Recent Changes

The purpose of this portfolio is to reflect on the SAS Standards and Benchmarks for specialist teachers. Over a three year period, evidence and reflection will be provided for the Standards and Benchmarks in all four Performance Areas.
About Kris Sheehan
school social studies/technology,studies, and been
Key for Yearly Goals:
2009 - 2010 school year benchmarks will be in blue -- A2, A5, B5, C1, C3, D2, D5

Standard D4 - Participating in a professional community
2011 - 2012 school year benchmarks will be in purple -- A4, A6, B1, B4, C2, C4, D3, D6
teachers served (done)
Standard A6 support program (done)
Standard B3 instructional support (done)
Standard B4 professional interactions (done)
Standard C2 instructional skills (done)
Standard
Standard C4 - instructional improvement (done)
Standard D6 - Showing professionalism, including integrity and confidentiality

Instructional specialist’s reflection provides an accurate and objective description of practice, citing specific positive and negative characteristics.
Instructional specialist makes some specific suggestions as to how the support program might be improved
with me.
One
One area I area also.
This year, I have worked to document our projects and plan more closely and to reflect on what we have accomplished. I started with Atlas, but this was not the best tool for my purposes, so put it on a Pages document. My goal next year is to find a better way to document what we do, but for now the Pages document has been a quick and easy way to document what we have done and reflect on it. The grade 2 document is fairly thorough and the grade 4 document needs additional work. They are both complete through trimester 2.
Grade 2 Activities/Reflection {Grade2Summary.pdf}
Benchmarks:
Instructional specialist displays high standards of honesty and integrity in interactions with colleagues and respects norms of confidentiality.
This is a tough one to show evidence for so this will be a reflection. Throughout the year, I attend team meetings and maintain confidentiality during and after the team meetings. When colleagues speak to me confidentially, I respect the confidentiality. When working with my colleagues, I try to be kind and respectful and when there is a conflict I approach it directly and with honesty. When speaking or emailing colleagues I use a respectful and kind tone, while keeping the emails and interactions simple and to the point. I have learned in my many years of teachers that everyone is different and have learned to interact differently with individuals to create a positive and trusting working relationship with my colleagues. I believe my colleagues trust me and feel safe coming to me when they need help with technology or with anything else that may come up in our daily ES or SAS lives.

Standard B4 - Establishing and maintaining norms of behavior for professional interactions (done)
Standard C2 - Engaging teachers in learning new instructional skills (done)
instructional improvement (done)
Standard D6 - Showing professionalism, including integrity and confidentiality

Benchmarks:
Instructional specialist locates resources for instructional improvement for teachers when asked to do so.
This year I created a ES Tech Resources wiki so that I could have one location to gather resources to share with teachers. This wiki is divided into pages and on the resource page I have created tables with sites related to each of the content areas. I add resources to the wiki as I find sites that will work for our early childhood students. I have also created pages to add our lessons and projects for our classes PK, K, 2, and 4. This is where I write the lesson up and reflect on the lesson. Grade 2 has been finalized and passed on to the teachers. This is a work in progress and not all grade levels are complete. All necessary documents and links are included. In addition, I sit in on team meetings and send them links that may be relevant.
Resources that I share with my teachers can be found in the following locations:
PK/K Online Resources
Tools to Try in the ES
ES iPad Apps/Descriptions
List of links used throughout the year in PK, K, and 2
Standard C5 - Demonstrating flexibility and responsiveness (10/11)
Benchmarks:

Standard B3 - Establishing clear procedures for teachers to gain access to instructional support (done)
Standard B4 - Establishing and maintaining norms of behavior for professional interactions (done)
instructional skills (done)
Standard C4 - Locating resources for teachers to support instructional improvement
Standard D6 - Showing professionalism, including integrity and confidentiality

Benchmarks:
All teachers are engaged in acquiring new instructional skills.
for our teachesteachers to learn
Date Night with Your Mac
create newsletters, making slideshows with iPhoto and many
Out in Shanghai Days
These full day sessions for our new teachers include many topics to help our teachers become more familiar with different technology opportunities we have at SAS. This training includes an introduction to the mac and specific training in mac application (iMovie, Pages, Keynote), an introduction to our online databases, classroom management in the laptop classroom, as well as some time to brainstorm technology lessons and programs with team members.
Orientation
the basics they will need to function at our elementary school. Topics for our new teacher orientation include managing email, using our school network, printing basics, and setting up the class blog.
{OrientationAgendaExample.pdf}
After School Training
We have offered several after school training opportunities, especially as we moved to the mac computers and also as teachers began creating their online portfolios. We try to offer these sessions on several different days so we can meet the needs of all of our teachers.
After School Drop-in Sessions
We have offered several after school drop-in sessions for help on a variety of topics. Some of these sessions have specific needs we are addressing while others are open for any topic. At these sessions, Jeff and I are available in the lab to help and answer questions as they arise.
"Just In Time" Training
The most helpful type of training is the training that goes on constantly. Teachers will stop by the office or set up an appointment to "talk tech" or to learn specific skills that they are ready to learn. This type of training seems to be the most useful as it is more meaningful for our teachers to learn something right when they need it.
Standard C3 - Sharing expertise with staff (09/10)
Benchmarks:

Benchmarks:
All teachers are engaged in acquiring new instructional skills.
Technology is constantly changing and our teachers are acquiring new skills every year. At the elementary school, we try to offer a variety of opportunities for our teaches to learn these new skills. Over the past years, we have offered training sessions not only in new applications and online sites, but also in classroom management strategies that can be used in a laptop classroom. Some examples of training we have offered our teachers to keep them engaged in acquiring new skills are:
Date Night with Your Mac
At these nights I have offered a variety of short tutorials including topics such as organizing your mac, creating movie trailers, using Pages to create newsletters, and many more.
Out in Shanghai Days
These full day sessions for our new teachers include many topics to help our teachers become more familiar with different technology opportunities we have at SAS. This training includes an introduction to the mac and specific training in mac application (iMovie, Pages, Keynote), an introduction to our online databases, classroom management in the laptop classroom, as well as some time to brainstorm technology lessons and programs with team members.
Orientation
At orientation, we try to introduce our new teachers to the basics
After School Training
After School Drop-in Sessions
"Just In Time" Training
Standard C3 - Sharing expertise with staff (09/10)
Benchmarks:
Benchmarks:
Instructional specialist makes revisions to the support program when it is needed.
much notice.
In addition to being flexible with my schedule, I also am flexible with the approaches I use in the classroom. Working with the teachers, I try to accommodate my style to fit more to how they work within the classroom. As we team teach quite a bit of the time, I try to be open to different classroom management techniques and support the teacher in the way she/he chooses to run the classroom.
I believe the responsiveness I have to my teachers is excellent. I always return email within a day. In addition to attending team meetings to better understand the curriculum and specific needs of my teams, I also meet with my teachers individually to plan the project or activity for them and to make any adjustments to the steps that they feel is necessary. I also listen to what they are having problems with and offer appropriate after school help sessions to meet their needs. Sometimes these help sessions are drop in for a variety of help or specific to meet the needs of a group of teachers.