Sunday, October 11, 2015

Accelerating Initiatives and Building Capacity

New standards, new curriculum, new tech initiatives are all surrounding and swirling about the current landscape of education. Teachers and administrators everywhere are battling with implementing these initiatives within their schools and across classrooms. It's a battle because there are always a few eager individuals that implement in their practice, but the struggle lies in implementing and building capacity across a school site. 

This specific post focuses on one such method of capacity building. Although focus is specifically on listening and speaking, it could be applied to various entry points. 

It all began during the 2015 school year when the Alisal Union School District hired Dr. John Nelson, Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Services and Support at Chula Vista Elementary School District, to work with leadership groups. Dr. Nelson spoke about the notion of lead learners, growth mindset, and the vision of shared leadership to accelerate capacity building and fidelity. These notions spoke to me deeply and influenced much of the work our school was invested in. Besides these key ideas, Dr. Nelson also emphasized that one needs to be careful about overloading the system with too many initiatives.

With these guiding thoughts, the Tiburcio Vásquez Elementary School site leadership decided that we needed to have strategic entry points for implementing Common Core across our site. We chose to focus on the listening and speaking strand in part because of the work of Doug Fisher and Nancy Frey, and also it was also one of our District entry points. Further, we felt this strand was important because discussion and collaboration seemed to be integrated into of many of the Common Core State Standards; the metaphorical blood that flows and sustains the academic system. Lastly, we felt that our high population of ELLs also needed the extra support and scaffolding in listening and speaking.

Now it wasn't enough just having a strategic entry point: we needed a plan. We needed to figure out how we were going to build capacity in all our classrooms not just a few. Thus, enter the Listening and Speaking Matrix, grade level collaboration teams, and the shared leadership model. 
Google Doc: https://goo.gl/ahULcl

The backbone to our plan was the blank matrix to the left. This matrix was to be built and rebuilt by our staff. We decided to create two matrices: one for 3-6 and one for K-2.

In grade level collaboration teams, we started to think about what listening and speaking might look like in our classroom, and what we wanted it to look like. We used the CCSS Speaking and Listening Standards as a starting point to spring board our discussion. We brainstormed what scaffolds would be in place to get students across the continuum. We discussed seating formations, classroom set-up, sentence frames, discourse and social norms, and put all those ideas in the matrix under the relevant columns. Meeting after meeting each grade level team built on the previous team's ideas. During this process, we stressed that this was a living document that would change over time, and would be revisited throughout the year.

K-2 Iteration 1: https://goo.gl/LrlDLY
3-6 Iteration 1: https://goo.gl/X401Ua
Finally after each team had added its thoughts, I categorized the ideas as best as I could into groups like seating, body language, and collaboration. You can take a closer look at these iterations, by clicking on the links in the captions.

Our next step in the process was bringing the first iteration back to subsequent grade-level team meetings. As a cohort we looked at the matrix and discussed any possible changes that needed to be made. Each team was then given time to reflect on its own teaching practice and pick one area that each individual was going to focus on. We followed the self-reflection with discussion on how we could support students to meet our goals and move across the matrix. If you would like a specific example of how teachers supported students, check out my blog on Building Student Discourse.

We went through this same process over several team meetings, each time reflecting on where we were, and how we could move forward. We also made minor changes throughout the year as our understanding of the matrix and our practice grew. As the year moved forward, our students were gaining what we referred to as "active listening and speaking" skills.  Students were speaking loud and proud, in complete sentences, and were using precise vocabulary. At one point we participated in a district learning walk, and one of the group's notices was the rigor and quality of academic language across classrooms. I mention this because for us, this helped validate the work we were doing.

3-6 Iteration 2: https://goo.gl/Kn6V7L
K-2 Iteration 2: https://goo.gl/f9c2bw
Finally the year was winding down, and it was time to revisit the L & S Matrix as staff cohorts of K-2 and 3-6. The cohorts worked within the groups to revise and modify the matrix. During this work, the matrix changed significantly as staff truly took ownership of the tool. With the final revision of the year, we sent the second major iteration to Kinkos and blew them up as large posters to display in a few rooms throughout the campus.

Now this year the process is continuing with a different staff and a new and awesome instructional coach (I am now a District TOSA focusing on EdTech). The matrices continue to be reiterated and improved to meet the teachers' needs. For your viewing pleasure, you can view the live versions of the K-2 Matrix and the 3-6 Matrix. For this ongoing work, I would like to commend the teachers and staff involved in forming this tool. This list does not name all the staff involved, but the brave ones who are on Twitter. These teachers are great additions to your #pln.




