shar - Is this the Room for EC.GEN/NBPTS
jilly - i believe so
jilly - or actually any nbpts
jilly - ec.gen is at 4:00 p.m.
shar - Did anyone get the new changes for the entries from NBPTS?
jilly - are you a candidate, or an nbct?
shar - Candidate: EC/Gen=confused!
jilly - i just certified this year, can i help?
jilly - i have not seen new changes, but i can probably give general advice
shar - You must be an angel! In entry #1, kid's literacy, do you think this is the best place to include specific newsletters that I send home that refer to literacy and reading to your family?
jilly - I learned that anything goes as long as you can show that it has a direct correlation to improving skills in your students or relationships between home and school.
jilly - what matters is how you communicate that to your assessor in your write-up
jilly - when i certified, i had a separate entry for communication with home and community
jilly - it is my understanding that now, this type of communication is expected throughout your other entries.
shar - 1st:Congratulations! I have the deepest respect for all those who ventured into this journey. It is so tough. I know you must be thrilled with your accomplishments! Your students must also be receving some fantastic education! 2nd: I thought about including it in the 1st entry, but, I guess it will be deducted from my page count and I think I will probably write alot.
Sandy/newNBCT - good bye good luck
jilly - Thanks, but you can do it, too.
shar - I will give it my all! Next, I am not a classroom teacher. I do a supplemental reading program to kdg. and 1st grade classrooms. I already selected a classroom to work with.
jilly - I know you won't believe this, but that sounds like my job description exactly.
jilly - I scored the lowest on building a classroom community, but I found it hard for the students to do anything but parrot the routines that had already been set up by their classroomteacher.
shar - I am having a massive mental meltdown becuase I can't think how to put it in the contextual info and the classroom info. How do I say I am in the room for an hour a day? The classroom tchr. said I can do anything I eed to do for this. She is 'there' for me. She can't do this journey now, maybe later.
shar - What grade did you use for your entry?
jilly - I had some wonderful teachers to work with that let me borrow classrooms on a moments notice to redo social studies lessons, and science lessons.
jilly - I used 2 different 1st grade classes
jilly - I was very specific in the contextual information about demographics ( we are low socio-economic) and how I worked with the students.
jilly - I was not very specific regarding how much time I spent with each classroom.
shar - You are a super woman! Two classes? incredible! I plan to use the same room for everything. Makes it easier for me in this situation. We are very low in socio-eco. Low in everything else, too. Did you state you went to other rooms each day?
jilly - yes, I stated that I worked with all K - 2 classrooms in our school.
shar - Sincer you were not the classroom tchr., did you talk about using the state tests, grade level tests, and local school tests for evals on the kdg.?
jilly - The reason I worked with 2 different classes, is that I couldn't quite find what I was looking for in my videotapes, so I taped a lot of different sessions with kids.
shar - We have only four entries now. the first one is for kid's lit and lit growth. 2nd=sci.&math, 3rd=comm, soc.std., 4th-profess accom.
jilly - I didn't focus so much on state tests. I used information from things like STAR Early Literacy and Dibels to focus on early phonemic awareness skills with the 1st graders.
shar - Do you teach a small group every day in each classroom? How many in each group?
jilly - I also talked a lot about anecdotal and running records that I was keeping on the students.
shar - Did you include the names of all the evals and test you administered that year?
jilly - Yes I did refer to the tests and evals by name
shar - Did you include any running records or anecdotal for the students that were in your groups? How did you explain what children you were taping.
jilly - I spend most of my time with 1st graders. I work with 6 groups of 8 students everyday for 40 minutes, and then I co-teach with 2 other 1st grade teachers in an intensive 1st grade reading classroom for 1 hour each afternoon.
jilly - the rest of my time is spent with small groups of K and 2nd grade students.
shar - I do 7 rooms each day; 35-55- min each day.
shar - All intense reading, phonics, strategies, fill in the blank.
jilly - For my literacy entry, I only had to focus on 1 student.
