Area 2 ALT Program

Internationally Minded Schools

A group of 10 educators including Campbell Middle School, Campbell High, and Area 2 Lead Teachers recently attended the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme Level I Training.  This is a very comprehensive international educational experience for middle school students. It is a five year experience, encompassing grades 6 through 10.  Some schools have implemented grades 6 through 8 with the most popular approach of a school within a school model.

 

Campbell Middle School is in the process of applying to be an IB school, which will allow all students to apply a global perspective to the Georgia Performance Standards. The intent is to pursue the five year model partnering with Campbell High School.  Participating teachers had the opportunity to collaborate with teachers from other schools  and work on planning units using research-based strategies and best practices to use with their students, as they implement this valuable approach to learning.

Teasley Elementary has already applied to integrate the IB Primary Years Programme into their curriculum.  All students beginning in Kindergarten will experience an inquiry approach to learning, as they become internationally minded life-long learners. 

Area Lead Teachers, Damaris Cortes, Debbye Neal and Denise Reynolds recently attended a Shared Inquiry Training and the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Level I Training in order to assist these schools with support  as they pursue becoming Internationally Minded Schools.

The International Baccalaureate Programme is a curriculum framework and philosophy which encourages students across the world to become active, compassionate, and life-long learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.  It allows students to embrace and understand the connections between traditional subject areas and the real world, and to become critical and reflective thinkers.

Sumitted by: Debbye Neal, Denise Reynolds, and Damaris Cortes

Cobb Learning Walks 2007

This year began with several training sessions led by John Antonetti and Cobb's Learning Walk trainers.

                                                                                                                  

Cobb Learning Walks are gearing up. 

Chances are you have either participated in a Learning Walk or have had someone walk your classroom.

The purpose of a Learning Walk is to monitor curriculum and instruction on a day-to-day basis.  It focuses on the learners in the classroom, rather than on the teachers.  Schools that practice Learning Walks report improved instructional practices, fewer discipline referrals and increased student achievement.

Learning Walks provide trend data to schools about student work.  Over time, data from Learning Walks  provide the staff with important information about how the curriculum is being received by the students. Data will show if the standards are being taught.  It will show whether or not the students are engaged in work, are compliant, or off task.

Learning Walks can support professional learning communities when the staff comes together to analyze the trend data.  The staff is encouraged to have conversations about the data, about the objective being clear and evident or what to do if it's not.  Teams of teachers are asked how they might get their students operating at the middle and upper levels of  Bloom's.  Download BloomsWheel.pdf

Whether you are the one doing the walking or the one being walked... What are your thoughts about Cobb Learning Walks?  We are interested in hearing your comments.

Submitted by: Mary Jo Martucci

Day 3 of the Cobb Leadership Summit

Laura and Christina presented a morning session on Day 3 of the Cobb Leadership Summit, Building a Blueprint for Student Success: Tiered Instruction in a Differentiated Classroom. The session seemed be well received as participants (local school, county office, and Marietta City teachers) actively participated, stayed on task, and offered positive feedback.

After introducing the session’s Essential Question, (How do I implement a tiered instruction through a standards-based classroom?) participants jump started their thinking as they discussed differentiation, what it is, and what it is not. One group even tied in information Dr. John Maxwell brought up in his keynote on Monday. As the main objective of 6-station activity was to touch upon the umbrella effect of differentiation, the session proceeded onto Tiered Instruction with the following thoughts in mind…

Differentiation is:

• based on the idea that teachers need to adapt instruction (not adopt) to respond to student differences
• the teacher moves from being the dispenser of knowledge to a facilitator of knowledge
• the student moves from consumer of knowledge to producer.

After an explanation of each of the three tiers, it was onto the nuts and bolts including why we should tier. Discussions included:

• Acknowledges students’ abilities, interests, and learning styles
• Allows choice
• Students construct knowledge differently
• Allows for appropriate level of scaffolding
• Students are challenged at the right level
• Allows for reinforcement and/or extension of the grade level standard
• Promotes student success

After a brief (self) pre-assessment, participants were grouped according to readiness (in this case Novice, Practitioner, & Expert) and completed a tiered lesson.  The performance task lead directly into a discussion of how to make tiering happen - they completed the lesson, but how did presenters get them here?

Differentiated Objective Template

The students will ____(processing verb)____ _____(content:specific)___ by using ____(acquisition of content)___ to ____(product)___.

Would you like this session at your school?  It would be great for a ½ day planning and/or a Professional Learning Day. Click here for the ALT Assistance Request form.

