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

Monday Points: November 19, 2012

Short week, short note, it’s almost Thanksgiving…

Celebration Points:

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I am thankful for working with such a caring and smart group of people. You, my colleagues, make the work we do for kids and their growth meaningful. Seeing our students learn and develop into young adults is a point of celebration for me in my career choice, and I suspect it is for you too. We do this together, as a team, so it is you I am most thankful for this upcoming break. Let us toast and celebrate our friends and family, but not forget the very people we work with, for students, everyday. Let us celebrate each other.

Instructional Point:

As we head into the holidays not all of our students and families will be anticipating the joyful experiences most of us do. History tells us, that for some students, disengagement and acting out behaviors will increase at schools as the holidays approach. In your teaching, be sensitive and aware to the fact that this can be a difficult time of year for some of our students. There is tension and anxiety created when our society paints, and promotes, an “ideal” that unfortunately some of our kids may not be experiencing. This point need not be a downer, just remember to meet and support all of our students where they are this time of year.

PCT Point: None this week, next is November 30, 2012, Charlotte Danielson I

No PCT this short week, but we return to professional development on the Friday the 30^th. Our first Charlotte Danielson PCT is in the works. Please make sure you’re on Teachscape, and more next week on the instructional frame.

Mike’s Schedule:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Nov 19	Nov 20	Nov 21	Nov 22	Nov 23
Becca Position Interviews In Classrooms Sped Meeting Curriculum Night CHOICE	Student Led Conferences Data Book Study ERAC Student Led Conference	Student Led Conference Make Ups Policy Update Meeting (ERAC)	Thanksgiving Break

Have a good week, good conferences and a great Thanksgiving break!

Mike

Monday Points: November 12, 2012

Happy Veterans Day. I am honored and thankful to have served in the armed forces myself, but let’s also thank our department colleagues, Bruce Dearborn who served, and George Wheeler, currently serving in the guard. Did I miss anyone? Please take a moment to remember friends and family vets as well. And for such we enjoy a four-day week before Student Led Conferences and Thanksgiving next week…

Celebration Points:

Last week at New Start we celebrated Yoselin R who was the teacher selected, Student of the Month for October! Yoselin and one of her teachers were honored at the White Center Kiwanis Lunch last Wednesday. Student of the Month is our staff pick of which student best exemplifies our model PBIS behaviors of Responsibility, Respect and Dedication at New Start. Congratulations, Yoselin, and Teacher-Advisor Casey!

Instructional Point:

One question I might ask you about on my next walkthrough is how you handle students who come in late to class. A student who has missed the start of class, and likely the gathering and launch, of your lesson is already at risk of lost learning for your period. What do you do about this student, or students, who come in once you have already begun teaching?

The accepted best practice for lateness, is to, ever so briefly, and inconspicuously, acknowledge a tardy student, and point them to a seat without disturbing or disrupting the regular flow of the teaching with which you are currently engaged. At the first opportunity, perhaps a transition, you should meet with the student briefly to quickly update topic or essential question of the day. Make sure they know the learning objective, and move them into the next activity with the rest of the class.

The practice needs to be consistently upheld with each student, and shown to be regular and fair by the teacher. In other words, don’t scold one student in front of the class, and then ignore the next student.

I have seen some teachers in our rooms consistently use a silent independent entry task or question which will allow time for the last few tardy students to get into class without missing the crux of the lesson at the first part of class. Our best teachers are up, out from their desks, at passing, greeting students by name as they enter, and directing them to sit and begin the entry “Problem” or “Challenge” of the day, before the bell even rings. This ensures most of your class is seated with books open and supplies out at the very start of the period. Establishing these procedures is important to the overall management of your class and setting the tone for the learning that is soon to come in every period. Please share, or ask a colleague, “How do you start class, on time, every time?”

Data Points:

At PCT we discussed the “PBIS Triangle” and had a good disc

ussion about what the Triangle represents in our work, both for behavior and instructional interventi

on. To follow up, I will give you the image of the triangle again to think about. We talked about tiered supports in our school and our district. This week I’d like to prompt some further thinking. How does the triangle (tiered support) fit into your classroom? What do all kids get? What about “some kids” or those at the very highest need receive? Just take a look for now, applying your classroom supports for students into our Triangle.

For more about PBIS in Highline follow this link: http://www.highlineschools.org/studentbehavior/Pages/PBISOverview.aspx

Professional Growth Points:

Pedagogy of Confidence: the instructional growth team has targeted December 7 to finish our reading Chapter 3. I am already a few pages into this chapter. This caught my attention under Decontextualized Instruction, the author writes “Confidence is knowing what is expected and believing you have what it takes to meet those expectations.” Dr. Jackson goes on to describe the pedagogy required to build this confidence in students…keep reading. I am looking forward to our PCT on December 7 to talk about the first third of this book with you.

Teachscape: If I am your instructional leader, I think it is important that I do Teachscape right along with you. I went through module for 2A today. I LOVE THIS ONE! I copied it to share with you: “2A Teacher interactions with students, including both words and actions A teacher’s interactions with students set the tone for the classroom. Through their interactions, teachers convey that they care about their students. “

What have you learned the indicators of 2A are from Teachscape?

PCT Point: November 16, 2012, Student Led Conferences. (Site based PCT)

This Friday, our counselor will provide excellent teacher-advisor training for Student Led Conferences. We will review the schedule, and expectations, for next week when we finish up Session Two. Get ready to meet individually with our students and families. 1:00 in the Library for New Start Staff.

