Formal education does not stop at grade 8 at AE/MS! A dedicated, and at times crazed, group of teachers at AE/MS have enrolled in the masters/CAGS/doctoral programs through New England College (NEC) Graduate School. This plan was launched when we attended the NEC Summer Institute in June of 2014.

So far, 11 AE/MS staff members have completed the Assessment and Evaluation course. It made us a bit harried, because it was a four graduate-credit course squeezed into seven short weeks.

We learned a lot about different types of assessments and also how the act of assessing children’s progress should occur to benefit our next teaching steps. In other words, we teach, we check in, we fix what did not seem to “stick” in the kids’ minds, and we check in again … until the learning is solid.

The next adventure for us is due to be completed just before Christmas. We are taking an online course – for some of us, the first ever. We are learning the challenges of not having “face time” with a teacher, of problem-solving technological glitches so our work is done on time, and  of finding time to cheer each other on when the assignment seems too daunting.

The result of this course will be a Professional Portfolio online. We have had to familiarize ourselves with New Hampshire Professional Standards and determine where our strengths and challenges lie. It should be a great Christmas gift for us to see what we already do well, as well as to reflect on the next steps we need to take to be even better because … formal education never stops at AE/MS.

We love AE/MS!