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.
