Instruction, Curriculum, and AssessmentAsha Riley, Director of LearningNovember Update
November 30, 2010
TO: Michael Green, SuperintendentFROM: Asha RileyRE: Instruction, Curriculum, Assessment and Professional Development Monthly Update
What do we want students to know?
Answer: Students will be taught grade level math standards.
Action Step: Monitoring alignment of Math Curriculum Maps
After reviewing grade level math curriculum maps it was identified that fourth grade could tighten their alignment of curriculum to present math standards. The grade level team met and determined the sequence by which they will address the standards but need time to dig deeply into the curriculum and identify how well lessons address those standards. To facilitate this work, December 15th was scheduled for the team to meet with me and align at least half of eight instructional units.
How will we teach them?
Answer: Students will be exposed to the kinds of instruction that will promote academic excellence
Action Step: MS and HS math teachers' participated in a full day of math professional development with Debra Schneider on November 18th.
This year our middle and high school teachers are attending training each month regarding instructional resources from the Southwest Washington Math Consortium. To support their implementation of these resources and deepen understanding of instructional strategies we brought in math coach Debra Schneider to meet with our staff for a day of professional development and training. Outcomes of this day included analysis of Unit 2 common assessment data, collaborative planning of Unit 3 in light of those results, alignment of instructional resources and pacing among our classrooms, and teachers' deeper understanding of how to support student learning of new concepts. To maintain alignment of instruction and curriculum among our classrooms we will facilitate four more of these days in the future.
Action Step: GLAD Teacher Training November 3rd
GLAD is an instructional model with clear, practical strategies promoting positive, effective interactions among students and between teachers and students. GLAD develops meta-cognitive use of high level, academic language and literacy. Roughly 1/3 of our primary school teachers have had introductory training in this instructional model last spring. On November 3rd these teachers participated in the second portion of the training. The session included two in class observations of GLAD strategies as modeled by their colleagues from the primary school. After both observations the teachers reflected on and discussed how their peers implemented this instructional model. We ended the day planning implementation of GLAD strategies into all participants' classrooms.
Asha Riley