HTHS Staff Book Study

HTHS teachers and administrators participated in  a study of Leaders of Their Own Learning.  Their reading and discussion has resulted in great conversations about the upcoming school year, as well as outstanding work that teachers created.  Chris Walters has agreed to be the Teacher Leader Data Analyst and work with Jennifer Cardwell to create a data room where teachers will chart student learning growth.  They plan to visit a high school that does this well to get some additional ideas. Chris will lead their first Thursday morning data meeting to discuss some data-gathering tools, and share the importance of creating trend data.

Edutopia: Kids Speak Out on Student Engagement

What engages students?  Heather Wolpert-Gawron surveyed her eighth graders to find out what they thought was engaging in the classroom.  All 220 responses seemed to fall under 10 categories, representing reoccurring themes.  Check out their responses on Edutopia.

SDE Professional Development Online Courses

For those who need CEUs prior to October 1, 2015, or an ACLD-approved PLU (or two) prior to December 31, 2015, the ASDE is running an Early Bird session from August 3 through September 22 with the following 4 courses:

EDU5502 Integrate Tech w/Curriculum

EDU5504 Smart Budgeting for Technology - TCO

EDU5505 Leading School in Web 2.0

EDU5507 Special Students in Regular Classrooms


They are available for registration in STIPD now.

Learning with iPads Training

Teachers in our district attended a one day training, Learning with iPads, led by April Chamberlain. The focus was not to first find apps, and then figure out how to make them work in the curriculum. They started with what the data says the students need more assistance with, how to expand content knowledge of those that learn faster than others and ways the iPad has taken the place of multiple other devices (digital camera, video camera, Elmo, audio recorder, interactive whiteboard, etc.).

The participants were introduced to additional resources, such as Google Forms, AirServer which allows up to 9 iPads to be displayed wirelessly through the projector, and Google Cardboard for fun. Those that attended are receiving the AirServer software compliments of the Technology Department.

Quotable Quote

“It's easy to find reasons for division between people. Finding common ground is harder, but a step towards happiness.”

—Unknown 

Quotable Quote

“We find greatest joy, not in getting, but in expressing what we are. Men do not really live for honors or for pay; their gladness is not the taking and holding, but in doing, the striving, the building, the living. It is a higher joy to teach than to be taught. It is good to get justice, but better to do it; fun to have things but more to make them. The happy man is he who lives the life of love, not for the honors it may bring, but for the life itself.”

—R.J. Baughan 

Reading Coaches Attend International Reading Association

Paine reading coaches, Edra Perry and Kelly McGough, along with 6,000 other professionals, attended the International Reading Association 2015 Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, July 18-20. The goal of IRA is to work to further student learning and achievement - and to make this accessible to all students in every corner of the world.  Keynote speakers were Shaquille O'Neal and Octavia Spencer.  Featured speakers included Stephanie Harvey (Thinking Intensive Learning:Close Reading Is Strategic Reading), Stephen Layne (In Defense of Read-Aloud), and Julie Ramsay (License to Learn: Putting Students in the Driver's Seat of Their Own Learning Journey).

Edra and Kelly attended sessions designed specifically for reading teachers, reading specialists, and coaches.  They gained valuable information about how to use the Gradual Increase of Responsibility Coaching Model to focus teachers' attention on strategies that increase teacher effectiveness and student learning.  They learned about concrete strategies that help students both identify and analyze text evidence.  Tips for helping students sift and weigh evidence in order to strengthen their claims about texts were shared.  Author Christopher Lehman shared innovative work and practical strategies, gather from years of study with teachers and students across grade levels, that can help students develop more rigorous thinking and more authentic, voice-filled writing.

The reading coaches will collaborate and turn their new learning around to K-6 reading teachers in our district.

HTHS Teachers Attend APEX

HTHS teachers, Melanie Dimler and Cynthia Thomas attended a 2-week Alliance for Physics EXcellence (APEX) workshop this summer at Alabama A&M.  APEX is an NSF Math and Science Partnership Program.

