Roll With It

On Tuesday I went to Marshalltown to meet with 19 student teachers that have been selected to serve as an experimental group from UNI for the teacher performance assessment from TPAC (Teacher Performance Assessment Consortium). My theme for the night was "Roll With It". This is the first opportunity for UNI to use this evaluation document and I ended up referring to it as TWS on steroids. TWS (Teacher Work Sample) is the expected end product of all other current UNI student teachers. The "steroids" is a reference to two distinct differences that the TPA offers from the TWS: inclusion of academic language and documentation of performance through video.

I began the evening with small groups given a challenge. They were a task force created to determine what aspects would be seen in a classroom where effective teaching was witnessed. We then compared their lists to the key components of the TWS and the TPA. We noted all the similarities.

Then I emphasized the experimental nature of their opportunity to participate. Although I did this with a Far Side cartoon by Gary Larson, I did so in jest. This cartoon shows the experiment of early transportation where two people were tied by rope to a stone wheel on the top of the hill. We are going to "roll with it" although not blindly and not on top of a stone wheel rolling without concern for the passengers.

We ended the evening by viewing the subject specific handbooks and rubrics and answering questions. Keep these young pioneers in mind as they endeavor into the world of teaching entering in with the current national context of assessing performance with enhanced technology tools.

I took the opportunity to present to create my "first ever" Prezi. Although rough around the edges, I enjoyed the opportunity to create and play while bringing my thoughts together. http://prezi.com/gwk9vzvy8vek/teacher-performance-assessment/