Weekly Coaching Communication
Make it a great day -- every day!
30 October -- 03 November 2017
Hats off to you!
Here's this past week's amazement:
- STATE CROSS COUNTRY -- BOOM! Awesome representation and effort by all. Congratulations, Coach Marshall, Adrianna, Myles & the boys' team!
- Teachers are showing lots of flexibility with assemblies, picture re-takes, and ACTs disrupting schedules.
- Shout Out to Sara and Mr. Libolt for covering the office while Mrs. Fisher was out ill.
- Mrs. Herring and Mr. Arends gave up prep time to cover Mrs. Dierks when we were short staffed and no sub available.
- Thank you for supporting our juniors in their magazine sales.
Reminder -- if you see or do something amazing, please let me know so I can add it for next week.
#nobetterplacetowork
Pope's Professional Learning -- Sharing to Build Capacity
Ideas from Jim Knight
*High-Impact Instruction (2013) is the title of the book by Jim Knight that the four Instructional Coaches are currently reading. Each week when we meet, we discuss the contents of the reading and its application to our coaching practice.
As a group, we had a consensus Ah-Ha in our reading: Progress at work is the single most important factor contributing to attitude. Real progress triggers positive emotions. The “progress principle” even applies to small wins.
Knight writes a significant amount on the benefits of formative assessment and its impact on student learning and engagement. One of the main points, and this agrees with Thomas Guskey's (2010) ideas on grading, is that without the information about a student's progress, standards-based learning is ineffective. Formative assessment is not only integral to a student's improvement in their learning, but it also serves as the backbone to the standards-based system.
One of the major reasons for using formative assessment is that it provides a way for teachers to dramatically increase engagement. That is, formative assessment is a way by which teachers can clarify learning goals, provide students with frequent, clear feedback on their progress towards the learning goal, and adjust learning so it is more frequently at the optimal level of challenge for students. (Knight, p. 57)
Teacher clarity (what is the student learning? why is the student learning this? how will the student know when he or she has learned it?) is at the center of formative assessment -- the "progress principle" -- and engagement. Learning games, technology, and novel instruction are the icing on the cake of engagement. The core, however, is when a student knows the goal, receives feedback on the goal, and knows what success looks like. "Progress is encouraging and gives people hope" (Knight, p. 57).
Setting up students for success and high engagement through formative assessment takes planning and flexibility. If you would like assistance or a thought partner to plan for meaningful formative assessments or increase the flexibility of your lessons for progress, please see me or send me an email to make an appointment.
Coaching Schedule -- see Google Calendar for specific "Busy" times **schedule subject to change**
Monday, 30 October
- 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM Blended Learning Task Action MTG @ MS
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
- 7:00 PM Regional #3 Volleyball vs Independence @ CPU (a trip to STATE is on the line!)
Tuesday, 31 October -- HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
- 12:30 - 1:15 PM IC/Principal MTG
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
- Varsity Volleyball Practice TBA
Wednesday, 01 November -- 7:30 AM Data Team Mtgs -- Director Wise attending
- 12:00 - 4:00 PM Dr. Sanfelippo "Creating A Culture of YES" @ Benton Community HS
- Varsity Volleyball Practice TBA
Thursday, 02 November
- 11:45 AM - 12:45 PM IC/Program Lead MTG @ HS
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
- Varsity Volleyball Practice TBA
Friday, 03 November
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Research & Resources
- 12:00 - 1:00 PM IC Mtg -- High-Impact Instruction Book Study
- 1:00 - 3:30 PM IC Team w/ Program Leads Task Mtg @ HS
- Varsity Volleyball Practice TBA
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