Post Mid-Point Update

As we move into the second half of Summer Institute, a number of things I want you all to know:

1. I'm absolutely fine from yesterday. I appreciate your concern! I was a bit shaken up, but even my leg feels just fine, the only pain I had at all.

2. I truly enjoyed lunch, and I think we should make it something regular. We can't be late to session again, BUT I'd love to do a potluck picnic at BACS, or maybe in the park a bit south on Pleasant. We can figure that out this week.

3. This summer has already been a tremendous learning experience, and I thank each of you for your part of this experience. We are all very lucky to be working together.

There are also logistical considerations:

1. From this point forward, any observation which yields a score of 1: Not Yet Implementing Best Practices will result in the creation of an Action Plan. The Action Plan (AP) is a set of specific steps to implement to improve your Practice Teaching effectiveness, and will include a deadline for completion of each piece. APs result in either successful completion, which entails improvement to a 2 or 3 rating, or the development of a Performance Improvement Plan, which is the most extreme measure of intervention, and involves Tim and/or Kerry.

2. We will be wrapping up Module 4 on Monday, with the creation of our third work product, a DI grouping strategy document. This will be due on Wednesday, by 9pm, but I encourage you to plan to wrap it up much more quickly, to be able to devote more focus to planning for PT.

3. On Tuesday we begin Module 5, which is focused on Instructional Planning, and Strategic Design. To prepare, I suggest you review the Guidebook Part Two which focuses on IDD. You should focus especially on the details regarding the HITS, the Summary of Standards-Based Planning, Summative Assessment, and the Setting of Academic Goals.

4. Module 5 includes the largest, and the most valuable, of the work products, the Unit Plan. This will be started on Wednesday or Thursday, and completed early the following week. You will be more successful if you preview the work product details from the Fieldguide ahead of time.

5. I'm in DC on Thursday evening and all day Friday. I will be at Shea on Thursday, but not leading SAF Sessions on either day. I will follow up with you on the structure which will be used for those days, as soon as it's decided.

Please leave a comment, with responses to these two questions:

1. What aspect of the content for Module 5 are you most excited about?

2. What is one question you want me to be sure we cover during Module 5?

With a great deal of admiration, I'll leave it at that. Enjoy your weekend, and I'll see you Monday.

-Michael

Math Ted Talk we Watched

I promised you the information for Dan Meyer, the speaker we saw last week.

His blog is: http://blog.mrmeyer.com/

The video we watched is at: http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_meyer_math_curriculum_makeover.html

I highly suggest you thumb through his writing. Really bright guy, pushes ideas, lots of applied concepts. I'm always surprised by the kinds of questions he brings up, and impressed with his demand of formal math language in general conversation with kids.

Practice Teaching Schedules

Hi everyone! I have come to love the idea of the digital schedules; you should still use the paper copy to create a plan with your team and CT, but then PLEASE input into the Google forms - this will make it much easier for everyone to see when others are teaching and observe to provide feedback and see your best practices.

Here are the links for each week:

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Also, here are the links to see the schedules:

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

If you ever run into problems with the system, please let me know; this is a slight bit of experimentation!

-Michael

Lesson Plan template

Kim asked a great question...do you have to use the lesson plan template? No. The sections and the timing are important; whether you use that template or a standard-format Word document is up to you. -Michael - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

CMC Thoughts

As I review your ISG assignments, especially the management practices portion, I see a number of ideas already forming for each of you. I will be returning these assignments on Monday, and you should consider how you will message and train students to be successful with the procedures and policies you've outlined.

-M

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Wrapping up Week #1

Happy Friday! If you went bowling, I hope you had a great time. I teach yoga classes on Friday nights, which explains my absence.

A few things: first, and again, I'm very proud of your effort both in Practice Teaching and Framework sessions. And I'm looking forward to a great deal of progress in the very near future.

Regarding Practice Teaching schedules, I am going to implement a new tool: an online spreadsheet. This is intended to be very simple to use, and will make it easy for us to see when everyone is teaching, so Fellows can observe each other. You simply go to this address (http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dFN1LXJKRXIwX0loUEZ1NEhRRXVsdkE6MQ#gid=0) and fill in the data requested; I will also share the spreadsheet with the group, so you can see the schedule. Please fill this in by the end of the weekend; it should take you about 2 minutes.

