Accreditation. The dreaded word that most [actually I'm sure all of us] attempt to avoid hearing and discussing.
If you're like me and you have recently [and when I say recently, I actually mean two years] escaped the grasps of Uni, your first thought would probably be similar to mine..."I have already proven that I know my content AND that I am capable of teaching a classroom full of rowdy, pubescent characters, so why am I already expected to prove this once again?"
However, if you are unlike me, and you have been teaching for much longer [I'm guessing what seems like an eternity], your thought process might surprisingly be something similar..."I have been doing this for an eternity so why should I have to prove myself?"
And they are quite valid points. However in the wise words of one of my talented colleagues, the Accreditation process should not be considered as an onerous task that is requiring you to prove your worth and capability as a teacher, it should instead be a positive experience. "You know you are amazing, your colleagues know your amazing, your students know your amazing...so now is your opportunity to show the Department that you are amazing!" [thank you Ashlee Horton], and this is exactly how you should be viewing the entire process.
Last week, myself and two of my wonderful colleagues [Ashlee Horton and Ethan Troung...who according to their constant mentioning, you can apparently find on Twitter...shameless plug I know] presented alongside two other equally as wonderful individuals at the Macarthur Casual and Temporary Teacher Network in Camden [highly recommend getting amongst this network]. Our presentations were given with the intent of sharing our personal experience through the Accreditation journey and enlightening others to any tips and tricks that we learnt along the way [and I assure you, between the five of us, there were plenty...more than I could remember unfortunately].
Overall, the whole experience was incredibly valuable, not only did I learn a lot from others, I also learnt a lot about myself and the fact that I am capable of presenting in front of other colleagues [something that I've never felt quite comfortable in doing, despite being a confident speaker].
So...if you are thinking about, considering starting, or in the midst of your accreditation process, what advice can I give you based on my presentation from that afternoon, as well as the presentations of others? STOP PROCRASTINATING AND JUST GET IT DONE! [please note that I use Caps Lock here for emphasis, and not in an aggressive shouty tone...unless you want to interpret it that way in order to help you in getting things done, I'm fine with that].
Yes the whole entire process seems daunting and time consuming, however hopefully these tips and tricks shared on the day should help to alleviate some of those feelings and help you get started.
1. Collect your evidence. And you know what, this is actually easier than you think because you are literally living and breathing it every day [yup, you read that correctly...enjoy that sigh of relief]. Sit down and have a look at the teaching standards and backward map what you already have and use to those standards. Personally I went about this by printing a hardcopy of the standards and physically writing everything that I could think of from the top of my head next to the associated standards. Soon, I started to realise that most of the 'things' I was writing, actually covered multiple standards [I sense another, perhaps larger sigh of relief happening]...
2. ...which brings me to my next tip, use evidence that matches more than one standard. What most newbies [including myself at the time I started] don't know, is that you do not need to meet every single standard descriptor [cue happy dance], you only need to hit each of the 7 standards overall, which means that if you find 4 pieces of evidence to cover all 7 standards [or in my case 6 pieces of evidence] that is totally fine!! Once again to quote my wonderful colleague, you are simply showing the Department how amazing you are, so choose your best pieces of evidence to submit. Focus on quality over quantity!
3. Form a report that has a structured layout with clear annotations. This will allow the individual reading the report to see the links that you have made to the standards easily while still being able to gain a sense of the amazing teacher that you are. One presenter on the day explained that her school actually stipulated a particular layout for their teachers to use [very handy if you are indecisive like myself], so ensure you always check with your Head Teacher of Teaching and Learning. However, you may simply be in the position that I was in where the layout is not dictated to you, and you are free to choose [which is totally fine]. If you are in that boat, I sincerely hope you are as fortunate as I was, surrounded by generous colleagues that willingly share their reports for you to compare and decide which format best suits [if all else fails, asking others to share their reports will usually do the trick...we're teachers, sharing and collaborating is in our DNA]. If you are still stuck for ideas, see the photos I have added below from my presentation for how I set out my contents page and report annotations.
4. Maintain the confidentiality of your students and school. Remember that when you are attaching any evidence you should always be blacking out your school name, students names, fellow colleagues names etc. This information is not needed, and could jeopardise the confidentiality of individuals.
5. Use any blocks [whether large or miniature] and casual days to your advantage. Being a temporary teacher myself I know just how difficult it can and would be to complete the Accreditation process if I was on anything less than the year block that I am currently on. But, as mentioned in the first point, you are working with your evidence every single day so it is not impossible, you just need to stay on top of your evidence, collecting things in a folder under each standard should help with this.
