October 7

PBL Refresher in Teacher Academy

Below is written by guest blogger Emily Young. Ms. Young is the Title 1/Technology Integration Specialist at Winterboro High School.  Thank you for sharing Ms. Young!

 

Although we are only in the first 9 weeks of the school year, Project Based Learning is in full swing at Winterboro High School and we already begun to plan for the upcoming 9 weeks! Over the last 2 weeks, content area teachers have been given the opportunity to step away from the classroom and collaborate with peers in order to plan a PBL project for the next 9 weeks.

During their planning day, teachers revisited the 8 Essential Elements of a PBL project and utilized these elements in the planning of their next project. We also discussed the levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy and discussed how the activities within our projects should move students from a basis level of remembering to a higher level of critical thinking and creation.

After teachers were given time to brainstorm project ideas with their peers, they began laying the foundation of their projects through the use of the 8 Essential Elements of PBL (http://bie.org/object/document/8_essentials_for_project_based_learning)

and a PBL Overview planning tool (http://bie.org/objects/cat/planning_forms).

Teachers prepared “overview posters” to present to their peers and the Critical Friends Protocol (http://bie.org/object/video/critical_friend_protocol_overview).

Teachers were then given time to process the feedback received through the Critical Friends Protocol and use the feedback to revise their PBL plans.

These days were extremely successful for the teachers at WHS and  by the end of the 3 days, we had added almost 10 new projects to our PBL arsenal!

October 6

RtI Teacher Academy

On September, 12, 2014 our Teacher Academy centered around RtI and how teachers can combat apathy in our school!  This blog was written by guest blogger, Paige Brown, one of our RtI coordinators!  Thank you Mrs. Brown!

 

The driving question for our faculty and staff during the 2014-2015 school year is “How can we be exceptional?” One of the major goals to achieve this is to defeat the beast known as Apathy. We decided to center this Teacher Academy around helping our teachers recognize “junk behavior” and increase student achievement and success. Since our theme is combating Apathy, we broke our session into six parts. After completing each part, the teachers earned a letter…
A: We started off by reviewing how to use and implement our student data folders during small group instruction.
P: The teachers were provided with a a strategy card that included suggestions and a blank for them to fill in how they planned on implementing the folders in their classroom.
A: Next, we led a “Parent Contact Glow and Grow”. The teachers were asked to reflect on their parent contact so far this school year and come up with one accomplishment with parent contact that they did well with and one that they need to improve on.
T: Now it is time for R.T.I. referrals. The teachers were given a form prior to this Teacher Academy to fill out with any student that they would like to refer to Tier II or Tier III R.T.I.
H: This next part was dedicated to opening the teachers’ eyes to junk behavior. We created a “Junk Behavior Sort”; however, instead of using student junk behavior, we used TEACHER junk behavior. This allowed the teachers to reflect on best practices for instruction, PBL, technology use, etc. while also relating junk behavior to their students.
Y: We ended this Teacher Academy with an Exit slip on what positive behavior supports are and at least one example of one that they plan on using in their classroom.
September 1

What is Teacher Academy?

Greetings!  My name is Emily Harris and I am the Principal at Winterboro High School.  Winterboro High School is a rural school located in Talladega County, Alabama.  Five  years ago, Winterboro High School was one of 6 schools in the nation awarded the title of a National School Change School.  We changed our school culture dramatically and positively and now we are tasked with sustaining this change 5 years later! Teacher Academy is one facet we have implemented to sustain this change with our Teachers!

Every teacher loves Monday faculty meetings….said no teacher ever!  Teacher Academy is a new twist.  It is job embedded professional development.  Every Friday at Winterboro High School, teachers meet during their planning time, for professional development….thus ending the cycle of staying late on Mondays!!

Why you ask?  As administrators, it is important to model for your teachers what best practices are!  What better way than to meet with teachers in small groups to meet their needs and not the needs as a whole.  Granted, some days, everyone will get the same lesson but at WHS we try to cater to the needs of the teachers during their session.  It is often teacher led, which promotes leadership, and is extremely data driven.  Throughout the year, I will post after each Friday’s session.  Please feel free to comment and learn with us!

August 25

Small Group Summit

Small Group Instruction on the Secondary Level is almost unheard of. At Winterboro High School, we are a Project Based Learning School (grades 5-12) with a 1:1 computer ratio.  While students are engaged an working on projects, what do teachers do?

This is a wonderful opportunity for teachers to meet with students in a small group situation to gather data on the students and for students to receive feedback on their learning.  Every day in every period, students are given the opportunity to review skills, reflect on their learning, ask questions, and accelerate their learning to the next level.

Today in teacher academy, we reviewed some very easy steps teachers can use to enhance their small groups with students to make them more purposeful.  Teachers can use a variety of strategies, but on Friday’s session, we highlighted the top 7.

Seven Small Group Strategies:

  1.  ACT/ASPIRE/EOC/ASA Specifications:  Teachers can review just a few testing specifications with students to ensure that students are maintaining the basic foundation for the year.  Using these standards are only the foundation for the house….not the walls or the structure.  Those are formed through engaging and authentic project based learning projects.
  2. Close Reading:  Close reading is the foundation of the Common Core and just an overall best practice in ALL subject areas.  Stay tuned in to future Teacher Academy Sessions on how we can vary Close Reading Strategies.
  3. Open Ended Writing Prompts:  There are a variety of writing prompts you can use in this.  As long as students are referring to their close read, citing evidence from their reading, and constructing a statement, then teachers hit the learning jackpot!
  4. Standard Specific Practice:  This practice is just the manipulation of a standard.  For instance, if  a history teacher is teaching about Mesopotamia, he/she may pull the students back to have discussions on Mesopotamia.
  5. Graphic Organizers:  Graphic Organizers are a great way to engage students in small group instruction.  It also presents a great timeline for the teacher so you do not stay in a small group for too long.
  6. Forming Connections Comparing/Contrasting Subject Areas:  This can be accomplished through venn diagrams, making various connections to students lives or though other collaborated subject areas.
  7. Manipulatives:  Manipulatives are not just for Math.  They can be used to sort vocabulary words, create picture graphic organizers, etc.  Students are manipulating knowledge.

There are many times of small group instruction.  This week we focused on these 7.  If you are wanting to try small group instruction, try these seven first.  Use these as your foundation, then build your house from there.

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