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TEA recognizes Aransas Pass ISD kindergarten teacher

Posted at 5:49 PM, Sep 06, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-06 18:51:00-04

The Texas Education Agency is recognizing one Aransas Pass ISD teacher for her dedication in the classroom after Hurricane Harvey.

After losing a month and a half of class time, Naomi Nobbie, a kindergarten teacher at Faulk Early Childhood School, made it her mission make sure her students were all caught up in the classroom.

Last school year, Faulk Early Childhood School began classes seven weeks after the planned start date, because much of the school was badly damaged from Harvey.

“I was concerned,” Nobbie said. “Are we really going to get where we need to be after losing seven weeks of instruction? That’s a lot of time for a five and 6-year-old,” she added.

Nobbie, who’s been committed to teaching kindergarten for 12 years, took matters into her own hands. For the first time, she implemented a SMART Goal system for her class. Every three weeks, she would sit down with each student, and create a list of two SMART goals. ​The goals were specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely — hence the name SMART.

“We went through, and we determined what they already knew and had pre-existing knowledge of,” Nobbie said. “And I built on their pre-existing knowledge instead of re-teaching skills they knew,” she added.

Whether it be to count higher, or learn more words and colors, students worked toward those goals throughout the school year. To see if students met their goals, they were tested at the beginning and end of a 3-week period after coming up with their goals. Progress reports and activities would also be sent home to ensure parents were in the loop when it came to their child’s education.

Each time a student met their goal, he or she would move a personalized clip on the goal tracking chart, and have a chance to open what Nobbie called a ‘treasure box’ — an incentive to reach their goals every day.

Nobbie says implementing SMART goals proved to be successful for her students last year, and she hopes to use a similar system this year.

“I felt like my students achieved more than they would have if I hadn’t implemented the goal chart last year,” Mrs. Nobbie said. “They had something to work towards, and it allowed them to have something to achieve,” she added.

The Texas Education Agency featured Mrs. Nobbie’s story on their website as their ‘Story of the Week.’ The story can be found here.