APEX's vision is to transform secondary physics education in Alabama by enabling physics teachers to acquire a deeper knowledge of physics content and employ more effective pedagogical strategies based on physics education research, enabling students to achieve higher gains.

TCS Designs Mini Conference for Counselors

Trussville hosted its first ever Greater Birmingham Counselors Mini Conference at HTHS.  This conference was born from conversations with our own TCS counselors and their need for a network of local counselors.  The conference would not have happened without the hard work of Mandi Logan and Jennifer Cardwell.  The speakers were outstanding, and feedback was positive.  Great things are going to come from this collaborative.  

Agenda

Keynote Dale Wisely, Ph.D., Mountain Brook City Schools Director of Student Services

Tech Savvy Ideas for School Personnel Elizabeth Whitehead, Technology in Motion 

Staying Legal with Student Records and Privacy Melissa McKie, Bishop, Colvin, Johnson &        Kent, LLC

Legal Issues in School Counseling Dr. Lawrence Tyson, UAB

ACT prep and Results Dr. Jennifer Cardwell and Dr. Phyllis Faust, Trussville City Schools

NCAA Eligibility Corey Bray, UAB Athletic Compliance

LUNCH

Mental Health Issues in Adolescents Dr. Shannon McCarthy, UAB

Stress Management in the Workplace Pete Blank, Training and Development Division Manager, Personnel Board Jefferson County

Counselor Round Up/Networking

Learning about the Power of Video

Technology Coordinator, April Chamberlain, worked with Trussville teachers today to learn how to record themselves.  Oftentimes, students need to hear their teacher's lesson more than once. Videoing is also a solution when teachers are going to be out of their classrooms, and substitutes are teaching. Participants learned how to utilize a free resource to record their laptop screen, voice, and video of themselves to share with students and substitutes.  

Literacy in the Content Area Training

Paine Intermediate teachers, Kelly McGough,  Amy Kuhn, Allie Aldrich, DeeDee Brasher, and Carrie Almon attended a Literacy in the Content Area Conference at Columbia University in New York last February.  On July 14, these teachers shared their new learning with colleagues from Paine Elementary and Hewitt-Trussville Middle School.

This training will help K-8 teachers develop the curriculum and methods necessary to help students read the rigorous standards for content area literacy embedded in the Common Core.  The trainers shared new thinking about how to ramp up the level of rigor and engagement in the content areas. Participants learned about small group work, collaborative inquiry and multi-media centers.

Global Scholar Training at HTHS

Teachers throughout the district are taking advantage  of the opportunity to learn how to create and use benchmark, formative, and summative assessments by using Global Scholar.  The two sessions at HTHS were presented by Terrence Ingram from Global Scholar and facilitated by Dr. Jennifer Cardwell.

Educator Effectiveness Training

On July 13, Trussville teachers, counselors, and administrators met for the second time with Dr. Alison Grizzle from the State Department of Education to reflect, research, learn, and plan.  This team is charged with designing a new teacher evaluation plan for our district.  A focus for the team will be to design an observation tool and expectations that align with our core beliefs.  Much of the day involved determining what teachers and administrators in Trussville believe are the top observable things that represent effective teaching.  An initial list includes:

Content Knowledge 
Learning Targets / Standards based instruction 
Active engagement 
Well managed classroom/Working the room 
Positive environment/rapport/safe environment 
Student teacher interaction/discourse/questioning 
Differentiation/Variety of instructional strategies 
Evidence of planning/sequencing/organization of knowledge - visual aids/Learning Tools/anchor charts 
Artifacts/Communicate learning/Assessments 
Rigorous / Relevant Instruction and Learning

Team members will be requesting feedback from teachers throughout the district as this tool is designed.  The goal is to have a common understanding and consensus regarding effective teaching.

