The next rounds of Social Sciences curriculum mapping are quickly approaching!
On October 4th, K-5 teams will meet at Meredith to continue their work on maps. Representatives have already been contacted by Sarah and should plan to attend.
After October, our next meeting will be November 9th at Meredith. Again, Mike and Sarah have contacted representatives from each level to attend on behalf of their colleagues. On this date, all groups should bring printed maps so we can spend time doing a K-12 peer review of the work that has been completed thus far.
On November 9th, we will also spend time discussing next steps for beginning to look for resources as well as previewing several resources from vendors that can join us.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact Mike or Sarah!
Friday, September 29, 2017
Lessons from the Teaching and Learning Conference
This week a few staff members were able to attend the Teaching and Learning conference. The conference is hosted by Jim Knight and Corwin Press. Below are a few key take-aways from the sessions. Please feel free to follow up with Sarah Mumm, Jill Roderick, or Dan Rutter on any topics that peak your interest. Key topics explored were:
-Student engagement decreases over the course of their career from 76% to 44%.
-Three types of coaching cycles for staff to use: Facilitated, Directive, and Dialogical
-Collective Efficacy lead to a higher student achievement based on John Hattie research data
-Students are 7 times more likely to be motivated to learn when their voice is present, 9 times more likely to have a sense of purpose, 13 more times to achieve higher
-True student engagement comes from allowing student empowerment and discussion
There was so much more that was learned at this conference, but wanted to share a few topics with all. Please feel free to follow up with staff that attended.
-Student engagement decreases over the course of their career from 76% to 44%.
-Three types of coaching cycles for staff to use: Facilitated, Directive, and Dialogical
-Collective Efficacy lead to a higher student achievement based on John Hattie research data
-Students are 7 times more likely to be motivated to learn when their voice is present, 9 times more likely to have a sense of purpose, 13 more times to achieve higher
-True student engagement comes from allowing student empowerment and discussion
There was so much more that was learned at this conference, but wanted to share a few topics with all. Please feel free to follow up with staff that attended.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Joint Statement from TIC
TIC met for their first meeting of the school year. The committee agreed to hold meetings at Harter Middle School in the 7th grade team room. The focus of the work was to brainstorm and identify potential goals for the committee. Possible goal areas include: review math data, Technology - Digital Citizenship, review Exploratory and Critical Thinking, review parent use of Tyler, Kindergarten writing assessment discussion. Please let your TIC representative know if there are other goals you’d like to see added.
Instructional Coaching Blog Update
Do you know what Teacher's College Reading and Writing Project Facebook Page can do for you? Have you used Columbia University's Reading and Writing Project Page as a resource? If you are intrigued by these questions and looking for more writing resources check out the new blog post in the Instructional Coaching Corner: http://kanelandcoaches.edublogs.org/
Happy reading!
Monday, September 25, 2017
Learning Rounds Are Coming!
It has been a very exciting start to our year! Seeing the wonderful lessons and opportunities for our students is one of the best parts of any job. The District EC-12 Instructional Coaches are excited to continue the visits to the schools and get to see all grades beyond the grade span that they are typically assigned. During the week of October 2nd to the 5th and then again on October 12th, our Instructional Coaches will be conducting learning rounds to visit and learn from each other. You might see Coaches from different levels visiting each others' schools and classrooms. These sessions provide opportunity for Coaches to observe a EC-12 learning continuum and also to reflect with each other and support each other in the coaching cycle process. Please welcome the Coaches as they visit your school soon!
Most Likely to Succeed
If you have not yet had a chance to view the Most Likely to Succeed movie, you may now stream it in your home. Kaneland has purchased a year-long subscription to share with staff, community and parents of the full version film. Staff, please feel free to copy this post onto your parent portal pages and other community outlets. Please take time to view and reflect on the film with the following link and reflection questions:
1. Visit kaneland.tugg.com
2. Click "Register" in the top right hand corner
3. Create a login name - any e-mail address with the domain name provided will be able to register
Reflection Questions:
1. Variety in School Environments: High Tech High is one example of many different kinds of schools. As the film’s narrator notes, every school visited in the making of the film was different, and maybe “that’s the point.”
