February 8, 2013

Play, Passion, Purpose

It's been a joy going through the observation process with many of you. It's been a great learning process for me to see what we understand, what we are struggling to understand, and where we still need to grow.

I also know that our learning grows and goes deeper with exposure to good speakers, presentations and who better than Tony Wagner! In this video and the next, you will find connections to the hard work you are engaged in as you wrap your arms around identifying modern, rigorous, relevant, integrated, transferable, and aligned outcomes. Why is it important to have outcomes that have purpose? How does passion and play align with engagement? How does creativity provide ownership for learners, and therefore increase engagement? Do we honor play?

Please take a minute to watch this video and reflect. 

If you love it...watch another!

7 Skills Students Need for the Future

It is so exciting that we are part of the great shift in transforming education.

Will we ever arrive? Nah...

But it is very validating to listen to Tony Wagner and his vision and recognize that we here at Renaissance have been on this path - We have embraced this vision and are involved in the hard work of figuring out how to take an idea and move it into action.

Before we can implement an idea, we must understand it.

Then, we must get busy trying to do it.

February 11 - 15th:

Monday:

Lisa's Crew leaves on Winter Voyage

4th grade leaves on Winter Voyage

Tuesday:

RTI meeting 7:15 a.m.

Wednesday:

All School Meeting

Professional Development: Team Planning

Thursday:
Valentines Day (This has authentic writing opportunities...)

Friday:

No Students

Professional Development: Planning and Collaboration

February 18th - 22nd:

Monday: No School - President's Day

Tuesday:

No RTI meeting

Wednesday:

Professional Development: Team Planning

Friday:

First grade Winter Voyage day trip

Leadership Team Discussion and Decisions:

The Leadership Team looked at the results of the Professional Development Survey. 20 teachers responded. 100% of the respondents wanted planning time on Friday, Feb. 15th. The top other three categories were to spend some time learning how to teach and assess the 4'C's; participating in a discussion about generating systems for  giving students feedback against the learning targets; and time to explore digital tools. The team decided to allocate our Professional Development day and allow teachers the full day to plan. IF you want to collaborate with other teachers to increase your knowledge and skill in any area, we encourage you to network on Friday!

Originally we thought we would survey the whole staff with the CDE TELL survey. This is a lengthy survey and takes a chunk of time to complete. So, in the interest of conserving time and prioritizing tasks, the Leadership Team decided to take a sampling of our staff instead. 

Planning Time

Last week in Friday Flash I wrote a focus piece on the many responsibilities of the classroom teacher and included a check-list of sorts that a teacher might use to map out their time. I'm putting a hard copy of that list in your mailboxes for you to use over the next few months.

In addition, at the beginning of the year, I asked you to keep a log of your extended planning time. For example, days spent over the break on planning, or days spent with Noreene planning outside of school, days you get a sub for planning purposes. I will need you to submit that log to me at the end of the year as we are responsible for tracking our planning grant dollars. Just a reminder :)

Some of you expressed interest in having some support planning. If you want to work with Noreene next Friday you better hurry and set that up! Perhaps she can do two half-day sessions. We are also extending Elisha's role and responsibilities and she will be available to starting supporting team planning. Unfortunately, she'll be leaving soon to give birth to her daughter, but keep her in mind for next year!

Peek Into the Life of our School:

Rats...blurry!
Lisa is teaching Doug a wrestling move!

Collaboration between teachers -
Elisha and Jody analyze student writing -
puzzling over what the next steps for this student should be.

Integration of art with social studies Learning Expedition in 2nd grade

Starry Starry Night -
it's gorgeous!

...and they know it!

...and they work hard at it!

Worm mud left behind in Nathan's hand...
I just missed the worms!
First grade begins a new science learning expedition

Collecting student thinking...

ahh...here's those pesky worms.

Scientists cleaning up after handling the worms.

Long lines for check out at the library!

No 'wonder'!

Beautiful singing and dancing coming from the music room!

Differentiating the instruction for students

Digital tools for learning

...and dressed for success!

Teacher and students learning side by side

Have you seen the dazzling paper cranes in Rebecca's Crew?
Inspired by literature -

Classification - inquiry in fourth grade

Conferring 

A rubric and a system for providing feedback so that
students know how they are doing.
"I did it!" moves away from kids thinking whatever they do is 'good enough'.

