Writing Moderation

We had a staff meeting around writing moderation today. We were looking at one piece of writing and deciding how to grade each area before giving our feedback in order to see how similar/different our marks were.
  It is good to hear the opinion of others who think different from you as it challenges your own thinking.

Do others offer a perspective that you didn't think of before which could possibly lead you to change your answer?

OR

 Do you have enough evidence to support your stance which others find difficult to challenge?

One of the challenges I notice sometimes is understanding what it means when the e-asTTle rubric says: 'May attempt to use words with two syllables' or 'paragraphs may have minimal development e.g. one sentence'.

Words such as 'may' 'some' 'a few'  'minimal' etc. also leave room for interpretation which is where some of our dialogue came from.  Does a few mean at least 3 times? Does 'may' mean that it doesn't necessarily need to be in the text?  When you are looking for precise detail,  how many precise details are sufficient to feel confident enough to move that student to an R5 rather than a R4?  If you know your student, do you use your OTJ's  to influence the mark you give them? or do you only go on what they presented in that particular piece of writing?


Why is writing moderation important?

• Brings together collective wisdom, resulting in greater consistency of judgment, and focused teaching.

• Provides greater confidence in teacher judgments, and assurance that judgments are consistent with those of other professionals.

• Leads to shared expectations of learning, and understandings of standards and progression of learning.

• Develops deeper understandings about content and progressions of learning.

• Improves quality of assessment.

• Aligns expectations and judgments with standards or progressions, and hence improved teaching and learning.

• Assures parents and others that interpretations of students' achievements are in line with those of other professionals

One of the areas that I sometimes find challenging is staying focused and not letting other perceived errors influence my thinking. For example, if you are marking a student on sentence structure, it can be challenging to not let the lack (or incorrect use) of punctuation affect your ability to grade only  their sentence structure.

It is important to understand what each area means i.e. what are you specifically looking for within the text and within each area what criteria qualifies an R1- R6? 

The dialogue that took place during our staff meeting helped me to think critically and learn when to try stay firm in my position and when to take on others perspectives that my differ from my own which can lead me to change my original decision. This wasn't a time to take things personally if others thought differently than me. This exercise helped me to look at the evidence and use that to guide my decision. This is helping me to reflect as a learner, and it is shaping my future professional needs as a teacher.

I am still learning...

Time Management. How is it going so far?

                                                    

I am in week 9 of Term 1. There was a brief period where I beginning to think that maybe I had a handle on things and then that feeling went out the window.

1. Using time efficiently in order to effectively complete required tasks. 

Because I feel like there aren't enough hours in the day I will say that I do not think that I am using my time efficiently. I'm just not sure of what that really looks like.

2. Planning will be completed. 

Received feedback about planning. Things were not as complete as I originally thought. I am using the feedback to help to improve upon it. 

3. Reflective practice will be evident on professional blog. 

I am getting better with putting things on my blog. There is a new appraisal system interlead  that all teachers will be required to use and add to regularly.

4. Work/life balance will be achieved. 

    This has been non-existent. I have not improved in this area at all. In theory, I understand that there needs to be a work/life balance. However, right now, it is 90/10 at the moment. Yes, I know what you must be thinking, 'That isn't good', 'You need to take time for yourself',  'But the post you put up not too long ago said...' 

Those are all true. The reality is that the tasks that I'm being asked to do NEED TO BE DONE. There is no way that I can come into work with 'The dog ate my homework' excuse or 'Yeaaah, I know I was supposed to have this done but I needed some me time so....'

So we deal with things that are a priority right?!?  That's what I have been doing which is the planning. Putting students into groups, planning for the upcoming week, making sure target students needs are being addressed. What I find myself doing is normalising unhealthy behaviours. 

Leaving school, going home and on my computer till 11 planning, revising plans so they are ready for the next day. 

When I manage to take a break it really isn't a break because my brain is still on work and what work I will get back to once I finish my break OR better yet, the guilt for taking a break because that's time I could be/should be putting into my work.

I can't put into words how grateful I am for a supportive partner who sees how hard I worked to become a teacher and how much work I am putting into this job and supports me even though it would be totally understandable if there would be complaints of never having enough time to do things together. 

5. Feeling less overwhelmed with workload.

 This hasn't shifted. There is a lot of things to be done and a majority of my focus is on the planning, some of my focus is on making sure my B.T. folder is up to date ( or close to ) so that I'm showing progress when I have my meetings with my tutor teacher. 

Not sure of what to do  at the moment other than to get try my best and get through it. 

I'm sure that other teachers can relate and 'welcome to teacher life' sentiments come to mind.  

Yes, I am not an experienced teacher so that has something to do with my work/life balance and feeling overwhelmed with workload. I think that anyone who starts a new job feels like that when you are 'learning the ropes'. However, I have spoken with experienced teachers from various year levels, working in various deciles and sadly they all consider the workload to be increasing issue even though they had hoped for it to be getting better because of their experience not worse. 

Though there is some comfort in the 'Phfew...it's not just me' factor,  for the most part it makes me sad. I don't want to take comfort that others are suffering just like me. It is discouraging to think that experience teachers are viewing the workload to be increasing vs decreasing even though one would think with their experience they should be more efficient at managing the workload. 

Is this what I have to look forward to?

I love working with my students and I have a supportive staff who try to assist me where they can and I am very grateful for them. I am unsure of how to articulate that I find the workload to be a lot without sounding lazy or uncooperative. 

This isn't just me and it isn't just an Auckland issue or New Zealand issue. It is a global issue.

Four in 10 new teachers quit within a year

Why are so many teachers fleeing the classroom?

Teacher Burn- out