Administrator Collaborative

For the past five years, TCS administrators and teacher leaders have met throughout the year as the TCS Administrator Collaborative.  We started the Administrator Collaborative so that administrators in our district would have the opportunity to learn together and from each other.  We wanted leaders throughout the district to have time to share their ideas with one another and to be able to ask questions of their colleagues.  It is important, actually critical, for leaders to continue to learn on a daily basis.  That learning doesn’t happen unless it is intentional and planned.  Leaders get busy and often put their own learning on a back burner. 

Five years ago, I don’t believe we had a common language or shared vision for high-quality instruction.  Walkthroughs with feedback that included evidence without judgement were not common.  Peer observations were rare.  Today, all of these things take place routinely in our schools and departments because we have discussed, read, practiced, and learned together.  Through our collaboration, we have instituted important expectations for teachers and administrators through our TCS Educator Effectiveness.  As we finish up our fifth year of Administrator Collaborative, take a look back at our learning.

Purpose of Administrator Collaborative
To improve student learning
To improve teacher practice
To implement an evaluation model that aligns with instructional focuses and guides stakeholders in shared understanding of a research based, K-12, Educator Effectiveness model

Year 1 Walkthroughs and Collaboration
To share data from each school
To share ways we are facilitating professional growth
To share walkthrough updates from each school
To read and discuss Engaging Teachers in Classroom Walkthroughs
To discuss rationale for involving teachers as leaders in walkthroughs
To develop procedures and a protocol for walkthroughs
To discuss creating a school culture that supports walkthroughs

Year 2 Developing a Collaborative Culture
Read and discuss Cultures Built to Last, Systemic PLCs at Work
Create a collaborative culture in schools with a focus on learning
Understand why systemwide reform is most effective
Review and revise district Strategic Plan and Professional Development Plan
Share ways we are facilitating professional growth
Develop procedures and a protocol for walkthroughs
Share walkthrough updates and data from each school

Year 3 Implementing TCS Educator Effectiveness
Implement TCS Educator Effectiveness
Read and discuss Leading with Focus

Year 4 Looking Closely at Instruction
Read, discuss, and share strategies from Learning That Lasts by Ron Berger.
Develop a clear understanding of the TCS Educator Effectiveness Plan
Share ways we are facilitating professional growth and building expertise of the TCS Nine Indicators for Effective Educators
Participate in classroom walkthroughs with debriefing discussions to improve practice
Share walkthrough updates and data from each school

Year 5 Making the Most of Observations, Walkthroughs, and Feedback
Participants join colleagues in walkthroughs at various schools focusing on specific best practices (content knowledge, well-managed classroom, rigor and relevance, learning targets, positive classroom environment, formative assessments, academic discourse, active engagement, etc.)
After the walkthroughs, participants discuss their walkthrough data and compile appropriate feedback to be given to teachers.

Notice the purpose of the Administrator Collaborative.  Our goal was always the same - improve teaching and learning.  That must remain a priority for a school system.  Our purpose is to educate.  Improving teaching and learning is hard work, not for the faint of heart, nor for anyone afraid of getting down in the messy work of learning.  I am proud that together, this group worked and learned in order to achieve that goal.  Teaching and learning has improved, and it must continue to improve every year. 

Five Ways to Start Your Lesson

Take just a minute to watch this excellent video about ways to start a lesson.

https://www.teachingchannel.org/video/five-ways-start-your-lessons/?utm_source=newsletter20181027

Magnolia Fifth Graders Studying Matter

Fifth graders at Magnolia are discovering that the weight and mass of matter do not change when its state changes.  Students found the mass of shortening, gummy candy, chocolate, and butter as solids, liquids, and then again as solids at the matter resolidified.  According to their teacher, Ryan Hook, at the start of the unit, many students predicted that the weight and mass would decrease when the solid changed to a liquid, so this has been a big "a-ha" moment for students!

Grade 5 content standards provide students with opportunities for investigation, observation, and explanation of a variety of scientific phenomena. 

Matter and Its Interactions Standard 1:
Investigate matter to provide mathematical evidence, including graphs, to show that regardless of the type of reaction (e.g., new substance forming due to dissolving or mising) or change (e.g., phase change) that occurs when heating, cooling, or mixing substances, the total weight of the matter is conserved. 

Cahaba's EnRICH Provides Learning Extentions for 4th and 5th Graders

It's 2:15 Friday afternoon, and 4th and 5th grade students at Cahaba are on the move, scurrying to their self-selected EnRICH classes.  EnRICH (Enrich, Reinforce, Inspire, Challenge) began at Cahaba last year, providing extentions and enrichment for all fourth and fifth graders.  The majority of Cahaba's fourth and fifth graders are above average or high average in math and reading.  Cahaba administrators determined that there was a need for "teaching up" and providing enrichment activities for ALL of their fourth and fifth graders.  That's when EnRICH was born.

