2. Meeting Procedures and Routines
Meeting Documents Keep Certified Registration
The documents from the district PD
Be certain to sign-in so that you will
meetings will be sent via a distribution
earn CEUs. CEUs will be awarded after
list for your collaborative team. Once
the February 20 session. Participants
the documents are sent, you will have
will be registered automatically on
access to your collaborative team’s
Keep Certified.
email distribution list.
High Five In Case of Emergencies
Look for the “high five” as a signal to Please silence cell phones during our
come back together—a signal to wrap work with one another. You are
up your final point during a discussion welcome to check messages during our
as a sign of transition. breaks.
3. Designing Powerful Professional Development for Teachers
by Dennis Sparks
(from Learning Forward…formerly NSDC)
“What teachers know and do influences students’
academic success. The need for ongoing professional
learning that deepens teachers’ understanding of
their content area and expands their instructional
repertoire is essential to improving student learning.
When the content of staff development focuses
specifically on what data about student performance
indicate are the areas of greatest need for
students, the return on the investment in professional
learning is likely to be higher.”
4. Triad Talk: Key Words or Phrases
• Individually underline or
highlight key words or
phrases that connect to
you.
• When prompted…
– Join two other people,
– Share who you are and
where you teach,
– Share what and why you
highlighted the key words
or phrases from the
passage
5. Key Objectives for District PD—2011-2012
(October 17, January 23, February 20)
1. Engage in collaborative learning that deepens our understanding of the
first two questions of collaborative teams (PLCs):
• Question 1: What do we want students to know, understand, and
do?
• Question 1a: What do we need to know, understand, and do as
enrichment specialists?
• Question 1b: What do our colleagues need to
know, understand, and do about our work?
• Question 2: How will we know if our students are learning?
2. Collaboratively share our work aligned with questions 1 and 2 of
collaborative teams (PLCs)
6. Elbow Partner Conversation
• With a colleague next to
you, discuss how the
key objectives support
your professional
learning.
• Then discuss why they
are important for
improving your
students’ learning.
7. Four Focus Questions for
Work of Collaborative Teams
• What do we want our students to
Q1 know, understand, and do?
• How will we know they are learning?
Q2
• How will we respond when they don’t learn?
Q3
• How will we respond when they do learn?
Q4
8. “High quality
professional
development is
characterized by
sustained, coherent,
collaborative and
job-embedded
learning.”
9. Collaborative Journey
• Support for high-quality PD related to collaborative teams and
the focus questions is built into our professional learning:
– In our buildings—
• Regularly scheduled collaborative team meeting time
focused on student learning
– Across the district—
• District PD dates for 2011-2012 (October 17, January
23, February 20, and June TBD)
• District PD dates for 2012-2013 (August, October
15, January 21, April 15, and June TBD)
• New PD classes aligned to our work will be part of the
district’s new Staff Development Academy
10. Mentoring a New Colleague
• You have been asked by
your principal to mentor a
new enrichmentspecialist.
You have been asked to
discuss what the focus of
your work is by sharing the
big ideas or core concepts
that reflect how you
support your students.
• What are big ideas or core
concepts you will be sharing
with your new colleague?
11. Sharing Essential Learning Outcomes
• Sharing Protocol:
Process:
With a partner from
– Partner A shares for 3
across the room—does minutes. Partner B listens.
not have to be a – Partner B shares for 3
enrichment specialist— minutes. Partner A listens.
– When prompted, discuss
share your reflections with what you heard and
them as if they are the learned for 1 minute.
new reading teacher or – Be sure not to interject or
comment when your
media specialist. partner is speaking.
12. Hmmm…
• While you were sharing
or listening, what did
you learn about what
you shared and/or what
you heard being
shared?
13. Four Focus Questions for
Work of Collaborative Teams
• What do we want our students to
Q1 know, understand, and do?
• How will we know they are learning?
Q2
• How will we respond when they don’t learn?
Q3
• How will we respond when they do learn?
Q4
14. About Our Teaching Time
• Create a group of four by
joining another elbow
partners pair.
• Generate a list of the things
that will interfere with your
responsibilities (setting
routines at the beginning of
the year/quarter, testing
prep or
testing, school/special
assemblies).