Dialogue between teacher and students

Winter Voyage paperwork...
See? She's smiling!
Bless you Julie

Have a wonderful weekend!

Deborah

February 1, 2013

Couch time

Ha! You thought I was going to tell you to relax!

Nah, as I was meeting with Kenny today to debrief his observation he commented that I'd have spent a good deal of my time recently on my couch. He's right! It's been a pleasure to engage in conversations with many of you about teaching and learning! I've also met with lots of parents during the open enrollment window. Recent responsibilities have impacted my schedule and I am getting well acquainted with my couch! I look forward to finishing the observation cycles and resuming more time in classrooms.

P.S. Feel free to come and recline on the couch for therapy anytime!

Pacing Ourselves

Following is a list you might use to organize yourself and your time on the following Wednesday afternoons that have been allocated for planning. Perhaps this checklist will enable you to get out in front of some responsibilities by allocating time to plan them and allocating time in your daily schedule to accomplish them.

With that said, I recognize that some of the responsibilities feel like stand alone learning opportunities and don't easily fit into the structure of our daily schedule. So how do we manage them? Some of those responsibilities are things like Service Learning Projects, Student Led Conference preparation, etc.

There are only seven hours to each school day. So as you lay this all out before you, you are going to need to make some shifts. That will look different for each of you. You might decide to start devoting Wednesdays to some of these unique responsibilities, or decide to use a workshop one day a week, or embed what you can within a content, etc. But you will have to balance things to accomplish it all. I highly suggest you take a calendar and work from the first week in June backwards and chart out your course.

Take advantage of some of our rituals and structures, such as Morning Meeting and Closing Circle for an added place for some of this learning to occur.

Consider these as you allocate your time on Wednesday afternoons and use them to chart your course between now and the end of the year:

*Service Learning Project
*Portfolio Development
*Student Led Conferences
*Ad. Ed. skill building/team building (1x month)
*Learning Expeditions
*Genre Study
*Test taking skills
*4 C’s - explicit teaching/assessing
*Display student work
*Selecting digital tools/setting up FOR learning
*Communication - blog, feedback to students,
*Meeting with interventionists/specialists
*Visit DLMC
*Checking out field work/making arrangements
*Parent meetings (conferring together before student led conferences)
*Complete assignment for Restorative Circles (I'll get you that information)

Okay...that was kind of heavy -

that calls for a pep talk...

Professional Development Survey

Noreene emailed you a Google Doc survey to collect your thoughts and needs as the Leadership Team plans for our professional development on Friday, February 15th. Be sure to complete the survey so that we can differentiate the learning and make it meaningful for you.

Life Is Art

An auction item at Life Is Art that is tremendously popular and important are those special 'time with the teacher' auction items. Kerry Trietley will be emailing all of you to find out what you might be willing to do. She will let you know what has been popular, provide suggestions and be your contact for communicating what you will be willing to do that they can auction at the event. It's coming up fast!

If you want to do your auction event with a student on a Wednesday afternoon, I will support that.

Artist's Edition of Life Is Art

The Artist's Edition is an opportunity to showcase our student art prior to the Life Is Art fundraising event and an opportunity to include the kids, since Life Is Art is an adult only event.

We are expanding the Artist's Edition (formally called Kids Edition) to include the performing arts. Three separate times during the event (4:30 - 7:30) the 6th graders will perform a drum circle and band, orchestra and choir will perform. 

In addition there will be several 'items' that kids can auction on during that event to give them the flavor of what Life Is Art is like for the adults. Those items will be:

* One Crew going out to lunch at Chick Filet

* 8 students visiting the Art Museum with Ms. Pam

* 8 students hiking/or bowling with Ms. Deborah

Teacher auction items, as well as Crew art projects, will be displayed but will only be auctioned at Life Is Art. There will be a prize of some kind for the Crew who has the most parents attend Life Is Art.

Calendar

February 4 - 8th:

Monday:

Josh's Crew leaves on Winter Voyage
Kenny's Crew leaves on Winter Voyage

Tuesday:

RTI meeting 7:15 a.m.

