Read this: Practical ideas to implement and demonstrate the 10 Standards

Notebooks are worthwhile to organize your documentation (I've posted about that previously).  We have a school-wide Resource Notebook (communication, meetings, etc.), Curriculum Notebook (lesson plans, assessments, etc.), and a Professional Development folder (that now gives me a total of 4 notebooks and 1 folder).  But, as a reminder, you can't document your way to a 4 rating.  We use e-mail, web sites, and Remind among other means to aid in communicating with parents.  The detailed ideas listed below for the Standards are slightly edited from a colleague of mine (she gave me permission).  Read it slowly, apply it lavishly.  You should revise your lesson plan to include all of the elements listed under Standard 2 below.  Hope this information helps.  

Standard 1: Professional Knowledge

This standard focuses on your content knowledge, pedagogical skills and the extent to which you facilitate relevant learning experiences. Professional Knowledge can be gleaned from your lesson plans, but is primarily observable through instruction.

Standard 2: Instructional Planning

This standard is all about INTENTIONAL planning. The emphasis is on planning standards-based lessons, incorporating strategies to engage students and using data to address students’ differentiated learning needs.

You should have your curriculum resource notebook available for your evaluator to see your plans and student data.  Current (as well as previous lesson plans) should be in your curriculum resource notebook.

Lesson Plans should include:

• Standard(s)/Topic(s) and Essential Question(s)
• Vocabulary
• Opening, work session, and closing.
• Instructional strategies to engage students in active learning
• Reference what data is being used and how it is being used to address students’ differentiated learning needs.
• Plans to differentiate instruction and/or assessment based on students’ needs.
• Assessment strategies (informal, formative, summative)
• Consider how you are planning for higher order questions as well – these have to be intentionally planned. It helps to be specific because that is when they are used the most and relevant to the instruction.

Standard 3: Instructional Strategies

Student engagement & active learning are the keys to this standard and should be observable during the observation. Also, lesson plans should indicate that you are using a variety of instructional strategies to engage students and facilitate active learning.

Standard 4:  Differentiated Instruction

This standard focuses on the extent to which you incorporate remediation and acceleration (based on data) to address students' learning needs and readiness. Your lesson plans should include how you are differentiating as well as the data used and how it was used to differentiate. Remember: Differentiation can be by content, process, product, or learning environment. 

Standard 5: Assessment Strategies

This standard focuses on the extent to which you are assessing students -- diagnostic, informal, formal, formative, summative and whether the assessments are appropriate for the content and student population. During the observation, ongoing informal assessment is observable through questioning and other means through which you determine if students are understanding the material. Your assessment strategies should also be listed in your lesson plans.

Standard 6: Assessment Uses

This area supports differentiated instructional practices and specifically, how you are using assessment data to meet students' learning needs. The Evaluator will look at how you gather, analyze, and use data to inform instructional decisions. This standard also incorporates providing timely and constructive feedback to parents and students.

Standard 7: Positive Learning Environment

The keys to Standard 7 are rituals, routines, and procedures, which are the foundation of a well-managed, safe and orderly learning environment. In addition to rituals and routines, this standard is observable through positive interactions and mutual respect between teacher(s) and students as well as among students.

  

Standard 8: Academically Challenging Environment

This standard looks at the extent to which the learning environment is student centered, students are being challenged (for their level of readiness) and are self-directed, productive learners, all of which are observed during the observation.

Standard 9: Professionalism

This standard focuses on the extent to which you are following established local, state, and federal practices, participating in professional learning, working well with your colleagues, meeting deadlines and generally performing your duties as expected. This standard is observable through your participation in professional learning, collaborative planning, and activities beyond the classroom. Good sources of documentation would be to make sure the collaboration and meeting forms are being completed and placed in your resource binder and that you are participating in professional growth opportunities to support student learning.

