Megan Balduf is a middle school English teacher with nineteen years’ experience. Being a teacher has always been Megan’s dream, and her dedication to students and their learning opened opportunities to become a teacher-leader. Megan continues to grow and learn to be a better teacher today than she was yesterday. Since entering the classroom, Megan has earned an MA in Gifted Education, an MA in English for Language Arts Teachers, and became a National Board Certified Teacher.
Trenches story: when she first started at her current school. It was a different community. Felt flustered. Wanted to be successful in a new space.
Teaches MS English. Has taught for 19 years. Only 1 year as a 6th grade teacher. Now teaches 8th grade. Biggest shift in kids’ needs If you deemphasize the test. It’s how kids are doing that day emotionally. A bad interaction can throw them off.
Tell about the process getting NBCT certified in Language Arts: It’s how you engage students in conversation about texts. Venue in English class is about sharing ideas. Filming interactions & reflection. Learned more about self as a teacher. You reflect a lot on what did you do to get there in the lesson.
Teach Better Blogging: started during COVID, encountered some issues & wanted to share out. Addressed situations she was seeing in her classroom. Now her focus is how can a student’s grade reflects what they’ve understood.
Key quotes: Standardized tests aren’t an end all be all. It's a single measure fed in part by the day’s experience. Focus on if they know the content. Dig into upper levels of Blooms. Click To Tweet
Find Megan online: on Twitter @mbalduf
View this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/lVQ_E04o3U8
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