This past week we were blessed to take part in the International Learning Forward Conference again in person! It was great to see over 5,000 educators back in-person learning and networking together. This conference focuses on professional development, student empowerment, and equity. The learning that our Kaneland staff does at this conference has created many of our district structures, such as MTSS, Kaneland Connects, our IgKnight Keynotes, Learning Walks, and so many more! Although for the next year you will see much more depth in topics we will be bringing back to our district, the team that attended wanted to share initial ideas and take away lessons from the amazing sessions. Here are a few briefs on our learning:
-Be sure your bookcases represent your students and the world around you. Students need to see themselves!
-The graphic below shares the diversity in text.
-Student need and deserve: the ability to see themselves modeled in literature, and learning, adults that are committed to changing learning and culture to meet their needs, and to learn how to celebrate the world and create it to what they deserve!
-Inquiry circles provide educators opportunities to hear actions and needs through the student lens.
-Mood Meter. Not only does it help the teacher understand how each student is feeling as they enter the learning space, but it also gives students the vocabulary they may not have for naming their emotions.
-Powerful sharing and quotes:
-Perseverance in researching and developing actions around a problem of practice is accomplished through the LF Academy. Congrats to Carrie and Laura!
Thank you to the 14 staff members who attended and took time out of their weekend to attend. Your dedication to professional learning and making personal time sacrifices do not go unnoticed! We value you!
Learning Forward Kaneland by the Numbers:
14 staff attended from Kaneland
Over 16 hours of fun road trip collaboration while driving down and back
2 Academy Graduates
273 hours of learning
Over 200 pages of notes taken
Over 60 sessions attended
Connections made in and outside of sessions…..NUMEROUS!
It has almost been an entire semester kicking off the shift to MTSS. We have been to multiple conferences and schools that they are very impressed with all the FTE and structures for MTSS we have here. We want to take time and count our blessings that Kaneland has put forth such effort to fund and maintain our MTSS structures. Here is a bit of a quick comparison.
Kaneland: 5 MTSS FTE per K-5 School, 7 MTSS FTE at Harter Middle School, and 6 MTSS FTE at the high school
Batavia: 1 to 1.5 MTSS FTE per school K-5
Geneva 0 certifed MTSS FTE, 1-1.5 non-certifed per school
D300 1 certifed per school
Thank you to all staff that have been flexible during this first year shift. Keep up the great work! We are excited to see where our MTSS journey takes us.
If you are looking to donate or purchase items for the Kaneland Care closet, check out this wishlist:
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2GCUF6LFHPBIV?ref_=wl_share
*Sue Bird* *Alicia Hardy* *Heather Spaetzel*
We appreciate your dedication to professional learning and hope you are enjoying your treats!
We are happy to share that the following staff members have been tentatively assigned to Kaneland IgKnight Personalized Learning Academy, for fall 2023:
These assignments are based on the current student enrollment of 90 registered students. Additional needs will continue to be assessed through the closing of student enrollment on December 16th.
Thank you to all staff who responded to the thankful sharing raffle. The following were statements shared:
-I am thankful that you are part of Kaneland Connects!
-It is not happy people that are thankful, it is thankful people that are happy!
-I’m thankful for all the staff that brainstorm, problem solve, and share feedback with me when it comes to implementing Kaneland Connects into classrooms. It helps me learn and grow, so I appreciate it.
-I am thankful for the positive, supportive and collaborative team that I get to work with at Blackberry Creek.
-I am thankful the students bring me joy every day and they love to risk take
-I am thankful for family and friends!
-I am thankful for great staff engaging in PL 3.0 and making our work come into action!
After multiple years or review and piloting, the final items to purchase for the word study has been made. Thank you to all staff who have piloted, shared feedback and attended the decsion making committee work. The following is the final decsion and will be implemented in the 2023-24 school year. Over the course of the next month we will be collecting information in order to audit our current materials to make the most fiscally responsible purchase.
K: Jolly Phonics 1:1 materials (basic not full kit) ratio shifting into Fundations for all with F and P kit 1 per grade level team to pull lesson. Heggerty still a core curriculum tool.