-What are some important differences between the school experience you see in the film and the school experience your students have?
-What kinds of learning happen in this movie that you might explore in your schools?
-What kinds of learning are you already doing that you’d like to preserve or strengthen?
2. Teaching and Learning: John Dewey writes: “If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.”
-What does this statement mean to you? What relevance does it have to how we educate our students today?
-When you think back on your school experiences, what had the biggest impact on you? What stands out for you as an outstanding learning experience?
-What are characteristics or elements of teaching and learning you’d like to see in “tomorrow’s” education?
If you could change one major aspect of students’ educational experience today, what would it be? Why?
3. Grit and Perseverance: In the opening scene when the student believes her homework isn’t relevant, the teacher encourages her to work hard on it to “build character.” In the closing scene, a student keeps working to complete his project long after his due date or grades have been given, because he believes the project is important.
-Are both of these experiences equally effective in building grit/perseverance?
-How do we best encourage students in our schools to develop grit/perseverance?
4. Projects and Process: Larry Rosenstock reflects “If you build a house, it’s a project. If you make a school, it’s a project. If you make a documentary film, it’s a project. If you write a book, it’s a project. Most of what people do in life involves observation, reflection, documentation, exhibition and going through these different phases of being able to create
Something.”
-What do you think of this statement in relationship to learning?
-How important is the process of observation, reflection, documentation and exhibition? How does this process happen in your school?
-What is one thing your school can do to encourage more of this kind of learning?
5. Innovation and Change in Schools: High Tech High is a “build from scratch school” but the film refers to many other schools where innovation is happening inside the existing model. In some cases, change is small and incremental but has high impact: consider a pilot of a new interdisciplinary course, a project based learning week, or a new after school club.
-What are some success stories of innovative initiatives at your school?
1. Visit kaneland.tugg.com
2. Click "Register" in the top right hand corner
3. Create a login name - any e-mail address with the domain name provided will be able to register
Reflection Questions:
1. Variety in School Environments: High Tech High is one example of many different kinds of schools. As the film’s narrator notes, every school visited in the making of the film was different, and maybe “that’s the point.”
-What are some important differences between the school experience you see in the film and the school experience your students have?
-What kinds of learning happen in this movie that you might explore in your schools?
-What kinds of learning are you already doing that you’d like to preserve or strengthen?
2. Teaching and Learning: John Dewey writes: “If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.”
-What does this statement mean to you? What relevance does it have to how we educate our students today?
-When you think back on your school experiences, what had the biggest impact on you? What stands out for you as an outstanding learning experience?
-What are characteristics or elements of teaching and learning you’d like to see in “tomorrow’s” education?
If you could change one major aspect of students’ educational experience today, what would it be? Why?
3. Grit and Perseverance: In the opening scene when the student believes her homework isn’t relevant, the teacher encourages her to work hard on it to “build character.” In the closing scene, a student keeps working to complete his project long after his due date or grades have been given, because he believes the project is important.
-Are both of these experiences equally effective in building grit/perseverance?
-How do we best encourage students in our schools to develop grit/perseverance?
4. Projects and Process: Larry Rosenstock reflects “If you build a house, it’s a project. If you make a school, it’s a project. If you make a documentary film, it’s a project. If you write a book, it’s a project. Most of what people do in life involves observation, reflection, documentation, exhibition and going through these different phases of being able to create
Something.”
-What do you think of this statement in relationship to learning?
-How important is the process of observation, reflection, documentation and exhibition? How does this process happen in your school?
-What is one thing your school can do to encourage more of this kind of learning?
5. Innovation and Change in Schools: High Tech High is a “build from scratch school” but the film refers to many other schools where innovation is happening inside the existing model. In some cases, change is small and incremental but has high impact: consider a pilot of a new interdisciplinary course, a project based learning week, or a new after school club.
-What are some success stories of innovative initiatives at your school?
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