Educational Services Weekly Update
1/19/20
Relevant Research & Resources
Interacting with Students
A 5th grade teacher at ECC, thanks to Jodi's help, invited me into her room to have her students do a problem task for my own CGI PD Year 1 homework. It was so great to be with her class, talking to student about what they were doing, and listening to their problem solving explanations. So many of the students went right to the algorithm and struggled to show us another way to solve the problem. The earlier we start the ideas of CGI with students, the more they are able to articulate their thinking. Get into those Kinder rooms and start problem-solving!
Later in the week I also had Day 4 of my Year 1 CGI professional learning. As part of our learning, 3rd grade students came into the OPE MPR and we got to work directly with one of the students. Glen and I partnered up for this activity, where we interviewed a young student as he solved a number of problems and shared his thinking with us. This was an amazing look into one student's problem solving process. It was also great practice for us to:
- Be quiet and let the student work!
- Allow the student to solve the problem in their own way
- To practice non-leading questions
- To avoid the tendency to correct and teach and to focus on their thinking
I encourage you to find time in your schedule to get deeper with a student this week. Take time to ask them to explain their thinking and just listen to them. It's amazing what you can learn about the student, the learning, and the process.
As a side note, I was drafting this while on the lunch break during the CGI PD. Two of the teachers here with me just came up to say that they want to add an idea to our recent math feedback survey. They want us to consider giving teachers release days for them to be able to interview their own students like we did today. What a concept! We will be discussing that in math committee this coming week!
Math Survey
Please encourage ALL of your teachers to share their feedback with us by 1/22, for the Math Committee on 1/23. The survey can be accessed here. Please share this in any way you can. We are just over 100 responses so far.
CELEBRATIONS & GRATITUDE!
KUDOS
* Carrie- Thank you and your two students for a great Board presentation on your bottle cap green team project! If you haven't seen the new student-created mural at Capri, go check it out!
* Julie S - Thank you for your great Board presentation about our English Learner programs and support. You are an asset to EUSD!
* Ashely T - Thank you to you and your team of leads, mentors, and new teacher candidates who shared the amazing changes happening to support new teachers this year!
* Sanjana - Thank you for planning and lead last week's 3rd grade NGSS PD. Thank you to TEAM TOSA for supporting Sanjana's first lead role and for supporting all of our teachers!
* Veronica, Jennifer, Carrie & Wes - Thank you to each of you and your school teams for supporting our first week of Parent Workshops with Miriam N, following our successful Parent Resource Fair back in November. This is fulfilling a need in our community and it is appreciated.
* Nathan and Glen - Congratulations on a great presentation at last week's SDCOE Equity Conference. Nathan and Glen shared the story of how departments in EUSD do NOT work in silos and how Nathan collaborated with PPS, the county, and other resources to create a support for a student, creating a beautiful communication tool and a touching story. We will ask them to share a version of this at a future ILC!
Updates & Calendar items of interest
Please see below
Key dates for you:
- 1/21 - Triad Tuesday
TEAM TOSA this week: The TOSAs will attend the Math Committee on Thursday.
Ashley - Tri and PEC work
Robyn - ME
James - ECC
Sanjana - OK
Know My Story/ Know Our Story -- 5 Facts about Us
Wes Secrest, Principal PEC
- I would have been a cowboy in a different life. Most Halloweens I am dressed up this way and don’t know why.
- I met my wife while living in Chile. She was studying English at a language institute where I was teaching. Co-workers suggested we go out, but we both said no. After I had a terrible snowboarding accident, she came to visit me and that changed my opinion. Picture is of our first date in 2003.
- We have two wonderful children. Joaquin (5) and Estela (17 months) have literally and figuratively changed everything. We were married 10 years before Joaquin was born. He will be joining me in Kinder at PEC in August!
- I wholeheartedly believe that the most important component of our work is the human connection. My best teachers made an impact on me and I use this as my drive to push forward.
- I like to be busy, but not too busy. As in, my body tells me I should be relaxing when appropriate, but my brain says I should be doing something. Still learning to tame the lion in my head.
Educational Services
Email: amy.illingworth@eusd.net
Website: www.eusd.net
Phone: 760-944-4300
Twitter: @AmyLIllingworth