BASD Coaching Rundown
October 2021
Happy Fall, Y'all!
Don't forget to read all the way through the newsletter for some great features, as well as info about this month's prize raffle!
September Raffle Winners
Also, congrats to our raffle winners! Marion-Walker Elementary had the highest faculty/staff participation in the challenge, winning them a variety of yummy sweets in their lounge area. Individual raffle winners and their self-selected prizes were:
- Bellefonte Elementary: Jodi Proctor (scratch-off lottery ticket)
- Benner Elementary: Amanda Good (mid-day coffee delivery from URBN)
- Marion-Walker Elementary: Steph Mason (milkshake delivery from State Burger)
- Pleasant Gap Elementary: Kimberly Smith ($10 gift card to Red Horse Tavern)
- Middle School: Lori Horner ($10 gift card to Faith Centre)
- High School: Kat Momenzadeh (milkshake delivery from URBN)
- Central Office: Nate Olson (coffee delivery from Bonfatto's)
Check out pics of a few of our raffle winners below!
MAP Recap
Information will be shared soon from admin about next steps regarding discussing the reports with families and facilitating one-to-one conferences with students. In the meantime, please don't hesitate to reach out to one of us if we can help you access or interpret the reports for your students. The next round of MAP assessments will be in early January.
Instructional Tidbit
- Do your questions tend to have one-word answers?
- Do your questions regularly challenge your students to think?
- Do your questions align to your learning goals for the lesson?
- Do your questions encourage students to think-outside-the-box?
- Do you find that the same students answer all the time?
While every question doesn't need to assess higher-order thinking, we should be striving to incorporate questions that challenge our students to think deeply about the content on a regular basis. When we think of a framework for questioning, Webb's Depth of Knowledge is our go-to resource:
We are more than happy to help you develop more effective questions and/or track the questioning that takes place in your classroom. There are a few different ways we can do this that won't require any extra planning or a huge time commitment on your part. If you'd like additional support with questioning, just let us know!
We also encourage you to check out the April 2020 issue of Ed Leadership. If you're interested in reading any of the articles listed in the table of contents, we can provide you with a copy:
https://www.ascd.org/el/deeper-discussions. We will also be holding a trade time session centered around the articles in this issue. See below for more info.
Over the next few weeks, we challenge you to ramp up your questions. See the section below for your chance to be entered in our monthly prize raffle!
October Prize Raffle
Padlet: https://padlet.com/jwynkoop/vciiy49hgl72h8xb
We'll pull raffle winners sometime before Thanksgiving, but will send out a reminder to add to the Padlet a few days before.
Fall Coaching Challenge
STEM Spotlight
No matter what profession or career our students pursue, being able to think critically is vital to their success. They will be presented with novel problems (some that don't even exist yet!) and need strategies to be able to come up with solutions, test their ideas, analyze, and reevaluate. We want our students to have the skills to break down a problem and build a solution. STEM focuses on creating that line of thinking with novel, real world problems/challenges.
Teacher Feature
Cell, or Cake?
Szymkiewicz's 7th grade science class!
Meshing History and Astronomy
Bee Bots Solve
1st graders at BES pair math with Bee Bots for a fun STEM lesson!
Q & U Get Married
Ghoulish Art
Bubble Cell Membranes
Trade Time Reminders
The purpose of Trade Time is to encourage you to take ownership of your own professional growth by engaging in learning experiences that are directly applicable to you and your students. In a nutshell, Trade Time provides you with the opportunity to attend sessions outside of contractual hours and then “trade” the time you earn in place of the last district-wide Professional Learning Day. The 2021-2022 Trade Time day is scheduled for May 27th, which is the Friday before Memorial Day. Please click on the document below to view important trade time reminders and links to the various forms you may need to complete the process.
Upcoming Trade Time Opportunities
Internal Trade Time Opportunities:
Ed Leadership Article Chat: Deeper Discussions
Tuesday, November 2nd
3:30-4:15
In this session, participants will engage in a discussion about...DISCUSSIONS! Prior to the session, participants will choose two of the articles from the April 2020 issue of Educational Leadership to read. Participants will meet virtually to discuss the articles they read, share key takeaways, and discuss the implications with colleagues across the district.
*Note: Live session will only be 45 minutes in length; 15 minutes of time will be credited for participants to read the articles prior to the meeting. Total trade time credit is 1 hour.
Recognizing Gifted Students (Gifted PL Series, Part 1)
Self-Paced via Pear Deck
In this session, participants will engage in a self-paced Pear Deck presentation to learn more about the characteristics of gifted students. Not only will you learn critical info about recognizing and supporting gifted learners, but you'll see how the student-paced version of Pear Deck works. Additionally, participants will reflect upon the most prevalent myths in gifted education and understand why it's important to differentiate for this unique group of learners.
*Note: This is the same presentation offered at district-wide PL days over the past 2 years. If you already attended this session on a district PL day, you can not participate in this for trade time. You must attend this session BEFORE before attending Part 2 or Part 3 of the Gifted PL Series.
External Trade Time Opportunities:
Simply Small Groups: Differentiating Literacy in Any Setting
Monday, November 1, 2021; 3:30pm
Corwin Webinar Presented by Deb Diller
Too many decisions, limited time for planning, students reading at many different levels? Examine the why, what, and how of small group literacy instruction with Debbie Diller, a trusted educator with more than four decades of experience.
Supporting Language Development through Media
Presented by Dr. Allison Henward and Yeojoo Yoon
Classroom play often involves popular media culture. Is the use of media helpful to children’s development? Is it appropriate to bring media culture into the classroom? We will explore how to use media to support children’s language development and the challenges and possibilities they bring. Register now and receive a FREE PBS KIDS Book Bundle for your home or classroom library! Act 48 credit available.
How to Grade for Learning After the Pandemic
Monday, November 29, 2021; 3:30pm
Corwin Webinar, Presented by Ken O'Connor
The basic principles of grading for learning didn't change because of the pandemic, but we learned some valuable lessons from pandemic schooling. This webinar with Ken O'Connor will focus on how to grade for learning through CALM grading and what pandemic schooling showed that we should continue, what we should stop, and what we should start.
Effective Feedback that Fuels Self-Motivation in Learners
Monday, December 6, 2021; 3:30pm
Corwin Webinar, Presented by Dr. Debbie Silver
“How do I motivate these learners?” is a perpetual enquiry among parents and educators striving to improve student performance. The better question, of course, is how do we get them to motivate themselves?
Drawing Together: STEM Integration Through Drawing Experimentation
Tuesday, December 14; 4:00-5:00 p.m.
with Aaron Knochel and the HUB-Robeson Galleries
Explore how drawing can bring STEAM concepts to life for your elementary students! This workshop will provide opportunities for all educators to become comfortable integrating mobile technologies and simple machines, allowing students to create their own expressive artwork. Act 48 credit available.