Sipley School Weekly Howl
Week of March 21, 2016
Learning goals and success criteria are critical pieces of information students need to be successful learners. Hattie and Timperley (2007) describe three questions that guide learning for students: Where am I going, How am I going, Where to next? Identifying and sharing learning goals with students at or near the beginning of a period of instruction is intended to provide an explicit answer to the first question, by clearly setting direction about what the students are expected to learn. Making the success criteria explicit helps students to determine the answer to the second question, “How am I going?”, by identifying “look‐fors” that students can use to monitor their progress towards the goals.
Learning Intentions and Success Criteria
I want to attempt to build connections to work done during recent institutes.
- Through our collective use of Schoolwide, we are gaining a clear picture of ways in which the work done in a workshop model aligns with the Common Core State Standards. We are also learning some areas where we need to spend more time as some of the Common Core State Standards are not as emphasized as much as our students need with Schoolwide alone. This is very common when adopting any resource - no one resource addresses all the needs of students.
- With that understanding, we can only advance with sufficient knowledge of specific standards, which we feel are lacking in Schoolwide. To gain great knowledge of standards, we are taking a deeper dive into the standards, aligning our work with the O in F.O.C.U.S. - Operating with high expectations and clear targets in place. While posting a learning target may be of value, what is most valuable is when the student understands what they are learning, why they are learning, and what success looks like, such that they can become the drivers of their own learning. If we are going to go deeper, we need to gain a better understanding of the Common Core State Standards, which is very complex, as we are learning firsthand.
- We began unpacking the Reading Information Standards and designing learning targets and success criteria on March 4.
- This work continued with greater depth on March 15.
- On April 29, we are going to focus on Reading Literature Standards.
- This summer teachers will work together to identify gaps between Reading Information/Reading Literature Standards and current instructional resources. teachers will work on curriculum writing and planning for filling the gaps. Their work will be shared with staff on opening day. If you are interested, please let myself or Angela know. What a great way for classroom teachers to gain an in-depth knowledge of the work they do! I encourage all classroom teachers to do this, if they can.
Learning intentions describe what students will learn (not what they will do) during a lesson (1-3 class periods); success criteria are indicators of progress toward - in other words, they explicitly state performances of understanding or skills – what students will say, do, make, or write – to indicate that they have met the learning intentions.
-Margaret Heritage
Read How One of Our Staff Members Described The Work During our Last Institute Day
F.O.C.U.S.
E.L. Achieve
I will be out of the building on Monday through Wednesday of next week to attend an E.L. Achieve conference. E.L. Achieve is the company that provides the professional development and materials for our ELL language block that both Claire and Liz use. I've included a link to E.L. Achieve below if you'd like to learn more.
We have a sub for Rhonda (Remember that Madison is student teaching in Rhonda's class) while I am out. If there is something that needs greater attention, Rhonda can contact Dr. Paul Scaletta.
I will not be checking e-mail except at night. This will be an intense workshop and will require my full attention.
A Glance at the Week Ahead
Monday - ALL STAFF Meeting - Teaching Assistants will work with Mr. Schmidt for a Playworks Refresher. Certified staff will work with Cyndi on supervision. You will meet in Julie's room.
Wednesday - Happy Birthday, Michelle Lacombe!!!!
Wednesday - D68 Battle of the Books Competition. Rhonda Jackson will represent Sipley!
Wednesday - 6th Grade PLC - 8:25 - 9:15
Wednesday - 3rd Grade PLC - 9:20 - 10:10
Wednesday - 4th Grade PLC - 10:15 - 11:05
Wednesday - 1st Grade PLC - 2:05 - 2:55
Wednesday - Kdg. PLC - 3:00
Thursday - End of Quarter 3
Thursday - End of Grades 3 - 6 DEB 2015-2016
Thursday - 5th Grade PLC - 8:25 - 9:15
Thursday - 2nd Grade PLC - 1:15 - 2:05
Friday - No School
Enjoy Spring Break!
Inspiring Education and Innovation
In partnership with family and community, Woodridge School District 68 provides a comprehensive educational foundation for all children in a safe, caring environment, preparing them to be productive, responsible, and successful members of society.