Coaching Chronicles

Multiplication Strategies, Grade Three

2012-01-31T22:16:00.001-05:00

Young mathematicians’ first formal introduction to multiplication and division happens in 3rd Grade.

In our unit, Equal Groups, situations are presented in context. The situation usually requires students to identify the number of groups and the number of items within each group.

There are 5 tricycles. Each tricycle has three wheels. How many wheels are there in all?

Or, the situation may read,

Tricycles have three wheels. There are 5 tricycles. How many wheels are there in all?

Number of Groups: 5
Number of Items in Each Group: 3

Students are taught to represent the problem with both an addition equation and a multiplication equation to illustrate the connection, and use a variable for the missing piece of information.

Addition equation: 3+3+3+3+3=w
Multiplication equation: 5x3=w (read 5 groups of 3)

Students generally begin solving the multiplication situations with their prior knowledge of repeated addition.

Repeated Addition: 3+3+3=9 and 3+3=6, so 9+6=15.

Then, some students move into skip counting if they can easily skip count by that number. If the situation allows counting skip counting by 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s, students will almost always start with this strategy. If however, the situation has them skip counting by 8’s, then we’ll teach students to use 10 as their anchor. Skip count by 10 and go back 2.

Skip Counting: 3,6,9,12,15.

One tool that we teach students to use to organize their thinking when skip counting is a ratio table. Ratio tables help students keep track of the number of groups as they skip count.

During the unit, students are introduced to multiplication situations using arrays, too. An array is a rectangular arrangement with rows and columns.

To create a common language with our students, we have them give us the dimensions of the row first and then the column. The array above would be a 5x3.

There are many ways to solve the array. One of the things students do is skip count the array.

They can skip count the array be either the rows or columns.

Students naturally begin to see and explore the commutative property of multiplication. Though the situation is 5x3, they realize they can applying their number knowledge properties, and solve 3x5 instead (5,10,15 or 5+5+5=15).

Students’ next level of understanding develops when they recognize that they can decompose an array into smaller arrays to help them solve problems.

In this situation, if a student didn’t know the product of 5x3 quickly, they could decompose the array into (5x2) + (5x1) = 15.

This understanding is extremely important as students move into problems that are more difficult when they begin multiplication like 6x8. When in the early stages of developing automaticity, they may not know 6x8, but if they know (3x8), they can solve 2(3x8), or, if they know 6x4, they can solve 2(6x4).

Students’ ability to think flexibly with decomposing arrays in multiple ways, builds a strong foundation for fluency in multiplication. The skill allows students to attack any multiplication equation for which they don’t automatically have a product, and leads into being able to solve more difficult equations like 14 x 12.

After the unit, Equal Groups, students have a solid conceptual foundation and can think about multiplication flexibly. But, if we stop there, they may never become fully fluent. We continue to practice fact fluency with our combination club flash cards, by playing multiplication bingo, doing fluency clicker reviews, and doing a timed fluency snapshot several times a week. The fluency snapshots are presented by similar facts. (5’s and 10’s together) (2’s and 4’s and 8’s together) (3’s, 6’s, 9’s, 12’s together) (7’s) and (11’s). Presentation with similar facts promotes the conceptual understanding we build throughout this unit.

Our goal is for every student to leave third grade knowing each of their multiplication facts within three seconds. This foundational knowledge creates automaticity and will help them be successful in fourth grade as they embark on more complex multiplication problems like 49 x 58.

Perfect Plantzilla Pumpkin

2011-10-18T19:59:00.001-04:00

Each year our students decorate a pumpkin as their favorite literary character, and the pumpkins adorn the front lobby of our school beside a picture of the book. This year in Science as part of our study on plants, we read the book, Plantzilla. It was an easy decision when it came time to pick a literary character because the kids were mesmerized by the story.

Our room moms got to work with a plan and our volunteers worked for days in the hallway with a handful of students at a time to prepare the best pumpkin ever! To read more about the experience, from our student bloggers, Lily, Julia, Connor, Jack, Cedric, Kellan, Caeden, Will, and Chase, please visit their post on our classroom blog.

Flexible Thinking Young Mathematicians

2011-10-12T21:03:00.003-04:00

I posted a math blog earlier this week on our Solar Power classroom blog which has elicited many positive parent comments. Parents, in schools with conceptually based math programs, recognize early on that the way they learned math is very different from the way their children are learning math. Many strive to understand why there is a shift from the traditional procedure based computation to the multiple strategies students now encounter. To help them better understand the shift with our work in 3rd grade subtraction, we published the following post...

Thinking flexibly about numbers is one of our goals for students in third grade. Throughout our MI Unit 3, Addition, Subtraction, and the Number System, we’ve been highlighting multiple strategies in Closing Session. We do this because subtraction is the distance between two numbers, and based on the problem, the most efficient strategy isn't always the same strategy.

In addition, we want students to be able to check their work using a different strategy than the one they used to originally solve the problem. Many times, if a student checks their work with the same strategy, it’s common for them to make the same computational error they did the first time. However, if they make an error in the first solution and then check their work with a second strategy, they are more likely to catch their error.

We are working toward students' ability to recognize, based on the situation, the most efficient strategy with the least likelihood of error, and with the idea that mental math can be one of the most effective ways to solve. For example, we don’t want students to use the traditional algorithm to solve 1000-989, because it would be easy for them to make a computational error when regrouping multiple times. Rather, we want students to recognize that the distance between these two numbers can easily be done by counting up, 989+1=990 and 990+10=1000, therefore the difference is 11. Of course, in other situations, it’s simply easier to solve using the traditional algorithm like 876-563. Flexible thinking based on the situation is key.

In order to develop number flexibility, we’ve been working on several strategies in class.

Sample Problem: 245 - 178 = m

Adding up
245 - 178 = mTurn the equation into a missing addend 178 + m = 67. Put the number 178 on a number line and count up to the next landmark number. (Landmark numbers have a 0 or 5 in the ones place.) 178 count up 2 to 180, count up 20 to 200, and then jump 45 from 200 to 245. Adding the jumps gives you the answer, m = 67.

Decomposing
245 - 178 = m

Decompose the number by place value. This is also known as expanded notation. Then, subtract each place value. In this problem, 200-100 = 100, 40-70 = -30, 5-8 = -3, therefore 100-30-3= 67. Sometimes, this strategy has you in negative numbers, but our students know that 0 is the middle of the number system and they can flexibly use negative numbers.

                                245 :   200 + 40 + 5
                               -178 : -100 + 70 + 8
                                          100 - 30 - 3 = 67

Counting backward
245 - 178 = m
Put 245 on the open number line and count backward by 178. You can make the jump of 178 any way you want. Most kids jump backward to landmark numbers. 245 jump back 45 is 100, and then jump back 30 is 70, then jump back 3 is 67.

Left to Right
Students think 200 – 100 = 100 and 40 – 70 = -30 and 5 – 8 = -3.
                                        245 :
                                       -178 :
                                        100 – 30 – 3
                                             70 – 3 = 67

Remember, the purpose of exposing students to multiple strategies is two-fold. First, students need to be able to solve using two different strategies to check their work, and secondly students will be able to identify the strategy that is most efficient based on the problem. Students who successfully accomplish this have number sense and are able to work with numbers mentally and flexibly. Our students are busy every day becoming young mathematicians.

If you are a teacher blogger, feel free to steal this post for parents in its entirety. Spread the word...

A Few of Our Rituals, Routines, and Expectations

2011-10-08T17:18:00.001-04:00

Classrooms with impeccable rituals and routines maximize student learning time, offer clean transitions between activities, and seem, at least from an observer's perspective, like they run themselves. The operating guidelines happen with purpose, planning, and precision in implementation on the part of the teacher. Some of the guidelines are seemingly small, but when collectively implemented, make all the difference.

A few of Miss Russell and Mrs. Shall's Rituals, Routines, and Expectations...

Daily Schedule
We have 180 days of learning possibilities; Each day and each moment must be maximized. In our classrooms, we avoid transition and down time with a very structured daily schedule, and we stick to teaching times to give each subject adequate time. Oftentimes, when you enter our room, you will see a clock under the document camera showing how much time is left for the task. Originally, the tool was set up for us, but we quickly realized that the students enjoyed knowing the time of the activity, too. Our daily schedule is the most essential component in running our classroom. Without it, the students would lose precious learning time.

Our Entry Routine

When students enter our room, the daily expectations are evident via a word document that is projected on our whiteboard. The students follow the detailed directions and begin quietly working on the day's entry tasks. Relaxing music plays in the background and it makes for a calm start for our classes. The routine usually takes about 10 minutes.

Sample Message

Good Morning SOLAR Stars! We hope you have a magnificent day.

1) Take out your planner and red homework folder, and put your book bag in your cubby.

2)   Leave your yellow math homework sheet on your desk to be stamped.
3)   Write today's message in your planner. (It is handwritten on the board each day.)
4)   Get your clicker and put it on your name tag.

5) Complete your D.O.S.S. (Daily Oral Social Studies)

6) Complete your yellow math Exit Ticket and put it in your classroom bin.
7) Read a plant book from the Life Science bin.

Valuable Patrol Duties
There are daily teacher managerial tasks like putting down chairs and putting seat pockets on chairs, stamping the nightly completed math homework, flipping the daily schedule, putting out trash cans, replentishing student supplies including pencils, and monitoring students, that can easily be done by a willing patrol. However, until patrols get into a routine, they could need a reminder. Inside one of our cabinets is a morning and afternoon patrol duty list which lists tasks in priority order. This easy to read reminder values the patrols time and gives us some much needed daily assistance.

Student Desks and Materials

We have 36 desks, and due to our departmentalized situation, 72 students. Each desk is shared by two students, one that has the work station in the morning and one in the afternoon. All

morning students have their name tags taped down on the left hand side of the desk and the afternoon students' names are on the right side of the desk. On their name plate is a number line and 200's chart, too.

Inside the desk, there is a shared Social Studies and Science book, and one pencil box. There is also a shared plastic folder that contains extra notebook paper. Then, the morning and afternoon students have their own plastic folders which contain their math work and science work along with a journal from each subject. Every thing per subject is color-coded from the student's folders to the color paper we print their tasks on. Math is yellow, Science is green, and Social Studies is blue. The red folders are homework folders. This visual clue allows students to put their materials and work in the correct folders.

The shared pencil box contains two sharpened pencils, a hand held pencil sharpener, an eraser, a pair of scissors, a glue stick, a red pen, a box of crayons, an EXPO marker, and a sock eraser. The students are taught to be good desk citizens and to be respectful of the shared items. Desk partners often leave their partners notes thanking them for being a good desk citizen, and write an "I" message if something isn't going according to plan. For example I stumbled upon two sticky notes this week. One said, "Chase, thank you so much for cleaning out our pencil

box. It was getting too full with pencils and extra glue sticks. Thanks, Lily." Another one said, "Joe, I've noticed that our desk is messy. I don't like it like this. Can we work to together to make sure all our stuff is on our side of the desk?" This type of communication came after we had a class meeting to discuss how to address the situations that may arise.

We trust students to independently keep the materials stocked in their desk. If a pencil lead breaks, they can either sharpen it at their seat or simply go to the green drawers next to the sink to retrieve another. They pull out the top drawer, place the dull pencil in the back basket, and take a new sharpened pencil from the front basket. If their glue stick runs out, they throw it away and get a new glue stick from the green drawer. As supplies run low in the green drawers, the

partrol restocks from the labeled materials in the teacher cabinets. The system is self-directed and prevents unneeded distruptions to the teacher during class time.

In addition, there is a chair pocket on the back of each chair. There is a shared whiteboard used for daily Math Skills Block, each students' account book, and a chapter book.

Student Numbers

This system of numbering students works beautifully whether you have one class of 18 kids or four of 72 kids! Simply alphabitize your students and then assign them a number. The kids in my homeroom have a number S-1 through S-19. The kids in Miss Russell's homeroom are numbered R-1 to R-18. They write their number beside their name on assignments, then when they pass in their work, we have the "teacher assistant" (a student), put the papers in order by number. When we grade, it makes it easier to put the grades in the computer, because all the papers are in order.

We also use student numbers for lining up. Students always line up in number order and have a designated landmark spot in the room. There isn't any running or shoving to line up because of the designated spots. This handy little tactic works like magic for fire drills and for students lining up for recess. It's easy for missing students to be identified by the other students because of the line order. It sounds simple and can be overlooked as one of the most valuable organizational strategies, but you really should give it a try. I think, you'll love it as much as we do.

Passing Out Materials / Group Work Numbers
Passing out materials for 36 students could consume valuable learning time but a few cheap trays from Dollar Tree and an organized system makes the distribution of materials easy.

Over each table group, we have a star hanging with the table number. In most circumstances, there are four students that make up a table group. Each student has a colored dot on their name tag which represents their job in the group. The jobs include materials gatherer, materials returner, table leader, and procedure expert. The materials gatherer immediately goes to retreive the tray which has been set up with materials by the teacher, patrol, or teacher's assistant in the morning. If we are playing a math game during the day, the playing cards, discard sheet, and game directions are set up on the trays in the morning. if we are doing a science lab, then those materials are set up in the morning. The materials are just as easily returned. Also, hand lenses are always availble on the trays. The system really runs smoothly. I'll bet if you give it a try, you will love it as much as we do.

Table Trash Bins
How many times have you walked around the room collecting trash as students cut out and assemble something? In 3rd Math Investigations, for instance, students have to assemble 1,000 charts by cutting out 10 one hundred charts; They have to create array card sets; They cut out brownie pieces. We place a small baset on the table group trays so as kids cut out their items, they can easily throw away their trash as they go. When the individual trash bins begin to fill, the teacher or teacher assistant can make one sweep and dump the individual trash cans. It works like a charm.

Board Configuration
The daily learning tasks in our classroom are always visible. On the right hand side of our board, we used colored masking tape to tape off the board in sections. The board has a place for us to record the date, planner message, and Math, Science, and Social Studies Essential Questions. In addition, we have a section to record the unit number and title of the day's math lesson. We have the page number listed of the task, the must do problem, and what to do when you finish the math task. In addition, we list our small group names, and have a section taped off for listing Closing session students who will share.

This simple system gives clarity to our daily agenda and is a valuable reference tool for students. The must do task may be a Student Sheet page number or simple a problem from that page. The must do is the part of the math lesson that all students must complete because it will be the topic/problem of the day's Closing session. Then, the students can move beyond the must do to the other page numbers/problems that are listed. Some students work more quickly than others. They don't need to ask the teacher what to do next, they simple look at the board configuration to move to the Extention task.

During Work Session, the teacher selects students who will share in Closing. The student writes their name under the Closing Session in the location (1, 2, or 3) where the teacher directs them. Students never have to wonder whether to bring their work to Closing, because the names of those selected to share are listed on the board.

Math Journals and Exit Tickets

As part of Math Investigations, we receive the paperback student workbooks. The pages are

excellent, but often students don't have enough room to write an equation, make an estimate, solve, and check their work by solving with a second strategy. Therefore, we set up math journals in composition notebooks for extra room for student work. The first ten pages are set aside for the student's table of contents and the rest of the comp book pages are numbered so students can always find their work quickly. Many times, we have students complete their work in the math journal.

Additionally, we use the Exit Tickets regularly. Many times each week, we give an Exit Ticket problem on a half or quarter sheet of yellow paper. The student completes the task, turns it in to their homeroom bin, and the teachers can quickly assess the students level of understanding on a given problem. The teachers then use the information to prescribe small group and individual instruction based off the Exit Ticket results. Exit tickets are then glued in the students math journal and added to their Table of Contents for later access.

Whiteboard Rituals and Routines

Daily, students use individual whiteboards during our Everyday Calendar Math Skills Block. Students retrieve their whiteboard from their chair pocket, and Expo marker and sock eraser from their pencil box. They join us in the carpeted gathering area with their materials in hand ready for learning. The teacher asks a question and the students record the answer. The teacher then says, "Boards up in 5-4-3-2-and 1." Students during the count down place their lids on their marker and turn the board, on #1, to the teacher. The teacher gets to scan the boards for answers. It's easy for the teacher to pick a board from the crowd that has the correct answer to show as a model. The teacher can also easily see if a particular student doesn't understand the concept. The teacher then discusses the problem and says, "Erase." Students quickly erase and get ready for the next question. The process continues at a very fast pace.

In our co-teaching setting, it doesn't take both of us to lead this session. Therefore, while one leads, the other teacher pulls a small group to the table. The group listens to the questions from the lead teacher, but the small group teacher gets to pay particular attention to the small groups responses. She can ask probing questions if a student gets stuck or give more instruction to the group if they need additional assistance. This provides a great opportunity for individualized instruction.

When the 15 minute Skills Block is done, the teacher says, "Erase and please stand." Students quickly get up return their items to their seat pocket and pencil box.

There are a thousand other small things that make our classroom tick from our daily differentiated instruction, to our Tuesday folders, to Clicker routines, to daily organized file hangers for handouts, to bins by science content. However, if I ever want to get this blog post done, I have to publish it now. As I capture other components, I'll make sure to post them. I'd love for you to leave a comment about your most essential Rituals, Routines, and Expectations. Together, we can all run more efficient classrooms.

This Year's Journey

2011-08-31T22:00:00.002-04:00

In a previous post, I shared with you my excitement about heading back to the classroom this year. And, though I am utterly exhausted during this second week of school, I am also calmly reflective and overwhelmingly renewed, reconfirming for me that I am exactly where I should be at this point in my learning journey, with the children.

It's been fascinating coming back into the classroom not only with my teacher's eyes, but from the perspective of a coach, too. Things have caught my attention that might otherwise quietly pass, because I am intrigued by the small details that make all the difference in the big scheme of things. I feel called to try and document my experiences this year, though I admit that classroom planning and sleep have won out over all else the past two weeks. I'm sure many of you reading this can certainly relate. However, just so you know, I am committed and there is a post in the works on the Rituals, Routines, and Expectations so student learning time throughout the year is maximized. If you are a system's thinker, you'll definitely want to stay tuned.

Finally, I wanted to invite you to join me at http://www.solar3rd.blogspot.com/. The blog is the combined effort of my SOLAR (Shall, O'Leary, Lipsky, and Russell) Power team this year as we guide and educate our young learners.

Orientation

2011-08-20T23:24:00.000-04:00

Last week, just days before the teachers returned to work, students received a postcard in the mail from Mrs. Phillips announcing their homeroom teacher. Children and their parents eager to meet the new teacher, joined us for an Orientation on Friday before the new school year begins.

You know what they say, "You only have one time to make a good first impression." So, teachers take great care in the way they set up their classrooms, dress for success, and display personal touches of love. What parents mostly want to know is if the teacher is nice and if their children will be loved during this 180 day learning journey.