SAC meeting 5:30 p.m.
Battle of the Books competition begins 7:30 p.m. public library

Wednesday:
PD: Team planning
Leadership Team Meeting: 1:30 - 2:30

Thursday:
OLE meeting 5:30 p.m.

Band and Orchestra Concert 6:30 p.m.

February 11 - 15th:

Monday:

Lisa's Crew leaves on Winter Voyage

4th grade leaves on Winter Voyage

Tuesday:

RTI meeting 7:15 a.m.

Wednesday:

All School Meeting

Professional Development: Team Planning

Friday:

No Students

Professional Development: To be decided
All staff will take the TELL survey (school survey distributed by CDE)

Leadership Team Topics Discussed
:

*Reviewed professional development plans for Friday, Feb. 15th

* Developed questions for the pre and post conference during formal observations

* Developed a check-list of sorts for teachers and teams to consult and use for team planning
* Progress monitored UIP for writing

* Evaluated Every Child a Writer resource
* Discussed possibility of guest presenter for Monday, April 8th
*Discussed World Class Education Assessment/Survey


Peek into the Life of Our School:

Sportsmanship

Cup stacking mania!

Co-composing - literacy skills of the 21st Century

Have a great weekend!

Deborah

January 25, 2013

Learning Environments Impact Outcomes

An Enduring Understanding for all of us is that learning environments impact outcomes.

An Essential Question then could be:

How do we evaluate the effective uses of technology in learning?

A Big Idea:

What does digital age teaching and learning look like and feel like?

Outcome:

I want you to analyze and evaluate the effective uses of technology to impact World Class learning outcomes in the videos that follow.

First, I want you to build a little background in order to reach the outcome. Take a look at what is called the SAMR, which is designed by Ruben R. Puentedura. 

I am sharing with you what has been published on YouTube as a short introductory video on technology in education. For a quick introduction to SAMR and the work of Ruben R. Puentedura. This video is about 13 minutes. In the video Puentedura explains his thinking about this continuum to affect change in learning or to move to transforming learning.

Now, using the SAMR, think about it as you watch two videos of elementary teachers below, who are here in our district, as they move towards uses of technology in learning.

What level of technology use do you see in the classroom or hear described by the teacher and learners?
Substitution?
Augmentation?
Modification?
Redefinition?
What makes you think so?

If you have a bit more time, here are five more videos - several elementary level and some secondary examples. All videos are Douglas County teachers.

Being able to 'see and hear'  when tech acts as a direct tool for functional improvement, or when it acts as a significant task redesign, and allows for the creation of new tasks previously inconceivable.

Thanks for taking the time to grow and learn with me! The SAMR has certainly given me more to think about!

Calendar

January 28 - Feb. 2nd:

Tuesday:
RTI 7:15 a.m.

Wednesday:
Discovery 3/4 leaves on Winter Voyage
All School Meeting
Leadership Team meeting 11:00 - 1:00
PD: Team planning 

February 4 - 8th:

Monday:
Josh's Crew leaves on Winter Voyage

Tuesday:

RTI meeting 7:15 a.m.

SAC meeting 5:30 p.m.

Wednesday:
PD: Team planning

Thursday:
OLE meeting 5:30 p.m.

Band and Orchestra Concert 6:30 p.m.

BRAVO!!!!

What an incredible musical Cheryl!!!!

My heart is so full of gratitude for the experience you have provided for the students who performed and for the audience!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Deborah

January 18, 2013

Calendar

Janaury 21 - 25:

3 day weekend :) Happy Dance
Monday:
No School MLK Day

Tuesday:
NO RTI meeting

Wednesday;
New Parent Orientation 8:00 a.m.
Choir Performance of Alice in Wonderland at 9:15 - 10:00
Discovery Family Meet and Greet 9:30 a.m. (will visit classrooms at 9:45 a.m.)
PD: Whole group in library for Portfolio plan review

January 28 - Feb. 2nd:

Tuesday:
RTI 7:15 a.m.

Wednesday:
All School Meeting

Professional Development Schedule:

January 23rd: Portfolio Discussion

January 30: Individual and team planning
February 6th: Individual and team planning
February 13th: Individual and team planning

February 15th (All day Friday): Immersion in a Writer's Workshop

February 20th: Individual and team planning
February 27th: Individual and team planning
March 6th; Individual and team planning

March 13th: Student Led Conferences
March 20th: Student Led Conferences

Put this on your calendar!

