Friday, September 25, 2015

Closing Achievement Gaps---September 28-October 2, 2015



Closing Achievement Gaps:

This week our blog will not provide insight into our Lesson Plan Elements but will focus on the discussions that we had at our first Early Release Day---Achievement Gaps.  The information below is one educator's experience in closing the achievement gap.  As always, his journey is unique but it does provide insight into how to think about and adjust what we do to close the gap. It takes purposeful thinking and planning to close achievement gaps.  

This Week's Learning Showcase is from:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/academic-vocabulary-strategies-achievement-gap-decrease-ben-johnson

At a small school district, I faced the challenge as an administrator of diminishing the achievement gap in the student scores, especially in math and science. For example, we noticed that in science there was a 40-point gap between Hispanic students passing the test versus the number of white students passing. Having been in the classrooms and having observed teachers teaching, I knew that they were not treating Hispanic students any differently than the white students. So why was there an achievement gap?
We wrestled with this question for a while. Then one day when I was talking with my own children the problem dawned on me: I sometimes had to watch how I spoke with my own children because they would give me funny looks when I used the "big" or unfamiliar words. My own children spoke English just fine, but they did not understand words like ubiquitous, loquacious, or facetious. The solution was looking me in the face quizzically. So, were teachers using academic language that the students whose first language was English were more familiar with? To make a long story short, we decided to increase the level of vocabulary development, primarily using many sheltered language techniques. The results were astounding. Because of this and an intense college readiness focus, in two years, our schools went from the status of unacceptable to recognized and then the next year,exemplary.

Sheltered Techniques & Marzano

Sheltered instruction is designed with the idea of helping teachers of regular subjects to accommodate for English language learners in their classroom. A close look at the strategies and the techniques of sheltered instruction will reveal that many of them are suitable for all classes.
We learned a few things in the process of increasing the vocabulary readiness of our students. Notice that I did not say that we diminished the academic language of the teachers. The focus was on helping the students to better understand and speak academic language. One of the foundations of sheltered instruction is "comprehensible input." What this means is that when the teacher is speaking to the students, the teacher should use multiple contextual clues that provide meaning along with the spoken words. A teacher would use the words verbally, but at the same time, point to the objects being described, and also show the words in written format. Gestures, pantomime, movement, actions, sounds, pictures, graphics, and video all are additional methods that teachers have at their disposal to increase the likelihood that their students will understand the message.
At about the same time we came across Robert Marzano's Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement which basically states that before a student can grasp the concepts being taught, the student needs a mental scaffold in which to place them. Experience, first-hand or virtual, is the number one scaffold-building tool. Reading is second best and the next best tool is intense vocabulary development prior to instruction.
As a Spanish teacher, I learned early on that the mouth is connected to the brain, and if the mouth could not say the word, then there was little chance that the brain would remember it. Learning new content in math or science is much like learning in a conversational Spanish class. If done right, the students will leave the class being fluent in the language and culture of science or they will be able to converse in the language of math. This requires that the teacher needs to initially realize that students may not understand completely what reduce, simplify, analyze, compute, illustrate, or group means.

Strategies that Work

The best way I have learned to build vocabulary is beginning with a visual/verbal/aural Bloom's Taxonomy-like scaffolding method -- starting easy then getting more complex and difficult.
Recognition of the word in context: As I point to the endoplasmic reticulum picture I say, "Is this an endoplasmic reticulum?" The students say in unison, "Yes." As I point to a picture of a ribosome I say, "Is this a vacuole?" Hopefully they respond, "No." As a total physical response (TPR) methodology, I can ask them to stand next to or point to the mitochondria, chloroplasts, etc.
Reproduction of the words in context: After going through all the words, I ask them to say the words aloud, as I point to such things as the nucleus. After I am satisfied they can say the words, then I check their understanding, "Which organelle of the cell processes energy for the nucleus?" (Mitochondria/chloroplasts). "Which parts of the cell are necessary to create proteins?" (Endoplasmic Reticulum, nucleus, Golgi apparatus, and ribosomes).
Written words in context: I then start bringing out the written-word strips and ask the students to match them with the pictures. Then, and only then will I let the students start reading the chapters, or workbooks, because, not only are they now familiar with the concepts, but they have muscle memory of the words in their mouths and know how to say them and thus remember them. This method is more enjoyable and more effective for students than writing the words ten times each in sentences, an all too-typical vocabulary development technique.
To increase student-learning success and decrease the achievement gap, what other vocabulary development techniques and strategies do you use to help students develop the necessary background knowledge?


