Monday Points: December 10, 2012

Happy Monday to you! This will be our last Monday points for the calendar year. Here we go…

Celebration Points:

Thursday was a big celebration for New Start. First, at Brag day we had student awards for performance and exhibiting positive behaviors (as New Start Sharks do!). Then we had some celebrations for teacher grant awardees…I mentioned Mrs. Kelsie Maney’s grant last week, but joining our list of awardees is now Ms. Andrea Love, and Mr. George Wheeler. Andrea received a grant from the Highline Schools Foundation to prepare our students who will be the first generation in their family to go to college. George, at CHOICE, received a grant from the foundation to start up his first robotics class. This year through grant awards, teachers have brought in over $2500 dollars to directly use in their classrooms, and that’s cause for celebration. Congratulations Andrea, George and Kelsie!

Also let’s cheer for Key Club which celebrated its second annual fundraiser Hot Potato Dinner on Thursday night at New Start. Thank you to Mrs. Trina Palosaari, our Key Club Advisor, and her students. Also thank you to Bill and Nancy Tracy of White Center Kiwanis who helped organize the event. I heard they made a lot of money. I ate some great chili, and enjoyed a fun live musical set by the visiting Delridge Boys in our very own Salmon Creek Gym. Thank you all who made this event possible.

Data Points:

PCT on November 30 focused on Charlotte Danielson, initially exposing staff to our district’s Instructional Frame, and Teachscape, the online professional development tool teachers will engage with this year. I sent out an evaluative survey to see how the first of our four PCTs on this subject was received, and ask for suggestions on improvement. In my ongoing efforts to improve, I have looked at the data and want to share with you a quick initial analysis…as is our practice in alternative programs.

Here is the survey data table:

	Great	Good	Fair	Poor	Terrible
Use of Time	20%	53%	20%	7%	0
Pro Growth	21%	43%	29%	7%	0
Presentation	33%	40%	20%	7%	0
Organization	26%	47%	20%	7%	0
Technology	60%	40%	0	0	0
Usefulness	40%	40%	13%	7%	0

The presentation team received Good to Great ratings in all areas. No one thought it was Terrible. One respondent had a Poor experience. Overall the PCT was well received and appreciated, especially in use of technology and overall usefulness to individual practice. So I think our professional growth team is on the right track and did well with this PCT.

50% of respondents provided comments to the question: “How could the PCT have been improved?” 50% of comments did not provide specific suggestions to improve, instead offering personal opinion of the framework, school and state efforts around school improvement. Specific suggestions for improvement listed: better chairs, more time to go deeper, less time on a Friday, clearer expectations around coming to the PCTs prepared, more information about impact on evaluation, and more videos showing actual classroom teaching at the different proficiency levels. All suggestions for improvement will be discussed by the team to see how we can better deliver our next Charlotte Danielson PCT…on February 1. Again, thank you to those who responded to our survey.

Professional Growth Points:

Pedagogy of Confidence: No evaluation survey on this one, but general feedback suggests our time this last Friday (Dec 7) was well spent. The book sparked good conversations and we had the opportunity to go deeper in specific areas of interest. The book talk felt very collegial to me and everyone engaged well. There were too many discussions to recap in this venue, so I just want to say thank you for your reading, note taking and joining us in discussion on Pedagogy. March 8^th is our next meeting on this. Please read the next three chapters, “The Practice”, 4, 5 and 6.

PCT Point: December 14, 2012: The last of 2012, will be a self-directed “Team Time” collaboration afternoon. You choose who you collaborate with. I look forward to circulating and dropping in on the several data team meetings I have already been invited too. Have a good PCT with your teams!

Mike’s Schedule:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Dec 10	Dec 11	Dec 12	Dec 13	Dec 14
District Strategic Planning Team. All Day at ERAC	District Strategic Planning Team. All Day at ERAC	EOC Training Monitor Gateway to College at Highline CC Alt Ed Leadership Team School Board Meeting	LA Data Team Observation In Classrooms Advisory Planning Team M/Counselor Present CHOICE at HS Options Night. Cascade MS.	504 Meeting Weekly Office Meeting PCT: Visit Data Teams Contract Meeting

As you know, next week is a short week leading to Winter Break. Classes for 2012 conclude next Tuesday December18. You are invited to our  5^th Annual Holiday celebration at my house then. (email me if you didn’t get an invite).

School resumes in 2013, on Wednesday, January 2. Next Monday Points will follow on January 7.

Until then – If I don’t see you at the party, let me take this opportunity to wish you the happiest of Winter Breaks. Celebrate and keep warm with family. Rest! Enjoy the new year…it is fast approaching. From my family to yours, here is wishing you a healthy happy holiday.

Cheers

Mike

Monday Points: December 3, 2012

Welcome to December. I want to begin by welcoming aboard a new colleague to our district programming. Welcome Siri Quigley, our new Truancy Officer for this year. You may have met Siri last year. She was a social work intern in our district while completing her MSW at UW. Siri also has a JD from Willamette University in Salem, OR. Her commitment is to help keep our students in schools and out of court altogether. Please send her an email or call to welcome her to our team.   

