Teacher Education UNIT Professional Development Session
11/26/2012
Comments:
Please share something from the session that helped you understand the
importance of the topic to the preparation of future teachers:
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As our interns prepare lessons they need to plan using the common core and plan with rigor
for all students, embed accommodations for all students and prepare their learners to
demonstrate their new knowledge in writing.
Clearly, the PARCC Assessments will have a huge impact on teaching and learning for
students, teachers, and for those who prepare future teachers. Like the CCSS. This is a topic
where he needs to be ahead of the learning curve. Ms. Slover and Ms. Hain did an
exceptional job doing that for us!
More on the role of social science with the math and english pieces shown
Outline of the assessment framework; rationale of item design
It was great to see the history of the development of the plan.
A change in the material I will present to my student interns. All will need a solid foundation
in understanding the Common Core: why the change, how it will affect their teaching, and
the assessment of the standards.
Assessment item specifics and how it all pertains to early childhood
The accommodations of the new assessment process.
Info about this process and the educators involved is useful info to know.
Understanding the structure and planning that has gone into Common Core helps me see
the benefit to students and teachers.
The information on how the tests will be different from existing tests.
Further clarification on how students with special needs will be incorporated into process-such as the location of the list of accommodations available
This is a loaded question. Plus, many of the questions above are double-barreled. The
survey is rather poorly designed. Nevertheless, I understand from the session that these are
mandates, nothing more, and that's not an appropriate way to improve the lives of children.
This topic is important to the preparation of future teachers insofar as it takes all of the
major decisions out of the hands of folks that have actually stood before classrooms of
children. I'd challenge anyone in the room without K-12 teaching experience to explain to
me how these mandates support public schools. They can't, because they don't.
The Q&A time was helpful.
i found the session to be too long and almost demeaning to me as a professionalStudent choice/modifications
Power Points were explained in detail.
Description of how the test questions are being developed
It is beneficial to be informed of the anticipated reforms in assessing student learning and
advise students of the implications for instruction. I truly appreciate the opportunities the
COE has provided in professional development on such important topics as CCSS and PARCC.
Our students are able to know and learn about the most recent reforms in education due to
the information I have been given.
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Teacher Education UNIT Professional Development Session
11/26/2012
Comments:
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Much of the first presenter was a repeat of previous sessions.
I understand the shifts in thinking necessary for mathematics and literacy, but I would like
to get something more specific and practical out of these meetings so that I can use a
strategy or the information as soon as possible with my interns. They are headed out into
the CC teaching world, and I feel that I am not able to help them with specifics.
Development of assessments; embedded supports
I honestly wish I could find a positive, but these COE-planned meetings still follow the same
pattern of having people come in to facilitate a pretty canned presentation that's not at all
tailored to our needs, questions, voice, or concern. I know that the planning committee
collected questions form us well ahead of time and yet it seems these were pretty much
ignore for still another, generic 'any questions' part that just rambled and offered no new
news. I have to think people leave these more frustrated and insulted each time... please
stop having people talk at us with this, pretending we all should feel we had a voice or were
genuinely represented in these changes... that all the get-on-board with the 'exciting and
improved' standards or that this focus STILL on standardized test should somehow inspire
us as teacher-educators. It's incredibly frustrating and beyond insulting at this point.
Future assessments will focus on process (student discovery) and not just 'spitting' back
content information. So classroom instruction will need to be organized to enable students
to be more self-directed learners with less focus on the 'talking head' in the front of the
classroom.
Higher is at the table. The next step should be to interface with MSDE, K-12 staff and higher
education to discuss implementation at all levels.
The specificity provided about the overall format of assessment (optional K-2 Diagnostic
Tools, Mid-Year Assessment, Performance-Based, etc.) was incredibly helpful. I believe that
this type of information was much more beneficial than to spend time reviewing actual
items from the assessment. It seems important for us to be able to give our students an
overview of what will be involved in the new assessment approach.
The accommodations that are being discussed and built into the assessment for individuals
with exceptionalities
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Teacher Education UNIT Professional Development Session
11/26/2012
Comments:
What changes could be made to ensure that these meetings provide you the
information that you would need to include these important topics in your
instruction for future teachers?
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This meeting was run very well, I was impressed with the opportunities to take questions in
an open forum an a bit embarrassed by the decorum of some of our co-workers. Thanks for
keeping us up to speed on very important topics.
All of the meetings so far have been practical, informative and exceptionally well organized.
Last Monday's meeting was the same and then some. While I feel that it is important to
look at new initiatives with a critical eye and an open mind, I also sense that a few of my
colleagues in the COE are resistant to change and that they do not believe that teachers
should be held accountable for student growth and achievement. Additionally, has the
planning committee considered having a presentation on the new Teacher Evaluation
system? Billy Burke from BCPS does a wonderful and thought provoking presentation on
this topic that might benefit everyone as an example of what one LEA is doing.
