Secondary 7-12 Focus on Instruction
February 2020
Focus on...
Testing!
Yes, it's that time of year. Whether we like it or not, testing season is upon us, and both Westwood High School and Westwood Junior High are battening down the hatches. In preparation, both campuses are giving their spring benchmarks February 17-20 for all STAAR tested subjects. Most will be giving this test through the STAAR online testing system, as it is anticipated that most paper tests will be phased out in the coming years. We want our students to be as prepared and practiced as possible with the online testing environment and tools when that happens.
Once we have the data from spring benchmarks, we will be comparing that to the benchmarks given back in October to see student growth and target interventions. A big part of that targeted intervention has already been practiced by several departments. I'd like to give a huge thanks to all the departments which have participated in the DDI (Data Driven Instruction) process! This process helps us target and craft reteach opportunities for specific standards. It's another way of being intentional with everything we do!
Along this same theme, lots of our teachers are going above and beyond to expand their own content and test knowledge so they can better serve their students. Several teachers at both campuses sacrificed their lunch time to learn about a new system to help them plan units. Region VII ESC trainings being attended by teachers this month and next include increasing rigor in the math classroom at all levels and in-depth analyses of the 8th Science and Biology STAAR tests. The Biology team is also sacrificing many hours of conferences and personal times to develop the perfect lesson through Texas Lesson Study. The high school English department has been giving feedback on the curriculum adoption to accompany their standards update next year.
Nobody likes standardized testing (except the state!). But in spite of this, secondary campus teachers and staff are coming together and getting busy to help ensure our students have access and opportunity to be successful.
IC Corner
Continuing to be intentional with your planning is just as important this time of year as it was at the beginning of the year. Maybe even more so. Core subjects, make sure you are utilizing TEKS Resource System and it's support in Implementing TRS. This is our bread and butter! If you are not a core subject, please start thinking seriously about how you do your planning and where you get your curriculum. We are beginning to solidify all this at the district level, and many of you will be working towards this during our vertical alignment day.
When you are more intentional with your planning, it becomes easier to share this with students. When students know what to expect, they are more content and easier to manage. Intentional, in-depth planning takes time on the front end, but makes everyone's life easier in the end. If you are interested in improving your planning on a large scale, come talk to me about instructional coaching. I have several resources that can help you develop as a planner, and I'd like to share the love!
Eduphoria
Implementing TRS
Vertical Alignment
Haley Avery
Email: hbavery@westwoodisd.net
Website: www.westwoodisd.net
Location: HS Rm 151, JH Rm 209
Phone: (903) 480-0336
Twitter: @haleybavery