If you are on a block utilise any of the notes you take at Parent/Teacher nights, units of work or lessons you design, behaviour management strategies that you put into place as your evidence. Collate these into a folder for each standard descriptor and when you have time, sit down and piece them together with some annotations to begin forming your report.
If you are a casual teacher utilise any phone calls with parents by taking notes, voluntarily sit in on staff or faculty meetings to be included in the minutes, or behaviour management routines as your evidence. However, a huge tip given on the day was to try and pick one school to complete the Accreditation process with and ensure that your annotations are signed off as soon as they are complete, incase if you were like one of the presenters on the day, you needed to suddenly change schools and your evidence was not signed in the process.
6. View the Accreditation process as a positive one, quit overthinking it. Yes I am coming back to reminding you that you are an amazing teacher and that this is your chance to showcase it. One thing that I realised while completing my Accreditation was that it was actually a fantastic way for me to reflect on my first year of teaching and what I would change, discard or do differently in the future. As a first year teacher, I think all I ever did was question my teaching style, my lessons, my behaviour management [the list is endless], so actually physically writing these reflections as a part of my annotations was a great way of acknowledging that firstly, yes I am an amazing teacher [round of applause for me] and secondly, that realising I can do certain things differently or better does not mean that I have failed.
7. Finally, quit procrastinating. As mentioned earlier, you may initially be looking at the Accreditation process as a daunting and time consuming process. And yes, I will be honest [because I always am remember] it will be time consuming, if you make it that way. The longest part of this process is actually writing the report, and even that can be smashed out in a day or two. Finding the evidence and writing your annotations will come so naturally, that you might just surprise yourself. So, get out that diary of yours and pencil in a few hours this week to get started...or if you're extra motivated, to complete your Accreditation.
I hope in some shape or form this blog post has helped you. Perhaps it clarified a few things, or perhaps it gave you the incentive that you needed to simply get off your procrastinating butt and get things started. Either way, if you would like a copy of my presentation, or have any other questions about my experience of the Accreditation process in general please feel free to email me at ebony.toth1@det.nsw.edu.au.
If you're like me and you have recently [and when I say recently, I actually mean two years] escaped the grasps of Uni, your first thought would probably be similar to mine..."I have already proven that I know my content AND that I am capable of teaching a classroom full of rowdy, pubescent characters, so why am I already expected to prove this once again?"
However, if you are unlike me, and you have been teaching for much longer [I'm guessing what seems like an eternity], your thought process might surprisingly be something similar..."I have been doing this for an eternity so why should I have to prove myself?"
And they are quite valid points. However in the wise words of one of my talented colleagues, the Accreditation process should not be considered as an onerous task that is requiring you to prove your worth and capability as a teacher, it should instead be a positive experience. "You know you are amazing, your colleagues know your amazing, your students know your amazing...so now is your opportunity to show the Department that you are amazing!" [thank you Ashlee Horton], and this is exactly how you should be viewing the entire process.
Last week, myself and two of my wonderful colleagues [Ashlee Horton and Ethan Troung...who according to their constant mentioning, you can apparently find on Twitter...shameless plug I know] presented alongside two other equally as wonderful individuals at the Macarthur Casual and Temporary Teacher Network in Camden [highly recommend getting amongst this network]. Our presentations were given with the intent of sharing our personal experience through the Accreditation journey and enlightening others to any tips and tricks that we learnt along the way [and I assure you, between the five of us, there were plenty...more than I could remember unfortunately].
Overall, the whole experience was incredibly valuable, not only did I learn a lot from others, I also learnt a lot about myself and the fact that I am capable of presenting in front of other colleagues [something that I've never felt quite comfortable in doing, despite being a confident speaker].
So...if you are thinking about, considering starting, or in the midst of your accreditation process, what advice can I give you based on my presentation from that afternoon, as well as the presentations of others? STOP PROCRASTINATING AND JUST GET IT DONE! [please note that I use Caps Lock here for emphasis, and not in an aggressive shouty tone...unless you want to interpret it that way in order to help you in getting things done, I'm fine with that].
Yes the whole entire process seems daunting and time consuming, however hopefully these tips and tricks shared on the day should help to alleviate some of those feelings and help you get started.
1. Collect your evidence. And you know what, this is actually easier than you think because you are literally living and breathing it every day [yup, you read that correctly...enjoy that sigh of relief]. Sit down and have a look at the teaching standards and backward map what you already have and use to those standards. Personally I went about this by printing a hardcopy of the standards and physically writing everything that I could think of from the top of my head next to the associated standards. Soon, I started to realise that most of the 'things' I was writing, actually covered multiple standards [I sense another, perhaps larger sigh of relief happening]...