Standard 10: Communication

The standard focuses on how you communicate with parents, students, colleagues and other stakeholders to support student learning.  Information to parents should go out once a week and email should be checked daily. All other communication like phone calls should be organized in your communication binder. Communication is observable through the documentation in addition to ongoing observation of  your fact-to-face interactions with students, parents and colleagues, etc.

Steps to prepare for your observation

As I become more aware of my responsibilities for the TKES evaluation, I am trying to become more efficient (to reduce my stress!).  For my next evaluation, I followed this process:

1. I decided to make my lesson plans according to the TKES Lesson Plan design I created last year (see sample here) and make sure all drop down fields were accurate and up to date.
2. I typed up what will go on the SmartBoard for the students to know what we are doing in class that day.  I copied and pasted the student version to a new page in the same word processing document.
3. I slowly read through all 72 TAPS elements, and  as I saw an Element that may apply to my lesson that day, I inserted the outline number of the Element (say, 2.6 or 4.5) into the SmartBoard outline that I will give to the Evaluator.  
4. After reading all Elements, I have two documents that I  give to the Evaluator: a formal TKES lesson plan, and a student version of the lesson with the Elements identified.
5. I still have my TAPS notebooks with evidence in the cabinet as well as just the outlines of my evidence in my lesson plan notebook in case the Evaluator wants to see them.

What I noticed is that even some of my reminders to the students about upcoming activities or after school events can be tagged with an Element.  An after school practice, rehearsal, or event can count as 4.2, 4.3, &/or 4.6.  Reminding them about upcoming tests or units could count as 2.6, 3.2, &/or 4.6.

Sample portion of student version of lesson given to Evaluator

Give yourself a grade (1-5) on your progress today! [6.7] 6th grade: Brass: Lip Slurs [1.4, 1.6, 3.2, 4.1, 4.5, 4.6, 5.3, 6.1, 6.3, 6.6, 8.3, 8.5, 8.7]; Bells: Octave/Chromatic [1.4, 1.6, 3.2, 4.1, 4.6, 6.1, 6.3, 6.6, 8.3, 8.5, 8.7]; Flutes: Aperture control [1.4, 1.6, 3.2, 4.1, 4.5, 8.3, 8.5, 8.7]; Clarinets and Saxophones: register slurs to determine embouchure, tongue placement, amount of mouthpiece, reed quality, air stream, hand position [MMSBB.2.b, MMSBB.3.a] [1.2, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 3.2, 4.1, 4.5, 4.6, 6.1, 6.3, 6.6, 8.3, 8.5, 8.7]

These steps are also outlined in "How to pass all 10 TAPS in one lesson" and "District Walkthrough"  here.

Read This: Your TAPS Evaluation Score is up to You--Not Your Evaluator!

It is becoming apparent that my early predictions a year ago of defending your job by collecting, organizing, and updating evidence in notebooks (called paranoid back then) is becoming reality and possibly a necessity.

Your Evaluator may only look for as much evidence as they want to, take time to, or have time to - and then give you a score.  The score may not be a huge concern to them (even if it is a 2 or 1) because the score is not directly related to their certificate.  The teacher's evaluation score is up to the teacher, not the Evaluator.  Let me explain.

At the mid-year evaluation a friend of mine received a 2 on TAPS #6.  The Evaluator looked at two students' grades in the electronic grade book and out of 9 summative grades, those two students had either turned in none or one.  The Evaluator concluded that the teacher was not assessing well and summarily gave the teacher a 2.

The REAL story is that our of 30 or so students in the class, the Evaluator picked the two students who are ill-behaved, in ISS (in school suspension), frequently absent, and/or are two of the most troubled students in the school.  The Evaluator did not look at the entire class' grades, average, or completion status (which s/he was able to do), only the two "problem children."  Now, to me, that is either trying to be a "gotcha," a vendetta of some sort, ill-trained, or incompetence on the part of the Evaluator.  As people say, "That ain't right."  The TKES/TAPS process has been presented as a "totality of the evidence," but the evidence has to be reviewed first.

