Friday, January 27, 2017

Professional Development: Looking Ahead

The Building Leadership Team met last week and mapped out the focus for our professional development for the rest of the year. Of course, our best case scenario....

Many focus areas were discussed and it was decided to stay the course with where we started and keep a tight, narrow focus. We will continue with our focus on writing and differentiation strategies.

Just a brief reminder...

The grand purpose for meeting to analyze writing/learn teaching strategies is for you and your colleagues to talk and think about student work and about your shared expectations for that work, doing this in ways that bring you together into a community of common practice. Shared assessment systems have amazing potential for distributing different teacher areas of expertise so that more people know what those individual teachers know. 

But... a shared rubric doesn't amount to a shared assessment system. The key is using that rubric (and other tools) to promote conversations about students' progress and about ways to support that progress. 

Here's the plan:

February 1st:  Writing sample analysis with level groups & sharing of strategies for sharing student progress

February 8:  Activate prior learning/ choose groups and begin application of a differentiation strategy

February 15: Application of differentiation strategy

February 17th : All day

February 22: Personal Plan time

March 1: Keith- Collaborative Problem Solving (Artist Edition afterwards)

March 8: Application of a differentiation strategy

March 15: Writing analysis with level groups

Spring Break

April 5: PARCC Training for Teachers

April 12: Personal planning (week of PARCC)

April 19: Personal planning (week of CMAS)

(April 24th, 25th are the designated days to administer the school-wide  Writing Assessment)

April 26: End of year student writing - School wide assessment (Looking at the results of the school-wide writing assessment in level teams)

May 3: Student-Led Conference time

May 10: Showcase Celebrations 3rd Grade

May 17: Report Card prep time

May 24: Showcase Celebrations 6th Grade

May 31: 

June 1st: Last day of school

Calendar:

Week of January 30th:
Lisa's Crew out on Winter Voyage
Monday - Debbie out
Tuesday -
MTSS 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:
4th Grade out on field work/Deborah out with them

PD: 1:30 p.m.
* Writing sample analysis by level
* Strategies for sharing student progress

Thursday:
Deborah out at admin. meeting

Friday:

Week of February 6th:
4th Grade Crews out on Winter Voyage
Brittany's Crew out on Winter Voyage

Monday:
Parent Orientation 8:00 a.m.
(includes perspective Discovery parents)

Tuesday;
MTSS meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday;
The Beat 9:00 a.m.
PD: 1:30
* Activate prior learning of differentiation strategies/choose groups and begin application of differentiation strategy

Thursday:
Deborah out admin. mtg.

Friday:
Debbie out

Have a wonderful weekend!

Deborah

January 13, 2017

We Think With Words

Vocabulary is the best single indicator of intellectual ability and an accurate predictor of success at school. -- W.B. Elley

Because each new word has to be studied and learned on its own, the larger your vocabulary becomes, the easier it will be to connect a new word with words you already know, and thus remember its meaning. So your learning speed, or pace, should increase as your vocabulary grows. -- Johnson O'Connor

We think with words, therefore to improve thinking, teach vocabulary. -- A. Draper and G. Moeller

Those quotes may be all you need to revisit your lesson plans/schedule and see if an intentional focus on vocabulary is present. You got this - but just have to get it back on the radar or celebrate that it is!

Some of you have let me know that you aren't really sure just how to deliver this instruction. So...did some research and low and behold, good ole Robert Marzano has something pretty specific for you to follow. If you've never heard of Robert Marzano he's an educational researcher and teacher. He stresses that in all content areas, direct vocabulary instruction is essential and suggests six steps. 

So here they are:

Step one: The teacher explains a new word, going beyond reciting its definition (tap into prior knowledge of students, use imagery).

Step two: Students restate or explain the new word in their own words (verbally and/or in writing).

Step three: Ask students to create a non-linguistic representation of the word (a picture, or symbolic representation).

Step four: Students engage in activities to deepen their knowledge of the new word (compare words, classify terms, write their own analogies and metaphors).

Step five: Students discuss the new word (pair-share, elbow partners).

Step six: Students periodically play games to review new vocabulary (Pyramid, Jeopardy, Telephone).

Marzano's six steps do something revolutionary to vocabulary learning: They make it fun. Students think about, talk about, apply, and play with new words. 

Rebecca Alber

Edutopia Consulting Online Editor

FOLLOW:

https://twitter.com/WordLib

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Teacher Leadership

All Grades

You'll notice that in none of the steps are kids looking words up in the dictionary or writing the definition over and over. The words come from context. The key - active and engaged, multiple exposures and authentic opportunity to apply the vocabulary. Students can also have a voice in identifying the words you study. Maybe you can get Wendy to teach the kids the sign for those words!
If you want to dig deeper into how you would do that and would like some support in how to further your implementation - I'd love to help.

