Lead Learners Update 12.10.12

Happy Holidays!

Calendar of Events
12.10 Instructional Rounds (Ridge and Point)
Point Project Exhibition Night (5:00 - 7:00)
12.11 GT Advisory Meeting (6:00 - 8:00)
12.12 RTI (8:45 - 11:45) Point
12.13 K-1 Literacy Team (9:00 AM - 3:30 PM)--plan for Jan11; location TBD
12.17 Admin Meeting (12:00 - 3:30)
Board Meeting
12.18 Math Task Force
TQ Meeting
12.20 - 1.2  Winter Break
1.3.13 School resumes

Celebration of Learning (Ying Ying Chen)
By now, you have had some knowledge about this event through our communication and John’s e-mail.  Signing up with principals is due December 18.  When we tested this idea with teachers, they gave us the following feedback:

• They like the idea that it is “not a presentation”, but sharing.  
• They think if principals give examples that is very much in line with what they are already doing, then more teachers will be willing to share.
• Use more artifacts and images, less writing on the display.  They believe artifacts and images will generate more conversations.

We totally agree with their comments. Those details are already on the flyer.  The Learning Fair is going to boost professional efficacy and promote a culture of sharing.  Thank you for your support in making CCSD a learning organization.

Writing Task Force Update (Ying Ying Chen)
The  WTF team focused on the following when they meet on 12/5:

• Explored SMARTER Balanced Assessment sample questions to develop a deeper understanding of the next generation of assessment
• Reviewed Common Core Appendix A - Three types of writing
• Explored StandardsInsighs - a tool to unpack standards for unit and lesson design
• Wrote additional prompts aligned with the three types of writing (argument, expository and narrative). In the following year, we will randomly draw the assessment from the writing prompt collection.  This means, teachers will not know which prompt will be used  till the last moment.  This practice will ensure that teachers will teach all three types of genres throughout the year.

Getting SMARTER (Ying Ying Chen)
I am trying to keep you up to date on SMARTER as it continues to evolve.  Here is a excellent article that clearly outlines the recent changes on SMARTER Balanced Assessment.

Digital Literacy Update (Craig Barnum)
The digital literacy trainers have put in quite a bit of work in the last few days.  At the end of November we spend a couple of days learning new content in order to prepare for the January PL day.  Our first day at this meeting, the team spent with Wesley Fryer and learned about the MIT open source program, Scratch.  Scratch allows just about any age of student to create very simple to very complex media programs.  It is an incredible tool for teaching math.  On the second day of our training, the team working to tune/revise exemplar units, discussed ways to seamlessly embed digital literacy into existing PL.  Each school’s principal and cadre function differently so we will count on the principals and trainers to work together.  Their job is to enhance your PL for the entire PL day, not just a given period (like one hour or three hours).  We did simulation practice with them on December 6 so all of them have ideas to draw from.  They should be able to suggest digitally enhanced process to engage adult learners with the content you and your cadre provide.

We also visited (virtually using Google HangOut) with a team from Bettendorf High School on their “gamified” PL.  I know that at first blush, the idea of turning PL into a game sounds absolutely crazy.  It is an idea that is very difficult to convey without concrete examples.  I know that I can’t do it justice in a couple of paragraphs here. I’m sure that many of team members were very skeptical of this idea before talking with the team from Bettendorf, too.  But, my impression is that now most of the team “gets” this idea and see it as a powerful strategy.  I’ve even visited with a few digital literacy trainers that are starting down the path to create instruction for their students based upon some of these game-style designs.  I would encourage you to visit with your building’s digital literacy trainers about gamification to learn more.

Curriculum Matters by Bill Poock
K-1 Literacy Team Planning (from Bill and Cheryl):  On 12/13/12, we will have the opportunity to meet as a K-1 Literacy Team from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM (location will be emailed to everyone on Monday, December 10th).  This will be a prime opportunity for us to gather together after attending the Walpole/McKenna differentiation workshop.  This will be a chance for us to clarify what next steps we need to take as a K-1 team.  We learned a lot about effective differentiation in the ELA block.  We just need to sift through it all to determine what messages we need to share with the K-1 teams at all buildings.  We learned about the following:

• Read Aloud
• Shared Reading
• Small Group Differentiation/Guided Reading

We will need to take the bulk of the day for planning the January 11th PL day (7:45 AM - 11:45 AM) in the HS Study Halls.  We decided that the following reps would be at the planning meeting on 12/13/12:  Kindergarten teacher, 1st grade teacher, Title One teacher, Strategist, and Building Principal (as much as you are able).  Also, it is presumed that anyone who comes to the planning session on 12/13/12 also attended the Walpole/McKenna workshop.

K-6 Textbook Adoption Team Meeting Update (from Bill):  On 12/6/12, we had an opportunity to meet as a team to deepen our understanding of the textbook adoption/curriculum review process.  The team engaged in the following:

• viewed a video from Marilyn Burns about the Mathematics Reasoning Inventory (MRI) found at www.mathreasoninginventory.com -- a free online assessment for learning more about how students reason mathematically--definitely one to check out!
• created an anchor document that deepens our understanding of the three shifts in the mathematics standards:  focus, coherence, and rigor (see:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qXyiqc_ZshJiYmOw5rdaxqS_ig3UBi324VqboQdJ9mg/edit)
• unpacked and further clarified the evaluation instrument that we are using from the K-8 Publishers’ Criteria for Common Core Mathematics--this is an excellent document that the team created to help us better understand the criteria for recommendation (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vWB9u9SHjYjDWfH5CHICPxwEi1_lpLv_NksJespZjEw/edit)

The team also walked away with a box of curriculum (teachers’ materials) to kick off the pilot/review process.  These task force members are expected to pilot at least ONE unit of instruction for each of 3 rounds.  

Again, the three sets of curriculum we will investigate include:

• enVision Mathematics
• Math in Focus (US version of Singapore Mathematics)
• Go Math!

This team is very excited to lead this process and is anxious to get into the materials.  A word of caution:  there are MANY boxes coming your way when it is your building’s turn for enVision Mathematics--I have tried to warn you in advance--LOTS of boxes!!

These team members are also helping to coordinate the distribution of materials to all of your teachers at the building level.  In the future, I will send a survey for feedback to your teachers (sample taken from teaching staff) that will be different than the evaluation criteria document that the MTF members will use.  More information to come!