“Do you have any advice for a teacher who is having difficulty collecting data for the EYE‐TA?"
- Use the given resources and tailor to your class rather than re‐creating it!
- Trust yourself; you do it already.
- Start small and build from what you have and know. Implement activities that incorporate more than one TA item.
- Fun activities (e.g., game) and observe/question small groups.
- Try a variety of methods. Not all will work for each child.
- I plan daily activities that enable me in take notes, checklists, etc. to assess certain skills.
- Talk to colleagues to get ideas.
- Don't try to collect everything in one day.
- Use the provided checklists and materials!! They are wonderful!!
- Keep it simple, take lots of photos, and jot notes.
- Activities built into circle time routines work well for me.
- Create invitational learning spaces that foster the EYE‐TA skills.
- Keep the checklist handy all day; just note things as the kids are doing their regular day‐to‐day stuff.
- Ask administration for help to allow coverage of class (Educational assistants can be pulled from other classes to assist) this allows teacher to work with small groups while the children are playing.
- Teach to a whole group but only focus on certain children. Children are not the same everyday but as a teacher, you know overall what your children are able to do.
- Don't overthink it, look at what you are already doing and see this as part of good teaching practice.
- Have adult volunteers or high school children help with the class while you observe.
- Get familiar with the different items in order to find ways to incorporate the assessment into things you are already doing.
- Do as much as you can in a group situation where you can get data for a "group" of children at once.
- Choose one or two times a day to focus on observing children. Keep an ongoing list to record child responses (e.g., predicting what will happen next in a story).
- Allow the gym teacher and music teacher to assist you.
- Try to work the assessment into daily activities and not as one‐on‐one assessments that needs to be done all at once.
- Plan fun, engaging activities that will help you see the skill you are trying to observe.
- Make the activities fun and group the children based on ability. Children with more challenging behaviours or stronger personalities can be assessed independently and children who are more cooperative can be completed in groups of 2‐3.
- Plan everyday activities to include target skills, keep the checklist handy, and make anecdotal notes with 1‐4 ratings on them.
- Choose 2 or 3 skills to assess a day, and implement those skills into your lessons.
- Do not panic or stress out about it. Watch the children. They will show you their knowledge if you look for it and sometimes even when you're not looking.