As a result, the teacher, in his/her defense (and anxiety) had to spend quite some time point out to the Evaluator other students in the same class.  The project turn-in rate and grades were quite high in fact.  Seeing the data, the Evaluator changed the 2 to a 3.

If you have ever been in a position where you had to regularly defend your job, you know the stress it creates, the morale it devastates, and the decrease in your effectiveness.  It creates a terrible work environment - especially mentally.  That teacher looked defeated.

However, in my mid-year conference, my Evaluator indicated that s/he had reviewed some of the evidence I had uploaded into The Platform (I think I have scanned and uploaded about 300 items).  That sounded good to my ears.  To me, that is an indication that s/he is trying to review the totality of the evidence, is doing his/her due diligence, and if there is a question, we can refer to it during the conference in The Platform.

I urge the effective teachers of this state to collect past and present evidence for the TAPS elements, organize it in some fashion that can be easily accessed, and take the evidence to meetings.  If you need suggestions on how to collect evidence, organize it, present it in notebooks, or uploading it into The Platform online, please see earlier blog posts of mine--also review my blog "How to pass all 10 TAPS in one lesson."  If you are going to the GMEA convention in January, stop by the poster presentation session or the Friday evening concert and let's talk.  We'll talk TKES.

Zero TKES/TAPS Stress Now...

I must say, that after realizing how I could document and pass all 10 standards on a day where I was not even teaching has been very liberating.  I am not going to upload any more documents into The Platform.  I am not going to save copies of any more grade reports or data samples.  I am not going to update my notebooks.  I am not going to worry about any more evidence.

If you have not seen the blog post, handbook, or PowerPoint on what I did, I recommend you take a few minutes to view it--it will save you time.

I incorporated the lesson plan from my doctoral study (Doctoral Study Lesson Plan) with the TAPS Standards and Elements and made notations in my lesson for the Evaluator on how I was meeting each Standard that day.  I think it is comprehensive and convincing.  A friend of mine, who hopes to be a principal soon, said that s/he would use it to help prepare his/her teachers for TKES.

The handbook and PowerPoint can both be found on my website on this page: GC-District Walkthrough-PPT.  I prefer the PowerPoint for viewing...

Respectfully,
Glenn

2s, 2s, 2s....

Please pardon the informality, but in my neck of the woods, they are passing out 2s like candy at Halloween.  I am under the impression that I am to be observed again soon, this time with the emphasis on Section 10: Communication.  I looked through my book to see what I had, when it was used, and the current relevance of my material.  I decided to keep what I had, but  update several areas.  I now have 51 pieces of evidence for Standard 10.  The type of evidence varies based on the Element.

I believe that there are administrators who are judging the teachers without ever asking for, or searching for, evidence; it appears some administrators are going to only judge what they see in the classroom.  I decided to update the material for Section 10 this week, update my table of contents, print out the new TOC, add it to the notebook, and upload it into the TLE Platform.  In addition, I e-mailed my evaluator to let him/her know that I had new evidence located in my notebook and s/he could review the summarized TOC when they came in.  I received a reply of, "Thank you."

It is my understanding that some evaluators will never ask for evidence and never look into the Documentation section of the TLE Platform.  This willful omission and oversight could cause a problem for teachers.

I believe that many of the teachers who received 2s probably did not have evidence/documentation ready or nearby or did not notify their administrator, but I do not know that for a fact.  Perhaps teachers are taking this lightly and thinking that they are "highly qualified" and will do just fine.  It is my recommendation that you keep your evidence current, applicable, and uploaded into The Platform.  If nothing else, it will serve as dated and timed evidence if you ever have to rebut a low score.

In my current estimation (and the way I feel), it is not about highly qualified or even highly effective anymore; it's about highly documented.