Celebration Points:

This week we will celebrate grants. I want to congratulate Mrs. Kelsie Maney, at New Start, for applying for and receiving her first $1000.00 installment of a three year $3K grant from the Armed Forces Continuing Education Association (AFCEA). I gave Kelsie her check at Friday PCT and we will give her a BIG check in front of students at Brag Day this week. Clap, clap, clap!

More information about this grant is at: http://www.afcea.org/education/scholarships/undergraduate/TeachersScholarship.asp Next deadline for application is April 1, 2013.

In addition, I have been told we have grant recipients from the Highline Schools Foundation at both New Start and CHOICE.  Announcements will be made this week at CHOICE Staff meeting and the Brag Day Assembly.

Instructional Point:

Last week we shared in collaborative learning about the Charlotte Danielson Framework for Effective Teaching. The Classroom Environment, Domain 2, had focus as we learned about Components and Elements which make up the structure of the framework. We looked at components in Domain 2: The Classroom Environment. It should be no surprise that I, again, want to give emphasis to Component 2A, “Creating an Environment of Respect and Rapport”. In November’s Monday Point s I asked you to think about 2A as it applies to you. The elements in this component are “Teacher Interaction with students” and “Student interaction with students.” And, yes have seen evidence of respect and positive rapport in our programs and classrooms. But I can’t seem to let this one rest because it seems so foundational to me.  

Students supporting other students, in small group work while completing an assignment, shows that our kids can work and communicate well with each other. This contributes to the respect for peers, the teacher and learning in general. “Respect” tops the list of our PBIS universal traits at New Start, HIPP and CHOICE.  A positive rapport between students and teacher come out of a mutual respect for all involved in the teaching and learning relationship. It is disheartening in those few times that respect is lost, and a good rapport is in breakdown. Though these lapses when teacher and students are not fully working with each other, toward a greater learning goal are few and far between, we must still work to avoid complacency at all costs.

Clear expectations, accountability and follow through are pillars of respect between individuals, and indeed foster strong relationships. Even what seem to be the most minor strategies, like greeting students by name, or checking individually for understanding conveys care and concern for a child. You do this every day, a hundred times a day. My point this week is to make sure you are aware building respect and rapport is a best practice recognized in the framework. In my observations I am looking for clear evidence of your efforts, and words, toward making better connections with our students. Keep building that respect and rapport in your classroom. It’s in the framework, and yes, I am always looking for it.  

Data Points:

After first quarter report to you leadership team, I am pleased to report that our data collection tools are growing. We still have a ways to go but we are well on our way to being able to regularly collect school, department and classroom level data about student academic performance. In Literacy we have a reading screener that has been administered to most New Start students. Math has created their own as well. At CHOICE we are using the Math Benchmark Assessments accessing Data Director to get data at school and grade levels. We are further exploring the use of MBA’s into other subject discipline such as using RBA (for reading) or developing other benchmark assessments around science and social studies standards. MAPs testing will be returning to New Start for the mid-year window, and has been at CHOICE for many years now. Also, the difficult work to develop a common rubric for the evaluation of student work in writing and presentation has begun at New Start and CHOICE, respectively. Math at New Start has received PD and access to ST Math which is an online math assessment an intervention. CHOICE will be getting ST Math soon.

Data Teams are making good progress and I am proud of you. I predict by third quarter we will be awash, from multiple sources, with informative and multi-leveled data. From school, to classroom, to individual student, we will soon mostly have what we need to begin action planning our practice for student and school improvement. THough, I suspect some of you have enough now to inform practice immediately!

Professional Growth Points:

Pedagogy of Confidence: You should be wrapping up Chapter Three this week. Our first PCT to collaborate around the ideas of this book will be Friday. This first section of Pedagogy of Confidence is titled “The Belief”, and sets context for the practice described in the remaining sections. Please come prepared to PCT with an understanding of the big ideas in our first three chapters. Our hope is a brief group discussion will help us all make some meaning, and perhaps some application to our students, their lives and what it is we are trying to engage.

PCT Point: December 7, 2012: The Pedagogy of Confidence

This will be our last full group PCT of the calendar year. As described above our Instructional Growth Planning Team will conduct some professional learning on chapters 1-3 of The Pedagogy of Confidence by Dr. Yvette Jackson. Please have read through Chapter Three by Friday. Meet at Salmon Creek at 1:00.

By the way, If you attended last week’s PCT on the Charlotte Danielson Framework please take a minute to complete an evaluation. It is online and really short. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5MXNBYF Thank you.

