WARNING - We Filter Websites At School!

wow... now this is something to think about! A succinct poster that could be found (and not necessarily satirical in some schools). Luckily here in ACPS, we have minimum filters. I hate the head in the sand notion of protecting kids! So... what are YOU doing to prepare our kids for the future that doesn't even exist yet? Can't we at least try to live in the current world and guide them (and ourselves as educators) to be responsible citizens that are information literate and critical thinkers?

WARNING - We Filter Websites At School!, originally uploaded by datruss.

Reading the Job Description in June 2010

So... a year has gone by and I'm faced thinking about how much I've grown in this past year. But I'm so aware of where I need to grow as well. The job is so much harder than I ever expected. The job is so much more than it appears from your busy door of your classroom. I find it especially interesting to take a look at the job title as it is presented to all of my colleagues as they search for new coaches. Can you/we look at this job description with new eyes and reflect on what we did and didn't do together this year? Can we look at this job description and understand things more clearly NOW? More later on this... but just for the blog record... here is the June 2010 job description that I've now read 11 times.

ROLE OF THE INSTRUCTIONALCOACH:

Instructional Coaching is part of the professional development system in Albemarle County Public Schools. Overall, the job of the instructional coach is to work within a team of instructional coaches to build the capacity of school staffs to meet the needs of all students through implementation of the Division's three levers:

(1.) Framework for Quality Learning;

(2.) Professional Learning Community; and

(3.) Teacher Performance Appraisal.

The effective coach is seen as an equal partner with both novice and experienced teachers, spending the majority of the time collaborating around teaching practices (i.e., co-planning, modeling, observing, co-teaching, debriefing). Coaches facilitate job-embedded professional development and guidance for teachers to enhance their understanding of curriculum, assessment, and instruction as informed by the Framework for Quality Learning. Coaches provide support to principals as they plan formative professional development and to teacher leaders as they work with the Professional Learning Community model to analyze student work and data. The coach's support of a team's student learning data informs ongoing school-based professional development, meeting individual teachers' unique needs over time.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

• Engaging in reflective conversations in which coach and teacher think collaboratively;

• Building and maintaining meaningful and confidential relationships with teachers;

• Collaborating with teachers by listening and questioning to formulate next steps and solutions;

• Collaborating across school staffs to identify student learning needs and barriers as schools organize and implement

problem-solving actions;

• Facilitating school-based, high-quality job-embedded professional development, working with teachers (in teams or

individually) to enhance their knowledge and skills (Contexts for professional development may include thought provoking in-class coaching, inquiry-based observing, modeling of instructional strategies, guiding teachers as they

analyze student work, developing lesson plans with teachers based on student needs, supporting data analysis,

supporting the systemic integration of technology, etc.); and,

• Participating in required professional development (The coach is charged with acquiring contemporary global

learning knowledge and skills necessary to effectively impact the instructional practices of teachers. Research-based

knowledge will inform the coaching role.). The instructional coach is non-supervisory and non-evaluative. The coach advocates for, facilitates, and co-constructs formative feedback exchanges among teachers, but never supervises. The instructional coach is assigned to a team that supports a cluster of schools and is evaluated and supervised by a centrally-based Lead Coach.

70 Tools 70 Minutes

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

70 Tools 70 Minutes

View more presentations from Silvia Tolisano.

It's not about the TOOLS!

this was a topic... that I was SOOO going to write about, but I didn't. (I found it in my drafts!!... and just the title!)

It's sort of like the other titles that I have written down that struck chords with me ... What's so interactive about the Interactive Notebook and few other passing ideas. Oh... I so wish my thoughts on the drive home could go instantly into a blog... then... well... you'd know ME and I'd have down my rapid firing thoughts as they come into my head.

I will eventually come back to this topic of It's Not About the Tools! Because as you should know... it really isn't about the tools.

Top 50 Blogs for e-Learning Tools and Tips

Top 50 Blogs for e-Learning Tools and Tips

There's always so much to read and learn and sometimes I can just hyperventilate sitting at my computer. So... that's why I also cook, drink wine, garden and knit. This is another one of those great resources that captures many greats. It is often too overwhelming when you get the mentality that you want to get "ALL" of something. Or find "ALL" of the great resources. Infinity is a very hard concept... whether we are talking resources, books, things to learn, friends to find, etc. This is one of the reasons I have this blog. So I can talk to myself about these concepts... capture things in one place and try to live a balanced life as well. I remind myself of my 3 words for 2010: REFLECT, APPRECIATE, BALANCE now...Back to knitting.

the Fun Theory or thefuntheory

So what behaviors can we change or affect with a little fun? As I read Debbie Miller's books, Reading with Meaning and Reading with Intention... tell me that she and her students are not having fun! Fun can be so easy to do in the classrooms with children. Kids seek out fun! Adults also seek out fun. Why do we sometimes make the classrooms the last place to have some fun... it should be the first. Afterall, learning is fun and that is the message we want our kids to live life knowing. (More later...)

