We do AIMSweb math and fluency assessments with all of our students. I've pretty much been spending all of my free time testing kids. Aside from hating the fact that all this testing take sooooo much time, I do really enjoy seeing the progress the kids have made over the course of the school year. My kids have really rocked it this year!
(I'm really not saying this to brag, by the way.)
It's just been really cool to celebrate all of these awesome accomplishments with my students. One of my biggest success stories is a girl that came to my class about a month into the school year. She'd really struggled with reading and when she came to my class she was reading on a first grade level. Today when she took her fluency assessment she met the end-of-the-year benchmark for third grade! In addition she scored in the top performance category on both of her state assessments! I shared this celebration with her mom this afternoon and almost cried! It's been a team effort to get this little girl on grade level... Her parents, my amazing para, and I have all worked together to make this happen for her. She's worked extremely hard this year and has made amazing gains!
It just so happened that this girl's mom came in with some lovely flowers and a super sweet card for both my para and I this afternoon. All four of us were excited to celebrate this year's success together and know that this girl is going to move onto fourth grade as a success story! There are a lot of times when I feel like I'm not doing enough for my students and just not being the best teacher I could be. I compare myself to others around me and wonder if I'm doing enough for my students. I think we all go through these times where our self-esteem as a teacher is a bit low and we focus too much on comparing ourselves to others. Looking back at this school year and thinking about where these students started out at and where they are now is reassurance that maybe I've been doing things right after all... Just maybe. :)
I feel the same way- we beat ourselves up sometimes but if your kids have grown, that's the proof that you've been good for them!
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