Area 2 ALT Program

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

Three Cheers for the Muske"tiers"!

Teacher's at Hawthorne, MS and HS, spend time together collaborating and developing tiered lessons for their students. After a brief overview and review of differentiation and details on the ins and outs of  tiered instruction, teachers used their standards to create objectives that meet the needs of their students, with the assistance of a template mentioned here back in February. 

• Differentiated Objective Template

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

Want this wonderful workshop at your school for your teachers?  Click here for the ALT Assistance Request form.

Hawthorne Hits a Grand Slam!

Several ALTs have had the pleasure of working with Hawthorne's middle and high school teachers this year. Hawthorne is the first middle school and high school in Area 2 with which we have completed all three stages of PBI training. The Area 2 ALTs would like to send out an enthusiastic congratulations to  this group of wonderful teachers, all who project a true passion for teaching and student learning.

FitzHugh Teachers Onboard with PBI

FitzhughLee teachers met with ALTs Debbye Neal and Gloria King on Feb. 28. They learned the important aspects of Part I of Performance Based Instruction (PBI) – identifying desired results. The teachers are presently writing essential questions and learned more specifics to make the questions require a higher level of thinking. They looked at their standards, identified the nouns and verbs, determined the enduring understanding and wrote essential questions. Appreciative of the opportunity to have questions answered about standards and elements,  FitzHugh teachers are well on their way to understanding all of the components of PBI.

~ Gloria

Fourth Grade Quarterly Training

Fourth Grade Quarterly Training – Monday, December 4, 2006: Excellent training was provided by the county literacy coaches, Dianne Fiederline and Jill Hawes, and the county math facilitators, Cathy Massett and Christine Dinizio. The county literacy coaches began the training by displaying the flow map of the county’s focus on PBI for this year and fortunately almost everyone claimed to have seen the flow map. Next, the coaches asked participants to rate themselves on the PBI Implementation Rubric which was included in the packet they gave to participants. This rubric is a great tool for self-reflection. I am wondering what comments teachers would have made if given an opportunity to discuss the categories and their placement on the rubric.

Download PerformanceBasedInstructionJuly172006.doc

Four Ways to Respond to Literature” which was included in the packet. The Young Georgia Author’s Writing Competition was discussed and the rules and entry form were in the packet too!Next, the literacy coaches talked about "Beginning with the End in Mind”.  Diane and Jill went on to do a fantastic presentation using a read aloud to model how to use the standards of comprehension, fluency and vocabulary through the use of visual organizers, text lifting, and drama.  These coaches modeled 4 different mini-lessons incorporating reading strategies using the book The Scarlet Stocking Spy by Trinka Hakes Noble. They suggested using the same text all week to cover the 4 major standards - comprehension, vocabulary, fluency and developing good reading habits. Handouts on all the lessons demonstrated were included in a take-home packet. In the short amount of time the coachers were allotted, they covered all the components of a balanced literacy classroom. A guided reading video off the DVD from Fountas & Pinnell’s new book, The Literacy Connection was viewed and discussed. One vignette featured a fourth grade teacher conducting guided reading. This clip enabled the fourth grade teachers in the audience to view what a fully functioning guided reading group would look like when the students are meeting or exceeding standards (the end goal). The last thing demonstrated was a quick task rotation guide for differentiating writing instruction called “

The second part of the day was spent with the county math facilitators, Cathy and Denise who demonstrated many great hands-on activities and performance tasks. They hooked the audience with a paper plate activity that demonstrated 180 and 360 degree turns. Two simple styrofoam paper plates with ridges that can be bought at the Dollar Store or Wal-Mart were used. The plates have 36 ridges that students can mark with 10 to 360 degrees. This model answered the essential questions, “How do I know the difference between a 180 and 360 degree rotation?”, and, “What are the characteristics of angles?”  Next, participants created a number line on sentence strips that went from 0 to 4 and included improper fractions. This number line was a terrific learning task that modeled addition and subtraction of mixed numbers and improper fractions. After that, the participants were asked to create a city using geometric shapes and terms called, Geometry City that demonstrated how geometry is used in the real world. The creativity of the fourth grade teachers attending was amazing and made the workshop fun and interesting. Participants also did some problem solving, but, the most fun was creating the water cycle in a plastic Ziploc bag with sand and a few drops of water.