To prepare, Ashley and I set out Orientation packets and made Batman Cookie Medals for the kids. We set up a back table for easy sign in, pulled out chairs, and had a established place for them to unpack the their child's school supplies. We made sure each student's desk was already labeled with their name so they would know exactly where to sit when they entered the room on the first day of school. We organized our thoughts on a themed PowerPoint to use after we welcomed parents to highlight some main points. But, mostly what we did was make them feel welcomed, loved, and excited to return on Monday. We can't wait for the learning adventure to begin. Stay tuned...

Desks are set up and ready for Orientation.

Lovingly made themed cookie medals send the message to children that we care about them.

Creating a place for school supplies helps relieve stress and congestion, and makes for easier put away when Orientation wraps up.

Our Third Grade Classroom

2011-08-20T23:05:00.000-04:00

The preparations are well underway as an exhausting yet thrilling week of pre-planning comes to an end. Our superhero theme, Empowering the Future, made it easy to decorate for the student WOW factor, and no detail was overlooked as we strived for an organized classroom that would provide purpose and limit student transition time between activities. I feel like we were thoughtful and successful in setting up a learning community that will meet the needs of our students and ourselves. Take a sneak peek inside our classroom before the learning journey begins...

The Hallway of Our Learning Headquarters

Upon rounding the corner, the hallway comes alive with color thanks to the hard work of a parent volunteer who graciously gave up days of her summer to help us WOW our future students. The black clothespins fastened securely to red construction paper await the hanging of student work that soon will adorn this Hall of Fame.

We welcome all superheroes on this year's learning adventure!

At the bottom of our yellow promotion cards, filled out on every student at the end of each year, the teacher writes something good about the student. The incoming teacher uses that valuable piece of information to make sure that every student feels loved as they enter their classroom on the first day of school in the new year. This tradition titled, I know something good about you, has been a Chets Creek tradition since our doors opened in 1998. This year my co-teacher, Miss Russell, had the great idea of creating bookmarks to post the Something Good About You sayings so when the board comes down students can track their reading with their new bookmark.

The Math, Science, and Social Studies heroes are ready to go outside the Headquarter of Learning.

Our classroom plaques remind us of our Guiding Vision, Learner Outcomes, and Core Values.

A sneak peek inside our classroom... You may notice the stars over each table which have been set up purposefully with table groups and numbers that will be used for rituals and routines around gathering materials and working in small groups.

The bare walls are departmentalized with an area designated for math, science, and social studies artifacts. Hot gluing plastic clips makes it easy to put up and remove necessary charts as student learning unfolds.

The cubbies are numbered with a metal shelf in between to make sure that student back packs are organized and are not a distraction to learning.

There is a corner designated for our Math EDC area. Calendar, clocks, two hundreds chart, measuring tools, place value charts, thermometer, counting tape, and math manipulatives are set up and ready to go.

Calendar

Place Value Chart

Organized and Labeled Math Manipulatives

Counting Tape--Set up in groups of five and ten will make it easy to record each day of the school year. Cards are waiting for numbers 1-180 and students will look for many patterns along the way.

Our classroom has a gathering area were students can come to the floor and be up close and personal for classroom lessons. To secure the carpets, double sided tape works like a charm.

The board set up with colored masking tape allows for ease in recording the day's events and essential questions. Notice that just below the whiteboard our number line is easily seen and reachable by all students.

Above the board, we have math strategies posted.

Math and Science Portfolios and items used for Tuesday Folders.

The word wall, though blank, is set up and ready for learning. Velcro dots secured to laminated posterboard and attached to the classroom cabinets leave plenty of space to display words. The words are pre-made on Avery labels that have been attached to index cards and laminated. The front of the card has the word and the back of the card has the definition. After words are embedded in classroom instruciton, they can be easily found placed on the word wall from pencil pouches organized in a three ring binder by unit. The words can be taken down by a student if they need to look up a definition and placed easily back on the chart with the velcro.

Thank you to Melissa for such a great system that keeps on giving! We miss you!

We have five student computer stations in our classroom. In addition, Miss Russell and her former co-teacher, Mrs. Ross, were selected as technology magnets in our district, so we are blessed to have a laptop cart, too. We will certainly put them to good use this year!

Our PTA sponsors Sunshine Math, an additional math homework sheet, used to push student learning to new levels. We are prepared to record and reward students who are going above and beyond the call of duty.

In third grade, students will learn how to multiply and divide. We have two doors in our classroom designated to record student progress. As they master a set, they will get to "sign the door."

Student work bulletin board is ready for some SUPER work!

With part of our science textbook adoption, we received leveled science readers. We removed the books from their boxes, organized them by their science content and put them out in our Research Library.

Each day when students enter our classroom, they will receive two SOLAR dollars. They will log their money in their account books and keep their money in pencil pouches in the pouches on the back of their chairs. Students will have the opportunity to save their money and spend it on our store items when the store opens each week. We have items to buy, but more maybe more popular, items to rent. Offering items like Teacher Assistant, special desk, special chair, and extra computer time are great perks that don't need to be replenished by the teacher. Kids can also rent popular games and have time to play during Store Hours.

(Displayed beside the Store is our birthday wall and this year students will get to wear a birthday cape on their special day. Pictures to follow soon.)

Science can be messy business and time consuming, but with prearranged rituals and routines, it doesn't have to be. These cheap ($2) trays are labeled by table number and already contain student maginifying glasses. In the morning, science items for experiments and labs can be set up, and student handlers can easily transport their trays during classtime.

I hope you enjoyed the "sneak peek." Stay tuned as we begin this year's learning adventure...

Empowering the Future

2011-08-11T22:32:00.001-04:00

Learning Leaders will emerge from summer vacation and return to another exciting school year in just four short days. As always, we will be greeted with a new school theme and a 180 teaching days full of new possibilities. With this school theme, I know the kids will transform from tired eyed and groggy to alert and energized! The Learning Headquarters are going through a supersized superhero transformation as we speak. Stay tuned...

Chets Creek Elementary – Empowering the Future! from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

A New Learning Journey

2011-08-09T16:34:00.006-04:00

After much time and consideration during the last year, I've made the decision to return to my roots and head back into the classroom. I couldn't be more excited. Over the past decade, other than a short one year hiatus to another state, I've been dedicated to moving curriculum and instruction forward in our elementary school as the Instructional Coach. And, though I've enjoyed every moment, I'm overjoyed to embark on a new opportunity.

This year's learning journey will have me teaching in a third grade departmentalized co-teach setting. Miss Russell and I will share a classroom and have a group of 36 learners in the morning and a different group of 36 learners in the afternoon. We will teach Math, Science, and Social Studies.

My partners and I, known this year as Solr Power due to our superheroes-Empowering the Future- theme, will have a classroom blog dedicated to communicating with our parents and students. However, most likely, some of my thoughts will end up here, as they won't be relevant to the other blog's purpose. Stay tuned as the new journey begins...

Exit Tickets

2011-04-29T09:12:00.005-04:00

As math educators, we must make broad judgments daily about whether the class understood the day’s lesson before we move on with instruction the next day. The pulse of the class is taken easily because of the level of student interaction and discussion during the questioning segment of the lesson, but it’s harder to get a clear picture of what individual students have mastered and are able to do independently. Though whole group instruction may move forward the next day, it is our responsibility to ensure that all students are reaching mastery. We need to know specifically students who need small group reteaching or more support for success. Because, at CCE we are aware that retention rates for students are highest when they teach others (90%), practice by doing (75%), and partake in discussion groups (50%), many days my students are working in pairs or small groups in math. There is not always the opportunity to collect independent student work, so we needed another teaching strategy to accomplish the goal of knowing whether every student was at mastery on the day’s work.

Exit Tickets have become our answer. An Exit Ticket is a formative teaching strategy given immediately after the Math Workshop concludes which focuses students on the core content of a lesson and promotes a quick and independent assessment check. Each student answers a question or two that targets the big idea for the day. The checkpoint, taking only a few minutes, offers teachers the immediate opportunity to check students’ independent mastery of the day’s content.

Exit Tickets are simple and time efficient to create and analyze. When preparing for a lesson the teacher has to think, “If I teach this math concept or skill effectively, which question should students be able to answer at the end of the lesson?” This question or two should align with the big idea.

Typically, we create an Exit Ticket on a ½ sheet of paper for easy distribution and collection. Having it on a ½ sheet of paper makes it effortless to sort students’ work into piles once the task is complete and collected. Within minutes, you can have several stacks of student work. One stack of student work proves independent mastery of the lesson, the second stack contains student’s work where mastery is not clear and more information is needed, and the third stack demonstrates work with misconceptions or lack of understanding. Students whose work is in the first pile need no additional instruction; Students whose work is in the second pile need a teacher to confer with them so they can explain or justify their answer because the written work did not prove mastery. With this quick conferring session, the teacher can tell whether or not additional instruction is needed. If additional instruction is needed, the teacher can pull the student into a small group during the next day’s Work Session. Students whose work is in the third pile need small group reteaching to acquire more knowledge on the concept or skill. In addition, they may need more strategic questioning during whole group instruction and more feedback during the Work Session as the concept or skill is developed.

As a rule, the whole process of Exit Tickets takes little time and provides great benefit. Teachers don’t have to wait for a summative check on a math quiz or assessment, they have the formative Exit Tickets that help them prescribe instruction along the way and help prevent misconceptions or gaps in knowledge.

Third Grade Exit Ticket Example:

During a unit of study on developing and understanding fractions and fraction equivalence, students needed to be able to use models to represent equivalent fractions and identify representations of equivalence. To get started, we had students work with pattern blocks. They identified the yellow hexagon as one whole, a red trapezoid as ½, a blue rhombus as 1/3, and a green triangle as 1/6. They created equations like ½ + ½ = 1, 1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 = 1, and 1/6 + 1/6 + 1/6 + 1/6 + 1/6 + 1/6 = 1.

Additionally, we taught students to find ways to make one whole using combinations of halves, thirds, and sixths with pattern blocks as their tool and write equations. For example, ½ + 1/3 + 1/6 = 1.

Students quickly began to find equivalent fractions like ½=3/6, 1/3 = 2/6, and 2/3 = 4/6, and make generalizations like, all fractions that contain denominators twice as large as the numerator are equivalent to ½.

After several lessons, we played a game in which students received a recording sheet of yellow hexagons. Students rolled a fraction die and had to add that fractional piece to one of the yellow hexagon pieces. The object of the game was to fill in all their yellow hexagons.

During the two days of lessons using the pattern block manipulatives much of our discussion was in student pairs. We weren’t confident that every student had transferred our classroom conversation to independent mastery, so we used an Exit Ticket at the end of Math Workshop on Day 2 to formatively assess students. The students were given three minutes to complete the task and then we collected their work. In the first problem, students had to write an equivalent fraction for 3/3, 3/6, and 2/6, and in question number two they had to answer the following question, William had a fraction cookie with the equation ½ + 1/6 + 1/6 + 1/6. Sebatian told William that he could just write ½ + 3/6 or ½ + ½. Is Sebastian right? Explain.

Within minutes, we had sorted the students’ work. Some students easily, accurately, and articulately answered the questions and needed no further instruction. Some students answered the questions correctly but their explanation of the equivalencies was not articulate enough to know whether they fully understood the concept. These students would need a quick conference to identify whether they fully mastered the concepts. In some cases, we found that no further instruction was needed, but in other cases, we found that there is a gap in knowledge and small group instruction is needed for mastery. The third group of students could not accurately answer the questions and we formed a small instructional group to offer more instruction and practice.

When I first heard the idea of an Exit Ticket, I jumped too quickly to the conclusion that I would gain the same information from a quiz or assessment. But, after implementing them on a trial basis consistently for several weeks, I realized that they had tremendous value for gathering data and giving immediate and consistent feedback to students. It was the difference between assessing with a summative (a quiz or test) and a formative which helps guides the next day’s lesson. I would recommend the use of Exit Tickets to any math teacher who is serious about offering differentiated math instruction to meet the needs of each of their students.

A Few New Math Ideas

2011-03-05T10:02:00.018-05:00

A colleague and I facilitated math training for teachers in Texas in mid-February. Each training day included lesson pre-briefing and planning, a classroom math observation, and a debrief of the lesson afterward. Teachers made rich connections, gained new ideas for their instructional practice, and gained a deeper understanding of a Math Investigations unit of study. Though my main focus was on the learning of the teacher participants, I also couldn’t help but take away a few reflections of my own.

Archiving Student Work

The classrooms we visited do a stellar job of archiving students’ math work. Each student has a composition notebook with a Table of Contents in the front. The pages of the composition notebook are numbered and each day the teacher has students add the date, math title, and pages of the journal they've consumed. We could easily turn to the pages listed in the Table of Contents to see what work the student had done for that day. In the notebook, they may solve a problem, explain a solution, do an extension activity, or answer an essential question during their Closing Meeting. Providing a great way for students to reflect and a resource for studying for assessments, I loved the possibilities of this tool.

Extension Activities

At Chets Creek, we use standards to write yearly pacing guides, plan instruction, and assess students. In making our work transparent, students become familiar with the standards we expect them to master. Many times the way a teacher implements this best practice is by having an essential question, written in standards language, posted on the board. In their math lesson they go over the essential question which students revisit and answer in their Closing Meeting. At NISD, I noticed that not only did the teachers write the essential question for the day, but they also had an extension activity written next to the essential question. When some of the students finished early on their task, they didn’t say, “I’m done! What now?” instead they got to work on the extension question. What an easy way to extend student learning!

Visual Word Walls

There was one math word wall in particular that caught my eye. Instead of the word wall simply being a list of terms the students are expected to know, this word wall offered a great visual reference for remembering geometry vocabulary. This model math word wall sets the standard that we should all being striving toward.

Skip Counting on the Number Line

Number lines are a permanent artifact in our math classrooms, however this number line included colored dots that are used for the students use in skip counting. For example, if a student followed the red dots, they could easily skip count by twos, and if they read the yellow dots, they would be skip counting by fives, etc... I could easily see this as a great tool in elementary classrooms, especially in K-3rd grade. Afterall, skip counting/repeated addition is the foundational element in multiplication.

Walking into another teacher's classroom offers so much opportunity for gleaming new ideas. Whether you do it in your own building, like our Kindergarten teachers did two weeks ago, or in another school, you gain so little without consuming too much of your time or energy, and gathering just a few new ideas leaves you with a wealth of new knowledge over time. I can't wait to see if any of these new ideas are embraced at CCE. Stay tuned...

What Motivates Us?

2011-02-03T23:15:00.001-05:00

As a Florida educator, my life's work has been dedicated toward providing children with a quality education in which to build a prosperous life full of options. As a classroom inclusion teacher, I worked tirelessly with each of my students, regardless of their exceptionally, socio- economic situation, or home life to reach their fullest potential. And, as a current Instructional Coach, I dedicate my time toward guiding professional growth and learning amongst our nearly 90 teachers to improve classroom practice and student achievement. My work and that of my colleagues matters. In fact, it may be the most important thing we ever do.

The fire that was ignited in me as a young teacher still burns strongly. I continue to think that anything can be changed and decisions in the best interest of students and teachers will prevail. Some are cynical, they have lost hope, but in the interest of my own two boys and the thousands of children that walk through our school doors each year, I simply can't and won't give up. Maybe, I'm acting like a cornered pitbull ready to fight, but I have hope for the future of public school education in Florida.

I don't move with a blindly optimistic attitude toward the future. I will admit that I'm fearful of poor decisions left in the hand of politicians which could cripple our profession. The writing appears to be on the wall with Senate Bill 6. Legislators without any classroom experience, never walking a mile in our shoes, will likely make a decision this year that will push the best, brightest, and most noble out of our profession. The bill erases teachers' pay on years of experience and advance degrees, and proposes to pay teachers based on their students' state test scores collected in just a few days of the 180 they are in attendance. Wanting to hold teachers fully accountable for their students learning, they overlook circumstances beyond our control.

Merit pay would rid the profession not of the poor teachers but of the exceptional ones. Some who serve our neediest learners, our learning disabled children, our non-English speaking students. Teachers who tutor on their own time, offer Tiered Interventions at every turn, buy classroom supplies when the schools can't afford to supply them, and spend hours upon hours on weeknights and weekends planning quality lessons. These are the teachers that will be most frustrated and dishonored.

For the past thirteen years, I've been serving at Chets Creek, and some of our most amazing teachers never receive the small portion of merit pay that is currently passed out. dayle timmons, a life-long Special Education teacher and 2004 Florida Teacher of the Year has never qualified for merit pay. The current merit pay system is broken and unfair. Senate Bill 6 will only escalate and intensify the problems. Educators see the glaring flaws; Senate Bill 6 may destroy the Florida teaching profession.

I work in a school with transcendent purpose and complete collegiality; We set out each and every day to change the world, one child at a time, having no doubt that we can and will achieve our goals. Embracing every child regardless of their circumstances is our moral calling, and we have the creative and innovative teachers, that with the right level of support, can reach them all. A learning organization led by a principal who implicitly trusts her teachers as professionals and gives them the autonomy needed to produce impressive qualitative and quantitative results. Just looking at our state test scores only marginally gives you a picture of who we are and what our teachers and children can achieve. Looking five years down the road, I wonder if this will be the same learning community utopia of today. It seems like our funds are drying up and our hands are being tied. Will a school like mine, full of passionate dedicated and exceptional teachers, be here for the unborn child of my principal? Or, instead will the best and brightest flee local private schools or other professions?

Politicians pass laws every year, they claim to base decisions on research. I'm wondering whether they would be supporting Senate Bill 6 if they watched this Daniel Pink video which highlights the conclusions of studies done by economists and psychologists who explain, "When the profit motive gets unmoored from the purpose motive, bad things happen." If you really want to make a change in an organization, pay people enough to take money off the table. When money is off the table that is when people can think about the work. The research shows that the best results are achieved by people who are motivated, and what they are motivated by are autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Our Florida children deserve teachers who are motivated to improve student achievement by these motivations. Merit pay will not promote the collegiality our profession needs to make significant improvements.

This video is worth every minute and I hope you will leave me a comment with your thoughts or connections.

Developing Young Mathematicians

2011-02-03T21:37:00.011-05:00

As an educator, my math classroom is significantly different from the one in which I was raised. I think many of our students’ parents feel the same way. In fact, during conferences, I’ve had several parents proclaim, “That’s not how I learned math.” To reassure them, I’ve explained my perspective as an educator and a parent. Many times, the explanation starts at the beginning-what they know to be true about their own math experiences.

Rewind twenty-five years to the math classrooms of my youth and most likely theirs; Situated neatly in rows, desks faced the front of the room. A math textbook lay open. On the left side of the page, there were step by step procedures for solving problems, and on the right page 25 or 30 practice problems with one or two word problems at the bottom. The teacher’s lesson began by working out the practice problem step by step while the students watched and memorized the procedures. Our task during class was to mimic perfectly the procedure and to work out the other practice problems independently. At the end of the period, we would pass our papers to the front of the room for the teacher to assess our progress.

