Supporting New Teachers

Trussville's newest teachers gathered after school at the Central Office on October 30.  The group meets throughout the year for the purpose of reflecting and gaining support.  The teachers analyzed the TCS Educator Effectiveness Nine Indicators and viewed a video of a lesson, looking for those nine indicators.  

Secondary Science Teachers Participate in Innovative ProfessionalLearning

HTMS and HTHS science teachers are collaborating in a unique, innovative professional development opportunity under the direction of Eric Lambert and Emily Menard, Alabama Science in Motion trainers.  The experience is the brainchild of TCS Science Coordinator, Dr. Phyllis Faust.  

The teachers are grouped for training according to the content they teach. 

Wednesday, October 31st – Earth Science teachers - Abbie Copus, Adam Henry, Laci Gray, Chad Dahlke, Jennifer Gerhart, DeAngelia Dailey

Thursday, November 1st – Life Science teachers - Connie Hambey, Doug Benton, Kimberly Swann-Carter, Angie Simonetti, David Barden, Katie Riggins, Kurt Kristensen, Tyler Marlow

Friday,  November 2nd – Physical Science teachers - Jada Burns, Kelly Kalchik, Rachel Higginbotham, Cynthia Thomas, Felecia Gulledge, Hunter Smoak, Kelly Till, Lisa O'Neal, Melanie Dimler

Teachers will work with Eric and Emily in the morning and participate in a Claim, Evidence, Reasoning (CER) activity.  In the afternoon, particpants will have the opportunity to design a lesson around a common topic/standard that will be co-taught by content partners from HTMS and HTHS in the spring of the year. A middle school teacher will co-teach a lesson at the high school and a high-school teacher will co-teach a lesson at the middle school. Teachers will not be teaching the same lesson to the students, but they will be teaching a lesson pertaining to the same topic/standard. 

This professional learning will be of great benefit for many reasons. The collaborative aspect speaks for itself. Allowing teachers to co-teach a different grade level provides teachers a firsthand view of where students are academically in a specific grade level.  It is difficult to forge collegial relationships due to time restraints, but this should help in this area.  While the fall professional learning day will pertain to learning and design, the spring professional learning day will be the actual implementation of the design.

Eric and Emily are excited about this possibility. Eric stated that he did not know any school system within the state that was doing this type of collaboration! This is certainly an exciting and innovative learning opportunity for teachers. 

Earth Science teachers - Abbie Copus, Adam Henry, Laci Gray, Chad Dahlke, Jennifer Gerhart, DeAngelia Dailey

Life Science teachers - Connie Hambey, Doug Benton, Kimberly Swann-Carter, Angie Simonetti, David Barden, Kurt Kristensen, Tyler Marlow

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)

Developing an Expert Instructional Eye

Leaders in Trussville City Schools are working to become sophisticated observers of teaching and learning.   Fink and Markholt (2011) explain that “sophisticated observers of teaching and learning” carefully watch and listen to students and the teacher as they visit classrooms.  We have robust TCS Educator Effectiveness Indicators that set a high bar for teaching, curriculum and instruction.   It is going to take time and lots of practice to develop the necessary expertise to grow into sophisticated observers, recognizing and calibrating best practices and assessing our classrooms against the emerging vision of the most effective instruction.   We will gain this practice through dozens and dozens of walkthroughs and  vigorous discussions about what we notice and wonder regarding classroom observations.  

Over the next few months, Learning Walkthroughs have been scheduled at each school for the primary purpose of individual and collective learning.  We must have a shared vision for, and understanding about, what constitutes quality teaching.  Our goals for Learning Walkthroughs are:
To develop a shared vision for high-quality teaching and learning  
To calibrate understanding of the TCS EE Nine Indicators
To calibrate understanding of best practices in a particular content area
To provide administrators and academic coaches with a tool to assess their classrooms against emerging visions of instruction

We believe that if we spend regular and focused time in classrooms observing and describing student learning and teaching practices, we will develop a common vision and shared understanding of high-quality instruction.  If we develop a common vision and shared understanding of high-quality instruction, then we will be able to identify the supports teachers need and lead with greater clarity the improvement of teaching.  

