Tuesday Teaching Point February 11

Tuesday Teaching Point

February 11, 2014

http://tuesdayteachingpoint.blogspot.com/

·       Equitable Access to Rigorous, Standards-based Instruction

·       Results-focused Professional Learning and Collaboration

·       Strong Partnerships with Families and Community

·       A Culturally-Responsive Organization

Teaching Point:

Charlotte Danielson says, “Teaching is a purposeful activity”. Communicating instructional outcomes entails identifying exactly what students will be expected to learn; not what students will do, but what they will learn. The instructional outcomes should reflect important learning and lend themselves to various forms of assessment. All students should be able to demonstrate their understanding of the content. The learning objective, or teaching point, determines the learning activities, the resources used, suitability for diverse learners, and the methods of assessment.

State Criteria #4 is to ensure we provide clear and intentional focus on the subject matter content and curriculum. Largely, the fourth criterion is made up of Domain 1 of Charlotte Danielson. In 1C, Setting Instructional Outcomes is akin to setting a learning target, and described in multiple ways from factual and procedural knowledge, to conceptual understanding, thinking and reasoning skills, and collaborative and communication strategies. Experienced teachers are able to link their learning outcomes with others both within their discipline, and to other disciplines taught in the school.

Some indicators of quality outcomes:

• They are of a challenging cognitive level

• There are statements of student learning, not student activity

• They are central to the discipline and related to those in other disciplines

• There are directly related activities and assessments of student attainment

• They are differentiated for students of varied ability

For clarity, outcomes, objectives, teaching points, purpose or learning targets reflect what students will know and be able to do. Not what students will do, or their activity for the day.

Teaching Standard:

CDIF 1C Setting Instructional Outcomes

State Teacher Evaluative Criterion 4: provide clear and intentional focus on the subject matter content and curriculum

5DIF ver. 4: Purpose

Teaching Assessment:

At the New Start site, my PLC, and colleague principals will be coming around today (Tuesday) looking for how Teaching Point is communicated. I am looking forward to having a lot of good feedback for you (from a different set of eyes.)

Professional Collaboration and Learning:

A special thanks to Frank Cantwell, and your participation, for an informative PCT last Friday. Great learning around Criterion 5 and Domain 2!

This week, we split. New Start will convene our All-Staff Success Team (Please come prepared with your intervention check sheets). CHOICE you will have learning around Common Core in Math and Science. This Friday, 1:00, February 14, Valentines Day. Have a happy one!

Your Instructional Leader,

Mike

Tuesday Teaching Point February 4

Tuesday Teaching Point

February 4, 2014

·       Equitable Access to Rigorous, Standards-based Instruction

·       Results-focused Professional Learning and Collaboration

·       Strong Partnerships with Families and Community

·       A Culturally-Responsive Organization

Teaching Point:

Assessment of student learning is recognized to be an integral part of instruction. Clearly, it is important for teachers to know whether students have learned what teachers intend them to learn. While assessment has always been, and will continue to be an important aspect of teaching, Charlotte Danielson says, “Assessment for learning has increasingly come to play an important role in the classroom practice.” In order to assess student learning for the purposes of instruction, teachers must have a “finger on the pulse” of a lesson. Teachers do this by monitoring student understanding and provide feedback where appropriate.

Teaching Standard:

State Evaluation Criterion 6 & Charlotte Danielson 3D Using Assessment in Instruction.

Teaching Assessment:

In what ways do you integrate assessment into your instructional practice? Do you have regular routines or systems to keep your finger on the pulse of the lesson, and what students are learning? Please respond in email or person. I look forward to hearing what you have to share.  

Professional Collaboration and Learning:

This Friday, February 7, all alternative programs staff meets at Salmon Creek for Professional Learning around Charlotte Danielson and the Professional Growth and Evaluation system. The focus will be understanding the “State 8” Criterion for Evaluation. All certificated staff are required to attend this PCT. 1:00 in the Salmon Creek Library.

