Announcements
Announcements from Previous Years that Still Hold True!
edTPA POLICY REMINDERS
Editing videos is not acceptable as clarified in the documents Making Good Choices and Making Good Choices in Special Education: "Your submitted clips for edTPA must consist of a continuous scene without any edits."
In addition, New York State Department of Education reminds us about originality detection software and the consequences of plagiarism: "As part of the edTPA scoring process, originality detection software is employed to compare all edTPA submissions nationwide against all other edTPA submissions received, including outside written sources and other sources of material... In cases where there is substantial matching, a specially trained portfolio reviewer may then elect to seek enforcement action against the candidate(s) involved and/or refer the candidate(s) to the State Education Department for enforcement action."
3/27/15
I'm a little surprised that I have to say this: do NOT attempt to fail the edTPA on purpose. Blank submissions and incomplete tasks are considered submission errors, not fails, and you will likely be required to resubmit (and pay for the resubmission).
3/20/15
A student who just completed her edTPA let me know that the uploading process took a great deal longer than she expected and offers you the following words of caution and advice:
- Use the commentary specifications (in the handbook) to start formatting your commentaries and artifacts correctly as you go. For example, commentaries need to be in Arial, size 11, with 1 inch margins. Also pay attention to the number of files that are permitted for each upload; you may find that some of your files need to be combined to meet these requirements.
- The uploading process can take a lot longer than you expect, especially if you have a slow computer and/or a slow connection. Former candidates recommend uploading documents as soon as they are complete so that the day before your deadline you can simply press one button to submit everything.
3/13/15
Reminders surfaced by today's writing camp:
1. It's okay if your central focus, language function, and strategy echo each other and even use the same language- that means you are planning a well-aligned learning segment!
2. It's okay if writing your planning commentary occasionally feels redundant- this can also be a sign of a well-aligned learning segment.
3. When you support assertions with research and/or theory, formal citations are not necessary. Do provide the author's name and enough context to give your reader a sense of the research you are citing (do not assume that they have read everything you have read). And do be sure that the research/theory really does support what you did!
3/11/15
Reminders surfaced by the "Cutting and Compressing Film Workshop":
1. The film clips you submit must show uninterrupted film. Multiple clips cannot be spliced together to make "one" clip. This is considered editing.
2. When filming, do your best not to stop the camera. You will want to have as much uninterrupted film to work with as possible.
3. For the assessment task, you are technically allowed to use film clips as work samples. Look closely at the commentary specifications before you consider this option, however. Because you are asked to submit a 5 minute clip of "student work" for each focus student, this option will really only work for students who are teaching one very small group of students throughout their learning segment.
4. Back up your original films in two places: on your desktop, for easy access, and in the cloud (consider drop box or "File Share")- check out today's presentation under the "program resources" tab for details.
3/6/15
Office hours discovery: some students are working with the mis-impression that they should only film the whole-group mini-lesson. This is not true! Film everything you can (with consent of course). You never know when you or your students are going to do something brilliant!
10/24/14
Insight from our study hall: write as you go! At this point, the document entitled "math assessment commentary" (#3 in my September email) should be a dear friend.
9/16/14: Please note that students completing a Critical Special Education (CSE) semester will NOT be permitted to film in CSE placements. Thus, your "core" year provides your only chance to complete an edTPA handbook.