I want to first and foremost thank all of you for the insight, thoughts and knowledge you’ve bestowed in OTL547. The open discussions questions enlightened, opened and energized my 20-year concrete thoughts on the subject of evaluation and assessment. It was such a joy to look inside the thoughts of such a diverse and dynamic group of individuals. Some of the more seasoned veteran teachers down to those of you who are just starting out in your careers as professional educators I have grown immensely from our discussions. I know we take a lot of criticism in this profession from the general public as educators about our “Why” and how we ended up in this profession, you know because “those who can’t, TEACH.” Our methods are questioned with delivery and assessment, our vacations are often debated and then are tremendous salaries are often in the headlines. I will leave you with this in a profession that is drastically declining in prep programs and the droves leaving the profession for greener pastures I applaud all of you whom are entering, staying and climbing the professional ladder. It’s a tough career and to make it you are a special breed of individual. No other profession is as important as a teacher as our jobs are so unlike any other. I often debate with friends that a teacher’s product is humans not a bottom financial line, not a product but a human being. How they turn out in life, what they will become how many products they will build and how big their bottom lines will be. How they will affect society as a whole when they reach adulthood. The great things they will do and become all start with a teacher somewhere that made the impact in their lives. In 502 I often referred to teaching as sometimes being on a deserted island by yourselves, you can choose to weather the many storms alone or you can lean on those in the profession to lend you a hand. Lean on those in your schools, your districts, your prep programs and those impactful teachers you had along the way. They still care about your success as I do all of the students that I have encountered. I love to see them succeed in their adult lives and will help them any way I can, you never stop being a teacher to them. Sometimes in the case I am in now I am learning so much and being taught by a former student. Scott thank you for pushing me to do the best I can possibly do through this master’s program.
Ok now the mushy part is over we can get down to business. As far as OTL547 as a class goes. This class really aloud me the autonomy to fit evaluation and assessment to my needs. Our athletic program like many in the country has left itself to opinion-based performances by our coaches. Being able to put a measurable and quantifiable system in place for coaches to evaluate players will help in spades as we move into the future. I applaud Dr. Poppe for allowing not only myself but all of his students to take this class in the direction that it can be applicable now to them. As this is my second class with Dr. Poppe he is a master of making relevancy to theory. As I went through my traditional undergrad program some time ago, I heard professor after professor discussing theory rather than practice, I really thought I was set as I entered my first teaching position. I quickly realized theory gets chucked out the window and I had very little tools to actually be an effective teacher. Through the modified CT’s and DF’s this course allowed us to put into practice the concepts of assessment and evaluation. I really looked deep into the syllabi assignments and then at what Dr. Poppe assigned and I weighed the benefit of what would actually be beneficial to my students, Dr. Poppe’s version balanced out every time. This takes a bold man to make these moves and I truly appreciate it. I truly think we are cut of the same cloth and would love to co-teach a class with you down the road if Yoda would get back into the public-school realm one day. I can truly say I hope you stay in higher education and teacher prep, because the institution needs a few more Jedi’s that prepare future educators for the real battle. Thank you for pushing me and making me feel welcome in our online classroom. I believe what I have learned and taken away from this course and my two courses with you have made an impact on my professional career, which will lead to bettering my district and above all bringing out the best in all my students.
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