Assessment Center

After mulling through the thousands of emails I seem to get every day, I noticed that I had scheduled my assessment center on the day that happens to be Field Day. With any other group, I would have left it. With this one?  Nope. So I went to the site and looked to see what else is free....not willing to make it on a day when I would miss a prep period.

So Monday, May 14 it is. Kind of scary because it's coming up FAST. But...the last chat for the EMC Literacy group is May 13. Plus a few of us have been doing our own chats. The one I am most worried about is the emergent literacy since I have never taught K-1 and never plan to either. Fortunately one of my new pals in my certificate area IS a K-1 teacher and is steering me in the right direction on that one. So hopefully, I will be okay.

I'm not too worried about the change of day. It's a Monday rather than a Wednesday but I won't miss any specials, my kids aren't taking any tests, etc. If I really kick myself in the behind in the next couple of weeks, I will be okay. I really am not too worried. I have kicked some ass (if I do say so myself) in my practice work for the AC so I'm feeling MUCH better than I was at the onset of this part of the process.

In truth, I will be beyond happy to get that assessment over with and get on with the rest of my life. I have learned a TON in this process and I am so glad I have done it...but I also am looking forward to relaxing. Thinking about closing out the year, looking ahead to next year and NOT thinking about the test or practicing for the test. I will hang on until the end of May to help my fellow candidates but once May is over...I'm SO done until November when I get to panic about score release!

Support

I've made it no secret that when I make National Board certified status, I will be the only one in my district. Therefore I have no mentor or coaches or support groups.

I have my yahoo group and ecgen.org and that's it.

I am finding that I am good at thinking through the prompts and applying them to the stimulus. The issue will be when you only have 30 minutes to read and respond. The prompt doesn't change, just the stimulus, but that means you need to know 6 prompts like the back of your hand going in. No easy task.

I missed the first yahoo chat for exercise one but made it for exercise two. A fellow lit candidate wanted some practice with exercise 5 so we met tonight and it was just us but we got it done. Great thinking and we started sharing a brain after a bit. Good problem to have! We encouraged each other to back it up and find proof.

If we're honest I'm enough of a bossy pants that I kind of like leading the chat...pushing the thinking of myself and others. It's also helpful. Now the trick will be to be able to do all of the steps of the prompt in under 30 minutes!

First Chat!

I attended my first Yahoo! Chat today. I missed last week's because it was Monday night and I had too much to do that first day back.

I'm glad I made this one. It was for Exercise 2. I feel SUPER good about this exercise since I am an ELL teacher. Lots of folks were impressed with my responses. Yay me! Hopefully that serves me well in the actual AC! I am going to keep practicing so I get the time frame underway -- that will be the hardest part: answering everything in only 30 minutes AND backing it up.

The moderator of the Yahoo group said it was awesome that I used words from the stimulus and I said "isn't that what we're supposed to do?!" and he said "only if you want to pass" :)

I ALWAYS tell my students to show proof. It's how you prove you know what you're talking about. I can't wait to tell them that it's true even when you are my age!!!

AC Exercises 1 & 2

Despite my grand plan to work on Exercise 1 for the AC test this week, with going back to work and everything that goes along with being a mom of 3 and a wife, it never happened. I at least got some prep materials printed out but that was it. Oops.

So this weekend I am focusing on Exercise 1 and then hopefully this week I can work on Exercise 2. 

Exercise 1 focuses on Reading Comprehension. Since the Literacy certificate spans early and middle childhood children from age 3 to 12, the questions can (and should) cover a huge range of possibilities in terms of the age and grade level. Exercise 1 presents a scenario and teacher-student dialogue. The level 4 rubric consists of 4 questions:

1. Provide one STRENGTH and one WEAKNESS in the student's comprehension (based on the sample answers provided in the dialogue)

2. Cite specific examples from the student's response in support of the STRENGTH and WEAKNESS

3. Provide one developmentally appropriate teaching strategy to support the student's comprehension (based upon your response in steps 1-2)

4. Rationalize your teaching strategy with research or theory

Personally I think the last one will be the hardest because I do not have tons of research/theory memorized. However, if you assume that each of those questions is worth a point, as long as you do well on questions 1-3, you would earn a passing score on this exercise. 

I am practicing with several sample prompts that I found on the Yahoo! group for the Early/Middle Childhood Literacy certificate. Additionally, a fabulous NBCT Patrick has a site where you can practice the prompts as well. I especially love that he has a blank template so you can practice more than one prompt if it is available. BONUS. And it includes a timer -- essential for helping ensure that you can fully answer the entire prompt in the 30 minutes you get.

Exercise 2 focuses on Oral Language Acquisition Skills for Learners of English as a New Language. Considering that my master's degree is in ESL, I am the least worried about this one. I will still review the documents available of course and practice answering some prompts but I feel good about my knowledge of ESL so hopefully that will serve me well. In this exercise, you read a transcript an then provide evidence of the following:

1. An accurate identification of one STRENGTH and two WEAKNESSES in the student's oral language development

2. tightly connect examples of the strength and weaknesses from the transcript

3. Provide an in-depth description of two developmentally appropriate teaching strategies, other than teacher correction, connected to the identified strength or weakness in the language development

4. Provide an appropriate rationale for the strategies selected.

I will probably practice both of them throughout this week as I can since I am a little behind in the schedule I set for myself. However, I did provide myself a week of cushion so I will be alright. I'm more nervous about finding the time to practice since this is always a crazy-busy time of year at school as we wind things up and prep the students for the next grade.

It's AC chat time!

It's hard to believe that three weeks ago, I mailed my portfolio to San Antonio! Time flies and all of that.

Now that April has hit and Spring Break is over (excuse me while I shed a few tears here), it's time to turn my focus to the assessment center preparation. There are a lot of great resources out there with samples to help you practice. I feel fortunate that I have that help.

My test date is May 30. That's just over seven weeks away. I will focus on ONE exercise per week for the next six weeks. Learning each rubric. Focusing on the specific content and standards presented in each exercise. Until I can breathe the language of the exercise and answer a sample prompt practically in my sleep.

The last week before my test, I will practice doing more than one exercise at a time with the 30 minute limit per exercise. Of course I can't spend 3 hours per night practicing for the whole thing, but doing two per days in an hour is feasible. I don't know if it is the smartest way to prep but it's what I am going to do.

Stay tuned for updates on the second leg of this journey.