Evaluation Report for Megan Salada

06/25/2015

Individual Development Plan, Mid-Year Reflection, End of Year

Reflection for Megan Salada
IDP- Individualized Development Plan

Teacher: Megan Salada

Years of Service:
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Year 5
Tenured

School: Cooley

Grade/Class: 2

Date Initiated:
09/26/2014

At Administrator discretion, IDP may be written by individual teacher and/or by Administrator.

DOMAIN(S) of FOCUS
Check those that Apply

COMPONENTS
Identify from Framework Rubric

Planning and Preparation

Classroom Environment

3b Using questioning and discussion techniques

Instruction

3c Engaging students in learning

Professional Responsibilities

Specific reason(s) for Focus selection:

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Evaluation Report for Megan Salada

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I have chosen instruction as my focus because this domain encompasses the most critical and significant
components of teaching. As a third-year teacher, I need to continue to hone my instructional skills in order to
engage students in challenging, meaningful content.

What is/are the goals(s) for this plan?

The goal for this plan is that all students work toward developing a deep understanding of content by
formulating, questioning, revising, and effectively communicating their ideas within whole-class discussions.

How will you grow professionally with relation to the Framework? (use exact Framework language)
I will develop strategies for facilitating student-led discussions that "promote thinking and understanding,"
including effective questioning techniques. I will learn to better foster participation and active listening "to
ensure that most students are heard."

How will this impact student learning?

Students will deepen their understanding of content and think critically about differing perspectives through
talk. Students will learn to clearly communicate and support their ideas with evidence.

Results Indicators: How will you know if the goal(s) has/have been achieved?
Cause Data What are the teacher behaviors?
If I do...
(Specific Adult Action or
Strategy)

With this
duration/frequency...(Timeline)

If I conduct read-alouds
with accountable talk

3-5 times per week

If I explicitly teach the

hierarchy of talk and
scaffold students'
responses with sentence
stems

on a daily basis

If I implement the 5
practices to facilitate
student-centered
discussions during the
"summarize" phase of
math workshop

Effect Data What student behaviors will result?

on a daily basis

Then students
will...(Actions)

I will know this

by...(Evidence/Artifacts)

then students will engage

in discussions about readaloud texts

I will know this by observed

participation in whole-class
discussions and partner
turn-and-talks

then students will use the

sentence stems to
communicate and
negotiate ideas at
increasingly more complex
levels on the hierarchy

I will know this by records

of student participation at
various levels on the
hierarchy and observed
references to the hierarchy
of talk posters

then students will

communicate and develop
their ideas, building toward
the mathematical goal of
the lesson

I will know this by observed

contributions to
discussions, math written
responses, exit tickets, and
math unit assessments

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Evaluation Report for Megan Salada

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Administrator Signature:
By typing my name and clicking Submit
Signature I acknowledge submission of
this form.
Name: Michael Batten Date: 09/26/2014

Teacher Signature:
By typing my name and clicking Submit
Signature I acknowledge submission of
this form.
Name: Megan Salada Date: 09/25/2014

IDP - MID-YEAR REFLECTION

Describe:
* The status of your plan and adjustments made
* The status of your results indicators
* Your next steps
My IDP goal for students to develop a deep understanding of content by formulating, questioning, revising, and
effectively communicating their ideas within whole-class discussions involves several action steps. I feel that I have
most successfully implemented the action step of facilitating student-centered discussions during the "summarize"
phase of math workshop. From the start of school, I have fostered a community of talk and sharing among my
second graders. My students have become more and more skilled at expressing their ideas in the "summarize"
phase of math and I have been able to give more control of the conversation to students. I feel that the action step
regarding use of the hierarchy of talk has also been successful. I have slowly introduced each level and we spent
time focusing on each one to push class and partner conversations to the next level. Students have had success with
this at varying levels, but all make attempts to use the hierarchy and conversational stems. The action step of readaloud with accountable talk has been challenging to implement on a daily basis. I have struggled with finding time to
plan effective read-alouds in advance; however, the students have high-level discussions when I do conduct readaloud with accountable talk. I have also adjusted the IDP plan to include partner talk within reading, writing, and math
as that is a structure I use frequently within my classroom. I have recently worked more strategically with students on
their partnership skills to raise the level of work within partnerships in support of this IDP plan.

