Student Panel- KBK

 CHESS meetings are hosting student panels to kick off their monthly meetings.  The following was shared by our very own KBK students this week!  The questions focused on building community at school and the relfection of learning.  Enjoy hearing directly from the students:

• We feel good about our classroom community
• Safety patrol has made me feel safe and connected
• Technology day has helped too
• My teachers made me feel safe and kept me safe during fire drills
• We have been working on our learner profile
• We have a google doc that we reflect and fill out
• I have shared how do I like my classroom and teacher and where my learning spot is
• I like to learn in a group because it makes me happier and keeps me on track
• Sometimes I can get distracted in a group but most the time I enjoy it
• It matters how well the teacher knows you and how they help you choose a group
• Maybe we should be less on Chromebook because it can distract us
• We could also use more art and gym

Helpful Hapara Cheatsheet

 Thank you to Faye for sharing our THIS infographic about monitoring online activity (Hapara). This is a great continuum for using a tool like Hapara for monitoring your students' work. 

MTSS Commitment

Implementing models of co-teaching is one of the key goals within the MTSS commitment. At IgKnight Academy, co-teaching has allowed both general and special education teachers to support ALL students as they acclimate to their new learning environment. Having already developed a common philosophy around personalized learning, co-teaching teams at IgKnight are working in unison to support students with and without special education plans, as they begin to become more active in their own learning. It is not unusual to see a general educator working 1:1 with a student who has an IEP, nor is it unusual to see a special educator working with a small group of general education students. The co-teaching teams jointly determine both the who and how of supporting each individual student and remain fluid in their approach.  

We're excited to be offering a session on co-teaching at the upcoming IgKnight Professional Development Conference. Consider signing up if you are interested in learning more about co-teaching practices. 

Why We Are Lucky!

 Each month as the Administrative Team meets we take a moment to reflect on why we are lucky to be at Kaneland.  We want to share this month's reflections with all of you.  Thank you for making Kaneland a special place for staff and students!

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Four Types of Staff Member Review

 As we shared at the first day of our back to school Institute, in every school there are four different staff member types.  Each type has support needed that is specific to the situation they are currently in.  Please make an attempt to be cognizant of each other and the needs everyone needs in order to build support for each other.  Here was a summary of the four staff member types:

Believer:  A staff member who is engaged and excited and ready to jump into tasks with full energy.  They may need support in being able to manage and monitor their work in order to avoid burnout later in the year.

Tweeners:  A staff member who is new to a grade level, postion, Kaneland or a school.  They are excited to be here and want to strive for greatness in their postion.  They may need support finding connections with others, reach out and connect.

Survivor:  A staff member who for short term or long term are in a situation that they are overwhelmed and not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  They are making all attempts to try to engage but are overwhelmed.  They may need support in being able to prioritize tasks and take things off thier plate.

Fundamentalists:  A staff member who often questions the process or needs data or rationale for our actions.  They may be supportive of the process but need to know the why.  They may need to be part of the initial decsion making and need check ins in order to collaborate around the rationale and be able to communicate positively and share with others. 

Educator Advisory Council Update EC-5

 Today EAC met for the first monthly meeting of the school year.  The following were topics discussed and shared:

• Open seats were discussed.  The following seats are open: Kindergarten to First Grade KSS, Kindergarten to First Grade KME, and Exploratory: KST, KBK

• The team took time to discuss the projected goals for this school year.  We will be working on making a month by month schedule of the goals that will be discussed for guests to attend the specific meetings.  Please see your EAC rep prior to the October meeting to check the final proposed goals.  

• The team met in grade span groups to discuss the use and fall implementation of setting learning expectations using the PBP tables with students and in classroom discussion.  The team shared ideas of use by grade span.  Please remember to post any student friendly PBP tables or documents in the shared drive.  Please see the ideas shared below:

• K-1

• 2-3: 

• 4-5

• SPED, Related Service, Exploratores

• The team took time to reflect on the opening of school in the SEL practices including learner profile, CHAMPS, school expectations, and setting routines.  The team will share in the Curriculum Connection blog the typed version of the sharing from this activity.  

• The team discussed burning questions from the staff.  Please see your EAC rep for any updates on questions posed.  Question topics included:  PL and writing audits, expected trimester assessing for report cards, PBP table edits, and PL 3.0 tenets.

Have an amazing month!