1-2: Fundations refresh-additionally each grade level will have 2 F and P grade level
3-5: F and P kit 1:1 ratio with Word Journeys to personalize as students need it, with access to 3rd grade Fundations and 2nd grade Fundations for intervention
This past month the MTSS staff and Administration have been reviewing the current implementation on our beginning year of MTSS. The key in our MTSS system is to make constant connections with core classrooms in order to make the implementation and transition of what a child acquires during intervention to the core classroom. In the end, the student's classroom is where the progress in math and reading need to be applied and assessed. That is why Kaneland has selected the co-teaching practices of MTSS. In order to accommodate this philosophy and the student's learner profile, interventions may be conducted in an adjacent hallway to the classroom. This provides the ability of the MTSS Interventions to hear conservation and vocabulary within the classroom and meet the student's needs. Please also remember as part of co-teaching, the MTSS Interventionist may conduct core classroom lessons and work with students while the classroom teacher is doing interventions. This is one of the six models we have adopted. Please feel free to contact MTSS Coordinators or Dr. Sarah Mumm with any questions at all.
Joint Statement
Today the Educator Advisory Council for EC-5 met for the monthly meeting. The following were topics discussed:
The team began by sharing celebrations from each building. Celebrations included successes within MTSS and co-teaching, record sales at book fairs, student led IEP meetings, and many more!
The team also shared all the things they were personally and professional thankful for leading into the holiday week!
The team took time to review the specific language on the Science PBP tables that will be implemented next year with new supported materials. We will continue to collect feedback on the PBP tables for Science over the course of the next year.
The team looked at the NIU PD barrier research study and identifying barriers for professional development to be aware of when planning next year’s PD and SIP activities. These will be considered when the team begins to draft ideas for PD in January.
A SWOT assessment of MTSS was conducted to get initial feedback based on our beginning implementation year of MTSS. This information will be shared at the MTSS Steering Committee meeting in January as well as a google form reflection from all MTSS staff.
Finally, the team reviewed the progress of PL 3.0 tenants. Today at IgKnight over 100 approved evidence chats took place and staff are well on their way to completing tenants. Remember, you do have until May 2024 to complete the 10 tenants.
Please feel free to check in with a EAC team member for any follow up on these topics. Have a great holiday season!
IgKnight Conference 2022 is almost here! We are excited about all of the incredible sessions being facilitated by Kaneland staff for Kaneland staff. Here are a few details to prepare you for a day full of learning:
NIU researchers and D302 Educational Services team members are seeking to understand barriers to the
impact of teacher professional development on classroom practice in Kaneland.
We are offering several one-hour online Zoom meetings between November 7th and December 2nd.
Focus groups will be confidential and conducted by NIU researchers.
All participants will earn a paid hour for their time and involvement.
Please sign up by November 16th, 2022 using the link below:
Thank you in advance for your consideration. If you have questions or need further information, please
email one of our NIU faculty sponsors:
Todd Reeves, Ph.D. treeves@niu.edu or Olha Ketsman, Ph.D. oketsman@niu.edu
We are so excited to continue to work with our Writing Consultant to assist in building foundational knowledge, skills and application in writing workshop. We will be asking all classroom staff and MTSS Co-teaching Interventionists please complete this form to sign up for one of the grade level offerings to attend a half day session to observe and work with our writing consultant. Once you sign up please also enter a sub into AESOP for your half day.
The Illinois School Report Card data has officially been released. Here are the overall updates on data, please feel free to search your specific school at https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/
ELA: 3rd decrease 39% to 32%, 4th increase from 34% to 45%, 5th decrease 40% to 36%, 6th increase 17% to 23.5%, 7th decrease 23% to 18.2%, 8th decreased 31.8% to 19.7 percent.
Math: 3rd increase 41% to 44%, 4th increase 29% to 41%, 5th equal at 31%, 6th increase 16.4% to 19.4%, 7th decrease 24% to 19%, 8th decreased 25.7% to 24.7 percent.
Each month Administration takes time at every CHESS meeting to hear student responses. This month we captured a few of the responses from our students. Please enjoy!
How do you access support and resources?
Ask teacher, monitor or peer for help when I have a question
Ask for help or check google classroom for resources and help
Student contracts for the week and PBP tables in google classrooms are great for help
I raise my hand and ask a friend or recess monitor for help
Can ask for breaks to adults as well
Ask for help via email, or add comments to Canvas for discussion
Co-teacher feedback:
Coaches come in and help with reading
Sometimes we go to the Magic Math Room
Co-teachers can read with students, they work with small groups
Small group conferences and POP or writing with the co-teachers
SPED Co-teachers come to help with unexpected behaviors or small groups
Sometimes they pull out students and we go to the room to work on reading problems or need
How do you advocate for learning needs?