Decisions regarding effective teaching are based on research:

• Kentucky Framework for Teaching 

http://education.ky.gov/teachers/PGES/TPGES/Documents/Kentucky%20Framework%20for%20Teaching.pdf

• Marzano Teaching Evaluation Model

http://tpep-wa.org/wp-content/uploads/Marzano_Teacher_Evaluation_Model.pdf

• ​INTASC Standards

http://www.ccsso.org/Documents/2011/InTASC_Model_Core_Teaching_Standards_2011.pdf

• ​Alabama Quality Teaching Standards

http://www.nnstoy.org/download/career_pathways/Alabama%20continuum.pdf

• ​Mathematical Practice Standards

http://www.alsde.edu/sec/sct/COS/2013%20Revised%20Alabama%20Mathematics%20Course%20of%20Study.pdf

• ​Literacy Anchor Standards

http://www.alsde.edu/sec/sct/COS/2013%20Revised%20Alabama%20English%20Language%20Arts%20Course%20of%20Study.pdf

• Rigor and Relevance        

http://www.leadered.com/our-philosophy/rigor-relevance-framework.php

http://www.leadered.com/pdf/rigor_relevance_framework_2014.pdf

HTHS Teacher Attends Summer University at University of Mississippi

HTHS French teacher, Chris Eubanks, along with twenty-seven teachers from 5 states, attended the 2015 Summer University at the University of Mississippi in Oxford from June 29-July 1, receiving intensive training for French teachers on using pedagogical games in the classroom. This training was designed to equip American teachers of French (K-12, higher education) in the U.S. Southeast with tools to diversify their pedagogical approach and techniques for leading their French class.  The presenter was Haydee Silva, professor of French and Second Language Education at the University Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.

Offered free of charge by the cultural service of the Atlanta consulate, Summer University included :
- 3 days of intensive continuing education (6 hrs/day or 18 hrs total), entirely in French
- Training on classroom supports and techniques for leading a French class
- A dinner at the end of the program
- 1 French film

GeoTeach Training at McWane

Fifth grade science teachers, Susan Brandon and Ryan Minisman, attended GeoTeach this summer, a ten day training with an Earth Science focus, sponsored by UAB at the McWane Science Center. Participants learned from multiple science experts in the field who joined in Genius Lab personally or via Skype.

In the fossil archives at McWane, the resident paleontologist/archeologist displayed all of the rocks and fossils that have been discovered in Alabama that he is classifying.  They learned that Alabama has the most biodiversity of any state in the country and that scientists from all over the world come here to study our rocks and fossils.  They also learned about using science notebooks, implementing the new standards, and inquiry-based lessons.  The culminating activity was a field trip to Botanical Gardens to do field tests!  According to Ryan and Susan, the experience was outstanding.

Laying the Foundation Training

Approximately 800 teachers from schools throughout Alabama attended Laying the Foundation training at Hewitt-Trussville High School.  Several TCS teachers from grades 3-12 participated in the four day training July 7-10 for support in teaching literacy, math, and science.

Left to Right: Paine Intermediate Teachers Andrea Moore, Carrie Almon, Kim Hendrick, Felicia Smith, Blaire Perry

More Technology Training for TCS Teachers

TCS Teachers worked with April Chamberlain July 7th and 8th, learning how to manage teacher and student Google Apps for Education (GAFE) accounts and explored Google Drive and Chrome Extensions.

Quotable Quote

“Excellence is the result of caring more than others think is wise, risking more than others think is safe, dreaming more than others think is practical, and expecting more than others think is possible.”
—Ronnie Oldham

TCS Teachers Attend OGAP Training

Paine Elementary math teachers Jenette Cerisano, Gina Lackey, Beth Anne Marshall, Kay Shumate, Donna Walker, Laney Horn, Mary Elaine Williamson, Jana Walls, Sara Wessel, Nancy Camara, and Susan Brandon, along with math coaches Donna Brumlow and Lisa Lothspeich, are attending training with the Ongoing Assessment Project (OGAP) this week.  

The Ongoing Assessment Project (OGAP) emerged from the work of the Vermont Institutes, founded in the 1992 with the mission of providing research-based professional development to Vermont educators. OGAP is a professional development intervention that trains teachers to use single or multiple math items of high cognitive demand to gather information on student thinking and then analyze that information using frameworks based on research on student thinking in mathematics (Bell, Greer, Grimison et Mangan, 1989; Harel, Behr, Post, & Lesh, 1994; Kouba, 1989; Kouba & Franklin, 1995). This analysis is then intended to guide instruction (Black & Wiliam, 1998; Popham, 2006). OGAP is currently being implemented in elementary schools and middle schools in grades 3-8 in several sites in three core mathematical ideas: (1) multiplicative reasoning; (2) fractions; and (3) proportionality.

