5 Step of Learning

5 Steps of Learning

Our journey to higher student achievement has taken us through a system which supports effective teaching, higher student growth, professional development, instructional feedback and continuous collaboration. As we contemplate the increased rigor of the Indiana State Content Standards the benefits of our instructional system allows us to be ahead of the curve.  Excellent teaching practices are our foundation and increasing the rigor of our content is supported through this system.

As a member of the Indiana Principal Leadership Institute through, Indiana State University, we have studied Marzano's High Reliability Schools model.  This model consists of 5 surveys to determine where the school rates in becoming a High Reliability School.  Although, Scott currently implements a system to develop an effective school, I (along with the TAP Leadership Team) evaluated the data to determine where we stand in effective instruction.  Below you will find the results of the Marzano High Reliability Schools level 2 survey which focuses on Effective Instructional Practices.  Below find a summary of the purpose of the evaluation and the overall mean for each Leading Indicator.  The survey was completed by the Scott staff in November and December.

Administrators, teachers, and other personnel at Scott Middle School were asked to respond to an online survey designed to gauge their school’s initial status on the second level of the High Reliability Schools (HRS) framework. Level 2 has six leading indicators which address factors considered to be foundational to any substantive change within a school:

	Administrator			Teachers & Staff
Leading Indicator	M	SD		M	SD
2.1: The school leader communicates a clear vision as to how instruction should be addressed in the school.	4.97	0.09		3.93	0.35
2.2 Teachers are provided support to continually enhance their pedagogical skills through reflection and professional growth plans.	4.65	0.20		3.94	0.35
2.3: Predominant instructional practices throughout the school are known and monitored.	4.40	0.28		4.12	0.14
2.4: Teachers are provided with clear, ongoing evaluations of their pedagogical strengths and weaknesses that are based on multiple sources of data and are consistent with student achievement data.	4.58	0.20		3.98	0.25
2.5: Teachers are provided with job-embedded professional development that is directly related to their instructional growth goals.	4.92	0.18		3.94	0.17
2.6: Our teachers have opportunities to observe and discuss effective teaching.	4.97	0.09		3.60	0.32

After evaluating the survey results as a team, we were excited to see our current school system led us to score high in all Leading Indicators.  In addition, we determined the means were consistently on target and where there was a disconnect it is possible the language used in the survey was misinterpreted by some staff members.  With this knowledge, we are excited to continue with our current instructional/professional development system to build a successful school.

As the instructional leader of Scott, this data tells me our staff understands what the expectations are for teaching and learning.  This blog post began with a visual of the 5 Steps of Learning which is the foundation of instructional practices.  It is impossible to begin a lesson without a clear, measurable objective based on the needs of your students.  The 5 Steps of Learning are not only used during student learning, but when we are developing professional development lessons.  With now only 17 instructional days until the Applied Skills portion of the ISTEP test we must provide rigorous lessons with specific instructional goals!

Continued Success in 2015

In our profession, the "New Year" begins in August and the imminent countdown to ISTEP+ begins with the calendar year transition.  Thankfully, we recently re-evaluated our personal and professional goals and created inspiration boards to remind ourselves of why we work so hard!  When you return to work spend some time focusing on your inspiration board to ensure you keep those goals at the forefront! You may even want to have the students review their personal boards, too!

We have 36 school days from January 5, 2015 to the beginning of the Applied Skills ISTEP+!  The new state standards scare many of us, BUT by focusing on the process of completing a problem or writing an essay our students will be successful.  Ms. Burrows spent time at a recent faculty meeting discussing the theory of Mindset by Carol Dweck and the powerful impact educators have on developing successful students.  Below you will find a 10 minute Ted Talks video of Ms. Dweck and how to motivate all students in turn increasing their ability.  Relationships, praise and proper motivation are equally as important to teaching the standards!  Don't underestimate the power of the relationships with your students.  Success will continue for SMS in 2015 if we remember all of the pieces to the puzzle!  

Mindset - Carol Dweck

I want to wish all staff members a Happy New Year and hope you and your families have a happy and healthy 2015.  Please remember my door is always open for anything you may need!  Our job is difficult and demanding and sometimes we just need to process our thoughts with someone else to get through the day. 

Calendar

Acuity Readiness #2 Begins - 1/6/15

Team Leader Meeting - 1/7/15

Grading Period Ends - 1/9/15

*Reminders*

We have begun to offer after-school tutoring after-school Monday through Friday.  Please encourage your students to attend!  I will meet with those teachers interested in supervising after school on Tuesday 1/6/15.  A calendar invite will be sent out to those who have already contacted me.  

Also, advisory will begin to focus on remediation again as we did last year.  This proved to effective! We will discuss the specifics during team leader on Wednesday.  Please discuss this process as a team prior to the meeting.