BTW:

Welcome aboard Michael McSweeney, our new Teacher-Leader at HIPP! Please stop by and introduce yourself if you have not yet met Mike.

Michael joins us from the VITAL program at PSSC, where he has spent the last 14 years growing and developing the program into a fully accredited and graduating high school (Puget Sound HS) for skill center students. I am very excited to have Mr. McSweeney as the latest great addition to our Alternative Programs team!

Your Instructional Leader,

Mike

Tuesday Teaching Point January 28

Tuesday Teaching Point

January 28, 2014

·       Equitable Access to Rigorous, Standards-based Instruction

·       Results-focused Professional Learning and Collaboration

·       Strong Partnerships with Families and Community

·       A Culturally-Responsive Organization

Teaching Point:

This week with a new Session or semester at all three programs it is important we remember Criterion 1 is about centering our instruction on high expectations for student achievement. Charlotte Danielson describes this as Establishing a Culture for Learning…a critical step to remember at the beginning of any new term.

In CDIF 2B the Proficient teacher is described as creating a classroom culture that is a “cognitively busy” place where learning is valued. High expectations for learning are the norm for most students.

The teacher conveys that with hard work students can be successful. Students understand their role as learners, consistently expending efforts to learn. Classroom interactions support learning and hard work.

How does 2B manifest in your room this week? I’d be curious to know by Friday if you think your Culture of Learning has improved over the last semester (session) or flattened as we hit mid-year.

In the Distinguished teacher’s classroom, according to Danielson, students assume self-responsibility for high quality learning by initiating their own improvements, making un-prompted revisions, adding new details, and/or helping their peers.

I do not need a response, but would like you to rate the environment you create in your classroom using the state criteria.

Teaching Standard:

Washington State Evaluative Criterion 1, CDIF 2B

Teaching Assessment:

Please share with me what evidence of “establishing a learning environment might look like, in your room or others.

Professional Collaboration and Learning:

This Friday PCT has been set aside for the second planning and debrief meeting of Peer Observations at New Start. Teaching staff will meet in the Math Room at 1:00, Friday Jan 31. CHOICE has set aside the PCT for Team Time.

Have a good Session Start!

Go Hawks

Your Instructional Leader,

Mike

Tuesday Teaching Point January 21

Tuesday Teaching Point

January 21, 2014

·       Equitable Access to Rigorous, Standards-based Instruction

·       Results-focused Professional Learning and Collaboration

·       Strong Partnerships with Families and Community

·       A Culturally-Responsive Organization

Teaching Point:

As you know assessment takes many forms from a final summative demonstration at the end of a term, or merely asking students a question as they enter the classroom. What’s the appropriate assessment at any given time? I do not know that I can tell you how to gauge that.

Certainly academia has identified two categories of assessment (Which you very well know); Formative and Summative. But within these domains it is truly your pedagogy that helps you determine the nature of a “check along the way” or a final examination of what was learned at the end of a unit.

In Danielson 1F, Designing Student Assessments, the Proficient teacher’s plan for student assessment is aligned with the instructional outcomes; criteria and standards are clear. The teacher also has a well-developed strategy for using formative assessment and has designed particular approaches to be used.

Furthermore, the Distinguished teacher will show evidence that there was student participation and contribution toward the development of the assessment.

Teaching Standard:

Danielson Framework for Teaching by the Washington State Criteria. SC 6: Using multiple student data elements to modify instruction and improve student learning, CDIF 1F

Teaching Assessment:

I have seen the distinguished approach in classrooms. I have observed a teacher using the final unit review with students to design and literally write out the final exam. Can the teacher incorporate distinguished elements into the more formative brand of real-time classroom assessment? Please let me know what you think by email or in personal response.

Professional Collaboration and Learning:

Alt Ed Leadership has scheduled this Friday’s collaborative time to be independently directed. New Start Leadership Team will be meeting at 1:00. Please let me know how you will be collaborating with colleagues this Friday, January 24.