The OGAP formative assessment system is based on the belief that teachers make more effective instructional decisions resulting in improved student learning when they: (a) are knowledgeable about how students develop understanding of specific mathematics concepts and about preconceptions and misconceptions that interfere with learning these concepts; (b) have tools and strategies that allow them to systematically monitor their students’ understanding prior to and during instruction; and (c) receive professional development focused on that knowledge, those tools, and those strategies. Four principles about effective instruction and assessment underlie OGAP’s design:

1.Build on students’ pre-existing knowledge. Ignoring students’ initial thinking risks students developing understandings that do not match what the teacher intended (NRC, 2001b).

2.Teach (and assess) for understanding. Because teaching for understanding “improves retention, promotes fluency, and facilitates learning related materials” (NRC, 2001b), OGAP items and tools are designed to elicit conceptual understanding.

3.Use formative assessment intentionally and systematically. Research has shown that learning gains from systematically implementing formative assessment strategies into instruction are larger than gains found for most other educational interventions (NRC, 2001a).

4.Build assessments based on the mathematics education research. A key recommendation from Knowing What Students Know (NRC, 2001a) is that assessments should be built on research on how students learn specific mathematics concepts.

                      

                       

HTMS Science Teacher Attends Science Camp

Leigh Green, HTMS sixth grade teacher, represented Trussville City Schools at Space Academy for Educators in Huntsville, June 24-29.  A science teacher from each system in Alabama was asked to participate in the week long program to experience the authenticity of simulated space mission training in order to learn methods of delivering the excitement of space exploration in the classroom.
The program included authentic astronaut training simulators and activities developed to promote learning in a classroom setting.  The curriculum includes NASA content and is correlated to the National Science Standards.  Trainees in Space Academy for Educators get access to their own website with lesson plans, standards, and tips needed to adapt many of the workshop activities to individual class environments.

We believe . . .

Last year our district revised our beliefs, vision, and mission.  One of our beliefs is:

We believe the school system is a learning organization that teaches academics and develops character and skill.

We assembled teachers this week and discussed our beliefs at length.  The group came up with evidence that we are living this belief.

• AP Courses
• Gifted and Talented Education
• Essential Skills Pathway
• College and Career Readiness Standards
• GAP
• MAPS
• Fine Arts in all schools
• Academies at HTHS
• Credit Recovery
• Girls in Engineering
• Robotics
• Project Lead the Way
• OGAP (Ongoing Algebra Partnership) and GBMP (Greater Birmingham Math Partnership)
• Science in Motion
• Heritage Panel
• Leadership Team
• Peer Helpers
• Ambassadors
• Future Teachers of America
• Leader in Me

Please reflect on this list and contribute if you know of other evidence that we are, in fact, a learning organization that teaches academics and develops character and skill.  

TCS Teachers Attend ISTE

Laura Graves, Joy Young, Morgan Cruit, Anjell Edwards, and April Chamberlain flew to Philadelphia June 28 to attend the International Society for Technology in Education Conference. While there, the team attended many sessions, technical playgrounds, and the exhibit hall to discover and learn about resources that will assist them and their schools in supporting the learning environment.  At the end of each day, the team meets together to record their resources, thoughts, ideas, and plans for sharing information with their schools and the district.  They will bring back a wealth of information on Google Classroom, Makerspaces, online learning, extensions and apps for Google Chrome, Connected Educator Month, Libraries for today's learners, and much more.

Problem Based Learning

Donna Franklin, Amy Inman, Lisa Rish, Rachel Brockman, Betsy Schmitt, and April Chamberlain participated in the new Alabama Project Based Learning:  The Read Deal for School Leadership Teams training.  The team will turn around the new information and curriculum to elementary teachers in our district to expand and deepen teachers' PBL work.  This group will also facilitate similar training for other schools in Alabama.