APPENDIX L

11/29/17

On-site observation at Washington Elementary

As the principal and I walked to collaborative planning for kindergarten, he was stopped along the way by the instructional coaches to discuss the professional development plans for the work- day in January. They wanted to present information about Word Works. The principal asked if they could shorten the agenda because he wanted to give teachers more time to work in their rooms.

Kindergarten Collaborative Planning

During K’s collaborative planning, the teachers, paras, administrators, ESOL teachers, instruc- tional coaches, and LSTC were in attendance. The team leader facilitated the meeting and began by reviewing their norms that were posted. Next, she reviewed the upcoming standards and daily activities. The math instructional coach gave some teaching points to help students make tens and ones, considering this was one of the weaker standards on the common assessment.

The literacy leader shared the mentor text to use to introduce the standards for the week and dis- cussed the format for creating their anchor chart, phrases to use, and transitional words. In writ- ing (Units of Study) using songs. Displayed her model of a “How to” book to connect reading and writing. Connected it to The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Vertical connection to 1st grade’s “How to” books. They’ll make a class book, “How to Make Smores” and make them for students to eat.

Collaborative atmosphere of sharing common lessons and resources listed in the planning tool. Teachers discussed adapting the lessons/activities to scaffold the learning to differentiate for stu-

The team drew sticks to determine which teachers would work together to plan for next week. There was one new teacher who shared an electronic resource to help students learn how to count money. Someone asked the principal if they could laminate some of the boards for the money centers and he approved of this. The ESOL teacher asked if Diwali could be included in their “Christmas Around the World”. Next, the conversation centered on the other holidays to cover. One teacher shared a worksheet to introduce Ramadan to the students.

The kindergarten team decided to they will do different characters from Charlie Brown for the door decorating contest. The Social Studies team had selected a worksheet to get copied and asked each teacher to put their initial on it if they wanted a copy. The principal signed off on it.

3rd Grade Collaborative Planning

Team leader also facilitated the meeting. A new teacher asked how to keep the students more fo- cused on their writing. Someone suggested using more anchor charts. The instructional coaches and other teachers provided suggestions. In writing, The Units of Study band is Monuments, summarize informational writing. The team leader displayed the electronic lesson plans for eve- ryone to view. The principal cautioned that the standard is not to teach specific monuments, just to use them as an example. Teachers said they would model their own personal accomplish- ments. They discussed how much time they’ll have to teach it prior to the celebration.

The principal reminded them about the blueprints, DOK levels, and the number of questions on the upcoming district assessment. He suggested that they go into the database and select previous questions and use them during some of their mini-lessons. One teacher asked if there were some areas the kids didn’t do well that they’ll need to go back and re-teach. Another teacher shared that figurative language was one of the weakest areas.

Next they reviewed the science standards and discussed the distractors for students in selecting in selecting the wrong answers. What are the misconceptions? The instructional coach reminded the team of the importance of in doing an item analysis. One teacher asked if they could review the questions missed on the Das during the week of the door decorating contest as a grade level. Any other ideas? Teachers freely called on some suggestions. Very risk-free and collaborative envi- ronment

4th Grade Collaborative Planning

Subject / Content leaders shared the plans for the upcoming week. I recognized one of the new teachers who participated in my study was sharing activities and resources to teach the math standards. Her partner had found a Quick Check to use. She also created a worksheet of ques- tions for a pre-test to be administered on Friday.

The reading leaders reviewed the daily plans. The principal reminded teachers about teaching the standard “character traits” and stressed the importance of reading the details in the standard. A teacher shared the differentiated passages she plan to use with her students. They discussed a question that students had difficulty answering correctly, “How did the person appear?’ Students did not know what the word “appear” meant in the context of the question. Another teacher shared a STEM activity to help teach phases of the moon. Writing can be integrated by asking students to write to explain which phase of the moon would be the best day to have a Boston Tea Party. The Special Education teacher offered to modify the upcoming common assessment for the team.