Issue 101: Aug 23, 2010 Connections Newsletter
Effectively Using the LEARNING-FOCUSED Connections Newsletter to Guide Conferencing Sessions
Brenda Hill
Aug 23, 2010
How can the the Connections newsletter help make Conferencing sessions more productive for your school?
The Learning-Focused Connections Newsletter is a great resource for district personnel, school administrators, instructional coaches, and teachers. The newsletter articles may be used in many ways - to guide collaborative planning, as the agenda for team meetings/professional learning communities, or to support lesson studies. In working closely with school administrators and district personnel there have been many times I have used a Learning-Focused Connections Newsletter article as the focus for an upcoming conferencing session. The selected newsletter article sets the agenda for the conferencing session and guides the discussion. The following g uidelines have proven helpful in using an article to support a conferencing focus.
Tips for Effectively Using a Newsletter Article for Conferencing *
Before the conferencing session:
1. A school administrator or district personnel determines the conferencing focus based upon school/classroom data and classroom observations.
2. The Learning-Focused Instructional Specialist collaborates with the administrator or district personnel to locate a Learning-Focused Connections Newsletter article that supports school goal(s) and the conferencing focus.
3. The article is shared with teachers before the scheduled conferencing session. This may be done as a hard copy or through email.
4. Teachers should print and read the article before the conferencing sessions. Teachers should record any questions they may have based upon the content of the article and be prepared to participate in a discussion of the article's content. Bring the article with questions and notes to the conferencing session.
During the conferencing session:
1. The newsletter article guides the discussion during conferencing. Questions and concerns are addressed during this time.
2. Specific examples or pictures of quality implementation of research-based strategies or instructional practices may be provided/shared during the session based upon the conferencing focus.
3. A follow-up plan for implementation is determined.
After the conferencing session:
The school administrator/district personnel consistently and pervasively conducts walkthroughs ("look for" and "ask about"), observing the implementation and use of the research-based or evidence-based strategies (conferencing focus) as determined from the follow-up plan.
This same process can be easily applied to team meetings, professional learning communities, or lesson studies. In addition, Teacher Reflection Meetings can focus on the follow-up implementation of the conferencing focus. This is just one example of how to effectively use the newsletter articles to support implementation of research-based and evidence-based strategies. Best wishes as you discover many more valuable ways to use these articles to increase student performance and achievement.
Questioning Techniques - Comprehension Questions
Carol Brewer
Aug 23, 2010
How can Comprehension Questions help students become better readers?
The Questioning Technique is the way in which teachers plan for and use questions. Comprehension questions require students to think about what has been read to answer the questions. The answer might not be right there in the text, but it is important for students to reference the text for answers. These type of questions are often missed because students think they know the answers and do not use the text to assist with the answers. It is important for students to recognize and practice these questions at an early age. For example, kindergarten students can use pictures and think about why the picture was drawn, or what is meant by the details in the picture. They can also look in newspapers to find words that start with the same letter as their first or last name, and then think about other words that start with that same letter. They might look bac k at the big books their teacher is reading to find words that rhyme or words that have the same meaning or opposite meanings, then think of additional words to add to their lists. Once this questioning technique is understood and trusted by students, it is a valuable strategy for any type of assessment.
An example of a Comprehension level question is, "Based on the passage, what is meant by the first paragraph?" With this question students should reread the first paragraph instead of guessing or thinking they know the answer. They should use their knowledge of making inferences to answer the question. If students are not secured with their understanding of inferences, it is important to explicitly teach it and make the connection from instruction to assessments. Using the results from the assessments is also a powerful strategy to use in small flexible groups to meet the needs of all students.
A suggested structure for the Questioning Techniques is for schools to have a monthly focus for their questions.! Just l ike the Comprehension Strategy of the Month, teachers model and apply one type of question throughout the month to ensure that students can understand and use them independently. Additional type of questions can of course be used throughout the month, but this is the focus type question for the month.
Additional information for the Questioning Techniques can be found with the Connecting Learning to Assessments training, book and flipchart
Seaford School District Leads the Way in Implementing Accelerated Summer School (Camp Blue Jay)
Denise Burson
Aug 23, 2010
How can Acceleration be effectively implemented in a Summer School format?
I first met Heather Bethurum and her team of administrators at our Learning-Focused Catching Kids Up training for the Seaford School District. I was impressed with their leadership and their desire to help struggling students catch up. I asked Mrs. Bethurum, assistant principal of Blades Elementary School, in Blades, DE, to tell me about her experiences with implementing Camp Blue Jay and the impact that Acceleration has had on her school district.
Mrs. Bethurum, reported, "We began by preparing for a change in our summer school program during the 2009 school year. The purpose of Camp Blue Jay (Acceleration Summer School) is to focus on previewing key essential concepts/skills for the upcoming year, especially those concepts/skills of the first grading period. The goal is at the end of September for these students to say, "This is the best yea r I have ever had in school."
When the Seaford School district began implementing Learning-Focused we decided to move to the Acceleration/Previewing model for our summer program. The first thing we tackled was designing a curriculum for our teachers to follow. The reading specialist, Wendy Sammons, and I created a template and outlined the first unit of Language Arts. We incorporated ideas and resources for utilizing Learning-Focused strategies for vocabulary, reading themes, phonics skills, and more, divided up into sections matching the main skills being presented for that grade level. Once the Language Arts section was complete, the lead math teacher at Blades Elementary, Alison Tingle, pulled together the ma in math vocabulary and skills for teachers to use as well. A! ll the r esources and curriculum maps were provided to each teacher in a summer school resource binder. Before our first session, we had Learning-Focused Instructional Specialists come to Seaford and train our summer school staff to use the strategies outlined in Catching Kids Up with Accleration.
We received high praise from classroom teachers following the first "Previewing" summer school. In fact, as a result of the surveys and teacher e-mails that we received we changed our extended day program during the school year to a previewing format as well. Teachers expressed delight at the change in some of their students. Many students who did not usually respond during class were suddenly responsive and engaged.
For the 2010 summer school program, we added E ssential Questions to the curriculum and began to flesh out the math units. We invited Learning-Focused Instructional Specialists to return and train our summer school teachers in Catching Kids Up with Acceleration. Even though some of the teachers had the training last year, they benefited from the training. They were more knowledgeable and were able to share their positive experiences with the new summer school teachers. Everyone walked away excited. The strategies and support we received were so valuable for designing their summer units using the provided curriculum and resources. This process helped our summer school teams develop a stronger understanding of their content and the importance of previewing.
We will be holding "Camp Blue Jay," our previewing summer school for the second year. We have moved the program to later in the summer so that students can preview information closer to the start of the school year. We have supplied teachers with resources, an organized framework in which they can plan for student learning and the Acceleration training. It works! With resources and instructional time being in short supply in education these days we must utilize every second with these students that we can. Double dosing them, triple dosing them, giving them every advantage possible. We are excited and can't wait to share our results with others.
