The Bailey Times
January 28, 2019
Strategy 1: A Clear Focus for the Lesson
John Hattie highlights how important it is for you (and your students) to be clear about what you want them to learn in each lesson. According to Hattie, teacher clarity is one of the most potent influences on student achievement. Robert Marzano agrees, including lesson goals in his top 5 list of factors that affect how well students do at school.
Hattie states that the lesson goal is to:
- Clearly, state what you want your students to learn
- Can focus on surface or deep learning (or both)
- Must be challenging for the students relative to their current mastery of the topic May be grouped (i.e. a single lesson may have more than one goal)
- Need to be shared with the students
Marzano also found that posing questions at the start of a lesson is an effective way to focus students: For example:
- How do you add mixed fractions with different denominators? That’s what you must know by the end of this lesson
- What is the difference between elements and compounds? ...
- Why is Persuasive Essay A better than Persuasive Essay B? ...
- When (what period) were Egypt’s great pyramids built? ...
Hattie suggests using questions a slightly different way:
- What are today’s lesson goals?
- What do I already know that will help me achieve these goals? What actions will I need to do to ensure I achieve these goals?
Strategy 2: Offer Overt Instruction
Robert Marzano claims it is important to explicitly teach your students the things they need to learn. His review of research actually revealed it was the most important factor (teacher controlled) affecting students’ success. You need to tell them what they need to know and show them how to do things they must be able to do for themselves.
JohnHattie did not review explicit teaching perse, but he did find that Direct Instruction was very effective. Direct Instruction involves explicitly teaching a carefully sequenced curriculum, with built-in cumulative practice.
Furthermore, Hattie highlighted the power of giving students worked examples when explaining how to multi-step tasks. Marzano also highlights the importance of giving examples and non-examples (similarities and differences) of the concept you are teaching. For example, when teaching prime numbers it would be useful to highlight 2 as an example, and 9, 15 and 21 as non-examples to avoid confusion with odd numbers.
Marzano also found that you can explicitly teach deeper levels of understanding by using graphic organizers. You should use graphic organizers to show how different ideas were related to each other (e.g. steps, cause-effect, hierarchy, lists, comparisons, etc.).
Neither Hattie nor Marzano believes that great teaching is nothing more than standing out the front of the class and imparting knowledge. However, both agree that telling students what they need to know and showing students what they need to be able to do are essential aspects of teaching.
The Wild Card - Wrapping up our Book Study at our Feb. 21st Faculty Meeting
At our Feb. 21st faculty meeting each Wild Card Study Group will present a short discussion on what they learned from the book that made a difference in their own teaching. It might include a favorite chapter that helped you in the classroom or an "aha" moment when you looked at your teaching and maybe changed something that you do or it could be whatever your group wants it to be! Please let me hear from one of the leaders of each group to make sure that everyone is on the same page and you are clear about what the expectation is for your group!
Timeline for all Evaluations (Certificated and Classified)/Summative Conferences - Professionalism Logs - need to be working on them!
1. All 2nd-semester teacher evaluations will be completed and in TNCompass no later than April 12, 2019.
2. All Professionalism Logs are due in TNCompass by April 12th (I will send you info in an email) Conferences will be set up for all teachers during the last weeks of April and first weeks of May in order to have them completed by May 21st.
3. All Professionalism/Summative conference will be completed and in TNCompass by May 21, 2019
Classified - All evaluations for classified staff will be completed by April 29, 2019. You evaluator will be contacting you about your conference date.
Summer FLEX Hours for Next Year!
Please mark your calendars for the following weeks which will be when SUMMER Flex is delivered:
Week of June 10th
Week of July 22nd
This will assist when planning summer activities at your schools so teachers have an
opportunity to attend this training. Specific course information will be coming out following Spring Break. There will still be some online courses available and there will be flex hours given during the school year as well.
Governor Lee Names New Education Commissioner
Audience: Directors of Schools
Contact: Educator.Communications@tn.gov
On Thursday, Governor Bill Lee announced the appointment of Dr. Penny Schwinn to lead the Tennessee Department of Education as commissioner. Click here to read the press release. Dr. Schwinn plans to start at the department in the near future, and we will share more information in the coming weeks about the transition. In the meantime, Dr. Lyle Ailshie will continue to serve as interim commissioner.