Mike’s Schedule:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Nov 12	Nov 13	Nov 14	Nov 15	Nov 16
Veterans Day Holiday	Success Academy Principal Meeting (ERAC)	Success Academy In Classrooms Fire Drill Observation Observation PBIS Team Meeting	Language Arts Data Team Success Academy Career Link Monitoring Observation M/Counselor	Success Academy Principal Steering Meeting (ERAC) Success Academy PCT on Student Led Conferences Sped Weekly Monday Points

Hope you had a restful three-day weekend, and please forgive if I missed your name in veteran’s recognition. I also want to announce we begin Cohort III of Success academy this week! Have a wonderful week everyone!

Mike

Monday Points November 5, 2012

 Welcome back for our first full week in November (if you can believe it, already)!  Here we go…

Celebration Points:

First I want to thank Casey Alexander for his wonderful performance as my first ever guest writer for last week’s blog. It is a milestone in the history of my instructional letters, to bring in help from your leadership team. Thanks Casey.

As the 1^st quarter nears end, I have reflected on my initial messaging at the beginning of the year. Remember, “Personalize, Collaborate and Enrich”? My point of celebration is to have seen these ideas take shape in many ways in the schools and programs of alternative education. Go Team! I have seen great personalization through advisory and creative teacher efforts to know our students by name, strength and need. You have all collaborated, fantastically, to date in our data team meetings, oversight teams, and our professional growth. Enrichment is becoming more and more evident in the way we teach our classes. I’ve seen more hands on, classroom based projects, guest speakers, and student activity outside of classrooms. Please take a minute to celebrate, while I thank you for keeping these goals moving forward. Excellent work team, you should be proud.

Instructional Point:

Last week, in observation of a Math class at New Start, I saw students learning how to calculate Rate. The activity was hands on, involving toy cars, a ramp that could be raised and lowered by textbooks, a stop watch, and the scientific method. There was a connection to a Science class I had witnessed just a week before at CHOICE (involving paper airplanes). In both a science, and a math class, students developed a hypothesis, conducted an experiment, made observations and recorded what they had found. Indeed, I have seen the same in Science class at New Start. There is a lot to be said in these real-feeling, hands-on classroom projects for our students, but I especially appreciate the idea of integrating key ideas (whether it was purposeful or not). I believe this point of integration helps students make the connections to a world, and other subjects, outside of the particular classroom they are in at the time. I also know that these connections are what help students “learn”.  This week, I ask you to think about the ways your class might connect to your colleagues’ next door. Subtle or not, how could that manifest in your lesson plans and instructional practice?

Data Points:

I have collected data from our Fall Goal Setting Meetings and shared it with the Leadership Team. As you may recall, I asked each of you for some instructional growth goals connected to the Charlotte Danielson Framework.  I recorded your goals by domain number and the letter of the component in that domain. For example, if you told me an instructional goal of yours was, “to engage students in learning through small groups”, together, we probably agreed that goal is a “3C”. (If you are scrambling through your framework right now, the Element in 3C is “Small groups”.) With this data in hand, I was able to compile the most common goals of all our teachers.  Here is what I came up with.

This is great data because it will inform me, our leadership and instructional growth teams about your areas of interest. In order to help most teachers meet their goals, we can design and focus professional development toward 1C, 2A, 3B, 3C and definitely 3D. Furthermore, if you look at the language associated with these domains and components, you might be able to conclude that teacher goals are somewhat aligned with school goals towards integration, 21^st century skills and project based learning, things we have been talking about for years. This data tells me we are right on track to improve our instructional work, in the ways we want to for our students.

Professional Growth Points:

Pedagogy of Confidence: You should be in Chapter Two by now where Dr. Jackson lays out how the “drama” of operating in an environment of low expectations exacerbates barriers to learning growth. The chapter is not a happy one. The author describes the internal pressures principals and teachers put upon themselves which affect the learning environment, and growth of students. As positive as I always try to be, the “disregarded” realities pointed out in this chapter strike multiple chords with me. I look forward to reflecting on this with you at PCT on December 7. You should be wrapping up this chapter soon and moving on to Chapter Three.  

Teachscape: You should all be signed on successfully, and hopefully spent some time getting familiar with the online course. Please let me know if you cannot access teachscape. We will be checking at our first Charlotte Danielson PCT on November 30. https://www.teachscape.com

PCT Point: November 9, 2012, Positive Behavior Intervention Supports

This Friday, we go deep into PBIS at our sites. PCT will be site based, so CHOICE meets at Woodside, and New Start at Salmon Creek. HIPP please take some time with your team to collaborate around PBIS. PBIS is an important Action Plan in our SIP, and we need to review and gather input from staff on our implementation items for this year. PBIS is the base for the critical structures we employ to support positive behaviors socially and academically in our schools and programs. I look forward to our work on Friday. See you at 1:00!

Mike’s Schedule:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Nov 5	Nov 6	Nov 7	Nov 8	Nov 9
Administrative Forum (ERAC) In Classrooms Sped Meeting Instructional Growth Planning Team Meeting	In Classrooms Host T&L Visit to New Start Senior Meeting Woodside Security Planning Meeting	HEA Update In Classrooms Observation Eye Doctor Student Enrichment Planning Team	New Start Math Data Team In Classrooms Data Book Study (ERAC) Supt.  State of Schools Meeting (ERAC) Success Academy Meeting	PCT Prep PCT on PBIS Sped Weekly Monday Points

I hope you set your clocks back, and don’t forget to vote! – have great week.

Have a great week.

Mike