My Journey with ISTAA Experienced Teacher Accreditation #6

Unfortunately this journey didn't have a happy ending. It fact, it feels like my biggest fail yet. While I was putting everything together, it felt like I was on track, however I failed to meet most of the descriptors according to the criteria the AIS had, and once I failed I had no means for resubmitting. My disappointment over this has been a real struggle for me. Usually if I've failed at something there has been something I could do about it to recover it. I tried everything I could think of here, but it has come to the point where I just need to let it go, learn the lessons and move forward.

I'm taking a year off accreditation and then will reapply at the end of 2018, but this time will choose the Standards Based Approach. I hope to try action research again, but not in an assessment capacity, and only if I have someone to walk with me through the process. I think I bit off more than I could chew.

I still believe, however, that there were many positives that came from my attempts at action research around Growth Mindset, formative assessment and feedback this year. Personally it has helped me to deal with the setbacks better (including this one!) and has greatly improved the relationships I have with the students I teach. In my opinion - though difficult to prove - students academic results have improved as a result of the actions I put in place - be that related to growth mindset, formative assessment or feedback.