I mentioned back in April that I was inspired by a teacher, Amy Balling, who was using her blog to illustrate the creative ways that she is addressing the Danielson Rubric and her district’s APPR.  I know that there are flaws in the evaluation process, obviously, but I also know that we’re going to be dealing with the APPR for the long haul; especially since it is now part of NYS law not just a policy of the week. 
     Thus, I too have tried to “love the one I’m with” and be as creative and thoughtful as possible in my own relationship with the APPR. In April I shared with you the link to my first attempt at being creative with my Teacher Artifact (my 2nd attempt was a lot better and shorter).  Our district breaks up the 60 points not associated with student testing as follows: 25 points for our Announced Observation, 15 points for our Unannounced Observation, and 20 points for our Teacher Artifact.  For the 2012-2013 school year we had artifacts we were required to turn in associated with our observations and a choice artifact.  The choices were a bit limited and overlapped many of the areas that were previously evaluated during our observations. 
     To fully illustrate our competence in all aspects of the rubric we really needed to submit an additional artifact or artifacts.  I decided that I would be a little different than other folks and get creative with my additional artifact and create a website using Google Sites.  I happened to be working on a project for my district that required me to use Google Sites and I thought that this would be a great way for me to get acquainted with the format.  *Side note, I really am not a huge fan of Google Sites compared with Weebly.  Google Sites just doesn't seem intuitive to me and I was constantly searching for the menu I needed to format the way I wanted to.  Weebly may be more closed in its formatting but the ease of use completely makes up for that.  But I digress…
     When I created my Google Site for my final artifact submission, I incorporated my required Choice Artifact and addressed the other aspects of the Danielson Rubric in a sort of portfolio format.  For example, to illustrate Domain 1b, Knowledge of Students, I discussed four ways that I monitor students’ progress, work with my inclusion teacher to address students’ individual needs, etc. AND I attached a folder of files with surveys I have conducted of my students and their results.  This way my administrator could have the evidence based information he needed to evaluate me on that aspect of the rubric.
     As it turns out, I did quite well on my overall Artifact score!  I haven’t yet received my summative APPR score for the school year which includes the student test performance.  That, needless to say, will be a very fascinating score to receive and could be the topic of numerous posts in the future!  Even though many of my colleagues submitted much less time consuming artifacts than I did and received similar scores, I do not regret doing the extra work.  I think that I will most likely do something similar next school year but with a slightly different format: maybe a wiki or livebinder.  I will also start my artifact in the beginning of the school year since I understand the process a whole lot better this time around. 
     Please feel free to click on the picture above or here to visit my artifact.  I would love to have feedback so that I can improve for the future.  And honestly, isn't improvement what this whole APPR thing is supposed to be about anyway?

     I was looking back at my blog posts and I realized that I never mentioned that I was accepted to the APA-Clark University Workshop for High School Teachers!  It just so happens that the conference took place this week from 7/22-7/24 and it was AMAZING!!!  Twenty-five high school psychology teachers were selected from throughout the nation (16 states were represented) to take part in the 9th annual conference in Worcester, Massachusetts.  Did I mention that it was amazing?!?
     The conference was a combination of presentations from professors at the forefront of psychological research and from master high school psychology teachers.  The high school teachers coordinated the activities and materials they shared with the topics the professors presented.  For example, Dr. Marianne Wiser (Clark University) discussed how she approaches her sensation and perception course.  She discusses each sense in order of complexity from least complex to most complex: pain, touch, taste, smell, hearing, and vision.  The master teachers then gave illustrations of activities, videos, web-links, and handouts to use in class. 
     The most engaging presentation was given by Dr. Champika K. Soysa (Worcester State University) who spoke about children experiencing PTSD in Sri Lanka due to war and the 2004 tsunami.  The stories were heartbreaking but the discussion about how sociocultural characteristics can impact perceptions of mental illness was thought provoking.  The presentation which I think will have the greatest impact on my teaching was from Dr. Victor Benassi (University of New Hampshire).  He shared his studies of how the single most effective means to increase student test scores is by taking a quiz---even if the student doesn’t get the correct answers to the quiz prior to taking the test.  The best kind of quiz to give uses a variety of types of questions including open-ended and multiple choice questions.  Quizzing is more beneficial than rereading the text, making flash cards, or even being given the test questions prior to the test!
