Importance of the Teaching Profession

This is the value of the teacher, who looks at a face and says there's something behind that and I want to reach that person, I want to influence that person, I want to encourage that person, I want to enrich, I want to call out that person who is behind that face, behind that color, behind that language, behind that tradition, behind that culture. I believe you can do it. I know what was done for me.

—Maya Angelou

 

   

After a hard few weeks as an educator, we need to reflect on the impact teachers have on students.    We need to be proud of the work we do as professionals and know how our job makes a difference in the eyes of the 465 students at Hudson Prairie.

We influence...

• Learning  
• Basic needs
• Social/ Emotional needs
• and much much more

It is an honor to be working together with you to do whatever it takes to help each student grow as a person and meet our SLO goals too!

Check out some photos of our lives as educators:  One Day In Teaching

Read the power of an effective teacher

Thank you for all you do and enjoy your weekend!

Oct. 24- SLO Development

SMART/ SLO/ Data Day

Oct. 24 8-4

Hudson Prairie
** Special Teachers (Special Ed and Specialists) will meet in the Hudson Prairie Gym from 8-10 to personalize their learning from Dave, Tony, and Sandi.

Music (Sandi)

PE (Ann)

Art (Ann)

Media (Dolf)

I want to give you an overview of next Friday's Professional development day.  
Check it out below with links.

Our learning target: I can create a high quality Student Learning Objective and data organization sheet to support student learning.












Some of you wonder what can I do to prepare for that day.  
1. Finish the reflection of the standards in My Learning Plan so you can create your Professional Practice Goal.  

2. Look at your classroom data to have a focus for your SLO.

3. Optional Frontload  Reading

Thoughtful Assessment with the Learner in Mind (Educational Leadership, ASCD, March 2014)  

Immerse

8-9 General Overview- Bring Laptop and data to Media Center

• SMART Goal and SLO connection

• Template SLO Process on My Learning Plan  Blank SLO
• Sample with Tiered Reading Goal connected to SMART Goal K-5 Reading Sample/ Template
• Sample Data Collection 
• Sample PPG linked to SLO 
• Resources- Colleagues, TLA, How to choose sessions, SLO Tool Kit DPI, Elem. Ex. Hudson SLO wikispace    2013-14 SLO Voicethread

Investigate (Choice to support your 2-3 High Impact Strategies)

9-10

Topic	Who plans/ leads?	What will we investigate?	Location
How can I use MAP assessments? Bring password. If you forgot, put in school email and forgot password.	TLA Members/ Ms. Prather Michele Lori Julie	Reports My Learning Continuum Goal- Growth Target/ Range 3 minute video introducing the Continuum Kahn Academy aligned to RIT MAP Reading  MAP Math  activities from South Washington County.	Computer Lab
How can I use the F & P Continuum to support learning? Bring F & P data and continuum.	Colleagues	Check out... Guided Reading Writing about Reading	Media Center
How can I use PALS assessments? Bring Pals data, device, and password.	K-2 Teachers	Explore website More information after Oct. 29 PALS Training in which Julie will attend	Mrs. Kreiser's Classroom
What are some high impact research based strategies to support my SLO?	Sue Hellmers	High Impact Strategies Hattie Formative assessments for reading Literacy Strategies Link to PPG and Standards from My Learning Plan	Media Center

Coalesce My SLO Action Plan

10-2  Work collaboratively with your teams at your building and enjoy lunch

Put it in My Learning Plan as you go

You tube video on how to add supporting documents.

Go Public

2-3  Share with staff in media center vertical PLC (Snacks provided)

3-4  Make improvements to My Learning Plan SLO Process

Next Steps....

Approval Meetings: Please sign up for an individual 20 minute meeting.
Criteria we will discuss
Oct. 30- Day 6
Nov. 7- Day 6
Nov. 10- Day 1

Here are some videos to see how the SLO meetings may look.
 SLO Approval Conference
SLO Midyear Conference

SLO End of the Year Conference and SLO Scoring

Coaching Support

• How can I organize my data to address my SLO?
• Use data to strategically plan instruction
• Schedule instructional coaching (planning, modeling, co-teaching)
• 
  

Timeline
Sept.- Collect Baseline Data
Oct.- Write SLO
Nov- Approve SLO
Dec.- Collect Evidence
Jan.- Midyear Conference/ Adjust Goal and strategies and support if needed
Feb.- Collect Evidence
March- Collect Evidence
April- Collect Evidence
May- Submit evidence of Goal Attainment

Conferences- Ready or Not Here We Come!!!

