FMS @ a Glance
March 20-24, 2017
Staff Development:
COPY OF EMAIL SENT FROM MARIA HANSON ON MARCH 14, 2017
Sign up now for some great upcoming Staff Development sessions in April. Click Here to sign up for any of the sessions below.
Title: Implementing a Growth Mindset Description: This class will show you how to utilize a growth mindset to increase student success and save your own sanity!
Date: Monday, April 3, 2017 Times: 3:30-5:00 p.m. Location: District Office, Washington Room Instructor: Shane Roessler CEU Credits: 1 .5 Re-licensure Area: General Professional Development Intended Audience: All Staff
Title: Understanding Language Needs for All Students Description: This class is designed to help teachers understand the various aspects of Language acquisition for all students, including English language learners. We will spend a short amount of time learning about different research around the language acquisition process focusing on Stephen Krashen’s Monitor Model of Language Acquisition set around five hypotheses: 1) Acquisition vs. Learning – Distinguishes the subconscious process of learning a first language compared to a conscious process of learning a target (2nd) language. 2) Natural Order Hypothesis – Morphemes are required in a predictable order 3) Monitored Hypothesis – Acquisition, not learning is responsible for fluency 4) Input Hypothesis – Language is acquired when students receive comprehensible input 5) Affective Filter – Students learn when they are comfortable The majority of the class time will be used to learn strategies to provide comprehensible input and creating an environment that’s comfortable for acquisition. You will be taught strategies that you can immediately take back to the classroom and use to help you build background, teach vocabulary and shelter the language in text for improved reading comprehension.
Dates: Mondays April 3rd-May 8th, 2017 (4/3, 4/10, 4/17, 4/24, 5/1, 5/8] Times: 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. Location: TBD Instructor: Sam Ouk CEU CEU Credits: 12 Re-licensure Area: Instruction of English Language Learners Intended Audience: Teachers
Title: Critical Reading Strategies Across the Curriculum Description: Using critical reading strategies teaches students to go deeper into a text and read closer. The course will include the following strategies: Quick writes, 30 second expert, marking the text, writing in the margins, and a one pager (summarizing).
Date: Monday, April 3, 2017 Times: 3:30-5:00 p.m. Location: Middle School - Room A-138 Instructor: Sarah Simon & Vicky Hubert CEU Credits: 1 .5 Re-licensure Area: Reading Preparation Intended Audience: All Staff
Title: SeeSaw for Parent Communication Description: Using the SeeSaw app to enhance parent communication. A time for exploration, tech support, real examples of how it's working in classrooms.
Date: Wednesday, April 5, 2017 Times: 3:30-4:00 p.m. Location: McKinley Room 143 Instructor: Katie Hait CEU Credits: .5
Re-licensure Area: Technology Intended Audience: Early Childhood & Elementary Teachers
Title: Know What Your Students Know Now Description: This class will be an introduction to using digital technology tools for formative assessment in the classroom. In this class, we will discuss trends and current research on the power of using digital formative assessments to instantly determine your students' level of understanding. We will explore a variety of digital tools such as Socrative,
Kahoot, Quizizz, Formative, Nearpod, EDpuzzle, Quizlet, and others. You will choose one digital tool of your choice and actually create a digital formative assessment you can use in your classroom tomorrow. Come experience the excitement of Knowing What Your Students Know Now!
Date: Thursday, April 6, 2017 Times: 4:00 - 5:30 p.m Location: Middle School -R00m A-134 Instructor: Nathan Rockow CEU Credits: 1 .5
Re-licensure Area: Technology Intended Audience: All Staff
Title: Helping Students “Do” Description: Students “do” if they can. This class will show you how to maneuver through the mine pit of student behaviors and survive.
