"Super" Spruce Scoop
Volume 1 Edition 15
January 20,2015
Effective Instruction Makes the Most Difference
As I visited campuses this past week, I enjoyed the opportunity to observe classroom instruction with leadership teams and our academic facilitators. The richness of the conversation around good instruction provided learning for all participants. Thank you to all principals for allowing coaches and administrative team members to participate. It is worth every second of our time! I hope this is a regular practice of all leadership teams.
Several campuses shined during our campus visits:
- William Anderson Elementary School - Teachers facilitated high levels of student engagement among students with well-planned lessons. The Awesome Anderson staff is providing good instruction to students and they are really appreciated!
- Frederick Douglass Elementary School - Students were observed working in collaborative groups in several classrooms with teachers maximizing instructional time. Mrs. Masters and her team are making sure good instruction is the norm! Thank you to her team for making a difference in the lives of students.
- B. H. Macon Elementary School - The Macon team under the leadership of Mr. Bennett are ensuring students are active participants in the learning process. Students were provided multiple opportunities to collaborative with peers and engage in the lesson. Their ways of engaging students were planned out and prepared in advance. Thank you to all teachers observed for doing well for our students.
- Richard Lagow Elementary School - Kudos to the teachers at RIchard Lagow for their consistent delivery of effective instruction. Teachers were observed providing purposeful instruction and effectively checking for understanding.
There were other examples of good instruction observe in other schools, but those listed above were consistent in their delivery of quality instruction. Thank you to all of our principals for continuing to raise the expectations and support!
Districtwide Principals' Meeting
Wednesday, Jan 21, 2015, 01:00 PM
D A Hulcy Middle School, Dallas, TX, United States
We Have ACP Data, Now What?
I am glad you asked... It's easy to look at ACP data from a 10,000 foot view and make generalizations regarding campus, class or student performance. However, the best way to use ACP data is to be very targeted on which standards were strong and do not require teaching, which standards were low for an entire class and necessitate the re-teaching to the whole class or require small group instruction for a targeted group of students. Whether re-teach is needed for a small group or the entire class, the best way to ensure this occurs is through mapping them out on an instructional calendar and putting them in the next common assessment for re-assessment.
As the campus instructional leader, you have the opportunity to make sure this happens through effective PLCs. Please take the right steps in working with your teachers during PLCs to support the mapping out of standards which will need re-taught and re-assessed. Our "Super" Spruce feeder pattern teachers want to do the right thing for our kids. Please help them work through the process.