TWSSP Cape Flattery Winter Workshop

Saturday, February 7th, 2015

•Improve teachers’ subject-matter knowledge in mathematics, science, English Language Arts, and social studies

•Improve principals’ and assistant principals’ instructional leadership skills specific to mathematics, science, English Language Arts, and social studies

•Ensure that all schools have an articulated and shared vision that reflects a belief in students’ capacity to learn

TWSSPProject

Common BeliefsCommon Beliefs

Effective Instruction and Improved

Student Learning

Content and pedagogical

content knowledge

Professional Learning

Communities

Leadership

Educational Research

Formative Assessment

Fixed vs Growth Mindset

AgendaMorning Overview

Stuff around Student Ownership More StuffLunch

More Stuff

PLC time 3:00 pm Go home

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•Pausing•Paraphrasing•Putting inquiry at the center•Probing to clarify•Putting ideas on the table•Paying attention to self and others •Presuming positive intentions

•Learning targets present•Encouraging students to justify their thinking

•Respectful student to student and teacher to student interactions•Regular small group discussions

•How can you and your students maintain respectful interactions while pressing one another to be accountable for the learning?

•How can learning targets be more clearly tied to intended content so students understand the purpose of the activity they are engaged in?

•How can small group interactions be structured more purposefully?

•How can rich tasks be well scaffolded?

•Increase understanding of how to improve student ownership both inside and outside the classroom.•Increase understanding of strategies for engaging in productive PLCs focused on improving instruction.

•What student and teacher characteristics, or behaviors, have you observed in your classroom as students took more ownership of their own learning?

•What evidence would an observer see?

•What would be the next small step for students in your classroom?

I can articulate the connection between a focus on academic language and student ownership of learning in the classroom.I can plan and implement a variety of activities to improve student-to-student use of academic language in my classroom.

How can a focus on academic language increase student ownership in my classroom?

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What was the purpose of the discussion?

What was the prompt?

What was the structure?

What worked and what didn’t?

Think back to the last time you asked students to talk with

one another in your classroom.

Reading and writing float on a sea of talk.James Britton

•What is the link between supporting academic language and student ownership?

Think about the discussion you described earlier.•What ideas from the reading were reflected in the way you planned your discussion?•What new ideas or insights did you get from the reading to incorporate into your next discussion?

Read the first 4 pages of Academic Listening and Speaking: introduction, challenges of using groups, forms of group discussion, and process over product, stopping at the paragraph on top of page 5.

Zwiers argues that both seminars and deliberations need to be practiced in school.•How could teachers help students understand, and become more adroit at both types of discussion?

Read the second section of the article: designing and supporting academic groups, language for working in groups, techniques for reporting out.

Think about the next discussion you’ll implement in your classroom.

•What ideas from the reading will you incorporate into future discussions?•Work with your table to make a plan for how you will do that.•How could your PLC support you in implementing your plan?

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Take A 15 Minute Break

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Read group activities

Fit to your classroomcontext

Choose activity to implement

Get feedback from peers

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Return from lunch in 45 minutes.Debrief your observation from

yesterday with the observer if you are interested in doing so.

What strategies are most effective in order to make learning last?

I can describe effective study strategies to my students.I have a plan for sharing strategies with my students.

“Study skills and learning skills are inert until they’re powered by an active ingredient. Students may know how to study, but won’t want to if they believe their efforts are futile. If you target that belief, you can see more benefit than you have any reason to hope for.”

Carol Dweck

What strategies do your students

currently use to learn

successfully on their own?

How do you help your students develop effective learning

strategies?

Read Strategies that Make Learning Last.Focus your attention on the four good ways to learn described in the article.

How can we share these strategies with students?

How can we provide

opportunities for students to

practice these strategies?

I can articulate how my PLC will focus on improving our PLC processes.I know what support I need from my PLC in order to improve instruction.

How can we improve PLC processes for supporting instructional improvement in our PLC for the remainder of the school year?

Individually reflect on the current state of your instructional practice or your instructional leadership.

I can articulate how my PLC will focus on improving our PLC processes.I know what support I need from my PLC in order to improve instruction.

How can we improve PLC processes for supporting instructional improvement in our PLC for the remainder of the school year?

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Where am I going?

Where am I now?

How do I close the gap?

PLC Instructions

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Summer Dates

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TWSSP Summer Academy DatesMonday, June 22nd through Friday, June 26th

Exit Slip

Each Person:Reflection and

Action Plan

Each PLC:PLC Action Plan and Schedule

Each Person:End of Day

SurveyClock Hour Form