In the meantime, here are three handouts used during the session, all of which are helpful when establishing classroom climate.  The first, the placemat, is the legal sized sheet set up for session note taking. The second includes the role cards, a tool to help teachers establish rules and routines during group work. If using them, a teacher may want to make a certain number of laminated sets to have to use throughout the year. The third is a task sheet that can be used to clearly explain any given task/assignment, while establishing responsibilities and accountabilities. If you use them, let us know how they worked for you!

Download tiering_instruction_summit_placemat.doc

Download grouping_job_role_cards.ppt

Download group_work_task_sheet.doc

LaBelle Packs Power!

On March 7 and March 13, Gloria and Debbye worked with LaBelle Elementary on Larry Bell’s 12 Powerful Words and the UNRAAVEL strategy. Mr. Bell discovered, through research, the 12 Powerful Words are the most commonly used words in standardized testing, as well the most misunderstood by students. The LaBelle staff worked on how to incorporate these words into their lessons throughout all grade levels. 

The UNRAAVEL strategy is a framework that helps break down math word problems and reading passages so students can understand them better. This strategy can be adapted to work in a primary classroom as well as in the intended intermediate class.

By integrating these two instructional techniques into the best practices that teachers already implement, student achievement will continue to rise at LaBelle!

~Debbye

Differentiated Instruction

Several Area 2 ALTs attended the SDE Conference on Differentiated Instruction. Two days of keynote speakers and breakout sessions proved to be extremely informative.  In fact, several of the ALTs utilized strategies in trainings they presented when arriving back to work.  If that isn’t a testimonial, I don’t know what is!

The conference furnished such a tremendous amount of information, there was too much to cover in a blog posting. And, many of us attended different sessions. Therefore, here are some highlights from one prospective….

The Keynote Speakers –

Bruce Campbell spoke on Day 1 about the Dance of the Dendrites. John Brogan’s presentation was on Day 2, offering tidbits ono Making Literacy Matter for all Students.

·        Questioning & Problem Posing in Math  - Jill Perry

• When students begin to ask questions, they begin to understand.
• When students self assess, have them switch writing instruments
• Recreational Mathematics to prompt higher order thinking
• Wording assists with comfortability - i.e. instead of “What do you know”, use “What do you notice”
  • Instead of asking a student to solve a problem (initially), have them ask themselves, “What are three questions I can answer?
• Motivation comes from challenging but doable
• Good state test prep question sites:  Kansas, Michigan, Massachusetts, Maryland, California
  • NOT Virginia

·        Differentiated Vocabulary Instruction – LeAnn Nickelsen

• Wonderful Resources -
• 

• Definition vs. Description
• Great higher order thinking exercise - Simile Categories – Food, Color, Sport/Hobby, Nature
  • ___________ is like ___________ because ___________.

–        Differentiation is like an onion because it is necessary to take the time and peel through the layers to see the core.

·        Classroom Tried and Tiered:  Using Tiered Activities to Differentiate- Dr. Bruce Campbell

• Definition (according to speaker) – technique to teach one skill or concept at varying levels of difficulty or complexity

Key Concept	Skills	Understanding
Those who do not know the concept	Those with some understanding of the concept	Those who understand the concept

• Where to tier? Assignments, HW, assessments, writing prompts, anchor activities, materials/software, centers/learning stations
• Tiered=level=layered

Six (6) models of Tiered

Leveled Model	Multiple approaches, basic facts, skills, etc Application of knowledge – activities/projects Critical Analysis/Real World Analysis
To - With - By	Teach to students, Provide opportunity to practice with support, Extend learning through individual by themselves direct differentiated instruction self-directed
Layered Level	C – basic knowledge (all students) B – only for students mastering Level C A – only for students mastering Level B
Bloom’s Model	1.   Begin where students are at comprehension and analysis activities (Tier 2) 2.   Tier down for students struggling with basic skills and concepts (Tier 1) 3.   Tier up for students capable of higher level thinking (i.e. synthesis & evaluation)
Compacting	1.      Preassess 2.      Determine which students have mastery 3.      Compact content for mastery students and provide extensions
Modality	Narrative – reading or writing learning Hands On – active learning Visual – Charts/diagrams/video learning Interactive – cooperative learning Musical – Rhythmic learning

·        Differentiated Classroom: A Tiered Approach - LeAnn Nickelsen

• Useful resources: Gayle Gregory, Diane Healox, Judith Dodge
• Tiering do not happen everyday

• Differentiated Objective Template

The students will ____(processing verb)____  _____(content:specific)___ by using ____(acquisition of content)___ to ____(product)___

Example: 

The students will compare and contrast the branches of government by using social studies book pgs. 234-237 to complete an “H” diagram or Venn Diagram.