I was a good math student, always able to follow the teacher’s directions and mimic the procedures. And, it didn’t take me long to realize that I didn’t even need to read the word problems at the bottom of the page, I just needed to pull the numbers out of the paragraph and use the same procedure for solving.

Does this scene sound familiar? It’s the way most of today’s teachers and our students' parents were taught math. Fortunately, it’s not the way our children are learning. Instead, based on research like TIMSS (Trends in International Math and Science Studies), and teachers’ professional development through organizations like the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, educators are learning to better prepare students to think mathematically.

Thirteen years ago, as a beginning teacher, I learned about this shift in math teaching and learning at a national conference. Phil Daro, a Senior Fellow of Mathematics, helped me understand the need for change as he explained the three-pronged math approach . A conversation that I’ve replicated with parents and colleagues throughout the years. He began by drawing a triangle on the board and printing the word SKILLS at the top. Then, continued by creating the mental image of the typical classroom of my youth. Teaching and learning, decades ago, was focused on skills as the top and sometimes only priority. All too often concepts and problem solving were omitted, creating a deficiency that students struggled to overcome as they moved on to more advanced mathematics.

To illustrate how to prevent a gap in mathematical knowledge, and create a well rounded math student, Daro drew another triangle rotated 180⁰ so concepts and problem solving were now on top. Daro explained that math is three-pronged and, “Teachers must teach for conceptual understanding, build problem-solving skills, and strengthen basic skills.” Urging educators to tip the triangle upside down and select curriculum tools with an emphasis on concepts and problem solving, and then embed skills was the way to improve math instruction he assured. The connection I made to his simple explanation was immediate; Classrooms of my youth were skill driven classrooms; I didn’t learn to understand or connect concepts, generalize my learning, or problem solve. I learned to imitate my teacher. In that moment, I vowed, as a math educator, to teach my students to think mathematically, and as a parent I committed to helping other parents understand the need for this shift.

To accomplish my goal in the classroom, I piloted a conceptually based math curriculum tool, implemented internationally benchmarked math standards along with my state standards, and embraced the three-pronged approach using a sixty minute Math Workshop format and a fifteen minute Interactive Math Skills Block. Confidently, I set forth to create a culture of student collaboration and dialogue. Growing competent and fluent young mathematicians, who understood concepts, could strategically and flexibly approach problems, were procedurally fluent, and could articulate and justify their answers captured my full attention. And, trust me when I say, teaching myself to learn in this fashion was exhausting; There were days when I was only minutes ahead of my students’ learning. However, in the end, I captured the most amazing rewards. I, with the assistance of a few colleagues, helped paved the way for my peers by creating a shift in our practice.

Now, over a decade later, this passion still consumes much of my time and provides me with just as much satisfaction. Currently, as a staff developer, I chair our Math Council to lead with our vision and mission in constant view and assist to grow math leadership capacity in others. At the same time, I embrace my role to get new math teachers started on the right path from the very beginning. I continue to share my story with anyone who will listen. After all, I have the unique pleasure of teaching children and teachers to think mathematically.

Fuel Up to Play 60 with Mojo!

2011-01-25T20:54:00.007-05:00

To a cheering student audience, Jacksonville Jaguar player, Maurice Jones-Drew took the stage. He was at Chets Creek today to speak to third, fourth, and fifth grade students about a special program, Fuel Up to Play 60 which emphasizes healthy eating and sixty minutes of physical activity every day. A grant written by our P.E. Coaches, Estrella Bailey and Ray Robinson funded the memorable assembly which will surely be a highlight of the kids' school year.

Jones-Drew not only spoke to the kids but eagerly answered oodles of questions. Just a few of the questions our students wanted to know:
What are your favorite foods? How much time do you spend working out during the season? What do you feel like in the five minutes before you take the field? What does it feel like to score a touchdown? Who do you think will win this year's Superbowl? Who is your favorite college team? Who is your biggest opponent?

My son took the stage to ask, "Who was your childhood hero?" to which Mojo answered, "My grandfather." Later my son remembered being told that Maurice's name was Maurice Drew, but in college while playing in the Rose Bowl, Maurice's grandfather died of a heart attack. In tribute to his grandfather he added his grandfather's surname, Jones, to his own name becoming Maurice Jones-Drew. What a great lesson for my young son to learn about honoring your lifelong heroes.

In the final minutes, our Principal, Susan Phillips asked, "What was your favorite subject in school?" Of course, he got a round of applause when he answered, "I am a mathematician!"

Here's to you Maurice, for not only sending the stay fit and healthy message, but also for reminding students to continually work toward their goals because anything is possible.

Purple Cow Standards Board of the Month

2011-01-21T19:48:00.015-05:00

When you walk into our building, it's clear that we have a strong academic focus. Almost everywhere you look you see celebrations of student achievement, and unlike the holiday themed bulletin boards of yesteryear, our bulletin boards display student work samples with teacher commentary. Classroom instruction becomes transparent because of this visibility of student performance in reading, writing, math, science and social studies. Our only regret is that we've had no way of cataloging and keeping the boards for future reference, until now.

With nearly 50 bulletin boards at CCE, there is no feasible way to digitally warehouse all of them, so we've started by capturing two a month, one primary and one intermediate. After the new boards go up, teachers submit Purple Cow nominations for their colleagues' boards. A team gets together to read all nominated boards and selects one intermediate and one primary board that stands out above all the rest. The competition is steep because the boards are so creative and well done, but usually the Purple Cow is chosen because it presents a new idea that others may want to implement in their classroom or does an exceptional job capturing a moment of time in their classroom.

It's unlikely that every teacher will have the opportunity to read every board each month, but with the Purple Cow highlighted, we are hoping that every teacher will at least read the two Purple Cow Boards that can't be missed. So far, the idea has caught on and one teacher even teases that she's wearing her Purple Cow ribbon in her hair!

I'd love for you to visit our Standards Based Bulletin Board blog created and maintained by our Tech Coach, Melanie Holtsman, to read our highlighted boards. You'll see the start of what we hope will become a long tradition. Make sure you click on pictures to enlarge and print the items. I'd love to hear your comments. Stay tuned for more...

Academic Family Nights

2011-01-16T10:54:00.011-05:00

Several times a year, we hold academic Family Nights to communicate grade level expectations with parents and answer frequently asked questions. Earlier in the year, Second grade teachers held a 2nd Grade Math Night, and this week Third grade teachers hosted an FCAT Reading and Math Information session while Fourth grade teachers held their FCAT Writes Night.

The session topics are selected with that grade level’s specific needs in mind. Typically, 2nd grade parents have many questions about the transition in math. They are curious about how math is being taught conceptually and what that means in reference to skill based teaching. They also want to know if their child will learn the standard algorithm for addition and subtraction the way they did. We begin the conversation with an overview of the three prongs of math—concepts, skills, and problem solving and explain how we use our math resources of Math Investigations, Every Day Math Counts, and Envisions to meet grade level Sunshine State Standards while teaching within each of the three prongs. Then, our teachers concentrate on explaining the strategies of addition and subtraction so parents have a better understanding of how we are teaching number sense and flexibility of thought. The session wraps with an open floor so all parents leave with their questions answered.

Third grade parents are always full of questions about FCAT and its implications. 3rd grade is the first year that students take the state standardized test in Reading and Math so this session is often packed with curious parents. The Third grade teachers provide an overview of the many facets of FCAT as well as show parents some sample problems. In addition, they discuss the embedded ways we are preparing students, like spiraling homework and formative assessments, and we clarify how we don’t stop teaching at any point for FCAT prep. Sharing strategies that parents can implement at home to help their child is a part of this gathering. Again, the evening ends with a questions and answers session.

Fourth grade parents are old hats at FCAT so just when those questions dissipate, they are curious about the state writing test. What do students have to score? What does meeting the standard look like? How are you preparing students for success on the test? How is a prompt different from the Writers’ Workshop? Is my child going to do well? These questions drive the evening’s conversation. In addition, teachers hold a fish bowl mini Writers’ Workshop with students to give parents a bird’s eye view of what is happening to prepare students in the classroom. Explaining the logistics of the 45 minute prompt write is something new to parents, and we hope they walk away feeling good about what we are doing to prepare their child. Teachers field questions as the session concludes.

Nights like these provide the platform for a deeper parent understanding of our curriculum, standards, and state assessment expectations. We hope that they leave with peace of mind and comfort in knowing that we thoughtfully and strategically prepare their students not only for the state assessment but for their future.

Word Walls

2010-12-14T18:00:00.000-05:00

What is the first thing that pops into your head when I say--word wall? Did you envision a list of high frequency words assembled neatly under their beginning letter on a long abc...xyz chart in a classroom?

That is actually the most typical visualization, however it is only one type of word wall. The mental image you created of a spelling word wall is the most common word wall tool in the primary school used as a visual reference for students of high frequency words. The spelling word wall is used to support the growing number of words students should be able to read and spell correctly. They are introduced gradually with explicit instruction before being added to the wall. When done well, activities are built around the word wall offering extended exposure and chances for repeated practice are consistent until the words are mastered with great efficiency. The other type of spelling wall I envision is one centered around spelling patterns... -at, -ike, -ake, etc... Below are examples of some of the spelling word walls displayed and used in classrooms at Chets Creek.

Spelling Word Walls

A second type of word wall you would encounter in our classrooms is a writing word wall. Most commonly, our writing word walls are displayed as a tool for students to use during their Writers' Workshop to enhance the level of vocabulary used while writing stories. The typical writing word wall includes simple words, like said, that can be replaced with more descriptive or sophisticated terms, like squealed or whispered. In addition, as children learn about sentence structure and offering sentence variety in their writing, they might find useful words displayed by part of speech. On several occasions, I've also seen students with independent word walls on the back of their writing folders. These words are individualized and typically words most often misspelled in that student's writing. The personal word wall is used throughout the writing process.

Writing Word Walls

Reading Vocabulary is another universal word wall used in CCE classrooms. In Kindergarten through Third Grade, we use Scholastic's Text Talk series for explicit vocabulary instruction through children's literature read alouds. Several words per book are introduced with explicit instruction and activities using the words are taught. Furthermore, you will find reading vocabulary word walls that are built as students are introduced to words in the context of other reading. For example, one of the word walls below is from the chapter book, Because of Winn Dixie.

Reading Vocabulary Word Walls

Content Vocabulary Word Walls in Math, Science, and Social Studies are frequently displayed in CCE classrooms in K-Grade 5, too. Just like spelling, writing, and reading vocabulary word walls, content word walls are used not only as a display but as a reference tool, too. The primary goal is for student mastery and understanding of each of the terms. Some content word walls have the definition displayed with the word on the front of a card, others have the term printed on the back and are secured with velcro to a chart or stored inside a pocket chart making them easily removable by students. Also, other displays are a list of the words that teachers use for specific activities. You can see a few examples of each type below.

Math Word Walls

Science Word Walls

Social Studies Word Walls

Print rich classrooms full of resources including word walls are important to promote student learning and achievement. Word walls make words visible, usable, and accessible to our learners. I'd love to get a comment about the way you use word walls in your own classroom.

Reflective Conversations

2010-12-07T21:01:00.015-05:00

The world of a coach, just like a teacher, gets busy on the first day of school and never slows down. "Is this your busy time of the year?" Is a question that always bewilders me, because truth be told, all 196 teacher days are a busy time of year. Something, I've come to believe only an educator can fully appreciate. Boarding a Lear jet on the first day of school depicts the typical momentum that begins on Day 1 and ends when the last bell has rung, the classroom is packed up, and we emerge on the other side for a blissful few uninterrupted weeks. Until, once again, the planning begins for the upcoming year, if it truly ever ended in the first place.

Hurling at mock speed, we often forget that a critical component of growing professionally is to reflect on our practice. Where have we been? Where are we going? Questions like these allow you to reflect, refocus, redefine, and reembrace your work. The answers certainly aren't fancy but get at the heart of strategic planning. For me, this type of reflection comes easily now, but in my early teaching years, it took a leader asking me these questions and listening attentively as I answered them.

This year, I'm trying this reflective practice with our new teachers. Each of them is meeting with me this week to answer these questions:

What are you most proud that you've accomplished so far this year?

What would you like to work on as you move into the second half of the year?

What do you need for me to do for you?

The reason for the conversations are two fold. First, I want new teachers to get in the habit of reflecting and second, I want to know, from their point of view, what they need to learn next. Each conversation has been intriguing. I've learned from them about their professional celebrations and their needs. The dialogue has captured a plan for me to move forward in supporting them. As we move into the new year, I'll be gathering some important content resources, setting up a couple of observations, demoing a few lessons, watching and giving written feedback, and teaching about wikis and Gizmos to name just a few things. What I like most about this process is that I am really getting to know each teacher better and I feel like I'll be able to meet their specific needs. This is definitely a practice I'll continue in the future. Stay tuned...

Math Anchor Charts

2010-11-27T16:00:00.065-05:00

My last post described the anchor chart as a learning tool in classrooms across our school. I highlighted snapshots I took based on our reading instruction. I thought you might also like a glimpse into our anchor charts in mathematics.

Some math anchors are displayed to help students conceptually understand and remember mathematical vocabulary.

Others remind students to think about their noticings or connections as they pertain to specific lessons including math games.

Anchor charts also highlight foundational learning like finding combinations of numbers. A students ability to decompose a number is critical for developing number sense and flexibility when solving problems. Many mental math strategies come back to a student's ability to decompose numbers efficiently. In addition to combinations, students also work with doubles and near doubles as they build number sense. Often times, you will find charts like these hanging in our primary classrooms.

Furthermore, strategy charts play a prominent role. They are not charts that are premade and hung before instruction, rather are anchors built with students as new strategies emerge. Some charts show single strategies while others display many strategies.

Often times, when the chart lists more than one strategy, the strategies are listed by order of efficiency. The visual reminder helps students as they move along their learning pathway. In this case, a student's work may also become an anchor chart on the classroom wall as a reminder of a particular strategy that has been highlighted in a classroom math discussion.

We use Math Investigations as our 60 minute Math Workshop curriculum tool. Like many conceptually based programs, MI embeds story problems into many of their math lessons. Therefore, it is common for teachers to have anchor charts which guide a student through solving a problem. Sometimes the anchors are found on a student's desk, some are in their math journals, and others hang on the classroom walls.

Still other math anchors assist in building student knowledge throughout units of study or remind students of necessary skills like multiplication and division notations.

Regardless of their content, all math anchor charts have the same intent-to be a visual reminder to students of the thinking that has taken place and to act as a springboard for further learning. Classrooms displaying rich math anchor charts offer students the environment they need to become effective mathematicians.

Anchor Charts

2010-11-24T14:17:00.015-05:00

Anchor Charts are artifacts of classroom learning communities. An anchor, by definition, is an object used to hold something firmly in place. Anchors are a source of stability and security. Thrown overboard, the anchor stables the boat holding it firmly in a desired location. Likewise, an Anchor Chart displayed in a classroom learning community anchors student thinking while offering a source of visual reference for continued support as the learner moves forward. Classrooms with rich anchor support leave little doubt about what a student is expected to learn and offer a “public trail” of thinking, a collection of learning.

Debbie Miller, in her book, Teaching with Intention, states “In our anchor classroom, evidence of student thinking was everywhere; anchor charts, student responses, and quotes adorned the walls and boards making thinking public and permanent. The questions, quotes, ideas, and big understandings displayed throughout the room reflected the real voices of real kids.”

Cornerstone Literacy Fellow, Wendy Seger, highlights the features of an Anchor Chart. She says, an anchor chart should have a single focus. Sometimes a teaching standard is broad by design, such as Students will write with a clear focus, coherent organization, and sufficient detail. To be able to meet this standard, teachers would have to help students accomplish the many more discrete skills that build capacity to meet this writing expectation. Those discrete skills make up the topics of the crafting lessons that are taught in day-to-day work within the Readers’ and Writers’ Workshop. It is those discrete skills that are represented on an anchor chart. The anchor chart is co-constructed with students. The brain based research of Marcia Tate and other support the use of visuals to incorporate new learning into memory. When the visual represents a learning event that includes the students, it becomes an artifact of the learning experience. It has meaning for the students because they participated in its construction. The anchor chart has an organized appearance. The importance of clarity is paramount to understanding. If the students can’t read the chart or find the statement of explicit instruction, the chart will be no support to the students when they return back to the chart as a scaffold. The anchor chart matches learners’ developmental levels. The language, the amount of information, the length of the sentences, and the size of lettering should all match the cognitive level of the students whom the chart will serve. The anchor chart supports on-going learning. One of the most important considerations for learning is whether or not the chart is relevant and used by the students. Charts should reflect recent crafting lessons or concepts that need continued scaffolding.

Prominently displayed in classrooms throughout our school, anchor charts are foundational artifacts making transparent the teaching and learning that are occurring at Chets Creek on a daily basis. For my Standards Based Bulletin Board this month, I decided to collect snapshots of anchor charts. By the end of my focus walk, I had hundreds of pictures from all subject areas. I had to narrow the topic to just reading for my board. I sorted the reading anchor charts in categories by standard and have included them in the slideshows below. These charts are a samples snapped from classrooms in Kindergarten through Fifth Grade. I included only the intermediate standards. Each of the anchor charts, when considered singularly, do not meet the standard, however the collection of charts created throughout a unit of study work together to meet the elements of each standard.

The slideshows below highlight each of these Reading Categories:
Genres
Story Elements
Comprehension
Fluency
Speaking and Listening
Vocabulary
Rituals and Routines
Test Taking Strategies

A Young Mathematician at Work

2010-11-03T23:20:00.010-04:00

Sauntering under the coffee table, wiggling under the couch cushions, holding tightly to the cup holders, and peeking out from the glove box. I've been discovering sticky notes, fluttering like butterflies, all over my house and car. They are the workings of one inquisitive third grader who instead of absently disappearing into game play with his PSP, ipod, or iphone, instead opts to pick up a pencil and scour for a sticky note. He writes himself problems like 283x32, and proceeds to solve, not in conventional ways, but in creative thought provoking ways demonstrating his conceptual understanding and number sense.

My son's solving frenzy started after his first multiplication lesson in his third grade classroom. In the lesson, the class discussed things that typically can be found in groups like eggs and soda cans, and then they discussed the idea of groups of things. He took his knowledge, and his understanding of repeated addition and applied the two. Not to a typical third grade problem like 5X4 or 3x6, but immediately to larger numbers. He could do this because the concept remains the same and he was able to generalize his understanding.

The first problem I watched him solve was 237x13. He wrote it down on the white board in my office and proceeded, to my disbelief, to get the right answer. He added 13 groups of 237 using a doubling repeated addition approach. I then walked next door to chat to a colleague and returned to find not only had he solved the multiplication problem, but a division problem, as well. When I asked him how he knew division, he responded, "It's 'groups of' only backward."

