education4500

I had the pleasure today of spending time in kindergarten - 5th grade classrooms at the Ross Valley School District's Multi-Age Program (MAP). You can find information on MAP on their website here . This afternoon MAP teachers explored resources to support increased CCSS-aligned teaching and learning in their classrooms. Materials for the session are linked below. Presentation deck . 2nd Grade DBQ: War of 1812  Illustrative Mathematics task for 3.NF, "Naming the Whole for a Fraction" 4th Grade Mini-Assessment for Basic Archeology  

Options Area science educators gathered this morning for their first session of   'Focusing on the Core for All' , the Options NVACS professional learning cycle for the 2015-2016 school year. This group includes teachers from Options Area schools, Implementation Specialists from MTSS and Student Support Services departments, Student Support Services area administrators, and Options Area school site principals, each of whom has chosen a content focus for the year (English Language Arts, History-Social Studies, Science, or Mathematics). The professional learning cycle for this year builds on that of past years (namely, the   High School Core Task Project   and   Shifting Instruction to the Core ) and is focused on  supporting teachers, implementation specialists, and administrators in the Options Area to expand and deepen alignment of instruction, materials, and programs  Common Core Standards  and  Instructional Shifts  so that all students are prepared for college and career.

WCSD leaders gathered this afternoon for the second session of the course, "Principal's Instructional Leadership Team". This year-long inservice supports school site p rincipals and a small team of instructional leaders to collaborate throughout a year of study to develop and articulate a vision of instruction and build capacity for this vision at their school sites. The course focuses on identifying and facilitating core instructional methods that promote a discussion-rich classroom where students are accountable for reasoning and application of skills.  The g oals of this year-long course include: Increase shared leadership and teacher efficacy  Develop a vision of instruction to inform the 2016-1017 school performance plan Identify the agreed upon processes that  will shape a culture for student centered  learning Clearly articulate best practices for Tier 1  instruction throughout the school  This afternoo

As part of their ongoing work with WCSD Fundamentals, North Star educators engaged in professional learning this morning focused on MTSS. The session began with an overview of the MTSS system and the bulk of the morning was spent in decision making, as educators reviewed their site-based flowcharts and tier descriptors, determined their consistent agenda & decision rules for data, and began drafting PBIS expectations and matrixes. Materials for the session can be found below. More information on WCSD's MTSS practices can be found here . Presentation deck MTSS Principles and Notetaker  

As a continuation of last month's post ' Planning for CCSS-Aligned Teaching: Part I' , this post is focused planning to use aligned ELA and Literacy instructional materials.  When looking for lesson and units aligned to the  CCSS , an excellent place to start is with the  EQuIP  Rubrics. These rubric, developed by New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts with the support of  Achieve  , can be used to evaluate the quality and alignment of instructional materials to the Common Core. To support a deeper understanding of how the rubrics can support your selection or development of aligned lessons and units, the EQuIP  website  contains the  rubrics  (in ELA/Literacy for grades  K-2  and  3-12 ) and feedback forms, an explanation of the  Peer Review Panel , and rubric training  materials . (There are also EQuIP Rubric training materials available on this blog  here  and  here .) Additionally, there are more than 1 00  exemplar lessons and units  posted to the EQuIP site fo

Teachers at RISE Academy for Adult Achievement gathered this evening for professional learning on the RISE Instructional Expectations, this time focusing on objectives. Teachers engaged with a variety of print resources to collaboratively learn about the purpose and application objectives to support student learning. Materials for the session are linked below.  Presentation deck in PDF and Keynote   Reading: " The Educational Value of Course Learning Objectives " Annotating for Claim-Reasoning-Evidence Session Notetaker  

Options Area educators gathered this morning for their first session of   'Focusing on the Core for All' , the Options NVACS professional learning cycle for the 2015-2016 school year. This group includes teachers from Options Area schools, Implementation Specialists from MTSS and Student Support Services departments, Student Support Services area administrators, and Options Area school site principals, each of whom has chosen a content focus for the year (English Language Arts, History-Social Studies, Science, or Mathematics). The professional learning cycle for this year builds on that of past years (namely, the   High School Core Task Project   and   Shifting Instruction to the Core ) and is focused on  supporting teachers, implementation specialists, and administrators in the Options Area to expand and deepen alignment of instruction, materials, and programs  Common Core Standards  and  Instructional Shifts  so that all students are prepared for college and career. More det

Washoe County educators gathered again Tuesday evening for the second of a two-session inservice, "CCSS: Writing to Sources". The focus for these sessions is how teachers might better support students to use evidence from text and media to write opinion and informative pieces.  Over two evenings participants will explore the CCSS Instructional Shifts, Standards for Writing, instructional activities, and CCSS-aligned resources that support teaching and learning focused on writing to sources.  This second session began as participants collaboratively reviewed their between sessions task (drafts a writing lesson using a resources from session one).  Participants then explored instructional moves to support classroom writing, engaged with the Nevada DOE and SBACC writing rubrics, drafted mini-lessons for writing, and read various published materials on how to better support formative assessment of writing.  Materials for this session are linked below.  Presentation deck in  PD