Weekly Coaching Communication
Make it a great day -- every day!
29 August -- 09 September 2016
On the Standards Front . . .
EdWeek published Dr. Thomas R. Guskey's guest blog post in Peter DeWitt's column. "Rubrics Are Fine, But How Do I Get an A?" published on 18 August, 2016 (the blog may be read in its entirety by clicking on the title link), poses the question that many of us hear from students and parents frequently throughout the year: "What must I [my son or daughter] do to reach the highest level? What do I need to do to get an A?"
Parents and students are still under the impression that colleges will only accept their college application if it is tied to a transcript with a GPA and a class rank. Guskey writes that despite colleges making the most recent attempts to consider other aspects of student work and data, the grades still carry some importance for college admissions.
Guskey offers that although rubrics have been around for a long time and are a common tool and process to describe what students should do to achieve proficiency, teachers are coming under close scrutiny for the way rubrics are designed and developed.
No matter if teachers label the highest level of performance as an A, a 4, or the color blue, Guskey claims that parents are raising their children based on experience, and their experience was to strive for achievement at the highest level possible, and even more so when that highest level is tied to a grade. "For these parents, being "proficient" is not sufficient. They want their child to make every effort to reach whatever level the teacher defines as highest."
Guskey recommends a return to what Benjamin Bloom first professed as "the process of mastery learning." As Guskey cites in his blog, Bloom described this process in his classic 1968 article, "Learning for Mastery":
We are expressing the view that, given sufficient time and appropriate types of help, 95% of students ... can learn a subject up to a high level of mastery. We are convinced that the grade of 'A' as an index of mastery of a subject can, under appropriate conditions, be achieved by up to 95% of the students in a class. (p. 4).
Teachers should describe what the work and the level of mastery looks like -- work reserved for the merit of a grade level of A -- and then proceed to determine what the levels that lead up to that mastery look like. Guskey's and Bloom's recommendations fall well within the work of proficiency scales to assess standards and rubrics that provide the feedback on the learning targets for those standards. Their process may differ from the level hopping in our current practice (identifying the standard, determining the the learning targets, identifying the prior knowledge, and then describing a possible extension and application), but the end result is the same and may allow teachers to think differently about their standards.
I am still a proponent of the one-point rubric when describing the quality of learning targets to provide feedback; however, the process and method to build the proficiency scale is definitely negotiable among the determined levels. If thinking of the standard and what mastery of that standard looks like gets teachers moving forward on their standards work, then students will be more successful. #moveforward #makethechoice
Quick Clicks
Website & Tech (Tools to Use or Peruse)
Perhaps a better option is the lesson plans and resources offered -- use already-created storyboards to enhance your class discussions and content.
Suggested Reading
The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People by David Niven, Ph.D. may be a little more like a summer reading book, but before you get too deep into the school year, you may want to give this little gem a quick read to help you through the rest of your year.
Scientists and academics have spent entire careers investigating what makes people happy. But hidden in obscure scholarly journals and reports, their research is all too often inaccessible to ordinary people. Now the bestselling author of the 100 Simple Secrets series distills the scientific findings of over a thousand of the most important studies on happiness into easy-to-digest nuggets of advice. Each of the hundred practices is illustrated with a clear example and illuminated by a straightforward explanation of the science behind it to show you how to transform a ho-hum existence into a full and happy life.
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Quotation of the Week . . .
I wanted to start off the year with this quotation because it captures exactly how I feel about teaching and the work that is happening in our high school. The work of teachers is not just about the standards and the assessments and the grades. The work of teachers is about relationships and ensuring that the students who attend class and participate in activities matter -- that is a teacher's work. And it is difficult to make "every moment matter" for every student "every day," yet, I witness these relationships happening all over the school, and I hear from students how teachers have ensured that the kids in this school matter.
Please do not overlook each other as colleagues and friends and how much they matter to each of us. CPU is a family, and as we grow in number, it may be difficult at times to ensure that every moment matters for each person unless we take the time for what's important. The initiatives we have at stake are important to making learning better for our students and moving forward with increasing student achievement; however, the cost cannot be at the expense of a person, and individual, not mattering. CPU teachers, please know, you matter -- continue to make the choice to ensure that others matter -- students, teachers, administrators, parents, etc. -- so they can continue to move forward. #nobetterplacetowork
Coaching Schedule -- see Google Calendar for specific "Busy" times **schedule subject to change**
Monday, 29 August
- 9:00 Meeting with Susan Parker (GWAEA math consultant)
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
Tuesday, 30 August
- 8:30 - 3:30 New Teacher Center Training Year 2 @GWAEA
- 3:30 Meeting with Laura Johnson (GWAEA ELA consultant)
Wednesday, 31 August
- 8:30 - 3:30 New Teacher Center Training Year 2 @GWAEA
- 3:30 Meeting with Julie Foltz (GWAEA Science consultant)
Thursday, 01 September
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
Friday, 02 September
- Pope/Libolt IC Meeting -- 7:30 AM
- Pope/Winerhof Meeting 9:00 AM
- Serve Teachers & Students
- 12:00 IC Team Meeting @ Intermediate
MONDAY, 05 September -- LABOR DAY -- NO SCHOOL
TUESDAY, 06 September -- Professional Learning (ALL DAY)
Wednesday, 07 September -- 7:45 Meeting in the STORM Room
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
Thursday, 08 September
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
Friday, 09 September
- Pope/Libolt IC Meeting -- 7:30 AM
- Serve Teachers & Students
- 12:00 IC Team Meeting @ Primary
ARCHIVE LINKS
Click on the link to access 2015-16 prior weekly communications.
Pope's IC Weekly Communication Archive & Index 2016-17
Click on the link to access prior weekly communications.
IC/Principal Weekly Meeting Notes
Click on the link to view the Friday notes.
Contact Information
Center Point - Urbana CSD
Email: epopenhagen@cpuschools.org
Phone: 319-849-1102+91015
Twitter: @Epopenhagen