Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1. The primary reason Dr. Caisse became a teacher was, “When I was in high
school she had the best teacher. She was invested in the students and made
them feel like they could do whatever they wanted. She was her role model.”
2. The main challenge, “Would have to be…having your administration support your
vision for the methods of student learning. Nevada has approved curriculum and
you have to fight (have a voice) for your teaching style. Also I went from having
a. She has a blended on-line teaching classroom as well and is working with
3. “The best part of teaching – of course the students. Seeing the transformation in
students from the beginning of the year to the end,” answered Dr. Caisse.
a. Dr. Caisse has the students keep their own person Data Notebooks were
they record their own academic progress to get students invested in their
learning (self-reflection).
4. “To determine where the students sit in the class I use a questionnaire in the
beginning of the school year (likes/dislikes). The very first time they come in I
5. She uses the Kagan system to help select the members of flexible grouping. I
every 6 weeks. She will also occasionally allow the students to choose their
seating.
6. “I interact with parents a lot. Over the summer I send out an introduction about
myself. In the beginning of the year I ask for the parents to complete a
homework assignment and tell me about the student (their child) and their goals
for the 5th grade. In the beginning of the year I call all the parents and introduct
myself and give my contact information and say how we are a “team”. Also, in
the beginning of the year I send home a packet explaining my expectations of the
students. I use a program called Class Dojo all the time and comment on the
student’s behavior. I call parents often and keep a log of who I called, when, and
why. I want parents to know they can call and that communication is open with
me. I always look for positive things first when commenting. I will either send a
a. While we were talking about the parent contact she made a point to say
that she tries to contact the parents and report positive progress or
occurs she does contact them for that as well. She told me that most of
the parents are involved and that she does have their support.
7. Dr. Caisse did not tell me a set amount of time that she spends on grading. She
stated, “I grade at home mostly and on the weekends.” She does not have
enough school time to get it done there. I use formative assessments for talking
and communicating. I use Google Classroom and the students can turn some
assignments in on-line. Some of the assignments turned in on-line can be
8. Dr. Caisse said, “For lesson planning I send an unlimited amount of time. I use
Engine Curriculm.”
a. Dr. Caisse showed me her lesson plans for a week and it was 19 pages
long. I could tell that she takes her time when preparing them.
“The lesson plans have to be turned in on-line and must be word-for-word and
include standards. I break mine down by time. (Ex: 9:25 – 10:45). I spend
around 4 – 5 hours on the week’s lesson plan and they are supposed to be
turned in on Monday. I do mine over the weekend for the up-coming week,”
9. Dr. Caisse teaches 5th grade and her students are between the ages of 10 and
12 and for behavior consequences she uses a few different things. “I focus on
the positive behavior. I award positive behavior (treasure box). For the students
with bad behavior they are not allowed the positive reward and are “missing out”
as their consequence. That way they are more likely to have positive behavior in
the future and the students already with positive behavior will continue it. Also I
use the Class Dojo program throughout the day if the student is having negative
behavior and lastly I will call the parents. Ex: “That’s going to be a call home.”
Different things are used for different situations,” described Dr. Caisse.
10. Dr. Caisse was a 1st year CCSD teacher. “Last year I was evaluated 9 times,”
said Dr. Caisse. She explained to me that when she is evaluated that it is done
through an observation and from each observation she has to meet with the
administration 3 times. 1 – Pre-observation form (what to expect). 2 – Actual
observation. 3 – Post Observation (how you felt the lesson went). She told me
that they used the NEPF (tool). That it is a rubric and the students fill out a
Helps me learn
Safe in Classroom
Cares about me
Comments:
Dr. Caisse showed me the surveys that her class had filled out for one of the
evaluations and one comment that was made was: Dr. Caisse is the best
11. “What surprised me most about teaching for CCSD was having 44 students in
my classroom. Also how much you have to handle and just all that you have to
do. As far as the field of education every year that I teach something else gets
on on the teacher’s plate but nothing gets taken away,” state Dr. Caisse.
At the end of the interview she told me that, “I want to create lifelong learners.” I