Monday Points, October 8, 2012

Celebration Points:

“Forty-six New Start students at the Life after High School Fair”, is my joyous cry this week, and hopefully yours. Working hard as our counselor, Andrea did (and Advisors too), over 30% of New Start students were present and accounted for (that’s almost a third of the school!) at the fair. Furthermore each had a signed passport assignment in which they had to speak with several colleges, universities, tech schools and the military. This annual event is huge for exposing students to life after high school options. It is a great launching point for Advisory conversations. I hope my visits to your classes are helping to spark some of those as well. You are working hard to meet our mission of preparing all students for college, career and citizenship. Be proud New Start staff, quite an accomplishment.

Instructional Point:

Danielson 1C has come up frequently in our goal setting meetings, so I wanted to share a bit about “Setting Instructional Outcomes”. Setting learning outcomes for students must start with you, the teacher. We’ve come a long way from merely posting objectives on the board.  In order to have a meaningful lesson aligned to the standards with opportunities to apply with a rigorous task, we must have clarity of the learning target. But then, it must swiftly be internalized by the student allowing them to understand the learning, own the learning, set goals and monitor their progress towards them.  

What is the difference between a learning target (goal) and a performance target?

When in classrooms, I will frequently bend down to students and ask “What are you learning today?”  Many times students are able to articulate what they are learning.  However, I commonly hear what they are doing, “working on a math problem,” or the topic they are focusing on, “inferences,” or – a blank stare.  Answers such as these indicate that the student’s attention is not focused on what it is he/she is supposed to be learning – it is focused on what he/she is doing.  Sometimes this is encouraged by the posting of a performance goal rather than a learning goal.  Research shows that when students are presented with learning goals they perform significantly better than students who are given performance goals or goals that focus on task completion.   In other words, it is important that the assignment remain the means, and the learning - the end!

Performance Goals	Learning Goals
Solve multi-step problems	Learn how to use the  strategy “draw a picture” to solve problems
Complete the steps for an experiment demonstrating chemical changes	Draw inferences and describe the similarities and differences between physical and chemical change

Data Points:

This year as we all dive into looking at different and new types of data together, I am sharing some demographic data from New Start that I thought was interesting. So, just for practice in the spirit of knowing our students well, here are a few data points about our students at New Start as compared to the rest of the district. (“FARM” is Free and reduced meals.) Take a look at the table below and let me know what it means to you? 

School	FARM	ELL	SPED	TOTAL
District Total	67.%	20.%	12.%	11,879
New Start	95.%	16.%	25.%	152

For my two cents, let’s not think about students here, think about resources. FARM, ELL and SPED status of schools represent a rich diversity, but certain resource challenges. New Start doubles or exceeds in two out of three of these factors.  In ELL needs we are nearly on par with the district average. I need to think and write more to draw some conclusions, but will let you ponder this interesting piece of data. Let me know what you think.

PCT Point: State Day October 12

This Friday, October 12, is a State Day for Professional Development. Certificated staff may be paid as an optional day if they work. Therefore, certificated staff is not required to report to school, so they may attend numerous trainings and conferences going on around the state and in the ESDs. Teachers may use this day for individual prep or collaborative meetings of their choosing. Classified staff are paid for a full work day. There are no classes or students on Friday. The New Start and CHOICE school buildings and offices will be open. This is a regular work day for classified staff. I would love to hear what you do, or learn, on Friday! 

Next Friday we return to our PCT Schedule: “Seniors: The Road to Graduation”

My Schedule:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Oct 8	Oct 9	Oct 10	Oct 11	Oct 12
Success Academy Observe Mitchell In Classrooms Goals Meeting Sped Meeting	Success Academy In Classrooms Lunch Study Group CTE Meeting Contract Summit	HEA Update Success Academy In Classrooms Advisory Chat In Classrooms Student Enrichment Team School Board	Language Arts Data Team Success Academy In Classrooms Advisory Chat Success Academy In Classrooms IEP Meeting	Principal Meeting Steering Team ALE Policy Southwest Contract Monday Points

Professional Growth Note: On Friday I handed out Pedagogy of Confidence to staff. It will be our reading this year. Please put your name in the book, and read to and including Chapter 3 (up to page 52). Reading is due by the December 7, PCT, in 61 days.  (That’s less than ¾ of a page every day, or about 5 pages a week. You can do it!) Have a fabulous week everyone. Learn lots.

Mike