Districtwide Elementary Collaboration

Teachers and administrators met Monday, November 5, to plan and collaborate at Magnolia Elementary.  Staff members from each of the three elementary schools meet together three times during the school year for collaboration and learning.  The collaborative groups updated pacing guides for literacy and math, created unit assessments, and learned about EnRICh, Dreambox, ESGI, Argument Driven Inquiry, and techniques for working with special education students. 

Edutopia: Open Up Classrooms for Professional Development

Easy, Informal Professional Development

Opening your classroom so your fellow teachers can just drop by and observe is a low-pressure way to collaborate and share best practices.

By Jeff Krapels

February 5, 2018

©Jeffrey Krapels

A sign on the door of a classroom at the author’s school indicates that colleagues are welcome to drop by for a visit.

On Grey’s Anatomy—yes, I still watch it—my favorite scenes are the ones in the operating theater. They’re a simple example of something that is also our greatest tool as teachers: modeling. As an educator, I’m used to modeling when teaching my students. Yet other than compulsory observation required in teacher-training programs, many educators rarely see any classroom besides their own.

In our school, Northern Valley Regional High School in New Jersey, our local professional development committee created our own version of the operating theater (without spilling any blood). We called it our “Open Classrooms” initiative.

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The genesis was simple enough: Many of us wanted the benefit of another set of eyes, or to share a new tool or technique with colleagues. We also knew that even the best explanation lacked the power of a real-time demonstration with students. So teachers invited others into their classrooms and received honest, non-evaluative feedback, as well as validation and support from their colleagues.

What we did not expect, though, was how much visiting others would energize us. Even more unexpected? We were learning not just from our colleagues but also from their students.

THE FIRST YEAR OF OPEN CLASSROOMS

We liked that other schools that had created similar practices used signs and charts to indicate which classrooms were open to visitors. We chose a clipart picture of a smiley face with a thumbs-up gesture, hoping that others would see the sign and join in. Our goal was for the Open Classrooms concept to catch on naturally, with people inviting and visiting because they wanted to. A number of teachers opened their classrooms on a daily basis.

When we began, we were successful in many ways that we could not have planned. Some of our committee members had the thoughtful idea to bring newer teachers along on visits. Doing so enabled the new teachers to see veterans in their classrooms. Traveling alongside established teachers also demonstrated that regardless of how long you’ve taught, there are still new tricks worth learning.

We set clear norms for visits. We agreed that they could be short, even just a few minutes, because we wanted to encourage a casual atmosphere where people felt comfortable dropping by a class. It was also OK to take your sign down if you were not open to visitors. The informality led to a more authentic professional development experience. Teachers could visit an Open Classroom and then go back to planning or grading. 

Finally, we made an effort to discuss the status of our Open Classrooms at each monthly professional development committee meeting so that we could share the wonderful things we were seeing.

Though our first year went well, visits tapered off as the school year concluded, and the long summer break made it difficult to start again in the fall. We wanted to get the momentum going again while maintaining the organic, grassroots feel. So we developed Open Classroom Wednesday as an add-on to our usual daily practice. This monthly celebration encouraged staff to visit their colleagues’ classrooms, as well as to open their own.

PLANNING AN OPEN CLASSROOM WEDNESDAY

You can’t just call an upcoming Wednesday “Open Classroom Wednesday” and hope everythig works out. The following steps were hugely beneficial to us.

• Our committee designated cheerleaders, whose job was to hang out in the faculty room at the start of each period and rally participants for classroom visits.
• Using Google Sheets, we shared a list of each period’s open classrooms with committee members and cheerleaders so they could easily go to the classrooms where teachers were expecting visitors.
• We advertised our Open Classroom Wednesday in staff-wide emails and using our district hashtag on Twitter.
• We reminded all participants, new and returning, of our Open Classroom norms—that visits should be non-evaluative and short. The point was to see the positive things happening in our colleagues’ classrooms and to interact with students in environments other than our own classrooms.