Count with my fingers helps support my learning
I know I like to work in my living room with my parents
Asking to leave the room during small work when it is too loud
Asking for extra work for practice or to extend
I use my learner profile to share what is best for me as a learner
I like to do math on paper and write it out, sometimes I ask the teacher for a bit harder work
Just ask a teacher
I prefer to email my teachers
I have asked to work in the hallways, especially when groups get to crowded
Suggestions/input from students:
Updating Minecraft to newest version
Doesn’t like IXL
Wishes every single grade can have a Chromebook
5th grade would like snack and maybe a nap time.
Doesn’t want our school to change, likes it the way it is - it is fun interesting and a lot of stuff happens here.
Wish that all grades got to play Minecraft.
We are beginning to get samples of evidence from various tenants of Personalized Learning 3.0. If you would like to see samples please contact Sarah Mumm or Patrick Raleigh. Please remember that a piece of evidence may span across multiple tenants as evidence. Also another tip is that you can complete evidence as a team. We have great submissions from teams that take time to share and reflect together. If you have any questions at all please contact the Department of Educational Service.
The student escape rooms are now taking reservations for the in-district field trip. If you or your grade level team would like to host a field trip at Meredith and complete the escape events and other activities, please contact Sarah Mumm for optional dates. We are excited to show off the newly designed escape room!
We are excited to have the annual review of our MTSS progress. We will be hosting the "Steering" committee meeting from 9:30-2:50 on January 26th at Meredith. At the most recent KEA Initiatives meeting it was suggested that we shift the MTSS Steering Committee membership and time to all MTSS staff. We do value our original steering committee membership, however the positions have changed, therefore we will invite all Coaches, MTSS staff and related service to the steering committee in January. Thank you so much for working on this shift this year.
Please note that clock hours for the Personalized Learning 3.0 activities will be shared upon completion. As is required by the ROE, there is an evaluation that needs to be shared prior to getting those CPDUs. Once you have completed the 10 tenets, you will be emailed the evaluation which has the clock hours linked into it.
Hi All-
Please take a moment to look at your conference registration. We have made some edits to be a bit more descriptive of the session topics. Noteably, we have renamed two sessions: "PL Academy 3.0 Evidence Chat" which is designed for those interested in collaborating around evidence and artifacts related to the 10 tenets of PL 3.0 -AND- "5 Commitment and PL 3.0 Evidence Sharing" which will give attendees a chance to share what they have been doing with our administrative team to review and discuss evidence supporting our growth within the established goals of each commitment.
Additional seats ave also been opened up in these sessions as well.
As we go into the season of collaboration and job alike time, we will be collecting feedback from teams on the suggested revisions for any PBP tables, feedback on the use of the tables, or ideas for the process to complete tables that are not started yet. It is important to NOT edit the actual table until there is full consensus from across the district and through EAC. As you meet with job alike and grade level teams (across the district or just in your school), please use this document to note the suggestions for edits. We look forward to ideas and suggestions being submitted and reviewing them as a district. Thank you for all your hard work on PBP tables.
Emergency Day Google Meet Checklist for Success.
Click each link for instructions:
Watch the video linked above
Turn OFF Quick Access (VERY IMPORTANT!)
(this prevents students from joining when you are not in the Meet)
Make sure your laptop's microphone is enabled.
(many of our new laptops have the mic disabled by default)
Do a practice Meet:
Grab a time HERE to do a practice "Meet" with Faye Licari
Set aside time to practice Google Meet procedures and expectations with your students
Check out THESE resources for additional support
We are excited for all the great work on MTSS shifts this year! The following is a joint statement from the MTSS Coordinator and Educational Service Department meeting. Please feel free to contact Dr. Sarah Mumm with any questions at all.
Today the MTSS Coordinators and Educational Service met for our monthly meeting. The following is a summary of the work and discussions.
If MTSS staff would like job alike discussion and sharing time, please consider jointly signing up at the IgKnight Conference for 1 or 2 job alikes sessions in the morning.
The MTSS Steering Committee, composed of all MTSS staff, will take place January 26th 9:30-2:50 at Meredith. MTSS Interventionists, please enter your subs into AESOP for this meeting.
