. I’ve used it. I can help teach it to others.) Students will be instructed and assisted with the technology in the computer lab and classroom over the course of 2 or more weeks. Students will take a post survey where they will rate or write about their knowledge and independence with the practiced technology.
Technology to include but not limited to:
*Microsoft Word Document
*Search Engines
*Teacher Web Page usage
*Spelling City online spelling support
*PearsonSuccess.Net online math curriculum support
*Lead21 online reading curriculum support
*PowerPoint
*Xcel
*Blog
*Audacity (voice and sound recording)
*Internet
Evidence of Effectiveness: Student pre and post surveys will be compared. Ratings and comments will be evaluated to look for growth in knowledge and independence with the technology.
SMART GOAL 4: Educational Research and Curriculum Development and Assessment
My Reality: I implement reading fluency checks for all of my students. I have set up a weekly schedule to meet with my students. Students above and at grade level instruction are being checked with a weekly practiced read. Students at grade level and below grade level instruction are being checked with a Read Naturally Program.
My Goal: To maintain and create expressive and fluent readers. I would like to continue fluency checks for all students for the remainder of the school year. I would like to analyze if students who improve on their fluency through the school year are able to raise their differentiated reading group. I also want to see if at grade level and below grade level readers can improve their inflection and expression as they become more fluent.
Timeline: December 6 – May 13, 2011. Weekly checks and Two-month checks (to coincide with Benchmark Weeks in series.)
Strategies and Action Plan:
1. Each week students will practice reading in the following ways.
*Poetry Folders
*Rereading of their Themed Reader and Differentiated Reader
*Listen to a fluent, expressive model by the teacher in Read Aloud
*Independent Reading/Partner Reading
*Documentation of minutes reading on a Monthly Reading Log
2. Benchmark Week (every 5th week of school) students will participate in the LEAD 21 “cold” leveled reading for their instruction level.
3. Data will be kept on reading rate, inflection and expression.
Evidence of Effectiveness:
- Students in the at grade level and below grade level groups will move up to advanced or at grade level groups.
- Student fluency will improve.
- Student inflection and expressive reading will improve.
February, 2011 Action Research
SMART GOAL 5: Curriculum Development and Assessment, Best Practice Pedagogy, and Teacher Leadership
My Reality: I want to provide meaningful learning activities to my students during small group reading instruction. My students could benefit from having more literacy choices. Students need motivating activities to participate in each week, and accountability to practice or produce literacy.
One difficulty with the new curriculum this year has been using my 30 minutes five of every six days to teach writing and language skills. This is not enough time to do justice to either skill. One unit I will not be able to teach this year is my poetry unit. In the past, students have worked on a poetry unit with me. I taught the poem form, students wrote on blank paper or a blank poem form paper, we revised together, and then poems were eventually written into a pre-bound book complete with student writing and illustrations. It is a memorable project from fourth grade. I’ll continue this practice, but most of the student work would be done in the Poetry Center
Debbie Diller wrote Practice with Purpose: Literacy Work Stations for Grades 3-6. 2005. Stenhouse Publishers. Portland , Maine
My Goal: My goal is to develop a literacy center that I could use every year. This one is for poetry. I would introduce one new poem each week. This center would be available for students to see samples of the poem form, and write independently. Students could leave their poems there, edit eachothers, ask for feedback, use a writing folder, and publish into a book during center time. Usually their book consists of 14 different poems, so this would be a center for 14 or more weeks, specifically for writing poetry.
Timeline: April – May, 2011
Strategies and Action Steps: An asterisk marks a new best practice in my classroom related to this action research. It may take more than this year to implement all of these ideas. Examples include but are not limited to:
*Students would have opportunities to read from poetry books together, and respond to open-ended questions that are listed on cards on rings. I would need to make these. Debbie Diller’s book has poetry bookmarks and poetry task cards for students to use.
*Begin with an anthology/book pass. Students enter the names of “Books I’d Like to Read”, and generate interest for the many poetry books I have available for them to read.
Poetry Folders - Introduce a poem by reading it aloud to the students. Read it with the students. *Students can then share with a partner at the Poetry Center
*Students could sign up to perform poems they’ve practiced at the Poetry Center
*Comparing Poems – I would model this first, and then post it at the poetry center. Students use a Venn diagram to compare ideas in two poems. I would pre-select two poems about the same topic, laminate them, and have students work with the activity in pairs. This supports the WKCE Reading Test at 4th grade. I have seen poetry analysis on the reading test many times.
*Interesting Words Page – In their poetry folder, students can copy down interesting words they read in poems, and recycle them into their own writing.
*Poet Study – Gather information about the poet, web site, and allow students to explore. I’d do one or two this year, with development next year for one a month or one a semester.
*Memorize Favorite Poems – Students will memorize a poem of their choice once a quarter. At the end of the quarter, they share with the class. Students could perform at the end of the year for their parents. Students may add simple props and dramatizing of the poems.
*Explore metaphors, similes, personification, alliteration, onomatopoeia, assonance, and other aspects of grammar. – Students can look for and add the poem names to the poster of each, so other students can also find these examples in writing.
*Content Poetry – Civil War Songs, Pioneer Songs, engraving on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. These could be posted with our history studies. Students could learn about the meanings of the words in the songs at home or at the computer, write them down, and share with the class.
Evidence of Effectiveness: Student final project graded on rubric. Grades based on neatness, color, completion of 14 types of poems, specified number of each, and specific page requirements for cover, title page, dedication page, table of contents page).
References
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