It is important for all of us to be very familiar with the language and ideas in the TCS EE Nine Indicators.  We must also separate the observation from the person, creating a culture where we learn to be “hard on the work” while being “respectful with each other.”  It will be important for all of us to stay in the descriptive mode as we record our observations, using data and facts and avoiding opinions and inferences.  

Walkthroughs are scheduled at each school that include school and district administrators, as well as academic coaches in some instances.  We all play a role in improving instruction, and the learning walkthroughs will provide us with the knowledge and expertise we need to make the decisions that can and will improve teaching and learning. 

Computer Science Expanding in TCS

In 2016, only 86 schools in Alabama offered a high-quality computer science course. Today, more than 175 Alabama high schools offer such classes. In September 2017, Governor Kay Ivey established the Governor’s Advisory Council for Computer Science Education.

In March 2018, Ivey and the Alabama State Board of Education approved the Alabama Digital Literacy and Computer Science Course of Study and Standards. Currently, only 10 other states in the nation have computer science standards.

Trussville's own April Chamberlain was selected to be on the committee to write the Alabama Digital Literacy and Computer Science Course of Study and Standards.  Mrs. Chamberlain says that one of the reasons she chose to work with a state group to write the new Digital Literacy and Computer Science Course of Study was so she could learn from leaders like Dr. Jeff Gray, Computer Science Professor at the University of Alabama, and others.  

April Chamberlain Presents TCS Computer Science Plans at ALET

Many people think computer science is just coding, but it is more.  In the most basic of terms, computer science is systematic problem solving which occurs in science, math, history, and more.  If you have not already, please visit https://alex.state.al.us/browseDLIT.php to view the Digital Literacy and Computer Science Course of Study.  On the ALEX website, there is also a document called Unpacked Standards which explains more in depth of what the students will be able to do and know for each standard. 

Below is an quick summary of what we are doing in Trussville to learn and grow in our understanding of digital literacy and computer science and provide opportunities for students.  We are excited about the growth of computer science in Trussville, but Mrs. Chamberlain and her team are always looking for more opportunities.

2016-2017

·         Courses taught in TCS

o   AP Computer Science courses taught at HTHS

·         Non courses/learning opportunities

o   HTHS Robotics Club

2017 Summer

·         Professional Learning

o   Michael Bufkin, HTMS, attends A+ College Ready Computer Science Discoveries training for 5 days in the summer and 4 follow up days throughout the year to get trained in teaching Code.org’s Computer Science Discoveries curriculum to 7^th and 8^th graders in one year long course.  The course consists of six units: problem solving, web development, animations and games, the design process, data and society, and physical computing.  https://studio.code.org/courses/csd-2018

2017-2018 School Year

·         Professional Learning

o   April and Ashley Waring, District Technology Integration Specialist, spent 1 year on the ALSDE Digital Literacy and Computer Science Course of Study Committee and Task Force to research and write with a team the new course of study.

o   Governor’s Computer Science Summit, Montgomery – April, Ashley, and Erin Cornelison attended the summit to hear from Governor Ivey and others on their vision and commitment for computer science in Alabama.  Sponsored by A+ College Ready.

o   Elementary STEM teachers receive training and planning time to prepare to fully teach Computer Science Fundamentals course the next school year.  Code.org CSF training lead by Ashley Waring, Code.org CSF trainer.