• Be prepared to share the
number of lost instructional
days with the whole
group…when prompted.
15. How Do Things Line Up?
If the blue line represents everything that we
need to teach….
And the green line represents the time we
have to teach…
Then…what does that mean for how we approach
instructional planning during each quarter/semester?
16. The most essential
Targeting What Matters learning outcomes or
core concepts that
students need to
understand
Essential
knowledge, skills, and
vocabulary students
need to get to
understanding
Information that is
worth knowing, but NOT
essential for students to
know
17. Getting to Essential Learning Outcomes…
…involves an ongoing process of—
– Collaborating
– Thinking
– Doing
– Collaborating
– Thinking
– Doing
– Collaborating
– Thinking
– Doing
18. Getting to Essential Learning Outcomes
Our decisions about essential learning outcomes is influenced by…
19. Question 1: Common Language
What do we want students to
know, understand, and do?
Essential Learning Outcomes
Core Concepts
Big Ideas
Enduring Understandings
20. Essential Learning Outcomes Defined
• Essential learning outcomes are…
– The indicators, by grade level, course, or content
area, that all students will have access to regardless of
their building or classroom assignment
– The top priorities in a grade level, course, or content
area that students need to know, understand, and do
– The concepts that provide focus to the curriculum—
defining a guaranteed, viable curriculum
– The framework that guides collaborative instructional
planning both horizontally and vertically
21. Targeting What Matters The most essential
learning outcomes or core
concepts that students
need to understand
Essential
knowledge, skills, and
vocabulary students need
to get to understanding
Opportunity or Challenge?
By narrowing our focus on
the essential outcomes or
core concepts, what
opportunities do we have as
teachers? What might the
challenges be?
22. Getting at What Matters Most
• As you individually read “Getting Curriculum Reform Right” by
Guskey, document your response using the following prompts as they
relate to your role as a media specialist or reading teachers:
• What “squares” with your
understanding?
• What “points” do you need to
remember?
• What questions are “circling”
around in your head?
24. On Using Standards to Guide Practice…
“I always approach the standards with my students in
mind. I try to come up with a lesson that I think will be
interesting for students. Then I’ll sit down and
say, which standards am I covering, which should I be
covering that I’m not covering? I see part of my job as
trying to get the kids that aren’t interested to be
interested. The whole point is to help the kids, that’s
the whole reason I do it. You have to continue to try
new things, to be comfortable with what you’re
doing, and to try to reach as many kids as possible.
That’s the sole purpose of what I do. I’ll do it any way I
can.”
—Steve Bodnar, High School English Teacher
25. Reflective Prompts to Develop Question 1
1. What are 8-10 essential learning outcomes you
want students to understand?
2. What do you need to know, understand, and do
as media specialists? As reading teachers?
3. What are the essential knowledge and skills
students need to support their learning?
4. What is the essential academic vocabulary
students need to support their learning?
27. Focus on Question 1:
What do we need students to know, understand, and do?
1. Look for the 8-10
As you think about the essential learning
course or focus of what outcomes or big ideas
students need to that students should
learn, use the standards leave your classroom
and benchmarks related understanding
to your work to identify 2. Consider the language
the essential learning being used in the
outcomes that will guide standards—what
your instructional actions are core?
planning. What concepts emerge
as core?
28. Checking for Understanding
• When prompted, form
collaborative teams of 4-5
and share the essential
learning outcomes that
you have identified.
• During the sharing, make
notes and/or document
your colleagues’ thinking.
• As a group, generate a
master copy of essential
learning outcomes.
29. Identifying Knowledge, Skills, & Vocabulary
• As individuals, reflect Essential Learning
Outcome
on the essential
learning outcomes that Knowledge, Skills, an
d Vocabulary
have been identified
and generate the
knowledge, skills, and
academic vocabulary
that students need in The required
order to get to knowledge, skills, and
academic vocabulary students
understanding need to demonstrate
understanding of the essential
learning outcome.
30. Sharing Emerging Work
• Join your collaborative
team and begin sharing
the
knowledge, skills, and
academic vocabulary
you believe are most
essential for each of
the essential learning
outcomes you have
identified.
