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    November 2019

    Some food for thought on the impact of learning targets from your content coaches:
     
    "No matter what we decide students need to learn, not much will happen until students understand what they are supposed to learn during a lesson and set their sights on learning it. Regardless of how important the content, how engaging the activity, how formative the assessment, or how differentiated the instruction, unless all students see, recognize, and understand the learning target from the very beginning of the lesson, one factor will remain constant: The teacher will always be the only one providing the direction, focusing on getting students to meet the instructional objectives.The students, on the other hand, will focus on doing what the teacher says, rather than on learning. This flies in the face of what we know about nurturing motivated, self-regulated, and intentional learners."-From B.J. Zimmerman's article on self regulated learning and academic achievement
     
    Please let us know if we can be of any assistance as we help our students understand their learning through our shared use of learning targets, success criteria, and essential questions/learning objectives

     

     

     

    As we continue to work on unifying our language around  learning targets and success criteria, we’d like to encourage the great value of learning walks when refining these in your own classroom. Here are a few tips/tricks in making learning walks part of your regular routine:

    • Stick to our school wide learning walk norms
      • Send/leave a thank you note
      • Go with generally 3-4 people at a time
      • Interact with students as appropriate
      • Focus on practice, not content
    • Don’t go alone! The TRUE benefit of learning walks comes in the conversation that occurs in the hallways to discuss. Contact a content coach. 
    • Don't be discouraged by scheduling-grab 1-2 people who have a similar prep and go for it! Walk ins welcome! No appointments necessary!
    • Go with a focus in mind- consider looking at how your department (or even better, how other departments) are presenting and communicating targets, objectives/essential questions, and success criteria to students.
    • Learning walks can be quick! Take 5 minutes in the classroom and 5 minutes for discussion outside. 

    This link will take you to a short, 5 minute video that illustrates how one school approaches learning walks and the many benefits that learning walks provide.

    ANY teacher is welcome to contact ANY of us, regardless of content area, and we will be happy to accompany you on your next learning walk!

     

     

     

    October 2019 

    We have been working hard to unify our language around learning expectations for students. As a site, we have agreed to post: Essential Questions/Learning Objectives, Learning Targets, and Success Criteria so that our students can see similar language across content areas and be aware of their learning and what is required to demonstrate that learning to us, their teachers. Here are some questions you can ask yourself to see if your language for these items is working.

    Essential Questions/Learning Objectives 

    ·       Does my essential question/learning objective communicate the larger, long term unit goal to the student(s)?

    Learning Targets

    • Does the learning target(s) answer the questions: what are we learning today AND WHY are we learning it?
    • Does the "why" in the learning target give the student(s) an understanding of why today's learning is important for their future beyond high school?

    Success Criteria 

    • Does the success criteria communicate what students have to do to demonstrate their learning?
    • Does the success criteria use verbs like analyze, describe, identify, recall, etc at the appropriate depth of knowledge for what your students are being asked to do?
    • Are the success criteria, learning targets, and essential questions ALL written in student friendly language? (a great tip is to get someone from outside of your content area to look at what you've written and see if they can understand it as we can sometimes get lost in our own content area expertise 😉-any of your content coaches can help with this too!)
    • Are students aware of what's been posted? Do you refer to it throughout class?

    Feel free to reach out to ANY of us if you'd like some feedback or help in posting this information for our students! We're here to help!

     

     

     

    Welcome back!  Your content coaches are excited, eager, and ready to help you make 2nd quarter great as we develop our professional skills together

    and lead our students to bigger achievements and increased learning this year. We want to remind you that we are available to help you in a variety of ways including:

    · collaborating one on one or in groups

    · modeling lessons or covering your class so you can observe someone else

    · locating materials/tools to enhance your teaching · helping you to plan/refine lessons · collecting and analyzing data · examining and trying new teaching strategies · reflecting on student learning · ….and much, much more! Please feel free to contact us any time. We are here to help YOU in your practice so that ALL of our students can have another spectacular year of learning. We look forward to working with you!

     

     

    September 2019

    To continue your deep understanding of Creating and Communicating Lesson Intent, please refer to the staff development presentation What Mr. Miyagi Missed. This presentation’s handouts and others can also be found on our professional development resources website.

    Learning Objective/Essential Question=The Overarching purpose or question that drives the learning for the unit.

     

    Learning Targets=In student friendly language, answers the question: What are students learning and why are they learning it in this lesson?

    We are learning…so that/because…

    We will learn…in order to…

     

    Success Criteria=Written in student friendly language for students. Answers the question about how students will demonstrate their understanding and depth of knowledge in relation to the Learning Target (LT).

