Near the end of college in 2017, I knew that I would be moving out of New Orleans and to Ann Arbor. I wanted a way to stay connected to my high school and college friends, and after a semester of student teaching, I had learned enough from my ninth graders to understand that Facebook […]
The Illusion of Growth A few weeks ago, I shared my surprisingly positive experience with the i-Ready Reading Diagnostic, a standardized test that, against my philosophical leanings, proved to be my most effective assessment experience in the context of teaching 6th-grade English Language Arts. Perhaps most enlightening about that blog post was how quickly the
The Surprising Clarity of a Standardized Test When asked to reflect on my “best” assessment, I immediately pictured an English Language Arts class with students compiling writing samples into neat portfolios – a perfectly crafted, authentic project. But the truth is, my best assessment is a standardized test: the i-Ready Reading Diagnostic test. As a
My Evolving Beliefs on Assessment In the last few months, I have seen friends post about the 4.0s they have earned in their master’s programs. I often catch myself thinking, “I just need to keep it up, and I will get to post my 4.0 at the end, too!” Then I remember I am in
As a middle school English language arts teacher, I see my students’ potential everyday. However, many struggle with executive functioning which leads to missed deadlines and academic stress. For CEP 822 Aproaches to Educational Research, I developed an Action Research Plan to implement a standardized, school-wide planner to move from chasing missing work to empowering
I am a 6th grade English language arts teacher in a Title 1 urban public school outside of Detroit. My students have daily access to Chromebooks, and I aim to structure my class in a hybrid manner, with about half of their assignments being online and the other half utilizing traditional tools such as notebooks,
I was ten years old when I lost my home in Chalmette, Louisiana, because of Hurricane Katrina. The storm uprooted my entire life and left lasting impacts on my brain. Eighteen years later, as an educator, I am still working through those impacts, but I have come to a deeper understanding of the profound impact
I have started to joke with some of my close friends that graduate school is where I learn how to become a skilled content creator or influencer. I often connect my learning to the beauty industry. I have filmed myself briefly instructing how to curl hair to share with my cohort, I interviewed a recent
