When I graduated high school, I had no direction. I had no goals, no real big dreams; and most importantly, I had no idea what I wanted to do. I had an aptitude for math and science, and my uncle was an electrical engineer. So, I thought, "why not do that?" I entered Old Dominion University as an EE major, and after 3 semesters, I quit. A significant student loan debt and 18 months later, I knew that was not my pathway. I joined the military, and in the last 18 months of my service, discovered my passion and what would be my genius. I was an instructor for my unit's leadership preparation course, and I knew my pathway.
Wouldn't it be awesome if our students had at least a taste of what they thought they wanted to do before actually committing to that pathway? At Kellam High School (@KellamHigh) in Virginia Beach City Public Schools (@vbschools), we have engaged our students in a Job Shadow Day for two years now. We intentionally target Juniors for this event, because they are on the verge of committing to a pathway. We ask them what field they are interested in, and we find a partner to match them with for a day. Of about 500 Juniors, 140 of them completed the application. A small steering committee worked tirelessly over several months to find matches, and we found 36 community partners to engage our students. Yes, 140 of our Juniors, in the field, with 36 different partners to spend about 4 hours learning about their various careers of interest. To say the day was successful would be an understatement. I have yet to read all of the feedback forms from the partners and students, but the energy from the day was amazing. I encourage you to check out the "Latest" from #JobShadow on Twitter to catch some of the action. Our Juniors went to a tattoo parlor, oyster farm, engineering-in-progress sites, court, Naval Air Station Oceana, Navy SEALs base, a photography studio, a music production studio, just to name a few. In talking with the students during our reflection luncheon, almost all were certain they have chosen the right pathway. On Job Shadow Day, a fire was lit that they would not want to nor be able to extinguish. For some, they changed their minds about their pathway - which is just as important as confirming. One student came back with a $10/hour internship job beginning soon, increasing to $13/hour when he turns 18! Currently an event, we have a vision that on the horizon, this will morph into more of an experience. For credit. The partnerships will solidify over the next few years, and as the Commonwealth of Virginia's Department of Education pushes the envelope for graduation requirements, experiences like these will count towards successful graduation. Real. Authentic. Personalized. The learning experiences our students engage in should matter. Exploring what they believe to be their passion, their genius. And doing so in a way that builds and applies the knowledge (K-12 curriculum), skills (Creativity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication, Citizenship), and dispositions (adaptability, flexibility, grit, resilience, risk taking, gratitude, service, humility, compassion) they need to be successful when they walk across our graduation stages and move their tassels from the right to the left of their caps. Hard work, teamwork, commitment, connections, and resourcefulness were all required. I was fortunate enough to work with a small steering committee who believed so deeply in the experience of Job Shadow Day, they poured hours of their time into finding matches. I am eternally grateful for their work to make this experience happen for our students: Mrs. Myers (Parent-Community Partner), Mrs. Eckert (Teacher and Community Engagement Liason), Mrs. Caruso (School Counselor), Mrs. Pierce (Administrator), and Mrs. Raftery (Division Community Engagement Liason). All engaged voluntarily; Job Shadow Day is not a duty, not a responsibility. For the team, who has a full plate already, it was a passion project. A moral imperative. What a team! They worked to find matches for the 36 partners who, without their engagement, would not have ever happened. So many to thank! Our school believes so deeply in providing personalized and authentic learning experience that we dedicate a day in the school year to providing students with this opportunity. Our goal is to engage all Juniors in this experience, because soon, it will count for high school credit. With Job Shadow Day, we are one step closer to re-imagining and re-designing the high school experience for our students.
