Instructional Minute
October 11, 2022
February 27, 2024
Jessica Benavides, Deputy Superintendent of Schools, along with our Board of Education, had the pleasure of recognizing truly outstanding teachers in the Lansing School District.
These classroom superstars have the highest observed student growth in ELA and Math, as measured by the fall-to-window NWEA benchmark assessment. These teachers had the classroom with the highest observed growth across the district in their respective grade level.
We are proud of these outstanding professionals and their efforts to help students succeed.
- Erin Saros
- Deborah Jenness
- Reanique Turner
- Debra Mejorado
- Circe Chavez-Rodriguez
- Milly Ash
- Alvin Holloway
- Teresa Henderson
- Anastasia Vuckovich
- Makenzie Boillat
Check for Understanding
We are exploring two new strategies this week from our list of 8 Effective On-the-Spot Formative Assessments:
- Green/Yellow/Red Cups
- Randomizing Respondents!
Eight Effective On-the-Spot Formative Assessments
1. Cold-calling (popsicle sticks, random name generator)
2. Individual dry-erase boards
3. Clickers, Plickers, Socrative, Boogie boards, Pear Deck, Nearpod, Kahoot, goformative.com, Quizlet, polleverywhere.com
4. Fingers on chest, colored cards, green/yellow/red cups, heads down/hands up
5. 3-2-1 responses on board:
- 3 key features
- 2 questions
- 1 doodle
6. Think/pair/square and listening
7. Exit tickets
8. Quick writes and circulating
Exploring 2 New Strategies
Green/Yellow/Red Cups
Green, yellow, and red cups can be used by students to check where they are in their understanding of the material. Please see the attached document about the different uses for the green, yellow, and red cups.
Randomizing Respondents with Cups
To keep all students engaged, it is recommended that teachers use a method of randomizing respondents. One simple way to do this is to label three cups "Ready", "Responded", and "Come back to me". All students write their names on tongue depressors or popsicle sticks and put the sticks in the "Ready" cup. The teacher poses a question, gives think time, and then pulls a stick. The student responds or says, "Come back to me", and the stick goes into the corresponding cup. The teacher draws from all three cups subsequently so students don't conclude they are "one and done". To minimize "Come back to me" responses, teacher can give students a short partner talk time and then invite them to share something they said or heard when called on. Figure 4.2 suggests what to look for and what to ask within the classroom context.
Preparing Students for Success - Incorporating Test Prep
Becoming Familiar with M STEP Tools
Familiarize yourself with the digital format, types of questions, and digital tools typically found in the test by practicing with sample tests or previous exam papers. The following link offers a practice test by grade level and subject content.
To review additional grade level and content area sample items, click the link below.
March Content Area Steering Committee Meetings
K-8 Science: March 12 at 4 pm
K-8 Math: Math Open House will take its place on March 13, 1 - 5 pm
9-12 Math: March 14 at 3
K-8 ELA: March 13 at 4:15
9-12 ELA: March 19 at 3 pm
K-8 Social Studies: March 20 at 4:30 pm
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.