Posted November 17, 2014 by Sheri Edwards #140 WC

#140WC Not Enough Time

Tonight after an errand with my husband and a quick dinner, I settled in to the usual: homework.

This is not homework from a class I’m taking. No, this is home work from school. As a teacher, there simply is not enough time in the day to do everything we are expected to accomplish. Off at three? Not possible.

Tonight, I revised the reading / writing rubric for my Professional Learning Community team based on our early morning meeting during which we analyzed student work. We’re working on Common Core State Standards and our teacher evaluation criteria eight [collaboration], not that we needed those standards or criteria; this is what we do. We looked at what students could and could not do and decided on a plan for developing their skills; our rubric and accompanying checklists needed to match those expectations so that we could guide students forward and they could reflect and revise based on focused feedback peers and teachers give from the rubric and checklist.

Tonight, I reviewed the collaborative global project I’m collaborating on with teachers around the world. We’re developing a project about usual, traditional, and cultural foods and caloric intake. We share via Hangouts and Google Docs and Slides to plan our goals, expectations, and directions/instructions. I wrote and shared a parental permission slip when that suggestion was made. [I’ll add a link later.]

Tonight, I developed another unit that begins with a focus statement from which kids develop their own questions and how to search, research, investigate, and share the answers to their questions to a specific audience and purpose. I gathered resources and developed the focus statement and initial instructions, all aligned to the Common Core State Standards with a focus on five areas: collaboration, investigation, content, design, and language. This is task two and provides a gradual release of responsibility so students learn to organize and direct their own learning.

Tonight, I wrote the November technology report for the school board because besides being a full time language arts teacher in a small district, I’m also the technology director; I oversee our tech needs and manage our Google Apps for Education.