Evaluation

There are two types of evaluation in the school setting. The more informal is formative, which are curriculum “walk-throughs” (form attached) and casual classroom visits. The more formal evaluation, summative, is the only thing that is placed in your official file. I have also attached the guidelines for this process. You will each have one evaluator who is responsible for submitting your evaluation to the Board of Education. Additionally, if you are a first-year teacher, you will go through the Teacher Residency Program. Your evaluator, a mentor teacher, and a university representative will all observe you. This observation is for recommendation for you to receive your certification and is not linked to your formal school evaluation. The link for this form is http://www.sde.state.ok.us/Teacher/ResidentTeach/pdf/observations.pdf
Please don’t sweat your evaluation. We do not want to see a dog and pony show and do not expect you to be super teacher your first year. I will give you plenty of head’s up if I am concerned with your teaching before it is formalized in an evaluation.

Teaming

Each rotation has a team of teachers that cover the core academic areas. 6th & 7th graders have two sections of language arts and 8th graders have two sections of math to prepare them for algebra (there is a really high correlation between failing algebra and dropping out). Each team member has an individual planning period and a team planning period. Grade levels dedicate one of the 5 weekly team planning periods for a grade level meeting which would include both teams of teachers. Grade levels typically plan common field trips, assemblies, etc. Additionally, each “pair” of subject area teachers on a grade level (i.e. both 7th grade math teachers) meet weekly for a “Target Team” meeting to discuss what worked and didn’t work (and why) and what lessons they are going to teach the upcoming week. While many of the team meetings shift towards managerial topics, the real push should be to develop cross-curricular connections which increase a student’s propensity to store information in their long-term memory.

Master Schedule

Please note a few things about the master schedule.
Groups of kids are identified by their grade and level, i.e. 7E. Notice how the groups of kids follow a pattern which is what we call a rotation. When you are on plan, your kids are in electives. All grade levels have "grade pure" electives and lunch periods.