Wednesday, November 26th

iReady...We are not ready.

At this time, iReady data is a lousy way for us to evaluate a student's achievement and growth. Hopefully, soon, it might be data that means something to us. Yes...that means I'm asking you to use precious class time to administer assessments that we do nothing with right now. Sometimes, you just have to do stuff you don't agree with or think is purposeful for kids. We are under the gun with the Colorado Department of Education and Colorado Senate to assess kids with 'approved' assessments.

We tried to select an assessment that might turn out to be a valuable tool for teacher use. We have to play with it this year and see what we discover. So I make a peace with administering these assessments as action research to see if there might actually be an assessment that we are required to use, that might work for us as teachers.

It is still essential that you continue to use authentic assessments that are meaningful to you as a teacher. You must know how your students are doing both informally and formally. There is no way we could say that iReady is a tool we use for this right now. It should not be the tool you are using to assess student achievement and growth - it is an 'add on' right now. By the end of the year, it might get added to the list of assessments that you use and monitor - but not yet!

Because iReady has no working value for us yet, this is not data we share with parents or use to analyze student growth. I certainly do not have the experience or expertise to understand the data when I look at it, let alone explain it to a parent. Let's wait and see what we discover about iReady and then make decisions about how we might use the data.

I sent out an email letting you all know that Carolyn Burtner is coming to help us understand how to use the intervention component of the program. (Tuesday, December 2nd.)Again, we have no idea whether this is a quality intervention - which kids it will fit - how to read the data...long list of unknowns. It is essential that we use this intervention to evaluate whether it has purpose and meaning for us.

After we return from Christmas, we will have enough progress monitoring data in iReady to get trained on how to read those crazy reports!

I hope this has cleared up some confusions - maybe even provided clarity to something you didn't know you didn't know!

Now in an attempt to avoid confusion....

To recap our decision about reporting student progress 

to parents:

Here is what we all agreed to do the same:

* Write a brief overview of what the Learning Expedition/Unit of Study has been and how that study encompasses the World Class Outcomes. We do need to list the World Class Outcomes so we can begin to educate our community about what they are and how we design learning experiences so that kids can achieve them. We should also list the 21st Century Skills and 4C's that were explicitly taught.
 (Hey...Stage 1 or your backward plan should help you with this part! Please, please keep the parent audience in mind and remember that they aren't interested in reading a novel. Lauren was so right that most of your blogs are communicating this information all the time, so you may only need something very brief.)

* Write a personal narrative for each student outlining where they have grown and where the next steps are for them as learners.

*Use a shared letter head
Letter head
Be sure when you share this with parents that you change the setting to 'view only' and not edit.

* Saved electronically or printed out

Here is what you can individualize to suit your style:

* Autonomy for format

* Whether you do it by content or as comprehensive more integrated style

* Sending it home electronically or hard copy

What I still need to know:
* Do we have to 'score' or quantify how they are doing...or can it just be a narrative? IF by Wednesday, I do not have clarification - make that decision for yourself.

Collaborating to Create!
* Pam, Doug and Chelsea are sharing their drafts here (thanks!). Sharing these drafts with each other will allow us to have multiple exemplars to help us with this work. I'm sure everyone would be most appreciative of anyone who is willing to share. We can use the social construction of knowledge to support our work on developing a new way to report. Sharing will also give us all a shared understanding and knowledge of what we are doing as a system.
Music
Physical Education
Art

 What we learned on these initial progress report drafts - 
*Do not allocate a huge amount of time to create the format!
* Because it wasn't practical for the IA teachers to write 410 narratives, their format looks very different than a classroom report.
*Ask yourself over and over if you have used language that is informal and makes sense to parents - keeping it real.
*Find a way to include the World Class Outcomes, 4C's, 21st Century Skills in a way that parents see them and see the link to the learning experience.

Calendar:

December 1 - 5:

RTI : 7:30 a.m.
Carolyn Burtner from iReady comes to work with teams

Wednesday:
No Beat
PD: Time to design and work on student progress report

Thursday:
Deborah out of building to PK12 admin meeting


December 8 -12:

Tuesday:
RTI - 7:30 a.m.
School visit from our director 1-3 p.m.

Giving Thanks...

Safe Travels...

Happy Feasting...

See you soon,

Deborah

November 14, 2014

Every day my thinking is changing. Every day I get closer to really embracing and even enjoying the discovery rather than letting it feel like a deadline. I feel the pressure to figure it out, because I know you are looking to me for guidance, feedback, and reassurance. 
I am always happy to share what I'm thinking today - until something you say makes me wonder all over again. I'm trying to share feedback with you as objectively as I can so that you can 'see' what I notice. And I can reassure all of us, that the one thing I know for sure - is that an effective educator is always pushing themselves to new levels. Without a doubt, there are no passengers on this Crew.

At the conclusion of our professional development session we neglected to visit a few classrooms. Our time went longer than I anticipated - took longer to go over Liz's talking points. So...we will be sure to visit classrooms next Wednesday. My apologies to those teachers who were expecting us!

In the spirit of reporting out on school data here's some things I've noticed:

* People experimenting with using Learning Targets in a variety of ways.
* Learning Targets displayed in a variety of ways.
* Observed teachers unpacking the targets with kids and making sense out of what they are targeting.
* Students using the learning target to self-assess their progress.
* Using check for understanding strategies.
* Students involved in understanding why they are learning the target.
* Cold calls for checking for understanding
* No opt out strategy - we still have some confusions about how to follow up when a student doesn't have an answer. I've seen teachers take it on, rather than having the student ask for help, and have not seen students repeating back what another student said when they didn't know.
* Our learning targets still reveal some confusions about the target being a Learning target versus Doing targets.

Important to remember:
* This is an inquiry study - there is no destination that we are all expected to arrive at together.
* Trying one thing is about all we can do. Let go of your personal expectation to implement everything we study.
* Wonder - ask more questions
* Decide you might have an idea that could work for you and try it and then reflect
* Wonder - ask more questions

What we do does make a difference

In October, Katie Glassman, was chosen as Mesa's Middle School Student of the month. She was recognized for the attribute of 'principled'. Lisa emailed her to congratulate her and following is her reply:

"I really never realized how much I actually learned from our voyages. At the moment last year they didn't teach me as much as they have now since middle school. And those skills and the mindset I have built is becoming extremely important. Make sure to tell your crew this year that it may not seem like you ever have to use the skills you are learning now through voyages but all the experiences mean so much to you later. Oh and that they should deeply treasure being part of a crew and part of Renaissance."

Calendar

November 17 -21st:
Book Fair Week

Monday 17th:
Deborah at HR meeting until 10:00 a.m.

Tuesday 18th:
RTI meeting 7:30 a.m.
Debbie out for PLS meeting
Family night at Book Fair 4-7:30 p.m.

Wednesday19th:
The Beat
Professional Development 1:30 - Student Engaged Assessment

Thursday 20th:
Jill's Crew Fieldwork (Julie & Debbie driving) 9:40-10:40
Thanksgiving Feast (completely different lunch schedule)



November 24 - 28th:

Tuesday 25th:
RTI 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday - Friday:
Thanksgiving Break - Enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

Deborah