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image courtesy of Modern Governor
Learning is contextual. Knowledge, skills, and dispositions are learned in context, not devoid of it. School is no longer an alternate reality, but a place for students to try some things out before the stakes increase. School is a place where they develop knowledge, skills, and dispositions and most importantly, learn how to learn. It is not my intent to coin a new phrase or acronym. Instead, I propose that ALL learning be contextual. The underlying foundation for PBL (both project- and problem-based) is that learning is most effective in context. Context matters. Finding context will require us to think deeply about the content, courses, and subjects we teach. Start with the question: what is it about the content/course/subject I teach that makes it important enough to be part of the required curriculum and instructional program? Organize your answers to this question into four categories: kid, adult, student, and professional. This exploration of context in four aspects is not a new idea. If you've ever met Chris Gareis or seen his work on Performance-Based Assessments, you will know quickly that this thought-provoking question and organization of context matters. For most of us, the professional column might be the most difficult for educators to fill. We all have experience with the other three; we have been kids, students, and adults. This shift from isolated skills to context-rich learning will require us to re-think and re-imagine curriculum, instruction, and professional development. Curriculum Curriculum will need to shift by developing content in context. What if we thought of content in terms of context instead of subjects? For example, what if students had a semester of buildings and bridges? What knowledge, skills, and dispositions currently taught in isolation within a student's schedule (four core, world language, elective, and health/PE) would be developed in context? What about a semester in DNA manufacturing? Bio-mechanical engineering? Agriculture, Horticultural, and Environmental Responsibility? Students would no longer have subjects in isolation, bells that ring, or even thinking about "When am I going to need this? Why do I have to learn this?" A context-based curriculum would also more readily embed the skills (The Commonwealth of Virginia refers to these as the 5 Cs - Creativity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, Communication, and Citizenship) and both internal (adaptability, flexibility, grit, determination, risk-taking) and external (compassion, gratitude, humility, service) dispositions. This is not a new idea. Finland has already begun the work of un-subjecting schools (click HERE to read about Finland's approach to "Phenomenon-Based Learning"). In a curriculum such as this, students would learn all knowledge, skills, and dispositions within the K-12 experience in context. Instruction Instruction in the form of project-based learning allows our students to find relevant problems and learn curriculum, skills, and dispositions in context. Instruction in the form of guest speakers, whether community-based (face-to-face) or global (technology), brings experts in the field to connect the context directly to the knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Instruction in the form of internships, externships, job shadowing, and community service creates authentic learning experiences that are relevant and personalized for each student and engages context to connect to knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Again, not a new idea; however, in a system that is looking to re-define and re-design its approach to learning, schools must be given the permission, freedom, encouragement, and resources to take the risks necessary to work collaboratively with students and community leaders to engage in authentic learning experiences. Professional Development Finally, this thinking will require us to re-define professional development and teacher-prep programs. What if educators did summer internships in professions that used their content areas in context? This would allow our educators to provide rigorous and authentic learning experiences because they actually lived them as part of their growth and development. In teacher-prep programs, we will need to re-imagine content-heavy specialties and instead explore pedagogy in context-heavy experiences. This is not a new idea. To some extent, the University of Cambridge is using Job Shadowing for professional development. Re-think, Re-imagine, Re-define, and Re-design For our students, the high school experience looks very much the same in 2018 as it did for me in 1995, and my parents before me in 1975 (and their parents in 1955). In the Commonwealth of Virginia, we are placing an emphasis on re-imagining and re-designing the high school experience. In our commitment to re-think and re-define what's possible, we must be equally committed to our approach to curriculum, instruction, and professional development. In the "new" school, context matters. Invented by a Swiss engineer, George de Mestral, Velcro is a fascinating fastener requiring two sides - hook and loop. Practically, its uses are abundant. Conceptually, velcro takes on the meaning of connection. Velcro allows us to connect learning. Velcro guides our actions and behaviors. Velcro aligns our organizations. I learned about the concept of velcro from Dr. Ray Jones (@ReadingQuest). He describes the activation of prior knowledge as creating the velcro a student needs to be successful in a lesson. Without the velcro to stick new learning to, students are not able to make connections, make meaning, and move new learning from working memory to long-term memory. It is in the spirit of this idea from Dr. Ray Jones that I present velcro as alignment and congruence. The purpose of this post is to inspire reflection on your and your organization's values and beliefs and the actions and behaviors that stem from them. I also aim to provide one such way to work towards alignment and commitment.