A Quote for the Monday Holiday in Honor of MLK Jr:

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education."  Martin Luther King, Jr.

Have a wonderful week,

Your Instructional Leader,

Mike

Tuesday Teaching Point January 14

Tuesday Teaching Point

January 14, 2014

·       Equitable Access to Rigorous, Standards-based Instruction

·       Results-focused Professional Learning and Collaboration

·       Strong Partnerships with Families and Community

·       A Culturally-Responsive Organization

Teaching Point:

There is a list of descriptors of Teacher Actions and Student Actions that reflect Common Core implementation in the classroom.  I have attached it to this email. The “Look-fors” were shared by the district office last week, and I have been examining them over the weekend. While thinking about Teaching Points and purpose, what strikes me in this document is how Student Actions could very well be incorporated into a posted Teaching Point.

Take a moment to review the attached document.

The “shifts” toward common core in this discussion are based in the national English Language Arts standard. The shifts are in the left colored column of the sheet. The right column is titled “You see students…” There are a list of actions you might expect to see the student doing in a class or classroom at any given time. The actions are associated with the shifts, which are associated with the Common Core.

My question for you to ponder as we move into this year of the Common Core is, how might you (or how do you already), incorporate the phrases under “You see students…” into your daily teaching point? Might such practice result in evidence of the classroom being based in the common core? Which of these could you pull off in Social Studies, Science or Math?

Teaching Standard:

National English Language Arts (ELA) Common Core Standards Shifts.

Teaching Assessment:

Please respond to the questions posed above in person or by email. I do keep track of who responds, so please let me know what you think.  

Professional Collaboration and Learning:

PCT at New Start will be for collaborative Advisory Planning. At CHOICE further illuminate training.

BTW:

Happy New Year. I look forward to getting back into the classrooms this 2014 to see how we can improve our school wide instructional practices together.  

Your Instructional Leader,

Mike

Tuesday Teaching Point December 10

Tuesday Teaching Point

December 10, 2013

·       Equitable Access to Rigorous, Standards-based Instruction

·       Results-focused Professional Learning and Collaboration

·       Strong Partnerships with Families and Community

·       A Culturally-Responsive Organization

Teaching Point:

If they are truly expecting high quality student examples of work, teachers must know what an exemplar work looks like for their class. The exemplar is the model (or a model) of what you expect to see before the student turns in the work to you. As we learned about the APEX protocol for looking at student work, and built our rubrics, we were asked to “dream up” what our perfect piece would look like for an assignment to be evaluated. This would be the example of the best student work we wish would be turned into us. In a three tiered evaluation, there is the exemplar work, and then the work that needs improvement. The bottom tier is none, or irrelevant work to the assignment given.

In this blog, I have shared with you pictures of example posted learning objectives. Though I have a clear vision of all the components, I have not yet seen our exemplar posted teaching point. For our purposes regarding teaching point, an exemplar would include; Student friendly/relatable language, a connection to a standard, reflected in an assessment, part of a broader idea, repeated and restated in multiple ways, concisely worded statement of what the student will learn, and should be able to do. Haven’t quite seen it yet. And I still haven’t seen consistency across classrooms (but hope to by June).

My point (and hope) is that you capture the exemplar student work to which you aspire for all of your students to meet. My challenge is for you, is to send me a fantastic teaching point that you have posted in the past or have been developing. My aim is to share what has been shared with me. Then I too, will have an exemplar to share that meets my highest expectation for student work.

Teaching Standard:

CDIF 3D Using Assessment in Instruction. Distinguished teachers allow students to assess their work against exemplars pieces of work or rubrics describing what is expected in the highest order. 5D Assessment for Learning; students evaluate their work using rubrics and examples of other students work which meets or exceeds standard.

