The Bailey Times
February 4, 2019
Strategy 3: Get the Students to Engage With the Content
While it is essential to actively teach students what they need to know and be able to do, it is also important to get them to actively engage with the content.
Marzano and Hattie agree that this starts with students actively linking your newly provided information with their prior knowledge of the topic. Students need to engage with the content as soon as they hear it by:
- Adding it to what they already know, or
- Using it to clarify some of the faulty assumptions they currently hold
Your students can then engage with your information in other ways. Hattie talks about the value of getting kids to take notes. Marzano also found there was great value in having your students take notes, and getting them to work with physical manipulatives. Also, he found that the simple act of asking students to recall information that you have just taught them (i.e. asking basic questions) had a substantial impact on how well they mastered the material. All these strategies are useful, but they only allow students to engage with the material at a surface level.
Robert Marzano also found several ways for students to engage with the material in ways that help them deepen their understanding beyond surface knowledge. These include the use of graphic organizers that show how information is connected (e.g. steps, cause-effect, in comparison to, hierarchical classification). It also includes the use of analogies, such as:
- Persuasive devices are to a writer what tools are to a trade, or
- The Magna Carta offers citizens what a referee offers a game of soccer.
Strategy 4: Give Feedback
It is important that you give your students feedback after they engage with any new material.
This:
- Highlighting what is right and wrong, or good and bad about their work
- Helping students to see how they can improve
Robert Marzano highlighted that students need to be given feedback while there is still time to improve (i.e. before finishing a topic or assigning a formal assessment task). John Hattie agreed with this but went further, showing that novice or struggling students need immediate feedback, while more experienced students do better when they receive delayed feedback. Hattie also discovered that different types of students need distinct types of feedback (see How to Give Feedback: The Advanced Guide).
Hattie also highlighted that feedback is a two-way street, where student results tell the teacher the degree to which their efforts are working (or not). When teachers see feedback this way, it has an even larger impact on their students’ subsequent results.
The Wild Card - Wrapping up our Book Study at our Feb. 21st Faculty Meeting
DON'T FORGET TO TURN IN YOUR BOOK STUDY SHEET WITH YOUR DATES AND SIGNATURE AT THE BOTTOM! I NEED THIS TO CONFIRM YOUR ATTENDANCE IN MLP!
At our Feb. 21st faculty meeting each Wild Card Study Group will present a short discussion on what they learned from the book that made a difference in their own teaching. It might include a favorite chapter that helped you in the classroom or an "aha" moment when you looked at your teaching and maybe changed something that you do or it could be whatever your group wants it to be!
Please let me hear from one of the leaders of each group to make sure that everyone is on the same page and you are clear about what the expectation is for your group!
Timeline for all Evaluations (Certificated and Classified)/Summative Conferences - Professionalism Logs - need to be working on them!
1. All 2nd-semester teacher evaluations will be completed and in TNCompass no later than April 12, 2019.
2. All Professionalism Logs are due in TNCompass by April 12th (I will send you info in an email) Conferences will be set up for all teachers during the last weeks of April and first weeks of May in order to have them completed by May 21st.
3. All Professionalism/Summative conference will be completed and in TNCompass by May 21, 2019
Classified - All evaluations for classified staff will be completed by April 29, 2019. You evaluator will be contacting you about your conference date.
Summer FLEX Hours for Next Year!
Please mark your calendars for the following weeks which will be when SUMMER Flex is delivered:
Week of June 10th
Week of July 22nd
This will assist when planning summer activities at your schools so teachers have an
opportunity to attend this training. Specific course information will be coming out following Spring Break. There will still be some online courses available and there will be flex hours given during the school year as well.
Item Review Applications Opening Soon
Item Review Applications Now Open
Audience: Directors of Schools
Contact: Megan.Sellers@tn.gov
Applications are now open for educators to participate in Item Review for TNReady and the TCAP alternate assessment. Item Review will take place during June 2019 in Nashville. The time commitment ranges from two to three days depending on the grade level and content area of the committee. All participants will receive a daily stipend of $150 and travel costs, and committee members who live more than 50 miles from the meeting location will also be eligible to receive hotel accommodations as well as reimbursement for meals and incidentals as appropriate.
All interested applicants should complete an online application. The application window will close Feb. 6 at 11:59 p.m. CT. Application information for each committee is available here, or you may click on the links below to reach the applications. Educators will be selected for the following committees (which will meet during the weeks noted):
- TCAP-Alternate Assessment – week of June 3
- Social Studies – week of June 3
- Science – week of June 17
- Math – week of June 10
- ELA – week of June 24
- Bias, Sensitivity and Accessibility – A unique committee will be selected to meet each week in June.
Department staff will review all applications using evaluation rubrics which are posted along with the application. All applicants will be notified of selection status no later than March 6.
Don't forget to get your team together and fill out the paperwork that is needed to register your team for this fun night! We hope to have a big turnout as a THANK YOU to CEF for all that they do for our school as well as Collierville Schools! Please give your registration stuff to Deanna Jones - It is due by Feb. 14th!
Coffee Chats 7:45 -8:45
February 12th - "Wildcard-Technology Cafe" - Open to your technology needs whether it is learning a new program, running updates, or taking technology to the next step - Moore PDR
If you would like to host a coffee chat please let me know and get on the calendar.
Take a moment and read through the articles or blogs that I have looked at this past week! Maybe one will be of interest to you!
Month at a Glance
Principal's Meeting - Out of Building
February 7th
PTA Daddy Daughter Dance 6:00 - 7:30
PTA Mother/Son night at Urban Air 6:00 - 7:30
February 11th
Collierville Career Fair 4:30 - 6:00 at CHS (If you have any friends looking for jobs this is a great way to start the process of getting into Collierville)
February 12th
Wildcard-Technology Cafe" - Open to your technology needs whether it is learning a new program, running updates, or taking technology to the next step - Moore
February 15th
Parent Conferences 1:00 - 4:00
1/2 day for Students - dismiss at 12:30
February 18th
Holiday - Out of School
February 21st
Faculty Meeting @7:30 in the library - The Wildcard Presentations
February 26th and 27th
Out of Building with my Mother at Vanderbilt
February 28th
5th grade visits WCMS 9:30 - 11:00
March 1st
Battle of the Books
5th Grade BioTech Day
March 5th
PTA Meeting at 6:00 in the cafe
March 6th
Principal's Meeting
March 7th
CEF Trivia Teacher Night 6:00
March 8th
Vocabulary Parade
March 21st
Faculty Meeting at 7:30 in library
BSE is the focus school at the Board Meeting 6:30 at the community room at CHS
March 28th
PTA Bingo Night 6:00 Cafe
Memphis In May
March 29th
Memphis In May
April 1st - 5th
Teacher Appreciation Week
April 4th
Kindergarten Orientation Night
April 6th
Race for the Ville 7:00
April 9th
Barnes and Noble Book Fair 5:00 - 7:00