Alignment and Congruence We learned from Dr. Stephen R. Covey (7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Principle-Centered Leadership) that trust is grounded in Character and Competence. His son, Stephen M. R. Covey, further expanded on those two foundations to define the 4 Cores - Integrity & Intent (Character) and Capabilities & Results (Competence) - in The Speed of Trust. For individuals to build trust and for organizations to build a brand, there must be tight alignment (organization) and congruence (individual) between beliefs, behaviors, and abilities; values, actions, and the delivery of results. I call this Intention-Engagement-Outcomes. How are my actions and behaviors in congruence with my values and beliefs? Are my values and beliefs made public by my actions and behaviors? Is my organization guided by shared values and beliefs? Are our vision and intended outcomes made public? Are the values, beliefs, vision, and intended outcomes shared throughout the organization and understood by external stakeholders? Intention: Values, Beliefs, and Organizational Vision Intention is half of the velcro. Intention is the internal process for individuals and organizations that is grounded in values and beliefs. Intention is purpose. Intention is the desired state or outcome of what we see and believe to be what we are about. Take a moment to think about your values and beliefs. Loyalty, duty, respect, service, honesty, integrity, and courage were the 7 values the Army instilled in me 20 years ago. They are the values I still hold tightly. Since then, I have added several; among them are family, education, and health & wellness. Take another moment to think about the values and beliefs of your organization. In Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS), our values are clearly articulated and are one half of the velcro: Put Students First, Seek Growth, Be Open to Change, Do Great Work Together, and Value Differences. In fact, these values are on every employee's signature line in every email. Now take a moment to think about how your values and beliefs and the values and beliefs of your organization were developed and learned. Are your values and beliefs communicated? What about your organization's values and vision? Were the values and vision of your organization co-created and therefore shared? Do all the internal and external stakeholders understand and share meaning? And finally, do your actions and behaviors align with your values and beliefs, and that of your organization? When each individual in an organization aligns their actions and behaviors to a shared vision built on shared values, that organization is aligned and will move toward that vision as one. The opposite can slow progress or worse, be detrimental to its success. Over the past 18 months, I've had the opportunity to work for Dr. Daniel W. Smith (@smith2dw), a leader who clearly understands the importance of a shared vision and how shared leadership is foundational to change and continuous improvement. Engagement and Outcomes: The Other Half of the Velcro Engagement and Outcomes are the other half of the velcro. Engagement is the strategic action we take to achieve our intention. Engagement is integrity - doing what we say we will do. Engagement is doing the right things (Drucker). Outcomes are the results of aligning our intentions with strategic engagement, continuously checking and adjusting along the way. Reflect on your values and beliefs you thought about earlier. To what extent are your actions and behaviors in tight alignment with your values and beliefs? Are there values you hold so strongly that you never compromise and are therefore congruent? Is there one (or some) you could stand to use a little tightening? For me, I am working on courage and family. I am looking for opportunities to call deep on my courage to do the right things in difficult situations, even if it makes me uncomfortable. I am also looking for opportunities to be the best husband and father I can be. Now, reflect on the values, beliefs, and vision of your organization. In VBCPS, our strategic plan, Compass to 2020, clearly aligns our actions to our values through four goals: High Academic Expectations, Multiple Pathways, Social-Emotional Development, and Culture of Growth and Excellence. How would you describe alignment of your organization's actions and behaviors to its values and beliefs? How about your responsibilities? Are you velcro-ing your actions and beliefs to the organization's vision? Shared Meaning, Values, and Vision One of the most effective ways to develop a shared understanding is through co-constructing meaning. In several different settings, I have had the good fortune to facilitate co-construction of meaning, values, and vision for teams. Although there are several protocols and combinations of the them (Chalk Talk, List-Group-Label, Affinity Mapping, Gallery Walk), engagement, voice, and transparency are critical to successfully share meaning, values, and vision.