In the division problem, you can see that he thought of groups of 20. How many groups of 20 will it take to get to 240? He has his groups numbered at the top to show 12. Quite impressive.

I'm thrilled, not only because my son is solving math problems in ways that demonstrate his ever growing knowledge of numbers but because he is easily able to generalize his knowledge, a key component of learning. I truly believe the reason he is able to do this is because he's grown up in a school where the curriculum tools are conceptually focused and full of problem solving situations. He hasn't been exposed to rote memorization or a sets of procedures, rather he's been taught to think. And, for that, I am grateful.

Reading Logs

2010-10-31T21:54:00.009-04:00

When our journey began with the America's Choice School Design, we implemented internationally benchmarked performance standards. One of the reading standards included students reading 25 books a year. The standard, supported by research that students need to read one million words a year to be proficient grade level readers, was immediately embraced. However, before the implementation of the standard or the kick off event with students and parents, there was much discussion. How many minutes should a student read in one day to attain this standard? How much of the reading would be done at school and how much at home? Would we count books read aloud to students or just books they read independently? What systems would be in place to hold each student accountable? How would we reward students that successfully accomplished the goal?

As we set forth, in the early years, toward our 25 book campaign, we had each student keep a reading log, and some teachers had students respond to each book. (I know, it makes me cringe to say it aloud, too.) And, as the years passed, we continued discussion on the purpose of the standard and got further from responses and closer to the heart of the standard--a student's avid reading.

Now, ten years later, I still have a teacher or two that asks me each year whether reading logs are required, and if they are, what we expect to be included as part of the reading log. I know if they ask me the question, they've only implemented out of compliance rather than commitment and are still grappling with the true purpose. Whenever I'm asked, I think about myself as an avid reader. Presently, I don't have a reading log and I've read so many titles and authors that I'm beginning to accidentally purchase the same books twice, especially if I'm ordering on-line. I know, now, that it's time for me to keep a primitive book log, one where I record the date, title, and author, just so I have a record. Of course, for my purpose it will be a book log that travels with me forevermore.

Lucy Calkin's, in A Guide to the Reading Workshop explains,

" The log is a record of the book title, the level, the date, the reading place
(home or school), the page at which reading began and the page at which reading
ended, and the minutes spent reading. At the start of each reading workshop,
children pull out their reading logs and record the page number at which they'll
start the day's reading, and they record the start time. Then, at the end of the
reading time, readers record the number of total minutes spent reading and the
number of pages read. As a teacher moves about the room, this makes it easy to
notice that in, say, seventeen minutes of reading time, a particular reader may
have read fifteen pages (which is what you'd expect) or four pages (which would
lead you to want to do some further research). Children, as well as teachers,
study the data.

The reading log is used to analyze trends in a child's reading and share celebrations. If a teacher wants to give next steps, Lucy suggests, "The conversation needs to occur far from any discussion of the written record." Accurate data keeping is needed in the student's log so it displays an accurate picture of the reader. If the reading log becomes the checking spot of a conference, then fabricated data may become the norm.

With Lucy's explanation, you can quickly see that the reading log is used to inform instruction, as well as discuss books with children. What it is not, is a record tool to simply hold students accountable.

Teachers, I'd love to hear your thoughts about reading logs. Do you use them in your classroom? And, how do you feel about them?

Units of Study for Teaching Reading Workshop

2010-10-24T19:37:00.019-04:00

Lucy Calkin's Units of Study for Teaching Reading Grades 3-5 is my latest read, and simply put, I'm enthralled. Readers' Workshop has been a cornerstone of our work at CCE since 2001, but like all passionate educational professionals, we are continually reflecting on our craft and honing our lessons, discovering new ways to teach students with greater depth and understanding.

Lucy's new units offer a quality resource to help us scaffold new teachers' instruction so they deliver thoughtful quality mini-lessons from the start, at the same time allowing master teachers to reflect on their own lessons, uncover new precious gems, and polish their own Readers' Workshops. I've only just begun reading and already I'm captivated. The books can't get into the hands of our intermediate teachers fast enough.

A Guide to the Reading Workshop...Chapter One

Almost immediately Lucy shares, "The average college graduate in this country reads one book a year. The longer kids stay in school, the less they like to read." How utterly sad that they don't have a love affair with books, that they aren't experiencing the unfolding of a character's motives, beliefs, and choices page by page. That they don't let a tear drip down their cheek and soak into the print on the page because they can't bear the struggle that some have had to endure. That they aren't so engrossed in the story that before they realize it half the night has slipped away.

And, how sad that despite the money, time, and energy they put into getting a college education, they didn't transfer that into being a life long learner and avid reader. I can't count the number of professional books I've read, and the reflection and new learning that has come from each one. Simply put, I can't imagine a life without books. In addition, I'm left wondering, how many teachers are a part of this average? Who among us doesn't read veraciously? Lucy says, "Shirley Brice Heath has gone so far as to suggest that the single most important condition for literacy learning is that a person needs mentors who are joyfully literate people, who demonstrate what it means to live joyfully literate lives." For the sake of every student in our care, I hope each one of my colleagues considers themselves joyfully literate, and I hope they spread, like wildfire, that passion into the lives of our students.

In chapter one, Lucy also points out that, "These are important times in the teaching of reading, There's been a gigantic crack in the system. Judgment is no longer pending. The verdict is in. Not one of those core reading programs, mandated under No Child Left Behind, has been shown to reliably work." This message was supported and written about by Richard Allington, too, in Wh at Really Matters in Response to Intervention. Our faculty did a book study last year, and our conversation kept coming back to the same thing--Why do states require districts to sink millions of dollars into pre-packaged basal textbook series, ones that for forty years have been proven not to work, when instead they could spend the money to put authentic children's literature and quality leveled readers into the hands of our learners?

In our building, there has been no return on investment in the realm of pre-packaged reading series, in fact, most of the book's covers have never been cracked. We know what really matters--Good teachers using relevant data to prescribe and deliver quality instruction with authentic literature through the Workshop Model. We have the results to back up our teaching philosophies and practices.

At Chets, our dollars are spent almost entirely, year in and year out, on purchasing authentic children's literature, quality leveled books, and professional texts for teachers. With CCE dollars, we get a great return on our investment. This research supports what we've always known, it is the teacher that makes the difference, not a basal textbook series meant to be teacher proof. Lucy writes, "Access to good teachers is more important to the likelihood that students will do well than anything else. It is more important than a student's background, than small class size, and than the fact that a school as a whole is a good one. A mountain of research confirms what all of us already know: the single most important resource a school can provide to its students is an effective teacher." Not a parent or educator I know would spar with her statement.

A Community of Learners and Leaders is etched in the glass as you walk in our door, a culture of collegiality and excellence has been built brick by brick and cemented with rigorous academic mortar. Within our walls, you will find colleagues who work together as a cohesive team toward a common vision and mission and who find it a moral and ethical obligation to grow and develop as professionals in our craft. Our community, saturated with effective teachers, is a place to proper, a place a thrive. We promote joyful learning. Our learners have the opportunity to select books based on their interest, and have ample time during workshops to read independently. Our youngsters get to hear daily read alouds and thoughtfully respond to books. Our students receive explicit instruction in reading strategies and skills, and get high quality differentiated instruction tailored to meet their individual needs. We are implementing the foundational pieces within Readers' Workshop that Lucy has written about. But, by no means do we think we have all the answers. Constantly, we are in search of quality mini-lessons to bring into the fabric of our workshop.

I'm sure Lucy would be impressed to know that we live by her words and we greatly appreciate her willingness to share her expertise with us. Stay tuned for our progress as we implement her newest work, Units of Study for Teaching Reading.

No Excuse Word List

2010-10-20T15:32:00.004-04:00

During a stroll through a teacher's classroom last week, I noticed this chart hanging on one of her cabinets. I'm sure, as a teacher, we've all had those moments when we collect students' writing to find high frequency words misspelled. I thought this was a creative way for Ms. Launey to hold her students accountable. The chart says... These are words 4th grade students are expected to spell correctly 100% of the time. (If Ms. Launey spots one spelled incorrectly on your paper...Pay Up!)

Growing Narrative Writers

2010-10-10T07:48:00.020-04:00

Second graders begin their year writing personal narrative papers. Teachers use Launching the Writing Workshop from the Lucy Calkin and Colleagues 3-5 Units of Intermediate Writing as a guide for their instruction. (Second Grade teachers use the 3-5 kit, because our Kindergarten and First Grade teachers thoroughly use the K-2 kit so our students are ready for deeper learning.) The narratives are not expected to meet the standard this early in the year. In fact, we only teach about half of the elements in the beginning of the year and save the other half when we revisit narratives later in the year. There will be a definite change in terms of writing craft and conventions between our fall narratives and spring narratives. I can't wait to see the difference as our young learners grow.

Last week, as I focus walked Second Grade, I could see that most classrooms had published their narrative pieces and were moving on to Responses to Literature. So, on Thursday, I spent some time in Second Grade reading the students' writing. I pulled two samples to share with you. They do not meet the Second Grade standards for the end of the year expectations, but they fall within the parameters of what has been taught. You will notice grammatical, spelling, and sentence structure errors, however we expect that from beginning of the year Second Graders. What we really focus on is telling a personal story and writing fluency. When students have fluency, it is much easier when they go to the revising and editing portion of the standard.

You will notice after the student's writing a Coaching Rubric. The teacher had each student self reflect and then had them meet with parnter for a peer reflection. When the peer reflected they also gave the student a compliment and a suggestion. After that, the teacher filled in the rubric based on beginning of the year expectations and left a comment for the student at the bottom of the paper.

Student Sample #1

Getting My New Kartay Belt
Hmm, should I test for my belt? I was testing for my orange belt. I was extied, very extied to get my belt. I have to break a board, form, sporing, wepins, self difen's, and combos. When I do my form it is hard to remember all of my moves. I could not kick high like my master. To kick you have to bring your nee up then bring your foot out next bring your foot back down last bring your nee down do it fast and you did a kick. when I became a camal belt I can spor with geaer but I am not a camel belt so I cannot spor right now. Next I did

my wepon's. Wepon's are easy. Next is bourd brack's. My bourd brack's are I have to make a fist then punch it down. My is to kick up it is easy. There were not many poeple around. The room was small. There was a stuck of belt on the wall. I got everything right. No body else was test for there belt. It smelled very good. The floor felt soft, very soft. It was quiet, very quiet. My sister was not there I wish she was there. The color of my siut was white there were black spots on my siut. My master told my mommy and sister I should start karty. But my mom replied, "It was to much." It was really to much. It cost $600.00 dollar's. I finaly got my new belt and I even got a resband it was so cool. Then we went to go pick up my sister.

And she asked "Why did you get a new belt?" And I replied because I did hard working.

Teacher: I like how you used a transition word-next. You also put dialouge in your story.

Student Sample #2

Onse my mom graduated. The place lookt like a basketball cort. My grandma was ther with me so was my mom's boyfrind. I was happy for mom. She came out & the gradduating song was on. She waulk to a empty chair to sit in. I was six.

Someone calld her name and I think is was something like a diploma that she got from a lady. I didn't know her name. After mom came out some other pepel came out. I bet ther Mom's & Dad's are proud of them to. My famaly was rihgt next to me & I was rihgt in the

middel like the Middel Chld Blues. I was calling my mom's name but she did not notis that I was calling her name. But...she lookt around for me. She did not look at the rihgt part of the room. I was not mad at her because it is her spesheel day! Wen I got home I

said to mom "Congragolashons!" She replid "Thank you." replid mom.

Teacher: You did a good job sequencing your story.

Stay tuned for our progress...

Demonstration Lessons

2010-10-10T05:41:00.015-04:00

Children aren't the only ones that spend their time in study.

On any given day when you enter the Administrative Conference Room at CCE , you will most likely find a group of teachers having collegial dialogue, unpacking the grade level standards in a content area, building units of study, and/or creating assessment aligned with standards and instruction. CCE teachers are not under the false impression that the learning stopped as they held their college diplomas or after just five years in the classroom as research indicates. Rather, teachers know that spending time in study together, as they so often do, reaps benefits that impact their classroom instruction and student performance ten fold.

As a cornerstone of the work we do during these TDE days, the first component of the day is normally a Demonstration Lesson that focuses on the topic at hand. With newly adopted state math standards and curriculum tools, the First Grade team decided to spend a day together talking about their math implementation. Together, Cheryl Dillard, First Grade Math Lead Teacher, and I created an agenda. We decided on the work that could be done in advance to expedite some of the processes and spent a day together before hand organizing learning and preparing for the session.

To start the day, we asked the fourteen member team to join us for a math demonstration lesson in Cheryl and Maria's classroom. The team, with pen and paper in hand, gathered to watch an Interactive Math Skills Block and a Math Workshop Lesson. Beginning the day in this manner gives teachers the opportunity to see, first hand, what is happening in a colleague's classroom. The learning that takes place in this short time together is so much more productive than just having a conversation, because they can learn the nuances of their peer's work. They see and feel the spirit of the classroom; They watch students at work in a live classroom; They observe the rituals and routines that pace the math learning; They note the level of questioning that occurs; They remember the artifacts that support student learning; They keenly ask questions that support student achievement; They reflect on their own practice; They borrow ideas; They note changes they will make in their own classrooms. Then, they gather back back in the conference room to have collegial conversation about the observation.

Most of the time, this takes less than an hour and frames the learning that will occur in their day of study together. On this particular day, after the lesson, the team took a closer look at the demonstration lesson and asked questions about the planning that occurred. Next, we prepared the teachers to look at the global picture. We had them look at the math standards that would be covered in the year and gave them an alignment guide that we had created ahead of time. The guide gave them each unit of study aligned with the standards, as well as examples and remarks given for that particular standard. The standards that weren't part of the document, because they weren't explicitly taught in the MI unit, were included on an Interactive Skills Block overview for the year. In addition, we gave them a Concepts and Skills Overview that our states RtI committee had created. In all, they had the global picture and weekly picture so they could quickly move in their own planning to creating a daily plan. After this, the teachers split into pairs and divided the units to begin writing assessments.

This on the clock professional development, supported by the principal's hiring of substitutes, is one of the single most important things we do. Teachers roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty. They are in study together. We'll have many more days like this, and though I don't get a chance to write about all of them, the flow of the day remains much the same.

So, stay tuned for our progress...

Suzanne's Curriculum Corner

2010-10-06T19:47:00.004-04:00

This year, in an effort to share a common message on a consistent basis with 90+ teachers, I decided to write a weekly newsletter. The Curriculum Corner, as I call it, is attached to the Memo, our Principal's weekly communication tool to teachers, and is sent out by email each Friday afternoon. The Memo sets up the events of the coming week, shares housekeeping items, contains a short message from an RtI lead, Technology lead, and myself, and has public pats on the back called YeeHaws. My Curriculum Corner, on the other hand, updates teachers on general curriculum and instruction topics, in this year of new standards, curriculum, and assessment, and has an overview of the weekly Council agenda and discussion.

My plan is to write the newsletter for the first nine weeks and then conduct a short survey to find out if the teachers find it useful. I will be happy to continue writing it, if I feel like it is being read. If not, I'll abandon the practice and reach for a better way to communicate with the faculty.

Stay tuned for our progress...

Curriculum Council Meetings

2010-09-27T18:16:00.000-04:00

Each Wednesday, a dedicated group of content lead teachers meet in the Administrative Conference Room from 8:30 am to 10:00 am. The representatives consist of one classroom teacher from each grade level K-5 plus an ESE representative. They join me to have in depth vertical conversation in a content area. The schedule accommodates Math Council one week, ELA Council the next, and Science Council the week after that, and continues on a rotating basis.

The representatives are an essential part of our school's distributed leadership model because they offer professional development through weekly Teacher Meetings to their grade level colleagues. Without their vision, planning, follow through, and leadership our school design could not accommodate the level of professional learning or horizontal consistency we expect.

As the school's instructional coach, I hold the responsibility of carrying the global picture and helping each content lead as they guide learning at their grade level. I plan and deliver each Council's agenda keeping the school's long term mission and short term goals in mind. I analyze data, focus walk grade levels, work in beginning teacher's classrooms, observe model teachers in action, and have discussions with lead teachers to make sure I stay on target. The vertical discussions focus on standards, curriculum, instructional practices, student work, assessments, and professional learning.

We've just completed our first round of Council meetings and spent the majority of our time concentrating on dissecting the FCAT Specifications. This has been our focus because we are implementing our states newly adopted Math, ELA, and Science standards. Our FCAT Math and Reading assessment will also change this year, so adjusting to the new standards quickly is essential. In order for the leads and their colleagues to plan and deliver aligned instruction, they first have to know the standards and the end assessment. Once these two elements are clearly understood, then they can select curriculum tools and implement instruction to reach their desired results. I've already witnessed changes occurring within instruction based on the learning happening through Council Meetings and subsequently through Teacher Meetings.

Stay tuned for our progress...

Waiting for Superman

2010-09-20T21:38:00.007-04:00

I'm sitting here watching Oprah. Oprah, Bill Gates, Michelle Rhee, and Davis Guggenheim are talking about the dire state of our public schools. Davis has directed a movie, Waiting for Superman, to begin a conversation about this desperate situation. I know there will be push back from many teachers and some will complain and make excuses. However, when you face the drop out rate reality and see how many people exit our high schools without the ability to succeed in a four year college, you have to wonder when the nation will wake up and demand more.

http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/trailer

I am truly blessed to work in a magnificent school with dedicated passionate quality teachers. I am not offended by the comments by Oprah or her guests. They have the same vision that I do. They want what is best for our nations' children regardless of their SES status, their race, their genre, their neighborhood. They want every school to succeed. Oprah says, "It's going to shake up public school education..." I can't wait to watch and see if that indeed is true.

As an educator of thirteen years, I have to say that I think most teachers want to do the right thing, but the system isn't always set up for success. I'm wondering if this film will set forth a solution or a path that will get failing schools back on track. With the complexities and monumental issues, I have to wonder, but won't lose hope. Maybe a spotlight on the issue will help.

A New Beginning

2010-09-08T18:23:00.021-04:00

Unbelievably, we are three weeks into the 2010-2011 school year. The school's lobby and classrooms are decorated to reflect our new theme, Cultivating a Community of Excellence; We had a fun-filled Opening Day for teachers, welcomed and WOWed 1,300 + stu dents back on their first day of school, and began meeting together collegially. And, although we've gotten off to an incredible start, I still feel a level of anxiety and stress in the building that I haven't felt in many years.

Chets Creek teachers are extremely competent, thoughtful, and strategic. They use our school's diagnostic tools in Reading, Math, and Science to assess what students know and use the data to prescribe whole group and small group instruction. They use the Florida standards and many curriculum tools to plan their instruction and stick closely to our pacing guides to ensure that all standards are covered thoroughly. And, they use the assessments we've created aligned with their standards, curriculum, and assessment.

