Standard+A2+-+SAS+teachers+will+demonstrate+knowledge+of+students

**Evidence/Activity/Anecdote:**
=== **As an elementary teacher, I feel that it is so important to get to know the whole child. Of course in order to teach effectively, I need to know each child. I need to know the child's likes and dislikes and his/her personality. I need to know where his/her strengths lie and where there are areas of weaknesses to improve on. I work hard to form a relationship with each child based of trust and mutual respect. If the students like to come to school and they feel comfortable with me, they will want to perform to the best of their ability. I feel that this year, I’ve been exceptionally lucky. I have such a nice group of students. They are kind and friendly to each other, and I’ve worked hard to form relationships with each and every child and have tried to help them form relationships with each other. ** ===  I get to know the students on a social level at the beginning of the year. During graduate school I was trained in the Responsive Classroom, a program developed by the Northeast Foundation for Children. It is a program that builds community in the classroom - research has shown it boosts academic achievement, decreases behavior problems, and improves social skills. I try to follow it for at least the first six weeks of school. Some years I’ve done it the entire school year and really want to find time to do it the entire year here as well. I find that I end up phasing it out after a few months because the grade 3 schedule is just so jammed packed. I also send out a survey to parents at the beginning of the school year that asks them about their child’s strengths, areas of improvement, and a final question just asking about any additional information I need to know. I feel like between implementing the Responsive Classroom and getting feedback from parents about their children, this gets me well on my way to learning more about the students in my classroom. DRA results and other running records/reading assessments that I take throughout the year help me to get to know my students academically. After testing, I place students into reading groups based on their individual reading needs. When conferencing with students, I can use the DRA as a base to help students grow to be confident, independent readers and thinkers. This assessment also allows me to develop mini-lessons based on student strengths and weaknesses I see when conducting the DRA. Not only does this assessment help me in the short term, but it also allows me to see how a reader has progressed throughout the year. After the second DRA, I become a more reflective teacher, helping me to understand what I did well throughout the year and what I need to teach more in depth or adjust for the rest of the school year or following year. This reading assessment also helps students understand more clearly where they are as a reader helping them choose books at their independent reading level. Along with this assessment, I also ask students to talk about their reading strengths and reading goals they have for each trimester. This allows students to understand more clearly their specific reading level and helps them become more aware of what their next learning steps should be. Finally, for most of the writing units and big projects we use student and teacher generated rubrics for both formative and summative assessments. Students have a chance to reflect on their work and assess themselves. This is helpful for me to see this piece of the puzzle, to see how students’ think they’re doing in particular areas. The evidence I have for this standard is my reading tracking sheets from the DRA from the beginning of the school year and a couple of sample rubrics. I also have included the Responsive Classroom website that provides information about the program and a completed parent survey I send out at the beginning of each school year. Responsive Classroom Website