A New Beginning

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 + students 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...

New Team Planning in Grade 2

As we wrap up one year, we eagerly await another. Decisions about next year's roster are already made so new teams can meet for an entire day, on the clock, and plan together. This week, our 2009-2010 Second Grade team met. They are an eclectic group of Learning Leaders--some are first grade teachers looping to second, some are third grade teachers coming down to second to then loop to third, some are current second grade teachers, and one brave soul is trying her hand at second after completing four years in fifth grade. Some of the teachers are co-teaching and others are departmentalized. I am thrilled to have such a unique group with so many varied experiences, it will undoubtedly allow this great team to look at each decision from many perspectives.

We began the day with a Getting to Know You activity that was a mix of collegiality and competitive competition. There was much laughter as we got to know each other. Next, we discussed our CCE non-negotiables as outlined by our School Improvement Plan and the America's Choice School Design.

Subjects
--One hour Readers’ Workshop
--One hour Writers’ Workshop
--20 minute Skills Block
--One hour Math Workshop
--15-20 minute Everyday Math Counts Calendar Math
--45 minutes of Science / Social Studies

Homework
On average, including book in the bag, no more than 30 minutes nightly. Homework in place on Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. Please no homework on weekends.

Million Word Standard
--Each student is responsible for reading a million words a year.
--Evidence will be logged through a book log.

Artifacts
--Book of the Month attractively displayed and accessible to students.
--Data Notebooks (Diagnostic Profiles, DRA’s, PMP)
--Portfolios in Writing and Mathematics
--Reading Response Journal or Notebook 1-5
--Writing Notebook / Seed Journal 2-4
--Teacher Made Charts demonstrating mini-lessons in ELA
--Classroom writing rubrics
--Math artifacts (Teacher made charts, 100’s chart, number lines with negative and positive numbers, manipulatives, strategy charts etc…)

Standards- Based Bulletin Boards
--SBBB will be displayed by the deadline date with at least the following components: Standards, Task, 4 pieces of student work, teacher commentary. They may also include student commentary, circumstances of
performance, etc...
--No SBBB due in August, December, March, or May.
--Co-teachers in departmentalized grade levels will alternate between ELA and Math/Science/Social Studies

Standard Snapshots
Will be designated on the yearly calendar and done collaboratively amongst the grade level. Each student’s
piece of work will be attached to the snapshot to be sent home on the specified date.

Pacing Guides
--District Learning Schedules in Mathematics will be followed in Grades K-5.
--District Learning Schedules in Science will be followed in Grades K-4.
--ELA CCE Pacing Guides will be followed as prepared using the Scope and Sequence in our district adopted
Houghton-Mifflin Text and the Sunshine State Standards.
--Author Studies will be conducted, as outlined in our SIP, according to the designated pacing guide schedule.

Grade Book
--No grades will be taken on homework.
--There needs to be a reasonable number of grades to average for an overall grade. (at least one every two
weeks)
--There needs to be grade level consistency on what is being graded and teachers need to be able to communicate with parents how the grade was derived.

Communication with Parents
--Weekly newsletters
--Written notes in planners or email
--Blogs are highly recommended but optional.

Next, the team nominated Ashley Russell as their team leader and Karen Morris as their recording secretary. Other committee leaders were selected for groups including field trips, foundations, cultural arts, and spirit This group had participants eagerly embrace each of the roles and I could tell they would gel as a team.

After that, Melanie Holtsman, our Instructional Technology Coach, taught us to set up our websites for the new OnCourse attendance and grade book program.

Then, a delightful treat awaited as the second grade team headed out for an adult lunch break. Though we had to dodge the wind and rain, we comfortably settled in at Times Grille to have a lunch full of conversation, laughs, and of course more dialogue about the upcoming year.

When we returned to school, the ELA folks and Math/Science/Social Studies folks broke up for some specialized planning in their respective subject areas.

In ELA, our agenda included a discussion about the Second Grade wiki, pacing guide, reading/writing/skills Sunshine State Standards, common assessments, units of study, inventories/materials, artifacts, and grading. Had we not run out of time, we would have discussed the new F.A.I.R. assessment versus our CCE diagnostic. This discussion is an important one that we'll have to have soon.

The day ended with the grade level meeting again to put together a 2009-2010 supply list.

Though the teachers have to write sub plans and leave their students for the day, I think they appreciate the opportunity to partake in this type of planning. As one year comes to a close, they don't have to spend the summer wondering about their new team or about what lies ahead. Rather, they can jump in and get started because they have an outline and the expectations. A special thank you to our visionary leader, Susan Phillips, for making this planning day a reality!