District Professional Development

October 17, 2011

Meeting Procedures and Routines

High FiveLook for the “high five” as a signal to come back together—a signal to wrap up your final point during a discussion as a sign of transition.

Meeting DocumentsThe documents from the district PD meetings will be sent via a distribution list for your collaborative team. Once the documents are sent, you will have access to your collaborative team’s email distribution list.

In Case of EmergenciesPlease silence cell phones during our work with one another. You are welcome to check messages during our breaks.

Keep Certified RegistrationBe certain to sign-in so that you will earn CEUs. CEUs will be awarded after the February 20 session. Participants will be registered automatically on Keep Certified.

Designing Powerful Professional Development for Teachersby Dennis Sparks

(from Learning Forward…formerly NSDC)

“What teachers know and do influences students’ academic success. The need for ongoing professional

learning that deepens teachers’ understanding of their content area and expands their instructional

repertoire is essential to improving student learning. When the content of staff development focuses

specifically on what data about student performance indicate are the areas of greatest need for students, the return on the investment in professional learning

is likely to be higher.”

Triad Talk: Key Words or Phrases

• Individually underline or highlight key words or phrases that connect to you.

• When prompted…– Join two other people,– Share who you are and

where you teach,– Share what and why you

highlighted the key words or phrases from the passage

Key Objectives for District PD—2011-2012(October 17, January 23, February 20)

1. Engage in collaborative learning that deepens our understanding of the first two questions of collaborative teams (PLCs):• Question 1: What do we want students to know,

understand, and do?• Question 2: How will we know if our students are

learning?2. Collaboratively share our work aligned with questions 1 and

2 of collaborative teams (PLCs)

Elbow Partner Conversation

• With a colleague next to you, discuss how the key objectives support your professional learning.

• Then discuss why they are important for improving your students’ learning.

Four Focus Questions for Work of Collaborative Teams

Q 1 •What do we want our students to know, understand, and do?

Q 2 •How will we know they are learning?

Q 3 •How will we respond when they don’t learn?

Q 4 •How will we respond when they do learn?

“High quality professional

development is characterized by

sustained, coherent,

collaborative and job-embedded

learning.”

Collaborative Journey

• Support for high-quality PD related to collaborative teams and the focus questions is built into our professional learning:– In our buildings—

• Regularly scheduled collaborative team meeting time focused on student learning

– Across the district—• District PD dates for 2011-2012 (October 17, January 23,

February 20, and June TBD) • District PD dates for 2012-2013 (August, October 15,

January 21, April 15, and June TBD)• New PD classes aligned to our work will be part of the

district’s new Staff Development Academy

Mentoring a New Colleague• You have been asked by your

principal to mentor a new teacher who will be teaching the same grade level or subject that you teach. You have been asked to discuss what your class is all about by sharing the units of instruction your students will be learning.

• What are the units of instruction you will be sharing with your new colleague?

Sharing Essential Learning Outcomes

• Sharing Protocol:

– Partner A shares for 3 minutes. Partner B listens.

– Partner B shares for 3 minutes. Partner A listens.

– When prompted, discuss what you heard and learned for 1 minute.

– Be sure not to interject or comment when your partner is speaking.

Process:With a partner who either teaches a different subject than you or is focusing on different concepts, share your reflections with them as if they are the new teacher.

Hmmm…

• While you were sharing or listening, what did you learn about what you shared and/or what you heard being shared?

Four Focus Questions for Work of Collaborative Teams

Q 1 •What do we want our students to know, understand, and do?

Q 2 •How will we know they are learning?

Q 3 •How will we respond when they don’t learn?

Q 4 •How will we respond when they do learn?

About Our Teaching Time• Create a group of four by joining

another elbow partners pair.• Generate a list of the things that

will interfere with teaching/teaching responsibilities (setting routines at the beginning of the year/quarter, testing prep or testing, school/special assemblies).

• Be prepared to share the number of lost instructional days with the whole group…when prompted.

How Do Things Line Up?

If the blue line represents everything that we need to teach….

And the green line represents the time we have to teach…

Then…what does that mean for how we approach instructional planning during each quarter/semester?

The most essential learning outcomes or core concepts that students need to understand

Essential knowledge, skills, and vocabulary students need to get to understanding

Information that is worth knowing, but NOT essential for students to know

Targeting What Matters

Getting to Essential Learning Outcomes…

…involves an ongoing process of—– Collaborating– Thinking– Doing– Collaborating– Thinking– Doing– Collaborating– Thinking– Doing

Getting to Essential Learning OutcomesOur decisions about essential learning outcomes is influenced by…

National Standards

Workforce

Post-Secondary

Our Teaching

Our Students

Local

Standards

State Standards

Research,

Best Practices

Question 1: Common Language

What do we want students to know, understand, and do?