Mike’s Schedule:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Dec 3	Dec 4	Dec 5	Dec 6	Dec 7
HR Meeting Student Meeting Student Appeal Professional Growth Team Meeting District PBIS Meeting	At CHOICE In Classrooms Observation ALE Policy review at ERAC Home School Meeting Options Presentation Planning Team CHOICE Staff Meeting	HEA Update In Classrooms Observation Project Time Student Enrichment Team	Math Data Team In Classrooms Brag Day Assembly Session Transition Meeting Sped Meeting New Start Key Club Fundraiser	Project Time Weekly Admin Meeting PCT Write Monday Notes

Staff Meeting at CHOICE and Brag Day at New Start this week. Key Club fundraiser at New Start on Thursday night. Much to celebration ahead, let’s have a good one…

Mike

Monday Points: November 26, 2012

Happy Monday – I hope the break has left you well rested and rejuvenated for our next three weeks to the holidays. This week for Monday Points, we have our next Guest Writer from your leadership team…George Wheeler, take it away!

Celebration Points:

Echoing what Casey wrote about in his guest column last month, we also had a great curriculum/new student/family event here at CHOICE on November 19th. Considering the weather and other factors, it was reasonably well-attended. All of the staff had a great opportunity to talk with parents about the curricula we are teaching and how we are implementing the core frameworks in our classes.

I personally had several great conversations with parents concerning my teaching practice. We discussed science materials and how labs are conducted. I talked about how my new science materials are working out in the classroom and how students are responding. I know that my colleagues also had similar conversations as well.

We are fortunate here at CHOICE to have involved parents. But I also know how rewarding it is, whether we teach at New Start, HIPP or here at CHOICE, to have parents and families support their students and the work we do for them in our classrooms and schools.

Instructional Point:

In the world of education, where we all live our professional lives, instructional practices come and go. If you have been teaching for any length of time, you understand and recognize that pedagogical thoughts wax and wane. The “experts” develop new concepts and ideas about how to teach. They work hard to help us improve our teaching practice and positively impact our students.

We all get on board and do the best we can to make it work for our students and our schools. But, then in a few years or so, something bigger and better comes along. I certainly have seen this in my nineteen years of teaching.

I think now, however, that we are now covering new territory. The Frameworks for Teaching by Charlotte Danielson is innovative and appears to be data-driven and positive. I think will be the benchmark from which we measure our effectiveness as teachers, not just a passing “fad.”

We should approach with open minds the work she has done to create Frameworks that have been shown to positively develop not only the classroom environment and teacher instruction, but also how we thoughtfully and professionally plan and prepare for the work we do in our classrooms. Change is difficult sometimes, but I think this current change will help us improve our collective teaching practices and how we connect with and serve our students.

Data Points:

The collection of student data to inform our teaching practice has, and continues to be, a very relevant and important way to gauge student understanding and track longitudinally the progress of individual students and school-wide success. This year, we are looking at a wide variety of ways we can collect data. We may not be examining these data systematically this year, but we are working toward finding ways to look at student work and quantify what we find in the coming years.

I would like mention another way that the concept of data collection can beused.I am referring to students collecting data of their own. As I teach my scienceclasses I look for ways that students can gather, record and analyze data. We recently completed an exploration of the scientific method. Students created hypotheses regarding the flight of paper airplanes. They created designs that they felt would have a positive impact on either the length a plane could fly or how long it could stay in the air. They conducted a controlled experiment and collected real data.

Students graphed and analyzed their data, and drew conclusions about their hypotheses. They also presented their work to their peers.  This gave me an opportunity not only to teach the process of data collection and analysis, but to get my kids outside the classroom. I encourage you to give it a try if possible with your students.

Guest Writer’s Point:

I want to pass along a hearty “thank you” to Wayne Hashiguchi. Wayne is our new assistant Principal here at CHOICE and he has quickly become part of our team. He has helped us out tremendously with some discipline issues and student concerns. Wayne has provided us positive direction, insight and leadership based on his many years of experience as a teacher and administrator.

We can rely on Wayne to support us in our classrooms and be a source of encouragement to our students. He is quickly getting to know our students based on, as Dr. Enfield would encourage, their name, strength and need. Thanks for all you do for us here at CHOICE Wayne!

I would also like wish a belated happy Veterans Day to Wayne also. He is a proud former Marine. Semper Fi!

PCT Point: November 26, 2012, Charlotte Danielson I

This Friday we jump into our first of four PCTs on Charlotte Danielson. Please make sure tour Teachscape works, and please be on time to Salmon Creek at 1:00 Friday.

Mike’s Schedule:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Nov 26	Nov 27	Nov 28	Nov 29	Nov 30
Open Session Three New Start Project Time In Classrooms District Strategic Planning Meeting	CHOICE/HIPP Day In Classrooms Observation Home School Meeting CHOICE Data Team HIPP Data Team ST Math Training PCT Planning	New Start PBIS SET In Classrooms Success Academy Debrief Supervisory M/John Boyd District ALE Meeting Alt Ed Leadership Team Meeting CHOICE Parent PSO Meeting	In Classrooms PCT Prep M/Counselor	Principal Steering Team Weekly Admin Meeting PCT: Charlotte Danielson SPED Meeting Monday Points

Thanks for the kick off George. Great pictures and a new look at how students can collect their own data. Have a wonderful last week of November everyone!

Mike