Rewind ten years into the 2000-2001 school year and you will see where this foundational work started. Many Chets Creek teachers worked diligently to build this comprehensive foundation. To create a system smooth as silk, we extensively analyzed and discussed every standard, benchmark, and grade level expectation. We poured over every curriculum tool sent to us from our district and scoured to obtain additional resources. We meticulously and systematically wrote diagnostics, quizzes, formative assessments, and summatives in each core subject area to align with the standards. We created homework to support students' learning. In addition, we picked apart, questioned, and got intimately acquainted with our state standardized FCAT assessment based off the FCAT Specifications. The work hours were long, the process collaborative, the depth of learning satisfying, and the outcomes were second to none.

Then, year in and year out, as new teachers joined our school family, we lovingly handed all of our hard work off to them in hopes of making their road smoother. They proceeded down the path we had created. Each year, together, the foundation builders and subsequent sustainers, we tweaked our work to make it better, built stronger units of studies, and filled the gaps. But, the work was rarely from scratch.

Then, we stepped out of our comfortable self-created world into the Summer of 2010 and enjoyed the last labors of our professional love.

We entered the 2010-2011 school year like a deer in the headlights. It's like everyone groggily emerged from their summer hibernation to the realization that we have newly adopted state standards, that the FCAT test is changing this year to reflect the new standards, and that since we've written diagnostics, quizzes, formatives, summatives, and homework to align with the standards, those too must be redone. Oh, and to add the icing on the cake, our district also adopted two new math curriculum tools. To say the least, those of us from CCE's early years feel like we caught a ride with Marty McFly in his Delorean... Back to 2000.

You can see the founding teachers grinning slightly in recognition as the newbies realize with a gasp that the existing work is history and we will once again start anew. They have no idea how it feels to pick apart every standard detail by detail, or read and reread all curriculum tools for the whole year so we can appropriately build a pacing guide, or slave over the writing of every single assessment and homework piece. We never gave them that opportunity. In 2000, we laid the leg work and created a road map for student learning one small step at a time and we emerged better educators because of the thinking it took.

The tension in the air, the angst I'm feeling across the building is coming from the slow summer awakening of a faculty that knows now that this could be the most demanding school year of their careers. That they now will start from scratch and begin adding in the ingredients to the new recipe for student success.

I could say that I'm overwhelmed by the prospect of a new beginning, but really I'm not. I'm excited by the depth of understanding which came as I worked through this process the first time. I'm exhilarated that the teachers who joined the staff after 2000 are getting the opportunity to build, again, what we had. In fact, they have the benefit of knowing exactly what it should look like at the end of their journey. I can't think of a more capable staff to conquer these challenges and come out on top. I'm not saying there won't be some speed bumps along the way, but we will embrace them as learning opportunities as we move forward. I have great faith in my colleagues as professionals and can't wait to help them recreate a strong and worthy foundation. The harvest we reap will be plentiful.

Stay tuned for our progress...

Planning for a New Year

2010-08-11T21:40:00.004-04:00

(I intended to publish this post, with pictures of my classroom piles over a week ago, however, low and behold, during my move, I lost my hand held camera containing all my blog pictures. I've decided, for the sake of time, to publish it now anyway, but I know doing so without the pictures just doesn't tell the whole story. Sorry!)

I am well underway as I complete and check off the inevitable back to school 'to do' list, but regardless of how far I get, it seems like there is always so much more to accomplish! This preparation for the upcoming school year has been slightly more involved for me, because I moved from an office into a classroom to accommodate a larger meeting area. I've already spent 7 days packing, moving, setting up, organizing, and decorating my new space. (During my summer break, of course.) Our official school year starts Monday and we have a week before students arrive. I am thankful for this additional time because preparing can mean a smooth transition not only for teachers but students, too.

When I looked around yesterday, I was satisfied with how far I've gotten despite the piles everywhere! As an instructional coach, like teachers, I have a 'to do' list to get myself ready, but what I'll need to do as Monday arrives is put my own needs and lists aside and be there for the teachers.

Pre-planning is the time when teachers need my attention. Some teachers ask my opinion on classroom set up and logistics, some need materials that I go in search of and assemble, some need to have their questions answered about curriculum, and some just excitedly want me to see their room. That's not to say I don't make a plan for my days, I do, however I remain extremely flexible. My top priority is not to finish my space, rather to get the three new classroom libraries organized, stamped and distributed. These teachers need time before kids arrive to set up their libraries. And, I will solicit the help of high school students needing service hours toward Bright Futures so this mundane task doesn't occupy too much of my time.

My next priority is to check on all newer teachers to make sure their needs are being met. I also have three math manipulative kits to gather, bulletin boards to decorate, and cleaning to do. However, regardless of the task I've undertaken, I will always stop to address others needs. I've learned to be a multi-tasker and a coach that can change gears at the drop of a hat-not unlike a juggler throwing flame laddened wands in the air, catching them one by one without one dropping, and moving eloquently into juggling a set of bowling pins. Does any of this sound familiar, if it does, you must be an educator, too.

Summer Break "To Do" List

2010-07-21T08:55:00.006-04:00

It's summer. I'm out of school on break but my mind keeps drifting back to tasks awaiting me when I return. You'd think that an Instructional Coach wouldn't have much to do or think about when teachers are out on summer break but I beg to differ. There are state standardized test scores to analyze; There is a School Improvement Plan to write; There are two math manipulative kits to assemble; There are three leveled libraries delivered but not yet coded and distributed to three new classrooms; There is an office to move and unpack; There is a office/classroom to decorate; There are new math diagnostic assessments to edit, copy, and distribute; There are three new EXCEL math spreadsheets to create. And, these are just the few unfinished items that are first popping up in my mind.

I worked last Friday and this Monday to get a jump start, and I'd like to think that I could work a few more days before teachers come back, but much like the rest of my summer, I'll be leaving today for a state baseball tournament, followed by a fun filled week of family vacation, followed by perhaps the regional baseball tourney in NC. To say the least, the list of unfinished business never dwindles rather just gets replaced by items added to the next list. So, like teachers and administrators, as a coach, I too, will keep widdling away to get tasks finished and try not to stress about how much is still left to do. Who says summer is all fun and games?

Goodbye for Now

2010-07-12T14:46:00.009-04:00

Yesterday, I embraced a heartbroken mother, consoled a grieving father, and hugged a devestated little sister. Today, I will watch as her parents say their final goodbyes and bury their beautiful teenage child. I stand by this loving family grieving during this most devastating time because their vibrant energetic child once shared her smile and educational journey with me-I was blessed to be her 5th grade teacher and she was my student.

These are stories not often shared with eager baby teachers during their college years. They are not lessons taught in a college classroom rather come with experience as they arise. I would tell them that they are entering a profession of distinguished honor and sometimes heartbreak. They are beginning a journey where the fabric of their own life will be tightly woven with that of many families. Along this adventure, they will feed hungry children, worry about their home lives, hear their stories of strife and disappointment, and spend their hard earned salary buying some of them school supplies. This is not a profession that ends at the end of a school day or even school year.

As a teacher, they will shed tears for the children in their care, but more often than that they will reap the plentiful benefits and see the extreme beauty in teaching as children celebrate their successes. A college professor will not tell them that each child will become a special part of who they are. The children they are blessed to have as students will have talents abound and they have a responsibility to make sure each of them shares their gifts. My advice to a teacher just starting their career would be--Get to know them; Get to know their parents; Get to know their siblings. Genuinely listen as they reveal who they are to you. Enjoy each of the 180 days that they call you their teacher. Keep each class photo and display it with honor. Remember their faces and their names. No matter how old they are, or how many years have passed, they will always be your students.

As teenagers and young adults, they will seek you out in a crowd. They will make sure to say hello as they pick up a little sister from school. They will tell you about college as they check you out at Target, wave to you as you pass them holding a sign at a local store, and give you their employee discount as they check you out at your favorite Chinese takeout. They will stop by school hoping that you are still there so they can share their celebrations and sometimes their disappointments. Some of them will conquer extreme obstacles even scaling the steepest wall of cancer as you stand by and cheer them on. You will be amazed at their level of maturity, strength, and perseverance. Your heart will sing for them. On the other hand, some of them will make poor decisions, even end up doing jail time. You will wish you could step back in time and talk to them as a youngster, to try to persuade them to make the right choices. You would help them with the sorrow if you could. In life, some will be victorious and some will be defeated. They are all your students. In your eyes, you will always believe in them, in their ability to reach their fullest potential.

The lovely young woman being laid to eternal rest today was a great success. She was a delightful student- intelligent, energetic, and friendly. As I whispered, “I am so sorry,” to her mom yesterday, she said to me, “She loved you, you know. She always came home talking about you.” For me the feeling is mutual, I loved her, too. I hope that every student I ever teach, no matter their age, will feel the same way. I hope that with each of them I put relationships first and foremost.

Beginning teachers sometimes don’t realize how their heartstrings will tug and their tears will fall, but in time, they will. And, to me, I’m blessed that they do, because it most likely means that not only did they touch my life, but most hopeful I touched theirs, too.

New Team Planning

2010-05-04T20:35:00.009-04:00

Today, we kicked off the first of our New Team Planning Meetings with the incoming 3rd grade team. We believe, the meetings, unique to the way we prepare for the upcoming school year, are vital for team cohesiveness. It is not uncommon at The Creek for teachers to transition between grade levels, therefore teams always have new members. We believe, as the quote on our agenda stated that “Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now.” The pre-planning allows everyone to get to know each other, obtain a clear vision for the expectations and demands of that particular grade level, and ask questions and receive immediate answers. This one day gets everyone off on the right foot and brings a sense of calm.

Our morning began with a team building activity designed for teachers to learn more about one another and get the day started with a few hearty laughs. Then, the first topic of business was selecting a Team Leader to represent the interests of the grade level teachers at the shared decision making table and provide leadership to the grade level throughout the year. In third grade, the team nominated and appointed Vicky Cole to this position. After that, the team discussed Committee Chairs for positions like Target Team observers, Spirit, Technology, Play, etc. The third grade team was eager to volunteer and it was evident to me that many teachers were willing to fulfill leadership positions on the team. Always a good thing to ensure team cohesiveness!

Our next order of business was reviewing and clarifying the grade level's non-negotiables list as outlined by the America's Choice School Design and our CCE School Improvement Plan. I will post this complete list at the end of this blog post, if you wish to review the items this team has agreed to follow.

Third Grade teachers are departmentalized by subject area, therefore for the next part of our agenda we broke into two groups, the ELA department & Math/Science/Social Studies department. In each group, we conferred about the New Generation Standards, talked about inventories, common assessments, homework, grading, and diagnostics. In addition, in ELA, we spent much of our time on looking closely at our ELA Pacing Guide and revised it based on consensus for the 2010-2011 school year. This part of the agenda certainly brought clarity to each of the team members.

The professionals then went out to lunch together. This well spent time brings a lot of opportunity for conversation and collegiality, and is an important part of the day that should not be overlooked.

Afternoon dialogue focused on penning a grade level Supply List, and then on our digital resources. Led by Cheryl Chascin, teachers updated their On Course Teacher WebPages, and then logged in and explored Discovery Education.

The end of the agenda reminded teachers, “All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today.” And, I think they would agree that today, they planted many seeds they will reap the harvest of next school year.

_________________________________________________________

Non-negotiables

Subjects

--One hour Readers’ Workshop
--One hour Writers’ Workshop

--15-20 minute Interactive ELA Skills Block

--One hour Math Workshop
--15-20 minute Interactive Math Skills Block

--45 minutes of Science / Social Studies

Homework

--No more than 45 minutes nightly (Monday through Thursday), no homework on weekends.
--Coordinate the assignment of projects with members of the team. Revisit and align projects to New Generation Standards. Project assignments may go home on weekends, but only to provide students and parents additional time to secure materials. Project work counts in the 45 minute homework time limit. Research may count as reading time.
--Students are encouraged to be actively involved in extracurricular activities, spending a limited time on homework while building rituals and routines around study skills.

Million Word Standard

--Each student is responsible for reading a million words a year.

--Evidence will be logged through a book log. (Book logs can be paper/pencil, digital, school based or home based)

Artifacts
--Standards, for the daily lesson, should be displayed and printed large enough to be read by students from their seats.
--Book of the Month attractively displayed and accessible.

--Data Notebooks (Diagnostic Profiles, DRA’s, PMP)

--Portfolios in Writing, Mathematics, and Science
--Word Walls
--ELA: mini-lesson charts (teacher made), writing rubrics, Reading Response Journals or Notebooks, and Writing Notebooks or Seed Journals--Math: teacher made charts, 100’s chart, number lines with negative and positive numbers, manipulatives, and strategy charts
--Science: teacher made charts; Scientific Method posted; evidence of an inquiry based laboratory; and Science journals, notebooks or portfolios--Student work posted (on the walls in the classroom, preferred, but if space is limited hallway display is acceptable)

Standards- Based Bulletin Boards

--SBBB will be displayed by the deadline date and should include: Standards, Task, Circumstances of Performance, 4 pieces of student work, and teacher commentary. Student commentary is optional.

--No SBBB are due in August, December, March, or May. April's board should be work over time.

--Co-teachers in departmentalized grade levels will alternate between ELA and Math/Science/Social Studies.
--Teachers are encouraged to produce a variety (subject area and work product) of different SBBBs across the grade level. Each should be original and creative.

Standard Snapshots

--Go home with report cards on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd nine weeks.
--Should be created collaboratively with an emphasis on discussing student work.
--Each student’s piece of work will be attached to the snapshot to be sent home on the specified date.

--ELA team will produce three Snapshots (reading or writing); Math/Science team will produce three Snapshots (math or science).

Pacing Guides

--District Learning Schedule in Mathematics

--District Learning Schedule in Science

--ELA CCE Pacing Guides, prepared using the Scope and Sequence in our district adopted Houghton-Mifflin Text and the Sunshine State Standards

--Author Studies, as outlined in our SIP, will be delivered following the pacing guide schedule.

On Course Grade Book

--Homework grades are for habits and process, not accuracy or content.
--Projects will not be graded if they are completed at home.

--5 or more grades in each subject area, every grading period.

--Subject area teachers MUST agree on what is being graded and how the grade is derived. Parents must be informed.
--Grades should be posted to the grade book within one week.

Communication with Parents

--Weekly newsletters
--Written notes in planners or email

--Blogs are highly recommended but optional.

Arts Extravaganza

2010-04-25T15:24:00.013-04:00

Walking into our front lobby you can feel a school that has come alive! It's Arts Extravaganza week, one of my favorite times of the whole school year. Our nearly 1,300 children have created beautiful artwork that adorns our hallway walls and their framed work hangs on display in the lobby ready for sale to their parents during our two night Art Show.

The Cultural Arts Committee, led by master art teacher, Jennifer Snead, has put together an incredible week for students that is highlighted each morning with an assembly. Students have been drawn in by a puppeteer, dance and music ensemble, storyteller, Bluegrass performance, and Jacksonville Symphony drummers.

In addition, Arts Extravaganza Baskets assembled by our Room Moms and teachers are on display in the front lobby to be auctioned off Friday evening with funds going to the PTA to support next year's Arts Week.

As the culminating activity on Friday evening, Arts Extravaganza Family Night is hosted by our Cultural Arts Team and PTA. Throughout the lobby and Dining Room children will find artists and musicians displaying their talents, and art stations are set up for students to produce their own small treasures. I don't know of any school that celebrates the arts quite like ours, and I am ecstatic that our students have this enriching experience.

Did He Get The Right Answer?

2010-03-30T16:43:00.019-04:00

My youngest son is a Second Grade student at Chets Creek Elementary and is being raised in a math learning community that values young mathematicians and works hard to develop their number sense. Since Kindergarten, his learning hasn't consisted of rote procedures and memorization, rather his teachers have cultivated his number sense, stretched him to solve problems using a variety of strategies, and embedded problem solving.

Today, coming home from school, he pulled out his Sunshine Math sheet and got to work. (The Sunshine Math program is run by our PTA and is an optional program that students can sign up for at the beginning of the school year. The weekly sheets offer math challenges for students to complete independently. Students get the sheets on Mondays and turn them in to the PTA on Fridays. PTA volunteers correct the sheets and return them to students. Students are rewarded periodically by PTA for their participation and at the end of the year, the teachers host a Math Challenge Day for students to compete.) Most of the time, the questions are rich contextually based problems which promote my child's problem solving skills. However, today, on the back of the sheet, there were a set of problems that looked very traditional.

The problems themselves didn't give me angst, rather the way the traditional problem pigeon holed my child into solving using a particular strategy-the traditional regrouping algorithm. Notice problem d. Now, humor me, if you will, and write this problem down on a sheet of paper. Then, solve it.

Most of you, like me, probably solved this problem using the traditional algorithm and got the answer easily.

Now, take a few moments to consider how my son solved it.

At quick glance, you may, like the volunteer that will use an answer key to score my son's paper, mark his answer incorrect. However, if you take a closer look, you will see that he is correct. He gave the answer 17 because he did not use the traditional regrouping algorithm, and he did not adhere to the confines of the boxes. He looked at this problem and said, "Six take away nine is negative 3." You can see where he recorded the -3 in the box. Then, he said, "Fifty take away what will give me 20? That must be 30." He recorded the 3 in the tens place box. Next he said, "Twenty take away three is seventeen." He did this all in a matter of seconds and then double checked his work to prove that 56-39=17.

Since I knew that they wanted him to get the answer 27, and I was intrigued by his thinking, I wrote the problem 56-29 on a sticky note and asked him to solve. A second later, he handed me back the correct answer of 27. I said, "Tell me how you solved it." He replied, "I know 50-20 is 30 and 6-9 is negative 3, so the equation is 30-3 which equals 27." He used a left to right strategy to solve and is very comfortable with negative numbers. I said, "How did you know 6-9 is negative 3?" He said, "Do you want me to prove it to you on a number line?" He's eight years old!

I was very intrigued the moment I saw what he'd done with this problem on our car ride home. I've been an intermediate math teacher; I've been a math coach; I've worked as a math consultant. And, I've seen far too many math practice books, websites, and even state adopted textbooks that have this type of problem in them. They look harmless enough, but for kids who think mathematically and even for those in the process of developing their number sense, they can be detrimental.

I am thankful that my son has not had teachers who teach him to solve problems procedurally using only the traditional algorithm. He's been blessed to have an incredibly talented set of teachers that offer instruction to cultivate a students' mathematical thinking. Because of Mrs. Mallon, Mrs. Dillard, Mrs. Ross, and Miss Russell, Carter is a mathematician.