I think after you look the six steps your initial response might be, "Where am I going to find that kind of time?" Not sure... except to encourage you to integrate it into what you are already doing - but intentionally. I can see some of the steps included in Morning Meeting, a transition, and as part of the direct instruction you are already doing. We should be sharing with one another how we are solving that challenge.

For those of you who want to know even more, consider this:

When considering which words need the most instructional attention, let's turn to Isabel Beck's practical way of categorizing vocabulary words into three tiers:

Tier One: Basic words that rarely require instructional focus (door, house, book).

Tier Two: Words that appear with high frequency, across a variety of domains, and are crucial when using mature, academic language (coincidence, reluctant, analysis).

Tier Three: Frequency of these words is quite low and often limited to specific fields of study (isotope, Reconstruction, Buddhism).

Beck suggests that students will benefit the most academically by focusing instruction on the tier two words (since these appear with much higher frequency than tier three words, and are used across domains). So, this is when you take a look at the pre-reading vocabulary charts your kids created and choose "kind of" and "don't know at all" words that you deem to be tier two words. Go ahead and select some content-specific words (tier three) but only those directly related to the chapter, article, short story, or whatever you are about to read.

You now have a vocabulary list. It's time to teach.

Calendar

January 16 -20:
Monday:
No School

Tuesday:
MTSS meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:
PD: 1:30 Differentiation Strategy
BLT team meeting 3:00

Thursday:
Deborah out of the building admin. mtg.



January 23 - 27:

Tuesday:
MTSS meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:
The Beat
2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grade Discovery Winter Voyage

Enjoy the three day weekend!

Deborah

December 16, 2016

Special Times

Thanks everyone for your full presence and full engagement right up until the very end!

Thank you for displaying joy, playfulness, a spirit of celebration, and cheer!

Thank you for creating this warm and caring culture that enfolds our children with love and care.

Cody's Mom, Diane,
joined our Crew to help belay!

Welcome Martha...
Who knew?!

Settling in for a long winter's nap???

Thank you Brittany for spoiling us every day this week with your delish baked goods!

There are no adequate words to let you know how much we will miss you our dear, dear Diana.
AND...how much we wish you well!
A new adventure awaits...

I will really miss the festive attire that has been sported this week!

* I missed catching a photo of Allison and all her helpers lugging around bags and bags of gifts to be delivered. Last I chatted with Allison her service projected was helping 91 families! What an exemplary example of Crew and working in the service of others. A very deep and heartfelt thank you to you Allison. I am so inspired by your work.

I so appreciate being able to hit the 'pause' button (maybe it's also a 'reset' button?) when a break rolls around. Without judgement, I acknowledged that my capacity for being mindful, was nearly running on empty. No matter how hectic or intense the work - I know for certain, that I wouldn't want to be doing it with anyone else but you. 

 So proud. So grateful. So courageous.

My hope is that the pace will taper off for you now,

and that you can enjoy the simple beauty of the season.

See you in 2017!

All my best to you and yours.

Deborah

December 2, 2016

Kindness Challenge

A few years ago we started off our year with "R.A.K." Random Acts of Kindness. I saw this article, and was reminded of that time and thought what a great time of year to pull that out of our 'sack of goodies' and use it to our advantage this time of year. Take a look at this article and see if there is something here for you....Classroom Management in December. I could see it being a great way to use Morning Meeting in December? 

P.S. I've noticed so many of you being so conscientious about making sure that Morning Meeting is timely - allocating only 20 minutes as it is designed to be. It can be so easy to let it linger - as it is so enjoyable - and then find that the rest of your day is feeling the squeeze of being behind. Thanks for being so committed to this ritual and also intentional that it be just a quick beginning to the day. 

Calendar

December 5 - 9th:

Tuesday:
MTSS meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:
PD: EPR's

Thursday:
Deborah out of the building admin. mtg.

December 12 - 16th:

Monday:
EPR final day
DC Downbeat Concert 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday:
MTSS meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday:
The Beat 9:00 a.m.
PD: Writing level dialogues

Friday:
Staff Holiday Party at Deborah's 4:30 p.m.

That's All Folks!

Have a great weekend!

Deborah

Friday, November 11, 2016

'Learn With Passion

Act with Courage

Change the World'

Could you live with the mission statement above as a condensed version of our more complex mission statement?

Perhaps this condensed version might be more accessible to students and easier for all of us to quickly quote and remember?

Not suggesting that we abandoned the mission statement we spent so much time on and invested so much ownership creating. We'll keep it. It will be our formal school mission. It will remain in our lobby and on our website. We will continue to use our formal mission statement to guide our Showcases of Learning (I think of them as nested targets) -  as it goes deeper into what this condensed version means.

Think about it and we will make a unified decision the next time we are all together.

Building Leadership Team Meeting

Writing and the EPR:

It was decided that we will hold off a year, possibly even two years, before we use any of our common resources with writing to report grade level achievement to parents. We discussed that teachers need more collaborative time together using these tools - more time for sense making and shared understandings - with the tools.