As a parting shot, individuals who seek trust will aim for congruence between values, beliefs, and behaviors. Organizations that seek a trusted brand and commitment to continuous improvement will develop shared values and vision to which each member will "stick" their actions and behaviors. In an environment where leadership and decision-making are shared, there will be stronger velcro: Loop (Intentions) and Hook (Engagement and Outcomes). I believe an effective leader aims for commitment, not just buy-in. Through shared understanding, values, and vision, individuals and organizations will reach alignment, congruence, and commitment. The simplest strategies can give us so much. Sometimes, we use structured activities to have students share information about themselves in public forums, and we call these ice breakers and community builders. Sometimes, we use questionnaires to find each student's "jaggedness" (The End of Average by Todd Rose) to determine their unique needs and learning preferences, and we call these learner profiles. What would happen if we stripped away the structure, eliminated the scripted prompts, and allowed students an open opportunity to share what they want, in a manner that is communicated privately between the teacher and themselves? The purpose of this post is to share one teacher's perspective of a simple strategy used to really understand her students. Have your students write about themselves for 5 minutes. Sustained writing. No prompts. No structured grammar and punctuation. No limits. What they share might be the peek behind the curtain that you will need to truly understand their worldview. The 5 minutes you spend giving the kids time to write, and the time you invest in reading for understanding, will be one of the most meaningful and enlightening strategies you might possess in your teaching toolkit. Recently, a teacher I hold in high esteem asked that I visit one of her classes to observe the unique dynamic the students presented. This request came after just the first day of school. These are Seniors who are taking a dual enrollment composition class in which they will receive 6 college credits from our neighboring community college (TCC). So I visited and spent just a few minutes in the class, and it was evident this great teacher was getting out ahead of the dynamic, pulling out classroom strategies as a master teacher would, should, and could. When I saw her the next morning, she shared with me the inspiration for this post. A simple strategy that might have changed her perspective on the group dynamic to focus not on the collective "all" but on the unique "each." The simple strategy: 5 minutes sustained writing. And so, I would like to challenge this amazing educator to write about the experience in her own words. I want to thank Carrie Gantt (@CarrieGantt) for taking time out of her busy schedule to allow us an opportunity to peek behind the curtain of her practice, her reflection, her truth, and her 5-minute unstructured writing strategy to know her kids. It started with a question to my seniors during the final class last year. I asked my students in my Dual Enrollment English 12 course to give me feedback – honest, raw, constructive feedback – on how I could improve my instruction of the course. They knew that 2016-2017 held a huge learning curve for me as I was navigating a new school with new courses, and they knew that I very much wanted to get better at teaching this new prep of mine. Because Dual English 12 is a college composition course, I insisted that they record their comments in writing on a carefully-constructed instrument that I provided them, complete with directives to use black ink and their best handwriting. While they were writing, I tried to predict what their responses would be. More opportunities to revise. A less complex rubric. Shorter essays. Longer essays. Better instruction on varying sentence structure and vocabulary. I collected their responses, and my jaw dropped at what I read. Overwhelmingly their answer was this: Keep the person in teaching.
I’ve had a lot of time to process what keep the person in teaching means, and I’m realizing that unless we are real live human beings in our classrooms, our students might comply with their instruction, but they won’t necessarily trust in their own learning and growth. I should have known this. The signs had been there all last year, but I was too busy teaching a new curriculum to notice. I knew that there was an odd dissonance between the people in my classroom and the students I encountered in the spaces and margins of their Google documents. In person, I often saw my students laugh with each other and get excited about their senior year, but then I would read the essays they submitted. Dull. Lifeless. Robotic. They followed the formula I gave them and I got exactly what I asked for in sentences – words as placeholders. While I value and appreciate curriculum guides and the thoughtful design that goes into ensuring students develop sequences of skills, I believe my call as a teacher is to take that guidance into my own process and prowess in designing learning experiences that are also highly informed by the identities, interests, and curiosities my students bring to the classroom. In other words, I need to keep the person in teaching. Day One of the school year 2017-2018. Thirty 12th graders in my Dual Enrollment English class walked through my classroom door in one large jagged and jostling mass of teenager-ness. The students were obviously hyped to see their friends because all I heard were exclamations of excitement from all corners of the room. The tardy bell rang and the noise continued. It continued and it continued. My frustration grew and grew. I had important information to say and they were not interested in listening. Did I remember, at that moment, to keep the person in teaching? Absolutely not. The end of class bell rang and the mass fled. Day Two. Determined to not forget my seniors’ feedback from the previous year, I knew I needed to seek first to understand the people in this class before I sought anything else from them. Why were they so noisy? Was it really noise I was hearing, or were those stories of something else spilling out? Could I expect them to be interested in listening to me on Day One if I wasn’t interested in listening to them? My strategy was simple. I needed to get to know my students ASAP, and I needed to