A few parents have asked, “What is a Probe?” I am so glad that you asked that because of two reasons. First of all, you are subscribed to our elementary blog and therefore, keeping up with all that is going on at school. Secondly, you are truly interested in your child’s education enough to ask questions. Please allow me to explain the concept of a Probe through this scenario.
You are preparing a delicious chicken dinner for your entire family. The bird is placed in the oven and cooked for the determined time. As soon as the timer goes off, you place the roasted bird in the center of a serving dish and set it on the table. The first piercing of the fork hints of a pink stain warning you that the chicken is not ready. Decision time – You can serve an unsafe dinner or disassemble the dish and return the fowl to the oven for extended cooking time.
Wouldn’t it have been better to have “Probed” the chicken during cooking to check for readiness?
Our district has chosen to check for readiness before serving up students to new skills for which they are unprepared.
Probes are given every week or two in the form of five or so questions to quickly assess the instruction that has just been completed. It lets the classroom teacher know if reteaching needs to take place or if the class is ready to move on to another skill. Often times it helps to target prerequisite skills that could be missing and consequently makes it difficult for a student to grasp a newly introduced concept. Without these small assessments on specific skills, or probes, teachers would be left to make decisions without the necessary data.
So, how can a student prepare for these probes? Generally, students who pay attention to classroom instruction, complete their homework, arrive to school on time, and remain at school for the entire day perform quite successfully on most probes. At times, some students may need the information retaught in a different way before they can show understanding. At other times, a few students may even need the assistance of another instructor to supplement the classroom teacher. In any case, we will use the data to “check for readiness” to insure that your student is fully prepared.
Wow what a great example of Probes.
This is a great description of a probe! thank you for your helpful information.
Thanks for keeping parents posted on what goes on at school. It really helps when both parents and teachers work together to have their child be successful!
I agree, Mrs. O’Malley. Parents are our best allies. Both are necessary for building productive students. Thank you for your comment.
Thank you so much for keeping us informed through this blog! Keep the info coming 🙂
Keeping parents and community informed is an important role of the school. We are so glad to hear that you are following our elementary blog. Don’t overlook our Open Forum page located at the top of our blog. You can start a discussion thread just by leaving a comment.
I hope all of my students’ parents will subscribe to our blogs so they will have this wealth of information at their fingertips. How exciting to have the opportunity for such close communication! Thank you, Mrs. Cranford, for providing “woelem” and for the pertinent information you provide daily!!!! You’re doing a great job at providing a great service!! (I’ll give Teacher Bucks to any of my students who write the meaning of pertinent in their planner and show me so that I know their parents saw this blog comment!)
Thanks for the info. I love being able to be up-to-date on the happenings at the intermediate (and primary) campuses.
I am so glad that you find it helpful. We have been thinking about developing a blog for this purpose for a while now, and we think the community will benefit from it as well. Thank you for your comment, and don’t overlook our Open Forum page where you can start a discussion just by posting a comment.