Lovett Notes
A Newsletter for Lovett Staff
Coming up this week!
Monday March 4
Da Camera Visits 5th Grade
Tuesday March 5
8:30 Field Trip to the Houston Rodeo
8:30 Name that book Competition
Wednesday March 6
5th Grade Math Planning
Da Camera Visits 3rd Grade
9:00 Da Camera Visits TREK
Thursday March 7
5th Grade Reading & 4th Grade Writing Planning
Faculty Meeting
7:45 PTO Meeting
9:00 am Magnet Tour
8:30 Track Meet
8:30 Name that Book Competition
All City Orchestra Tryouts
Friday March 8
8:30 2nd Grade Field Trip to Main Street Theater
Saturday March 9
Odyssey of the Mind
Growth Mindset about Data
At times when we hear the term data, we cringe! There is so much of it and it can be easy to shut down and throw our hands up and just keep on pushing with what we are doing. STOP...nope, it's not Hammer time...it's data time!! Below are some different phases that people can move through as they are working with data. Be mindful of not getting stuck in the lower phases as this certainly will undermine your ability to move to the phases of looking at data that are really meaningful:
Phase 1: This is just way too much! Your just in shear overload and don't know where to start
Phase 2: Not trusting the process. "If there were only two questions on the test, how can this tell me if students are mastering this TEK?" "The questions on the test were poorly written"
Phase 3: Challenging the test: "the questions were trick questions" "Two answers were almost exactly alike."
Phase 4: Examining the results with an open mind and looking for causes: Which students need help with what? What do I need to re-teach in a different way? What TEKS do I need to address in whole or small group?
Phase 5: Accepting the data as useful information. At this phase we are looking for solutions and modifying instruction to fit what the data is communicating. At this phase we focus on whether our instruction in really leading to learning. What we always have to remember at this phase is, we could have taught the information, however it may not have been in the way that our students needed to understand or to be able to apply that skill at a certain level. We have to accept that learning is the driving force and our teaching has to be adapted to meet the needs of the learner.
Determine where you are and if you are stuck in phase 1&2, examine why. If you are in phases 3&4, be sure you are really being true to what is required at that phase. Have a great time getting your data on!
How do you know? ACTING on your DATA
Do you choose to act...on your data? If you want to enhance learning, you must choose to act on the data. After assessing students, whether it be using common assessment, DRA, weekly assessment or practice STAAR assessments, you must ANALYZE that data to determine what it is telling you about your students learning. After analysis, you must then CHOOSE TO ACT on what the data is telling you. Below is a checklist of effective practices that are important when you analyze your data and use your data to enhance learning:
1. You must first ANALYZE your data. If you miss this step your plans may have some impact on student learning, but it will not have optimal impact on learning. This should be done first individually and it is enhanced when you are also able to analyze in groups. Do NO SKIP THIS STEP
1a. When you analyze, you can not do this well without the actual assessment in front of you. You want to analyze the questions, see how your students answered and look at the question stems. How were the questions asked? What vocabulary was used? Were distractors used? This helps you to identify their misunderstandings and formulate a strategy for addressing.
2. Develop a STRATEGY: once you have completed real analysis of your data, you are on to developing a strategy. If you are just continuing with the same as you did last year, you won't see different results. "Plan with a purpose and not for the sake of just planning itself"
3. IMPLEMENTATION: Be specific about when you will implement. Outline this on a calendar with data and times. When you miss this step, you risk weeks and weeks going by and your great strategy never reaches your students
4. LESSON PLAN: The lesson plan is what most like to jump to. However if you are building a lesson without analyzing, without the right strategy and without an implementation timeline and plan, you are just planning for the sake of planning.
The above is a simplified list of effective practices to being data driven. I recommend looking at each practice and really reflecting on if you do this step and if so how well.