Weekly Coaching Communication
Make it a great day -- every day!
01 - 05 May 2017
On the Standards Front . . .
Self-Regulated Strategy Development in Writing
Excerpted from ASCD Express, "Differences, Not Disabilities," April 27, 2017 | Volume 12 | Issue 16
According to the 2011 NAEP results, less than a quarter of 8th grade students scored proficient on national writing assessments (NCES, 2011). This is particularly concerning because writing can be a gatekeeper to academic success: students are required to show their understanding through writing more often as they move up in their academic careers (Graham & Perin, 2007).
Self-regulated strategy development, SRSD, a pedagogical framework that uses cognitive strategy instruction, has been validated by research to support students with different types of learning differences (Harris & Graham, 1996). This framework uses the gradual release model to teach the writing process (planning, outlining, drafting, revising, and editing) by developing students' self-regulation and writing-strategy skills.
Teachers first provide direct instruction on the writing process by teaching eight core routines. Once teachers have explicitly taught students about what to write (providing criteria and showing an exemplar piece) and how to write (modeling the writing process), students apply varied quantified rubrics (Figure 1) to use their current writing level as a springboard to build skill. Students are assigned rubrics based on previous writing performances, and teachers adjust instructional decisions based on student performance. In a class of 26, teachers may create four different rubrics with modifications needed to meet the different learners' levels. The rubrics have a similar structure, and each one comes with a different exemplar to show students a sample of a potential end goal.
As students reach mastery on competencies, teachers simply move students up to the next rubric level, where they will be challenged by more sophisticated criteria. Those students who need more support will receive quantified rubrics with modified criteria and more direct instruction to continue to strengthen necessary writing competencies. Since the rubrics are explicit, teachers can hone in on the exact skills each student needs to develop; craft and deliver mini lessons to target learning; and systematically strengthen writing within the mainstream class, regardless of learning difference.
GROWTH And Why We Resist It
Growth happens at the point of resistance.
The 10th rep – the one where your arms are giving out and you do it anyways.
The game against the better opponent.
The drill that makes you struggle and work on a weakness.
The problem that you don’t know the answer to…
THE HURDLE WE FACE IS:RESISTANCE = FAILURE = UGLY
Your muscles give out and you face-plant.Your team struggles to even get the ball across half-court.
You miss more than you’re accustomed to.
You realize you messed up step 1 and have to start again from scratch.
Those who are good at learning understand this and they are comfortable with the tension of not knowing, they are happy to operate at the edge of their abilities, they embrace the challenge and struggle because they know that this is how they grow.
Others (most of us) can’t handle it. We worry too much about being judged and we listen to our lizard brain, the voice in the back of our head telling us that it’s not right, not our time, that we could never figure it out, that we can do it tomorrow, that “this drill is stupid anyways.”
And this is why most of us (especially me) can’t dance.
We want to be able to dance, maybe even believe that we can get better at it – but we never get the reps needed to improve because we shy away from the opportunities to do it…
Why?
We don’t want to look bad, we don’t want others to see us struggle, we can’t handle the resistance and tension of doing something out of our comfort zone.
HACKS TO BEAT THIS:
1. Believe in your ability to improve. Skills are grown, not given. You have all of the tools that you need to learn and get really good at pretty much anything that you’d like. One of the most important steps to learning is believing that you can do it #SFCOHTGGAS.
2. Understand how learning works. That you learn best when you’re stretched, on the 10th rep, when you’re in the wild, when it’s ugly.
3. Make learning and growth priority #1. Real learning involves struggle and can get ugly. Getting better needs to be more important than looking good – (get to box 2).
4. Frame the challenge as an opportunity NOT a threat. “How will this help me grow” instead of “What will they think.”
5. Seek out the ugly. Find the situations and opportunities that fire up the resistance, that make your lizard brain freak out and jump into them. Go find the best player in the gym and play her as much as you can, take your team on the road to find the best team around, volunteer to lead the project that you’re unsure about. Find opportunities to get your Jungle Tiger on and throw yourself into the wild.
Coaching Schedule -- see Google Calendar for specific "Busy" times **schedule subject to change**
LINK to Mr. Libolt's Weekly Calendar & Communication
Monday, 01 April
- 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM Big Picture Plannning @ Intermediate
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
Tuesday, 02 May
- 11:25 - 11:45 HS Model Syllable Types w/ Barbara Leete
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
Wednesday, 03 May -- DATA TEAM MTGs -- 9:00 AM Late Start Schedule
- 9:00 - 10:00 AM IC/Program Lead MTG
- 11:40 - 12:00 HS Model Syllable Types w/ Barbara Leete
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
Thursday, 04 May -- EARLY OUT -- PTCs
- 11:25 - 11:45 HS Model Syllable Types w/ Barbara Leete
- 11:30 Staff Appreciation Luncheon
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
Friday, 05 May -- Happy Cinco de Mayo
- Battle of the Classes
- 7:30 - 8:15 AM TLC Triad MTG w/ IC/Principal/Program Lead
- 12:00 - 3:30 PM IC Task MTG
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
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 2016-17 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