31. Looking Ahead
• As part of your collaborative team meetings in your
buildings and at subsequent district PD sessions, you will
continue your collaboration to identify and document the
following:
– Essential Learning Outcomes
– Essential Knowledge
– Essential Skills
– Essential Academic Vocabulary
• Share a copy of your collaborative team’s emerging work
(NOTE: only one copy per collaborative team needs to be
submitted so that we can use the information to guide our
planning processes for January and February).
• Copies will be scanned and emailed to all participants in
the group.
32. Key Messages
• What were the key messages that we learned
today that will guide our work and learning
with one another?
Think about…
The instructional time you have and/or don’t have
The use of standards and benchmarks to guide your
instructional planning
The identification of essential learning outcomes, essential
knowledge, essential skills, and essential academic
vocabulary
The process of being collaborative
33. When I Think About Question 1…
I am most excited by…
I am most concerned about…
I wish I knew…
I expect that…
I am committed to…
34. Teachers Are the Key
If there is one thing we have learned over the past three decades of
reform and research, it’s that teachers matter most in schools.
Standards and assessments are part of the puzzle, as are the
availability of quality resources, a strong school/community
partnership, and safe facilities.
But teachers and teaching have a significant effect on student
achievement. Tests don’t improve student learning, teachers do.
A curriculum alone doesn’t improve student learning.
But teacher-guided student interactions with the curriculum and
teacher selections of elements for discussion, expansion, and
emphasis do.
High standards alone don’t improve student learning.
But teachers who communicate high expectations by providing
intellectually challenging learning activities and materials do.
From Teaching to the Core – Reading, Writing, and Mathematics, MCREL 2001
Hinweis der Redaktion
5 minutes:After you greet your participants, share the routines and procedures that will be part of our district PD days. One routine involves bringing our group back together when we are engaged in collaborative learning. When we need to come back together, look for the “high five.” When you see it, know we will be coming back together—raise your hand. Another procedure is related to information that we share at our meetings. Participants will be sent to an email so that they can access all of the materials/documents from the district PD sessions. A third procedure deals with cell phones. Teaching and Learning will be registering participants on Keep Certified once all staff member assignments have been updated. Hours will be assigned after the February 20 session.
5-7 minutes (1 of 2 slides)Distribute handout with the passage by Sparks and the key objectives (copied on both sides). Read the passage by Sparks to your group and invite them to underline or circle words or phrases that are important to them and that speak to their beliefs, professional learning needs, and/or hopes/expectations.
5-7 minutes (2 of 2 slides)After participants have discussed the passage for a few minutes, invite 3-4 people to share some of what was discussed in their triad. The purpose of the passage and the sharing is to reinforce the importance of deepening their understanding about their content area/profession and to engage in learning collaboratively.
5-7 minutesAfter sharing the key objectives for the morning, have elbow partners talk about the prompts for a couple of minutes. Invite 3-4 people who didn’t share during the quote to share which of the objectives are going to be critical for their professional learning and which will impact their students’ learning. REINFORCE THE CONCEPT THAT OUR FOCUS ON QUESTIONS 1 AND 2 WILL BE SUSTAINED—BOTH IN OUR WORK DURING DISTRICT PD AND AT SITES WITH COLLABORATIVE TEAMS—IT’S A PROCESS…A COLLABORATIVE JOURNEY.
5-7 minutesInvite 3-4 people to share which of the objectives are going to be critical for their professional learning and which will impact their students’ learning. Reinforce that the emphasis for district PD days this year will be on questions one and two related to collaborative teams (PLCs)—question 1: what do we need our students to know, understand, and do? And question 2: how will we know if they know it (assessment of and for learning)?
5 minutesThe focus of PLC work is for teams to focus on processing the four questions that guide PLC work:What do we want our students to know?How will we know they are learning?How will we respond when they don't learn?How will we respond when they do learn?
Sustained PD is on-going. Coherent PD is connected to our work—a focus on teaching and learning. Collaborative PD is about learning from and with one another. Job-embedded PD is linked directly to our daily work.NEW SLIDE FOR PRINCIPALS WHO ATTENDED TUESDAY’S SESSION!
Our focus on the PLC questions will be sustained, coherent, collaborative, and job-embedded!!!!!!!!NEW SLIDE FOR PRINCIPALS WHO ATTENDED TUESDAY’S SESSION!