Dates: Monday, April 17, 2017 Times: 3:30 - 5:00 pm Location: District Office, Washington Room Instructor: Shane Roessler CEU Credits: 1.5 Re-licensure Area: Positive Behavioral Intervention Intended Audience: All Staff
Maria Hanson, District Technology Coordinator
710 17th Street SW Faribault, MN 55021
507-333-6065
Weekly Calendar
Monday, March 20
7:30 am Finance Committee meeting
2:00 pm PST meeting
3:30 pm Curriculum Advisory meeting
Tuesday, March 21
K9 in the building
6:45 am SITE Council meeting
7:00 am AVID Site Team meeting
Wednesday, March 22
Department PLC
9:00 am SSS Team meeting
3:00 pm FMS SPIRIT Team meeting
Thursday, March 23
7:00 am Department Chair meeting
3:30 pm Facilities meeting
Friday, March 24
7:30 am FMS Tech Committee meeting
1:30 pm Principal meeting with Mr. Sesker
Upcoming Events:
3/28 Birthday celebration
3/28 SW Division Principal meeting
3/28 FMS presents at Jefferson Community School
3/29 No PLC
3/30 SOAR Assemblies
3/30 Principal PLC with Colleen C.
Video shared at AMLE / Kansas City Hopefully it will make you smile.
The Continuum from Teacher-Controlled to Student-Centered Learning
(Originally titled “Orchestrating the Move to Student-Driven Learning”)
In this Educational Leadership article, Bena Kallick (Institute for Habits of Mind) and Allison Zmuda (a curriculum consultant) say that teachers who want to personalize instruction must manipulate seven variables in the same way an audio technician uses a sound board. “For each component,” say Kallick and Zmuda, “the teacher can turn the volume up or down, amplifying or reducing the amount of student agency as the teacher and students begin to feel more comfortable with student self-direction.” Key questions: How ready are my students to take control? How much can I trust that what’s important in the subject matter will be covered if I release some control? How will I know whether the students are really learning? If I begin to release control, what is my new role with students?
Here are the levers in the personalizing sound board, sliding from (a) teacher-generated to (b) co-created to (c) student-generated:
• Learning goals – In a unit on extreme weather: (a) the teacher says the objective is to understand the causes of hurricanes and tornadoes; (b) the teacher works with students to identify two locations and explore how extreme weather affects them; and (c) a student with family in Haiti studies hurricanes’ impact there.
• Inquiry and idea generation – In a unit on drug abuse: (a) the teacher assigns students an article on the dangers of cigarettes and has them list the five worst; (b) the teacher asks, “Should smoking be banned in public places?” and students research the question; and (c) students decide on a drug to study.
• Task and audience – In an 8th-grade unit on argumentation: (a) the teacher has students design a print advertisement for a fundraiser; (b) the teacher offers a variety of possible tasks and presentation formats; and (c) the teacher outlines the parameters and criteria and has students apply what they’ve learned to advocate for a position they’ve chosen.
• Evaluation – In a mathematics unit on using data: (a) the teacher decides on the final criteria; (b) teacher and students develop performance criteria together; and (c) students consult with the teacher on scoring the task, considering growth from previous performances.
• Feedback – In a unit on renewable energy: (a) the teacher offers suggestions on the thesis statement of a student’s research paper; (b) the teacher orchestrates opportunities for students to network with each other or outside experts for feedback; and (c) students are responsible for independently seeking and using feedback.
• Instructional plan – In a 10th-grade ELA unit on coming-of-age literary fiction: (a) the teacher guides students through reading and discussing The Catcher in the Rye, culminating in a final paper; (b) students choose from three novels, form book groups, discuss central questions, and decide how to share ideas with the whole class; and (c) each student chooses a text from an extensive list and develops a plan to gain a deep understanding of the book.
• Cumulative demonstration of learning – (a) Students follow the teacher’s directions and collect pieces of work documenting their learning according to the teacher’s criteria;
(b) students identify artifacts to demonstrate their learning; and (c) students are the stewards of
their work portfolios or exhibitions, recognizing strengths and weaknesses and reflecting on whether the work meets standards and is something they’re proud of.
“Orchestrating the Move to Student-Driven Learning” by Bena Kallick and Allison Zmuda in Educational Leadership, March 2017 (Vol. 74, #6, p. 53-57), available for purchase at
http://bit.ly/2nmReNu; the authors can be reached at kallick.bena@gmail.com and