Teaching Assessment:

So that I can understand your grasp of exemplar I am asking that you send me, or show me, an exemplar of student work you are using in your classroom. If you don’t have the work I would hope to see a description or the “perfect piece” that students can access or evaluate their own work against. I already know that many of you have several examples of this, and indeed exemplars. In lieu of a student work exemplar please take a stab at the perfect Teaching Point. I’d love to read what you have used or are using. Who knows, maybe I’ll share it and use as my exemplar of teaching point. By Friday please.

Professional Collaboration and Learning:

Friday PCT for New Start is collaborative Advisory Planning. At CHOICE Common Core in LA/SS will be discussed and examples shared. Please come prepared to your PCT. 12:30 CHOICE, 1:00 New Start. Standby for room locations.

Stay warm -

Your Instructional Leader,

Mike

Tuesday Teaching Point December 3

Tuesday Teaching Point

December 3, 2013

• ·       Equitable Access to Rigorous, Standards-based Instruction
• ·       Results-focused Professional Learning and Collaboration
• ·       Strong Partnerships with Families and Community
• ·       A Culturally-Responsive Organization

Teaching Point:

Teachers will know that the general structure of their daily classes contributes to the communication of Teaching Point. This is a bit of a refresher for all of you, but did you realize using the workshop model as a general structure for your class can help you re-edify your teaching point to students? The expectation and general structure of the workshop model has three distinct parts to any class period. Just to remind:

Part 1; Gathering; Where the teacher focuses on communicating the teaching point and delivering the content of the lesson. The gathering is critical to making a connection to a past lesson, or prior knowledge of the students, thereby making the teaching point more relevant. Teaching Point extends well beyond this portion of the class.   

Part 2; Work time; When students transition to small groups, individual practice, presentations or any one of many possible formats which allow them to practice and work on what was taught during the lesson. There are numerous opportunities during work time to remind students of, and repeat the original teaching point. Students can write in their journals or on the top of their worksheet. Students can discuss the teaching point and content. Perhaps a prompt by the teacher will relate the teaching point to student’s lives, or ask them to make a point of connection for themselves. Still, the Teaching Point carries on…

Part 3: Conclusion; The teacher helps the students cognitively “wrap-up” and review the learning for the day. Certainly, the teaching point will be a part of the last activity in the period. Again, any number of activities, from exit tasks, private writing, discussions, or even an explanation to the teacher can help students conclude the learning period. Students should recall and understand what was taught to them today, how they learned it, and why is was important.

We see that teaching point can be carried through the period and lesson. Much more than a posted learning objective, Teaching Point is the central theme of what is to be learned in class on any given day. How do you attach your Teaching Point to your student’s minds?   

Teaching Standard:

Charlotte Danielson 3A, Communicating with Students. Proficient: “The instructional purpose of the lesson is clearly com­municated to students, including where it is situated within broader learning; directions and procedures are explained clearly and may be modeled. The teacher’s explanation of content is scaffolded, clear, and ac­curate and connects with students’ knowledge and experience. During the explanation of content, the teacher focuses, as appropriate, on strategies students can use when working independently and invites stu­dent intellectual engagement. The teacher’s spoken and written language is clear and correct and is suit­able to students’ ages and interests. The teacher’s use of academic vocabulary is precise and serves to extend student understanding.” - CDIF

Teaching Assessment:

How is the teaching point carried through your lesson? Is it as clear to the student at the end of the period as it is at the beginning? Is the Teaching Point clear, at the beginning of the period? I see it is posted in all of your rooms. I’d like you to share with me your follow-through strategies for teaching point from bell to bell.  

Professional Collaboration and Learning:

This week we hold the second of four required collaborative learnings around teacher’s Professional Growth and Evaluation. The PG&E topic is collecting evidence in the eight state criteria and our own instructional framework. Mr. Frank Cantwell, and I, will co-conduct the combined PCT at CHOICE Academy at Woodside. All programs be at Woodside, in Mrs. Laura Mitchell’s room, at 1:00. Friday, December 6. See you there – Have a wonderful week.

Your Instructional Leader,

Mike