Resource Teacher Meeting

2010-03-28T20:16:00.014-04:00

Have you ever sat in a professional development session when you've thought-- This is a total waste of my time? This doesn't come close to meeting my needs for my content area? I know if you ask any teacher, most will give a resounding, "Yes!" to this question. I shutter, as a coach, to think that anyone feels this way, particularly anyone in my building. But, nevertheless, I know it happens, at least on occasion.

Many of our Professional Development opportunities at Chets are tailored to meet the specific needs of a grade level or content area. We have daily common planning time, weekly Teacher Meetings, and TDE days (Teacher Duty Elsewhere) where we offer relevant grade level / content area professional development to our classroom teachers.

In addition, there are times when it is necessary for the whole school to come together to learn and grow as a school community. Bi-monthly Early Release sessions and monthly Book of the Month are two such sessions. Most of the time, these sessions focus on data or reading which can be generalized across grade levels and content areas. However, often this year, I've wondered if our Resource (Art, Music, Physical Education, Media, and Character Education) teachers feel like they are getting useful training. Unlike classroom teachers, they don't get common planning time or weekly Teacher Meetings. They only receive the PD offered to the whole school, and unless we cover a topic they can adapt to their content area, I'm quite certain they don't get what they need.

We have a talented group of resource teachers who take charge of their own learning and seek opportunities outside our building, but it still left me wondering what I, as the Instructional Coach of the school, could do to help support their learning. I don't know much about their content areas, so my thoughts kept coming back to what I do know-standards and classroom instruction. Just like classroom teachers, they too have state standards designed to drive their instruction, but quite frankly, I had no idea if they were using them with great expertise, or not at all. I had no idea if everyone even knew how to access them on the state website, or whether they knew that all the state standards were being rewritten. I had no idea if they created and followed yearly pacing guides to be sure all content was covered, or not.

So, our first Resource Teacher Meeting was born. I began with a quick response sheet that would allow the Resource Teachers to reflect on their practice and share information with me about where they were on the journey of standards based education. I asked, "How often do you see each classroom of students?" "How do you plan for your lessons?" "How do you pace your content throughout the year?" "Which standards do you cover at each grade level?" "Are you able, given the time you have each student, to cover all of the standards?" The conversation was enlightening, and I now more fully understand why each resource teacher feels an urgency to meet with students as often as they can.

Our session lasted about 75 minutes and we discussed Florida's New Generation Standards and implications to their lesson planning and delivery; We talked about yearly pacing guides and how they might create one; We looked at the Standards/Curriculum/Instruction/Assessment Alignment and I shared the Workshop Model with them. Then, we reflected together.

I feel good about our session together. I want them to know that I value their craft and care about their learning. I have no idea how I'll continue to offer them support, but I know that I want to try.

Geometric Thought in Elementary School

2010-03-15T15:40:00.010-04:00

Geometry is a part of our curriculum in Kindergarten through Fifth Grade. In Kindergarten, one of the standards reads, The student describes shapes and space, and uses basic shapes, spatial reasoning, and manipulatives to model objects in the environment and to construct more complex shapes and in Fifth Grade two of the standards read, The student describes draws, identifies, and analyzes two- and three-dimensional shapes and The student uses appropriate geometric vocabulary to describe properties and attributes of two- and three- dimensional figures (Example: obtuse & acute angles, equilateral, scalene, & isosceles triangles).

As children's' understanding of Geometry develops in elementary school, they move through three of van Hiele's five levels of Geometric Thought (Van de Walle, Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics). Visualization, Level 0, is when students recognize a shape based on its appearance. At this stage, students recognize a rectangle because it looks like a rectangle. As a student's knowledge develops and they move into Level 1, Analysis, they are able to understand classes of shapes. They don't just recognize a rectangle on its appearance, but are able to say it is a rectangle because it has four sides, four right angles, and opposite sides are parallel. Knowing the properties of the shapes gives the shape its name. When students move into Informal Deduction, Level 2, they are able to see the relationships and connections among the properties of a class of shapes. They would be able to conclude that a square is a type of rhombus because rhombi are polygons with four equal sides and opposite sides are parallel and congruent. A square fits this definition, therefore a square is a type of rhombus. Students in elementary school work through these stages, and then move into Level 3, Deduction, and Level 4, Rigor, later in their school career.

For our March Standard Snapshot, Kindergarten and Fifth Grade teachers used work from their Geometry unit to share with parents. The Kindergarten students were in the beginning of their unit and the Fifth Grade students were in the middle of their unit.

Kindergarten Student Sample

You will notice in this Kindergarten sample that the student has mastered Level 0, Visualization, because they are able to name the shape, a rhombus, based on its appearance. They have not proven, through this assignment, that they have mastered the Kindergarten standard The student describes shapes, and uses basic shapes, spatial reasoning, and manipulatives to model objects in the environment and to construct more complex shapes. The sample shows the naming of the basic shape and the model object, "a braslit," but the student has not described why the shape is a rhombus. To see if the student has developed understanding of Level 1, Analysis, the student would have to know that the shape is a rhombus because it is a four sided shape (a quadrilateral) with 2 pairs of parallel sides and four equal sides. This level of understanding is not expected of a Florida student until Grade 3.

By Fifth Grade, students are expected to move into Level 2, Deduction, where they identify the shapes within a class, but also can see the relationships between and among the properties.

(Click on the work to make it larger.)

Fifth Grade Student Work

Questions on the Student Sheet:

1. A square is a kind of rhombus. How can this be?

2. Name all the shapes above that are parallelograms. How can they be parallelograms and have other names as well?

3. An equilateral triangle is isosceles. How can this be?

4. Some obtuse triangles are scalene. Some obtuse triangles are isosceles. Sketch one or two examples of each.

5. Obtuse triangles cannot be equilateral. Explain why this is true.

This Fifth Grade assignment, Some Shapes Fit Many Categories, asks questions to assess students' geometric thought. Students who master this assignment are able to identify, draw, and analyze shapes, and are able to make connections about the relationships among their properties. They have moved into Level 2 of Geometric Thought. Students who have not yet mastered the assignment are likely at Level 1 of Geometric Thought, Analysis. After the teacher analyzes the student work he/she will be able to assess which students need more exploration with the concept through small group instruction.

When the Standard Snapshots were turned in, I was intrigued to see that both Kindergarten and Fifth Grade were sending home work in Geometry. It got me thinking about where students begin their geometry journey and where we expect them to be when they leave elementary school. It also got me thinking about the process that occurs for that learning, and the key role that each teacher plays with instructional delivery along the way. In addition, it made me go back into the standards to explore the vertical alignment from K-5. I came across a document that aligns the comparisons and is an easy to read resource for teachers. They are able, through this one document, to see what students learned previously and what students must be able to master during instruction in their classroom. It reaffirmed for me the importance of each piece of the puzzle in their journey, so students master the necessary skills and concepts before they emerge as middle schoolers.

Standard Snapshots of Student Work

2010-03-15T11:41:00.001-04:00

At Chets Creek, our central focus has always been on students' academic performance. The work students produce lets us know whether our targeted instruction has worked or whether we need to reassess our path. When you stroll through our hallways, you see student work aligned with standards on each teacher's bulletin board. We post the work so our colleagues can compare work across grade levels or content areas, parents can see work that meets the standard, and students are exposed to the level of work they are expected to produce. The student work makes our classroom instruction more transparent and visible.

In addition, at weekly Teacher Meetings, it is not uncommon for teachers to bring student work to analyze. Their collegial conversation about the instruction that led to the students' products often has them exchanging valuable instructional ideas.

Years ago, in an effort to educate all of our parents, even those that are unable to stroll through our halls, we decided to package our standards-based bulletin board in a handout to be sent home with each student. The Standard Snapshot, as we called it, would be produced by each grade level and content area to go home with our students. In addition, to the selected grade level piece that is copied on the back of the handout, we also staple their own child's work on the assignment.

To prepare for a Standard Snapshot, each grade level / content area team meets to discuss work that is currently being produced. They agree upon a common assignment and they collect all students' work from the task. The teachers meet to review, compare, and select the student sample. They select work that meets the standard rather than work that exceeds the standard, because we want to educate parents about what their child's work is expected to look like. After the Snapshots are written, teachers turn them in to me with the original piece of student work; I edit / revise them, and turn them in for copies. After copies are made, the teacher attaches each child's work to the Standard Snapshot, and sends them home with students.

Creating a Standard Snapshot has been a parent communication piece for the past eight years, and is a powerful venue for collegial dialogue about student work among our teachers. It is a collegial practice that focuses on students' work products as they relate to the standards and is a practice I continue to find valuable and informative.

Second Grade Science Standard Snapshot

(To enlarge, click on the picture.)

Second Grade Student Work Sample Printed on the Back of the Snapshot

My Child's Work That Was Attached to the Snapshot

March Math Council

2010-03-02T21:34:00.005-05:00

"Assessment should be the servant of teaching and learning. Without information about their students’ skills, understanding, and individual approaches to mathematics, teachers have nothing to guide their work.” Mokros, Russell, and Econompoulous

To guide our prescriptive teaching for students and to track students' learning, Chets Creek, from its inception, has given a diagnostic assessment in mathematics. Before the doors opened in 1998, the founding principal, Terri Stahlman, assembled a team of teachers to write a summative assessment, a final exam if you will, covering the state standards in Mathematics, designed to be given three times a year--at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. This diagnostic in mathematics has continued to be a cornerstone of our work. In addition, over the years, it has also become a predictive instrument for how students will score on our state standardized testing.

The beginning assessment allows our teachers to get a baseline of student's knowledge upon entering a grade level, and gives teachers aligned data to build class plans of instruction. We set 80% as the cut off. If 80% of the students master a skill/concept, then the teacher doesn't spend time on the whole group instruction. To meet the needs of the 20% or fewer, she uses small group instruction to teach the concepts and skills not yet mastered. If fewer than 80% of students mastered the skill/concept, the teacher plans and implements instruction for the whole group.

At mid-year the teacher gives the same assessment. She analyzes the results to ensure that students are retaining information. She builds class plans for whole group and small group instruction. She is able to track student's progress to share strengths and weaknesses with a parent. In addition, the teacher is able to compare her data to her colleagues and share best practices in instruction. We also have the added bonus, because we've aligned the diagnostics with our state standardized scores, to predict how well we will perform on our FCAT assessment given three months after mid-year administration.

The end of the year assessment is given to prove that each student has mastered at least 80% of the content and has the proper foundation for moving into the next grade level. We do not use the information as a retention tool, rather just as information for the parent and the school.

Each step of this assessment is given to inform teaching and learning. But, we know, the data gathered from the assessment is only as good as the assessment itself. For the assessment to serve each of these purposes, it must be aligned with our state standards, curriculum, and instruction. For us, looking into next year, this is where the issue lies. Our state has rewritten and adopted new math standards, and the math state standardized assessment will reflect the changes. To compound the issue, our district is also in the process of adopting a new math curriculum. Therefore, our instruction and our assessment must be altered to reflect these changes. This was the topic of our Math Council last week.

Each math lead was charged with cross referencing their current math diagnostic assessment with the New Generation Standards to figure out how much work needed done on the assessment to align it. Then, the leads will work in teams on a TDE day to keep the assessment questions that align with the new standards, throw out the questions that are no longer covered, and write questions for standards that have been added. Of course the writing of the assessment is only the beginning. After that, answer keys will need to be created, individual student profiles will need to be developed, and EXCEL spreadsheets will need to be reworked. I know we will only scratch the surface in the TDE day, but at least it is a start in the right direction. Though this is a mountain of work, we know that it is necessary, and we must have it in place for the 2010-2011 school year. It won't be easy so wish us luck on the way.

The term assessment is defined in the Assessment Standards as “the process” of gathering evidence about a student’s knowledge of, ability to use, and disposition toward mathematics and of making inferences from that evidence for a variety of purposes.” (NCTM, 1995, p. 3)

Science Council

2010-02-28T21:16:00.020-05:00

At my last Coaches Academy, I had the opportunity to participate, as a student, in a Fifth grade science lesson. I not only participated as a student, but throughout the process thought about the implications to teachers, and the training required to give teachers solid ground to move further into inquiry instruction. At Science Council last week, I wanted to give our six Chets Creek lead teachers who facilitate science professional development, an opportunity to experience the same thing.

I challenged them throughout our 1 1/2 hour session to keep today's essential question in mind: How will we offer teachers professional development that will prepare them for teaching the New Generation Standards with rigor in an inquiry based format?

For this Council meeting, I planned for teachers to complete an engage and explore from a 5th grade unit on weathering and erosion. I didn't want to tell them about it, or have them read about it, I wanted them to participate in the lesson just as the children would. And, throughout the process to think about the implications on teachers' professional development. So, I prepared the materials ahead of time and solicited the help of an experienced Science teacher, Rick Pinchot. We co-taught the lesson by first presenting the essential question--How does the Earth’s surface change by weathering and erosion? To read the Wind Weathering lesson, please read Day 1 of this five day inquiry.

As part of the lesson teachers participated and then later discussed the following implications.

The engage part of the lesson is the perfect opportunity for discussion and to activate prior knowledge on a topic. Charting the student responses and posting them in the classroom allows frequent revisiting of the students' knowledge, permits the easy addition of responses as new learning occurs throughout the unit. In addition, it gives the teacher the opportunity to confer with students about misconceptions.

Teachers must build their content knowledge to offer this depth in instruction. Having probing questions readily available after students complete their experiment is helpful in taking the conversation to the necessary depth and to make connections in the content.
Teachers should post the testable question before each experiment and have students answer the testable question after completing the explore.

Teachers should always remind students to stick to the procedures of the lab as closely as possible, focus on their observations, and record their data accurately.
Students should work in small groups and record their data on chart paper for ease in posting so the class can compare data after the explore. Student dialogue is critical instead of recording data on an individual lab sheet to be put in a student's binder. Posting of large data done in small groups would make it easy for students to see if the experiment was conducted with validity and recorded consistently. If there are inconsistencies, it would be easy to launch into a discussion on which variables changed.

During the investigation, teachers should take notes on their observations. They will use these observations during follow up questioning later in the lesson.
After the explore, teachers should ask students probing questions to make sure they connect their learning between the experiment and wind weathering.
Students should answer the testable question and then you should ask four questions:
What did I change? (independent variable) What did you enter as data? (dependent) What remained the same for each set up? (constants) What did we use as the control? (control)

After the explore and discussion of the variables, the teacher should ask students what could be done to improve the investigation. Students can then think deeply about variables and what could change to limit the variables. It allows them to reflect on good scientific procedures and gives them the opportunity to think about scientific precision.

Unfortunately, due to limited time, we did not, as the lesson called for, go back to two of the pictures from the Engage portion to discuss wind weathering. But, we could see how this would be a powerful way to conclude the day's learning.

In closing, I asked the lead teachers to consider the following questions;
--What cognitive demand expectations are teachers not teaching?
--Where do you see any misalignment in the cognitive demand expectations?
--Are teachers teaching the learning of facts or developing understanding?
--Is the emphasis on textbooks & explaining or on active scientific inquiry & discussion?

And, I asked them to reflect on our essential question of the day, How will we offer teachers professional development that will prepare them for teaching the New Generation Standards with rigor in an inquiry based format? I don't feel like we left with answers to this question, but we certainly have begun to explore the possibilities. Our next Science Council Meeting, held in a little over a month, will launch with me asking them their thoughts on this essential question.

Until next time...

Reading Council

2010-02-17T21:14:00.012-05:00

"There is a huge discrepancy between the intended curriculum and the implemented curriculum. The former specifies what teachers are called upon to teach; the latter reflects what is actually taught.”

Richard Dufour

Chets Creek's Reading Council met Wednesday to discuss our states intended curriculum (The New Generation Sunshine State Standards) and our implemented curriculum at Chets Creek. This was not the first time we've had this conversation. In fact, about ten years ago, I remember sitting at the very same conference table having the same conversation. At the time, we had adopted the America's Choice School Design and were challenged to become a standards-based learning community. We needed to marry our state's content standards with the America's Choice performance standards and build a pacing guide so teachers would implement instruction based on the standards. The task of aligning standards and building pacing guides in each content area took months of discussion but grappling with the task brought deeper understanding and greater clarity.

Reading Council felt like deja vu. Once again we were having the conversation, because Florida has revised the Sunshine State Standards and adopted the New Generation Standards. The state intends for us to teach fewer standards but with greater depth. And, so, the process of analyzing the intended curriculum to design pacing guides so teachers can implement the curriculum has begun.

To get started, the Reading Council began exploring the New Generation Standards by navigating Florida's Department of Education website and discussing similarities and differences from the old to the new standards. Our conversation quickly shifted to a document that might best build an alignment guide for teachers to clearly see the changes. But, we know, by studying Dufour's work, we must avoid simply handing them a document and involve them in the process. Being involved in the process and grappling with the task will provide clarity and commitment that will be lacking if they are handed a finished product. We want to ensure that the intended curriculum becomes the implemented curriculum and in turn becomes the student's learned curriculum. Therefore, we know, the journey has only just begun.

“School leaders must do more than deliver curriculum documents to teachers to ensure all students have an opportunity to master the same essential learning. They must engage every teacher in a collaborative process to study, to clarify, and most importantly, to commit to teaching the curriculum." Richard Dufour

A Focus on Celebration

2010-02-13T21:38:00.012-05:00

"Study after study of what workers want in their jobs offer the same conclusion: they want to feel appreciated." (Kouzes & Posner, 1999)

I don't know of an employee or a leader, for that matter, that wouldn't agree with this statement. Everyone who pours their passion, energy, talent, and time into their craft wants others to recognize their efforts. Most don't need a standing ovation filled with loud sustained applause, but most do need a nod of appreciation that reaffirms their efforts. They like knowing that others value their time and talent.

As I was reading, Learning by Doing, I came across a section of the text on Celebration. The four pages focused on the importance of frequent celebration as a powerful tool within an organization not only to applaud the efforts of faculty but also to communicate the learning communities priorities and promote initiates. The authors claim that what is celebrated is also what is valued. And I easily see their point.

If you applaud a teacher publicly, like this:

As part of our Vertical Demonstration Day on co-teaching and small group instruction, Ashley Russell and Melissa Ross hosted 20 CCE colleagues. The observers were extremely impressed with the fast paced EDC instruction, the students' accountability as they each wrote their answers on a lap size whiteboard, and the organization of the EDC corner. The co-taught MI lesson was equally as impressive, and their small group instruction, both in EDC, and during MI Work Session, were focused on maximizing student achievement. If you want to see a classroom environment that is organized and purposeful, and instruction that is well planned and extends student learning, you must visit their room. Melissa and Ashley are truly an inspiration! (To read about or watch the lesson visit http://coachingchronicles.blogspot.com/2010/02/math-demonstration-lesson.html)

You are saying thank you to the teachers for opening their classroom to colleagues; You are valuing the time and attention they are putting forth to plan meaningful instruction; You are announcing to others that you value mathematics instruction that extends student learning; You are guiding others who want to learn and grow in this area toward getting advice from Ashley and Melissa.