And for the sake of discussion, I am providing a link to the first part of 'A Mathematician's Lament' by Paul Lockhart; this text is a strong statement about the need to make math meaningful, but take it with a grain of salt in regards to the state standards. It's about 25 pages, and it'll be a piece for a discussion later on in the summer; if you're interested, here's the link.

Finally, I want to address some of the feedback you offered me this afternoon. I'm thrilled that you see my excitement about teaching, that you see how much positive reinforcement and support I offer, and my efforts to ensure equal participation among all group members. I am always very interested in the 'deltas' you offer, and here's what you had to say this afternoon:

• Felt under-prepared for SpEd case study
• Would have liked the pacing guide before institute (I'm guessing this means the PT pacing?)
• More feedback and criticism before my official observation
• The reading level and expectations for the readings seems low
• Some statistics presented don't seem to be fully thought out
• When we went over the LP template, more time should have been spent on each of the steps
• More tips for lesson planning
• Don't see the rationale for doing Module 2 as a large cohort
• Pace of SAF sessions/maybe too divergent (Mike clarified this: better handling of tangential questions and comments that are focused on an individual; I need to make better use of the Parking Lot)
• Use of space a few hours after sessions (does this mean longer hours of access to Blackstone?)
• More time to communicate with CT
• Learning more CMC info/ideas on a daily basis
• Not learning many practical CMC skills or specific ways to deal with misbehavior
• Workshops are very general and high-level, especially the ELL workshop

I see two themes here which I have direct control over: CMC and LP work, and I am aware of those. First, some thoughts about CMC:

• This needs to become a priority for us; session 2 begins one week from Tuesday, and each team needs to have a RCP plan in place, ready to begin using, that day (RCP = rules, consequences, procedures)
• The Classroom Management Blueprint isn't scheduled, in the curriculum, far enough in advance to be of enough help getting ready for July 20; I will therefore be changing a couple of things..
• I will create several posters and guides in the room for thinking about the Classroom Management Blueprint ahead of time
• I will suggest that you review the Fieldbook materials for Sessions 3.2 and 3.3
• I will suggest that you reread chapters 12 and 13 from the Guidebook (Rules and Consequences, and Procedures)
• I will focus time in all observations on CMC, offering POSITIVE critiques and suggestions for improvement
• I will offer working lunches on Monday and Tuesday of next week, where we can discuss CMC content from the Fieldbook and Guidebook, as well as strategies for what you are experiencing in PT; these will run from 1:15-1:45 each day. These are OPTIONAL, and you should only attend if you believe this is the best use of your time; they have no 'point value.'
• I will stress CMC strategies, and ask that Allison and Liz do so as well, in the remaining Sessions for Module 2.

In regards to lesson planning, once we are done with Module 2, we can build in time to talk about LPs, and we will address this heavily in Mods 4 and 5; the Guidebook also has lots of information on lesson planning. Finally, I will continue to critique your plans as a part of all long observations (longer than 15 minutes, including formal observations), and am always willing to review and provide feedback on any lesson plan you have written. Office hours are a great chance to get feedback as well.

Please enjoy your weekend in addition to thinking about this stuff, filling out my exciting new ONLINE PT schedule, and reading your mini case studies from today. If you have any desire to reach out to me, I'm more than willing to talk. And you should all consider heading to roller derby Saturday evening downtown; that is definitely worth some bonus points.

Be well,

Michael

Week #1 Overview

During week #1 we will have an introduction to the training curriculum for the summer: Teaching for Student Achievement (TfSA); we will set expectations for behavior for our Advisory group; we will review expectations for practice teaching; you will learn to write lesson plans that meet RITF professional standards; we will review a Case Study which will give you insight into the realities of challenges and opportunities for working in a 'High Needs' school; we will begin our Special Education module.

You will have several deliverables this week; these will include a lesson plan (due Wed) and a completed Practice Teaching Schedule (due Fri). We will spend time on both of these pieces during TfSA Framework sessions in the afternoons.

For Tuesday, please review Chapter 8 from the Guidebook, which focuses on lesson planning. You may choose to review the lesson plan template which is linked in the right column of the blog.

For Wednesday, you will need to review the first Case Study; you will receive your Field Guide binder on Monday, and this is handout 1.3.2 from the Field Guide.

Please bring your Guidebook to every session, and plan to take it with you every day as you leave. There will regularly be readings from the Guidebook which will help you to prepare for upcoming material.

Best,

Michael