Weekly Coaching Communication
Make it a great day -- every day!
09 -- 13 May 2016
On the Standards Front . . .
From Advanced Collaborative Solutions, Steve Ventura's website, I am sharing this poster of what a "visible learner" looks like. As Steve Ventura shared in a recent newsletter/email, teachers work hard and John Hattie's research helps to show us what is worth a teacher's hard work and what is less effective. However, Hattie and Ventura help us recognize that if the students are not visible learners (or assessment-ready learners), then a lot of a teacher's efforts are for naught.
A visible learner should:
- Be assessment capable – be able to answer the three key questions of where am I going?, how am I going? And what are my next steps?
- Hold learning dispositions that are effective habits of thinking and doing.
- Seek, receive and give effective feedback.
- Have control of effective learning strategies, meta-cognition and self-regulation so that they know.
Schools are very diligent about producing a mission statement for learning in schools and telling students what behaviors go with that learning, however, these expected behaviors are not "learning dispositions." Ventura shares that for a student to be an assessment-ready learner, teachers have to help students develop an awareness of learning dispositions to be successful in the classroom and as lifelong learners.
Students must be explicitly taught how to learn: The poster includes a list of values or learner qualities that are shared with students. It is crucial for students to learn the habits of thinking and doing that we want to develop in our learners . . . When we think about the things that teachers do to build students assessment capability there are four main areas to consider:
- teachers use evidence to plan to meet their students learning needs;
- they ensure that there are clear, well-understood learning intentions and success criteria which students connect with;
- they support students to understand what progression looks like; and
- they support students to accurately assess themselves and their peers.
Much of what Ventura is offering for teachers to consider in building students' assessment capability is already in place at CPU through our initiative of Standards-Based Learning. Not all areas are in full implementation or even at full development or perhaps understanding; however, the process is in place. The poster will help us to be more mindful of the dispositions in our classroom and not just expected behaviors.
Quick Clicks
Website & Tech (Tools to Use or Peruse)
Open Educational Resources (OER): Resource Roundup
Explore this educator's guide to open educational resources for information about online repositories, curriculum-sharing websites, sources for lesson plans and activities, and open alternatives to textbooks.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: NOVEMBER 4, 2013 | UPDATED: DECEMBER 4, 2015
Suggested Reading
The Last Lecture was recommended to me by a friend in my UNI cohort; I have yet to read it -- she says it is a quick but life-changing read . . . Be ready to reflect!
A lot of professors give talks titled "The Last Lecture." Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can't help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?
When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. But the lecture he gave--"Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"--wasn't about dying. It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because "time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think"). It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe. It was about living.
In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.
"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." --Randy Pausch
Trending Tweets
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The world would be a whole lot darker without the bright light of teachers. #ThankATeacher #TeacherAppreciationWeek
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Quotation of the Week . . .
SPRING CLEANING: COURTESY OF DAN ROCKWELL
WHEN THE GARBAGE STINKS TAKE IT OUT
There’s a garbage can in your head that’s stinking up your leadership. Garbage is your inclination to pretend you’re less than you are by clinging to old ways of thinking about yourself. Garbage does one thing, and one thing only. It makes you matter less.
It’s time to take out the garbage.
The story:
While driving to a meeting, I thought about ways to affirm two leaders I work with. One is tougher than he thinks. The other is braver than she thinks. While mulling over a way to affirm them, I wondered about questions that would:
- Affirm their progress.
- Challenge them to reach higher.
- Enable them to see themselves in new light?
Three questions to take out the garbage in your head:
#1. What old ways of thinking about yourself do you need to let go?
Garbage makes you live like someone you aren’t.
You might smell inadequacy and pretend you’re more than you are. You puff yourself up. Bravado and posturing are compensations for inadequacy. Others might smell old ways of thinking and pretend they’re less than they are. False humility is a protective shield that lowers expectations. Garbage always makes you matter less.
#2. If you let go of those old ways of thinking, who would you be?
I wanted them to see themselves in new light.
When I asked them the second question, they talked about who they wouldn’t be. That’s normal. Listen to negatives, but always press toward positives. I asked, “How can you say those negatives in positive ways?” Don’t tell me who you aren’t. Tell me who you are.
#3. What would people see in you, if you embraced that new person?
Find new ways of expressing the person you’ve become.
Old ways of think about yourself anchor you to a past that doesn’t serve you well today.
(I asked the three questions. The conversation is private.)
How might leaders release old ways of thinking about themselves?
Coaching Schedule -- see Google Calendar for specific "Busy" times **schedule subject to change**
Monday, 09 May
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Classroom Observations
- Research & Resources
Tuesday, 10 May -- 7:30 SBG Council Meeting
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Classroom Observations
- Research & Resources
Wednesday, 11 May
- Serve Teachers & Students
- Classroom Observations
- Research & Resources
Thursday, 12 May -- 7:45 AM Staff Meeting
- Derek Dixon visits from English Valley with Sara Mohr
Friday, 13 May
- Pope/Libolt IC Meeting -- 7:30 AM
- Classroom Observations
- Research & Resources
Click on the link to access prior weekly communications.
Contact Information
Center Point - Urbana CSD
Email: epopenhagen@cpuschools.org
Phone: 319-849-1102+91015
Twitter: @Epopenhagen