The schedule has been designed to provide a 45 minute period for intervention and enrichment.  From 2:15 until 3:00, Tuesday through Friday, students are involved in some type of intervention or enrichment activity.  Teachers submit proposals for EnRICH classes to Mrs. Tyner that must meet rigorous expectations and include multiple academic standards.  EnRICH classes meet one or sometimes two times per week.  EnRICH is such a popular initiative that Mrs. Tyner is preparing to include third grade students in EnRICH activities in January or February.

Examples include:

Title:  Travel Trussville 360 (Alabama Bicentennial) 
Do you want to do something BIG?  We are looking for a special group of students to complete our Alabama Bicentennial School project. Students who are chosen for this experience will research historic sites in Trussville.  We will interview authors, investigate Trussville archives and visit the Trussville Historic Society to gain information about our hometown.  Students will work together in groups to create scripts about specific areas in Trussville.  Then, we will take a field trip to those sites and shoot 360 videos.  Once we have the script and video, we will produce a 360 Virtual Field Trip of Trussville, AL. Be a part of Trussville history, join Travel Trussville 360 today!


Title:  CES’s Next Top Firm
In the CES’s Next Top Firm ENRICH Experience, you will form groups to create your own advertising agencies.  Then, all the advertising agencies will compete in challenges to win advertising accounts for real, local businesses in Trussville.  In each challenge, a local business will give a set of guidelines for advertising their business.  It is up to each group how they want to meet these guidelines but also stand out from the other agencies, so that the business will choose their advertisement over the others.  In the process of designing your advertising campaign, you will: create and use different types of technology, learn about advertising strategies, learn how to write a business plan, and develop a budget for your campaign.  Local businesses will use the advertisements created by the challenge winners to advertise.  The group that wins the most accounts
becomes CES’s Next Top Firm and will be in charge of advertising all of Cahaba Elementary School Events until another agency is crowned CES’s Next Top Firm in the next Enrichment Experience!

Title:  Alabama Architects Dream School Design

Have you ever wanted to design your own school? Imagine being the boss of your very own dream school. Who would you get to be your assistant principal? Stephen Curry would make a great choice if you decided on a NBA sport format dream school.  What type of classes would you offer to the students? How about how to care for your unicorn and ways to make unicorns more classroom friendly.  Where would your school be located? What about Out of this world school and space camp now taking applications for students with “high” expectations?

The sky's the limit when it comes to designing your very own dream school! Sign up now and put on your architect hat, it is time to design your dream school!

Alabama Architects Dream School Design (above)

Make Cahaba  (above)

TED Talk (above)

Kindergarten Intervention Starting Early

Specialist teachers at Cahaba Elementary began working with kindergartners today during their schoolwide intervention period.  Their goal is to make sure all kindergartners can identify all letters and know the sounds of all letters within the next four weeks.  They will also be working on number recognition, counting objects, and shapes.

Problem Based Learning at Paine

During the third trimester at Paine Elementary second graders explored land forms, land masses and changes to land in their science unit using STEMscopes and Mystery Science.  To wrap up the unit for the trimester, students completed a PBL (Project Based Learning) activity.  Students were given the task of designing a barrier that would prevent erosion of sand due to wind and water.

The Task

Are you ready for a spirited competition on the beautiful beaches of California? Welcome to the Annual Sand Castle Days Competition. Every year during the Sand Castle Competition, there are teams whose castles are destroyed before they are finished, due to water and wind. You will be a part of a design team of experts who will design a barrier system to protect the sand castles from the natural forces of wind and water and the erosional destruction they could cause during the competition.  The barrier system protecting your sand castle must be made from any appropriate materials that are free and recyclable.  Be prepared as a team to explain why your design will be effective in preventing wind and water erosion.

The second graders used moss, plastic cups, foam plates, pebbles and popsicle sticks to create barriers to prevent the sand from blowing or washing away.  The majority of the models created by the students helped prevent erosion from either wind or water.  Students were more successful in preventing wind erosion, but one team was also able to completely prevent water erosion as well.

Second grade teacher, Mrs. Findley, reported, "All of the teams' explanations were excellent.  I was very proud of them and their application of what they learned this trimester.  I made brief videos of all of the teams explaining their design and why/how they thought their design would prevent erosion and sent them to their parents."