TAKEAWAYS

Our first Open Classroom Wednesday was a great success. Nineteen teachers visited 24 different classrooms that day. Many teachers were first-time participants and took away with them their own smiley face signs. 

Students seemed intrigued by our initiative as well. When one of our teachers told her students that we were learning from one another, one of them responded, “That’s so cool!” A student told another teacher, “I wish we could do that.” This highlighted for us that by participating in Open Classrooms, we were modeling responsible and reflective learning behaviors for our students. And because we were asking students about their lessons, we had an inside view of what authentic learning looks like in different contexts, and we were learning from them, as well.

District Elementary Collaboration

Teachers from all three elementary schools met at Paine Elementary May 7 for an afternoon of reflecting and collaborative planning for the 18-19 school year.  Teachers from each grade level, specialists, counselors, and special education teachers met to reflect on and analyze assessments, refine pacing guides, create lists of needs, update summer reading lists, debrief on new curriculum, plan summer professional learning, and to celebrate successes from the 17-18 school year.  Paine PTO provided delicious refreshments for the participants. 

TCS Principals Collaborate with Area Colleagues

Principals and curriculum directors from Trussville, Homewood, Mt. Brook, and Vestavia are collaborating to share ideas and to read and discuss Learning That Lasts by Ron Berger.  ACTNow (Administrative Collaborative Team New Opportunities for Working Together) provides a platform for principals and directors to discuss current issues and to brainstorm solutions, enhancing instructional leadership. Throughout the 17-18 school year, the group will rotate meeting locations. The group met at the Mt. Brook Board of Education Wednesday, September 20.  Each district will host the group and facilitate the discussion of the book.  Additionally, the group may participate in school visits and discussions of current topics.

TCS Administrators Reflect on 16-17 and Prepare for 17-18

TCS administrators and leaders met June 7 to reflect on the 16-17 school year and to think ahead to 17-18.

Learning Targets

1. I can reflect and share top three initiatives or highlights from each school or department.
2. I can reflect on 16-17 data and share with district colleagues.
1. Attendance/Discipline
2. Performance Series/STAR
3. Other
3. I can reflect and revise Educator Effectiveness.
4. I can reflect on and revise the District Continuous Improvement Plan.

The first part of the day focused on data reflection. Mandi Logan and Kathy Burgin gave an attendance summary for unexcused absences. The data shows that new procedures that were put in place positively affected unexcused absences. Hal Riddle gave an update on discipline data for the district. Each School shared academic data and highlights of 16-17.

The administrators reflected on Educator Effectiveness for 16-17, answering what went well and what needed to be changed.

The group revised the district Continuous Improvement Plan, reflecting and discussing the progress made toward achieving the nine goals and needed improvements.

Teacher Satisfaction, Collaboration Are Keys to Student Achievement

Teachers who are happy and satisfied with their job are probably better at it, past research (and general wisdom) has said. But a new study looks at exactly how teacher satisfaction affects student achievement—and how being a part of a professional learning community can make a major difference.

The study used data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey, which followed a nationally representative sample of children from kindergarten in 1998 through middle school. That survey had also asked the children's teachers questions about their overall job satisfaction and the extent of teachers' collaboration with other teachers.  The authors found that students have higher reading achievement by 5th grade when they have teachers who enjoy teaching and think they are making a difference. The researchers did not find a significant relationship between students' math achievement and their teachers' job satisfaction.

However, the study found that when students have teachers who are dissatisfied with their jobs, the children who are in schools with a strong professional community score significantly higher in math achievement by 3rd and 5th grades. (This also held true for reading achievement in 3rd grade, but there was no difference in reading in 5th grade.)

"In other words, the presence of a strong professional community serves as a cushion that can mitigate some of the harmful effects on students when assigned to teachers with low levels of personal job satisfaction," the authors wrote.

