Update on November 20th and November 21st

Registration for our November 20th IGKNIGHT mini conference has closed.  We have over 450 registrants from our district as well as surrounding districts and can't wait for the big day to come! 

We will send out an informational email to all staff once again closer to the date, but in an effort to communicate as effectively as possible, here are some more details for November 20th

• Attendees will sign in in the KHS cafeteria from 7:15-8:00.  At that time they will receive a ticket that indicates which sessions they registered for as well as locations of sessions.  Maps of KHS and KMS will also be available.  Attendees should bring their charged laptop.
• George Couros will lead our keynote presentation from 8-9:30.  
• Upon completion of the keynote presentation, attendees will be dismissed to attend their selected breakout sessions.
• Lunch will be held from 11:45-1:00 on your own; at this time we have been unable to secure any on-site lunch options, so please plan accordingly.

If you have not yet registered or if you need to complete Academy 1.0, you will receive your ticket (which will specify which breakout sessions you will attend) when you sign in.

Thank you to everyone who has registered and to all of our presenters who are composing their presentations!  We are looking forward to an amazing day of learning!

Learning Forward Convention

Each year, the Learning Forward group hosts an international convention.  The focus of this group is to further adult learning and provide information on best practices and their implementation in districts.  For the past few years, Kaneland has been lucky enough to access grant funds to send representatives from administration and staff to this conference.

This year, Kaneland is once again able to access grant funds that are intended for professional development to be able to send a team including administrators and instructional coaches.  As in years past, our plan is to bring our learning back and share with staff in many ways including sessions on professional development days and job-embedded work with instructional coaches.

This is truly an exciting opportunity for our district and our belief is that the team we are bringing will be positioned to share their learning in effective ways with all of our staff.

This year our district is also privileged to be presenting as well as having three of our administrators participating in the Learning Forward Academy--a year-long focused study about systematic school improvement and how to successfully support staff and students.

We are excited for the learning that will occur and more importantly the impact it will have in our district!

Makerspace IMSA Session

There are 5 spots still available for a full day Makerspace learning session at IMSA.  Here is the link:  Makerspace - December 1.  Kaneland was able to register 6 staff members but there are a few spots left and open to others in the county.  Please feel free to register if interested.  

TAC Joint Statement

This month TAC met for their monthly meeting.  The following was discussed and actions taken:

• The council discussed the questions and comments brought to the committee regarding trimesters.  The vote passed 14 - 0 in favor of trimester grade reporting at the elementary level.
• The council reviewed the drafts of the social science maps. Standards were discussed for new members and a description of how the standards are moving to inquiry based learning from fact based learning.
• Ideas were shared about green screen usage and new technology infusion-- Inter school staff competition.  More details to come.

Collaborative Inquiry Session Next Week

Just a reminder that the next EC-5 Collaborative Inquiry Session will take place at KMS next Wednesday from 1:00-3:30.  We are excited to dive into the updated data and to begin to consider collective efficacy.  Please come prepared to share ideas, hold open conversation, and be ready to review the action plans created last year.  The following is the link to the action plans.  Action Plans

KPASS Action Research Update

It is the final year of the action research on KPASS.  The data on the progress of KPASS will be reported formally during a late spring and summer board meeting once all data sources are in.  However, in the fall of each year we do collect data from KPASS teachers and Sixth Grade staff.  This year's data shares an increased observation in incoming 6th grade students in organization, ease of classroom changes, and middle school preparedness.  The teacher satisfaction data collected shows less assessment workload reported.  Other data points were consistent with the past two years.  All data points will be reviewed by TIC later in the school year.  Here is the draft of the assessment rubric that will be completed later in the year with attendance and academic data points.Eval Rubric May 2018
 Thank you to all staff who took time to complete the google form. 

When Ready...Allow Them to Learn

Over the course of the last few weeks there have been a few conversations on math readiness.  I wanted to share a bit of perspective.  In reading when a child is ready to progress to the next reading level, or ready to take on harder context, we allow them.  We encourage students to continue down the continuum of reading progress at an individualized or even differentiated pace.  We need to accept and encourage that same practice in math.  As students are ready to explore further strategies for computation, we shall allow them to explore and learn.  Please remember that the traditional method is often introduced later in our content and maybe even at the next grade level.  But when a student is showing the ability to master the strategies in their grade level common core standards, they may be encouraged to continue on and explore the next strategy.  I encourage us all to see math as a continuum rather than a set of grade level only standards, similar to reading.