The first result indicator in regards to students engaging in whole-class and partner discussions about read-aloud
texts has been moderately successful. The biggest obstacle has been time both for planning effective read-aloud and
implementation within our daily schedule. Students have exhibited higher levels of talk and thinking with prompts
throughout read-alouds and when given greater opportunities for practice, they have the potential to uncover
complex messages and understandings from read-aloud texts. One result indicator I have observed is students' use
of the hierarchy of talk and sentence stems to guide class conversations. The hierarchy posters are displayed in our
classroom and students refer to them often to think about ways they might respond in the midst of a class discussion.
The last indicator in regards to students' communication within math workshop has also been observed. Clarity has
been a strong focus within our discussions and students have begun asking each other for clarification. It has been a
struggle to ensure that all students actively listen and follow a discussion to build upon ideas (particularly when the
content becomes challenging). A few students remain rather passive during math discussions.

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My next steps are to work on finding a solution to planning and implementing read-aloud with accountable talk more
regularly to provide opportunities for rich discussion. I would like to make more strategic use of reading and writing
workshop mentor texts as a springboard for this work. I also plan to continue to work with students on appropriate
conversational moves during whole-class discussions to keep the topic at hand the center of the conversation and
give more responsibility to the students as I feel the need "lead" or interject less frequently. Another step I plan to
take is to transfer this communication work to students' writing. After students become skilled at verbalizing their
ideas and building understanding through conversation, I expect the same in their written responses such as math
journals, stop-and-jots in response to reading, and independent writing work.
Administrator comments:
I give you credit for picking such a high level goal for your IDP. The idea of students being able to verbalize their
thinking in meaningful ways is definitely a scaffold toward effectively being able to write their ideas. Planning effective
read alouds can be a challenge. I think read alouds are often most effective when your mini-lesson is able to come
from your mini-lesson then in ways the mini-lesson and read aloud become interwoven. That is not always possible
depending on the unit of study. I also appreciate your thinking and attempts to get all students involved in this work.
Dealing with the students who try to remain passive is difficult, but these are the very students that need to get
involved. Once again, great work and I appreciate your reflection on this work. I look forward to seeing what happens
with this work second semester.
Administrator Signature:
By typing my name and clicking Submit
Signature I acknowledge submission of
this form.
Name: Michael Batten Date: 12/19/2014

Teacher Signature:
By typing my name and clicking Submit
Signature I acknowledge submission of
this form.
Name: Megan Salada Date: 12/19/2014

IDP - END OF YEAR REFLECTION

How did you grow professionally in relation to the Framework from you IDP plan?
I grew professionally in my ability to facilitate student-led discussions in a way that "promote[s] thinking and
understanding." Introducing the hierarchy of talk in my classroom benefitted not only my students, but me as well, as
I modeled talk at various levels of the hierarchy as a co-participant in classroom discussions. I also grew in the area
of effective questioning, primarily though read-aloud and mathematical inquiries. I am more skilled now at asking
high-level questions that push students to engage with content at a deeper level and "arrive at new understandings
of complex material." I was able to model and adapt my questioning techniques using the CCGPS Mathematics Unit
Frameworks, Jennifer Serravallo resources, and Oakland Schools materials on accountable talk as guides. I have
also succeeded at fostering greater participation among the majority of my students. I continue to work on strategies
to maintain engagement by all students.
How did this plan impact student learning?
Student learning was positively impacted by this plan. Students engaged more deeply with content and went beyond
the surface to understand material in more significant ways. Students became aware of differing perspectives and
developed skills in addressing different viewpoints, questioning each other, and thinking critically to reach consensus.
Students became skilled at communicating their ideas in an increasingly coherent manner, often providing evidence
or examples without prompting.
Were you able to implement the Specific Adult Actions or Strategies? Did they occur for the duration and
frequency that you intended?
I implemented all three Specific Adult Actions or Strategies outlined in my IDP. (1) I conducted read-alouds with
accountable talk on a more frequent basis. In the second half of the year, I have been more successful at using
mentor texts within the reading and writing workshop units of study as a springboard for read-aloud with accountable
talk. I also found "Notice & Note: Strategies for Close Reading" (Beers & Probst, 2013) to be a helpful resource in
generating rich discussions around read-aloud text. (2) I explicitly taught the hierarchy of talk and scaffolded
students' responses with sentence stems. In the second half of the year, after introducing all of the levels in the
hierarchy of talk, I found that they took a backseat. Students still used some of the sentence stems; however, the
hierarchy itself was not a focal point of the classroom. I will continue to think about ways in which students can

