First day back!

After possibly the most eventful spring break ever (a trip to the beach, finally seeing The Hunger Games, a job interview, 2 trips to the emergency room, and a lot of spring cleaning), I was ready to get back to school today and see my kiddos.  Unfortunately, I wasn't feeling all that great today-making it a rough day for teaching.  Thank goodness I have the best cooperating teacher ever who helped me out and took over Teacher Directed Reading for me.  I know I won't have that luxury when I'm the classroom teacher, but I sure appreciated it for today!

I'm doing a little bit of informal research on how other teachers use data to drive their instruction - as this is a Big Thing with the Common Core.  In my research, I came across the point that "Standards are the minimum."  That's something I definitely agree with, and it defines my instruction.  Most of my students are meeting the standards, which is good, but they are capable of going beyond that, and it's important for me to keep challenging them to do more than simply meet the standards.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/using-student-data-inform-teaching-rebecca-alber