The Week Ahead...

COGAT Testing--2nd grade and a small number of 5th grade students

Tuesday, September 29, 2015---Title 1 Meeting and Classroom Visits and Bolton Girls Move starts

Wednesday, September 30, 2015---Early Release Day #2




Looking Ahead:

October 6, 2015---Dental Screening for specific grade levels

October 7, 2015---October Staff Meeting

October 9,, 2015---Fall Picture Day

October 14, 2015---Early Release Day #3

Have a great week and let's all....








Thursday, September 17, 2015

September 21-25, 2015

Dream! 



Learning Showcase for the Week: 

Each week over the next few weeks I will focus on a different aspect of our Lesson Planning.  This week I found some good information about creating a strong hook.  As always these are suggestions and should always be grade level appropriate.  Hopefully, this will help you generate your own ideas and strategies for an engaging hook. The most important thing about the hook is that it is not long--it's quick and helps generate interest. 


Teachers working smarter

Creating a Strong Hook from Online PD:


The hook is the beginning part of any lesson. Sometimes people also call it an opening. 
I think “hook” is a better description of what really needs to happen at the beginning of a lesson. 
Great teachers pull their kids in right away and sell them on what they’re about to learn. 
Think it’s not that important? Think about the last staff meeting or professional development 
you went to. Chances are if the presenter didn’t convince you in the first 5-10 minutes that what you were about to learn was important and relevant to you then you probably didn’t pay much attention. 
I am guilty of it myself.
The Elements of a Strong Hook:
* Explains what students are about to learn.
* Explains why what they are about to learn is important.
Connects what they are about to learn to what they already know
* Explains how the learning will take place (the lesson's agenda).
Captures students interest.
A few example hooks...
 QuickWrite
This is just a short writing prompt that can help tap into students’ prior knowledge. 
For example, “Has the earth always looked the way it does today? If not, how has it changed? 
what changed it?”
1)  Read an interesting article or blurb
This could be something from a newspaper or a source that your students find relevant. For example, when I was in the classroom scientists were debating if Pluto was really a planet during our 
solar system unit. To open up the lesson on the characteristics of a planet my students
 read a short article about the ongoing debate.
2)  Real world problem
One of the math teachers I work with includes a real world problem in his structured notes each day. Every day he tells his students “after you meet this objective, you’ll be able to solve this real-life problem.” It’s applicable and engaging at the same time. Here’s an example of one of Mike’s real 
world connections: Mike’s “get real” problem
3)  Video or audio clip
A few weeks ago I saw a teacher and he opened his lesson with a video clip from mythbusters 
about what happens when you take the safety valve off a hot water heater. He captured every 
student in the room’s attention. With the invention of YouTube it has never been easier to find 
exciting clips.
The rest of the article can be found at:
 https://theonlinepd.wordpress.com/p-3-lesson-planning/creating-a-strong-hook/

Week at a Glance:
Professional Development Plan (PDP) Help Sessions
Thursday, 9/24/15 at 3:45 pm
Friday, 9/25/15 at 7:30 am
Coming Soon:
Week of September 28th--Cogat Testing (please make sure you have read the e-mails about testing from Mr. Moore)
9/29/15---Annual Title 1 Meeting and Classroom Visits---look for a more detailed overview of this 
by mid next week.  Teachers do not need to attend the annual Title 1 meeting portion--you 
can work in your rooms to prepare for the parent's visit directly after the annual Title 1 meeting.   This is a great time to review expectations (homework, rules and procedures, etc.) and to talk 
about what the students will learn throughout the first quarter. 
Title 1 Annual Meeting--6:00-6:45
Classroom Visit Session 1---6:50-7:10
Classroom Visit Session 2---7:15-7:35
We will have 2 identical sessions for parents that have students in more than one grade levels.                 
Remember......