Levels of Tiering	Characteristics
3	Ø    Have shown mastery Ø    Needs to be challenged Ø    Enrichment Ø    Ask gifted coordinator for assistance Ø    Curriculum compacting for Tier 3
2	Ø    Start at this level when Tiering Ø    Approaching mastery of standards & concepts Ø    Intermediate Ø    Once mastered, ask – How can I prepare them to move on?
1	Ø    Introduction level of concepts Ø    Need intense reteaching, practice, and tons of feedback Ø    Need teacher’s help for meaningful understanding Ø    Needs background knowledge Ø    Ask – How do I get this group to master the standards? Ø    Goal – get the group to the next level by scaffolding

America’s Choice – Success By Design

America’s Choice – Success By Design

National Conference, February 8-10, 2007,  Atlanta, GA

I had the wonderful opportunity of attending theAmerica’s Choice  conference in Atlanta.

 

 The conference lasted three days and included exhibits, keynote speakers, half-day sessions, breakout sessions, and virtual tours. Session strands were; Closing the Achievement Gap in Literacy and Math, Meeting the Needs of the English Language Learners and Assessment for Learning. The conference kicked off Thursday with Tom Payzant, senior lecturer, Harvard Graduate School of Education. Mr. Payzant noted that the most important thing is not where we stand but the direction we choose to move. 

America’s Choice   provides schools with a clear direction of where to go. He also stated that professional development is one of the most critical aspects for improvement of schools. Being an America's Choice literacy coach for 4 years, I witnessed the high quality training that is given to the staff of a school that chooses the America’s Choice design. Mr. Payzant said that one of the hardest things for leadership teams is having the tough conversations – what is working and what is not. 

 

Shayanma Chona, principal, Delhi Public School, R. K. Puram, New Delhi spoke on Friday. Mrs. Chona’s school has an enrollment of 10,000 students, yes ten thousand. She recognized

America’s Choice as the reason for her school’s success. Mrs. Chona recommended using Bloom’s Taxonomy to identify the strength of the child. “What level of Bloom’s is the child functioning?” My favorite statement was, “If I can not learn the way you teach, then teach me the way I learn.” That statement for me sums up differentiation. Mrs. Chona noted that when you send a child out of your room to the administration for whatever reason, you are giving up your power. She recommends you carry yourself well, have self-confidence and feel like god when you are conducting your classroom.

My most favorite session was Georgia Heard, writer and educational consultant. Most known for her work with poetry, she wrote Awakening the Heart: Exploring Poetry in Elementary and Middle School and The Revision Toolbox: Teaching Techniques That Work, which I heard is excellent. She has several more books and a new one due out this spring. Ms. Heard showed participants how to use poetry to teach writing. She demonstrated how teachers can teach metaphors, similes, details, point of view, voice and revision using poetry. The ideas were practical and easy to implement for any teacher. I walked away from this workshop with a list of fantastic poetry resources. One thing Georgia mentioned was “The Doors of Poetry”. The doors help students and teachers come up with topics for their poetry. The first door is the Door of the Heart – writing something from your heart. The second door is the Door of Observation – writing something you see outside. The third door is the Door of Curiosity – writing something you wonder about. The fourth door is the Door of Memory – writing something you remember and fifth the Door of Concerns of the World. Georgia believes everyone has the gift of poetry but sometimes that gift is taken out of us due to rules, a need to rush through the curriculum and testing. I recommend you check out her books some of which are available at the public library.

 

Many well know educators presented at this conference. Robert Marzano’s session covered, what research tells us about effective district and school reform. Bob Mackin, director of high schools for America’s Choice led a session on building professional learning communities. P. David Pearson conducted a session on the central role of vocabulary in reading development, instruction, and assessment. The sessions were packed with great information on pertinent topics for today’s educator. The round table seating encouraged conversation among peers, friends or recent acquaintances. One might find themselves seated next to a principal, teacher, consultant, project director or a superintendent.  I always find the America’s Choice conference to be one conference where I walk away rejuvenated, and I come back to the classroom full of new ideas I want to try and share.

 

 

If you ever get the opportunity to attend an America's Choice conference, grab it and go. You will be glad you did.

~ Mary Jo

Wear the CAPE of Differentiation in Your Classroom

If you know your learning style, then you realize that right-brained people benefit from the use of mnemonics for the successful retention of information.  To assist the Right Brain learners of the world, C.A.P.E. stands for the four ways you can differentiate instruction in your classroom. Differentiate through the Content, Activities/process, Products, and the Environment.