Ready or Not Here We Come!!!!  CONFERENCES

Conferences are an important time to connect with families.  We are fortunate at Hudson Prairie with the supportive and involved families we have.  I remember my first year when I asked for percentages of families that showed up and we have nearly 100%  That is not common in all schools. As I spend time conferencing you I am impressed how we are our student's  biggest advocate, cheerleader, and coach.

Here are some tips:

1. Send a questionnaire home to get a focus for parent concerns.
2. Getting students involved is important so they are owning their learning.  See information on student led conferences.  ASCD Article  Step by step blog
3. Take the "sandwich" approach. I start with something positive, continue with the things that the child needs to work on, and I finish with something positive.
4. Plan the essential things you want to share.  Strength and an area to work on.  Essential data and work samples.  Don't feel like you have to discuss MAP and PALS assessments.  We will have those printed out for you along with explanation letters.
5. Listen to parents concerns and have a 2 way conversation.
6. Don't talk down to parents. Be honest and truthful. Try to speak in the positive, not always negative. Offer positive ways to help a struggling child
7. Don't diagnose students.  Describe areas of difficulties and accommodations you are doing to support them.
8. Speak about your student the way you want someone to talk about your child
9. Get support from Susie or Aria as needed!

The SMART/ Leadership Team requested information for families to see the importance of reading. 

Here is a powerpoint that could be rolling through for families to watch while waiting for your conference in the pod.   Please set up a device for this purpose.  I will email the ppt that is set to continually move through the slides.
Powerpoint for Families to Encourage Reading

Here are some handouts you may choose to share:
Why Read 20 Minutes at Home
Jim Trelease Brochure- Why Read to Kids
Read Aloud 15 Minutes

Here are some ideas to discuss assessments with families from Ann Mitchell

PALS Parent Letter sample

NWEA MAP Talking Points for conferences

NWEA MAP Parent Letter (results)

How do I share assessment information with parents/guardians?

Hudson student-parent-teacher conferences should be meaningful conversations focused on student strengths, struggles, and next steps in learning. We want students to know themselves as learners, to understand steps they can take to practice areas of struggle, and to share goals with parents to help them focus their efforts.

Be thoughtful about using fall assessment data to communicate student learning with parents. Whether referencing NWEA MAP, F&P, PALS, or other assessments, please consider sharing the following:

• Specific areas of strength and struggle (rather than a score or level). Highlight with students and for parents steps each can take to support the student making progress in their learning.
•  Explain the value of the assessment as an instructional tool designed to help you (the teacher) plan the best (literacy) instruction for their child.
•  If helpful to parents, provide an overview of the tasks that are assessed, the benchmark scores associated with each task, and the scores obtained by their child.
• Identify the literacy instruction you have in place, and how you are planning to address their child's strengths and needs as indicated by the assessment.
• With a focus on literacy and reading, encourage parents or siblings of emergent readers to read with each other, sing songs and rhymes, look through pictures in a book, and so on. Encourage parents of all students to explore books with their children, expand into a variety of genres, and talk about what they read.

If you are looking for additional guidance on how to conduct productive, literacy-rich meetings with parents, view the following webinar that is available on DPI’s Read Wisconsin (www.readwisconsin.net) website here.

Please give Linda $6 for dinner on the 16th from Brines.
Remember to thank the PTO for serving dinner on the 23rd.

Independent- Instructional- Hard Reading Levels

Independent- Instructional- Hard Reading Levels

Day 6 Collaboration 

October 6, 2014

Thank you for your amazing conversations about bringing rigor to students using instructional levels and using resources to match student needs in the are of reading.

We learned...