·         Courses taught in TCS

o   AP Computer Science year-long courses taught at HTHS

o   Computer Science Principles year-long course taught at HTHS

o   Computer Science Discoveries year-long course taught at HTMS

·         Non courses/learning opportunities

o   CES EnRICh teaching 1 sessions of Google’s CS First Game Design to fifth graders, https://csfirst.withgoogle.com/c/cs-first/en/game-design/overview.html, where students using block based coding in Scratch 2.0/3.0 to program the following games: gaming story, racing game, maze game, platform game, escape game, launcher game, quest game, and cave surfing game

o   CES EnRICh teaching 1 sessions of Google’s CS First Fashion and Design to fifth graders, https://csfirst.withgoogle.com/c/cs-first/en/fashion-and-design/overview.html, where students using block based coding in Scratch 2.0/3.0 to program the following: fashion story, fashion walk, ultimate stylist, fashion innovation, fashion poll, window shopper, pattern maker, and fashion awards

o   HTMS Clubs: Robotics, Sphero, Ozobot

o   HTHS Robotics Club

o   Promote Tech Birmingham’s Kids Code Club at McWane Science Center, once a month Sundays.  Ashley and April volunteer for these events.

·       HTMS receives $24,990 from ALSDE Middle School Computer Science Initiative Grant to future develop the following

o   Increase in clubs and mini course offerings

o   Resources for pre-engineering and computer science fundamentals course

o   Computer science kits available for students to check out from the library (They cannot keep them on the shelf for long as they are frequently checked out.)

o   Student camp opportunities (still in development)

o   Professional Learning (wealth of print resources and planning together)

2018 Summer

·         Professional Learning

o   Erin Cornelison, HTHS, attends A+ College Ready Computer Science Principles training for 5 days in the summer, https://studio.code.org/courses/csp-2018.  Computer Science Principle course consists of five units: the Internet, digital information, intro to programming, big data and privacy, and building apps.

o   April Chamberlain attends A+ College Ready Computer Science Discoveries training for 5 days in the summer and 4 follow up days throughout the year to get trained in teaching Code.org’s Computer Science Discoveries curriculum to better assist middle school computer science needs.

o   Lead Technology Teachers attended the International Society for Technology in Education Conference in Chicago focusing on sessions that would develop their knowledge in the five strands of Alabama’s Digital Literacy and Computer Science Course of Study: Computational Thinker, Citizen of a Digital Culture, Global Collaborator, Computing Analyst, and Innovative Designer.  Those that attended are: Lauren Long, April Smith, Janet Benson, Susan Brandon, Erin McGuyer, Mandy McIntosh, Rachel Brockman, Jason Dooley, Ashley Waring and April Chamberlain.

2018-2019 School Year

·         Courses being taught in TCS

o   AP Computer Science year-long courses taught at HTHS, Erin Cornelison

o   Computer Science Principles year-long course taught at HTHS, Erin Cornelison

o   Computer Science Discoveries year-long course taught at HTMS, Michael Bufkins

o   Computer Science 6^th grade rotation (9 weeks) course taught at HTMS, Jada Burns

o   All elementary STEM classes teaching trimester of Computer Science Fundamentals K-5 using Code.org curriculum, https://code.org/educate/curriculum/elementary-school

·         Non courses/learning opportunities

o   PES EnRICh teaching 4 sessions of Google’s CS First Game Design to fifth graders, https://csfirst.withgoogle.com/c/cs-first/en/game-design/overview.html, where students using block based coding in Scratch 2.0/3.0 to program the following games: gaming story, racing game, maze game, platform game, escape game, launcher game, quest game, and cave surfing game.

o   CES and MES will also offer CS First curriculum within EnRICh this school year.  The themes that may be offered are: Storytelling, Fashion and Design, Art, Sports, Music and Sound, Game Design, and Animation.

o   CES Make and PES Make: students will learn and create interactive resources using Makey Makeys and programming within Scratch.

o   Code Who Code Clubs at each elementary school – currently awaiting approval and resources.  MES lead by Lauren Long, CES lead by April Smith, and PES led by Janet Benson.

o   High School Team participating in Tech Birmingham’s Teen Hack-a-Thon sponsored by Jason Dooley and Michael Bufkin

o   HTMS facilitation Google Code In, Oct. 23 – Dec. 12, as a club where students take part in Google’s global, online contest introducing students to the world of open source develop through a wide variety of bite-sized tasks.  This club will be facilitated by Jada Burns and Ashley Waring.

o   Promote Tech Birmingham’s Kids Code Club at McWane Science Center, once a month Sundays.  Ashley and April volunteer for these events.