Saturday, September 12, 2015

September 14-18, 2015----CHANGE AND LESSON PLANNING

September 14-18, 2015

CHANGE!



Last week we found ourselves faced with a huge amount of change and only a short amount of time to really navigate that change.  I am truly grateful that as Mrs. McBride and I talked to those most impacted by the change we noticed that although change is hard to navigate there was a true willingness to hear how we got to the point where change was needed and a willingness to make change.  So again, many thanks for helping us shift into this change.  As we make the upcoming necessary adjustments we will keep everyone updated.   

Learning Showcase for the Week:

Lesson Plans


As outlined in the packet that you received--EFFECTIVE LESSONS AND LESSON PLANNING GUIDE--during my opening day break out session the model adopted by WSFCS outlines that "Good teaching consists of using best practice lesson strategies and then practicing the art."



What are we looking for in lessons? Effective lessons share a core structure:
Clear Learning Objective: should be a topic, skill or concept selected from the agreed upon curriculum.
Teaching/Modeling/Demonstrating: these are variations on lecture or direct teaching—explaining, demonstrating, instructing etc.
Guided Practice:  throughout the lesson, in brief intervals, the teachers should allow students to practice or apply what has been taught or modeled (while the teacher observes and guides their work).
Checks for Understanding/Formative Assessment: As students practice, and in between each step in the lesson, the teacher should conduct “formative assessment” by checking—assessing—to see how many students have mastered that particular step.
      This ongoing “check for understanding” allows the teacher to see what needs to be clarified or explained in a different way, when to slow down, or when it’s all right to speed up the pace of the lesson.
      Circulating, observing, and listening as students work in pairs, teams, groups
      Calling on a sampling of students or pairs randomly
      Having students signal their understanding: thumbs up or down, red, green, yellow popsicle sticks etc.
      Having students hold up dry-erase boards with answers or solutions.

Why are these 4 elements so important?

There is nothing new here. What is new is the realization that these seemingly “boring and pedestrian” (Collins, 2001, p. 142) practices are not only effective, but astonishingly so. If they were consistently implemented, we would take a quantum leap towards the goal of “learning for all”.




      
These elements should be a part of each lesson as noted on your lesson plans. 

Dr. Mike Schmoker's notes that the first step for planning and executing effective lessons is a Clear Learning Objective.







What is a learning objective? A learning objective is an outcome statement that captures specifically what knowledge, skills, attitudes learners should be able to exhibit following instruction. 


Key Points about Clear Learning Objectives:

1) They are developed from the standards
2) They should be stated in student-friendly language
3) It can be an Essential Question OR and I Can Statement...


Based on the four elements of effective lessons lesson plans should have the following:
  • 1)     Learning Objective
    2)     Opening/Hook
    3)     Explore/Model/Demonstrate
    4)     Guided Practice
    5)     Checking for Understanding
    6)     Closure

Keep planning great lessons, keep posting your Essential Question or I Can statement and most importantly make sure that the students know what the learning objective is for each lesson!

Week At A Glance:




I have several off-campus trainings and meetings this week. 


Monday, 9/14/15--AESOP (how to enter an absence) Training in the Media Center with Ms. McCandies from 7:50-8:10--this is the final AESOP training.  Frazier will be attending an all day workshop. 


Tuesday, 9/15/15--Ident-A-Kid  We plan to call students by grade levels so please be sure to check to see who brought in an envelope.  Frazier will be attending an all day Elementary Prin's Meeting.  


Wednesday, 9/16/15--Early Release Day #1 This first Early Release Day was planned by our school district.  Others will be planned by our staff to help meet our school identified needs.  Every staff member received the pre-reading packet on Tuesday, 9/8/15. Please be sure to read the excerpts so that you will be prepared for the discussions and activities.  We will meet in the Media Center beginning at 1:45.  Please enjoy the snacks provided by part of our Bolton family which will be in the lounge. Let's plan to be in our seats at 1:45 and ready to begin.   