One more thing...Mr. Hicks and Mr. Friend will begin attending team meetings to offer support with student behavior and academics.  Please don't hesitate to invite them in to your meeting at any time you need anything!    

What does a grade mean?

'Tis the season to give thanks for everything we are grateful for in our lives.  Often we find ourselves in a monotonous routine that does not provide time for reflection and thoughtfulness to what is important to our existence.  Hopefully, everyone enjoyed the latest 5 day break and is looking forward to an additional reprieve during Winter Break! Before we begin our break, we have 10 school days left to impact our students.  This is a time of year when students become excited (for the holidays) and unfortunately depressed (because of the holidays) and we must continue to implement effective, engaging lesson plans that provide structure.

When developing plans student mastery is the objective of every excellent lesson!  To ensure student mastery the objective must have a measurable verb, but what happens when the student does not master the objective?  Do we give the student a poor grade and then move forward with the next objective?  What does the grade really mean?  Does the grade truly measure what we want the student to demonstrate knowledge of?  Grading is a subjective process and a long standing staple of the educational system.  Below you will find articles discussing grades and the importance or lack thereof.  However, as we look forward into how or why we grade we also must deal with the fact student g.p.a's are still reviewed at the college level.  (Please remember all of these articles are to stimulate your thinking and do not necessarily represent my opinions!)    

 Why its time to give up grades?

Do you give zeros?

5 Principles of Assessment

Standards based grading

Now that you have reviewed the four articles above...what are your thoughts?  Please comment your thoughts on grading to this blog!  I am curious to everyone's perspectives.  Recently, I spoke with local principals and superintendents regarding this issue and their consensus is our parents are not ready for this change.  However, I believe we will always make the best decisions for our students regardless of how difficult it may be!

Calendar

Monday 12/8/14 Board meeting - 6 p.m.

Tuesday 12/9/14 Math and Science Night -  5:30

Thursday 12/11/14 PBIS Meeting - 2:45

Monday 12/15/14 Class Mtgs PBIS - 2nd, 3rd, 4th Periods

Monday 12/15/14 Choir Concert -  6:30

Friday 12/19/14 PBIS Whole School Celebration - All day

Launch..3.2.1....Blast off!

We have an exciting week at SMS with the launching of our first two whole school strategies!  These two strategies have faced the rigor of field testing here at Scott and have proven to show growth in student skill sets.  The TAP Leadership Team (TLT) worked extensively this summer to address teacher concerns and chose two separate strategies for Math and ELA.  We understand the importance of content specific strategies and look forward to your feedback in regards to this year's strategy cycles.  Remember the strategies are to be INTEGRATED into your content, not a separate lesson to teach.  Let's blast off to success with content specific strategies!    

In addition to the implementation of the two new strategies we are digging into the data more than ever with the completion of our Acuity Readiness 1.  After reviewing the data last week we realized our students are need of some intense instruction to meet the requirements of the quickly approaching ISTEP+ exam.  The whole school strategies in combination with purposeful instruction guided by collected student data will lead Scott Middle School to the A or B school status!  

As we prepare ourselves to develop successful students during the 2014 - 2015 school year keep in mind the data from the following illustration.  Our students will be successful if we keep their best interest at the forefront of our planning.

• Looking for Managing Student Behavior tips?  Click the links below.  

30 Strategies to Quiet a Classroom

Survival Guide to Classroom Management -  This is a short video that is EXTREMELY relevant to what we experience!

• In need of a technology resource...utilize Ted-Ed instead of Youtube for instructional videos for students.  See link below.  Additionally, I am using Google Drive extensively to communicate with our staff.  Please check your drive consistently.  

TED-ED to inspire learning

Calendar

11/11/14

Cluster

2:45 p.m. Literacy Mtg Library

5 p.m. Basketball game vs. Gavit

Veteran's Day - Remember to thank a Veteran

11/12/14

2:45 p.m. PBIS Mtg.  Conference Rm.

5 p.m. Wrestling vs. Gavit

11/13/14

5 p.m. Basketball game at Eggers

ELA Data Mtgs 2nd, 3rd and 4th periods

11/14/14

Athletic Department Fundraiser Kick-off 2nd, 3rd and 4th periods

Report Card distribution

Every one of us is a leader to our students and some of us to our peers.  Remember we do not just teach content...we develop the next round of leaders to enhance our global society.  

Looking for guest bloggers!  The first article received will be rewarded with an extra release period with Mrs. Bergren as the sub!  Get those articles in!

What is your inspiration?

Everyday we leave our home, our families and our responsibilities to come to Scott Middle School and support our students.  We use our own funds for school supplies and tangible rewards for our students, we grade papers until midnight and develop lesson plans on Sunday morning.  New strategies, new standards, accountability by the state...where do we start and where do we end?  Mrs. Smith said it best today, "1/3 of the school year is over and I feel like we just begun!"  Our objective for cluster this week was to remind ourselves of our own personal and/or professional goals and why we are committed to our own success!  It is essential to remind ourselves what inspires us to meet those goals and be successful in  life.

