Instructional Coach Weekly Update
Weeks of Mar. 29 - Apr. 1
Strategy Spotlight
Last Wednesday, several staff members from the upper grades attended the annual Standards-Based Grading Conference sponsored by Grant Wood AEA. The key note speaker was Dr. Tom Guskey. Ellen Popenhagen compiled her Top 25 Tweets/Takeaways from the conference in her weekly SMORE, and as I read through them several stood out to me. Many of these really made me think about my past grading, homework, and re-do (in-class work, homework, tests, quizzes) policies. Do any of these challenge your current practices?
Sandra Metzger, M.Ed @sandra_metzger Mar 24
Guskey takeaway - separating teaching & learning is like walking away from drowning child saying "I taught him to swim" #iasbg #gwaeapd
Some S's r not flunking classes b/c they have not learned -- but possibly b/c they didn't comply @tguskey #iasbg @GrantWoodAEA
Eric Townsley @EricTownsley Mar 24
Key takeaway from @tguskey today, report cards are for parents, not teachers. #iasbg
Matt Townsley @mctownsley Mar 24
Guskey: -process/work habits matter! -should be reported separately! -consistent rubric across school! #gwaeapd #iasbg
@mctownsley We trained parents that the online grade book was written in ink, now we have to retrain them that it's written in pencil #iasbg
Beth Knipper @Knenglishteach Mar 23
Homework is practice. Treat it as such. We shouldn't expect perfection from it. #iasbg
Nathan Wear @Nathan_Wear Mar 23
Weighting grades is just another case of educator malpractice @tguskey #iasbg
Beth Basinger @bethbasinger Mar 23
MLB hitting 50%, unbelievable. Falling in the bottom 1/3 qualifies for Hall of Fame. Percent v mastery. What are we looking for? #iasbg
Beth Knipper @Knenglishteach Mar 23
Guskey: Grade in rubrics - not percentages. Makes it not as arbitrary. #iasbg
Nick Duffy @DuffysClassroom Mar 23
Kids are punished w/grades for things that are behavioral. Every time this is challenged legally, Ts lose. Clear purpose matters. #iasbg
@tguskey Grading is the area in education in which there is the biggest gap between our knowledge base and our practices #iasbg
Cassidy Reinken @creinken Mar 23
When you give an assessment students shouldn't be surprised. If students are surprised, teachers didn't teach well. Be open with Ss. #iasbg
Be proficiency driven instead of point driven. Message from Oskaloosa team at #iasbg
Beth Knipper @Knenglishteach Mar 23
Should be about students learning - not them chasing the points. #iasbg
Andrea Townsley @townsleyaj Mar 23
There’s a difference between “Meets Expectation” and “Meets Standard”#IAsbg
Nick Duffy @DuffysClassroom Mar 23
We’re not talking points. We are talking about student understanding. Holistic grading vs. taking points off. Consistent practices. #iasbg
Andrea Townsley @townsleyaj Mar 23
Teach, reteach, formatively assess — have you done all of these before giving a final grade? #IAsbg
Past Week
- Writing lessons in 4th grade
- Math lessons in 4th grade
- Math lessons in 5th grade
- Drop in observations
- Team planning meetings
- Reading assessments in 5th grade
- Check in's with teachers
- Planning and preparing resources and materials for teachers
- NTC Tools
- Updating Intervention google docs and data docs
The Week Ahead
- Teaching/Co-teaching daily math lessons in 5th grade
- Teaching/Co-teaching daily small group lessons in 3rd grade
- Team planning meetings
- NTC tool updates
- Present at the Board Meeting
Printing Progress Monitoring Graphs
I am in meetings all Friday afternoon but would be happy to help before then if anyone needs help printing their graphs.
Directions for printing graphs:
- Log on to TIER site
- Click on the "One Click Reports" on left hand side of the home menu
- Click "CBM-R Full Year" from the list
- Use the blue "Filter" button at the top right to search by students name
- Once you find a student click on the image of the graph right after their name and grade level
- The graph should pop up, you need to click on the three horizontal lines at the top of the graph in the right hand corner (click on "export graph" that should show up when you click on the three lines)
- The exported graph will show up down below in your download bar at the bottom of your computer, click on it to open (this will open the graph in Windows Photo Viewer)
- Click on the "print" drop down menu at the top, then select "print"
- At the bottom, middle of this window is a box that says "Fit Picture to Frame" UN-CHECK this box
- Select what printer you want it sent to at the top left of this screen
- Hit the "print" button at the bottom right of the screen