Thursday, 9/17/15---Winston Salem Strings Ensemble performance for 4th and 5th grade only @ 9:00 am in the Gym


Friday, 9/18/15--- Some Pre-K and K staff attending the NCAEYC Conference in Raleigh



Looking Ahead:


9/29/15---Annual Title 1 Meeting and Classroom Visits---look for a more detailed overview of this by mid next week.  Teachers do not need to attend the annual Title 1 meeting portion--you can work in your rooms to prepare for the parent's visit directly after the annual Title 1 meeting.   This is a great time to review expectations (homework, rules and procedures, etc.) and to talk about what the students will learn throughout the first quarter. 

                
Have a great week!  




Friday, September 4, 2015

September 8-11, 2015 ~ The Power of the Positive Phone Call Home

SEPTEMBER 8-11, 2015




I hope you each have a wonderful Labor Day!  This week's Learning Showcase is all about the power of the positive phone call home.  This is one teacher's experience with positive phone calls home. No one is expected to repeat her style but the points that she makes about this powerful tool are worth the read.

Have a terrific week!

Learning Showcase for the Week:

The Power of the Positive Phone Call Home


An excerpt from Ms. Aguilar's blog.....

When I first started teaching and was overwhelmed by the demands and complexity of the job, my survival strategy was simply to take all the advice that came my way and implement it. So when my wise mentor suggested that after the first day of school I call all of my second grader's parents, I did so.
In spite of my exhaustion, I called each family and introduced myself. I asked a few questions about their child. I said that their kid had had a good first day. I said I looked forward to working together.
Throughout that year, and the years that followed, I continued this practice -- I had an intuitive feeling that it was key: The positive phone call home. After the first days, as soon as I'd identified the kids who might be challenging, I made it a goal to call home with positive news every week. I'd share this goal with my students, greeting them at the door with something like: "I'm so excited to see you this morning, Oscar! I am going to be watching you really closely today to find some good news to share with your mom this evening. I can't wait to call her and tell her what a good day you had!"
When I taught middle school, this strategy made the difference between an unmanageable group of kids and an easy group. You'd be surprised, perhaps, how desperately an eighth grade boy wants his mom (or dad or grandma or pastor) to get a positive call home. On the first day of school I'd give students a survey that included this question, "Who would you like me to call when I have good news to share about how you're doing in my class? You're welcome to list up to five people and please let them know I might call -- even tonight or tomorrow!"
First I'd call parents of the kids who I knew would be challenging, those I suspected rarely got positive calls. When an adult answered the phone, I'd say, all in one long breath, "Hi Mrs. ____? I'm calling from ____ middle school with great news about your son, ____. Can I share this news?" If I didn't immediately blurt out the "great news" pieces, sometimes they'd hang up on me or I'd hear a long anxious silence....
To read more go to:

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/power-positive-phone-call-home-elena-aguilar



Our Week at a Glance:

9/8/15—Distribution of Early Release Pre-reading selections

9/9/15- 3rd grade Beginning of Year Test

9/11/15-4th grade Wake Forest Literacy Program Kick-Off

AESOP Training:

Ms. McCandies will offer AESOP Training on Thursday, 9/10/15 and Friday, 9/11/15 from 7:50 am-8:10 am.  This is a quick training but very needful so that all absences are submitted into our new system.  Please come on the day that best fits your schedule.  You only need to attend one of the sessions. 


Looking Ahead:


9/16/15-Early Release Day 1

9/17/15-4th and 5th grade Winston-Salem Strings Ensemble @ 9:00 am in the Gym

9/29/15-Title 1 Parent Meeting and Classroom Visits @ 6:00 pm

We will have a Title 1 Parent Meeting and then release parents/guardians to visit your classrooms.  This is a great time to review expectations (homework, rules and procedures, etc.) and to talk about what the students will learn throughout the first quarter. More details will follow next week. 

Quote for the Week:

We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.

I see this as a strength for us at Bolton--I appreciate your determination, dedication and ALL the effort I see daily! Everything we do is in service to our children and families.  Have a great week!