2. ...which brings me to my next tip, use evidence that matches more than one standard. What most newbies [including myself at the time I started] don't know, is that you do not need to meet every single standard descriptor [cue happy dance], you only need to hit each of the 7 standards overall, which means that if you find 4 pieces of evidence to cover all 7 standards [or in my case 6 pieces of evidence] that is totally fine!! Once again to quote my wonderful colleague, you are simply showing the Department how amazing you are, so choose your best pieces of evidence to submit. Focus on quality over quantity!
3. Form a report that has a structured layout with clear annotations. This will allow the individual reading the report to see the links that you have made to the standards easily while still being able to gain a sense of the amazing teacher that you are. One presenter on the day explained that her school actually stipulated a particular layout for their teachers to use [very handy if you are indecisive like myself], so ensure you always check with your Head Teacher of Teaching and Learning. However, you may simply be in the position that I was in where the layout is not dictated to you, and you are free to choose [which is totally fine]. If you are in that boat, I sincerely hope you are as fortunate as I was, surrounded by generous colleagues that willingly share their reports for you to compare and decide which format best suits [if all else fails, asking others to share their reports will usually do the trick...we're teachers, sharing and collaborating is in our DNA]. If you are still stuck for ideas, see the photos I have added below from my presentation for how I set out my contents page and report annotations.
4. Maintain the confidentiality of your students and school. Remember that when you are attaching any evidence you should always be blacking out your school name, students names, fellow colleagues names etc. This information is not needed, and could jeopardise the confidentiality of individuals.
5. Use any blocks [whether large or miniature] and casual days to your advantage. Being a temporary teacher myself I know just how difficult it can and would be to complete the Accreditation process if I was on anything less than the year block that I am currently on. But, as mentioned in the first point, you are working with your evidence every single day so it is not impossible, you just need to stay on top of your evidence, collecting things in a folder under each standard should help with this.
If you are on a block utilise any of the notes you take at Parent/Teacher nights, units of work or lessons you design, behaviour management strategies that you put into place as your evidence. Collate these into a folder for each standard descriptor and when you have time, sit down and piece them together with some annotations to begin forming your report.
If you are a casual teacher utilise any phone calls with parents by taking notes, voluntarily sit in on staff or faculty meetings to be included in the minutes, or behaviour management routines as your evidence. However, a huge tip given on the day was to try and pick one school to complete the Accreditation process with and ensure that your annotations are signed off as soon as they are complete, incase if you were like one of the presenters on the day, you needed to suddenly change schools and your evidence was not signed in the process.
6. View the Accreditation process as a positive one, quit overthinking it. Yes I am coming back to reminding you that you are an amazing teacher and that this is your chance to showcase it. One thing that I realised while completing my Accreditation was that it was actually a fantastic way for me to reflect on my first year of teaching and what I would change, discard or do differently in the future. As a first year teacher, I think all I ever did was question my teaching style, my lessons, my behaviour management [the list is endless], so actually physically writing these reflections as a part of my annotations was a great way of acknowledging that firstly, yes I am an amazing teacher [round of applause for me] and secondly, that realising I can do certain things differently or better does not mean that I have failed.
7. Finally, quit procrastinating. As mentioned earlier, you may initially be looking at the Accreditation process as a daunting and time consuming process. And yes, I will be honest [because I always am remember] it will be time consuming, if you make it that way. The longest part of this process is actually writing the report, and even that can be smashed out in a day or two. Finding the evidence and writing your annotations will come so naturally, that you might just surprise yourself. So, get out that diary of yours and pencil in a few hours this week to get started...or if you're extra motivated, to complete your Accreditation.
I hope in some shape or form this blog post has helped you. Perhaps it clarified a few things, or perhaps it gave you the incentive that you needed to simply get off your procrastinating butt and get things started. Either way, if you would like a copy of my presentation, or have any other questions about my experience of the Accreditation process in general please feel free to email me at ebony.toth1@det.nsw.edu.au.
Thanks for your thoughts! I'm confused about one point though... you mentioned that "you do not need to meet every single standard descriptor [cue happy dance], you only need to hit each of the 7 standards overall..." - yet in your contents page picture above you actually list the specific dot points you're addressing (ie 4.1.2, 4.3.2, 4.4.2).
ReplyDeleteI note that 4.3.3 seems to be missing...so are you saying that technically you only need one of these (ie 4.1.2)? Or did you just do more to be on the safe side?
Many thanks!
Gilbert
It's good practice to hit a few separate standard descriptors for each piece of evidence but, overall, it's correct to say that you don't need to hit every single dot point for each standard - just a few from each.
ReplyDelete