Curriculum Update
Curriculum News from Mansfield Township School District
Curriculum Kudos
Since we continue to follow through with our vision to make curricular decisions that are best for kids, we have some exciting curriculum "seeds" that have been planted by Mansfield teachers. These new curriculum works continue to grow and flourish thanks to all of your hard work...
- Mansfield teachers have collaborated with teachers from Springfield Township to develop new technology curriculum. We will continue to review and make revisions to the curriculum this year and begin formal implementation next year. Excellent work Mrs. Szymanski!
- The dedication continues as we develop new science curriculum in sixth grade. Denise Yockey, Diane D'Amico, and Rob Zimmer attended Lesson Development training at Rider University this month. One week later, these same teachers spent the day in North Hanover collaborating with other teachers in the Northern Burlington region to develop curriculum. Thanks so much for your hard work, Denise, Diane and Rob!
- Our BSI teachers continue to make progress with the Leveled Literacy Intervention, which is proving to be a useful tool to meet the needs of our struggling readers and writers. I commend Trenna Stout, Karen Bressler and Janet Struz for their hard work, flexibility and scheduling expertise.
Next Gen In North Hanover
Modeling Math at Hydock
Shannon Feeley takes time to model expectations during a math lesson with her very eager-to-learn students.
New Tech "Toy" at MTES
Are We Still "Going Places"? YES!!!
Can you believe it's November already?! As a district we have accomplished so much.
- Going? We already went... ~ Fall Assessments have been administered to all students and information has been shared with the building principals, Dori and Keira. If you have not submitted your assessment data on the form titled, "Record of Academic Assessment," please do so as soon as possible. Tiffany will be sharing this information with the board at our next meeting.
- Walkthroughs have "taken flight" in all grade levels. Administrators discussed information gathered at our October Admin Meeting and we are so pleased with the teaching we observed. We took note of differentiated instruction to meet the needs of all learners in both large and small group settings. We saw teachers challenging students with questions that required critical thinking and deeper investigation of concepts. We were pleased to see specific, focused lesson objectives (or learning goals) displayed in the classroom, not for the teacher or administrator, but for the students to have an understanding of what they will learn in each content area. And most of all we saw....technology!!! It was wonderful to see many of you applying the new information learned in the wonderful workshops from TechShare. (It's evident that we remember that we all have a few Mayas and Raphaels in our class)
- Still Going...In the next month, we will continue our vision to meet the needs of readers in small groups, focusing on strengths and needs based on the Benchmark Assessment. Hydock teachers have already "dipped their toe" in small group reading PD this year, but on November 17th the MTES teachers will have a chance to do the same. Kristin Bubnis, from Teacher to Teacher, will be in-district to provide a half-day workshop to teachers in grades 3-6. On December 9 & 10, Rene Schillinger will be back in-district to provide demo lessons. As a result of teacher feedback, we have decided to shift our focus with Rene away from close reading and set our sights on writing. Rene will provide PD for all district teachers on conferring with students in writing, and model engaging with district students during independent writing time to improve students' skills and ability.
As you can see, our curricular vision to meet the needs of all learners focusing on their strengths and needs, continues to flourish in Mansfield. Gone are the days of pre-packaged lessons that look the same for every student, no matter their interest or ability. Thank you for working so hard to take this district to new heights.