    I can solve…

    I can explain…

    I can model…

    I can debate…

    I can create…

     

    Agenda = Overview of daily tasks to prepare students for learning.

     

    August 2019

    Display Boards. Please continue your work with common daily learning targets and agendas. Also, in your professional work consider the 5 driving questions of a professional learning community: What is it we want students learn? How will we set them up for success? How will we know if each student has learned it? How will we respond when some students do not learn it? How can we extend and enrich the learning for students who have demonstrated proficiency?As part of our commitment to student engagement, it's important that we consistently communicate WHAT students need to know and HOW they can demonstrate their proficiency in their learning. Having a regular place on your board students can look to is critical in communicating this information to students. Here are some items you should consider including on your board with definitions and examples below:

     Agenda=A daily agenda can eliminate students asking too many questions, and decreases their dependency on the teacher for directions. To prepare students for learning, it is beneficial for teachers to begin each class period or school day by going over the agenda.

    Learning Intentions/Objectives=larger unit goals based on the standards (long term)

    Learning Targets=lesson goals—covering one to a few lessons leading to that Learning Intention

    Success Criteria =features that demonstrate success of that Learning Intention and of the daily Learning Target

     

    Reminders and District Testing Dates

    Congratulations Freedom staff on a great start to the school year! Over the past two weeks your coaches have witnessed some great things in your classrooms. Your commitment to establishing a safe and comfortable learning environment for our students while backwards planning, establishing clear learning targets, and posting agendas and success criteria has been inspiring and encouraging to watch! Keep up the great work! Speaking of backwards planning, if you’re thinking ahead to this quarter’s (and the rest of the year’s) district assessments, check out the link below for district deadlines for test submissions and grading. https://ca01001129.schoolwires.net/site/default.aspx?PageID=15010

     

    Welcome to the 2019-2020 school year! Your content coaches are excited, eager, and ready to help you make this year great as we develop our professional skills together and lead our students to bigger achievements and increased learning this year.

    We are available to help you in a variety of ways including:

    • collaborating one on one or in groups
    • modeling lessons or covering your class so you can observe someone else
    • locating materials/tools to enhance your teaching
    • helping you to plan/refine lessons
    • collecting and analyzing data
    •  examining and trying new teaching strategies
    • reflecting on student learning
    • ….and much, much more!

    Please feel free to contact us any time. We are here to help YOU in your practice so that ALL of our students can have another spectacular year of learning. We look forward to working with you!


     

    April/May 2018

    PLC. Please continue your work with common daily learning targets and agendas. Also, in your professional work consider the 5 driving questions of a professional learning community: What is it we want students learn? How will we set them up for success? How will we know if each student has learned it? How will we respond when some students do not learn it? How can we extend and enrich the learning for students who have demonstrated proficiency?

     

    Summer Institutes. You may have already gotten some brief surveys from the district on these activities and we would like to encourage you to sign up to attend. This is a great time to not only learn some new ways to address our student needs, but a great time to increase collaboration between department members and in cross curricular areas. The district also has options to either receive pay or credit to advance on the salary scale AND they even will provide childcare! We hope you join us this summer as we work to make Freedom the best it can be.

     

    April 2018

    SBAC. In your interactions with your students, support and encourage junior students to visit the CAASPP website (http://www.caaspp.org/to access practice and training tests. Also, please make sure to use your laptops to ensure they are updated and ready for testing. Laptops that aren’t used for 30+ days need to be updated. This could impact our students on April 17.

    Summer Institutes. Ready for some PD? Sign up for the LUHSD Summer Institutes. These are great opportunities to learn about new strategies, dig deeper into content, and network with your peers. Be on the lookout for your reminders from the district and sign up soon.

    History Social Science – June 12-15

    ELA – July 23-25

    Mathematics – July 23-26

    Science – July 23-25

    All Subject Areas: July 16-18

    Space is limited so sign up early for some great PD and some extra money or advancement toward the salary schedule!

     

    March 2018

    As we close the 3rd quarter, your content coaches are hard at work preparing for the SBAC and exciting summer activities.

    SBAC. In your interactions with your students, support and encourage junior students to visit the CAASPP website (http://www.caaspp.org/to access practice and training tests. Also, bring up the importance of these assessments for our school and the emphasis of the EAP being embedded within the whole assessment and what impact that holds for the students moving forward. If you have a laptop cart in your class, it is encouraged that all teachers of junior teachers are visiting this website with their students.

