Stacy Castro and I worked together to help train her kindergartners to get ready for their literacy centers. We used her plan time to develop a workable schedule and introduced her students to different centers each week. Students were working independently by the end our three weeks together.

4th grade Unit 1 is on interpreting characters. The team wanted to focus on establishing and coaching into meaningful partnerships. We took lessons from the 3rd grade unit and upped the level of their work. Students are reading books with strong characters and are learning how to have meaningful conversations about the characters, setting, and themes. Working together allowed us to meet with more students than the teacher would have on her own. It also gave insight into strategies kids need.

Jen and I worked to create student friendly learning progressions. These stem from the learning progressions used in the units of study. Students were able to analyze their work as compared to the progressions. We each took a small group and walked them through two progressions. We had them look at the demands at each level and encouraged them to see if they could push themselves to the next level.

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