The team discussed the use of Tables and Curriculum Maps for Phonics. Phonics is expected to be core instructions at all grades K-5. If your grade level tables are not complete, be sure to reference the PBP tables. On November 11th the Word Study and Grammar teams will be meeting to further plan the completion of all tables.
The team shared ideas for writing tools, KDAB structures and the connections of related service supports.
The student request forms were compared among schools in order to find the differences. The team found that there is lots of consistency among the forms for the schools. Please remember to not fill out this form if there has not already been some type of communication with parents. These forms will continue to be compared on use and questions.
The student request form is available, but we will formally share it more in the second semester.
We continue to collect edits for the MTSS handbook throughout this year.
Please remember that all tier two students that have been identified through our MTSS process should be getting more support or enhancement than tier one students.
The team is looking at discrepancy in student learning among the four schools and academic rigor.
The team reviewed any possible exemptions to push in only interventions.
The team is looking at needs expressed through the request forms and may shift interventionists as needed based on students needs.
The team planned the MTSS fidelity checks among the schools. We look forward to seeing great MTSS Co-teaching practices!
Are you struggling with knowing how to address classroom or individual student behavior? Did you know we have more control over a student’s environment rather than their actions? By beginning with setting up our classrooms to prevent the behaviors we do not want to see, we can potentially reduce problematic behavior by at least 50%.
Check out this Tier 1 Behavior Tool. Simply click on the area you are concerned about and explore recommended strategies to prevent the behavior as well as potential next steps.
You are not in this alone! Please reach out to your Behavior Facilitator to help you navigate this tool and problem solve any behavior concerns you are noticing in your classroom.
The high-school-specific personalized learning committee met on Thursday, October 20th for their first meeting of the year. Committee membership includes the following staff:
Jessica Bloomquist, Nathan Schroll, Jessica Parker, Kris Carson,
Heather Spaetzel, Sally Wilson, Emily VanDelinder, Eric Baron, Alex
Turk, Nathan Schmitt, Shaz Sheikhali, Jen Serviss, James Horne,
Patrick Raleigh, Laura Garland
Please see the website below from Faye regarding a website to help with sending holiday cards to the military.
With parent-teacher conferences just around the corner, I wanted to share some talking points to support you in any conversations that may arise related to IgKnight Academy. On page 2, you'll find a flyer that you could provide to families who are interested in receiving more information about IgKnight. As always, feel free to direct any family who may have more in-depth questions to Laura Garland at 10166@kaneland.org
IgKnight Talking Points and Flyer
Registration for UIC’s Fully Online Learning Behavior Specialist 2 (LBS2) program on Behavior Intervention opens on October 31, 2022. Courses begin January 2023. Current special education teachers interested in advancing their knowledge related to behavioral supports can register through UIC’s Extended Campus. We ask that you circulate this email to current special education teachers you know.
Cohort members will take two courses in Spring, Summer, and Fall of 2023. Following completion of the coursework, students will earn the LBS2 endorsement pending successful completion of the Behavior Intervention exam. All classes are fully online with synchronous sessions meeting between 5pm and 8pm during the academic year and 4pm and 8pm during the summer. More information on the program is available at this link.
In addition, we will host information sessions over the coming weeks to answer questions about the program and registration. Please use this link to register for a session and we will email you login information prior to the meeting. Information session dates are:
For special education teachers interested in pursuing a different online LBS2 endorsement, please use this form to submit your information and interests. We will continue to collect information on student interests and start a new cohort as soon as we have enough interest in another focus area. We will send emails to registrants to keep you updated on progress, plans, and information sessions.
Joint Statement:
Today the Educator Advisory Council met for the October meeting. The following were topics discussed:
Members reviewed topics and structure for future monthly meetings and made timeline adjustments. November and December meeting topics were finalized. November topics include NIU RITE PD Barriers work, MTSS review structures, and shifts, and shout-outs and celebrations.
Based on the small group work of the Science Curriculum Review Team, EAC members suggested edits to the drafted grade span PBP tables. These tables will be used on future report cards for formal assessment and are used in every unit of study. Feedback will be shared with the Science Curriculum Review Team. Note that the Science Review Team is seeking additional members.
Based on feedback from grade level teams, EAC members identified Math and ELA 3-5 priority reported standards that should be focused on in summer school.