Twenty-Ten, MidYear Again... So What? or NOW WHAT?

We're back at school and boy what a week it was. Some highs and some lows... and some interesting twists! My big high is the opportunity of teaching electricity unit to 4th graders... on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The focus is to model a unit that I have for the science teachers and that we will together, collaborate to update, re-vise and upload into SchoolNet as a FQL Unit. Day one is always so exciting... as the kids get their materials (the aluminum wires they made from tape and foil, the bulb, and the dry cell) and they are asked to light the bulb. Oh... they so think they know what to do, but yet it shows very quickly that they don't. The discovery, exploring and open structure is such a fun 30 minutes... students are talking, questioning, helping each other... and the scream of delight (often from someone that is rarely the typical successful one). when the bulb is lit. I have a month of these exciting lessons...

Another high moment was sitting with a great friend and colleague at dinner and chatting about different schools' perceptions and perspectives at the midyear point. Where are we? What's working, what's not working? So what... or NOW What? Both of us have new roles this year and we have new perspectives within these roles. We have the advantage that often a classroom teacher does not have due to their hyper-focus on their students and their curriculum planning, assessment and instruction work. And... we understand this... we want to HELP. This week brought opportunities of working on Schoolnet to create groups, to look at lag data, to drill down to some specific analyses... and the opportunity to create a relevant midyear test draft for another team. For them to preview this coming week... looking at what they taught... making the test more relevant for their students. Twenty-ten is bringing some tighter circles and some common purposes. I see movement towards NOW what?!

Another big moment this week was the attendance of a leadership meeting at a school where the topic was midyear reviews and assessments. The waters were murky and potentially unpleasant at the start of this topic ... but alas it evolved, cleared and purpose emerged. Energy soared at the end as a pot about to bubble over! But... it is apparent that assessment literacy is weak for all of us. As a system, we still get mixed messages from leaders and colleagues that confuse us. The questions that must be guide us are these: What is the purpose of the assessment? Is the assessment relevant to... A) what we taught? or B) what we were suppose to have taught? or C) not relevant at all. Once we figure out that answer... I would just stop and not assess if the answer is C... why bother? Do we want the data to predict, to pre-assess, to reflect on our instructional practices, or to compare to the school across the highway? hmmm... important questions lead to important answers. Data should be relevant... it should be owned by the teachers. Shouldn't it? It should be relevant to the students and the teachers, I'm thinking. It should give us pause for reflection. What worked? What didn't? Who needs what? Who is exceeding... NOW what? Assessment DRIVES instruction. We say it... but sometimes it's apparent that we don't believe it. When someone tells you what assessment to give, does that make it not relevant? Are assessments final and not living documents? Can assessments sometimes simply be "kid-watching" and knowing what you see as a professional? Are assessments not indicators of what we need to teach, if we haven't? And what about AUTHENTIC Assessments? They matter most of ALL, I think. Watching the students close the circuit and explain the touchpoints this week... now that's real to me. We will continue with this as we move to series and parallel circuits. The kids will have many chances to deepen their understandings in a fun hands-on way. I appreciate that information coming straight from the student as I watch and listen and learn (about them and the topic)! Not to mention the excitement of collaborating and their demonstration of knowledge or misunderstanding... or problem-solving what works and what doesn't. Isn't that really thinking? Don't we ultimately want the child to think and problem-solve and collaborate? How exciting does it feel for the students when they read about it only in a text book or see a picture of a circuit and have to answer whether the bulb will light? Oh yes... I have some of those diagrams on the SchoolNet test I created this week... the lovely and dreaded multiple choice assessment, but won't the students smile and remember their experiences when they see that question... as they confidently choose their answer? If not... I (the teacher) has more work to do. Also... don't forget I have other evidence of learning...videoclips of the students showing and talking and explaining... that's documentation, too! Assessments... wow. Why is it such an ugly word to many teachers? "Takes too much time... not relevant... the kids know more than they show on this type of test". So... I say, "prove it! Document it! Show it!" and yes... it all takes time. No argument there. All things worth doing, takes time. But, if it's relevant and you have a real purpose, then it is time well spent. Now what?