Effectively Organizing the TLE Platform

I am very good at doing things twice: first the cumbersome way and then a better way; I've discovered that long-term "learning style" again through uploading documents into The Platform.  My initial uploads seemed precise to me, and then after reviewing them, they were overly complicated and unclear (and probably would irritate the Evaluator).  I offer this procedure:

1.  When you upload a document, you have to specify which Performance Standard with which it will be associated before you are allowed to upload the document.  In the description section on the left, I put the section and element number and the descriptor, "Section 2.3: Plans instruction effectively for content mastery, pacing, and transitions."  Under that, I put the exact titles from my table of contents from my notebook (copy and paste).  It looks like this:

Section 2.3: Plans instruction effectively for content mastery, pacing, and transitions.

Lesson Plans (dated 8/30/13) showing sequential process for section assessment

Lesson Plans (dated 9/9/13) showing integration of curriculum to long-term goals

Example of all Essential Questions for the year for each lesson with mastery items underlined

Essay: §3.4.2 Understanding the Content and Mastering the Skills Through Research-Based Instructional Strategies

Then, click the check box for Standard 2 from the right side of the window, and then click, "Done."  This will create a section on the right that has a tab, "Attach File."  Like other "attach" tabs, it will open a "choose file" where you can select the document, then click, "OK" and it uploads.  You can upload electronic documents from your computer or scanned files.  Use electronic documents if you have them.  I had many samples of handouts I created for class as well as TKES essays - that had identifying titles - and loaded those into The Platform.  The titles of the documents load into The Platform.  

This is where it gets a little odd: I have scanned many documents (300+) into my computer to upload into The Platform.  Each scan automatically gave it a scan number (Scan0235).  I did not rename each file - that would take too long.  To help organize The Platform, I attached the scanned documents in scanned order with the associated Element descriptor in order of the scanned documents.  Meaning: if the Evaluator wanted to see the, "Example of all Essential Questions for the year for each lesson with mastery items underlined," s/he would look at the third scanned document under Section 2.3.

I have documents in my computer in folders such as, "Teaching Techniques," "Handouts," "GC-Publications," and "GC-TKES."

2.  What do you do with all of those scanned documents?  I occurred to me that I file them somewhere for safe keeping.  So, I created a folder, "GC-TKES/TLE Upload Documents/TO DO."  These files were scanned in order from my notebook, so as I use my table of contents from my Word document, I can put them in the right section of The Platform.  I did not scan all of my documents; only the clear, precise ones that showed excellent evidence.

3.  What do you do with the scanned files after you upload them?  They are still located in your, "TO DO" subfolder.  I decided to create a subfolder entitled: "GC-TKES/TLE Upload Documents/Section 1" then one labeled, "Section 2," etc.  That way, if I need to go back and double check a scan/file, I can find it easily.  I know now which scans have been uploaded into what section and what scans I still have to upload.  It looks like this:

GC-TKES

TLE Upload Documents

Section 1

Section 2

etc...

TO DO

Table of Contents

You may recall that I decided to enter my entire table of contents (TOC) into each Standard to show the totality of my evidence.  (You would be correct in inferring that I have a, "preponderance of the evidence" philosophy with this new system.)  I will reload the TOC as my evidence notebook changes.

Observation Preparation

A colleague of mine was observed the other day.  The Evaluator did not see the lesson plans for the day, which were printed and in a notebook a few feet away.  When the observation was over, the Evaluator requested a copy of the lesson plans (i.e., "evidence," "proof") so that s/he could load them in to The Platform online.

Because we have not gone through this process before, I am still very skeptical and leery of The System.  It has been made clear to us (through meetings & document from the Ga DOE) that if the Evaluator does not see something, then we can submit evidence within 24 hours and it will be uploaded into The Platform.  To me, that automatically implies (a year from now when someone is reviewing your file) that you didn't do something in real time, were told to submit proof so that you could received a good score, you prepared some sort of document, sent it to the Evaluator, and s/he uploaded it to The Platform so that they could backward-document your performance on that element.  I don't think that will look good....