10-15 minutes (slide 1 of 3) (TEACHERS)Share the scenario with the group. Allow individuals to reflect individually and quietly for 5 minutes. Have them record their initial thinking on scratch paper so that they can use their notes for a conversation.
Language accommodates either elementary or secondary (slide 2 of 3)
Slide 3 of 3Invite feedback and comments from the whole group.
5 minutesThe focus of PLC work is for teams to focus on processing the four questions that guide PLC work:What do we want our students to know?How will we know they are learning?How will we respond when they don't learn?How will we respond when they do learn?
OPTIONAL FOR K-6 MATH, SECONDARY ELA, MATH, SCIENCE.5 minutesHave groups of 4 generate list and then share # of days—make the connection to question 1—as teachers, we need to know and use our instructional time effectively to help our students learn the essential outcomes for our class, course, or content area.
1-2 minutesThis slide reinforces the idea that we often have more to teach and not enough time to teach the essential outcomes, knowledge, skills, and academic vocabulary that our students need.You do not need to provide discussion time for this slide…it is intended to visually reinforce that we COULD teach MORE CONTENT than WE HAVE time to teach the content. Therefore, we need to be purposeful in determining what and when to teach the essential outcomes for our class, course, or content area.
5 minutesThis slide is for you to share with your participants, as well. If the whole circle represents the content that could be taught, the center circle would represent the most essential outcomes or core concepts that students need to understand. It represents the concepts we want our students to leave our classrooms “UNDERSTANDING.” The middle (teal colored) circle represents the essential knowledge, skills and academic vocabulary students have to have so that they can understand the essential outcomes. The outer circle represents the “nice or interesting to know” information, but it is NOT essential.
We want teachers to know their work will continue and the district is supporting that through curriculum development, district PD and building level PLC work. The work requires thought, implementation, and collaboration—part of an ongoing process. This is part of the continuous improvement process…we informally experience this as part of our practice on regular basis. The processes we are working on to get to the essential learning outcomes are more formal.NEW SLIDE FOR PRINCIPALS WHO ATTENDED TUESDAY’S SESSION!
To get to the essential learning outcomes, a number of items factor into decision-making about what students need to know, understand, and do. We have to consider how national, state, local standards, our teaching, our students, research-best practices, etc. factor influence and/or guide our decision-making.NEW SLIDE FOR PRINCIPALS WHO ATTENDED TUESDAY’S SESSION!
1-2 minutesThis slide references core concepts, essential learning outcomes, big ideas, enduring understandings—all terms from best practices in relation to curriculum and instruction that essentially mean the same thing…so as we focus on question one, we are narrowing our focus on the center circle from the graphic and trying to have teachers identify—and name—the 8-10 big ideas, essential learning outcomes, or core concepts that students need to understand. Using any of the terms on the slide is acceptable…the idea is to think big, core, essential, or enduring. In ISD 191, we will be using essential learning outcomes.
3-5 minutesLet your participants read the descriptors for the definition for essential learning outcomes before discussing it with the larger group. Invite feedback from the room about the definition. The intent of the district is to have a common language and develop a common understanding for our work on curriculum and instruction.This slide was missing from the Friday morning session.
5-7 minutesAsk participants to find someone across the room with whom they have not visited to discuss the diagram and the intent of it. After a few minutes, invite a few participants to share their responses. Guide the conversation to focus on our work as educators should be to collaborate to determine what students REALLY need to know, understand, and do. We should use standards and benchmarks (national and state—professional organizations) and local expectations to guide our decision-making. We need to use standards and benchmarks to guide our decision-making, not the materials we have to teach.
20-25 minutesAs participants transition back to their seats, distribute “Getting Curriculum Reform Right” from Thomas Guskey and the corresponding reflection form. Have participants individually read the Guskey article and document their responses to the 3 reflective prompts on the “shape” sheet. When participants finish reading and reflecting, have them join four other people to summarize and record their thinking/commonly shared responses. Provide the shape sheet copied on colored paper. When prompted, have one group share what SQUARES with their understanding and then invite others to add other comments. Then invite a different group to share the POINTS they need to remember…and again have other groups add. Finally, have a third group share what questions are CIRCLING in their heads about the article. The focus of the article is on the importance of using standards and benchmarks to guide our decision-making as instructional planners. We use the skeleton or foundation from standards and benchmarks to determine the essential outcomes and then as teachers we can use materials, processes, and resources—from our craft—to add “flesh to the bones.”When the sharing is completed, have groups share their collaboratively generated responses on the colored shape sheets.
