Welcome to My Portfolio

KACIE TRAVER

Cover Letter & Resume

y Thank you for taking the time to look at my

information. I look forward to discussing how my services would be of best fit for Christ the King School. y Cover Letter y Resume

Praxis Domains
y The following slides provide examples of proficiency

of the Praxis Domains. Additionally, I have added a link to a professional evaluations, my current license, and transcripts from my Masters Degree. I feel that these pieces of evidence demonstrate further proof of my efficacy as an educator. y Professional Evaluation y Ohio Teaching License y Master of Educational Technology with a Technology Integration Specialist

Organizing Content Knowledge for Student Learning

y Two years ago, I was given a new student with a troubled

past. Had I not opened his files, spoken with his grandmother, and really learned about this boy, our school would have let him go. We would have been the 7th school in as many years to make that mistake. After many months of conversation with case workers, psychiatrists, etc., and sifting though his sorted personal and academic history, we really got to know what made him tick. He is currently a thriving sophomore in high school. This student will always be a reminder to me how vitally important it is to find as much background about a student as possible.

Organizing Content Knowledge for Student Learning

y Below are examples of lesson plans and teacher-

created SMART notebooks. I regularly create my own resources to tailor to the classes with whom I am working.
y Sample Lesson Plan - this is the format I use for all my lessons y Sample SMART notebook a short lesson starter on context clues y Sample teacher created assessment - a mini-quiz encompassing many

higher level thinking questions y Online Portfolio this portfolio is a collection of all my web pages created during my Masters program. I frequently use many of these pages for supplemental material for students. y OAA Power Verb Web page I created this page as a supplement for students practicing for Ohio Achievement Assessments.

Organizing Content Knowledge for Student Learning

y Below is a web page and scavenger hunt activity I

created in a graduate class. I use this activity with middle school students to help them learn the process of research without plagiarizing. Plagiarizing is a very difficult concept for students to master, so I try to give them ample support in this particular area to clarify the subject matter as much as possible. y Scavenger Hunt web page and activity

Organizing Content Knowledge for Student Learning

y Our district currently uses Scantron testing as our

formal standardized testing. We test twice yearly, once in the fall and again in the spring. After the fall assessment, I spend a lot of time analyzing scores, looking for class strengths and weaknesses as well as individual need for remediation or enrichment. The program allows me to tailor what I teach, when I teach it, and to whom I need to teach certain topics. Using Scantron allows me to better differentiate my teaching to reach all students.

Creating an Environment for Student Learning

y This domain is very fitting in the regular classroom. Obviously, much

of this domain regarding safe physical space and fairness in the classroom do not fit the virtual setting. However, I have included some pictures of my classroom to show the organization of my room, which was purposefully set up to aid in student organization, reading selection, and physical space and safety.

(book bins separated by genre, author, series, etc.)

(My personal workspace)

(tables with bins for post-its, date stamp, hole puncher, dictionary)

Teaching for Student Learning

y As a teacher, it is vital to communicate learning

expectations to students. Students should not have to guess at what they are expected to do. Any time I give students an assessment or project, I provide them with a rubric, either separate from the project or at the beginning of a written assessment. This is an easy way to clearly express expectations and can be done in all academic areas. y Sample Rubric

Teaching for Student Learning

y It is also very important to assess student knowledge

through a variety of tools. While written assessments are important, there are also many other forms that can be just as effective and help to keep students engaged in the learning process. Below are some examples of student work. y Sample research paper - a 6th grade student example
y Sample multimedia presentation a Utopian Community project based on The Giver y Sample digital story - a student written mystery using the elements discussed while reading The Westing Game

Teaching for Student Learning

y On a recent planned absence from work, my students were

in the middle of writing a non-fiction piece of work and I did not want to disrupt their flow. The teacher that was coming in was not very comfortable with the topic, so I recorded my lesson and left the substitute instructions on what to pass out, when to stop the recording, etc.. It was my first experience with this type of instruction, so it was definitely a novice effort, but the students received the material and were able to continue with minimal interruption. y Recorded lesson plan

Teacher Professionalism
y Below are Letters of Recommendation from fellow

educators. I am very lucky that two of these ladies were not only my co-workers, they are also parents of past students. Therefore they can attest both to my attributes as a fellow educator and how they view my teaching from a parent perspective. y Letter of recommendation 1 y Letter of recommendation 2 y Letter of recommendation 3

Teacher Professionalism
y Parent communication is key to a successful school year. I

always ensure regular e-mail communication, which is answered in less than 24 hours, and maintain a website that is updated daily with announcements and daily homework and/or send out digital weekly newsletters. I have had extensive training in moodle and am able to maintain those sites as well. These communication tools are a much more effective and efficient way for our middle school team to communicate as a whole with parents.

Teacher Professionalism
y In addition to the emails and website, I also keep parents

updated on student progress with online grades. I am trained in Easy Grade Pro, which allows the exporting of grades to the internet for parent and student viewing. Also, any communications that I have with parents are logged in a communication journal. This helps if there is ever a discrepancy in communication and makes for better personal organization. y Sample page from communication journal

Teacher Professionalism
y As a teacher, it is important to stay current with new

trends in education. One way to stay abreast with the latest academic news is to subscribe to journals. Currently, I am a member of both the National Middle School Association and the International Society for Technology in Education. Additionally, I subscribe to RSS feeds for Educause, eSchool news, Techlearning, and the National Center for Education Statistics.

Additional Information
y Thank you again for your time and consideration. I

look forward to future communication. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me using the following information:
Kacie Traver  Cell Phone: (419)343-3018 Email address: ktraver@bex.net