Instructional Minute
October 11, 2022
January 30, 2024
Preparing Students for Success - Incorporating Test Prep
Test Taking Strategies for Multiple Choice Questions
3 tips to use with your students in order to improve their accuracy in answering multiple choice questions.
- Read the question first.
- Pay attention to words that are highlighted, bolded, or underlined in the question itself.
- Determine what the question is asking you. Some questions may ask for two answers.
Please see the sample grade 4 M-STEP ELA question, connected to writing standard W4.1b, from the MDE website below.
W.4.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.
a. Introduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which related ideas are grouped to support the writer's purpose.
b. Provide reasons that are supported by facts and details.
c. Link opinion and reasons using words and phrases (e.g., for instance, in order to, in addition)
d. Provide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented.
To review additional grade level and content area sample items, click the link below.
6 -12 Social Studies Training Video
Lansing School District Network of Curricular Tools
Attached below you will find the original textbook adoption for each grade level, including a photo of the textbook for your reference. Please ensure that this is the district adopted curricular tool that you are using in your instruction. If you do not have this tool in your classroom or if you do not have enough copies of this curricular tool, please communicate this with your building principal ASAP.
McGraw Hill Network SS Learning Letter
This document below is a helpful support that will provide you with an outline of the resources available to all 6-12 teachers with the McGraw Hill Social Studies Curriculum (ignore the training dates on page 1) all other information is pertinent to what classroom teachers will need to get started with the tool or utilize You can review the original training video from adoption here (insert video link) as well as additional resources that outline the multiple options to support students in Social Studies content.
Please feel free to reach out to the Directors of Instruction, Heather Guerra with questions regarding 6-8 or Lisa Dean with questions regarding 9-12 courses.
TeachMichigan Applications are Open!
We are excited to be writing to you today to remind you that the TeachMichigan application for the 2024-2025 school year is now open.
TeachMichigan is an initiative powered by Teach For America Detroit, and the TeachMichigan Educator Fellowship a two-year, cohort-based fellowship designed to help dedicated educators grow professionally. It features four opportunities based on where you are on your career path:
- Early-Career Educators Cohort that strengthens classroom pedagogy and practice (Designed for Educators with 1-3 years of experience)
- Mid-Career Educators Cohort that strengthens instructional leadership and supports the pursuit of National Board Certification (Designed for Educators with at least 4 years of experience)
- Aspiring Leaders Cohort that prepares participants for instructional, operational, and building-level leadership (Designed for Educators, Coaches, Mentor Teachers, Department leads, etc… with at least 5 years of experience and experience in leadership)
- Sitting Leaders Cohort that develops the adaptive and technical skills for school leadership and apply their learnings to benefit their school communities. (Designed for assistant principals and principals seeking development to lead more just and equitable school communities)
Educators in these Fellowships will benefit from a variety of components of programming, including professional development that incorporates individualized coaching, workshops, and experiential learning experiences within a cohort, a series of financial awards to support wellness, continuation in the profession, and to reflect the additional learning and leadership responsibilities that come with fellowship participation, and, finally, formal opportunities to apply learnings from the fellowship back into their work in their school building.
Plan to attend an in person information session on January 30, 2024 at 4pm, RSVP here or virtual session on February 12, 2024 at 4pm, RSVP here.
To apply click here. If you have questions and would like to connect with a TeachMichigan staff member click here to schedule time. If you have any questions you'd like answered over email, please "reply all" to this email.
K-8 Pacing at a Glance for this Week's Instruction
The documents attached outline K-8 curricular resources, standards and pacing. This can also be found by clicking here on the LSD website.
9-12 Pacing Documents
The document attached outlines 9-12 curricular resources, standards and pacing. This can also be found by clicking here on the LSD website.
IXL - eLearning Library
This on-demand professional learning resource provides micro-learning videos about every IXL feature and best practices for implementing IXL. Teachers must be signed into their IXL accounts to access these videos. https://www.ixl.com/resources/elearning-library
Workshop Model Lesson Plan Form to Assist in Planning Lessons
A resource to use as you see fit.