Last "First Day of School"

     Today was my last “First Day of School” as a student!! 18 years ago I started my first day of Kindergarten and today I started my first day of my last year of university. From now on, my “first day of school” experiences will be as the teacher as opposed to the student, what an interesting thought!

My VERY first day of school: Kindergarten 1995 (I’m on the left, my younger sister is on the right). Don’t you love the work boots and the plaid pants?      Although students aren’t back in school until Thursday our student teaching placement at “S-School” began today with a PD day on the new Standardized Provincial Report Cards that our division is piloting this year. These new standardized report cards will be hosted through our school’s online platform, Maplewood, and are designed not only for consistency but as a means to provide clear and “jargon-free” communication between schools, parents and students.       I found the session, presented by our school’s principal “Mrs. R”, really interesting as I feel that assessment is an area that I don’t have a lot of knowledge in. (I am, however, taking our university’s Assessment & Evaluation course this fall which I hope will remedy this.) I had been previously introduced to these new report cards briefly during one of my classes at university so the format was not a surprise to me but I enjoyed the discussion started by the teachers who have had the experience of using multiple report card formats over the years.       Although “Mrs. R” did a wonderful job of explaining the new report card system, I don’t feel comfortable doing a FULL review/critique on them until I have completed my Assessment & Evaluation course and am more knowledgeable in the subject. Make no mistake though, I will be revisiting this topic within the next two months as it is something that I need to work on before I graduate and prepare for teaching interviews this spring. Until then, you can learn all about the Manitoba Report Cards in the Manitoba Report Card Support Document: Partners for Learning, Grades 1 to 12 (Draft June 2012).