Featured Post

Fake It Until You Make It

I've been in education for 18 years and the one phrase that always comes up again and again is "Fake It Until You Make It"...

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Oh, the Places You'll Go With a Great S.L.O.


Is student growth tied to your evaluations? Are you feeling like you are in a state of compliance with paperwork, rather than a state of reflection to help you become a better teacher with more student impact?  If you answered yes to any of these questions, please keep reading because I may have some solutions to your problems. 

As a coach, one of my roles is to support teachers with their S.L.O. (Student learning Objectives) for their evaluations. If you aren't from Illinois or maybe your district calls this something else, it is basically how we teachers in Illinois show that our students are making growth on a common assessment or teacher created assessment. This is our Type 3 assessment which uses our classroom data and it is tied to our evaluations each year. This is the reason why so many teachers get anxiety and stress just thinking about them. 

For many teachers this process of recording everything for the sake of an evaluation causes anger and frustration. Let's face it, teachers plan learning objectives, success criteria, set goals for students, plan strategies for achieving those goals, and re-assess on a weekly basis with students! So they are not frustrated with what the state is asking them to do, rather their frustration comes from the feeling of being required to record this process and have it included as part of their evaluation. Many people who see themselves as good teachers are feeling that they are having to "prove they are capable" because of failing teachers in the state who weren't doing their jobs. They sit and plan these S.L.O's, in frustration because they are being told they ave to do them and they have a deadline for when they are due. 

So, as a coach who is sitting along side them cheering them on, and also as a person who has to do this myself, I have been struggling with how to support their valid worries and complaints. Here we have capable teachers who are moving students in the right direction, and are seeing growth. They are goal setting, looking at assessments, and planning lessons based on students' needs. So I've been wondering what I can do to help teachers, and you my readers, to feel better about the process and put a positive spin on it. 

So here is what I came up with, knowing it has helped me in the past. It has also helped while I am working with teachers and supporting them through this process. Hopefully, it will help you too! 

1. We hear from our students all of the time, "Why do I need to do this?" As a teacher, we always have a reason to give our students that is tied to how they will potentially use this skill in their future and how this will help them grow as a learner.  So, I am putting a spin on that same idea for us. When we are thinking, "Why do I have to do this? It is a waste of my time,"  we also need to put that same spin on it. Think of the positive outcomes from going through this written process. Yes, you may be doing this already with your kids in your head or quick lesson planning, but do you truly sit down and cluster your kids giving them that specific of a growth goal with specific strategies in mind for each of those groups to help them reach that goal? Most elementary teachers are not sitting and writing out cluster goals for students for every unit, every subject. Heck, I don't know anyone who would have time for that. So, at least by going through this process you are so hyper focused on those students and their needs and moving them in the right direction, that in the end, you know that you have made an impact on their learning. You know what worked, what didn't work, and what you would do differently in the future and you have data to prove it. Maybe by going through this process, you will find that some students or clusters of students far surpassed your expectations of them and you can give yourself a well needed pat on the back!

I found that after I had finished my S.L.O.in math for my evaluation last year, I wanted to continue doing this for every unit in math. I also found that for each unit I increased my student growth goals for clusters as I saw how they performed from the pretest to the post- test. This was great information for me as a teacher, and helped me to reflect and grow in my teaching practices. 

2. Change your mindset. We teach our students to change their mindset and look at things differently, but it is often much harder to do as adults. I try to put a positive spin on everything to make it meaningful to me. Yes, it is a compliance piece of our job that we have to do in order to stay employed. But, like I said in my first suggestion, if we own the process and we use it to reflect and improve student learning, it will be worth it in the end. To me, anything that helps students grow as learners in the end is worth it. If we change our mindset from a compliance "I have to do this" mindset to a meaningful "I am doing this to improve my instruction and student learning" mindset, then the process will be more meaningful. 

So, back to the title. You've gone or are going through the process of writing your S.L.O. You and your students will both grow through the process. Your great S.L.O is going to show you and your students how far they have come. Your administrators will see the amazing work you are doing with students. It's a win win for everyone. :)

I hope that you can take even a tiny bit of this and use it to help you when you are feeling like you are doing a task that you've been told to do and don't see meaningful. This time it is S.L.O' s but next time it may be lesson plan reporting, turning in paperwork, or an assignment from a supervisor. Please comment below  if you have any other ideas or suggestions for teachers!

No comments:

Post a Comment