    Summer Institutes. You may have already gotten some brief surveys from the district on these activities and we would like to encourage you to sign up to attend. This is a great time to not only learn some new ways to address our student needs, but a great time to increase collaboration between department members and in cross curricular areas. The district also has options to either receive pay or credit to advance on the salary scale AND they even will provide childcare! We hope you join us this summer as we work to make Freedom the best it can be.

    Go Falcons!

    January/February 2018

    Think about your favorite teacher; what were some characteristics that made them your favorite?

     teachers

    Thank YOU for being someone’s favorite.

    December 2017

    Academic discourse is still our focus, if you are feeling inspired, the new semester is a time for new routines. “New data from studies shows that classrooms designed for active learning—i.e., where physical space supports a focus on engaging experiences for students and faculty— have a significant effect on student engagement.” Click here to read more.

     “There can be no life without change, and to be afraid of what is different or unfamiliar is to be afraid of life.” –Teddy Roosevelt

     

    September 2017

     

    As you know academic discourse is a focus for coaches this year. As stated on the SBMT minutes, academic discourse was a main topic of discussion. This link gives you access to the “Discourse starters” that was shared with all department chairs. If you have questions about how to utilize this tool please contact us.

     

    August 2017

     

     Happy Friday from the Coaches Corner! As we continue to have our students explore various content, we encourage you to reflect on how academic discourse fits in to creating a highly engaged educational environment. Creating classrooms that value academic discourse may be challenging, but the rewards may lead to higher academics and empower our students to achieve success.

    A few of the foundations:

    1) Give students problems and opportunities to explain to others HOW they reached their answer. What were the steps involved? How did their “thinking” develop and lead to their conclusions?

    2) Teach, reteach, and model subject specific vocabulary. Explain what a thesis, equation, or an experiment is so that students can begin taking ownership of their own academic language. 3) Make writing a norm in all subjects, specifically writing that allows students to explain their answers and practice using their new vocabulary. We can further support the growth of academic discourse by routinely engaging in a few modeling practices, namely, post your daily agenda, learning targets, and essential questions and refer to them throughout the course of a class or unit. When we make learning transparent for all, we give students the tools to tap unlimited potential for Freedom, our community, and the world.

     

    July 2017

    Welcome to the 2017-2018 school year!  As your content coaches, we are excited to see what the year brings in for you and our students.  CCSS can be challenging material, but we are here to help you plan, adjust, adapt, refine, and reflect so that we can make our students as successful as possible.  As a reminder, don’t hesitate to review our website link resources and feel free to contact us at any time so that we can make this year another spectacular year.  Go Falcons!

    Steve Amaro: English Coach

    Cynthia Bruins: Science Coach 

    Kathy Burke: Math Coach

     

     

    June 2016

    Never be satisfied

    always strive to improve

    no matter how good

    you think you are.

    Livelifehappy.com

    Here is a quick implementation that we can all do quickly: 

     1)      Speak with 1-2 of your colleagues and create a brief list of observable student behaviors

    that demonstrate collaboration.  

    2)      Select 1-3 of the behaviors that you want to implement in your class.

    3)      Review any specific strategies that you will need to teach/demonstrate before you have

    students collaborate.

    4)      After completion, formatively assess how it worked, review your results with your

    colleague, refine, and keep experimenting!

    coach

     

    October 2016

     

    In response to some of your common challenges in trying communication strategies from last spring, here are our next steps to support you:

    1. We have added new folders to the PD resource page on the freedom’s website to accommodate everyone. We have added a “special populations” folder and “resources for everyone”. Please note that we will be adding resources to these folders throughout the quarter.

    2. We recognize that we are trying new strategies, so establishing routines will be an important component. Within the current resources on the website we will add teacher instructions to help you establish routines.

    3. The challenge that most of us are facing is disruptive and low performing students. We will also be adding additional RTI strategies from Pat Quinn.

    4. Lastly, being aware that these are our needs, we will be modeling how to use these resources at our future staff meetings, we look forward to your participation and constructive feedback.

     If you have strategies that you feel will respond to the common challenges mentioned above, please email one of us coaches so we may share your strategy.

     Content Coaches

     

     
    September 2016
     
    Digital Library:

     Have you ever wondered if you have to reinvent the wheel while teaching? Did you know that we have a free resource available for all subject areas, with potentially thousands of lessons already created?

     The Digital Library provides subject- and grade-specific resources intended to help educators supplement instruction.
     To access the library you need the following information ready: 

     User name: LUHSD network email address

    Password: If you forgot, please click “Forgot Your Password”

      https://www.smarterbalancedlibrary.org/ 

      *If you encounter technical difficulties contact Liz Gray.