Now, thinking ahead a couple of years...  If I were an Administrator and were to look at a file in The Platform and saw that someone had multiple documents loaded into The Platform for many of the elements, that would be "a red flag" to me that many of the elements were not being demonstrated in real time--the teacher had to keep providing proof that they were doing their job!  Even if the evidence was appropriate, it would be a red flag.  I have been in the legal field as an Administrator, and after reading a bazillion resumes (pardon the slang), I have noticed that some patterns tend to reveal how people really are--not how they say they are.

I suggest to you that all the evidence you have collected and your lesson plans be located in close proximity to the Evaluator's location, AND that the materials be labeled clearly.  We have been told that the Evaluator has the opportunity to review evidence while they are still in the classroom and if they see the documentation, then they do not have to ask for it later, and it will not have to be loaded into The Platform.  Translation: if they observe the behavior in real time &/or see it in your notebook while they are in the room, then they don't have to upload it into The Platform.  This should keep The Platform clean and simple (i.e., you are a good teacher in real time.)

To that end, here is what I sent to my Evaluator today:

Information for my observation/evaluation: all paperwork/evidence for your review is located in the tall wood cabinet to the left of the main door near the "panic buttons."  On the shelf are: daily lesson plans, TAPS evidence for standards 1-10, and extremely detailed lesson plans for 6th grade as they relate/correlate with the Georgia Performance Standards and the Nation Standards.  Notebooks with evidence have table of contents with brief definitions so that you can discern the purpose of that evidence.

I intend that when he enters my room, I will either formally (verbally) or informally (through gestures) ensure that he has located the lesson plans, the TAPS notebooks (Volume 1 & 2), and my National Standards correlation.

Pre-Evaluation...lunch

Today at lunch, my Evaluator stopped by and gave a colleague and me ideas as to the TAPS areas he would be observing sometime next week for his first observation.  He mentioned that he would be looking for certain elements for instructional strategies and positive learning environments (Standard 3 and 7).  My colleague quickly asked if each of the elements of each standard had to be observed for us to pass.  He calmly, and confidently, reiterated that the elements were not a checklist.  He added two points that calm my nerves somewhat:
1) he was quite familiar with the rubric, what to look for, and how everything worked because he had used the full blown TKES evaluation system last year, and a trial run the year before, and
2) he said that if you're a good teacher, instructional strategies and classroom environment should be a given; if not, you're probably not a very good teacher.  Internally, I agreed.

The point: I have a bit more confidence in the process and that my Evaluator is indeed not looking for a "gotcha."  However, I'll be more sure when it is actually over....

In any case, I still am adding to my TKES/TAPS notebook (pictured in an earlier post, and suggestions on how to implement on on a separate page [Handbook for Successful TKES Evaluation]).  Near the Evaluator/observation area, I have a 2-inch notebook with my lesson plans, 2, 4-inch notebooks with my evidence cataloged by section and identified by individual table of contents, and a 2-inch binder with my detailed lesson plans as they relate to each and every section of material in my textbook and national standards; all integrated and cross referenced.  The Evaluator indicated that we would need to show him where our lesson plans were; I put a sign by his observation area.

At one time, I was planning on replacing documents in my notebook with newer versions, but after reading more of the TAPS rubric, I decided that would be a bad idea.  The reason?  The wording for Level IV begins with, "The teacher continually demonstrates...," "The teacher continually seeks and uses....," "The teacher continually facilitates....," etc.  To me that means not only on a daily/weekly basis, but also on a yearly basis.  I decided not to replace evidence in my notebook, but rather add to so that I could demonstrate "continually."

Time to start!

