Bravo Zulu!
Bravo Zulu to Teacher Kris Thompson who began my week right with an inspiring showing in her classroom last Tuesday. Kris ran a literature analysis class with her students that kept the entire group engaged and active in a vibrant and exciting learning discussion. Regardless of her student’s “sped” status, she held them to high expectations and they met them. An outsider would have never labeled this class “Sped”. It felt much more general ed-like, and even honors level at some points. I witnessed thoughtful student ideas being shared with all. Teacher Kris quickly identified the non-contributors and brought them into the talk. With Kris’s meaningful questions for kids to ponder, and her active monitoring and formative assessments along the way, she offered an interesting and relevant learning experience. As we dive into first round observations over the next few weeks, I look forward to seeing even more relevance and engagement in all of your classrooms. Nice start to the observation season Kris!Instructional Point:
Last week I wrote about inspiration. This week I’d like to share a few words on Relevance. Perhaps what fascinated me most about Kris’s class was the thinking she put into her questions. Good questioning techniques will connect kids to the content. The “What would you do…” question is a great way to connect our students into the discussion.
The chapter review discussion was meaningful because Kris asked students about their feelings and beliefs, as related to the story at hand. The Teacher did not quiz, ask students to summarize or recount details of the story to see if they had done their reading. Their reading was evident in their talk. Kris went deeper asking them about their thoughts and feelings as applicable.
Characters in the reading found themselves caught in a dramatic situation having to make choices about friends, enemies, whether to kill, to honor a promise, a pact, made between friends. As students contributed their ideas, the teacher could, quite simply, assess whether or not each student had actually understood the reading.
The teacher was active, moving around the room, and capturing the most poignant ideas on the whiteboard for all to see. Kris effectively took a story that was in large part removed from the everyday experiences of our students, and had them make sense of it. That’s learning.
In contrast, a more mediocre assessment may have looked like a quiz, or assigned written summary, conducting a class discussion that was fact based. To go deeper, and make this reading assignment more powerful our skilled teacher employed the following techniques:
· Pre-determined Questions that included wording like, what would you do? would you do this? how do you honor your friends and keep commitments, do you feel there are unclear or expectations here? What do you think?
· Capturing student ideas on a whiteboard so they could be looked at and referenced (in addition to publically honoring student thinking)
· Close monitoring of student participation by being active and moving around the class. Using Proximity to remind students that they are indeed a part of the discussion!
· Assessing student responses and calling on those who do not contribute. This holds students accountable and helps control air time of the highly engaged and eager contributors.
There you have it. Four simple techniques to keep students engaged and the content relevant. Do you have strategies to keep content relevant for students? Please share. Let us know.
PCT This week. ELL in our Classrooms
I asked Stephanie Forman to share some ideas about our upcoming PCT this week. She shared that we will be looking at our developing ELL handbook, and how it can be used as a tool in all of our classes. We will discuss some theory behind the practices in teaching to those in the process of acquiring a second language. (You probably have more of these students than you think) I believe this thinking is applicable to all of our instruction and I am asking both CHOICE and New Start staff be present. I will also be inviting teachers from some of our contracted programs like Southwest to join us too!
We’ll see you Friday in the Math Room at 12:30 at Salmon Creek! Please let me know if you have questions about PCT Friday.
The Week Ahead…
There are quite a few big meetings and events this week. Here is my schedule…
Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
New Start | New Start/CHOICE | New Start | CHOICE | CHOICE |
Oct 24 | Oct 25 | Oct 26 | Oct 27 | Oct 28 |
Morning Meetings ALE Meeting (ERAC) AP Meeting w/students Sped Teacher Interviews | Planning Time Observations Discipline Meetings CHOICE Info Night Meeting COE Meeting New Start | Observations Host Supt. visit Brag Day CHOICE SOC Meeting Shared Leadership Meeting (ERAC) Pre-Evaluation Meeting | Present to Tukwila Chamber of Commerce Observations Power Session Planning Meet w/City of Burien | Project Time at CHOICE PCT for ELL at New Start Weekly w/Ms. Love |
Also, a quick thank you to all of you for your dedicated commitment to our staff meetings last week. Overall, I think they went well and our new protocol is helpful at getting everyone involved. Here’s wishing you a wonderful week ahead! – Mike
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