get to know them without boundaries, without expectations, without directions, and without the intervention of curriculum. I needed to keep the person at the forefront, according to my 2017 seniors. I distributed a stack of multi-colored, line-less blank paper to the students and told them that their first writing assignment in this composition course was to “tell me about themselves.” That’s it. No other guidance except the time limit of 5 minutes. Eyebrows went up. Laughter went up. Hands went up. What exactly do you want us to write about? How long do you want it to be? Pencil or pen? How much do you take off for spelling? Anxiety was obviously going up as well. They began. That night. I pulled out my stack of multi-colored, line-less paper that was now filled with handwriting of all styles, written in all colors and moving in all sorts of directions. I read. And then I cried. I learned not only of my students’ interests, after-school jobs, families and pets, but I learned of their fears, their vulnerabilities, their heartbreaks, and their tragedies. I wish I could write here specifics of what I learned, but I need to keep those confidences confident. I learned of their persons, not of their writing styles. Going forward into Day Three and beyond. I promise my students to keep the person in teaching. This means knowing my students and knowing that everyone has a life story and a learning story. As teachers we have to “read” both stories over and over in order to stay connected with our students. It also means that I need to allow my students to see my own life story and learning story. I plan to allow my students to peek behind the curtain of my struggles and watch as I grapple. I will talk openly about times learning has been difficult for me and let my students know these struggles somehow launched me into my life now. And finally, keeping the person in teaching means focusing on the smallest of positive moments. Learning is often quiet. It’s often the accumulation of small changes that gain momentum. On day two, that one small change of seeking first to understand the persons of the students in front of me … this is where I think my best teaching yet now begins. There is an old myth that states, "Practice makes perfect." My intention is not to say this is incorrect, only incomplete. I believe perfect practice makes perfect. The purpose of this post is to unpack the difference between the two and provide a rationale for why this is important in education. Practice vs. Perfect Practice We now know a great deal about how the brain works thanks to advancements in neuroscience (How the Brain Learns, Research-Based Strategies to Ignite Student Learning, & Mind, Brain, and Education). We know that it takes about 7-12 CORRECT repetitions to learn something. If a person spends 7-12 repetitions practicing something incorrectly, that person has learned how not to do that thing. Some may argue there is value in students "figuring things out for themselves." I don't dispute that statement, and I invite those who champion this technique as a sole practice to review effect size data from John Hattie regarding the practices for which I advocate. Why does this matter in education? And why is the distinction between practice and perfect practice important for educators to own the necessity of formative assessment and knowing when students are ready for release? The Basics of Application Who we are, what we do, our character and personality, our reactions and interactions, and our general demeanor are shaped by knowledge, skills, dispositions, and context. Where do we develop these? Well, in life, really. But the most powerful and important profession for mankind has a moral imperative to develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions in our students. There are just a few things that need to take place before our kids are ready for release. Acquisition How students acquire what we want them to learn is no accident. Instruction is intentional. When we want them to learn subject-verb agreement, different chemical reactions, what happens when we divide by zero, and how to conjugate the verb estar, they must come in contact with CORRECT information about that knowledge. We model. We explain. We engage. We provide structured opportunities to try it out with supports in place - textbook, internet, peers, teacher assistance, etc. Balanced Assesment and Feedback With feedback, the student comes closer to knowing and owning, and at some point in this cycle, the student is ready for release. Either the student or the teacher will recognize this moment. In the most powerful of learning experiences, they determine the moment when the student is ready for release collaboratively, as partners in the process. Independent Practice At some point in the process, it is important for both partners to recognize release points. The independently-produced evidence is an artifact in the student's learning process that clearly indicates whether or not he or she has "arrived." This is the next important step for the teacher - ensuring that the student does indeed "have it" before any more practice is to be completed. Reflection When the partners agree, then there is a critical moment for reflection of the learning. I believe learning occurs at the point of feedback, and growth happens when a person reflects on that learning. For the knowledge, skill, or disposition to "stick," both feedback and reflection must be a part of the process. But only AFTER the student and teacher agree the target has been reached. Then, and only then, is the student ready for perfect practice. Before you assign independent practice, including homework, make certain that both you and the student know they are ready for release. Figure 1. A proposed model for releasing students for perfect practice. At the model's core, students acquire knowledge, skills, and dispositions. They are provided an opportunity to practice with support, receiving feedback along the way, before an independent attempt. After feedback, students reflect on their learning and are released for "perfect" practice. Independent practice should be reserved for when both the student and the teacher agree that the student is ready for release. Knowledge, Skills, and Dispositions
Every single thing we ask students to do, should follow this proposed pattern. That includes:
Humor me. Grab something to write on and something to write with.
