Next week will bring us the first of two shortened weeks with students, as we have our PD day next Friday and Columbus Day the following Monday. With half the first quarter already gone (or 1/8 of the school year, depending on your perspective), we have already seen some remarkable bits of instruction.
We know you are seeing all of us in classes - it is part of our collective goal and initiative to be in classes. Remember - the questions being asked in PD360 are for your reflection as well, and frequently to clarify. Keeping those objectives posted on the board is a huge help, but sometimes it impossible to know what happened before or after the brief snapshot a walk-through may yield, which the questions and reflections may help.
As for some data as we have gathered past the one-month point:
- So far, the loss of homeroom has cut down on the number of students tardy to school. Our total number of tardies is down by about 27% after a similar span of time, from September 2012 to September 2013.
- First period attendance remains an ongoing bugaboo. In a three day span this week, we had 16 errors. That's better than our record number of 18 for one day, but still not great. To those who take accurate first period attendance on a daily basis, thank you!
- While last year took us until January to register our first suspension, we have had a handful of students whose behavior has warranted a suspension as a consequence. While we are not necessarily proud of that fact, it underscores that we will continue to have some students whose behavior will require the clean slate approach when they come back. Before it gets to that point, though, contact families with respect to behavior - both positive and negative. If there are certain students who are causing you some angst already at this young juncture of the school year, reach out - to counselors, a Dean, a Department leader, a parent. If you want support with that call, we're happy to assist!
What's The Big Deal About Learning Objectives?
- Shanley Heller, STEM Leader
You may have noticed in our walkthroughs that we are emphasizing a visible objective written on the board. What's up with that? Yes, it takes time, and sometimes is not easy to write...but what do the students get out of it? According to research that began in the 80's "clearly articulated learning objectives help students to differentiate among types of knowledge". Knowledge is often divided up into two categories: declarative (facts/concepts) and procedural (knowing how and when to apply). Students tend to work at the lowest acceptable level of knowledge, so if we are not clear if we expect knowledge of concepts or application of concepts students will choose to learn at the declarative level. If we are clear they are expected to USE the knowledge for a specific purpose, more students are likely to rise to that level.
But my favorite reason is to lessen the gap between what we want students to learn and what they actually learn. Here are the "big 3" that is likely to raise student achievement:
1) Focus on specific skill or performance (clearly articulated objective)
2) targets appropriate level of challenge to their current performance
3) sufficient quantity and frequency to cirterion
The key is time in "deliberate practice" that is working toward a specific goal, rather than same time in "generic practice".
Reference: The Educational Value of Course-level Learning Objectives/Outcomes,www.cmu.edu/teaching
Classes of the Week
I can't speak for everyone who was in and out of classes, but here are a couple highlights of walk-throughs this past week:
Mr. Petrarca's Economics classes were conducting a simulation that resembled the trading floor at the stock exchange. It enabled the students to practice an authentic set of skills, use target vocabulary, and implement some of the problem-solving that will later find its way onto Advanced Placement tests. The students were all out of their seats, working with one another, driving costs up (and down) with their discussion. The class was extremely high on the engagement scale!
Ms. Champagne's Art History students moved class to the atrium outside guidance to work on a project where students interviewed each other as ancient Greek statues. The students were human works of art, having become experts on their piece for the interview by their peers.
Mr. Christie was introducing a Peer Editing rubric for his ninth-grade standard English class, in which the guidelines for specific essay writing techniques were explained and the standards for peer editing introduced and implemented. For a last period class of a day, and featuring a lively bunch, the students were moving upward on the Bloom's scale as they provided feedback for each other's work.
The beauty of going into 20-30 classes a week means seeing, frequently, a variety of different instructional strategies, both direct and differentiated, and assessments, those that are traditional, alternative, and/or authentic. It's proof (and validation) of many, many great things going on, so we hope to find ways to get folks to share these ideas and, ultimately, look at student work to tune those plans!
PLC TIME
Speaking of time to collaborate, we will be implementing a different model in the next week or so that will help facilitate better planning.
Recognizing that supervising students AND engaging in common planning is not ideal, the following solution was offered and accepted:
- All students in the self-directed study will be assigned to specific teachers for the purpose of attendance and supervision of the study. The student-to-teacher ratio in the study hall will not exceed 35:1, in accordance with Article IV D-5 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
- The teachers who are assigned a PLC/non-instructional time shall not report to the cafeteria, but to a designated common space.
- All full-time teachers shall be afforded a minimum one period of PLC/non-instructional time absent any responsibility in the cafeteria.
- Teacher schedules shall be changed to reflect, via MMS, the period(s) which have been assigned as either the supervision of Directed Study or the opportunity for PLC time.
- A PLC log shall be completed to provide feedback on the use of the time, to reflect evidence of collaboration, and to share said evidence among professionals in the building.
- All study halls, save those assigned during the lunch block, shall be assigned to the cafeteria.
- Teachers who wish to collaborate during periods when they are assigned to the cafeteria for supervision purposes may do so at their leisure and as individual periods permit.
- Should teachers assigned for a PLC period wish to collaborate in the cafeteria with the teachers assigned for study hall supervisory purposes, they may do so at the discretion and consensus of the group.
- For the purpose of calculating the student-to-teacher ratio during first and last block, the members of the senior class, the majority of whom are partaking in senior privilege and thus will not be present, have been omitted from the total number of students. Should such time arise as when the ratio would exceed 35:1, an additional staff member would be assigned.
The patience that has been demonstrated over the first month is sincerely appreciated. The goal, obviously, is to give people opportunities to plan together, collaborate, and share ideas for the purpose of fulfilling the many responsibilities we share. I'm open to suggestions about how to make PLC time better as we move forward, and have already started having conversations about how to, in scheduling next year, giving people more time to work together.
Over the course of the year, there may be specific tasks assigned to the PLC time, such as examining mid-year exam data, looking at some common curriculum, piloting a new program, lesson plan tuning (more on that later), or what is called a success analysis (looking at what went well, and why). Again, ideas for the good of the order for how to structure that time to make it productive, particularly among the groups that have used it well, are appreciated and welcomed.
I ask for and appreciate your continued patience as I make the changes in MMS. A revised duty schedule can be seen here; I will let everyone know when it goes into effect. The numbers reflect the total number of students in that period; the italics reflect the PLC group, many (most?) of which are comprised of people who teach similar subjects - in a couple cases, similar grade level. My hope is by the middle of next week everything will be updated.
NON-PLC STUDY HALL
I know this has been said before, but I'm putting it right here, in black and white, to be explicit.
There are several periods in the study hall schedule where there are, say, four teachers assigned for 50 students, well below the 35:1 student-teacher ratio.
If you, as professionals, wish to divvy up the duty, to keep the number satisfactory but to free others up - please do. I want people to use their time productively and, more importantly, work collegial as professionals. That means it is okay to leave the cafeteria to consult with counselors, meet with someone, go to a class - whatever needs to be done. Again, work it out amongst yourselves and let me know if I can help... I think almost everyone should be able to squeeze out the equivalent of an every free period every cycle or so.
Other Study Hall Procedures
Just a reminder that the first three and last period of the day should have the students seated in the bottom half of the cafeteria.
The period immediately after lunch -the students should sit in the upper part of the cafeteria.
Finally,
Weekly Resources are posted here. There is a particularly fitting piece from Edutopia on how to stay positive in trying times - the steps they recommend are solid and hopefully things we can emulate!
Have a great weekend!
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