ZEN
Volume 6, Issue 14-----November 12, 2020
Level Up: 4 Teacher Skills to Coach to Mastery this Week
1. Think-Pair-Share for in-person & virtual students
The video below is a great example of a TPS. When you watch it, notice the way the teacher gets all students to think (and protects think time by a "shhhh" signal from all students). After they think, then students pair and share. Conversation in the class is LOUD as they talk through their masks...and it's GREAT! You'll also see how the teacher listens to the students at home (holding the iPad up to her ear) as she circulates the room to listen to her in-person learners. (Listen to that academic vocabulary as those students delve deep into this Engage unit on Greek Gods!!) This is just one way to make it work!
Another idea is to use the breakout rooms in Teams (see below). You might pair each remote student with an in-person student just to mix up the groups and provide some variety in the conversations!!
2. Breakout Rooms in Teams
Our preview is here--use it!! The tricks include: schedule the meeting through the Teams calendar or use Meet Now, invite each individual instead of a group. To set up the breakout rooms, you can assign participants randomly or manually, and the host can "drop in" to each room. This one will take some practice.
I recommend pulling a few adults together (4-6) and practicing so that each teacher can have an "at-bat" at not only being the host, but also a participant. It's important for everyone to see what it looks like from all perspectives.
Here’s a great resource from Microsoft Learning Consultant Heather Wenzler with more on Breakout Rooms and truly a ton of great ideas for hybrid instruction. Take some time and explore....share with your teachers!
3. Increasing Student Talk
Zaretta Hammond challenges us to "find talk structures and tools that:
- Honor the funds of knowledge each student brings to the conversation.
- Give marginalized students greater access to the flow of the discussion.
- Give students more agency in directing the conversation.
- Give students a more robust cognitive workout by leveraging their everyday modes of communication."
Class conversations feel different with masks. Class conversations feel different when some students are in the classroom and some are at home. Teachers can help warm the environment and use protocols that support student discussion. Hammond challenges us to go beyond Turn and Talk or TPS to get to discussions that push to "cognitive chewing." Read the full article here.
4. Class Notebook, Class Notebook, Class Notebook
Did I say Class Notebook? If we ever are fully virtual, the teacher needs to use Class Notebook to give real-time feedback and to monitor student work. Our students DESERVE feedback as they work so that they have every moment with the teacher to get better. Everyone knows this, but we are not all enforcing it, especially since we returned to hybrid. Make sure teachers are uploading digital content along with their lesson planning and that they are using Class Notebook as a portfolio of student work.
Use your time this week and next week with teachers to be sure they have mastered these skills. Level up!
- Thanks to Jahaun and Camille for holding things down at Nance while I’ve been away. Thanks for all you do! (nominated by Tyler Archer)
Julie Holland for joining Engage LPIPs last week. It was so helpful having her work with teachers in breakout rooms! (nominated by Conor Joyce)
Upcoming Dates
Friday, November 13
- Interim PR Sent Home
- PTC Data Due in SIS
Thursday, November 19
- Principal Leadership Team Meeting (District)
- Curriculum Pacing Check-In
Friday, November 20
- AIC PD (all day)
- RGR Due
- Approve Kronos
- No School
- 2nd Writing Prompt Due, K-5 (Email Esther & Upload to Teams)
December 14 & 16
- 2nd Round Short Form Check-Ins (Principals & APs)
December
30 Mildred Moore