Ali - Hi....I'm just beginning my portfolio...do you have any words of wisdom?
jilly - So I did not have to videotape that entry. Running records and anectdotals were easy when focusing on one student, as you can imagine.
shar - The one thing I can't clear up in my head is if I use newsletters to go home for literacy, do i include it in the entry 4 for parent communication or entry 1 for literacy?
jilly - I would include in in #4 for parent communication.
shar - Now, I have to focus on 2 students for literacy in entry #1.
jilly - remember that the assessor will be reading your contextual information before reading your entry, so it will be really valid to your job.
jilly - Keep in mind, though, that your communication should somehow be 2-way if possible. Get the parents to respond somehow to what you have sent home.
shar - O.K. I think you are correct, entry # 4. But, there are different assessors for each entry, so how does the assessor for #1 know that I put it in #4? I know this must sound so simple to those of you who went through this, but, I can't find the right map in my head to go with this.
shar - I do two way w/ parents each week. I am very strong in parent & family participation all year. I feel very good about that one.
jilly - In my verrrryyyy humble opinion, remember that you are trying to show that you can diagnose and implement a program that shows growth in your literacy students. Is the newsletter important to that? Or is it more important that you let the communication assessors know that you are providing this very important communication link to parents.
shar - jilly, you must feel so proud right now. I am smiling for you! It is incredible that you came right back to this room to help. Thank you. Entry #4: I have several letters from students an parents thanking me for stuff. Some of them refer to making their students learn more to be part of something I started during the year...is this what I should use?
jilly - Any letters from parents are very important. Just remember to state in you write-up, the significance and impact it had on student learning.
jilly - I must admit that I am proud. I came back to help, though, because I don't think I would have done nearly as well without people on this ring.
shar - the newsletter provides 2-way w/parents for participation, local student news, combines parent vol. in room & parent investment in classroom, asks what I can do to help, etc.
jilly - Sounds perfect!
jilly - Shar, don't get discouraged, either. There were many times that I thought I should give up and wait until I was in a self-contained classroom, but it really can be done. I also didn't want to give up my reading job because I really felt that it was there that I was helping my school the most.
shar - This whole thing scares me. I know I am making an impact on the studetns I serve...school wide impact. These students will succeed. I know without a classroom I feel foggy about rules and community. But, going into 7 rooms each day elevates the learning going on in the room for everyone there. I do not want to go back in the room; too much to loose. This NB Cert. helped me to see that. You are sincere and encouraging. Thank you.
shar - When you enclosed your student writing, did you refer to specific tests to eval their levels, or did you synthsize your knowledge to expalon where they wwere and where you thought they should grow.
kami - how can i get started in home schooling?does anyone know?
shar - jilly; there is no spell ckeck on this, sorry for the misspells.
jilly - I refered briefly to specific tests, but spent more time synthesizing my knowledge and explaining what I was going to do, and why I was going to do it. Remember that the assessors aren't really looking as much as what you use to gather information as they are looking at what you do with the information once you have it.
jilly - I think that they especially don't want to hear a long drawn out explanation of a particular assessment if it is mandated by the state or even your districe.
jilly - district (speaking of misspells) ha
shar - jilly, how long is this chat room openThat I can do! I am afraid if I ramble about their levels and how I can provide an assortment of activites that will lead them to growth; it will sound funny. I have a fear that I have to 'prove' that I am using the correct evals and tests to recognize where my students are and where their potential is for growth. Do I stay in the personal abstract of this or do I go into scientific qualifiers to bckup what I am saying?
shar - jilly-too may spelling errors on my part-please ignore.
shar - Since I am not a classrrom tchr, I do not use local school assessments. But, I do informal evals on my groups to see if there is growth in analyzing, synth., comprehen.
jilly - I began with scientific qualifiers, but quickly put everything into perspective regarding my particular student. I wouldn't write about different activities that you could do, I would write about activities that you did do, and why you chose those particular activities.
jilly - Then, if the activities are successful you can provide evidence of that. If they were not, you can tell about that and what you did instead.
jilly - The informal evals I believe will carry more weight with assessors.
shar - What do you mean scientific qualifiers?Do I explain how and why these specific students are in my reading groups?
jilly - Don't be afraid to include information about things that did not work. Just be sure you write how you changed things that did not work.
jilly - By scientific qualifiers, I meant the technical information about the assessment. I did not spend more that one paragraph on that type of information, though.
jilly - Shar, did you know that there will be a chat in this room at 4:00 today for all EC-Gen candidates? You will meet some very knowledgable people there.
shar - Thank you for that valuable info. I want to thank you for all your help. I appreciate your empathy knowing what it is like w/o a classroom of your own to do the NB. You are knowledgable, very bright! Thanks so muc. I must go and get back to the family for now. I will look for the name jilly and hopefully see it again. What state do you work in?
jilly - I must go. Laundry is calling. I hope to catch up with you later. Good luck. You are sooooo on the right track already! I work in Florida.
jilly - And you?
shar - I am in GA. fo to Fl. all the time. go to Pompono Beach, Orlando, and Key West often
shar - Now I know I must go...can't spell anything.
jilly - Bye!