Monday, October 5, 2015

Alisal EdTech News v1.6



Alisal EdTech News v1.6
EdTech Council Logo
Monterey County’s Edtech Council
  • Interested in connecting with other educators integrating Educational Technology
  • Come this Wednesday, October 7th  to MCOE from 4:00-6:00
  • Each Meeting will focus on:
    • A spotlight on a successful EdTech implementation with Q&A
    • Update on the latest EdTech developments
    • Time to network and discuss challenges and successes with colleagues in large and small groups
  • Bonus!!! Dinner will be provided for those evenings!!


EdTech TOSA Updates
  • Teachers, need some personalized support? Contact your EdTech TOSA for After-School Personalized Office Hours fit to meet your schedule
  • Want to be part of a monthly tech raffle!! Want to receive updates directly to your cell phone from your Edtech Coach? To receive messages via text, text @alisaltech to 81010. You can opt out of messages at anytime by replying, 'unsubscribe@alisaltech'.
    • This Month’s Winner was Mr. Kenneth Cho
IMG_0613.JPG



1:1 Device Expansion: Helping bring our District into future ready status  
  • Our New 1:1 Devices should be coming to classrooms soon. I.T. should start delivering them on October 15!!
  • Important!!! Remember that sites need to host a parent meeting in order to review the Student Acceptable Use Policy
  • KUDOS!!! Thanks Ms. McIntosh for translating the presentation into Spanish!!!
  • Youtube!!!  Here is a video presentation in English to help the 1:1 Rollout!!! A Spanish version is in the works!!
  • Save the Date!!! We are trying to put together a make up 1:1 BootCamp on October 12th. More information to come tomorrow!!!
  • For Reminders straight to your cell phone, text @alisal1to1 to 81010. You can optout of messages at anytime by replying, 'unsubscribe @alisal1to1'
EdTech Academy Logo
Upcoming EdTech Professional
Development
  • Want to be a search master? Sign up for the free Power Searching with Google Course
  • Monterey County’s Edtech Academy is now open for registration.  Registration will close October 16th. Space is limited!!!
  • MCOE Yearlong EdTech PD Series Flyer is now out. Click here!!!
Ilustrasi Gratis: Informasi
More info to come!!
Feedback, comments, concerns, or quagmire??
Click Below

Alisal EdTech News v1.5


     Alisal EdTech 
News v1.5



EdTech TOSA 
Updates
  • Teachers, need some personalized support? Contact your EdTech TOSA for After-School Personalized Office Hours fit to meet your schedule
  • Want to receive updates directly to your cell phone from your Edtech Coach? To receive messages via text, text @alisaltech to 81010. You can opt out of messages at anytime by replying, 'unsubscribe @alisaltech'.

Coffee 
with 
Coaches
  • Come get to know Site & District Coaches better over a Cup of Coffee and Some Conchas from La Plaza. Visits will be in the morning from 7:50-8:10 (except Alisal).
  • Upcoming Dates:
    • 9/29: Frank Paul
    • 9/30: Bardin
    • 10/7: Steinbeck
    • 10/9 Vasquez
    • 10/14 VRB
    • 10/16: Sanchez
    • 10/21: Freemont





1:1 Device Expansion: Helping bring our District into future ready status  
  • Saturday was our 1st 1:1 Bootcamp for the New Expansion
    • A total of 36 Teachers participated in the Training
    • 64% of the Teachers New to 1:1 participated in the training
  • Here are the Slide Decks from the trainings
  • Here is the link to some suggestions for resources on Twitter
  • Soon we let you know if/when there will be a makeup session
  • Thanks for all the energy and positive attitude!!
  • For Reminders straight to your cell phone, text @alisal1to1 to 81010. You can optout of messages at anytime by replying, 'unsubscribe @alisal1to1'
 




EdTech Academy Logo
Upcoming 
EdTech 
Professional Development
  • New!! Need more info. on Digital Citizenship? There is still time to register for the 2015 Common Sense Education Teacher Institute
  • New!!  Want to be a search master? Sign up for the free Power Searching with Google Course
  • Monterey County’s Edtech Academy is now open for registration.  Registration will close October 16th. Space is limited!!!
  • Last Call!!! Want to get a head start on Google Apps for Education?
  • MCOE Yearlong Edtech PD Series Flyer is now out. Click here!!!
Ilustrasi Gratis: Informasi
More info to come!!
Feedback, comments, concerns, or quagmire??
Click Below