The A Team: Love when a Plan Comes Together

What Does It Look Like when a  Backward Plan Comes Together?

     This video clip if from a television show from the 80's, the A-Team.  Yes, it was a bit violent and cheesy but was one of only three shows on network TV when I was a kid.  Often the team had to overcome great challenges and solve a crime or dilemma.  Every week there was a plan developed.  George Peppard was the brains and always saw the solution first and then created the plan.  At the end of each episode where all was resolved he'd say, "I love it when a plan comes together."  As I reflected on the recent walkthrough with Dr. Mausbach I thought about this quote and realized that we are working our plan.  I believe positive result is on the horizon.

     Successful middle school engage student in all aspects of their learning.  The answer to this is to balance bother summative and formative classroom assessment practices and information gathering about students.  The key is to think of summative assessment as a means to gauge, at a particular point in time, student learning relative to content standards.  Summative assessments happen too far down the learning path to provide information at the classroom level and to make instructional adjustments and interventions during the learning process. It takes formative assessment to accomplish this.  Formative Assessment is part of the instructional process. When incorporated into classroom practice, it provides the information needed to adjust teaching and learning while they are happening. Our school improvement plan has focused on using formative assessment to guide Tier I intervention.  While we may not have seen it come to full fruition with our Iowa Assessment Result we have seen huge changes in the assessment culture within our classrooms.  

     Specifically, evidence of strong alignment to curriculum was seen in 7th and 8th grade social studies classrooms.  The seventh grade examples had written response using evidence from text to support their answers.  The teacher asked kids to persuade their audience.  This use of close reading gave students the opportunity to apply their knowledge in a relevant way.  The second seventh grade example also asked students to respond constructively to a specific prompt.  Again, students were asked to cite evidence to support their answer.  Most importantly, it was clear that these teachers used their common planning with a mindset of backward design to develop their lessons.  These student work displays were excellent examples that should be reviewed by staff.

     I also want to highlight an 8th grade example also.  Again, curricular alignment was evident.  The teacher had highlighted anchors and student models with cited evidence.  The work was clearly tied to the rubric that was used for assessment.  The student work was rigorous and specifically tied to a relevant task.

Backward Design Graphic

Ask yourself how did your student work display align with this view?  When you compare it and what you ask students to do daily; does it align with our lookfors?  Backward planning is the key to reaching A-Team status with highly engaged students and higher achievement.

  Let's get this plan to come together!

Learning is Everywhere

This week I had the opportunity to conduct a walkthrough with Ms. Kazmierczak and witness your work.  The focus for our walkthrough was from your ownership look for, specifically," student work shows that students have taken responsibilty for their learning".

I know that Ms. K is going to share a wide range of examples of student work that met this look for, what I want to share with you is what I learned about you as a learning commuity from my visit.  

1- Wilson teachers value student voices.  
This was evident in the numberous displays that not only provided comments, but essentially rich feedback on what students did well and questions to help them keep thinking about what they learned. Your feedback communicates volumes about how much you value student work and the learning process.

2-Process matters as much as a product.
Numerous displays of student work outlined not only what students learned, but the processes it took to help students think deeply about the content. This communicates to me the high value you place on thinking. You are setting your students up to be learners, teaching them how to learn so they can be successful no matter what task they approach.

3-Models matter.
In many classrooms we saw models of what strong student work looks like.  Students can hit any target if they know what it is and these displays will certainly help students reach your targets. The inclusion of these models communicates that you value quality in student responses.

I know this is a difficult time of year with spring weather and end of the year rituals, but it was evident that at Wilson it is business as usual and that means focusing on instruction and valuing student work. From my observations it is clear that you will have a strong finish to this school year. Have a great summer.