PD by Laura Davis January 23, 2012

1. Effective and Inviting Classrooms at PurnellSwett High School:Planning with the End in Mind and Rubrics & Exemplars Please assemble yourselves in groups of four. Take out the article you were given on rubrics. You will also need paper and pen. PD by Laura Davis January 23, 2012

2. Essential Question: “How can I make my classroom more effective?” Starter: List a few of your most effective current practices on a sheet of paper. Be prepared to share out.

3. Learning Targets 1. I can evaluate a current article in education and defend my viewpoints. 2. I can use the 4 A’s protocol and the jigsaw protocol in my own lessons. 3. I can design a lesson framework including an essential question, learning targest, exit slip, and starter activity.

4. Article 1 Four A’s Text Protocol Read the article, How a Learning Community Helped Me Relearn My Job by Bill Ferriter. Use the following protocol to guide your reading. • As you read, annotate the article. Label at least 2 assumptions you think the author made. • Label at least 2 things you agree with from the article, then at least 2 things you would argue with. • Label at least 2 things you aspire to after reading the article. • When you have finished, divide a piece of paper into 4 quadrants labeled “Assume,” “Agree,” “Argue,” and “Aspire.” Discuss your responses with your table group and organize the ideas you hear into the 4 quadrants. • How could you use this activity in your own classes?

5. Jigsaw -- Using Peers to Improve Practice • Use the Letter at the top of your article to find your next table group. • Each person at the lettered table group should present the key points from their old group to their new group. • Discuss and defend your positions. • Many times we begin teaching by thinking about activities WE want to do or ways WE want to teach a concept. Next we will talk about the most effective way to design a lesson.

6. Effective Classrooms Start With Backward Design • One of the habits of “highly effective people” is beginning with the end in mind. • In lesson planning, how do you currently get started? • Discuss with a partner how you decide what to teach, when to teach it, and how to teach it.

7. What? When? How? “What” is the state curriculum (SCOS), 21st century skills, and very little else. “When” is usually within parameters of a district pacing guide but also can be in response to things happening in the world that make a topic relevant and the moment teachable. “How” is very much a personal professional decision, but we should stay abreast of research and trends and reading important authors like Marzano.

8. It all starts with an objective. In NCFalcon we learn to develop “learning targets” that we are trying to reach in each lesson. In the new Common Core language we present kids with “I can” statements. At PSHS, we are going to cite the SCOS objective by number, but we are going to put into our sequence of instruction on a daily basis one or more clear learning targets that tell students what they will be able to do before they leave class that period. REFLECT: How user friendly are your objectives? Do kids know what in the world you want them to be able to DO by the time they leave each day?

9. Practice at your table Compare the SCOS objectives below to the modified learning targets at the right. Discuss with your table how the changes might impact student understanding. • I can rewrite a short story from the point of view of the villain and discuss the impact on tone and theme. • 2. I can decide if a set of data is linear, write an equation that models the data, and explain what the slope and y-intercept mean in real world terms. • 3. I can write a care plan for a patient, discuss the care plan with the patient, and determine ethically using HIPPA laws and local health policies, who should be involved with the treatment and who should be informed. • Reflect and respond expressively to texts so that the audience will discover multiple perspectives. 2. Create linear models for sets of data to solve problems and Interpret constants and coefficients in the context of the data. 3. Incorporate technological advances related to the health care delivery system, including ethics, professionalism, prevention (wellness), patient/client diagnosis, treatment, care, and rehabilitation as a result of disease/disorders.

10. Practice for your class Take a SCOS objective for a course you are currently teaching. Write a few learning targets as “I can” statements. Share these with your table group and offer feedback for improvement. Create a chart with an example to share out with the entire room.

11. When planning, follow these steps: • Write the essential question for the week or the unit. It is the big idea and should establish relevance. Make it a How or Why question. • Write the learning targets for the daily lessons. Ask yourself what kids should be able to do by the end of the class. Make these active “I can” statements. • Write the exit slip. This should tie to the learning targets directly and diagnose each child’s mastery of the learning targets. It will help you adjust the instruction for the following day. (more on this in a second.) • Write the starter as a way to intrigue or engage the learner for what is coming. It should tie either to the previous day’s learning or what is coming that day. Ideally it would segue both! (Checking homework is necessary, but it doesn’t qualify as a starter. More practice with starters in a minute.) • Design engaging activities of 15-20 minutes each and plan to check for understanding throughout using means other than Choral Response.

12. It all ends with an exit slip. • How do studentsknow whether they accomplished anything? • How do you know in what way you need to adjust the following day’s plan? • Tie it to the learning target(s) or else the targets weren’t effective. For example, if the objective was: “I can compare and contrast key points of Lincoln’s presidency with Obama’s.” The exit slip might be: “Fold a sheet of paper in half lengthwise. On the left, list ways Lincoln and Obama had similar presidencies. On the right, list ways they were different.”

13. Practice Objective Exit Slip Write down 2 different exit slips you could use. Neither one should take more than 5 minutes to complete and should directly assess the objective. • Write down a learning target you expect to teach this week in one of your classes in student-friendly language. • Share with a partner and help each other refine.

14. Starters – Proven to be effective A starter or bellringer should take no more than 10 minutes. It is best when it ties the previous day’s learning to today’s learning and bridges the gap. It should activate prior knowledge and prepare the brain for further engagement. It should be relevant and meaningful. It should inform the teacher as to the readiness of each individual. You may not need to teach all that you thought!

15. Practice Write a starter that could be used on the SAME day as the objective and exit slips your wrote a few minutes ago. Share with a partner and help each other refine.

16. What happens in between the starter and the exit slip? • Everything that happens in between is designed to help students master and apply the concepts. • Readings, writings, activities, Socratic Seminars, discussions, response to videos or websites, etc. Change up every 15-20 minutes. • Work should be rigorous for each kid – not all kids have to do the same things. Every brain is wired differently. • Pace should not be sluggish. Keep them engaged. • Checking for Understanding is ongoing and occurs in multiple ways. Not just monitoring! You can’t teach sitting down! • Before they leave, the effective teacher knows where each kid is on the continuum of mastering and applying the concepts and can adjust the instruction for the following day accordingly.

17. Environment matters! Clean counts!Learners with attention issues or disorganized minds become very distracted by sights and sounds.With very few exceptions, everything in your classroom environment should point to the learning that has recently or is about to take place. I challenge you to have a trusted coworker come view your room and give you feedback on this. Walk around your school and examine everything from a student’s perspective.

18. One type of exit slip is the 3, 2, 1. Below are two different ways to use this.Based on what was discussed in class today, Write down: • 3 things that you agreed with. • 2 things you disagreed with. • 1 thing that confused you or that you still have questions about. • 3 things that you didn’t know before. • 2 things you would still like to know more about. • 1 thing that confused you or that you still have questions about.

19. Your EXIT TICKET: • Write down one thing new you got from this session regarding making your classes more effective. • Write down one thing you need more information or help with from this session.

20. For the next session: • Plan your lessons for the next 4 weeks with Essential Questions, Learning Targets, Starters, Checking for Understanding, and Exit Slips for each lesson. No exceptions! • Look at your room and make at least one change that makes it more focused on current learning. • Find a current article or book in education and share it with your PLC Focus group. Lead a book discussion. Tell your administrator you did this so you can get credit for Teacher Leadership!