Teaching in Tandem
Valley Park Elementary
Spotlight Partnership - 3rd Grade
Amanda Grittini and I worked together during the second coaching cycle to address needs of her students based on Teachers College running records. Students were identified for fluency and accuracy. We worked together to create a plan for which I would demonstrate guided reading strategies that could be targeted and implemented during small group time. At the end of the coaching cycle, Amanda did another running record. We found that 3 of the 4 students moved up a reading level. Amanda indicated that 2 of the 4 students used a comprehension strategy on this assessment that was taught and reinforced during small group.
We also worked through 3rd grade's new Mystery reading unit. It was so exciting to see the students' volume of reading increase during this time. We were able to work through some lessons and take notes of things to do and not do next year!
Rasing the Level of Partnership Talk
Partnerships in 4th Grade
In the first coaching cycle, I worked with 4th grade teachers to lift the level of partnership conversations in their Interpreting the Heart of the Story reading unit. While partnership reading starts in kindergarten, it is great to see the progression of partner reading and conversations. Fourth graders eagerly embraced the opportunity to choose engaging books that they could read together.
We worked to establish routines to talk about their books by marking places to discuss. We used different strategies to help student prepare and even "see" their conversations. We used blocks to show students how long they stayed on topic, who did the talking and how often they moved they conversations. Book Talk Maps also helped kids choose their best post-its to share with their partners and begin to build conversations.
Frist Grade How-To Writing
Technology to Enhance Collaboration
Through the use of Teams, it's been much easier to share information with teachers. We've been able to reduce paperwork and ease communication by:
- creating conferring forms to take notes to easily share with each other
- share videos and pictures
- upload files and share resources
- use the Conversation feature to share ideas, concerns and otherwise chat in-between meetings
Sign up for Future Coaching Cycle
Here are the dates for next 2 coaching cycles:
Jan 7- March 1 (seems long but there are lots of days off and half days)
March 4- April 30 (don't forget Spring break is during this time)