Membership list:

Cindy Babich Nancy Meisenger Rob Gardner Sarah Mumm Christine Baldridge David Argabright Brooke Paulsen Rose Cuzzone Katelyn Curry Cindy Babka Heidi Gilkey Courtney Hoffman Taylor Setterlund Anissa Becker Melanie Zack Molly Santana Kelli Scardamaglia Taylor Knoepke Lauren Banbury Laura Emmert Jennifer Schieber Cindy Stiver Liz Orman Martne McCoy/Kara Salto Samantha Aversa/Kara Salto Brian Zerfas/Keith Tankersley Courtney Ward/ Keith Tankersley Fran Eggleston Laura Garland

IgKnight Conference Celebration

 As we get ready for the Fall, the IgKnight Conference in November will be here before we know it. This is a day of learning that is almost entirely peer-led and tailored to what our needs are here in Kaneland as they pertain to the 5 Commitments. 

While we are preparing to share the sessions in the weeks to come, we just wanted to take a moment to celebrate that we have nearly 80 calls for proposals for this year, compared to 38 from last year. 

THIS IS AWESOME!! We are proud of the work we get to showcase and hopefully, everyone is able to find sessions to grow as teachers. 

Let's Revisit Tenet F

This week we will take a look at tenet F from Academy 3.0: Utilizing proficiency tables during learning is to increase both student and teacher clarity of learning objectives. 

Please remember the intent is to show evidence of the explicit use of proficiency tables in the learning environment of proficiency tables in order to build teacher and student clarity in learning. Evidence must include how students are using the PBP to reflect on learning.

Students should be seeing our proficiency tables every day. They should be used to outline daily expectations, engage in feedback cycles, set goals, and clearly articulate learning outcomes. 

We need to ensure we are using academic language as it pertains to our reported standards, and that students have the opportunity to show their learning specific to a reported standard or I Can statement. 

Teachers have used PBP tables for:

-Conferencing

-Outlining necessary learning for re-assessment

-Having students create rubrics and assessment criteria

-Students assessing each other

Guest Writer: Liz O. and Handwriting Work

This week we are thrilled to have Liz Orman from KST and KBK sharing the amazing collaborative work of the handwriting subgroup discussions.   

Beginning in the spring of 2023, I had the opportunity to be part of a team that came together to focus on handwriting instruction in Kaneland. 

It all began with an increase in the number of Requests for Assistance after looking at student data. Were students needing support in writing, handwriting or both? Could the need for handwriting instruction be impacting writing? After a closer look, the focus would be handwriting. Teachers were looking for immediate ways to increase their capacity to teach handwriting. Kaneland’s occupational therapists (building experts) shared screeners, resources, and ways to empower learners to reflect and set personal goals on their letter formation progress. Change was happening, but there was still a greater need.

With the go ahead to continue the conversation, some of our district occupational therapists, coordinators, consultants, and coaches came together to create a clear picture of reality on handwriting instruction. After brainstorming, asking hard questions, reflecting on current structures, proposing solutions, and then collaborating with administration, we were excited about the opportunity to share a rough draft of a Handwriting Delivery Table with EAC. The table includes links with resources to support the teaching of handwriting. We hope teachers' voices are heard and that the proposed table brings clarity to support all of us who are teaching handwriting in Kaneland. 

Lucky Duck

 The prize pot is growing, no confirmed luck duck numbers yet!!  Check your numbers and see if you have lucky duck number 61 !!!  Email Sarah Mumm at 10358@kaneland.org if you are a lucky winner!  

PD Spotlight- Writing Norming

 This week we were so excited to see many staff coming over to KMAC for Writing Norming.  The amount of discussion and collaboration in the norming sessions is such powerful PD.  Kudos to the Instructional Coach team for creating such an engaging atmosphere with trivia, music and prizes to engage all staff during the session.  The norming sessions are not just meant for the opportunity to score our student work, but rather focus on professional growth in inter-rater reliability, shared decsion making on our writing practices and needs, and building cross grade level collaboration.  Thank you to the staff who came refreshed and ready to engage in the discussion to these amazing sessions!    

Guest Writer: Morgan G. from KSS

 Picture books are wonderful for many reasons! They encourage creativity, immerse students into other cultures and ways of life, are enjoyable regardless of age and so much more. Recognizing this and the emphasis of reading as the KSS SIP goal this year, the idea of our "Book Secret Supporter" was born. After gathering a list of thirty picture books with a SEL focus, I reached out to my community in search of "Secret Supporters" to purchase and gift a student from my class a picture book throughout the entire year. I was -- and still am! --- overwhelmed with our Secret Supporters' generosity as my entire class will end this year with a new picture book! INCREDIBLE!  With school underway, the other classrooms in the school were invited to our weekly Secret Supporter book read aloud and am incredibly excited to share this time with other classes and grades throughout Shields!