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interact more tangibly with the hierarchy so that it remains a focal point of class discussions. As adjusted in my midyear reflection, I have also encouraged the transfer of students' discussion to their writing work. The argument work
we have begun based on the practices of the Reading and Writing Project has also supported this work as students
use oral debate as a pre-writing activity. (3) I implemented the 5 practices to facilitate student-centered discussions
during the summarize phase of math workshop on a daily basis. My students have become increasingly skilled at
explaining their math thinking, even prompting each other when an explanation is unclear. It has remained a
challenge to encourage the involvement of the most at-risk math students in these discussions as the thinking shared
is often beyond the level they are able to comprehend. I have begun to think that the summarize phase would be
better conducted in a small group with the students requiring math intervention. I will continue to think about how this
could be implemented differently to support these students.
Did your students show the anticipated behaviors/actions from your Adult Actions? Were you able to
successfully gather student evidence to show this?
(1) Students engaged in discussion about read-aloud texts through whole-class conversations and partner turn-andtalks. This was evident through observed participation; however, I would like to collect more concrete evidence of
whole-class participation following recommendations by Jennifer Serravallo in "The Literacy Teacher's Playbook."
Tracking participation and helping students to reflect on their own participation will create agency among students as
they contribute to the learning in whole-class discussions. (2) Students improved their use of sentence stems from
the hierarchy of talk to communicate effectively. Students frequently employ sentence stems from the "say something
back" level in order to agree, disagree, or add on to a classmate. Stems from the "say something to clarify" level are
also heard frequently as we spent a lot of time working to clearly verbalize thought processes so that others are able
to understand. I observed students frequently refer to the hierarchy of talk posters; however, I found it too difficult to
keep a record of student responses according to the various levels on the hierarchy. I hope to create a better system
for evaluating and tracking use of the hierarchy in the future. (3) Similarly, students communicated and developed
their mathematical ideas building toward lesson goals through the summarize share. Exit tickets and assessments
clearly evidenced the success or lack of success after each summarize discussion, as well as student "aha" moments
in response to classmates' thinking.
Administrator Comments:
The level of talk and conversation in your classroom was impressive. I could see you continually raising the
expectations of students and your support of the students made these higher expectations possible. You are so
purposeful and intentional with your teaching. I appreciate how you applied this work across content areas. The
students showed an ability to use these strategies independently. I understand and appreciate your interest in trying
to find better ways to track conversations my only concern with that is that becomes the focus and you lose the
power of the conversation. Your attention gets to focused on the evidence that you lose sight of the great work your
students are doing. So think about new strategies, but do not lose sight of just helping the students grow in
conversation. Overall a great goal and a great job of implementing and reflecting on your plan.

Administrator Signature:
By typing my name and clicking Submit
Signature I acknowledge submission of
this form.
Name: Michael Batten Date: 03/30/2015

Teacher Signature:
By typing my name and clicking Submit
Signature I acknowledge submission of
this form.
Name: Megan Salada Date: 03/30/2015

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