If you're a teacher in Georgia, you have probably started preparing for the new school year.  Our school starts Monday, August 4 with students.  So, as you may imagine, we have had some several meetings the past week regarding the new Teacher Keys Effectiveness System (TKES) and the Teacher Assessment on Performance Standards (TAPS).  If you don't know those terms, you should get familiar with them; they are the law....

This past week I have been preparing multiple middle school and high school lesson plan templates that use the TKES rubrics as a guideline.  You can view some here.

If you haven't adjusted your lesson plans yet to reflect all of the items in the rubric, I recommend you get started soon!  It has been made very clear to us last year and this year that if the evaluator/observer does not see the evidence of one of the 72 elements in action, or on the lesson plans, you did not perform that element.  If enough elements are not met in each standard, you will not successfully pass that standard.

Then, the presenters usually follow up by saying that, "The elements are not a checklist so don't worry about meeting every single one.  We're looking for a preponderance of evidence in different ways showing you meet the standards.  So... just, as you see things that reflect the elements, collect those artifacts and maybe put them in a folder or notebook so that we can review them.  But, it's not a portfolio...."

That is hard for me to interpret any other way other than create a portfolio with at least one sheet of evidence (i.e., artifact, documentation, proof) for each of the 72 elements because the evaluator will be held accountable to their scores of us just as we are held accountable to teaching the curriculum, standards, elements, etc.  Review a suggested guideline for preparing your notebook here.  I started last year, and mine look like this right now...

The one on the bottom is Volume 1: Sections 1-4, the one on top is Volume 2: Sections 5-10, and the papers on top are the new items I need to include this weekend.  Now, some of the papers in the volumes will be swapped out during the year as they may include some old evidence (grade information, etc.)

One bit of good news, the notebooks can be stored near the Evaluator's area, and they can reference it while they are there.  The papers do not have to be uploaded into "the system."

Respectfully,
Glenn

Getting organized

At one of the faculty meetings I attended, it was made very clear that the days of assuming the teacher was effective are gone.  In today's educational environment, to prove you're an effective teacher requires evidence.  Therefore, begin collecting your evidence....  (I started the fall of 2013 and continue to this day.)

Getting your information/documentation/"evidence" organized will be important not only for you to provide verification that you have mastered each of the 72 elements, but also provides your evaluator a system so that they can find your documentation.

As I mentioned, there are 72 elements categorized into 10 standards; based on what I heard at the faculty meeting, I decided to have at least 1 piece of paper for each of the 72 elements.  Every school (and principal) is different, but your certificate is on the line and I'd recommend having 1 piece of quality evidence for each element.

1.  Create a table of contents (TOC) and then add specific and complete titles for your evidence.  Be consistent in your naming process.  I used the standards/elements from the DOE as the main outline, and then added the title of the piece of evidence under the appropriate standard and element.  For example, Section 3.4 begins like this:

3.4  Uses a variety of research-based instructional strategies and resources

     3.4.1  Lesson plan (dated 10/4/13) showing differentiation of process and product*

     3.4.2  Article: 3 Reasons, 10 Rules

I used the 3.4.1 outline method only because that is what the DOE used and I thought it would keep everything related.  I don't think it matters which outline system you use (1.A.i; I.A.i.; 1).A).i); etc.) as long as you use one and make it consistent.  

You may have noticed that I had an asterisk (*) at the end of 3.4.1.  That is a reminder to me that when I see my TOC, that specific piece of evidence will need to be updated.

2.  As you work through your table of contents adding titles of evidence, determine the location of other sources of evidence you'll need to collect and make a note in your TOC.  For example, in the area of "5.5: Uses grading practices that report final mastery in relationship to content goals and objectives," you could make a note, or leave a comment, that says, "Print out Lesson Plan (dated x/y/z) and Summative Test Report dated (x/y/z)."

I hope this helps you get started on collecting your evidence.  I'll continue with more a little later.  In the meantime, you can review a draft of "Keys to Your Successful Evaluation on the New Teacher Assessment on Performance Standards" located here: Notebook