Allow no more than 10 minutesYou should be about 1 hour and 30 minutes into the process.
SecondaryInstead of thinking about teaching the American Revolution, think about the concepts of freedom and independence, conflict (war—as a country, as individuals). Instead of thinking about teaching a specific novel (The Scarlet Letter), think about themes of persecution, faith, isolation and literary concepts like exposition, historical context, character development, plot, etc.
90 minutes (see next slides for how time is allotted)3-5 minutes to distribute standards and matrixDistribute the standards/benchmarks and/or respective documents participants will need to individually and then collaboratively document their responses to questions 1-3. Distribute the INDIVIDUAL instructional planning matrix that individuals and groups will need to document their work. NOTE—NOTE—NOTE—NOTE—NOTE—NOTE: For grades K-6 and other subject areas that have worked with Kathy Funston and Rachel Gorton, there are additional planning documents that need to be consulted. K-6 math groups have the units of study to serve as a critical guide in fleshing out essential learning outcomes, essential knowledge, essential skills, and essential academic vocabulary. Other subject areas that have worked with Kathy and Rachel can use their preliminary work to facilitate their work.
The template will be used to reflect individually and then collaboratively.
15 of 90 minutesHave participants INDIVIDUALLY reflect on the documents and then document the essential learning outcomes on the planning matrix—Allow 15 minutes to individually record the core concepts. FILL IN ONLY THE COLUMN ON THE LEFT.
Additional 15-20 minutes of 90 minutesOrganize into groups…limit 5 participants per group to make the sharing and collaboration more doable. For 7-12 and specialized focus area groups for special education, determine the most appropriate groups that should be formed. Have groups share and add to/modify the list of essential learning outcomes that they have documented. Have each group generate a master copy. A second copy is available for individuals to record the collaborative team’s work. THE FORM IS LABELED FOR COLLABORATIVE TEAMS. The list they are generating is not a final list…as they engage in further collaboration and learning, the lists may change.
Allow an additional 15-20 minutes for individuals to shift from identifying the essential learning outcomes to determining and documenting the essential knowledge, skills, and academic vocabulary related to the concept. Allow individuals to work independently before sharing.After 15-20 minutes of individual reflection and documentation, have the groups come together again. As a group, participants need to record the essential knowledge, skills, and academic vocabulary on a master copy of the planning matrix for the essential learning outcomes they have identified.
15-20 minutesAllow teams to share their emerging work. Be certain teams are documenting their collaborative work. As teams finish, have them submit a master copy that will be copied, scanned and returned via email to the teams. Their work serves as a formative assessment that will inform and guide planning for subsequent PD days.
3-5 minutesNOTE: this is one form of evaluating the professional development session. We are using “student work” (teacher work here) to inform and guide our planning—a formative assessment…just like we expect to see in classrooms. An electronic version of the instructional planning matrix will be sent to all teachers so that they can document their individual or collaborative work and share it with their assigned facilitator and collaborative learning teams at their grade level, content area, focus area.
5-7 minutesAllow participants to individually reflect on their learning and then generate a common list of key messages that can be shared with the whole group. A reflection sheet for key messages is available for each group and should be collected as one form of evaluation. This process is another form of evaluating the professional development session. The insights gained will inform our planning for our next PD session. As one team shares, others can determine what new messages need to be shared.
5 minutesProvide a couple of minutes for individuals to use one of the sentence frames/stems to respond to their learning during the session. Have people share out their responses using a WHIP—without hesitation inviting participation process…only people rapid firing their responses, no feedback or dialogue about what people share. This is a third formative assessment that can be instructive, as well, if you can record a representation of the responses, the informal formative assessment will be beneficial for our planning purposes, as well. This is a more informal approach to gathering feedback or evaluating professional development.
Wrap up the session by sharing the passage from Teaching to the Core. Remind folks to sign in and submit their draft copies of their instructional planning matrix…again, it will be used as a formative assessment to inform and guide our planning for subsequent district PD days.