HTHS Biomedical Academy Students Prepare for Clinical Rotations

HTHS Biomedical Science Academy students are performing peer review skills check offs in preparation for both their clinical rotations and the psychomotor portion of the National Registry exam for Emergency Medical Technicians(NREMT). The students have been practicing spinal immobilization, hemorrhage control, shock management, oxygen administration, and positive pressure ventilation. These skills will be applied to the treatment of real patients when the students function as members of a healthcare team during their clinical rotations this spring. Aaron Nafziger leads this outstanding program. 

Guided Reading: How to Make Kids Hate (or Love) to Read

Check out this excellent article from Education Week.

Rigorous and Relevant Assignment Commemorates First 100 Days at Magnolia

Take a look at the rigorous and relevant writing assignment Mrs. Jackie Moore has assigned her fifth grade students to commemorate the first 100 days of Magnolia Elementary!  The students' reflection papers will be displayed in the hallway for all to read and enjoy. The writing assignment below gives information and instructions for the First 100 Days of School Reflection paper.

Instructions:

1.    Write a reflection paper in 100 words about your school events, school field trips, and what you have learned in the first 100 days of this school year.

Examples of writing topics to place within your paper:

a.     School related events (Magnolia Elementary Picnic on the Grounds with your families  before we left Paine Elementary, the opening of our new school at Magnolia Elementary School,  Winter Wonderland, Awards Day programs,  the outside ceremony when our new American flag was presented and then raised at our new school, Magnolia Elementary School, etc.)

b.    School field trips (Field trip to Cabaha Environmental Center)

c.     Topics you learned in each of your three academic classes: Reading, Writing, Math, Science, Social Studies

2.    Write a rough draft of your reflection before you write your final paper. (Keep your draft in the writing section of your Literacy Binder.)

3.    You may write your final paper in cursive or you may type it.

4.    Make sure you write a creative title at the top of your reflection, by including, My First 100 Days of Fun and Learning.

5.    Your paper needs to be free of mistakes in spelling and capitalization.

6.    Make sure your sentences are complete sentences with end punctuation.

Your final First 100 Days of School paper will be displayed in the hallway, so make sure your content in your reflection paper relates to the examples mentioned above and make sure the instructions that are listed above are followed. 

TCS Administrators Learn Together

TCS administrators, along with TCS Curriculum and Instruction staff, joined together to complete walkthroughs at HTMS and Magnolia Elementary for the purpose of collaborating and utilizing observation rubrics developed by teachers and leaders of Trussville City Schools.  The group observed in classrooms together and shared data they collected in order to develop a shared understanding of the attributes and actions associated with the nine instructional strategies that make up the TCS Educator Effectiveness Plan.  The primary purpose of the Educator Effectiveness Plan is to support growth in instructional practice that will ultimately lead to continuous improvement and an increase in student performance.

The group debriefs after visiting classrooms at HTMS.

The focus of the walkthroughs at HTMS was on learning targets.  Teachers at HTMS are working to frequently facilitate interaction between students and learning targets and to provide opportunities for student collaboration and discourse as a means of self-assessing the learning target.  

Teachers require students to use learning targets to self-assess.  Through this self-assessment, students will become more accountable for their own learning and work.  Students will be able to communicate their needs regarding their level of understanding about the learning target.  

HTMS teachers have developed Quality Questions that are connected to the learning targets.  

Above, HTHS principal, Tim Salem, observes a social studies lesson in Mr. Reynolds' class.  

Students read an article about The Great Depression and were asked to cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text said explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.  

Math teacher, Charlotte Booker, displays her students' learning target as well as her plans for the day.  Notice that their "Daily Math" is based on data from a prior mini quiz.  After self-assessing, students will complete a plan for achieving the learning target.  

Administrators observed intervention at Magnolia.  Intervention is a time when teachers work with individuals or small groups to provide targeted, specific intervention.  Above, Lauren Long, computer teacher, is orienting a small group of students who will begin a book club that meets daily with her. 

Mrs. Hodges works with two students on reading skills.

Dr. Cardwell listens in as a student reads independently while his teacher works with a small group of students who need targeted assistance.

Ms. Dykes helps students with math during her intervention.

Mrs. Gamble pulls a group to work on math skills while her other students work independently using iPads.  

Visiting HTMS

Learning targets at HTMS reflect rigorous targets that support state standards.

Mrs. Shellnut facilitates the reading of a rigorous article about The Great Depression in her 6th grade social studies class.

Mrs. McIntosh's seventh graders are engaged in a web quest to learn about poetry and the Harlem Renaissance.

Mrs. Stovall's seventh graders learn about the judicial system by role playing actors in a courtroom.  

Mr. Bufkin's students are engaged in learning about personal finances.

Club time is a time at HTMS for students to build relationships and to learn new skills and hobbies.