What is the first thing you think of when you hear the word "layers"? For me, onions come to mind, mainly because of Shrek, but there are so many others things out there that present layered imagery. I'd like you to draw your layered image. Now, identify the core. For the purpose of this post, each "layer" will serve as a support. Not to protect the core, but to support its growth and development. You might say the layers are like coaches. A Backdrop Instructional Leadership is not a new concept. In 1989, Wilma Smith and Richard Andrews introduced the phrase into the landscape with Instructional Leadership: How Principals Make a Difference. In 2008, Richard Elmore referred to instructional leadership as the "holy grail in educational administration." (School Reform from the Inside Out; p. 48). Fast-forward to today, and you get 17.6 million hits with a Google Search of the term "Instructional Leadership." I recently read Collaborative School Improvement (2012) and was inspired to explore an idea of Instructional Leadership Layers. In 2012, I was fortunate enough to attend the annual conference for ASCD in Philly. During the conference, the idea that everyone needs a coach was shared, and that idea has since stuck with me. This, too, is not a new concept. Eric Schmidt and Bill Gates agree that "everyone needs a coach." Before we dive in, I would like to present a paradigm for this work. There are a few beliefs I hold that shape my view with regard to the work of continuous improvement:
Instructional Core In Instructional Rounds in Education, City, Elmore, Fiarman, and Teital (2009) identified the instructional core as the interaction between Student, Teacher, and Content. Take out your drawing you created at the beginning of this post and identify the "core" of your image. I propose that the core is supported by:
In this light, I challenge us all to develop our Instructional Leadership Layers capacity. In other words, how am I developing the instructional leadership capacity in the layers that I directly support? A Challenge to Action There are an abundance of inspiring coaches out there, and if you don't have one already, find one. Communicate with that person your desire to improve and your thirst for feedback and guided reflection. I am of the belief that there is power in simultaneous and collaborative feedback and reflection, with your coach present through cognitive coaching. I am also of the belief that if you are a coach or a support in the layers, you need feedback on your feedback; and, the opportunity to reflect on that feedback. Try one (or all) of these three techniques to improve instructional leadership in your "onion." Three-Layer Observation and Feedback What would happen if...The principal and assistant principal of a school observe teaching and learning in a teacher leader's classroom together? In the observation debrief and feedback session, the principal observes the assistant principal during the coaching conversation with the teacher leader. Upon completion of the conversation, the principal guides the assistant principal through reflective dialogue to engage in feedback, with the teacher leader present. As a follow-up, the three engage in a reflective dialogue around the process, so that there are three important growth and learning opportunities:
As a coach, the next time you give your layer (or the core) feedback, video record the conversation. Conduct a video analysis and reflect on what you see and hear. Provide your coach with a copy of the video and identify what specifically you would like feedback on. In a cognitive coaching conversation, allow your coach to provide you with simultaneous feedback and reflection, using your analysis and pre-conference reflection of the video as a lens. For an added layer, review the video with the layer/teacher you observed and provided feedback. Seek feedback from that person on how the process went, what the most valuable part of the conversation was, and how your instructional leadership and support of the instructional core can be improved. Longitudinal Feedback Review Gather the written records of feedback you've provided a layer/teacher and paste them chronologically on one document. Provide your coach with this log to use as evidence for a feedback conversation. In the conversation, seek ways to engage in dialogue that ultimately provides you with feedback on your feedback. If you are a layer or coach, ask the layer(s) you support to gather this information. Look for patterns, themes, and connections. Is the written feedback we provide our layers specific, actionable, and measurable? Are we following up on the feedback, and is that evident in the written record? For an added layer, review the written record with the teacher for whom the longitudinal feedback was provided. Imagine layers of feedback that flow from the instructional core all the way through the highest levels of district and system leadership. Clearly connected feedback on the feedback. In a shared and distributed leadership model, there are MANY instructional leaders in our schools and districts. How many are receiving high-quality, timely, specific, actionable, and measurable feedback and are provided with multiple opportunities for reflection to improve their instructional leadership capacity? This work is not easy nor is it simple. It is dynamic and complex, requiring high levels of trust and courage. Whether you are a layer providing support or a layer seeking layered leadership, find ways to creatively develop strategies for getting feedback on your feedback. If we all need a coach, who is yours? Do you have your first day's lesson planned, full of content and complete with homework? Do you have the first few weeks of lessons ready, through at least the first unit of instruction? If you answered yes to either of these questions, I am going to ask you for a favor. On behalf of your students, I respectfully request you reconsider.