Student Led Conferences are scheduled for the week of March 18th-22nd. You will have the Wednesday of that week for conferences and the Wednesday the week before (March 13th)

Leadership Team 

On Wednesday we:

* Reviewed our school wide progress on Backwards Planning, Development of Balanced Assessment System, Restorative Practices and our writing goals for our Unified Improvement Plan.

* Developed the schedule for Professional Development based on review of items above.

* Will create a check-list, of sorts, that teachers can use to guide their use of planning time. An opportunity to look at the expectations between now and the end of the year and to map out how you will accomplish those responsibilities using the PD time that has been allocated.

* We did not get to the results of the google assessment about the District Strategic Plan. If you haven't completed that assessment, please do so. (Progress monitoring our PD)

* Identified that teams are more successful with support during planning, so please schedule some of your Wednesday planning afternoons with Noreene. Elisha is also available to support teams and will be taking on more responsibility to support teachers in a coaching/planning capacity. Schedule time with both of these ladies!

Are you using your sound system?

Are you having kids use the microphone every time they are speaking? 

Think about using it as a 'talking stick' -only talk when you have it in your hand. Use it during Morning Meeting, during direct instruction and anytime students are sharing their thinking with the group.

As I visit classrooms, we are not consistent with our use of our new sound enhancement system. It really does increase the power of sharing our thinking and does increase engagement for listeners. I know it takes an effort to incorporate this into our daily habits. I'll bet the kids can help you remember to use it! Take a minute and make sure that you have the speaker in an optimum location for projecting the sound.

Thanks :)

Anecdote shared by Brittany:

During math, I was working with a small group that was practicing interpreting remainders from division problems. One problem was about 100 minutes of computer time being shared equally between 8 students. Students had to figure out how much computer time each student would receive, and were supposed to work out that the 4 minutes of time left over should also be divided between the 8 students. However, one student finished the problem and I asked him what the remainder meant. He looked at me and said, "You get four minutes of cleanup and debrief time!" How very REMS. :)

Happy Weekend!

Deborah 

January 11, 2013

transition [trænˈzɪʃən]

n

1. change or passage from one state or stage to another

We've completed that challenging first week back - leaving behind our 'vacation mode' to embrace the responsibilities of our school life. Not an easy transition! I've heard over and over this week, "I'm still trying to get my feet on the ground." "I'm working to get my feet underneath me." "I'm trying to hit the ground running, but my feet aren't with me"....

So...

Have you got your feet back on the ground?

Or are your feet dreaming about sunny days?

 Or perhaps you are feeling more kicked back and relaxed?

Better yet, maybe you have happy feet?!

Maybe your feet need company?

Perhaps your feet are ready for the great outdoors!

Or perhaps you have tired feet this week?

Likely, you have sleepy feet that are looking forward to some quiet time this weekend!

Calendar:

January 14 - 18th:

Monday:
Cody visits classrooms for winter voyage/skill building
4:15 meet in library for final discussion on professional development opportunities outside of school (follow up from meeting in library on Wednesday afternoon)

Tuesday:
RTI meeting 7:15 a.m.

Wednesday:
All School Meeting
Leadership Team Meeting 11:00 a.m.
Professional Development 1:30 - Vertical Teams Balanced Assessment Systems work
Cody is climbing in the gym with kids who were Bootcamp winners

Friday:
No students
Professional Development day for teachers - you have the day to work on Backwards Plans and Balanced Assessments

Janaury 21 - 25:

3 day weekend :)
Monday:
No School MLK Day

Tuesday:
NO RTI meeting

Wednesday;
New Parent Orientation 8:00 a.m.
Choir Performance of Alice in Wonderland at 9:15 - 10:00
Discovery Family Meet and Greet 9:30 a.m. (will visit classrooms at 9:45 a.m.)





Check out what Hanni's Crew did over the holiday break participating in random acts of kindness.  So cool to practice beneficence out in the community! Great example of meaningful and purposeful learning!
http://hanni12-13crew.blogspot.com/

That's all folks!

Short is definitely sweet right now.

My feet are headed to the fireside!

Deborah