     Beyond the seminars that were given, I greatly enjoyed our tour of the Psychology department at Clark.  The research that is taking place at Clark is diverse and timely.  Topics include comparison of adjustment for families who adopt children from both traditional and homosexual couples, correlation between parenting styles and student academic success, and Latino men’s perceptions about seeking treatment for mental illness.  I left the tour feeling excited and a bit jealous of the grad students who are taking part in these studies.
     The best part of the conference, however, was having the opportunity to rub shoulders with some wonderful, knowledgeable, and dynamic high school psychology teachers.  I got to meet in person two members of the weekly twitter chat #psychat: Amy Ramponi (@AmyRamponi) and Jennifer Schlict (@jenslish).  Jennifer also maintains the blog “Using Pop Culture in High School Psych Class” (http://psychteach.com/).  Amy will be taking over as moderator of #psychat in August 21st discussing “Kicking Off Your Psych Class”, Jennifer will follow on 8/28 with “Tech Integration in the Psych Classroom”.  I will be moderating my first ever twitter chat on 9/4 discussing “Unit Projects in Psychology”.  I can’t tell you how excited I am about having the ability to take part in something like this!
     The other people that I met at the conference were equally influential in making this a terrific conference.  Dr. Lee Gurel’s generous donations made this conference (and the last 8 conferences) possible.  Dr. Gurel is a Worcester native who graduated from Clark in 1948 and still remembers how influential his psychology professors, particularly Dr. John E. Bell, were in guiding him and believes that high school students deserve the same opportunity for inspiration and guidance.  Dr. Nancy Budwig (Clark University), Caitlin Crowley and Emily Leary Chesnes (APA) were also instrumental at ensuring that conference attendees were able to get the most out of the conference. 
     I would certainly recommend the conference to any high school psychology teacher.  Although I was one of the only participants that does not teach AP level psychology it was a great experience.  Applications are typically due in April so be on the lookout on the APA web site in late winter.  If you are interested in any of the materials that I received from the conference, please feel free to email me at [email protected].  

     I am an eternal optimist.  My cup is always half full and there is always a silver lining.  The student that everyone says is evil that is on my class list in September will be just fine in my class.  That is how I roll.
     This past school year there were a few things that happened that truly dampened my spirit.  In my last post, I discussed my AIS class and the issues I was having with them in terms of their motivation and my ability to help them to be successful on the Regents exam.  In this case my greatest fears were realized.  Only two of my 12 students passed their exams.  One of those students I can’t even take credit for since she was currently enrolled in Global II and thus was receiving her primary assistance through her regular teacher.  I can make myself feel a little better since one student who was in my class had only been in the country for three months prior to being asked to take an exam on United States History.  Another student had her test disqualified for cheating (that’s a whole story that sadly will not be told here).  Several students improved their grades from their previous times taking the test.  Regardless, I feel like I failed these students even though we were both put in a bad situation.  I am not used to this feeling.
     Another major event dealing with my professional life shook me to my core.  I’m really not sure that I can discuss that here either.  What a bummer, huh?  Basically, I learned that you cannot count on people to do the right thing or to value those people who do actually do the right thing.  I did the right thing, or at least I will believe that I did until my dying day, and it was me who paid the price.  It has certainly taught me who my friends are and who I can count on.  I think that experiences like mine will continue to become more common as long as teacher evaluations are linked to high-stakes testing.
     As a result of my experiences I took time off from being “Teacher Dawn”.  I did not organize my materials or brainstorm new activities or refine my plans or any of the usual things that I tend to do during the summer.  I didn't tweet or even read articles dealing with education.  I was just “Regular Citizen Dawn”.  This break was necessary for me and now, as I’m coming out of my hiatus, I feel re-energized and ready to get back to work!  I feel very lucky that I had the opportunity to let myself heal. 
     So, welcome back “Teacher Dawn”!!!  I can’t wait to share with you, my blog readers, my experiences at my first summer conference as well as the process I use to plan for the new school year.  Stay tuned!