Diagnostic Data FAQ

Thanks to everyone who came by the Tracking Party last night! Round two will be tonight, Tuesday, from 8:30-10:00pm (after ILTs) in the resource room. Last night was hoppin’, but with the diagnostic data collection happening tomorrow (check your WIDWATW for the details), we have a feeling we might get a few more tracker lovers tonight. It’s totally informal, so come by anytime with questions.

In that spirit, we here at the Department of Data have been fielding a wide variety of questions about the tracking tools, growth goals, and the meaning of life in general. There’s no dumb questions, but there sure are some frequently asked ones. Here are a few of the more common ones we’ve been seeing:

Q: Where do I put the data for my [xyz] assessment?

Tracking Party tonight and tomorrow

No worries. We know not everyone thinks Excel is as hot as we do.

Building the tracking tools is one of my big projects during the year, so of course I’m excited to see them in action and help out where I can.

Tracking Party!
Monday (tonight), 6-8pm
Tuesday (tomorrow), 8:30-10pm
in the resource room

We hope you’ll come join us.

Get some sleep!

[just joining us for the first time? check out our about page to learn why we hope you'll visit all summer long]

*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP*

Good morning, Sunshine.  It’s your alarm again.

You groggily think to yourself:  Why am I getting up at 4:30 in the morning?

Well, if you remember back to the diaries from the opening ceremonies, you’re waking up for students like Isaiah, Darrean and Sergio.  You’re here to inspire the same ganas in your students that Victor instilled in his.

According to the Better Sleep Council, a lack of sleep leads to a drop in concentration level and an increase in irritability and depression.  The amount of sleep you get at Hassayampa will directly affect student achievement in your classroom this summer, and the students in your regions.

If you’re anything like Justin Barbaro, a 2008 Phoenix CM who is teaching at Southwest this summer, your sleep schedule at institute has changed just a bit from when you were in college. Justin knows the importance of a routine when it comes to sleep.  After waking up at an unaccustomed time to take the LSAT, he realized he needed to regulate his sleep schedule to increase his own scores.  For the next month, he went to bed at a reasonable hour and woke up at 6:30 every day.  Sure enough, the next time he took the test, his scores improved significantly.

See?  As Justin proved, managing your sleep time not only increases student achievement, but your own achievement as well.

Believe me, we know this all easier said than done, but here are some tips that hopefully will help you get a bit of extra rest at institute:

649 new teachers

Sunday was registration day and I had the chance to work at one of the registration day tables for awhile, which was great because it’s exciting to meet our 649 new teachers when they first get to institute. Less exciting was seeing everyone’s faces when getting out of the car and realizing that it was 110 degrees out. Welcome to Phoenix!

Anyway, several new corps members asked me why we have them use registration “passports” and timestamp them after each station. Since the answer is all about data, I was happy to share probably far more than people were hoping for.

The answer is simple: we don’t want to waste anyone’s time.

But there’s more to the story…

Welcome to the Phoenix Institute!

We are extremely excited to welcome all 2008 Teach For America corps members to a wonderful Phoenix Institute experience, and even more excited to introduce you to the wonderful world of data.

We are Lewis Leiboh and Olin Parker, and we’re responsible for that world of data at the Phoenix Institute. Here at the “Department of Data” (we made up a department name to make us seem extremely official), our job is to analyze information from staff and Corps Members and help everyone turn that data into action that furthers student achievement. Whether it is helping you track your students’ progress in the classroom, or giving you more time to work on lesson plans by cutting down your wait time in the dining hall, everything we do revolves around those bright minds you will encounter in just one more week.

Do not be alarmed…