I connected deeply with this excerpt on Celebrations, because I feel like it is something we do extremely well at Chets Creek. We make every effort to value and appreciate teachers. Every agenda starts with celebrations, each faculty gathering begins with celebrations, and each week in our faculty Memo there are Grammys which give accolades to teachers' efforts. But, regardless of how well I think we celebrate, I wondered if everyone in our organization feels the same way. In addition, I wondered what we are communicating about what we value, and I wondered if our Grammys are specific enough for others to emulate.

I decided this would be an excellent topic for our next Curriculum Leadership Council. I asked the Council members to read the four page article before our meeting day, and we began, like we always do with celebrations. Next, we discussed the reading assignment. Ideas flowed easily. Though most of the comments were positive and focused on our constant celebration, someone voiced their concern that maybe some teacher's efforts were overlooked, or that certain things, like culture, were celebrated more often than curricular items.

I introduced the next task. The CLC members, armed with a roster, The Memo's Grammys from this year, and the School Improvement Plan, would split into their respective Councils. The six teacher leaders in each group, representing Kindergarten through 5th Grade, would note which Grammys were written in their academic area and which teachers received the accolades. Furthermore, they were asked to note whether the accolades were specific enough to be emulated by others, and were challenged to figure out if the celebrations were aligned with the School Improvement Plan goals we had established.

The task took approximately 50 minutes to complete and debrief, and the CLC had many ah ha's. By far, the Reading Council wrote more Grammys than the Math or Science Councils, but overall the group felt like the Grammys were written at a superficial level and teachers could not emulate the accolades based on the Grammy. And, none of the Grammys mentioned lessons on main idea or comparisons, the two goals written into the SIP that we said we would focus on this year. The Math Council, by far, had the fewest Grammys, however several of their Grammys focused on the SIP goal of measurement, and were written specifically enough to be emulated. The Science Council had a good balance of Grammys across each grade level and some were written specifically enough to be copied. Many focused on the SIP but the team felt that could be attributed to the broadness of the Science SIP goals. Each team's reflections left them recommitting to noticing and valuing the work of their grade level colleagues in each content area.

In summary, I believe the CLC valued this exercise as an examination of our Celebrations. We conversed about successes and things we would continue to do, and we discussed areas we could improve upon. As we move forward, I'm excited to see how this exercise spills into, or changes, our practice. I would recommend this reading to other coaches and encourage them to reflect on their school's practices. After all, I think we would all agree that every teacher wants to feel valued and appreciated for their continued efforts, talents, and time.

Second Grade Observation Day

2010-02-11T19:38:00.014-05:00

As soon as teachers receive their interest forms from the principal, they begin thinking aloud, and many times that lands them in the chair across from my desk. I love these desk side coaching conversations because most of the time they occur when a teacher is thinking about stepping out of their comfort zone and trying something new. They ask, "What do you think about...?"

That's exactly what happened with a kindergarten teacher and three first grade teachers several weeks ago. They heard that a current four teacher team was requesting a loop into third grade, so each of them was kicking around the idea of making a change. And, not only were they thinking about requesting second grade, but also going as a four package deal. They had heard how pleased the four pod had been with their set up this year and thought they'd like to give it a whirl.

As the instructional coach, I could have given them my advice, but I knew it would be better for them to make an educated decision on their own. So today, I spent the day with them observing in the second grade classrooms, and discussing the advantages and disadvantages of co-teaching, stand alone teaching, and departmentalized teaching. They watched the 2nd grade instruction and looked at students' work. They asked me questions about scheduling, curriculum, and meetings. They weighed the pros and cons, and discussed their options.

As a coach, it was easy for me to set up the opportunity, and it was beneficial for them to draw their own conclusions. By the end of the observation day, I am quite certain they knew exactly what they were requesting, and it was nice to see them so excited to step out of their comfort zone and try something new.

Interest Survey

2010-02-11T18:18:00.005-05:00

Believe it or not, as we mark the mid-point of every school year, we begin anticipating and planning for the next year. Principal Phillips sends teachers an interest survey so she can anticipate vacancies and search for teaching candidates if she foresees openings. In addition, and more importantly, she truly values the input of teachers, and tries to meet the needs of each teacher as best she can. This survey is one way to ensure that the teachers’ voices are heard and to get an idea of who wants to take a risk and try something new.

Chets Creek Elementary
2010-2011 Interest Form
Name: ____________________Date: __________________
Please complete the following as honestly as you can at this point. It is helpful if I can begin searching for teaching candidates now as opposed to waiting much later in the year. I am also more than willing to help and support you with other opportunities – your happiness is extremely important. Whatever you say is OK!

______ Right now, I plan to return to Chets Creek next year.
______ I will be seeking another opportunity next year and am not planning on returning.

Comments:

Please complete the following with your interests. As I make decisions that impact the whole school I like to consider your interests as I keep the big picture in mind. I am not always able to honor every request but they will be considered.

My Grade Level Preference(s) are:

My Teaching Subject Preference is:

My Ideal Teaching Partner is:

I am ready to Co-Teach:

My Ideal Co-Teaching Partner is:

I am willing to teach in an Inclusion setting:

My Ideal ESE Teaching Partner is:

Comments:

I would like to have an opportunity to serve Chets Creek in the following leadership capacity:

Patrol Sponsor (Stipend) YES NO MAYBE
SAC Faculty Representative YES NO MAYBE
PTA Board Faculty Representative YES NO MAYBE
Grade Level Team Leader YES NO MAYBE
Model Classroom Teacher YES NO MAYBE
Academic Subject Coach YES NO MAYBE
Please complete and turn in to S. Phillips no later than Friday, January 22.

Our Collaborative Learning Community

2010-02-09T18:44:00.011-05:00

I'm revisiting last year's February edition of Educational Leadership, How Teachers Learn, because I'm embarrassed to admit, I totally missed it last year! As I skimmed the Table of Contents, the article that first drew my attention was Learning with Blogs and Wikis by Bill Ferriter. Bill is a six grade Science and Social Studies teacher in North Carolina and a Senior Fellow for the Teacher Leader Network.

I was drawn to his article because our learning community has worked in the last two years to collaboratively develop grade level wikis and embark in the world of blogging. In his article, he writes, "Times have changed in two significant ways..." "First, there's a new emphasis on the importance of collaborative learning among members of close-knit teams in schools." Later he writes, "Second, digital tools now help fulfill Elmore's desire for free portals through which new knowledge about teaching and learning can enter schools."

In 1998 when Chets Creek was built, the learning leaders built a guiding vision and mission together. The Chets Creek team believed by establishing high expectations for all stakeholders and creating an environment which fosters meaningful relationships, risk-taking, and academic results, we would increase the chance that we would realize our vision. Just a few years later, we adopted the America's Choice School Design, and started building close-knit teams that had daily common planning time, and that met weekly, by grade level, to collaborate, discuss student work, and build curricular resources together. As we built professional and personal relationships, we began, as Ferriter mentions, "reflecting on instruction, challenging assumptions, questioning policies, offering advice, designing solutions, and learning together." We felt safe to take risks and implement new ideas. Sometimes we relished in their success and sometimes we failed, but each time, we learned and dared together. Over the years, we realized we were fullfilling our vision each day. We had a true gem, a learning community, because we had poured our passion and our dreams into our craft. We had built a school we would want our own children to attend. To say, we had a close-knit team was an understatement; We were a school family.

Not until the 2008-2009 school year did we embark on a successful option to Mr. Ferriter's second mention--digital tools. Sure, years ago, we had tried, although not successfully, to share ideas digitally through our intranet. But, too soon, our shared file became cluttered, hard to navigate, and impossible to categorize. Not to mention that we could only log on to retrieve information at school. What we had managed to create, although primitive, came tumbling down too quickly one day when the whole system hit overload and crashed. We salvaged little. We began reluctantly rebuilding, one file at a time with a definite lack of urgency.

Fast forward many years and you will catch a glimpse at our first real success in digital resources. Our technology coach, Melanie Holtsman introduced us to wikispaces, and inspired us to begin using them as collaborative learning spaces and digital warehouses. The option appealed to primary literacy coach, dayle timmons, who as a looping Kindergarten / First Grade teacher, had grown tired of passing an overstuffed dilapidated three ring binder stuffed with ideas from one teacher to the next, year after year. She jumped into the project and was the driving force behind Chets Creek's First Grade wiki and was ecstatic to find, upon her return to Kindergarten the following year, that the Kindergarten teachers had embraced the idea just as eagerly. To every one's relief, no longer did our K-1 teachers have to keep up with their notebooks, because everything went exquisitely digital! And, no longer was information just passed, but easily revised and polished, and built upon from one year to the next!

It didn't take long for the second grade teachers to follow suit nor for third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers to begin asking questions and showing interest. We haven't yet arrived at our destination, but we are certainly on our way, especially in the grade levels where teachers have wholeheartedly embraced the wiki as a collaborative project and learning tool. As you can see, I am elated that we have this editable website for our own use, but I am equally as delighted, as Ferriter states that, "All of this collective knowledge is readily available and free" to others. Our Chets Creek teachers are incredibly talented and give so unselfishly, I can't imagine students beyond our walls not benefiting from their work.

As we began building wikis, Melanie also introduced us to the world of blogging. Most of our teachers jumped in head first. A few, like Maria Mallon, have done beautifully, and used it as a window into her classroom both for parents and educators globally. But, overall, though we have a webpages, blogs, and wikis page on our school website, the waters of blogging at Chets Creek have cooled. Undeterred, Melanie encouraged our teachers to set up an RSS, Really Simple Syndication, feed. Even if they weren't blogging consistently themselves, she encouraged them to read the blogs of other educators. Ferriter explains, "Teachers rarely get to self-select learning opportunities, pursue professional passions, or engage in meaningful, ongoing conversations about instruction." Melanie knows that the RSS feed will open the door of learning for Chets Creek teachers to do just that. In addition, Melanie set up a professional development blog for CCE teachers so learning they do at conferences is immediately and readily available to everyone in our school. The underlying understanding is that if the school spends valuable dollars sending you to a conference for learning, you will blog the conference for our collectively learning.

I know, in two year's time, we are only scratching the surface of possibilities, and I can't wait to see how much more we learn and grow in the years ahead. I have to believe that we would make Mr. Ferriter proud, because adult learning in our school is not pushed aside as we sprint through the day. Rather, we know we must wrap our arms tightly around adult learning, so we can achieve our truest desire--leaving no rock unturned to meet the needs of every single student in our care.

Grade 3 Readers' Workshop Lesson

2010-02-06T21:00:00.016-05:00

Last Wednesday morning, Christy Constande and Vicky Cole hosted 20 CCE colleagues during our Vertical Demonstration Day on co-teaching and small group instruction. They began their one hour Readers' Workshop by introducing Reading Standard 2: Getting the Meaning, and explaining to students that today they would analyze text to gain meaning. They referenced their previous lesson on opinions and inferences, and explained that authors leave breadcrumbs as clues throughout text that readers are supposed to gather as they read to gain understanding.

For their lesson, they used an excerpt from a read aloud book, Book Fair Day, and modeled how to note details that are stated directly in the text,"seen" text. Then, they taught students to extend that thinking by taking notes about what they know but that is not stated in the text, the "unseen." Putting these two pieces together, the students were then challenged to make and write down an inference.

During active involvement, the students had the chance to practice this new strategy in their reading journal using one of three excerpts the teachers provided to each pair. Teachers conferred with the students to help them during active involvement and two students shared their thinking.

In the link portion of the lesson, Vicky and Christy asked students to use this strategy today during their independent reading to gain meaning of the text.

As students transitioned to the Work Session, the teachers called two small groups, one to the front of the room, and one to the back. Vicky, based on analysis of their diagnostic data, taught a twelve minute small group lesson to five students on noting details. Then, she circulated to assist students that were working independently. She read the students' work during the "drive bys," and selected student samples for closing session.

At the same time, Christy taught a twenty five minute inferencing small group with the book, When the Relatives Came, to a group that she had anticipated would struggle with the concept of making an inference. This gave the group members an opportunity to practice the strategy with direct feedback and scaffolding from the teacher.

During the Closing session, Vicky facilitated while two students shared their work from their independent session. Then Christy shared student thinking from her small group. They reminded readers that today and every day they should always consider the "seen" and "unseen" breadcrumbs left as clues in the text by authors, and that they needed to gather the breadcrumbs to make inferences in order to gain a deeper understanding of the text.

After the lesson, the twenty observers gathered in the conference room to discuss the lesson and share ideas. Vicky and Christy joined the debrief to share their reflections and answer questions. The observers said they appreciated watching a demonstration lesson where they could see the students stuggling to grasp a concept; They liked that the teachers used authentic text to model their thinking; They enjoyed watching how both teachers brought their own experience into the lesson; They appreciated the depth at which the teachers modeled for students during the think aloud.

In addition, the teachers complimented Mrs. Constande and Mrs. Cole on their established rituals and routines, the ease at which transitions occurred, and the systematic data driven way they formed small groups. They liked the accountability during work period because the teachers provided a tool for students to record their thinking. They discussed that it is very evident that the teachers plan well together and equally take responsibility for their lessons.

The teachers then asked Vicky and Christy how they felt about co-teaching versus teaching alone, and whether they preferred the departmentalized co-teach or the all day co-teach. Furthermore, they wanted to know when they planned together and what they brought to planning when they met. They wondered, "Is the pm class instruction different than your am lesson?" The teachers spent about a half hour with us answering questions and sharing their ideas.

In watching this dynamic duo, you can tell that they do a fabulous job planning lessons together that are thoughtful, well organized, and take student thinking to the next level. You can see their reasoning behind their small group instruction and the organized manner in which it is approached to make sure every student gets what they need. If you want to see co-teaching and small group instruction in action, this is certainly a model classroom to visit whether you do it in person or virtually.

Untitled from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

Math Demonstration Lesson

2010-02-06T18:29:00.015-05:00

On Wednesday afternoon, as part of our Vertical Demonstration Day on co-teaching and small group instruction, Ashley Russell and Melissa Ross hosted 20 CCE colleagues. The observation began with Ashley teaching a thirteen minute EDC lesson to the whole group while Melissa pulled a small group of students to the side for extra reinforcement on the same math concepts and skills being covered in the whole group.

In my opinion, this strategy of one co-teacher pulling a group of four students for more focused attention from the teacher on the same topic was an excellent use of time during EDC. This strategy ensured quality small group instruction while the whole group still received what they needed. This duo even had an added layer of accountability because they had each student recording answers to the teacher's question on a lap sized white board. The students would hold the answers up for the teacher to check their answer and understanding before she moved on.

The observers were extremely impressed with the fast pace of the EDC instruction, the students' accountability as they each wrote their answers on a lap size whiteboard, and the organization of the EDC corner which provided efficient transitions. Furthermore, the depth of questioning on the part of each teacher was noted and admired.

After EDC, Mrs. Ross and the four students rejoined the class, and the teachers co-taught the mini-lesson to review the writing of an equation with a missing addend. Several students shared their strategies for attacking a missing addend problem. Then, the teachers explained the game
Cover Up.

The observers noticed immediately that for every auditory direction or explanation, the other teacher added the visual representation so all students' learning styles were met. The teachers, while explaining the directions, modeled and recorded their thinking on a teacher created handout which students were asked to fill out as they played the game in Work Period.

As students transitioned to Work Session in pairs, select students joined a small group in the front of the room, while others joined a small group in the back of the classroom. Mrs. Russell's group worked on the game together with more structured support, while Mrs. Ross' group had a modified handout. They were working on finding missing addends in an equation without the support of the manipulatives provided by the game. This challenge group also had additional problems with one of them requiring a written response at the bottom of the modified handout. It was evident while observing that these teachers met with all students in the classroom to meet the needs of every child. Several times, during their small groups, they left the group working and did "drive bys" in the classroom.

In closing session, several students shared their work, that was selected by the teacher during Work Session, and both teachers questioned students to extend their learning.

If you want to see a classroom environment that is organized and purposeful, and instruction that is well planned and extends student learning, you must visit their room to watch their instruction. They truly demonstrate the best of co-teaching and small group instruction inside a math/science classroom.

2nd grade - MW strategy group from Holtsman Family on Vimeo.

Vertical Demonstration Day

2010-02-06T16:52:00.018-05:00

Observation of colleagues and their best practices, in my opinion, is one of the best ways for teachers to reflect on their own classroom instruction and gain valuable insight into ways they can grow and deepen their own practices. This was reaffirmed for me, again, last week during our fourth Vertical Demonstration Day.

Several weeks ago, I sent an evite out to teachers to join me in observing in two co-teach classrooms with a focus on small group instructional practices. We had fifteen subs available to cover classrooms, and within 24 hours I had thirty teacher request to participate. I filled the slots first come first serve, however kept a list of others who showed interest. Those teachers will have first dibs on the next round of Vertical Demonstrations five weeks from now.

The topic selection, co-teach/small groups, was selected because our school currently has eighteen co-teach classrooms. The teachers have participated at the district level in co-teach training as mandated by the state of Florida, and have participated in a co-teach training with a pair of our own experienced co-teach duos.

As part of our training, teachers learned about many co-teach strategies, and discussed the strategies that would provide the best student results and smallest student to teacher ratios. They discussed circumstances in which the five different co-teach models would be utilized successfully. They also learned some advantages to co-teaching and discussed some things that might stand in the way of a favorable experience. Working through a set of guiding questions, they learned that communication between partners is one key to success.

At Chets Creek, we've had some very successful co-teach matches, and some that simply put-weren't perfect. As I talk to co-teachers and walk classrooms, I can see that in some areas they shine and in others they are still grappling with the implementation. In particular, I pay attention to whether or not small group instruction is being utilized consistently. Though, most of the time our teachers do well co-teaching, there are times when I've witnessed tag team teaching. Co-teaching is not the opportunity to teach half day, rather an opportunity for two adults to flexibly teach all day with one of the five models.

Regardless of how long some of our teachers have co-taught, I know some still wonder, "When should we co-teach in tandem?" "When should we split the children into two groups?" "When should one teach and the other pull small groups?" "How can we best maximize our planning time together?" "Is it best for us to co-teach with a teacher in our content area or best to teach with someone in the opposite content area?"

To help answer the teachers' questions and knowing that our school capacity will likely raise beyond 139%, and we will continue to add co-teach classrooms, I found this the most pressing issue for a demonstration day. To make sure student achievement is maximized, we must continue to discuss what is best practice in a co-teach classroom, and ensure that proven practices are in place. I believe that co-teaching done well raises student achievement and brings deepened teacher satisfaction.

