In order to support overall student achievement, it is important as a leader that I am familiar with conducting needs assessments to determine initiatives that I can put in place to meet those needs. Below you will find two examples of initiatives that I have developed to support particularly lifting the level of student engagement.
Grab & Go Mini PD Cycle
Initiative: In our school community 51.5% of our students are English Language Learners which accounts for more than half our population. After looking at the beginning of the year Reading MAP Growth data, 155 out of 186 students that were assessed were placed at 4th grade or below. This information combined with teachers indicating needing support with providing quality instruction for ELLs on a needs survey led to the creation of Grab & Go Mini PD cycles.
Teachers are invited weekly to participate in a short bite-sized learning community session around topics pertaining to support for ELLs in our school. Topics included Co-Teaching, Planning for Entering & Emerging ELLs, Collaborative Strategies, and others.
Below is a check-in survey that was conducted for teachers to reflect on the sessions and provide feedback for moving forward.
The survey describes whether teachers felt sessions were helpful for their practice and checking in to see whether any of these practices were incorporated in their instruction.
A challenge that is posed from this initiative is that because these sessions are optional, attendance on average is about 3-4 teachers per session out of 13. One way that I have worked to increase engagement is partnering with other teachers to present such as the ENL teacher. Another way is by having teachers understand that participating in optional professional development and application supports their rating in 4E of Danielson.
Lab Classroom Cycles in the Social Studies Department
Survey to determine lab classroom needs
Initiative: Developing a professional Learning community focused on using the Lab classroom structure amongst social studies teachers across grades 6 to 8
The purpose was to expose teachers to research based practices to support the the school wide goal of increasing student engagement
Steps:
Survey to determine area of development teachers felt would most benefit them in their practice through a PLC- Instructional Supports for MLLs
Conduct research on effective practices to develop Professional Development sessions with specific strategies
Set up 2 lessons where teachers can come and observe strategies being used in practice
Have a debrief meeting where teachers discuss what they saw and the effectiveness it had on the students
Teachers are encouraged to try strategies in their classrooms and be prepared with artifacts to share out with the group
The cycle began again with a different strategy
The results of this were overall higher engagement amongst students in different SS classes across the middle school. Veteran teachers that were nervous to try out grouping strategies (Jigsaw) gained confidence to do so because I was transparent about how imperfect it was in my classroom but the key was to keep trying because students were engaged in their learning. She expressed my honesty about how when we try things out, it's not for it to be perfect, but for us to learn what works for our students and to trust that they can do things like facilitate a small group.
Teachers also appreciated the sessions where we met to review new strategies as well as debrief. A new professional community was created that didn’t exist before. Teachers expressed how excited they were to have this time to meet and share their experiences, thoughts, and concerns with each other. At the end of the year, the biggest comment they wanted me to communicate to the administration was to ensure that we had time to meet again together in the following school year.
What I would do differently or even as a next step for the following school year is to incorporate the teachers to open up their classrooms within the lab as well instead of everyone just coming to work with my class. Doing that this year was all right because it allowed the team to build trust in me leading them. However, there were times where not everyone had tried a strategy in their classroom and had something to share with the group. I think with each teacher taking a turn to open their classroom to the team coming in will build an additional layer of trust and support amongst us.
Staff feedback from presentation
Developing English Language Arts (Assessments) for Middle School
This initiative was created in order to develop a series of PDs/Meetings in order to facilitate the work of collaborating with teachers to inform them of how the pre assessments can be useful in their planning and teaching, and how to develop strong assessments and exemplars that can be utilized to accompany the current reading curriculum. The school uses Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Curriculum. At the elementary level pre-and post assessments are embedded, but at the middle school level they are not. This initiative served to advance student achievement because the use of structured assessments, coupled with actionable feedback allowed students to be able to identify where they are at based on the rubric and exemplars created. This assisted teachers and students to develop targeted goals that aligned to the next generation learning state standards. With this practice embedded into the work, students will be able to speak towards their ability to write about reading a lot more confidently. Ultimately, this will support the school wide goal of increasing the volume of writing across the school which will in turn help to increase the ELA proficiency percentage. This initiative aligns with the schools mission and vision because part of the statement mentions that the school should offer “quality instruction to all students”. Offering students structures in order to reflect and revise themselves as writers about reading, plays a part in quality instruction.