"Success is all around us in our schools. We need to identify this existing success, celebrate it and replicate it."
A Sincere Happy New Year to All. I hope this blog finds everyone healthy, happy, and rejuvenated!
I will quickly share a glimmer of my winter break. The dogs and I spent a couple days near the beach as we headed to Southern California to see my parents. The dogs and I ran up and down the beach making our temporary footprints in the sand until the water washed ashore. The sun reflected off the ocean of blue, and the noise of the crashing waves roared against the cliff side.
In that time, I was able to both reflect and gear up for the six months. You can read below the blog to see the details of my 2017-18 SMART Goal, some results, my analysis of the results, and my next steps
My Message
What? Konocti looks to ensure students improve 1+ or more for their one year of school. This one year of improvement could be in academics, civility, and/or in well-being.
Why? Perfection and proficiency are too far-fetched and discouraging. Yet everyone - students and adults - can improve academically, socio-emotionally, and/or in civility. Such improvements lead to literate children - literate in reading and in content knowledge.
Why else? Learning also cultivates such skills as communication, problem-solving, and critical thinking so students can succeed in their future endeavors and in the future.
How? Through teacher clarity as one river bank and knowing one's impact as the other river bank. Once we articulate the intended learning and establish what success looks like along the way, we can ferry back and forth, embedding all kinds of other tasks, activities and strategies to teach and develop the students.
We monitor students' learning every inch of the way, ensuring impact and ensuring progress.
Here is what I want to convey:
I want to convey a collaborative spirit around this common endeavor. The work is hard. The direction is genuine. It will truly take every single one of us to receive the message, continue to gain knowledge, and continue to hone our craft, improving ourselves, to in turn, develop and advance our students.
Here is what I want us to do:
As we rally behind the endeavor, looking to ensure 1+ for each adult and each student, I want us to believe: believe in oneself, believe in each other, believe in the students.
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My SMART
Goal Setting
Step 1.
Write down your goal in as few words as possible.
My goal is to “make
learning visible” for all students (measured by the growth of students at a
.4 effect size or higher).
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Step 2.
HOW will you reach this goal?
List at least 3 SPECIFIC action
steps you’ll take.
1. Effective execution of instructional
practices (all grounded in teacher clarity) such as checking for
understanding, metacognitive, and providing effective feedback
2. Clearly communicate the
instructional vision
3. Strong presence at the school
sites and in PD and at collaboration throughout the school year
4. Regularly monitor my impact
with various data points
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Step 3.
Make your goal MEASURABLE. Add details, measurements, and tracking
details.
I will measure/track my progress toward my goal by using the
following methods:
Attendance at the sites, PD and collaboration……..student
responses in district walk-thrus…………….teacher and principal responses in the
focus –group interviews, and in collaborations, and at PD………….student reading
data (growth and achievement)
I will know I have reached my goal when we
make incremental growth each trimester in our
students reading results, progressing closer toward the end-of-the year academic
goal. I will also know as there is a
steady increase in the number of kids that can articulate their learning, how
they are going in their learning, and where to next?
(Rdg data, cumulative responses to
the 3 questions, my calendar, teacher/administrative responses)
I will also know by my follow through to visit school
sites regularly, and to regularly attend collaboration and PD
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Step 4.
Make your goal ATTAINABLE. What additional resources do you need for
success?
Items I need to achieve this goal: Calendar the
collaboration, the school visits, professional development, data analysis.
How I’ll find the time: schedule
walk-thrus each quarter, schedule quarterly professional development,
schedule collaboration time to analyze district data, schedule time to
provide the feedback, schedule the time to prepare for PD and collaboration,
schedule time to aggregate the data.
Things I need to learn more about: Leading and facilitating the strengths and improvement
of large organizations around one common vision
People I can talk to for support: teachers, site
administration, superintendent, professional networks, other C&I
directors
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Step 5:
Make your goal RELEVANT
List some reasons why you want to reach this
goal. I am here for the sake of the
students. I want to do everything in
my power to ensure our students graduate at grade level reading, writing, and
thinking or beyond.
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Step 6:
Make your goal TIMELY
I will reach my goal by: 06/05/2018
My halfway measurement will be the walk-thru data and the reading data in January 2018
Additional dates and milestones I’ll aim
for: November 2017, and March 2018
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MY DATA
HALFWAY Through the School Year.
A.) The walk through results as of January:
Teacher Clarity visibly posted
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Student Clarity: What are you
learning?
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Student Clarity: Where are you at
in your learning? Or How are you going/doing in your learning?
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Student Clarity: Where to next in
your learning?
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Instruction time devoted to Math
and/or Literacy
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Depth of Learning
|
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Konocti
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78%
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70%
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66%
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24%
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73%
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56%
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B.) The local reading results as of January:
K -2 at 20%
3rd
– 7th at 10%
8th
and 11th at 35% and 40%
C.) My calendar:
I
visited schools at least every month. I participated at every collaboration and
at every professional development.
You
can ask to view it more closely. Just ask me.
D.) Some administrative and teacher responses:
You
know your impact.
You
believe in collaboration.
You should stay if you believe in this work
and in the kids.
I
do not think the district direction/initiative is about learning.
I
was not on board at first – I had to find my way.
Let’s
stick with “this” for a while so we can get good at it.
I
appreciate the district has a vision.
There
could be something missing from the direction.
I
am not sure I believe in John Hattie’s research
Clarity
clears up a lot, lowering anxiety for students and for staff.
Clarity
is usually at the crux.
I
could use some more support in teacher clarity
There
are more strategies besides teacher clarity.
I
have seen success. It helped with student discipline too.
PD
and collaboration allows for adults to understand what is expected
Some Possible Next Steps:
**Continue
to stay current on research in our field of education
**Continue
to use the structures and people in place to communicate, communicate the direction
and vision – the what,
the
why, and the how.
**Continue
to lead the way by modeling it myself.
**Continue
to look for progress over perfection
**
Continue to provide support in any way that I can especially in professional
development, collaboration, and workshops.
**Continue
to visit classroom and schools, talk with teachers and students, and provide
feedback
**Continue to develop a culture of respect and trust, confidence and cooperation.
**Continue to develop a culture of respect and trust, confidence and cooperation.
**Share
my plan and data with other collaborative teams and ask their input
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