• Some readers went from independent to hard levels right away.  We will instruct them at the hard level with a lot of support.
• Only a few readers have an instructional range.
• Assessing to the hard level helps us detect student errors and provide teaching points.
• Students fell apart mostly on comprehension about and beyond the text.  We need to focus our mini lessons and Guided Reading in these areas.  F & P Question Stem Bookmark        About the Text Questions
• The continuum is a great resource to use.  It was recommended to photo copy levels and use it as a reference for teaching points.
• We need to encourage students to look back in the book to find evidence.  This needs to be modeled in mini lessons, practiced in Guided reading and applied in F & P testing.
• Having students do a picture walk may support their learning.
• Give students a praise and prompt from assessing but keep it general and don't give story specific answers as they may be assessed again on the same book.
• Tricky book titles can be skipped.  Just use the non-fiction.
• MAP scores show we are low in informational reading.  We need to make a conscious effort to include more informational reading.

We wonder...

• How will we find time to do this?  It took 60 minutes for a 2nd grader because they had multiple levels of instructional!  A 5th grader took 80 minutes to hit hard level.  (Before school assessments, can support staff cover, other ideas)
• Can we assess students when we see them moving in GR so it is responsive to their growth and not all at once?
• Where do we instruct a student who had the summer slide?  Begin at their Spring score because research says with solid instruction they will regain their levels and be ready to move on.
• Where do we begin and end assessing?  Begin 2 levels above instructional and continue until hard at 90% accuracy or limited comprehension. 
• How  will the instructional level change expectations for each month?  
• Can we use the same book to assess?  You can if it is after 6 weeks. Some kids are remembering the answers so make sure 
• Will it help to do some vertical assessing so that we are consistent in scoring and expectations?

Next steps...

• Assessment calendar changes...Assessment Calendar                                                  Oct. 17/20- Independent levels due in the T drive.  If you have instructional you may add it.                                                                                                                                 K- Any readers     1-5- New students and students in question- Update progress      Oct. 21- Progress Monitoring in the conference room.                                              Oct. 24- Data Day SLO-  Have baseline data ready and an area you would like to focus on.  Here is a sample SLO.   SLO Reading Sample
• Conference communication can be used as in the past but we want the focus more on the needs of the students versus the level.    Conference Brochure
• Day 6 ideas:  Make bookmarks with questions from the continuum for levels, Observe peers in GR, have Sue model or observe GR with higher order questions.
• Determine what information will be useful to pass on to the next years teacher.  Determine if we will need Fall data or see if the Spring data is accurate.

Thank you for your professionalism and please add other comments to keep a record of our great conversations.

Focus- SMART Goal in Reading

We began our year with our essential question:
How do we prepare our students to be informed, caring contributors to the world?
RIGOR, RELEVANCE, and RELATIONSHIPS is our lens we will look through all year.

This is our focus specifically looking in the area of READING which is our SMART Goal. By 2016-17- 90% of our students K-5 will demonstrate proficiency in reading using multiple measures.

On Tuesday we will look at our SMART Goal and discuss high impact actions we can take that will make difference in students learning.  At the WASCD conference, Tony Frontier, author of the 5 Levers of Change said, "Transformational change needs to impact students directly." Students need to be able to articulate how our actions impact them directly.  
___________ makes me a better reader by ___________.  
John Hattie's did research and identified high impact strategies:  

Prior to the meeting please review the draft of our plan on the Leadership/ SMART Goal Tab on the blog and think about...
How are we supporting RIGOR in reading?
How are we making RELEVANCE for students?
How are we building trusting RELATIONSHIPS with our students to support them in their learning?

Check out the 3 big actions for each trimester:

1st Trimester Refine Guided Reading

How will this impact a student directly?

2nd Trimester- Using data for growth for all students

How will this impact a student directly?

3rd Trimester- Goal Setting and collecting evidence that students have reached their reading goals.

How will this impact a student directly?

Add comments about ideas on how we can improve this plan to meet our student's needs and specific ideas for professional learning at either staff meetings or day 6 PLC meetings.   We will discuss this on Tuesday!

K-2- will meet in Mrs. Brine's Classroom
3-5 & all special teachers will meet in the Media Center

****This may be the focus of your SLO and remember this plan can be a guide for building our SLO's on Oct. 24th.

I kept my focus on all the MN Vikings who were staying in my hotel at my conference and the focus paid off with a lot of photos but not such a good game.  Congratulations Packers!