Leading Well Writing Book Study EC-5 Sharing

 We are very excited to share a new book study that is happening regarding Leading Well.  The intent of the book study is to refine our knowledge philosophy of what writing practices should look like and why.  It kicked off this week and has been a pleasure to meet with our Writing Consultant, Anne Olsen, as a team.  The MTSS Coordinators, Instructional Coaches and Administration are all jointly attending the book study.  Over the course of the next two months, we will be sharing tips, ideas, and Ah Ha moments from the book study for all to ponder. Here are a few discussion points from this week's session:

-Keys from the chapter included:  we need to protect time for writing, we need to establish a culture of writing so students want to write, students need to admire writing examples, and we need to do big picture writing planning (know where our destination is) and then use assessment data for shorter term planning.

-An essential question posed from our discussion:  How are we using data sources to plan mini-lessons and students' writing pathways?

-Students should lead the conversation during conferring

-Teachers should pose questions for writing reflection during conferring, not giving edits

-Teachers should never write on student writing pieces, but rather share ideas on post its or in conversations.  Students need to continue to own thier writing.

-Teams should always have the writing destination in mind while allowing different routes to be taken to get to that destination 

The first session was a great discussion and reflection our writing practices.  We look forward to the next session. 

Joint Evaluation Committee Update

 Please view this quick update from your Joint Evaluation Committee.

Joint Evaluation Committee Update

District Writing Guidelines for K-5 Post Assessment

 Our K-5 writing norming meetings are just a few months away.  Just to begin to think about being prepared, here are the district writing guidelines.  Please be sure to read the guidelines carefully in preparing for the data collection this Spring.  

Four Schools One Book Escape Rooms Open

 Here we are in the kick off week of the Four Schools One Book!  We are excited to unveil the book in our assemblies Thursday!  If your team or class would like to take part in the escape room in-district field trip related to the book, please email Sarah Mumm at 10358@kaneland.org!  The rooms are ready and waiting!  Enjoy! 

10 Tenets of Personalized Learning in Kaneland

With so many different definitions and interpretations of what constitutes personalized learning, we wanted to create a one-pager for our community that identifies the principles and beliefs aligned with Kaneland's philosophy of personalized learning. You can find a printable version of the 10 Tenets of Personalized Learning in Kaneland document HERE. 

K-5 Reported Standards Trends for Trimester One

 As part of the process to determine our "typical" level of progression in learning, each trimester we will be assessing our report cards to look for learning progression trends.  This process includes reviewing 100 random sample report cards per grade level to find the level of learning for the assessed reported standards.  This can give you an opportunity to see where the trend in learning is occurring across the district and compare where your learners are in that progression.  Long term it will also assist in in determining rate of growth for learning.  Please take a moment to see the trends using this link for trimester one.   

EC-5 Personalized Learning 3.0 Canvas Modules

Based on feedback shared with the Department of Educational Service, we have now created a PL 3.0 Canvas course for EC-5 that mirrors the courses at 6-8 and 9-12.  This is OPTIONAL to use to submit your tenant evidence.  You may also contact Educational Service for submissions directly through our google form, email, or text.  If you would like to use the Canvas course please take a moment to self-enroll. You will want to first watch THIS "How to Enroll" video because the process has changed this year on self-enrolling in Canvas. 

The self-enroll link is: https://kaneland.us-west-2.instructuremedia.com/embed/50862528-8d11-479d-be43-2fb6a2d33b5c

Faye has also made a video tutorial on how to use the course. Video Tutorial.  Thank you Faye for your amazing work getting this started for EC-5!

Tenant A Personalized Learning 3.0 Sharing

 Each week of this new year we will be providing a video to help share ideas of evidence that has already been turned in per tenet.  We are excited to share that two staff members have already completed Personalized Learning 3.0 Academy and earned their credit hours!  Kudos to the staff! For more information, feel free to reach out to Nicole Dyche at KSS or Kristi Purnell at KBK if you have any questions/ideas of evidence. 

Here is a video from Tenet A to help you on your journey.  Please remember you do not need to complete the 10 core tenants until May of 2024. 

More evidence is available upon request if you have further questions! 

IgKnight Conference 2023: Call for Proposal Open

This year we will once again be hosting our own internal professional development conference, IGKNIGHT 2023!  In order to allow personalized choices for staff members, we will host sessions in a variety of formats, including in-person, and self-paced.  We are looking for internal staff who are interested in sharing their knowledge, experiences, and resources with colleagues. While IgKnight 2022 is still fresh in your mind, we are seeking early bird proposals. If you have a session topic request but do not want to facilitate the session, please still submit and we will try to find presenters. If you did not feel IgKnight 2022 had enough options for your specific role, please submit suggestions. Early bird proposals are due by March 15th. An additional opportunity to submit proposals will be offered in the fall. Click HERE to submit! 

IgKnight Academy Update

Registration for Kaneland IgKnight Personalized Learning Academy closed on December 16, 2022. We have 107 students registered across grades 3-8. Registration was expanded to include incoming 3rd graders based on high family interest. At this point, we have hired 6 internal candidates and are interviewing externally for a 7th position. In the upcoming weeks and months, we will determine any additional positions that are needed based on student enrollment, continue minor updates to the Academy learning spaces, finalize logistics with transportation and food service, and begin diving deeper into curriculum planning to support learning across customized pathways.