·         Professional Learning

o   Erin Cornelison and April Chamberlain attend A+ College Ready Fall AP Computer Science Conference getting additional training on Code.org lessons and resources, Greenfoot programming software, and Microbit programming and projects.

o   Development of the TCS Digital Literacy and Computer Science Committee which will meet four times throughout the year to develop an understanding of the standards, the cross curricular nature of the standards, local resources and develop implementation plan for their school for 2019-2020 school year.  Members are:

§  CES – April Smith, Amy Prickett, LeDerricka Dickerson, Sara Wessel and Taylor Harrison

§  MES – Lauren Long, Rebecca Bishop

§  PES – Janet Benson, Susan Brandon, Amy Ramer, Nicole Jenkins

§  HTMS – Erin McGuyer, Mandy McIntosh, Rachel Brockman, Michael Bufkin, Jada Burns

§  HTHS – Jason Dooley, Laura Massey, Erin Cornelison, Chaney Bowers

§  BOE – Ashley Waring, April Chamberlain, Beth Bruno, Jennifer Cardwell

o   In conjuntion with Secondary District Math Committee, explore Code.org’s Computer Science in Algebra, https://code.org/educate/algebra

o   Explore Code.org’s Computer Science in Science, https://code.org/curriculum/science.  Modules include: introduction to computer moedling and simulation, water as a shared resource, ecosystems as complex systems, and chemical reactions

·         TCS applied for MS and HS Robotics Grant submitted by Joy Young.  Awaiting announcement.

·         Resources that support the DLCS standards

o   TCS Lending Library which offers items from children’s literature, circuit playgrounds, 3D printer, Google Expedition kits, Breakout kits, makey makeys, little bits STEAM kits, spheros, ipads, and more for teachers to check out for a week at a time.  New items will be added to support the standards each year.

 We are thankful for Mrs. Chamberlain for her vision and relentess passion for helping our students and staff learn and grow.  She has assembled a remarkable team to provide the support educators in the district need to make computer science a reality for each student.  

Dr. Cardwell, Ms. Waring, and Ms. Chamberlain Provide Training for HTHS Math Teachers on Utilizing their New Touch Screen Chromebooks

Ms. Waring Works with Students

Ms. Waring Provides PD for Teachers

Trussville Hosts Parent Conference Day

Teachers at all schools in Trussville spent Tuesday meeting with parents or making phone calls to parents about their children.  Research clearly indicates that students perform higher when parents are informed and involved.

At Cahaba Elementary, students were key to the parent conferences.  The students actually led the conferences, showing and explaining their data to their parents.

Ms. Bonavitch Uses a "Scavenger Hunt"  to Guide a Student Through Her Conference

A First Grader Provides a Tour of Her Classroom and Work Area for Her Mom.

Each student shared his/her data notebook with his/her parents.  Kindergarten parents were given a list of prompts for their child that included:

1. What are you most proud of?

2. What would you like to learn more about?

3. It makes me proud to see that . . . .

4. What are you working on now?

5. Can you tell me more about . . . ?

6. I can tell you improved in . . . .

7. What did you find challenging this quarter?

8. Did you reach your goals?  Why or why not?

9. How can I help you become a better leader?

Magnolia Teachers Study Fall Data

Academic Coaches, Kelly McGough and Monica Bramlett, are leading Magnolia teachers as they examine their students' fall Scantron and STAR data.  Teachers are asked to reflect on the following.

1. Determine which standards most students have not yet mastered.

2. Think about causes for these deficits.

3.  Reflect on the standards most students have already mastered.  Determine opportunities for enrichment.

4.  Set goals for 2018-2019 for improving.