The message we send when we dive right into the content on the first day of school and give students homework to support the lesson is: Content is more important than you are. If we agree that Instructional Design is ineffective unless we know our kids, why would we communicate the message that content matters more than kids? Yes, all the minutes matter. Yes, we are responsible for ensuring all of our students master far too many content standards. Yes, we are under tremendous pressure to ensure our students perform well on accreditation assessments. And, as James Comer told us, "No significant learning can occur without a significant relationship." How do we reconcile this dichotomy and balance pressure & support, accountability & compassion, and expertise & relationships? To begin finding this balance, consider how you construct and design the first week of school. Recently, our school division (@vbschools) hosted its annual administrators' conference. This year's conference was titled #VBAmazing. One of the AMAZING messages conveyed by our superintendent, Dr. Aaron Spence* (@BeachSupe), was "Know Your Kids." The purpose of this post is to provide you with ideas on how you can make the First Week of school the most important learning you (and your students) will do all year. *That's him in the pic. Building Relationships and Community In Visible Learning (2009), John Hattie showed us the importance of Teacher-Student relationships (effect size of .72). During the first week of school, I encourage you to build relationships and classroom community by creating an environment where you get to know students, students get to know you, and students get to know each other. I would contend that the first step in building relationships with your students is to learn their names. There are a few techniques to use here. One, which is definitely next-level, is to use the previous year's yearbook to memorize your students' names and faces. I learned this from a colleague who I hold in high esteem. Although I never used this method with my own students, I did use it with teachers when I started as an administrator in my current assignment*. Instead, I used games I learned from Kema Geroux (@KemaGeroux). These games were part of The Challenge Works program that she used at the Ropes Course, Adventure Park, and the partnership opportunities we shared throughout the past 10 years. I was unable to locate the resources and directions to these games to link for your reference, but here are two places you can start (Place One and Place Two). If you are interested in using what I used, send me an email, and we can work through them ([email protected]). I recommend practicing a Fire Drill, and then staying outside to play your ice breakers, name-learning games, and high-energy community-builders. *When I was able to call teachers by their names when they came back for in-service week, it left a tremendous impression. Taking the time to learn and remember a person's name goes a long way. Just think of how it feels to you when someone you don't expect to know your name, does. Setting Expectations and Classroom Norms After getting to know the students and building community through these activities, set the expectations for the class. This is a good time to go over your Class Expectations forms. John Hattie showed us that Teacher Expectations has an effect size of .43 (Visible Learning, 2009). Then, an important and critical dialogue needs to occur. After going over class expectations, ask the students to work in small groups on the following:
Establishing and Practicing Routines and Procedures An often over-looked and important aspect of the learning environment is how we do things within the classroom community. In Visible Learning (2009), John Hattie showed us the effect size for Classroom Management (.52), and our routines and procedures are foundational to engage students in an effort to minimize the need to manage behaviors. As a recommendation, spend the first week practicing how you expect students to perform the following (just as a start):
Establishing Lines of Communication Be the first to contact your students' parents and make your first communication welcoming, positive, optimistic, and inviting of future communication. It is vitally important for your parents to know you love their children. Parents' children represent their hopes and dreams, and parents need to feel safe knowing that they send their children to a place where kids are loved, cared for, and challenged. Parental involvement has an effect size of .51 (Hattie, 2009), and the residual effects of engaging your parents, especially during the first week will contribute to a greater relationship between you and the students and parents. I encourage you to send a mass email to the parents of each student to introduce yourself, open the lines of communication, and invite them to your school's Open House. Using a Contact Group in the mass email will allow you to use consistent communication throughout the year, almost like a newsletter. I also recommend calling each of your student's parents during the first week of school to