Take Action You have today!

    

I want to tell you the story of Andrzej. He grew up in a repressed communist country where freedom wasn't available.  In school he had to follow the rules if not he would be in trouble and so would his father.  Every child was expected to learn in exactly the same way.  He had a dream and thought every day how to make it work but had heard of another way in the west.  He had to be clear and have positive self-talk and make a plan.  He needed to adapt to the environment.  He wanted to be free so he broke away and left the country on an old motorcycle he build with no plans to return until he had an American passport.  He came to the USA knowing it was possible and then worked everyday to make it a reality.

    I invite you to think of  this success metaphor at Bloomer.  It's an opportunity to reflect and know that together you and your team can make a difference.  How?  with a dream or vision.  Next a Plan. You need to break free of old habits and make each day better than the last.  

    Last week I was observing Carol Bigley and reflected on how she embraces feedback and then implements it right away.  The result has been that her students are now scoring over 70% proficient.  She takes each day at face value and then works to improve.  She had her learning intention and success criteria posted and broken in to meaningful slices of learning as outline by success criteria. She had her students independently working and using conferring to provide feedback as they worked.  This description of her lesson is the basic formula of clarity, differentiation in the workshop and feedback delivered.  She continues to break the bonds of previous paradigms and reflect on how her kids are reacting to her teaching.

    I also watched Heather Humbert who is also moving away from whole group teaching.  Heather's goals during feedback  are to ask question or prompt kids using the success criteria as a guide.  She knows that giving them this feedback as they work is most powerful.  The goal is to provide feedback and catch kids where they land after releasing students to the full standard or learning intention.

    You are not repressed like Andrzej.  You have choice, voice and a brilliant mind. He also had these qualities and used them to make a new way.  Use them for the betterment of your achievement.  If you have ideas collaborate and use them as fuel for discussions during PLC.  Don't wait.  Your students only have this year to learn your grade level curriculum.

    I wanted to write a blog this week in reflection and support of Ukraine who is also moving toward their dreams.  The people insist on democracy and excellence and reject repression.  They are not standing idly by.  They are taking action. 

You can too!  You have today and those after to make it happen.  Break the into our vision of making Bloomer the school where everyone wants to be.

You Gotta be...

    This is a video of Brene Brown on the the power harnessed when you embrace your vulnerability.  She talks about how embracing your vulnerability allows you to have more empathy and less fear or shame.  Secondly, she talks about how vulnerability gives you the strength  to be innovative and be prepared to be creative and find solutions to problems that seem insurmountable.

Let's face it it may seem like an uphill climb. 

    Our leadership team met and decided the course for our school improvement journey.  We will continue the course. by working to understand the common core standards but will integrate the work with differentiation and feedback. 

Let's take a look at the basics.

One UNDERSTAND THE STANDARD

    The key to avoiding a fragmented and siloed lesson is understanding the ins and outs of a standard. This includes having clarity around the learning intention and success criteria.  In addition, it's (like Paul Wise often says) knowing the potential misconceptions and making a plan of what you will do with kids.

• Plan your PLC!
• Use your Common Core Companion to understand, plan and write learning intentions/success criteria.
• Use your resources to determine what student work will look like.
• Use the student work as a DFA (daily formative assessment) to hit your 80% goal.
• Analyze the DFA results to determine next steps.

Two FEEDBACK

    Feedback is directly tied to your learning intention and success criteria. The more you say it; the clearer it comes out; the more likely it will be that your DFA will produce strong results.  I wrote about this last week when Becki Taylor made her math lesson crystal clear and produced a 75% result.

• Be Specific! Saying Good Job doesn't harm but giving kids actionable feedback using the specifics of your learning intention will scaffold for learning.
• The Sooner the Better!  Catch them while they work.  The most powerful place and time to give feedback is while students are doing the work.  Release them from the mini or focus lesson at the standard.  Then catch them where they land.  Catching means saying the right thing to get the student to do the cognitive work.
• Involve students in the process.  Listen First, Talk less.  Student discourse (kids talk) is where you hear and can interject a prompt, cue or question to move them forward.

Three DIFFERENTIATION

    Differentiation means tailoring instruction to meet individual needs.  Whether teachers differentiate content, process, products, or the learning environment, the use of ongoing assessment and flexible grouping make this a successful approach to instruction.  Andrea Smith capitalizes on differentiation daily and it's paying off. Her kids are 78% proficient in reading and math.  

• SET IT UP! it's critical that you have students under a high level of engagement.  Kids will behave and stay on target when they are working authentically (reading, writing, workplaces, math investigation) rather than on a worksheet.  
• KNOW THY DATA! Observe, plan and target.  You know from your data who may have most difficulty with the learning or who may need enrichment.  Be prepared.  You can not differentiate by the seat of your pants.

YEP!  It's a lot.  

To do it you have to embrace your vulnerability.  Reflect on what you will focus on.  

We are going to do it together. 

Embrace the Opportunity!

   

Beating the Odds

We are moving and shaking.  It's not easy even on a good day.  Let's take a moment to review and capitalize on what works.

Karin Chenoweth (The Education Trust) discusses some of the characteristics she’s identified in five districts that have been highly successful educating disadvantaged students:

• Educators know their students can achieve.  This is the golden ticket.  You need to be able to clearly articulate your belief as well as show evidence of how your are motivating your students.  Goal setting, independent reading incentives and parent communication will make it happen.

• Principals and teachers build master schedules so teachers and students have uninterrupted blocks of teaching/learning time and teacher teams have dedicated time to collaborate.  In addition, you are using your time very wisely.  Less transitions.  Look at the time it's taking to get kids back in the room.  15 minute bathroom breaks and eating breakfast after 905 adds up. Your PLC is critical in getting the scores your need.  Make sure your are keeping up on your agenda and sharing your decision making.  Finally, discuss how implementation is affecting achievement. 

•  “identifying the problem through data, fashioning and implementing a solution, gathering evidence about its effectiveness, and finally, extending the solution if it works or trying something new if it doesn’t.” I love how many teams have really taken the daily formative assessment and common formative assessment to task.  Second and fourth grade are lifting the rigor in literacy and asking more of kids through reading response.

• Teams sit together to look at evidence of student learning – assessment results or student work – and have honest discussions about effective and ineffective teaching practices. This requires shared curriculum goals, common assessments, time to meet, and a high level of professional trust. As Oklahoma superintendent Pam Matthews put it, “There’s nothing wrong with not knowing. What’s wrong is if you don’t find out and learn.”  You should have student work available at all times.  I was in the fifth grade team last week.  Paige had the student work available and was able to identify their strengths and potential misconceptions.  

• Principals delegate responsibility for operational tasks so they can focus on teaching and learning. They don’t, as Chenoweth puts it, “major in the minors,” trying to solve every problem in their building. In addition, when effective managerial practices are identified, they are systematized across the district so everyone benefits and time is used more productively.  Yes!  That's you, Ana!  Thank you so much for all you do to support the time I need to spend in instructional leadership. 

Chenoweth says these practices provide detailed guidance on how to break the correlation between poverty and low student achievement. 

It's terrific when the expert lists many of our components.  It's the reason why this building has moved from the bottom of the District to the top four.

There are a lot of moving parts.  The trick is to stay consistent.  Remember being clear using the language of student friendly learning intentions and success criteria is the way to doubling achievement and growth in your classroom.