Members shared ideas of how they have completed or could complete Activity A (LDIP) and Activity D (Student choice and voice). Examples of evidence may include:
Activity A: LDIP
Math Pathways- incorporates all levels of the continuum. Teacher's written reflection of the rationale for when and how to use each level. Ex. work 1:1 with students struggling to demonstrate proficiency.
Reading - can incorporate all levels as well
Need evidence that shows teachers are moving beyond just legacy instruction in front of the room.
Writing is a natural content area that includes the continuum
Activity D: Voice and Choice
Conferring notes
Writing samples - student choice in what they write about
Utilize coaches to come in and videotape in the classroom, or use co-teachers to document evidence that can be used for both teachers in the classroom.
Please feel free to follow up with your EAC rep for any further information.
Please see the latest and greatest Todd Talk! This month's focus is on the new Learner Profile:
This time from the District Administration publication, and it's regarding Mastery Learning. Highlights of the article include responses from 639 teachers surveyed across the country regarding closing COVID and summer learning loss. Once again, these really align to what we want to do with our proficiency tables, standards-based grading, and feedback/conferencing:
-53% of teachers surveyed already use mastery learning, 35% would like to begin using it
As it pertains to grades:
-61% of teachers believe D's and F's lead to less motivation among students
-58% believe letter grades lead to students feeling labeled
-46% believe letter grading is an unfair way to accurately assess student achievement
The author poses a question that I would like all of us to reflect on:
"Is a grade a score on a test, or are we trying to encourage both students and everyone who's involved in learning to think about mastering skills? If we think about that, we can do things like offer students multiple opportunities to show what they know. And then offer them instruction and different ways to practice in between those opportunities so that students who are struggling have a chance to rebound and try again with some instruction and intervention."
CPDU's and PA 102-0852(e-5)
This year we will work with our staff to take the state assessments prior to going on spring break. The rationale for this decision is to try to stay away from over assessment that occurs between Rigby, state assessments, and I-ready tests. We will focus on state assessments prior to break and then beginning end of the year assessments after break. The testing window for IAR and ISA will be March 13-17 testing window, make up March 20-23. The IAR and ISA data is not often used for instructional decisions. In fact, the data from last year is just coming to the public October 30th. The state assessment data is just used for PD trends and analysis of overall global programming. Our emphasis on data to drive instructional decision making is local assessment data and student learning observation.
Hi All-
This month for October we will be focusing on our 1:1 Commitment of the Strategic Plan. Please take a moment to use this form to Nominate a Knight who has embodied using technology to bring their lessons to life!!
https://forms.gle/aKNer4mBzGRU9Wyq6
Congratulations to last month's winner, Brandon Fox from KBK, for his work in the PBP commitment!
Each month at Ad Team, schools share evidence of specific commitments. It is impressive to see the commitment work coming alive. Please take some time to review the various evidence pieces shared this month as well as stop by Meredith to see all the collected evidence so far.
KST - SBG Summary / SBG docs Video 1
KBK- PBP VIDEO
HMS - MTSS Evidence
HR - OT/PT Eval Clarification of Process - SBG/PBP
Ed Ser-Commitment Teamwork has been amazing: Note, Draft of PBP community work coming up
KHS SEL
KME - 1:1 Evidence
SUPT - R.E.V info going to BOE and community, next Todd Talk = learner profile
ASSOC. SUPT. - SEL (Staff) - Offering accident and critical illness insurance coverage
It has been wonderful to see all of the great examples of student learner profiles being created across the district. As we head into mid-October, all students should be familiar with the purpose of the learner profile, understand related vocabulary, be engaging in self-reflection about themselves as learners, and be ready to begin or have already begun creating their learner profile.
Over the course of the next few weeks, I will be stopping into classrooms to talk with students about their learner profiles, and with their permission, collecting examples of authentic learner profiles. If you have not yet introduced and/or begun creating learner profiles with your students please do reach out to me or an instructional coach for support in getting started.
Earlier this month, students in grades 2-12 were surveyed regarding the mode of instruction they experience most within their classrooms. 364 students responded with the following results:
Tenet A in Personalized Learning Academy 3.0 emphasizes the need to have fluid progression among all levels of the learning continuum, and to demonstrate implementation of all levels. As you design your lessons, be sure to intentionally incorporate opportunities for students to take increased ownership of their learning as they progress toward proficiency.
Definitions of each level of the LDIP Continuum can be found HERE.