Therefore, when selecting co-teach models for our 10 am to 2 pm Vertical Demonstration Day, I knew I had to take observers to see Vicky Cole and Christy Constande in their third grade ELA classroom, and to Ashley Russell and Melissa Ross' second grade classroom to observe an EDC and Math Investigations lesson. These two classrooms offer a model of co-teaching that is systematic and balances tandem co-teaching with the pulling of small strategic groups. They are a model that exudes planning and communication, one that others would be inspired by.

As we debriefed the lessons, it became very apparent that my CCE colleagues felt the same way I do. The classrooms provided the perfect learning opportunity for others and the springboard for deepened collegial dialogue on co-teaching and small group instruction.

Interactive Skills Block

2010-01-08T10:54:00.054-05:00

Our third Vertical Demonstration Day last Wednesday focused on interactive Skills Block instruction. In December, we sent out an evite to all teachers and the first 15 responders secured their spot to participate in the session. The four hour session included three lesson observations, a debrief, dialogue about implementation ideas, and lunch. By the next morning, some teachers had already implemented new ideas into their classroom instruction!

To give you some background on the topic selection, the America's Choice School Design recommends that there be a 2 1/2 hour uninterrupted literacy block. In Kindergarten through Third grade, the literacy block consists of a thirty minute Skills Block, one hour Readers' Workshop, and one hour Writers' Workshop. The Skills Block is supposed to be fast paced, interactive, and consist of approximately three different activities. The components are phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, punctuation & capitalization, grammar & syntax & usage, vocabulary, and handwriting. These components are implemented grade appropriately and on a consistent basis.

In reality, at Chets Creek, we are able to provide the 2 1/2 hours in Kindergarten and First grade, but due to departmentalized classrooms in Second and Third grade, they only get about 2 hours and 10 minutes. Some days teachers spend time with the Skills Block by trimming 5 minutes from their Readers' and Writers' Workshops, but other days they can only carve out about 10 minutes to do skills. To assist in covering the majority of skills, they embed the teaching of skills into their Workshop sessions.

Our original America's Choice training happened years ago, and since then we've added teachers to our staff, as well as recognized that some teachers have turned to more pencil and paper activities. In an effort to introduce or remind teachers of the original design recommendations, we decided to offer Interactive Skills Block as a session topic. The professional development focused on three lesson observations and debriefing, as well as professional literature the America's Choice recommendations.

We began by observing in Mrs. Dillard and Mrs. Mallon's Kindergarten classroom. Their 36 minute Skills Block included six fast paced engaging activities which included 1) Good Morning Chart/Song 2) Beginning Blends and Digraphs Chart 3) Morning Message 4) Word Families Song and Magnetic Letter Sort with -ig, and -ap Families 5) Digraphs ch and sh Lesson 6) Individual Student Application of ch and sh with their white boards. As you watch the video, you will notice that each learner is engaged and the Skills Block offers instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, spelling, and punctuation & capitalization. Their lesson was typical of a daily lesson in their classroom.

Randi Timmons hosted us for the Second Grade Skills Block lesson. Normally, she only has about 10-15 minutes for Skills Block. However, on this observation day, I asked her to teach about 30 minutes to offer teachers the opportunity to see what her instruction would look like across three days of Skills Block lessons. Randi's Skills Block lesson had six fast paced and interactive activities including 1) United States Song 2) Snap Words 3) Weekly Words 4) Syllable Jeopardy! 5) Noun Rap 6) Morning Message with Editing Bags. Her instruction focused on phonics, spelling, grammar & syntax & usage, and capitalization & punctuation. On a normal Skills Block day, her instruction would consist of approximately three fast paced activities. Again, you will notice in her video that the session was engaging and the 30 minutes was packed full of skills and concepts.

Jenny Nash invited us to her 4th Grade Skills Block lesson. The original design calls for an embedding of skills into the Readers' and Writers' Workshop after 3rd Grade. Jenny typically embeds the applications of skills within her Workshops, but also offers about a 10 minute Skills Block as a review of skills and concepts. On the day we observed, Jenny combined two days of lessons to show us several different activities including 1) Editing Message 2) Poem Recitation for Fluency 3) Affixes Practice 4) Vocabulary Group Work Sort. As you will observe, the 20 minute block is packed with activities and review, and will encourage students to use these skills in context within their Readers' and Writers' Workshop.

As you watch each of these lessons, I'm sure you will see the many similarities and the progression of instruction throughout the grade levels. I am also confident that regardless of the grade level you teach, you can borrow ideas from each of these teachers to implement in your own instruction. In addition, I'd love to have you leave a comment if you have other ideas you use in Skills Block so we can learn from your expertise.

Kindergarten Skills Block

K Skills Block Mallon Dillard 1-2010 from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

Second Grade Skills Block

2nd grade Skills Block R. Timmons 1-2010 from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

Fourth Grade Skills Block

4th grade - Skills Block Nash 1-2010 from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

5th Grade Spelling Bee

2009-12-11T14:31:00.005-05:00

I always find pleasure in serving as a judge at the annual 5th Grade Spelling Bee, but I can honestly say, I am thrilled not to have serve as the announcer! Each year, Mrs. Phillips, does an extraordinary job in her role as the announcer as she calls each participant forward, carefully pronounces each word, and gives definitions and sentences when asked. I don't know if she feels like she's in a pressure cooker, but I know I feel it for her!

The Chets Creek youngsters that qualified last week demonstrated great ability today during the one hour spell off, and we made it to Round 6 before one student was crowned Spelling Bee champion. I am certainly proud of her accomplishment and the courage of each of the other contestants. Good luck, Jaime, in the next round of competition at the district level, you will represent us well!

December's Book of the Month

2009-12-05T20:04:00.008-05:00

December's Book of the Month, Santa Claustrophobia, authored by Mike Reiss and illustrated by David Catrow is a comical children's book that begins "North of the North Pole and south of the stars, lies a beautiful village called Stinky Cigars..." Principal Phillips, a former Kindergarten teacher, reads aloud beautifully and has the ability to engage the adult teacher audience. The room is full of giggles and teachers thoroughly enjoy their experience as she reads.

Each month, Mrs. Phillips ties a strategy to the Book of the Month, and this month's strategy is Fun Theory. As our forty minute session got underway, she engaged the teachers in a fun game of charades that involved parts of the text, the teachers then used their gestures throughout the text each time they heard their phrase, just an added piece of interactive fun! Then, after reading the text, she introduced the Fun Theory experiment.

She encouraged teachers, in this month of joyful celebration, to engage students and offer joyful fun experiences in their classrooms. Joyful classrooms offer rich learning environments where students enjoy active involvement and participation which leads to deeper learning.

As a coach, this strategy is very interesting to me, because it is all about the classroom culture. From my first hand experience, the classrooms that I enjoy visiting most are those that are joyful. Where students are excited about learning, where they sing, dance, and act silly, but not just for fun--for engaged learning activities. That is why I love visiting classrooms with interactive Skills Blocks, where teachers have replaced mundane pencil and paper activities with active participation from students. These classrooms don't sacrifice learning, in fact many times the learning is richer and lasts longer. I have to think if I am more engaged when I visit these classrooms, then students must be, too.

Pow Wow

2009-11-21T10:42:00.017-05:00

Kindergaten Pow Wow, the culminating activity for a Native American unit of study and annual Chets Creek tradition was held on Friday morning. The event which gets deeper and more authentic each year was a combined effort of Kindergarten teachers, paraprofessionals, parent volunteers, and our wonderful resource team. Furthermore, to enhance the week, this year, there was a special Fifth Grade connection.

Each of our eight Kindergarten classrooms studied a different Native American tribe. The tribes included the Inuit, Hopi, Nez Perce, Seminole, Sioux, Iroquois, Nootka, and Lenape.

Students researched the tribe and as a homework assignment created a cardboard cut out of a Native American to represent how their tribe dressed. Teachers, paraprofessionals, and parent volunteers created costumes for each student representing the attire of their tribe for students to wear for the day of celebration. Students gave themselves a Native American name which adorned their costume in some way.

In addition, during the unit of study students made artifacts to learn about their tribe. For example, Mrs. Alvarado and Mrs. Timmons' Nooktas made beaded bracelets, woven baskets, hunting spears, cedar bark robes, bearskin cloths, decorated headbands, and animal skin medicine bags.

Tuesday evening there was a Make & Take parent night. Families joined us for dinner and then went to their child's classroom to create a structure which sheltered their tribe. For example, Mrs. Mallon and Mrs. Dillard's students created wigwams, Mrs. Lankford and Mrs. Meissner's students created a chickee, and Mrs. Alvarado and Mrs. Timmons' students created a plankhouse.

In the state of Florida, our fifth grade standards also include the study of Native American tribes. As part of the fifth grade unit of study, students worked in groups to create dioramas to represent their tribes. Earlier in the week, the Kindergarten students visited the fifth grade classrooms for a presentation on their tribes. As part of the Family Night, the fifth grade students displayed and did oral presentations on their dioramas for families. Families received a special passport and upon completion of visiting the diorama centers went to the dining room to receive a special beaded bracelet from Chief Jumping Frog, Principal Phillips. In addition, Friday, the day of the culminating event, fifth grade students assisted by holding the flags for each tribe and roping off the area to keep students safe and the gathering area clear.

The morning of the big event, the stage had been set. The tee pee was fully assembled with the interior set for student instruction, the pavilion adorned with palm branches and full of artifacts including deer antlers, snake skins, mounted bear and wild cats, the fire had been built, and classrooms were prepared with centers to celebrate Native American foods, crafts, and artwork.

The audience including first grade students and Kindergarten families. The music sounded and the Pow Wow began. Chief Red Cloud welcomed the students and families and Chief Jumping Frog introduced each tribe as they joined us in the celebration area. Chief SingUmSong directed the music and Chief Red Cloud introduced each of the Native American dances as students danced a traditional dance. Then, Chief SingUmSong introduced two songs and dances. Chief Chets Creek followed as he beat a drum and chanted. The celebration concluded with Chief Jumping Frog sharing a story of how the tribes once lived and worked the land to survive.

After the ceremony, students spent the day in centers. They heard Native American stories and tales, saw some of the animals that roamed near their tribe, ate food their tribe may have eaten, sang songs, and created artwork out of food dyes, to name just a few.

I'm sure everyone involved including teachers, paras, parents, and students left absolutely exhausted from their day of learning and fun. I couldn't think of a more memorable culminating activity for this Native American unit of study. In fact, I have a High School son, Little Bear, and a Second grade son, Shining Moon, who participated when they were in Kindergarten. They each have fond memories of this special day and have kept their artifacts as lifetime keepsakes. Our school community provides such rich experiences for children, and for that, I am grateful.

Shared Reading

2009-11-21T10:00:00.000-05:00

Last week, I hosted our second Vertical Content Conversation from 10-2, and our topic was shared reading. A group of ten teachers signed up to participate and our principal hired substitutes to cover their classes. Our day consisted of three demonstrations lessons, debriefs, conversation over lunch, and a text study from a chapter in Fountas and Pinnell's text, Comprehending and Fluency.

The day was very productive and teachers appreciated watching Shared Reading lessons in Kindergarten, First Grade, and Fourth Grade. (To read more about the lessons, please visit Timmons Times) They discovered many similarities and discussed the differences across grade levels, they pilfered implementation ideas, and grappled with how best to implement shared reading more often in their classrooms. They talked about shared reading ideas for Skills Block and Readers' Workshop, and in other content areas. They laughed together, questioned, and perhaps most importantly, bottom floor and top floor colleagues built relationships with one another-not an easy task with such a large faculty.

While teachers observed the lessons, they jotted notes on a recording template which asked them to think about what shared reading is, what shared reading is not, artifacts to support shared reading, and implementation ideas I have for my own classroom. We debriefed their observations and their conversation confirmed that these types of vertical learning experiences are valued by our staff.

To make the text study meaningful and connected, as stated earlier, I selected a chapter from Comprehending and Fluency. I grappled with whether to have teachers read this chapter in advance, or to integrate the reading into our day. I ended up deciding they should see shared reading first and then they would get more out of their reading. I knew we wouldn't have enough time or patience to sit and read the whole chapter, so I took ten questions from the chapter, color coded via highlighter each question, and assigned each participant with a question. I gave the participants the colored highlighter that went with their question, asked them to highlight the answer, and be prepared to share. The conversation was focused, shared from many speakers, and the momentum seemed appropriate. I also like the fact that these teachers can walk away with a resource usable for reflection and lesson building in the future.

I enjoy these days, because of the observation, dialogue, and reflection. And, the fact that it is a captive audience. The invitation is extended to all teachers advertising the topic so each learning leader in attendance has a desire to learn more, essential to the day's success. I look forward to more days filled with Vertical Content Conversation.

(On a side note, if you are going to watch the shared reading lessons, I encourage you to watch them all. Each of the teachers had great ideas that can be implemented regardless of the grade level you teach.)

Kindergarten Shared Reading

K - Shared Reading - Mallon Dillard 10-09 from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

First Grade Shared Reading

1st Shared Reading McLeod 10-09 from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

Fourth Grade Shared Reading

4th Shared Reading - Nash 11-09 from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.

A Day of Learning

2009-11-20T19:24:00.016-05:00

One of the things I admire most about our school is the focused attention taken on learning from others. We are a school community who embraces the culture of making teaching transparent and learning visible. We are not afraid of observing others, or inviting them to observe us. We welcome the opportunity to get and give honest feedback, and reflect on our classroom practice. Because of this unmistakable culture of observation, dialogue, and reflection, we move instruction and student learning forward each year.

Recently, I had the opportunity to spend a day of learning with the Second Grade Math & Science Team. The agenda focused on Math in the morning and Science in the afternoon, and the greatest portion of our day was set aside to observe in classrooms and then meet to debrief and have conversation about what we observed. We asked questions, compared what we saw to our own practice, and then brainstormed as a team how to move the instruction forward.

We began with a 15 minute observation of EveryDay Counts Calendar Math in Karen Morris' classroom, and then stayed for her 60 minute Math Workshop. Teachers observed Karen going about her regular classroom instruction and jotted notes as they observed. They saw how impeccable Karen's rituals and routines were established, how flawl essly her students transitioned, and they commented on her incredible wait time. They also remarked, in debrief, about how Karen never was satisfied with an answer, but always asked why, and how strategically she pulled students during Work Period for small group instruction.

Interestingly, some of the teachers had already taught the lesson they were observing and others had not. This made for interesting conversation in debrief, not only about the content of the lesson, but also about the little nuisances of teaching, like the fact that Karen had cut out the geometric shapes and had them on the board making it easy for the shapes to move as she explained the game rather than having to introduce the lesson from her document camera.

The 2nd Grade teachers were very interested in watching Karen, in particular, because Mrs. Morris' is a math teacher with experience in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade at Chets, and her insight as a 2nd grade teacher related to preparing kids for future years, is of great interest to this group of teachers.

After Mrs. Morris' lesson and debrief, we went out to lunch. We had conversation about our families, our interests, and about school. We strengthened our relationships and spent quality time in fellowship.

In the afternoon, we dedicated our time to learning in Science. The team decided to observe in Patricia Wallace's classroom because last year Patricia was a Grade 5 Science teacher, and once again, the Second Grade teachers are intrigued by the similarities and differences across grade levels. We observed Mrs. Wallace teach the first two E's of the 5 E model, Engage and Explore using a Sink or Float Science lab. Teachers noted how well her students transitioned from the lesson to lab stations, the organization on the part of the teacher to have everything prepared in advance for the lab, how independently students moved through the lab sheet, and how well the student's teams worked together. They commented about Mrs. Wallace's facilitation of the lesson during Work Period and her depth of questioning without giving away the answers. In debriefing, the team inquired about Mrs. Wallace's process for planning for this lesson and others, and asked whether she would change anything the next time she did this lab.

I observed teachers jotting notes, asking for a copy of the lab sheet, and discussing how they were going to tweak the lab to meet the needs of their students. The watched, reflected on their practice, and pilfered new ideas for to improve their own instruction.

The rest of the day was spent on Science content learning in the Administrative Conference Room.

No matter how many of these days I participate in, and it has been too many to count, I always leave thinking that the day was productive and the learning taken away valuable. I also know that practice changes exactly where it needs to in order to move student learning forward--in the classroom at the instructional level.

Email Coaching Doesn't Quite Capture It

2009-11-16T11:51:00.005-05:00

Each month I have to turn in an Activity Report that demonstrates exactly how I spend my time. The tool is a little time consuming, as I've complained in the past, but it really does give our district and school board a pretty good idea of coaching activities and whether they are getting any bang for their buck for funding coaches. (If that is how they are using the tool. I'm going only on an assumption.)

Anyway, as I try to capture exactly how I spend my time, I am trying to be as completely accurate as possible. I am confident that I capture the large items like Teacher Meetings, Vertical Alignment Content TDE's, lesson observations, and Curriculum Leadership Councils, etc...But, I realize that I haven't been able to give all the small detail that would give someone a more comprehensive look at my job. For example, I have email correspondence marked about an hour each day. But, I haven't found a successful way to capture the detail in that. Listing those activities individually would take me forever, but they are important. In an hour of email correspondence, I can read a new teacher's observation lesson plan to offer suggestions, read and edit a Standards Based Bulletin Board, make a plan for lesson observations, download the Social Studies state standards into a word document and email it to a Kindergarten teacher, respond to visitor requests, and edit an assessment. Email correspondence just doesn't capture the essence of the tasks, but I don't know how else to report it. Email coaching just doesn't cut it either.

Another common problem I encounter is logging the dialogue that naturally occurs with a teacher. I've toyed with reporting it as Deskside Coaching, but again that really doesn't capture the essence or depth of conversation that continually happens. No one would know that we discuss a teacher's struggles and successes, talk about how to motivate a struggling writer, or have dialogue about professional resources where they can pull ideas for lessons, to name just a few.

I guess, it doesn't matter so much how I log it, as long as I know I'm doing the work of a coach. However, I continue to regret that my Activity Report doesn't capture exactly what I do, because I do spend time logging my time. So, if you coach and have to log your time, I'd love to hear how you report your time so that it accurately captures what you do. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Developing Young Scientists

2009-10-22T19:35:00.009-04:00

Each year, our professional development site, Schultz Center for Teaching and Leadership, conducts a year long pd session in Science, The Academy of Science. We have three Chets' teachers who participate in this learning, and many teachers who support the learning by offering live demonstration lessons that are videoconferenced in to the training.

Second Grade teachers, Ashley Russell and Melissa Ross, invited participants to watch their 5 E model lesson on matter. Melanie Holtsman recorded the video at Chets Creek to make sure it was available on our Setting the Standard Ning for our CCE teachers to view. The lesson was planned using the 5 E model and Day 1 offers the Engage, Explore, and Explain portion. The participants watching virtually applauded the teachers for their lesson, and those watching it on the ning are equally as impressed. When you watch, I'm sure you will agree that these teachers are turing their young students into curious scientists.

2nd Grade Science - Matter 10-09 from Melanie Holtsman on Vimeo.