Professional learning communities are when the school has a shared vision and culture where teachers are encouraged to collaborate with each other, with the goal of improving student learning. Past research has found that teachers tend to have higher job satisfaction when there is a strong, collaborative school culture.

The study concluded that school culture is a critical factor that can shape the relationship between teachers' job satisfaction and students' achievement.

To read the entire article by Madeline Will in Teaching Now, click here.

Cahaba First Grade Teachers Collaboratively Plan

Cahaba first grade teachers met today with reading coach, Edra Perry, for a full day of reviewing their past reading plans and preparing for the remainder of the year.  They discussed what went well and what changes need to be in place for next year.  The teachers coded their unit plans with the CCRS. They looked ahead to upcoming units for the remainder of the year, determining what sessions could be combined and which units must be taught to finish out the year.

EdCamp at HTMS

Monday afternoon HTMS teachers participated in an EdCamp focused on Learning Targets.  The teachers shared information in small groups with colleagues.  According to Mrs. Berry, this may have been the most effective professional learning to occur at HTMS this year.  Afterwards, she asked teachers to respond to two simple questions: What is something you learned today?  What is something you'll implement?  Read the comments from the staff that show their genuine engagement and profound learning.

• I learned about and will implement learning target trackers for benchmark tests.

• I learned about creating student learning groups where students help each other work through trouble spots in their learning.  Brandon and Corinth also shared some great, inexpensive motivators for students.  

• A book title I will read

• More talk about growth after tests and data discussions 

• Have students discuss with partner the learning target and be ready to tell what their partner said. This makes the students focus more on listening to their partner. 

• Posting a QQ based off of LT in class and putting it on a test. Our department discussed doing this in the future. A QQ that requires the student to explain in a sentence or possibly paragraph form. A way to incorporate literacy standards in math! 

• More small groups for strugglers 

• I learned a great tip of asking the students to discuss the topic of the lesson for a couple minutes.  Then using your equity technique to call on a student. Instead of asking them what they thought ask them what their partner thought. This keeps them from just coming off the cuff since they just spoke to the other classmate. 

• I loved how the 8th grade SS teachers created a blank document for the students to fill in their current learning target.  I think we are going to do this for our final nine weeks- holding the students accountable.  #ownit

• I’ve been rolling ideas around about a project based unit in the 4th nine weeks about Biodiversity.  And I think using a quality question as the driving force and having it all on the LTT.  Have students include evidence of why they rated themselves.  Maybe include assessments or benchmark questions for each learning target.

• 7th grade English- including evidence, benchmark based LTT

• I learned that students can create their own "live" binder. It holds them to a higher level of owning their learning.

• I want to investigate further how we as a math team could potentially have the students create their own live binder.

• I can do digital learning target trackers in order to save copies 

• Importance of following up on quality question and letting that be the end of unit essay question... I hope to use that! Thanks!  

• I learned that I wish my children had Erin as a teacher. Possibly use the train of thought that Bartley Brown uses as having unit qq and targets but break it up into individual learning daily targets. 

• I liked how 7th grade math has students keep the learning target tracker in their binder and also that they turn it in so that they take it seriously. 

• I heard lots of new things yesterday, but my favorite was in 6th grade math when they talked about using the throw-back targets to review old skills and "blasts from the past" on tests.  I'll definitely use those sporadically in upcoming lessons.  I'll have to think through a way to be creative about it, though, because many of my students didn't have me for the first semester for those original learning targets.

• Something that would be beneficial for special education was the way band utilizes small groups and is able to motivate their students with silly rewards.

• I loved how the 6th grade math department has them write the LTs AND give them a hand out of all the LTs for the summative assessment so they can see what they will be learning. 

• I enjoyed Brandon and Corinth's session.  I would like to implement something like the emoji chart.

• I attended the session with 7th grade English on Student discourse.  It was great to see how intentional they were with their targets, and the student evaluation piece.  They had put together a target tracker for their 2nd 9 weeks benchmark assessment.  The tracker had students evaluating each question on the assessment and allowed them to reflect on whether or not they mastered the material.  This is something we will start to implement in 8th grade science.