follow up that initial email with a personal touch. Time consuming? Yes. Rewarding? Absolutely. Creating a Learner Profile for Each Student Your view into a student's mind will be framed by how they express to you they learn best. Learning from a student about their experiences, their interests, their dreams, what works for them and what does not, and what they want you to know about them will guide how you interact with them, how you design instruction to meet their needs, how you engage them, and how you inspire them. As a way to build student voice and agency, use a small group of students to develop some of the questions on your profile inventory survey. If you want to know what students want you to know, just ask them. Administering a Pre-Assessment I would be re-miss if I did not include the most important content information to include in the first day/week of school: Pre-Assessment. You have to know what skills the students are coming to the class with, where they are in relation to pre-requisite knowledge, and what they might already know about the upcoming learning objectives. This must be administered before you design your first "content" lesson. Why? It is the final piece you need to plan for learning that puts kids first. This also provides you with baseline data you will use to set your own goals to reach for the year. As a parting shot, I strongly encourage you to not think of this work as an investment. Don't spend your first week of school building, setting, establishing, practicing, creating, and administering because you want to invest the time so that you are more efficient later or because you want to get the most out of your students' performance. Don't do this work because your superintendent told you to or because John Hattie told us the effect sizes for each of these. Instead, pour your heart into this work because you love kids and you care deeply about them. The outcomes you desire will follow, but it won't be because you "invested" in them; they will come because you started from a place of love. You only get one First Day and one First Week per school year. Make it count! As we gear up for a new school year, I began thinking about how we intentionally design instruction in meaningful ways. Instructional design that is purposeful. Instructional design that is engaging. Instructional design that measures students' progress and adjusts accordingly. Instructional design that is less and less an individual and isolated function and more of a collaborative endeavor. Instructional design that carefully considers kids before content. I acknowledge that the teacher is the most influential factor on student learning outcomes; and, I assume that the highest quality of instruction does not happen by accident...but by design.
The purpose of this post is to provide instructional designers with a set of guiding questions, all linked together, to provide a few things to think about when planning for teaching and learning. The questions are grouped into 5 categories: Instructional Planning, Engagement, Assessment, Data, and Collaboration. As an important note, some of the questions within these categories are guided by our school's (@KellamHigh) focus on engagement. We identified 4 meaningful types of engagement - Student, Professional, Affective, and Community - and you will see some of these targets show up in the guiding questions below. Instructional Planning I assume there are four key components to consider when planning a lesson: Lesson Goal (Purpose), Engagement (Strategies and activities), Assessment (Strategic measurement), and Response (Adjustment based on progress).
Engagement Recently, our school division (@vbschools) hosted its annual administrators' conference. This year's conference was titled #VBAmazing. One of the AMAZING concurrent sessions was titled "Transforming the Secondary Classroom by Planning for Meaningful Student Engagement," and during the session, Ana Cingel (@AnaCingel) and Teri Tucker (@tucker_teri) presented us with eight fantastic questions to guide our thinking. I will build on those 8 questions to provide more layers to design instruction that engages students.
Now that I have thought deeply about and planned for what I want students to know and how I can best engage them in their learning, I have to intentionally and strategically develop an assessment plan (of, for, and as learning).
One slice of the pie of knowing your students revolves around data. And there are four slices of performance data that paint the picture (I know, too many metaphors) of each student's progress. Mastering the command of these data will allow you to make more informed decisions about EACH* student.
Collaboration Increasingly, our schools are harnessing the collective power of collaboration. Teams of teachers work to set learning goals and targets, carefully craft common assessments, and pour over data to better understand how to meet their students' needs. One of PLCs' functions is to improve our capacity to design instruction, and the following guiding questions assist in getting us there.
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