So, for now, teachers can use the tools they are using individually to report student achievement. You will best be able to talk with students and parents about the achievement and growth of your writers with the tools that have the most meaning for you at this time.

Our goal is to have a tool we can use school wide to determine grade level achievement and can also be a learning continuum to monitoring growth - but we aren't there YET.

The Team also identified that we need to carve out more time in our professional development to focus on our work in writing. We will continue to balance our focus on building school wide practices in writing and our work around differentiation.

Our next meeting will be focused on crafting plans for our Professional Development from January until Spring Break. We will also identify some key things we want to collect data on at a building wide level to monitor our work.

Calendar

November 14 - 18th:

Tuesday:
* MTSS meeting 7:30 a.m.
* REA/SAC meeting beginning 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday:
* PD - Student Led Conferences

Thursday:
* Danelle, School Director, visits Renaissance for Classroom Walkthroughs
1:30 - 3:30 p.m.


November 21 - 25th:

Tuesday:
* MTSS meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday - Friday: No School
Thanksgiving Holiday

Have a wonderful weekend!

Deborah

October 28, 2016

Looking Back to Move Forward

We've had some targets in our professional development this year that we've all acknowledged are either things we need to remember to do, or new learning we see value in applying. As we move forward in second quarter of the year, take a minute to pause and look back. Is there anything that needs the spotlight that has slipped? Anything you started and stopped? Anything that needs constant monitoring? Here's a few things to stop and evaluate:

* How are you doing with Tiered Assignments? 

* How is the pacing of your units? Is your year on target?

* How is the pacing of your day?

* Is there something important you are not including? Is there time that could be better used?

* How is communication between school and home?

* Do you have a relationship with each and every student?

* What are you most excited about right now?

Calendar

October 31 - November 4:

Monday, 31st: 
Costume Parade begins 8:50 ish... Announcement to let you know

Tuesday, 1st:
MTSS meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday, 2nd:
Deborah, Debbie & Chelsea Leadership Conference - gone rest of the week.
Kim, Samantha, Brittany - Gifted and Talented Conference rest of the week.

PD: Personal Planning

Friday, 4th:
* 6th Grade Fieldwork - Ice Core Lab 8:30 - 11:30
* Ms. Lauren's Crew Hike - 9 - 1:00




November 7 - 11th:

Tuesday, 8th:
All Day Professional Development
* AM: Functions of Behavior facilitated and presented by Keith Sousa
Lunch Provided!
* PM: Strategies for Differentiated Instruction continued, facilitated by Brittany


Wednesday, 9th:
* The Beat 9:15 a.m.
* 6th Grade Fieldwork Ice Core Lab 9-12
* PD: Conference Attendees share with whole staff

Thursday, 10th:
Deborah out of the building for admin. mtg.


Wednesday Professional Development plans for the month of November:
* Wednesday, November 16th is allocated for you to use for student-led conferences
* Wednesday, November 23rd we are out for Thanksgiving
* Wednesday, November 30th will be allocated for next steps with differentiation strategies

I saw this on the wall in Jill's room.
She has a few anxious kids who worry,
before they ever start,
 that the work will be too hard for them.
She's working on shifting those mindsets to be revved up for a challenge.
So this is the new mantra in Jill's Crew!

Have a great weekend!

Deborah

Friday, October 14, 2016

Gratitude

Did you have one of those dreams over break where you wake up in a cold sweat thinking you were late for work to discover, with a sigh of relief, "No, I don't have to be at work - I'm on break?!"

I know I had many moments where I paused with appreciation and gratitude for these fall days we've been on break. (Ok, at those times I also started counting how many days I had left too.) I know we don't take a single minute of it for granted because the work we do is so intense - so all consuming when we are in the rhythm of it. How wonderful it has been to find a new rhythm to our days. 

I've missed you all and look forward to hearing how you've been.
No plans on Monday except to make that transition back into being prepared and present to offer the very best we can to our kids.

Enjoy your last few days of vacation bliss.

Calendar

Week of October 17th:

Monday-
Teachers return - no students

Tuesday -
MTSS meeting 7:30 a.m.
Staff yoga 4:30 p.m.

Wednesday:
PD library-
1:30 iReady rep available to answer questions
3:00 Teambuilding - reconnecting

Thursday:
Deborah out of the building for admin. mtg.



Week of October 24th:

Tuesday -
MTSS meeting 7:30 a.m.

Wednesday -
EL National Conference begins - 10 staff gone = lots of subs :)
The Beat 9:15 a.m.
PD -
* Planning
* White Bus training for those who signed up
Deborah takes fund raiser winners to MAC

See you Monday!

Until then....

Deborah

My Grandson, Roosevelt Leo

- thanks for being so happy for me :)

Noreene made this tapestry for his nursery!!!