Good morning! We are in Ohio and have chosen to do the teacher evaluation. This will be our first one so I'm a little nervous, of course. :| So, what all should I have? How many examples & what is acceptable for his grade (1st)? Do I need stuff from every subject or just a few? We just moved & some things got mixed/lost and I'm worried about having "enough".... Guide me, please?
I'm in the same position. Are there any experienced Ohio moms who can help us out with getting portfolios ready for a teacher review?
Deeps breathes...Relax... Deep breathes! :love: For our first eval I put in enough examples to show improvement over the course of the school year. We had a reading list and I used pictures with captions to show what we had studied. We built a cardboard castle and I had pics of ds sitting in the middle like the "Friendly Giant". It was huge! We did costumes, science projects, lots of reading, video list, handwriting samples and math pages. If you want specifics, pm me and I'll send you a list of things you can use. The first one always is the most scary, but you'll do just fine! Marty
If its like a charter school's requirements here, you would need 2 samples (his/her best work) for each subject including PE. When we used the charter, they accepted photos of the kids exercising or riding their bikes, playing tennis, whatever they did. HTH
No, Suzanne. We in Ohio have the option of having our kids tested, or have a portfolio of their work evaluated by a certified teacher. That's what they're talking about. It's really not a big deal. If your child has any workbooks (such as math or maybe spelling or some kind of language), bring them. As Marty said, any pictures you've taken will be helpful (but not necessary). Depedending on the age of your child, you might want a writing sample. If there's a journal of any kind, you might want to bring it (this could be a picture journal for a younger child; if you don't journal, that's OK, too!). If your child is reading, you might want to bring a book they can read independently. There are no set rules as to what to bring. Whatever YOU feel will give a good show of what your child has done over the year. They just need to feel comfortable that your child has completed a year's worth of work. Biggest thing is NOT TO STRESS over it!!! As Marty has said, the first one is the worse. It's really no big deal, especially if you have an evaluator that's homeschool friendly. My evaluator is a college friend. She currently is teaching 3rd grade at a Christian school. She barely looks at my kids' work anymore because she's in and out of my house so much, and we are constantly discussing school-related stuff, so she knows my kids and what they're doing pretty well. BE SURE TO MAKE A COPY WHEN YOU SEND IT IN!!! I didn't my first year, and somehow the district claimed they didn't have it, and I didn't have a copy!!! Plus, my evaluator-friend was teaching in Guam at the time. She had come home for the summer, and had returned. Fortunately, I called a retired teacher I use to teach with, and she met me right away at the library and went over Rachael's work for me.
This will be the teacher's first homeschool evaluation (family friend) so I'm hoping she'll not be expecting too much. I had pictures...tons of pictures, but my camera is missing as well. What a disaster this move was!!!! I was asking Marty....just use Math as an example. Do I show the entire workbook or just maybe print the Horizons eval for the next grade level & that way it shows he is ready to move forwward? How many subjects is acceptable for 1st grade? I ask, because as mentioned before, there are things we did that I cannot locate....such as an Explode the Code workbook, and other various things. ETA: Is the only thing I need from the teacher that one page printed and her signature?
You are worrying too much! Remember how worried you were about the paperwork that needed to be sent in? This is even LESS headache! Yes, all you need is that one page with her signature. THAT'S IT! She says that she evaluated your child's work, and is fine. Nothing more, no in-depth paragraphs explaining strengths/weaknesses, etc. I'd bring any workbooks you have rather than tearing out pages. She might just glance through it. As far as subjects, how ever many you did. Don't worry about not having an Explode the Code workbook. It's OK. Just take whatever you feel is a good representation of what she did/can do. She just needs to be comfortable that your child has learned during the past year.
The ONLY thing the school district will see or get is the paper with the teachers signature. PERIOD. The teacher looks over your child's work and may have him read or do a math problem to check understanding. She'll sign the one printed page and you're done with the eval. Like Jackie, said keep a copy for yourself. School districts loose things. I use CLE which has 10 little workbooks per year. I send all the ones we have completed and any other worksheets we have done. If ds has helped with a project that required measuring (like painting a room) we take pics of him measuring the walls to find surface area. Then he writes a little caption with the pic to explain what he's doing. The project pics count as math and the captions are a writing sample. 2 subjects demonstrated. Your portfolio will end up being about the size of a small box. My first year I used a paper grocery sack and it was about 2/3 rds full. That should give you something to gauge by. Marty
I do teacher evals for Ohio. I ask the parents to bring a few pieces of work from the beginning, middle and end of the year. I'm looking for growth during the year. I do NOT need to say the child is working on grade level but that the child is working to the best of THEIR ability (whatever their ability is)! After I look over the work, I talk to the parents- what have they done this year, what did they like, what worked for them, what didn't work for them, what would you like to continue next year, what would you like to change, any concerns. I use that time to get to know the family and answer any questions that I can. I also use that time to learn from them- they might be doing something that could work for my family or they might be having success in an area I'm struggling with and I can try their ideas. When I'm doing an eval, I'm not judging the parent on how good or bad of a job they are doing or how ahead/behind the child is, I'm just getting to see a glimpse into their year. To make your self feel better, check with the evaluator and see what they would like you to bring or have available for them to look at!
