Thinking Strategy for December: Summarizing

The documents below will help you implement the reading expectation in Discovery for the month of December.

PowerPoint: This PowerPoint presentation provides detailed information about this month’s thinking strategy. This may be used as background information for the teacher, or as a prompt for classroom discussion.

Strategy Mini-Lesson and One-Pager: This document contains background information for teachers, suggested activities for a mini-lesson, the monthly one-pager, and possible feedback teachers may provide to a completed one-pager The mini-lesson should be conducted at the beginning of the month during the first twenty minutes of Discovery.  The one-pager should be completed in Discovery class at the end of the month. Teachers may choose to have students submit the one-pagers digitally or as a hard copy. Most students should be able to complete the one-pager in the first twenty minutes of Discovery; however, there are some, especially struggling readers, who may need additional time. Students should always complete the one-pager in class to ensure an authentic response.

Reader’s Toolkit: This document contains tools that can be utilized in your content area classes to assist ALL students in using this month’s strategy. There isn’t a lot of time in Discovery during the month of December to provide support with summarizing.  However, you may observe students struggling with this skill throughout the year.  The reading department has additional resources on summarizing that may be helpful throughout the year.

Please contact Jen or Aimee if you have any questions or are in need of support.

Summarizing Mini-Lesson & One-Pager.pdf Download this file

Summarizing.pptx Download this file

Book Talk Scale.pdf Download this file

Reader's Toolkit - Summarizing.pdf Download this file

Summarizing Thinkmark.docx Download this file

November 26, 2012

I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving holiday; I hope it was restful and energizing and that you are able to begin the week strongly.

Faculty Meeting: November 26, 2012

The topic of our 11/26 meeting with Design Question 2: "What will I do to help students effectively interact with new knowledge?" from The Art and Science of Teaching.  Please take an opportunity before then to read, skim, or at the very least review the action steps in chapter two.

Flipping through the slides of this PowerPoint will help prepare you for some of the thinking and activities of the faculty meeting as well. Click here to view this quick (11 slides) presentation.

In addition, this protocol (click here), albeit simple, may be helpful in thinking through each strategy specifically in terms of how you will plan to use them.

The Hixson Student Show

Click here to view the latest Hixson Student Show.  Please take some time in Discovery, or in another class, to share this with your studnets.

The Hixson High Five Award

Last week I e-mailed details for the Hixson High Five Award.  Please take some time out of your busy schedule to recognize students, who may not otherwise be recognized, for their readiness, respect, and responsibility.  Last year we had 57 nominations for first semester.  Let's beat that this year as a school!

Focus Groups

Following are the last few highlights department chairs surfaced from the focus groups conducted in October:

• On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being high, parents rate Hixson's level of rigor at 7.4.
• Parents are eager to more involved in the school and in their child's development.
• Parents are concerned that we do not do enough for the average learner because we are best with those students at the top and bottom of the class.

If you are interested in reading the entire report, click here.

All of our work with The Art and Science of Teaching will help us maintain our current level of rigor (and, in many cases, help us improve it) and will help us differentiate further for students who come to use with a range of abilities. As for involving parents, I know that you often seek ways to keep parents involved and in the loop.  Department chairs brainstormed several ideas for ways of helping parents understand their middle schoolers development and support their middle schooler's learning while at Hixson.

 

November 19, 2012

I have had some opportunities to meet with teams and individual teachers these last couple weeks.  As always, I learn about (and am reminded of) parent demands on your time, energy, and planning.  Recently, I have been strategizing with teachers about setting limits and keeping boundaries with parents in terms of meeting times, communication, and other demands.  If I can be helpful to you, your department, or your team with strategies for communicating with or meeting the suggestions/demands of parents, please let me know.  

As for this week, we can do three days confidently, successfully, for sure! I hope your Thanksgiving break provides you time to get perspective of the many things for which you might be grateful.

Faculty Meeting: November 26, 2012

The topic of our 11/26 meeting with Design Question 2: "What will I do to help students effectively interact with new knowledge?" from The Art and Science of Teaching.  Please take an opportunity before then to read, skim, or at the very least review the action steps in chapter two.

