The Wisdom of Geese
Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work. Vince Lombardi
It's so appropriate that I write the blog about last week's walkthrough on Superbowl Sunday because the two teams who arrive to this game are the year's exemplars of teamwork. It is a process of working together to achieve a goal. Your work and effort was clearly visible throughout the building. It is evident that Wilson is flying in formation as a team. Specifically, evidence of learning team, collaborative planning and collegial support were in every classroom we visited.
Consider the following statements from our Look For document 2013-2014
- I can utilize the workshop model
- I can collaborate in learning teams
- I can use the curriculum to plan differentiate, meaningful tasks
- Student work displays will have a clearly posted focus,rubric and student and/or teacher comments.
- Teachers will confer and give written and/or oral feedback based on rubrics.
It is exciting to see these elements in your classrooms. You've demonstrated that executing our SIP plan is making a difference. You are realizing the impact you are having on student achievement and the influence you have on reading/writing behavior. The focus on the curriculum, quality of task and monitoring through assessment will be the difference in the achievement at Wilson.
Teachers and teams are flying in formation. We saw 100% compliance with student work display. On each display teachers had posted feedback that was directly aligned to the work posted. Teachers cited specific evidence from the work and tied it to the GLE of the unit. For example, we saw five social studies displays that student feedback specifically mentioned 'citing evidence from the text to support concepts like the role of Thomas Jefferson in US history. In sixth grade both displays indicated high level of integration of language arts standard in their display. The work display gave strong indication that students were getting a double dose of reading and writing. Their feedback directly related to the rubric posted and content that students were expected to learn. Next steps will be for you to focus on the learning target and lifting the DOK or expectation on Bloom. Ask students to Analyze, synthesize or evaluate. It is the next step. Challenge yourself and your students with higher expectations for thinking and display that in your classrooms. Make sure your feedback is specifically tied to the learning target. Consider using a question to lift their practice through reflection.
Teachers and teams are flying in formation. We saw 100% compliance with student work display. On each display teachers had posted feedback that was directly aligned to the work posted. Teachers cited specific evidence from the work and tied it to the GLE of the unit. For example, we saw five social studies displays that student feedback specifically mentioned 'citing evidence from the text to support concepts like the role of Thomas Jefferson in US history. In sixth grade both displays indicated high level of integration of language arts standard in their display. The work display gave strong indication that students were getting a double dose of reading and writing. Their feedback directly related to the rubric posted and content that students were expected to learn. Next steps will be for you to focus on the learning target and lifting the DOK or expectation on Bloom. Ask students to Analyze, synthesize or evaluate. It is the next step. Challenge yourself and your students with higher expectations for thinking and display that in your classrooms. Make sure your feedback is specifically tied to the learning target. Consider using a question to lift their practice through reflection.
Level Key Words
Analysis compare/contrast, deconstruct,
infer, discriminate
Synthesis categorize, compile, compose
rearrange, summarize, modify
Evaluation appraise, conclude, critique, interpret
relate, evaluate, describe, explain
Evidence of collaboration in learning teams was another highlight. The learning team structure asks teachers to backward plan using the curriculum and planning instruction accordingly. These elements are critical first steps; but without formative assessment and implementation it would be unlikely it would be observed. Simply stated: You planned, assessed and implemented. We saw this in your classroom providing clear evidence of your work with your learning team. Dr. Mausbach and I observed elements of the workshop (GRR) model in various stages, again 100% in formation. The collaborative effort was obvious in the four language arts classrooms that were working on close reading and citing evidence. They specifically referenced skills Iowa data asking students to use a shared text in guided practice to write support for an inference. Their intentional language like "Can you take us back to the text?" "Point to the line or work that supports your thinking." When the students couldn't complete the prompt the teacher immediately went into a think aloud demonstrating the strategy. Similar statements of purpose were heard in all four classrooms. Collaboration in action. Fisher and Frey state, "Establishing a clear purpose for learning content serves as a priming mechanism for new learning and results in increased student understanding of the content." Basically when your students understand the purpose of the lesson , they learn more and achieve higher. Next steps will be to state your purpose clearly and then ask students for clarification or application.
Schools that fly high are mush like a flock of birds, they fly farther and faster because of their tightly knit collaboration and ability to keep focused on a distant goal.
Karen Chenoweth Getting It Done: Learning Academic success in Unexpected Schools
It is nice to be reminded that we are on a team. We are all in this together, and we need to be willing to support each other. I really believe that by contributing to my learning team, and working towards a common goal with colleagues, I am taking my "spot in the formation." I use student work as evidence of where, not only my students are, but where I am, and where we all need to be. Some days I can fly at the front, and really communicate the needs of my students and team. Other days I am at the back listening and learning from my teammates. Thanks for the video Kim!
ReplyDeleteI am often motivated and inspired from teachers/team members at Wilson. I find lift from new ideas, witnessing creativity with implementation and when asked thought-provoking questions. All these actions remind me that we are a team flying closely together toward a common goal. The dedication and commitment demonstrated by the educators at Wilson keep me flying when the work is trying.
ReplyDeleteI am excited to be a part of the formation! I feel that we are all working tremendously hard to reach our common goal - through our involvement in PLC we are able to hear and give that feedback to one another immediately. My spot in the formation is to make sure that within science, Trent and I are not only incorporating and teaching content, but making the connection with literacy and math so that students can grow to be even stronger!
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Jessica said in terms of not only teaching our own content, but also making connections to other subject areas such as reading and math, as well as science and history. I do feel that my place in the formation is not only to make these connections but to fuel the excitement and passion of reading with my homeroom. I spend the time to cover the pass the test questions to help students get excited about the assessment (and I think the students and I compete with our excitement of this!). Through this I believe we can all contribute to help our students grow stronger and stronger every day!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Carly. Some days I feel at the front of the formation, and other days I feel at the back. The important thing to remember is that all members of the flock are important and need to be present and "lifted" to keep that "V" flying high. I feel fortunate the my PLC and my team work very closely together and support each other as needed. Working together will only help our students learn how to work together and become productive as well.
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