• My 2 favorite take-aways from yesterday...

• * A sheet to write each LT daily and to immediately self-evaluate *Some great questions to use for student discourse related to the LT

-How does this (whatever we are doing) connect to our LT?

-What are other LTs that are related to this one?

-What is our goal today?

• Ask students, with their eyes closed, to rate themselves by show of hands on LT mastery: struggling, OK, or expert.

• I loved the idea of formatting learning target trackers with each unit (instead of just a continuous sheet of LTs). 8th grade social studies gave great information for providing umbrella QQs, standards covered, and general information for the upcoming unit. It allows students to see the "big picture" so that they can begin with the end in mind. 

• I learned...important for students to track progress on each test, not just the benchmark.

• Something to implement... LT's trackers for each unit covered to turn in with test. #ownit

• I learned how QQ are based off of the LT. The QQ stem from what we want students to know. QQ can have multiple layers in one question!

• I loved the idea of the target tracker being large, up in the room and allowing students to mark it at any time during the unit.

• I will implement the idea of having them think through their targets with their eyes closed.

• We are also doing an emoji activity on Monday that we will incorporate some of what was said.

• Various examples of student Learning Target Trackers using I Can statements.

• 7th grade math shared a target tracker page each student fills in at intervals across a unit.  Jennifer B. shared an idea about using her Fitbit to cue her privately for the last few minutes of class to reflect upon the learning target -- genius.

• Something you learned today – I learned that student input and perception is important

• Something you'll implement – I will have the students write the learning targets in their journals.

• I really enjoyed the Quality Question PD.  I learned that it is ok to have a QQ that is for the entire unit.  It also, needs to encompass all the standards.  I want to really work on our QQ for 6th grade social studies to encompass all parts of the standards we are teaching.

• I learned that silly prizes can be good motivational tools for students. I plan to start using some type of prize for good behavior.

• Stay with the "Check off" list that is in the Learning Target Tracker.  I got away from doing this because students were not really very forthcoming...they were all "experts".  Those teachers that have stayed with this said it gets better...students will eventually take ownership of their progress.  I am going to go back to being more intentional with this! 

• I learned a really great way for students to evaluate their own learning. I loved the way Erin, Brandon and Corinth shared experiences of how their target trackers are working.... it can work for everyone. 

• I learned that an option for quality questioning is to have one or two quality questions for an entire unit, and to guide students throughout the unit towards being able to write about/answer an essay question on a test directly related the unit QQ.

• I will implement more student discourse about learning targets.  I'm doing a good job of presenting them and having students write them and reflect on them, but having the students talk about the learning targets is lacking in my classroom, and I learned some good ways to facilitate more discourse among students.

• What I learned - When students are giving the opportunity to assess their learning, they have a better perception of how well prepared they are for summative assessments.

• What I will implement - Self assessment prior (day before) to the Summative assessment followed immediately with an analysis of their assessment.

Magnolia Students Collaborate on Science

Ryan Hook's fifth graders and Jeanette Cerisano's first graders collaborated recently to learn about the seasons.  Fifth graders used a data table to help first graders create a bar graph to show the hours of daylight in each month in 2016.  Students found patterns in the data and discovered that we have more hours of daylight in the summer months than winter months.  This was a wonderful learning experience for everyone involved!  The students will work together again to make posters about the temperature and weather of the four seasons.  Mrs. Hook and Mrs. Cerisano enjoyed the collaboration as much as their students!

Second Graders Learn to Use Chromebooks

TCS District Technology Integration Specialist Stephanie Hawthorne worked with Paine Elementary second grade teachers to help students learn to use their new Chromebooks.  Students participated in a lesson on how to login and access various tools.  From the photos, it is evident that students were excited and thrilled to utilize Chromebooks with Ms. Hawthorne's support.