On January 29^th, teachers at Osborne High were given the basics of differentiation and discussed strategies for managing a differentiated classroom. The group then examined, in teams, various high school level differentiated lessons and viewed how the examples used this strategy.  Teachers were also about to see how to take small steps toward beginning the process of differentiation in the class.  ALTs, Christina Arpante, MaryJo Martucci, and Gloria King, listened to the teachers’ lively and positive conversations about using differentiation to engage more of their students in the learning process.

CCSD C&I Conference - Day 2

Today wrapped up the CCSD Curriculum & Instruction Conference. Piggy backing on the information conveyed yesterday, today’s sessions pulled everything together. Kathy Annis kicked off Day Two with her introduction and brief reflection of Day 1 about Assessments for Learning. When creating formative or summative assessments, we have to remember (as the audience said with her – We shouldn’t adopt, we should adapt.

Dr. Judy Gilliam followed Kathy Annis with powerful words and affirming accolades. She spoke of C&I’s dialogues and questions they ask within the department, the poignant one being

If we know we can do better, why aren’t we?

Dr. Gilliam continued, speaking with the conference participants about being “lifters”. Lifters? Conference participants were recognized as the lifters, leaders that would bring the C&I message out to the schools. Dr. Gilliam’s message was pulled together by Ella Wheeler Wilcox’s poem she read, Just Two Kinds of People.

Just Two Kinds of People

There are two kinds of people, no more, I say.
Not the good and the bad, for its well understood
that the good are half bad and the bad are half good.
Not the happy and sad, for the swift-flying years
bring each man his laughter and each man his tears.
Not the rich and the poor, for to count a man's wealth
you must first know the state of his conscience and health.
Not the humble and proud, for in life's busy span
Who puts on vain airs is not counted a man.

No! The two kinds of people on earth I mean
are the people who lift and people who lean.
Wherever you go you will find the world's masses
are ever divided in just these two classes.
And strangely enough you will find, too, I ween,
there is only one lifter to twenty who lean.
In which class are you? Are you easing the load
of overtaxed lifters who toil down the road?
Or are you a leaner who lets other bear
you portion of worry and labor and care?

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Before heading into the next presentation, the focus of the conference was reinterated.  The conference was to allow its attendees to delve deeper into assessment, communicating with a common language, and develop teams – work and speak with those with who we may not come in regular contact.

Proceeding after Dr. Gilliam, we heard from the GAGOE, Dr. Sue Snow, Director of Curriculum, and Dr. Chris Domaleski, Director of Assessment. The goal of the GaGOE Testing Division? To

Provide well-designed assessments, aligned to the curriculum, timely with delivery of useful results.

And how are the tests aligned to the curriculum? Through content & standard alignment. What must the students know and how well must they perform?

They also spoke about what’s to come from the GaDOE.  For instance, the Algebra and Geometry EOCT will be replaced by Math I and II in 2008-2009. There will be new criteria for ELA and Science in Spring 2008 with changes in the performance levels, reporting scales, and cut scores. And, the new high school writing assessment will be administered for the first time in the Fall 2007.  There is also a new endeavor to replace the current GKAP with the Georgia Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (GKIDS), a plan that will progress to an operational administration during the 2008-2009 academic year. Now, if you’re a Kindergarten teacher, there is no need to worry.  When the time comes, the Inventory will be one that is naturalistic, invisible to the students. With data collections throughout the school year, the students will not even realize need to be stressed about being assessed. 

According to Dr. Domaleski, the bottom line is

What we assess, how we assess, and how we communicate the results send a clear message to students about

• what is worth learning,
• how it should be learned,
• what elements of quality are the most important,
• and how well we expect them to perform.

Dr. Snow picked up with the tiers of Assessment for Learning, the differences between the District/State, Teacher, and Student levels.

To summarize,

The District/State is (are) your data instrument source (CRCT, EOCT, GHSGT, AP exams, ACT/SAT/PSAT.

Teachers facilitate GPS tasks, develop and administer formative and summative benchmarks, provide timely, detailed, and specific feedback via their formative assessments and monitoring, and provide exemplars.

Students, in terms of performance, need to know where they are, where they are going, and how to get there. 

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After the GaGOE presentation, the conference shifted gears from whole group to break out sessions, AM and PM. Many of us went to different gatherings, which will be detailed in a later posting.    

