Thursday, May 10, 2012

One week and counting.....

Again, I am amazed at how fast time flies by and before you know it, the end of the year is here!! As the last week of school is upon us, we are scrambling to get everything done and completed! Every year, there seems to be more activities that are added to the last few weeks of school! We have already completed our Reading Carnival,  field trip, Cinco De Mayo celebration, Fly-in, Science Fair, AR goal-getter bowling party, middle school visit, MAP movie and park rewards, BMX assembly, talent show, and our yearly track meet!! Whew....and we still have writing our memoirs, Promotion Ceremony, Awards assembly, and filming our final WBT video!!!!

As the school year comes to a close, it is a good time for the students to take a walk through their Data Notebooks and reflect on their year! What were their goals for 4th quarter? Did they meet their goal? If so, WAY TO GO! If not, why not? What could they have done differently to meet the goal? Did WB strategies help them throughout the year? Individually and as a class? What structures were the most beneficial? This is a great activity, as I have had past students come back to me and tell me they wish middle school teachers would use WBT, as it really helped them learn, especially in areas of school they struggled with!!!

I am excited for summer break and to have the opportunity to relax and reflect as well! I am looking forward to attending WBT conference in MO with my grade level, too!

3 comments:

  1. Laura,

    I am a Missouri teacher too! I am SO ready to use WBT to its fullest next year, but at the same time (thanks to WBT) I am not ready to let go of this school year because it has been so successful!

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  2. Tell me more about their data notebooks!

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  3. daisydee226,

    Data notebooks are a way to motivate students, hold students accountable for their progress, set quarterly academic and behavior goals, and manage their behaviors throughout the year. In the Data notebooks there are the following sections: 1)Attendance/tardies(marked daily and allows students to see patterns or that they really did miss every Monday for the month and how these absences/tardies affect their learning and progress). 2)WBT rules and Power Pics (as a reminder, for practice and easily accessible to the students at any time throughout the school day). 3)Quarterly Goal-Setting Sheets (Academic and Behavior goals). 4)Assessments at a Glance(This is where they record their assessment scores and goals for the next assessment-weekly/monthly/quarterly. For example: STAR Reading scores/goal for the next test, AR point goal for quarter/actual results/next quarter goal). 5)Long-range Assessments/Goals(this is where we record their state MAP scores from the previous year and make their goals. We give three assessments throughout the year, before the MAP test, to monitor progress towards their goal.) The Data notebooks are readily available and travel with the students to their reading classes as well! A great way to get students to be responsible and accountable for their own learning!

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