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Assessment Practices

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Assessment is one of the more fascinating aspects of our profession. It is amazing how many various assessment strategies exist, and how it substantially changes from classroom to classroom. At first, this has the perception of being a good thing, and I believe it can be, however, upon further investigation, we often find that there are some assessment practices that are great, and others that are poor. Obviously, assessment practices embedded and implemented through research based strategies are more effective, so naturally this is the road I find myself on, however it is ever changing. In my first year of teaching I simply followed the assessments of my subject partner. Fortunately for me, he was an exceptional data-informed instructor and loved to dig into data collected from assessment, which I believe is the root of all good assessment. What we do with the assessment data truly define many aspects of us in our teaching. I have the philosophy I always share with my students and the...
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Instructional Practices

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     My instructional practices and philosophy is consistently adapting and changing as I continue to navigate through my experiences, research and reflect upon my lessons and success criteria. To put things in perspective, I have only been a certified teacher in my own classroom for one full calendar year, which was my first year! Since then, my second year was interrupted by a pandemic, and as I continue in my third year, it has been just as impacted, with limitations on ways in which I typically instruct. Above all else, I find the most success in my life when I am connected to people, this includes my classroom. I always begin with creating a safe, collaborative, fun, reflective environment where, by not focusing on the grades, but rather the process, we make enormous strides and find success. I stress that we should not take ourselves too seriously, and look forward to feedback and reflect in difficult situations. I inject humour into my lessons constantly, and model...
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Curriculum and Planning

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    Curricular planning has been a substantial piece of my educational journey that has truly engaged me. Personally, I find the challenge of digging through curricular objectives to create engaging lessons that bring attitudes, skills and knowledge to life, quite fun. I understand that I think quite analytically, therefore, analyzing verbs associated with each outcome suits this style of processing and plan building. I have found that starting my career in Grade 6 has pushed me to become well versed in the area of curriculum knowledge and understanding the rigorous assessment that can/should follow (Provincial Achievement Test (P.A.T.). In my first year, due to the fear of not covering a concept or goal that could appear on the P.A.T., I was driven to ask questions, be inquisitive and probe others as to why they teach, instruct and plan they way they do. I believe this aided in not only myself becoming more educated and competent, but also encouraged others to refle...
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