Essential Learning Outcomes

Core Concepts

Big Ideas

Enduring Understandings

Essential Learning Outcomes Defined

• Essential learning outcomes are…– The indicators, by grade level, course, or content

area, that all students will have access to regardless of their building or classroom assignment

– The top priorities in a grade level, course, or content area that students need to know, understand, and do

– The concepts that provide focus to the curriculum—defining a guaranteed, viable curriculum

– The framework that guides collaborative instructional planning both horizontally and vertically

The most essential learning outcomes or core concepts that students need to understand

Essential knowledge, skills, and vocabulary students need to get to understanding

Targeting What Matters

Opportunity or Challenge?

By narrowing our focus on the essential outcomes or core concepts, what opportunities do we have as teachers? What might the challenges be?

Getting at What Matters Most• As you individually read “Getting Curriculum Reform Right” by

Guskey, document your response using the following prompts:

•What “squares” with your understanding?

•What “points” do you need to remember?

•What questions are “circling” around in your head?

Be back to continue our learning in 7 minutes!

Reflective Prompts to Develop Question 1

1. What are 8-10 essential learning outcomes (core concepts, big ideas, enduring understandings) students need to understand for the grade level, course, or content area being taught?

2. What are the essential knowledge and skills students need to support their learning?

3. What is the essential academic vocabulary students need to support their learning?

Instructional Planning MatrixEssential Learning Outcome

EssentialKnowledge

Essential Skills Essential Academic

Vocabulary

Focus on Question 1:What do we need students to know, understand, and do?

As you think about the course or focus of what students need to learn, use the standards and benchmarks you brought and/or that have been provided to individually identify the essential learning outcomes that will guide your instructional planning.

1. Look for the 8-10 essential learning outcomes or big ideas that students should leave your classroom understanding

2. Consider the language being used in the standards—what actions are core? What concepts emerge as core?

An Elementary Example…

• Essential learning outcomes for early elementary reading strategies:– Establish purpose for reading, make predictions,

connect important ideas, and link to previous experiences and knowledge.

– Continuously check and clarify for understanding (e.g., reread, read ahead, use visual and context clues, ask questions, retell, use meaningful substitutions).

– Read grade level material aloud with fluency and accuracy.

A Secondary Example…

• Essential learning outcomes for physical changes in science:– Evidence of Physical Changes – Conservation of Mass – Heat & Particle Motion

Checking for Understanding

• When prompted, form collaborative teams of 4-5 and share the essential learning outcomes that you have identified.

• During the sharing, make notes and/or document your colleagues’ thinking.

• As a group, generate a master copy of essential learning outcomes.

Identifying Knowledge, Skills, & Vocabulary

• As individuals, reflect on the essential learning outcomes that have been identified and generate the knowledge, skills, and academic vocabulary that students need in order to get to understanding

Essential Learning Outcome

Knowledge, Skills, and Vocabulary

The required knowledge, skills, and academic vocabulary students need to demonstrate understanding of the essential learning outcome.

Sharing Emerging Work

• Join your collaborative team and begin sharing the knowledge, skills, and academic vocabulary you believe are most essential for each of the essential learning outcomes you have identified.

Looking Ahead

• As part of your collaborative team meetings in your buildings and at subsequent district PD sessions, you will continue your collaboration to identify and document the following:– Essential Learning Outcomes– Essential Knowledge– Essential Skills– Essential Academic Vocabulary

• Share a copy of your collaborative team’s emerging work (NOTE: only one copy per collaborative team needs to be submitted so that we can use the information to guide our planning processes for January and February).

• Copies will be scanned and emailed to all participants in the group.

Key Messages• What were the key messages that we learned

today that will guide our work and learning with one another?

Think about… The instructional time you have and/or don’t haveThe use of standards and benchmarks to guide your instructional planningThe identification of essential learning outcomes, essential knowledge, essential skills, and essential academic vocabularyThe process of being collaborative

When I Think About Question 1…

I am most excited by…I am most concerned about…I wish I knew…I expect that…I am committed to…

Teachers Are the Key If there is one thing we have learned over the past three decades of

reform and research, it’s that teachers matter most in schools.Standards and assessments are part of the puzzle, as are the availability of

quality resources, a strong school/community partnership, and safe facilities.

But teachers and teaching have a significant effect on student achievement. Tests don’t improve student learning, teachers do.

A curriculum alone doesn’t improve student learning.But teacher-guided student interactions with the curriculum and teacher

selections of elements for discussion, expansion, and emphasis do.High standards alone don’t improve student learning.But teachers who communicate high expectations by providing

intellectually challenging learning activities and materials do.

From Teaching to the Core – Reading, Writing, and Mathematics, MCREL 2001