Interaction
Smaller groups to encourage more involvement from the audience
We need much less history of CCSS and PARCC and more time to TALK TO EACH OTHER
(especially with department members). There has been almost nothing interactive in these
meetings, which is increasingly frustrating to faculty who want to talk and analyze so that
we better prepare our students. It seems a lot of speakers are coming to us with incomplete
information about implementation, which is crucial to instruction for future teachers. Also,
the assigned seating seems perhaps 'small' to this committee, but it is insulting to be told
where we have to sit. Some perceive this as just a means to keep some faculty apart,
especially as the sessions do not require us to speak with tablemates.
More speaker time; less group work
It is wonderful that COE provided the electronic resources used in presentations. Now
having a jump drive (provided by COE) is even better to 'house' all materials. However,
when these resources are forwarded through email (PowerPoint in particular), email
account become overloaded. Can we have a specific location (like the 'O' drive or a wiki)
where all information can be stored? This would allow anyone to access the material at will,
would be organized, and the opportunity for adding resources would be limitless. If there is
already such a creature, then more needs to be done to publicize that location.
I continue to be embarrassed with the conduct of some of the COE staff during Q&A
sessions. It always appears to be a 'gotcha' moment vs. trying to dialogue about the
bettering of our program for our students. I feel it is driven by their need for attention.
Please find ways to make these sessions more interactive.
Not sure.
Handouts. Have questions presented on note cards at end of presentation for presenters to
group and review.
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Teacher Education UNIT Professional Development Session
11/26/2012
Comments:
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If content areas are required or recommended to attend, please be sure the content is
relevant to these areas.
There were two items that really insulted me. First, that the speakers would have the
temerity to explain some very basic concepts to a room full of educators. Many have PhDs,
with many years of classroom experience. Thus, spare us the lecture about convergent and
divergent tasks, please. Second, I am sure that everyone in that room was busy, had
numerous other things to do than be talked to for three hours. And I can guarantee that the
room was busier and had more important things to do than the speakers, who go from
place to place giving the same canned PowerPoint presentation. I am constantly surprised
and insulted by this conversation. Let us cast aside the CCSS and PARCC altogether for a
moment. The format, tone, and attitude of these meetings are unbelievable. Is this an IHE
or a school district central office? It's hard to tell the difference nowadays. Adhering to
mandates is simply a failure of leadership to resist bad policy. The implementation of the
CCSS and the PARCC is really bad policy, bar none. And the way it is explained to
professionally trained educators with years of experience in actual classrooms is a perverse
and unforgivable offense.
please stop inviting outsiders in to train us how to do our job
We just need more time to digest what this means in our department. Outside experts
aren't really that helpful. We have experts here in our own college, but we don't have time
to sit down and think about what CC really means for our courses. We need time for
analysis and thoughtful reflection, not 'experts' telling us things. We can find most of the
information on the organizations' websites. Please give this COE meeting time to our
departments so we can look at our own syllabi and figure out how to integrate CC in a
meaningful way.
A future presentation to follow-up with developing changes
Some interactive work.
There needs to be opportunities for participants to interact. Also, this session was way too
long listening and not participating. Also, there is never really application to teacher
education.
Thank you for the table seating, however please allow us to sit where we want to sit. Also,
thank you for the excellent appetizers. Re. The content -- it is starting to be a bit repetitive.
We are ready for deeper discussions beyond hearing yet again about the shifts.
A copy of the PowerPoint presentation would help refresh my memories of the large
quantity of information the presenters shared.
Unsure
Please consult the faculty for input on the topics and presenters at faculty meetings.
More practical examples, what teachers are doing now to change what their instruction
looks like or should change to, how to make this feel manageable instead of the global
picture of the new testing; lesson examples, unit examples, etc.
Keep up the great work!
Our dept-oriented meetings on these topics are far more productive; I honestly don't know
who thinks bringing in these people is helping any of us. We're a college of education, and
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Teacher Education UNIT Professional Development Session
11/26/2012
Comments:
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yet these sessions model such poor pedagogy (large, cold/canned lectures that don't build
upon one another, pock-a-dotted with poorly planned break-out sessions, where groups are
not arranged purposefully and where no one can HEAR one another, much less feel as
though they are heard by others. Please stop wasting our time with these meetings (and
adding insult to injury, making a show of how busy the presenters are, when so many of us
are feeling overwhelmed with TU work already, yet our 3 hours are just taken for granted!?)
if they're going to only continue to be such failures.
Include a presentation from a local school system, or a principal 'in the trenches', on what
they are doing to help teachers prepare for the shift in teaching approaches to implement
Common Core and prepare for the PARCC assessments.
A panel of higher education faculty and K-12 faculty who are implementing change
strategies in the area of CCS. Submit questions before session and then allow more time for
Q & A during the session to answer all questions.
I don't believe any changes would be needed, however based on my area of teaching it
would be important for me to learn more about the built-in supports that may be used to
support students who require accommodations. I hope this can be a topic of future
professional development.
Outside speakers need to know who the COE audience is in order to present information
that will be relevant and applicable to our instruction for future teachers.
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