The 2PM session combined various groups for debriefing. Our objective was to choose from two activities, both of which entailed creating/connecting/paralleling formative assessments to a thermostat.  At 3PM, the groups reassembled for the conference wrap up, which detailed of the work completed in the debriefings.  The outcomes? Analogies and/or three key words from the analogies that the groups came up with included the following:

Formative Assessments are like…

Accountability – hiking on the

Appalachian Trail

Elementary C&I – the differences in cars and/or what they encounter (as the group “drove” cars down the aisles) – destinations, speeds, road blocks, types, etc.

High School C&I – seedlings that are planted, cultivated, and grow

Middle Grades C&I – (key words) flow, continuous, differentiation

Special Education and Instructional Technology – The evolution of thermostats

Areas 1 & 2 ALTs – the household heating bill: everything/factors that go into receiving a low/affordable bill (i.e. student success)

Areas 5&6 ALTs – Everything in your car that allows you to know if it is functioning properly: lights, GPS, odometer, etc.

Areas 3&4 ALTs – The thermostat (in Fahrenheit) has been changed to Celsius and teachers scramble to recreate, redo, and redeliver

ESOL/Title I – An antibiotics regimen 

Professional Development – well….how can this be explained…. hmmm….American Idol?  If so, Andy, Cheryl,

Nancy

, and Pat all get our votes.  Changing the Temptations lyrics of My Girl to Formative, Professional Development rocked the house. If their performance wasn’t a fantastic example of what can occur in our classrooms, I won’t know what is.

Great Job, Everyone!

Going Fishing at the CCSD C&I Conference

While there will be postings that describe the break-out sessions on Day 2, the few of us who went to the Performance Task session, facilitated by Sue Brown and Rachel Scott, wanted to post the activity used an example when discussing the evolution if math over the years: word problems, to problem solving, to performance tasks. However you phrase it, this activity and the collaboration among the groups portrayed a great example of differeniation and allowing students to use dialogue and different vehicles to solve problems. (It caused this ELA teacher to have heart palpatations!)

Groups were given a blank worksheet of base ten grids and a bag with glue sticks, scissors, and markers.  If we wanted to, we could use the supplies.

How would you go about solving this problem?  What was your final answer?  Explain.

Last weekend, Mandy decided to sell worms to the fisherman who fish on the lake next to her house.  She had 100 worms to sell.  She sold 0.2 of the worms in the first ten minutes.  By lunchtime, she had sold 0.5 of the remaining worms.  By dinnertime, she had sold 0.4 of those remaining.

(a) How many worms did she have left to sell the next day?
(b) If Mandy sells worms for $0.36 a dozen, how much money did she earn by dinnertime?

CCSD C&I Conference - Day 1

CCSD educators gathered at the Mt. Paran North Church of God today for their C&I conference – Assessment for Learning in Cobb’s Performance Based Classrooms. The two day forum was kicked off by Dr. Diane Bradford, Chief Academic Officer. A model for all present, the witty and personable Dr. Bradford engaged the audience and offered relevant and relatable analogies that connected to the conference objectives.

 

Then, after a brief overview, Will Rumbaugh, Director of K-12 Curriculum, Catherine Garrison began her Assessment is Information presentation. While Area 2 ALTs were familiar with the content, Ms. Garrison (from Measured Progress) presented the useful content, prompting thoughts of ways to effectively and efficiently convey the information back to our teachers. With the focus on assessment, our session goals were to understand:

• the importance of Assessment Literacy
• the difference between formative and summative assessments
• various assessments have different purposes and provide different information
• student involvement through feedback as a linchpin to achievement

The Essential Question

How will we help improve Cobb County  teachers' assessment practices in their performance-based classrooms?

 

Standards-Based Planning (SBP) – What do you want to students to know & do? How will you know they know and understand? The 3-Step Standards Based Planning Process, a simplified model of UbD (Unpack Standards, Assessment Design, and Planning of Learning Experiences) will bring about student accomplishments. Students' accomplishments lead to no children being left behind. 

 

As Garrison adamantly conveyed, standards-based planning is not asking us, teachers, administrators – educators - to do more.  It’s asking us to do it better.

To be effective, we need to ask questions -

• How are you creating a class environment where kids can articulate about their own learning?
• What is/are the best vehicle(s) to assist you?

We’re educators. Until we do, we will not get. Therefore, we must find the tools that drive, not drive the tools. Formative assessments are our co-pilots down the runway toward the summative assessments. And, because formative assessments are not graded (since the students are practicing), observation and monitoring of these assessments will supervise a successful takeoff. 

 

Students need standards-based planning so that they can articulate what they do and do not know, and be able to ask the right questions. Balanced assessment, a common language, and instruction that are all tied back to the standards results in equity. Equity leads to student successes. Student successes lead to no children being left behind.