Flipping through the slides of this PowerPoint will help prepare you for some of the thinking and activities of the faculty meeting as well. Click here to view this quick (11 slides) presentation.

In addition, this protocol (click here), albeit simple, may be helpful in thinking through each strategy specifically in terms of how you will plan to use them.

Focus Groups

Last  Monday, department chairs surfaced some highlights from the report generated from the focus groups conducted last month. Here are some highlights from the student group:

• Students cite the teachers, electives, friends, and the SRO as some of the top things about Hixson, and those in the focus group rated 40% of our teachers as excellent and 50% as average.
• Students feel that their experiences vary largely by team and teacher.
• Students want more hands-on and more interesting work and less lecture.
• Based on what they know, students felt prepared for 7th and 8th grades and anticipate being prepared for high school.

If you are interested in reading the entire report, click here.

It's always gratifying to learn that students value their teachers so much and feel prepared by the work they do in class.  Obviously we migh expect some variety among teams and teachers; however, the range of experiences was, in some ways, indicative of inconsistencies rather than by other, more subjective observations.  Our work toward consistent expectations for teams, Discovery, and departments and our study of the The Art and Science of Teaching will, in many ways, even out some of these incosistencies over time.  The next three chapters of The Art and Science of Teaching will remind and/or reinforice the value of a variety of teaching strategies beyond the teacher talk that students mention.

 

11/12 Faculty Meeting Notes: Social/Emotional Behavioral Support

Hixson Bx Training 11_12_12 Notes.pdf Download this file

Hixson Bx Overview 11_2012.pdf Download this file

WgCloud Blog: Increase teacher to parent communication

Click here to learn how to setup a team blog to increase communications with your parents by setting up a team blog in the WgCloud.

November 12, 2012

Monday's Faculty Meeting

We will meet in the cafeteria Monday afternoon to continue our series on developing accommodations for students who come to us with a variety of labels and challenges.  I hope that many of these strategies are generalizable over more of our student population than just those with specific diagnoses. 

Monday's faculty meeting will focus accommodations for students with social/emotional issues. 

Conference Statistics

The month of October is a busy one with conferences and other parent contacts.  This year, as a building, we conducted conferences with the families of 632 students.  That's 96% of our October student population. This is fantastic. Thank you.

Focus Groups

On Monday, department chairs surfaced some highlights from the report generated from the focus groups conducted a couple weeks ago.  I will be sharing them over next three weeks.  Here are some highlights from the two teacher focus groups:

• Teachers recognize that their colleagues are committed to providing a quality education and have the autonomy at the building level to do so.
• Teachers are concerned about the stress of implementing edline.net, learning Marzano, and implementing department, team, and Discovery expectations.

If you are interested in reading the entire report, click here.

The first bullet stands alone as a point of pride.  We have a great deal of talent and good intellect in our building.  This is to our benefit and the benefit of our students.

The second bullet is a point of concern, and I know all of us are working very hard. On Monday, department chairs and I decided on a revision that reduces departmental expectations.  And remember to please let me, or any colleague, be helpful when it comes to understanding and meeting expectations for departments, Discovery, and teaming.  It is challenging to learn by doing, and it is our progress toward these expectations, not our perfect implementation, that is important.

I would like to share the following as it relates to edline.net:

• Unforutnately, many of the frustrations with edline and its implementation are beyond the scope of the building. 
• However, in the meantime, if you want or need support, you should schedule a time with Jason Heisel as a group or as an individual so that you can receive support that you need. 
• Jason formed an LMT sub-committee dedicated to edline and supporting you with it.You'll hear more from them in time.

Our work with The Art and Science of Teaching is valuable, and although we are ahead of the district in many ways with our learning around certain aspects of the framework, it is something additional to what we were already working on as a building.  I know that this sense of "one more thing" alone can be stressful, and I hope we are able to take these things one step at a time over time.

 

Learning Goals

Good morning,
On 11/7, I visited 46 learning spaces to read and make note of teacher learning goals.  Because I inte to give feedback, albeit delayed feedback at this point, I only wrote down one goal per learning space.  The pie graph below summarizes what I learned from my walk.   You’ll notice that there isn’t much change from previous times I have taken data; thus, in the spirit of continuous development and learning for all members of a school community, I will be sharing brief feedback.  If, after you receive it, you would like to talk about it, I am available.