I look forward to viewing everyone's Motivation Boards and feel free to stop by and see mine posted next to my desk.  My inspiration comes from my family, I don't know if I could have achieved my career goals if it wasn't for their support and commitment to me.  Additionally, the staff of Scott Middle School drives me to work hard to ensure their hard work is recognized and not done in vain.  We deserve to achieve recognition from the state and our colleagues and this motivates me to work hard!  We will succeed and my motivation board will continue to remind me on daily basis of why I choose to reach my goals!

Although, we are 70 days away from the first portion of the ISTEP test, I wanted this weeks blog to serve as an inspiration to what and why we do the work we do.  Below you will find a few photos from THIS school year as a reminder to how AWESOME we are as a school!  We have already accomplished so much.

Student vs. Staff Volleyball game

PTSA Halloween Dance

Football 2014 City Champs (Coach P would be so proud!)

Fall Choral Concert

Hispanic Heritage Festival which brought in over 100 participants!

Garden Club planting bulbs for the spring!

Morton Homecoming cookout

The SMS band marching with the MHS band.  We rock!

8th grade girls volleyball team....city champs!  What What!

PTSA 5k event...yep I finished the whole thing...not sure about everyone else...Browning?

Learning how to use chopsticks in Chinese!!!

PBIS Team Building event

Boiler Up!

Starting our whole school book...do you dare to cross the line?

Hands on learning in Mrs. Peterschmidt's class

2014 8th grade dance...the year goes by sooo fast....we will be here again soon!

Rigor and 72 days until ISTEP+

After reviewing the Indiana College and Career Readiness Standards the first word that comes to mind is rigor.  We are not only increasing the level of activities we develop for our students, but the depth of knowledge.  Our Acuity scores indicate a need to increase the rigor in our daily teaching to ensure we meet the new standards the state has developed.  As the instructional leader it is my role to support the classroom instruction and build a culture of collaboration so all individuals, teachers and students, will succeed.  

Below you will find two blog articles addressing rigor in the classroom and Webb's Depth of Knowledge.  Without fully understanding Webb's DoK, one might think that rigor would be hitting the higher level of Bloom's taxonomy.  However, it is crucial to remember that it is not the verb that makes the task rigorous, it is what comes after the verb!  Take the challenge located in the second link and assess the tasks you assign your students!

Rigor isn't bad!

Do I create rigorous lesson plans?

Depth of Knowledge Chart

Calendar

October 27th - Acuity Make-ups; Readistep 8th grade testing

October 28th - Last day for Acuity Make-ups; Picture Re-takes; Fire Drill 1:30 p.m.

October 29th - Halloween Dance 2:30 - 4:15 (The PTSA would appreciate volunteers!); Kevin Dill Training

October 30th - Kevin Dill Training (Mr. Friend out of building);  Door Decorating Contest should be complete!

October 31st - Happy Halloween; judging of the doors will occur!

***I will be attending the NCTM (math conference) on Thursday and Friday.

Announcements

I would like to welcome Evelyn Morales to our Scott Family!  Evelyn is our new 7th grade math teacher for team 7B.  Welcome!

Same Stuff as Stars - everyone should be near Chapter 14 and administering quiz 3 on Friday.  Please continue to have students complete quizzes and continue reading.  These quizzes allow you to hold students more accountable during advisory.

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. ~ Mark Twain

A person’s mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of her/his opportunities, and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of her/his difficulties. ~ Harry S Truman

Second Grading Period

It seems as though every article on twitter recently is in regards to student behavior!  I think across the country we are hitting the PEAK!  We all cannot wait for Fall Break!  I have continued to email these articles to myself in hopes of sharing them with you, but as I comb through 150 emails everyday I remind myself they may get lost in translation!  So....I have embedded them into this week's blog.  I promise they are worth your time to peruse!  I personally find myself reading in all of the wrong places, specifically while driving!  Enjoy!

Are you listening? 
Break the blues

Calendar Reminders

Acuity Testing Continues

14th RtI mtg for those interested 

15th Trammel In-service (Math), Hispanic Heritage Celebration and Faculty mtg*

17th Progress Reports**

*I have professional development information to share and updates regarding our school grade.

** I understand not all teams print out progress reports, but I want ALL students to pull up their individual grades on STI.  Student need to take ownership in their academics and we must teach how to do this.

Differentiated Learning

Last weeks data meeting focused primarily on student data and discussing how we can utilize our data packs to increase student achievement and develop lessons.  To meet this objective we must differentiate for our students to maximize success!  Below find two articles:  one for the teacher new to differentiation and one for the differentiated expert!

New to differentiation 

Looking to learn additional practices...