A1+Meetings+2011-2012

Jan. 31, 2012 1. Talked about coaching work/reading from coaching chapter. Christina--has spent 11 (!) hours to date working with Andy and Jackie with a tremendous outcome. Went from a unit where class watched much of Animal Farm to a unit where they are reading primary documents and excerpts from the novel. Developed analysis questions, coding for connections to texts/historical events. Lesson plan went from being one day to two, could have been even longer, she said. Teachers reflected with Christina in between each day of the lesson. Christina read the novel, studied unit--did a great deal of work to be able to deeply collaborate with the teachers. Time consuming but incredibly EXCITING WORK! Erin is working with Mike on his Habitat project. Planning BDA--bringing texts into the lesson about Habitat. Talked about how/who should find the texts and develop the analysis questions. After activity will perhaps include additional collaboration with video production students and sharing with the entire staff. Again, VERY EXCITING! Lots of literacy into the lesson. Aaron is working with Sharon. Combining classes in a big space. Spent time today brainstorming around the "During" and ideas for how the students will actually do the reading. Date set for March 1. Awesome work. We talked about how to keep this an authentic process while always documenting what we do in a way that doesn’t feel too laborious. How would we explain the PROCESS? TIME is a big factor. How can we do this work within the time we have? Does there need to be more time built into the day for coaches? Teachers? 2. Analyzed some text coding data from the lit 101 class. Lots of great questions/lines of thought that we would like to pursue: 1. coding and gender--trend that girls seem to code more than boys--what do we do about this? 2. amount of coding--what does it show? There are times (like on an assessment) where students will HAVE to do it--are there other times when it is not meaningful for some students? 3. Rigor? Does it come through text complexity, types of codes? Purpose of the reading/assignment? amount of codes? probably not one right answer--depends on situation/context--at different times for different reasons all of these need to be considered. 4. assessing codes--Erin shared her rubric. again, seems like different rubrics for different types of texts/purposes/contents would be appropriate. supporting staff with these assessment tools? 5. we talked specifically about the connection code. what kinds of connections are students making? are they meaningful? Aaron talked about how he has kids connect specifically to historical events. Christina talked about kids making connections to bigger themes--has to be to something bigger/generalization--I shared how I have seen Erin do excellent mental modeling to help students make meaningful personal/emotional connections to a piece of literature. 6. Amount of time it takes to text code--all lessons that are doing more to incorporate literacy are taking longer (Andy’s Aaron’s etc.). Again, seems like purpose of lesson needs to be analyzed closely--when should coding be priority and take up more time...when should it not?

3. we want to "package" the BDA process that we can share with district (?) what we mean when we say BDA, and how we see it primarily as a tool for getting students more actively engaged in the learning process/holding them intellectually accountable. talked about how we are slowing down/going deeper/making more meaning 4. Next week--review plan for Feb. 23rd and get e-mail out to staff so that they can prepare 5. Abby, Erin, Christina--will explore the workshop model in some way

January 5, 2012

1. We talked through our coaching initiative. We are going to call it Literacy Partnerships. Overview of what we discussed attached:

2. We discussed how we want to structure the partnerships. We want to keep things fluid so that the work feels meaningful, but there are some things that we will all do the same:

1. Inquiry question --what is a big concept for you in your class? What around that concept can I possibly help with? We don't want to put something additional on your plate. What is your main outcome/goal. talk to me about what you do. what you want the kids to know. We want to help you teach the things your kids need to know. That you are looking at for end of third quarter/fourth quarter or two units down the road, so that we have the time to do the meetings.

(Side note: we need to think about text types and how we can further support getting more relevant texts in all teachers’ hands).

(Side note: What do we mean when we say increase the rigor--not just more work, also about what questions we are asking and what we are having them read).

Met in conference room. Looked at schedules. Potential partnerships: Aaron--Sharon Abby--Jenny Klemme Christina--Andy Erin--Mike Sporke/tech ed

January 3, 2012

1. Schedules for second semester--Abby, Monday and Tuesday, Cheryl--no lit team; Beth, joining group, but not free A1

2. Updates for staff development a. Sept. 30th--taking text coding to the next level b. Oct.--ACT reading/ inference vs. literal questions; data c. Science--is going to Aligned by Design model in bio next year; science has become very foucsed on the ACT science reasoning section; Cheryl is using team collaborative time to foucs on this; teachers are being held accountable for this work d. BYOC e. Text Coding--Cheryl made several points 1) taking notes in margins seems to have fallen by the wayside--what can/should we do about this? 2) What is the expectation with the text coding tracking forms? Does there need to be a reminder for 3rd quarter? What are we doing with them? 3) would we want to do a staff survey to see where we are at?

3. Abby reviewed the proposal for next semester.

4. Discussion of coaching logistics a. need to find partners that can meet with lit team members during lit team time b. Cheryl is going to bring some of her mentoring information to share with us next week c. Aaron is thinking that he wil work with Sharon S., Erin mentioned Karen S. and Amy F., Andy D. has expressed interest

5. Next meeting: Thursday, A1 in office to look at schedule/pick coaching partners

6. We will start new meeting format second semester; first reading will be discussed on Jan. 31st; next staff development day is Feb. 23rd

7. At least some members of the group will plan on attneding LISN meetings and IRA convention in Chicago this year (April 29th-May 2nd)

Agenda: September 2, 2011

1. Lit Team Meeting Logistics a. Whole group/differentiated work b. Meeting Location c. Notetaking/communication tools (wiki, Evernote, agendas, minutes--rotating secretary?)
 * As needed, Abby can email and initiate a whole group meeting
 * Full group meetings needed for staff development
 * Wednesday Sept. 7, full group
 * Talk about Sept 30
 * Email staff regarding collaboration
 * As needed from there
 * Erin's room (111) at 8:20 a.m.

2. Staff Development a. quick reflection on Tuesday b. formalzing our "model" c. plans for next literacy PD-day
 * September 3011-12, 1-3:30
 * Touch base with Danielle to see if she has technology stuff
 * October
 * Ed Camp?

3. Goals a. review goals that have already been written
 * Michelle will continue to communicate with "we others":
 * Tech ed
 * Art
 * Music
 * Business
 * FACE
 * Phy Ed/Health
 * Special Ed
 * Foreign Language

b. write goals if they do not exist yet c. discuss how department goal setting went/aligns with literacy work d. development of literacy team PDSA?
 * Collaborate with other staff to help them build literacy in their departments
 * If you need help with your text coding this quarter.
 * Help picking out an article
 * Help setting up a before, during, after program
 * If you need help with your vocabulary lists this quarter.

4. To Do:
 * Send an email to all staff to inform of collaboration goals and opportunities for help from lit. team