Click here to see the proficiency scale for learning goals.  These data only account for how the goal is written and posted, not for whether or not I observed the teacher connecting activities and assignments to the goal (although I did in some cases).
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Revised Individual Learning Improvement Plan

ind_lrng_plan.doc Download this file

Thank you, Ms. Artkras, for your revisions of the ILIP.  I am e-mail it to the staff and posting this to Network.

As always, if you need any support creating and/or implementing a plan, contact the counselors, principals, social worker, reading teachers or the curriculum facilitator (Jill).

November 5, 2012

November 6, 2012 PD
Following is the schedule for our 11/6 PD time:

• 8:30am-11:30am: District-Provided, 7-12 Common Core State Standards training (HS Cafeteria)
• 11:30am-12:30pm: Lunch (on your own) [The HS parent club will be serving lunch to the HS teachers; Dr. Clark wishes there was enough to include us and regrets that there is not.  He wanted me to share this so that we didn't get confused and so that we make plans to eat lunch on our own.]
• 12:30pm-1:30pm: Individual work time and/or department time
• 1:45pm-3:15pm: Faculty Options (see below)

Faculty Options for 11/6
During the afternoon of 11/6, team and other interested teachers will participate in a discussion of one of the following designed to create time for collaboration, problem-solving, and strategizing:

• Discovery,
• Teaming, and
• Using a wgcloud blog to imcrease communication with parents.

Teams, please let me know who from which teams will be going where.  Elective, Gifted, and PE teachers and the Librarian have other PD-day assignments.
More information on room and facilitator to come. (Look for the e-mail.

Learning Goals (DQ 1)
I have not taken data for several weeks regarding learning goals as they are posted in classrooms.  I will take data this week and post the results as I have in the past.  I will also share feedback with teachers after I take data.  If would would like to look at the proficiency scale again, click here. There are some things, like embedding the learning goal in your teacher talk, that I may or may not be able to observe as I take data.

Student Engagement (DQ 5)
I am also interested in observing ways teachers engage students in learning, particularly given our last faculty meeting on DQ 5.  As I walked around last week, I did not observe much impact; however, over time, I expect I will see a difference.

Twenty-three students participated in focus groups last week, and although they noted that one of the best things about Hixson is the teachers, "A major topic of all three student group discussions was . . . the need/value/importance of 'hands on', 'non-lecturing' assignments and use of classroom time.  One student put it this way, 'Most teachers talk to much; talking (listening) is boring.'"

As you think about student engagement, please consider how you might engage each student and allow each student's voice to be in the room.  Refer to The Art and Science of Teachingand/or the PowerPoint from our most recent faculty meeting for more information.

Focus Groups
I will sharing the report I received after all six focus groups were conducted last week. I did make a few edits (e.g., correcting the spelling of "Hixson").  Reviewing this report will be on the agenda of Monday's department chair meeting (11/5), and next week I will post the whole report on the Network.

October Discipline Statistics

Following are discipline statistics for October.  As you review them, consider the following:

·         What do you observe?

·         Why do you think the data are this way?

·         What might you do as a response?

These data may also prompt some reflection on and implementation of our work with The Art and Science of Teaching.  For example,

·         DQ 6: Establishing and Maintaining Classroom Rules and Procedures

This may be a good time to review universal PBIS expectations and other classroom rules and procedures.

·         DQ 5: Engaging Students

Consider what you might continue to do, do better, or do more of to engage students in learning behaviors.

·         DQ 8: Establishing and Maintaining Effective Relationships with Students

It may be important to review appropriate boundaries for interactions within the classroom.

Please consider thinking about this information as a team and/or department.  Students who are not in class miss valuable (and limited) instructional time, and it may be beneficial to discuss strategies with your colleagues.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please let a counselor or principal know.

oct actions.pdf Download this file

oct behaviors.pdf Download this file

oct location.pdf Download this file

oct times.pdf Download this file

oct totals.pdf Download this file