End of Year Memo
May- Jornea A. Erwin, Instructional Partner
THANK YOU
As I mentioned in the last editon memo, the #1 factor that contributes to student achievement is an EFFECTIVE TEACHER!
YOU are important to students, parents and the success of Harvest Elementary as well as Madison County Schools. You spend each day educating our youth to become future leaders, as well as, respectable and responsible citizens. YOU have inspired students through engaging lessons and the constant outpouring of YOUR passion for learning. The knowledge and love you share with your students will impact them for the rest of their lives.
Harvest's CCRS Implementation and professional development was "featured" in our district's CCRS Newsletter! Check it out...https://www.smore.com/cmqd3-ccrs-express
Plan 2020 is Alabama's vision "Every Child a Graduate - Every Graduate Prepared for College, Work, Adulthood in the 21st centruy" This summer, take time to Relax, Reflect and Revise so you are ready to meet the new opportunities for learning the 2015-2016 school year will bring.
Remember "Success is where preparation and opportunity meet."
If you need a "thinking partner" this summer while preparing please call, text or e-mail me. (504)231-4905 jerwin@madison.k12.al.us
I will be attending many conferences this summer and presenting at a few. I hope to learn a lot and can not wait to share the information I learn with you.
I believe in you! I will always support you! I love you! But most importantly, I appreciate and thank you for giving YOUR all to students each day!
-Your Instructional Partner,
Jornea A. Erwin @savvy_educator
UPCOMING SUMMER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
4th & 5th Grade AMSTI Training - location Harvest Elementary
Wednesday, June 3 (4th grade) – Electric Circuits
Thursday, June 4 (4th grade) – Physics of Sound (5th grade) – Ecosystems
If you plan to attend and have not registered, please register at www.amsti.org/registration
ARI Summer Conferences
Grade K-5
STI- ari_br15
June 9, 10, 11 8:30-3:30 James Ray Collins Intermediate 102 Legion Drive Scottsboro
Strategic Teaching: Literacy Across All Contents
Grades 4-12
STI- sdeari15
June 15, 16, 17 8:30-3:30 Scottsboro Junior High 1601 Heroes Drive Scottsboro
North Alabama Technology Conference
Hazel Green High School 14380 Hwy 231/431 North Hazel Green, AL 35750
Registration is now closed.
Data Review leads to District FOCUS
Mr. Solley shared the the system's and schools' data during the Coaching Community meeting Mrs. Cosby and I attend Friday, May 15th. He challenged us to think about the impact of what we are implementing and how we are implementing it.
Our system will have 4 areas of focus for the 2015-2016 school year.
- Fluency (Reading & Math)
- Depth of Knowledge (DOK)
- Understanding the CCRS/ Next Generation Standards (science)
- Virtual Learning
Depth of Knowledge - ACT Aspire
located on p. 19 of the ACT Aspire Technical Bulletin
DOK Level 1 (Recall) - Math 7-15%, English 40-48%, Writing 0%, Reading 14-24%, Science 5-15%
DOK Level 2 (Skill/ Concept)- Math 30-38%, English 20-24%, Writing 0%, Reading 38-62%, Science 45-65%
DOK Level 3 (Strategic Thinking)- Math 48-58%, English 32-36%, Writing 100%, Reading 24-48%, Science 30-40%
Virtual Larning - Canvas - A learning management system
Every Alabama school system was required to establish a policy to offer some level of virtual school for high school students by the 2016-2017 academic year under a bill lawmakers passed. Canvas addresses this issue and is a way for our district, schools, teachers and students to be connected using one platform.
I encourage everyone to take advantage of the opportunity to learn about Canvas during the North Alabama Technology Conference June 23rd & 24th.
IMPLEMENTING CCRS - ACHIEVE THE CORE
Increasing RIGOR using Webb's Depth of Knowledge
Watch this video for information about how the Depths of Knowledge are embedded within the Common Core State Standards https://vimeo.com/42788913
How do we create rich environments where all students learn at a high level? One useful tool, Norman Webb's Depth of Knowledge Levels, can help teachers meet that challenge. Depth of Knowledge (DoK) categorizes tasks according to the complexity of thinking required to successfully complete them.
Level 1: Recall and Reproduction
Tasks at this level require recall of facts or rote application of simple procedures. The task does not require any cognitive effort beyond remembering the right response or formula. Copying, computing, defining, and recognizing are typical Level 1 tasks.
Level 2: Skills and Concepts
At this level, a student must make some decisions about his or her approach. Tasks with more than one mental step such as comparing, organizing, summarizing, predicting, and estimating are usually Level 2.
Level 3: Strategic Thinking
At this level of complexity, students must use planning and evidence, and thinking is more abstract. A task with multiple valid responses where students must justify their choices would be Level 3. Examples include solving non-routine problems, designing an experiment, or analyzing characteristics of a genre.
Level 4: Extended Thinking
Level 4 tasks require the most complex cognitive effort. Students synthesize information from multiple sources, often over an extended period of time, or transfer knowledge from one domain to solve problems in another. Designing a survey and interpreting the results, analyzing multiple texts by to extract themes, or writing an original myth in an ancient style would all be examples of Level 4.
Bloom's Taxonomy & Webb's DOK comparison chart
DOK Levels
Depth of Knowledge (DOK) Wheel
Tech Tip - Mastery Connect
Sign up for a free account with MasteryConnect to check for student mastery, create and share common assessments based on standards and connect with other educators. You can also download the free APP to your iPAD.
Tech Tip- Open-Ed
Free to join! Allows you to find resources, lesson plans, create lessons, assessments and ability to analyze the results based on standards.
Check it out!
School-wide STAR Data
School Wide DIBELS Data
UPDATES and RESOURCES for ASSESSMENTS
DIBELS Testing
The district is moving from DIBELS 6th Edition to DIBELS Next.
As I get more information from the district about upcoming training and testing dates I will let you know. You can become familiar with this assessment using the link above. I will attend a few virtual trainings at the beginning of July. Our school system will have informational sessions for K-3 teachers at the beginning of the school year (July 29th) and our school's DIBELS team will have test administrator's training (July 31st). The team will train K-3 teachers as well after the Fall DIBELS Administration (Aug. 17-28) as they plan instruction and progress monitoring for students. This training will take place in September. Once a date is finalized, I will e-mail that to you all.
Star Assessments
https://hosted80.renlearn.com/76725
Check out the DASHBOARD updates for STAR Reading and STAR Math
If you would like additional information/ videos for most topics concerning STAR Assessments you can access them at this site: http://www.renaissance.com/resources/videos
ACT Aspire
http://www.discoveractaspire.org/assessments/test-items/
To practice the specific test items go to:
username: (the subject)
english
math
science
reading
password: actaspire
To access the TESTING procedures/ manual click here:
http://actaspire.avocet.pearson.com/actaspire/home
TESTING DATES
April 14th - Reading
April 15th - Math
April 16th English/ Writing
April 21st Science
Support for English Language Learners
Jornea A. Erwin, Instructional Partner
Email: jerwin@madison.k12.al.us
Website: http://hesinstructionalpartner.wikispaces.com/
Location: 8845 Wall Triana Highway, Harvest, AL, United States
Phone: (256) 851-4590 (504)231-4905
Twitter: @Savvy_Educator