Item Review Applications Opening Soon
Item Review Applications Now Open
Audience: Directors of Schools
Contact: Megan.Sellers@tn.gov
Applications are now open for educators to participate in Item Review for TNReady and the TCAP alternate assessment. Item Review will take place during June 2019 in Nashville. The time commitment ranges from two to three days depending on the grade level and content area of the committee. All participants will receive a daily stipend of $150 and travel costs, and committee members who live more than 50 miles from the meeting location will also be eligible to receive hotel accommodations as well as reimbursement for meals and incidentals as appropriate.
All interested applicants should complete an online application. The application window will close Feb. 6 at 11:59 p.m. CT. Application information for each committee is available here, or you may click on the links below to reach the applications. Educators will be selected for the following committees (which will meet during the weeks noted):
- TCAP-Alternate Assessment – week of June 3
- Social Studies – week of June 3
- Science – week of June 17
- Math – week of June 10
- ELA – week of June 24
- Bias, Sensitivity and Accessibility – A unique committee will be selected to meet each week in June.
Department staff will review all applications using evaluation rubrics which are posted along with the application. All applicants will be notified of selection status no later than March 6.
January: Leah Cook
February: Katherine Perry
I also wanted to congratulate the following for their accomplishments:
Coach Williams: TN PE Teacher of the Month
Michelle Miller: Collierville Teacher of the Year Prek-4th
Don't forget to get your team together and fill out the paperwork that is needed to register your team for this fun night! We hope to have a big turnout as a THANK YOU to CEF for all that they do for our school as well as Collierville Schools! Please give your registration stuff to Deanna Jones - It is due by Feb. 14th!
Peer Reviewer Identification
Peer Reviewer Identification
Shelly O’Daniel - sodaniel@colliervilleschools.org
Audience: VPK and Kindergarten Educators
TDOE is allowing teachers to apply to be a peer reviewer without going through district portfolio leads. Teachers who are interested in applying must complete this form no later than Feb.1, 2019. I have asked that teachers let me know if they apply so that I can ensure we have the mandated number of reviewers (one peer reviewer per 10portfolioteachers per content area) required by state board policy 5.201.
Coffee Chats 7:45 -8:45
February 1st - A Peek Into Pages - Leah Cook - her classroom
" Teaching from your iPad: Come learn Classflow" (transition away from interactive boards) - Brian and Carrie PDR Room
February 12th - "Wildcard-Technology Cafe" - Open to your technology needs whether it is learning a new program, running updates, or taking technology to the next step - Moore PDR
If you would like to host a coffee chat please let me know and get on the calendar.
Take a moment and read through the articles or blogs that I have looked at this past week! Maybe one will be of interest to you!
Month at a Glance
Sarah Weeks Author Visit
January 30th
Club Pictures
AP Meeting (AM)
Fire Safety Program @3:00 in the cafeteria
January 31st
WCMS Orchestra coming for 5th grade at 10:00
Leadership Meeting 7:45 in the library
February 1st
Coffee Chat - Peek Into Pages - Cook
Coffee Chat - " Teaching from your iPad: Come learn Classflow" (transition away from interactive boards) - Brian and Carrie PDR Room
February 6th
Principal's Meeting - Out of Building
February 7th
PTA Daddy Daughter Dance 6:00 - 7:30
PTA Mother/Son night at Urban Air 6:00 - 7:30
February 11th
Collierville Career Fair 4:30 - 6:00 at CHS (If you have any friends looking for jobs this is a great way to start the process of getting into Collierville)
February 12th
Wildcard-Technology Cafe" - Open to your technology needs whether it is learning a new program, running updates, or taking technology to the next step - Moore
February 15th
Parent Conferences 1:00 - 4:00
1/2 day for Students - dismiss at 12:30
February 18th
Holiday - Out of School
February 21st
Faculty Meeting
February 26th and 27th
Out of Building with my Mother at Vanderbilt
February 28th
5th grade visits WCMS 9:30 - 11:00