I thoroughly enjoyed this month’s quarterly training and I learned a lot too! The county literacy coaches, Diane and Jill, along with the math facilitators, Cathy and Christine, expertly modeled lessons that included performance tasks that focused on standards. If you attended one of the quarterly trainings, please post your thoughts and comments here.

~Mary Joe

It’s about Success on the Football Field, in the Classroom, and in Life

November 10, 2006 Campbell 21, Harrison 12 Why am I starting this article for the blog with a football score? Football is a performance-based sport. You go onto the field with the end in mind – to win the game. You ask yourself the essential question – how are we going to defeat our opponents. You have the enduring understanding that planning and preparation by all players and coaches is vital to your success.

Four ALTs presented stage 1 of Performance Based Instruction (PBI) to over 100 Campbell High School teachers on the November 7^th Cluster Inservice Day. What is applicable for a game of football is also true for instruction in a high school classroom. Determine the standard to be taught, begin with the end in mind, focus the learning for the students with essential questions, and help them to understand that this learning is transferable to other areas of study and in life.

Many Campbell teachers are already posting essential questions in their classrooms. The training offered them the opportunity to take these questions to a higher level. In fact, oneCampbell teacher commented that if the answer for the essential question could be found in a reference book then it is not requiring higher level thinking on the student’s part. Teachers “unpacked” with their colleagues one of their standards writing the essential question and the enduring understanding. They saw that this is not an easy process, but vital to moving students toward learning that is real-life and not recall knowledge. Success on the football field, in the classroom, and in life begins with a standard of performance. Go Spartans!

~Gloria

Webquests

I check a few blogs fairly regularly - Edublog Insights being one. Anne Davis spoke at my KSU blogging workshop this summer and is a wonderful resource. Today she linked great sights I thought I would share. Specifically, since webquests are a great way to get students involved with their units, the K-12 Webquest Blog is a place to visit.  Today, the blog featured an interesting webquest on Picasso (the painter, not the CCPS Curriculum Portal).  Or you can create your own Webquest via QuestGarden.  I think K-12 Blog of the Day is a fun site, too!

Feel free to share your favorite places to go on the internet - or share units, lessons, and/or performance tasks.

Learning With Hip Hop

Several ALTs were working with Birney Elementary today, as they dive into data teams. Prior to the break out sessions, general announcements were made to the staff as a whole.   

First, I loved that the staff had an opportunity to share personal accolades to/about their colleagues.  One first grade teacher shared the fabulous news of being cancer free, as she held up her laminated notification letter.  Another teacher recognized a colleague who ran a half marathon in Chicago this past weekend.  It is wonderful to see, as we travel from school to school, the ways postive learning communities are fostered in Area 2. Thanks Principal Kelley, for including this important piece in the meeting agenda!

Then, an obviously talented teacher (name is being withheld) shared information on a "student" named Mark D. Pencil, a young #2 birthed to promote positive student achievement. Mark D. Pencil is featured (along with his friends) on Learning with Hip Hip, a CD that

can be used everyday for learning basic reading and math facts, following verbal direction, exercising, and proper school behaviors.

Learning through music.  How great is that!  Talk about real life connections and PBI!  I immediately thought back to Mr. McMullen's 6th grade social studies class when I couldn't remember any of the  information I needed to know about civics and government.  So, per my mom's suggestion, I rewrote the lyrics to The Reflex by Duran Duran (Do you all remember the big-haired days of the early 80s?).  Although I believed I received a consequence for humming during a test, I received an A.

Making the learning relevant to the students - that's what it is all about.  Thanks Mark D. Pencil!  Good luck with the launch of the CD!

Seeing PBI in Action

Today, Amy Krause spoke with our group about the many resources available to math teachers. Although she is the elementary math guru, she exposed us to ideas for all levels. In addition to the many possibilities PICASSO offers, there are a plethora of video clips to view PBI in practice. Specifically, Annenberg Media: Teacher professional development programming for K-12 teachers includes video clips that show student-centered instruction with real-life connections. The clips are not “dramatized” and are realistic examples of what can be duplicated as it pertains to teachers' classes.

Not being a math person, I have tried to look for/attend opportunities outside my comfort zone – i.e. math. On the part of the site that provides a video library for teaching Mathematics 9-12, the viewer can

See how high school teachers use the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards and group learning to reach a broad range of students. In this library, teachers demonstrate the fine art of guiding students through reasoning and problem solving. Students comment on the new way of learning, often expressing frustration as well as the sense of accomplishment they feel when working through problems with peers.

I watched and was engaged in the lesson for # 15. Maximizing Profits:

A class is divided into small groups to discuss problem-solving strategies, such as finding a verbal model, assigning labels, and writing an algebraic model based on maximizing profit on sales of necklaces and bracelets.

I kept thinking… had I been taught in this way, maybe I wouldn’t act as though math was an evil foe. This lesson made sense to me….and (as I have stated in a previous posting) with my lack of mathematical savvy, that’s a pretty big deal!

I also enjoyed the social studies/history resources. In particular, within Making Civics Real was Workshop #6: Civil Engagement that shows examples of service learning. According to the one student featured in the clip,

Service learning is a lot more hands on and, for me, I know I learn better hands on. It gives us an opportunity to go out there and meet people from the community.  Let us know that we can make a difference and people do care what we think…

How much does that say?!?!

Check out the site, for it is fantastic for ALL levels. Use its resources to assist you in making PBI an instinctive practice within your classroom.

Students First Conference

Laura and I attended the Students First Conference today.  Hosted by KSU Bagwell College of Ed's Center for Service, Outreach & Partnerships, the topic was Differentiation in the Content Areas - with a middle school focus today. It offered a ton of great information that sparked conversation and thought.

After the opening remarks, Sue Brown (ITC for CCPS) spoke on Performance Based Instruction.  Since representatives from multiple school districts were present, it was cool to have prior knowledge of the information Ms. Brown was offering.  Laura and I felt like we were one step ahead of the pack! Sandra Page, an ASCD faculty member with tremendous credentials, gave the keynote address: A Rationale for Differentiation: Student Centered Best Instructional Practices.

Here are a few bits and pieces I thought were poignant:

• A quote from Howard Gardner that every educator should think about…

The biggest mistake of past centuries in teaching has been to treat all children as if they were variants of the same individual and thus to feel justified in teaching them all the same subjects in the same way.

• Carol Ann Tomlinson’s definition of differentiated instruction:

Differentiated instruction is a teaching philosophy based on the premise that teachers should adapt instruction to student differences. Rather than marching students through the curriculum lockstep, teachers should modify their instruction to meet students’ varying readiness levels, learning preferences, and interests. Therefore, the teacher proactively plans a variety of ways to ‘get at’ and express learning.

•  All students want their teachers to (1) get to know them personally, (2) get to know them as individuals, and (3) have learning attend to their interests.
• 

 

Interesting picture on the PowerPoint...

• Differentiated instruction is not individualized instruction. It is the reasonable plan of approaches to meet the needs of as many students as possible.
• Working in Groups: Group work does not mean students have to work together. They can individually work on the same GPS, just at different levels of challenge and interests.
• It is important to challenge students appropriately. All students must have the opportunity to be successful, if not on the first (or second or several) attempt, eventually. A moderate challenge is 10-15% more than what the student knows or can do.

After listening to the keynote address, we broke out into sessions. I attended Tools for Differentiating Instruction in a Middle School Math Class. Wow – I was a fish out of water! I went to the math session because it is not my background and I need to know how to help others when asked.  The group worked on Early Algebra activities and it was a positive eye opening experience. During the warm-up, I worked with Tangrams to learn about area, which led to switching units to calculate the data, and then fractions and proportions. (My head began to hurt at this time, but I continued to listen….) The next activity dealt with Representing Relationships, in which I used toothpicks to create triangles, recorded data on a table, completed an algebraic sentence to describe the relationship between the number of triangles and number of toothpicks, and rewrote my statement using variables. I can’t wait to bring this back to math teachers because if I can learn this content with my deficiency in my mathematic knowledge – kids can definitely make the connections.

Lastly, the presenter showed us a cylinder manipulative (which can be replaced by a simple Quaker Oatmeal container).  By unraveling the container, she showed us how the container rolls out into a rectangle. This connected that the surface area of a cylinder is the formula is 2 Pi x R x H for the surface area. (Did you get all that? Ha! Ha! Thanks for the formula correction, Ed.)

Thanks KSU!