Think, Pair, Share

As we continue our work at CHS to improve the amount (quantity) and quality of student discourse, this week our staff worked on a strategy to implement in every classroom - Think, Pair, Share. During our training teachers were asked to think about the following questions:

Based on the title and images, predict what Think, Pair, Share strategy entails.
Why is Think, Pair, Share important?
How can you make it happen (in your classroom)?
How can it (the strategy) stretch students' thinking?

As teachers answered these questions, the Think, Pair, Share strategy was implemented with a variety of ways utilized to share out.

Three key components:
Think - provide opportunity for individual's to reflect on the question or statement
Pair - provide opportunity for two students to share their own thoughts and ideas (both partners need to share)
Share - provide opportunity for partners to share out with entire class and provide opportunity for other pairs to extend or add to.

Wht is Think, Pair, Share important?

•Students need many opportunities to talk in a linguistically rich environment.

•Increases communication necessary for students to internally process, organize, and retain ideas

•Additional benefits

–Positive changes in students’ self-esteem

–Opportunity to learn higher-level thinking skills from peers

–Extra time or prompting needed

–Gain confidence

–“pair” ensures no student is left out of the discussion

Research has shown three benefit of the Think, Pair, Share Strategies for secondary students:
1. student participation increased,
2. number of long explanations given by students increased, and
3. students confort and confidence when contributing to class discussion also increased (Sampsel, 2013).

The Use of Scaffolds for Teaching High-Level Cognitive Strategies by Rosenshine & Meister

Teaching higher-order thinking continues to be a hot topic in education. This is no different in CISD. This year we have introduced Instructional Rounds. After our first site visit, the CHS leadership team developed a Momentum Plan. Part of this plan requires a "study." We chose the article entitled The Use of Scaffolds for Teaching High-Level Cognitive Strategies by Rosenshine and Meister.

In this article, the authors note that higher-level questions do not occur naturally in the process of instruction. Therefore, higher-level questions must be purposefully plan. At CHS, we have found that planning questions does not ensure the execution or delivery of questions written and documented in lesson plans. Therefore, we have developed questions stems to help teachers move a question at the lower level of Blooms to a higher-level - scaffolding of questions. Each department generate a list to best fit the content area.

After reading this article, teacher were asked to bring 5 keys learnings from the article to discuss within their PLCs.

Red Ribbon Week: October 27-31

Red Ribbon Week is scheduled for October 27-31 at Castleberry High School. Red Ribbon Week is a nation-wide drug prevention campaign and serves as a vehicle for communities, schools and individuals to take a stand for the hopes and dreams of our children/students through a commitment to drug prevention and education. In addition, Red Ribbon Week gives students at CHS an opportunity to make a personal commitment to live drug free lives.
Red Ribbon Week commemorates the sacrifice made by DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena, who died in Mexico while fighting the battle against drugs to keep our country and children safe. In honor of Camarena's memory, friends and neighbors began to wear red badges of satin. For more about the story behind the symbol and Enrique Camarena, please access the link below.

http://www.defense.gov/specials/drugawareness/rrstory.html

Strategies to Extend Student Thinking in the Classroom

Teachers informally check for understanding throughout the class period by asking questions of students. Below are strategies to add to your teacher "toolkit" to extend student thinking in the classroom.

Utilize "think-pair-share" - 30 seconds of think time; one minute of discussion with partner; open up the class to discussion

Remember "wait time" - 10 to 20 seconds following a higher-level question

Ask "follow-ups" - Why do you think...? Do you agree? Can you elaborate ...? What evidence supports...?

Survey the class - How many people agree...? Thumbs up; thumbs down.

Ask for a summary - Could you please summarize ____'s point/answer? (promote active listening).

Updates at CHS

Castleberry High School has been undergoing several updates this summer - phones, wireless access, bells, PA system and digital clocks. In addition, the media center (library) is undergoing a massive remodel. The phone system and wireless access are almost complete. The system to control bells, PA, and digital clocks should be complete by the end of this week. The media center is scheduled to be complete by mid-October.

Digital Portfolios

Recently, I began creating a digital portfolio using Weebly.com as part of our Digital Leadership initiative in Castleberry ISD. So, you may ask "why create a digital portfolio?" Digital portfolios provide a platform for pulling together information which provides more detail or greater explanation. Our digital portfolios in CISD include a home page "About Me" and the five ISTE Standards for Administrators - Visionary Leadership, Digital-Age Learning Culture, Excellence in Professional Practice, Systemic Improvement, and Digital Citizenship. In addition to providing a platform for pulling together information, digital portfolios have several benefits:

Benefits of creating a portfolio 

• demonstrates effort, progress, and achievement
• makes connections between theory and practice
• documents your learning progress over time
• provides evidence of meeting professional standards
• enhances communication and organizational skills
• greater awareness of strengths and weaknesses
• encourages reflective self-inquiry
• illustrates good teaching
• supports professional growth
• leads to goal planning
• visible collection of skills to present to a prospective employer
• celebrate accomplishments
• improves teaching
• often considered authentic assessment

Benefits of electronic format

• develops and demonstrates technology skills
• ability to include a greater range of artifacts
• can better capture the dynamic process of teaching and learning
• easier to revise and maintain
• enables connections within the portfolio
• reusability of artifacts in different contexts or multiple portfolios
• greater ease of distribution to interested parties
• accessible from anywhere and to a wide audience
• highly portable
• simpler to receive feedback on
• more opportunities to display creativity
• creates technological self-confidence
• can build community
• supports integration of technology into the classroom

(retrieved from https://ella.mtholyoke.edu/wiki/site/ab69aa44-4139-4f71-b19f-a5d2360dffb8/why%20create%20an%20e-portfolio%3F.html.)

As noted above, a digital portfolio "documents your learning progress over time." This to say that while my digital portfolio will be an on-going process, I have shared the link with you below.

http://juliedavisphd.weebly.com

Digital Leadership

CISD administrators are engaged in a book study this summer - Digital Leadership: Changing Paradigms for Changing Time by Eric Sheninger. The administrative team and librarian at Castleberry High School focused on Chapter 10: Rethinking Learning Environments and Spaces. In this chapter, Sheninger shares about the over crowding of schools in his school district and the challenge the district faced in finding more space for high school students. The community was against opening a second high school, so a vision of a new learning center emerged as a result of input from key-stakeholders. Their vision became a reality; the district launched the Clark Hall project.
To meet the needs of learners and to prepare for their transformative building, the district first had to address current network problems - the inability to handle digital technology for today's teachers and students. The system was upgraded to support the expectation for technology use in lessons.
Clark Hall was not structured to resemble of traditional school. Instead, it provided open and flexible spaces for learning and promoted interdisciplinary projects. Along with a flexible space came flexible scheduling allowing teacher more time to interact with individual students. This facility houses fourteen classrooms, each with its own conference room for small-group work. To offset the expense of this state of the art three story structure, the first floor is leased to help pay the mortgage.
Strategic partnerships were formed with organizations, such as YMCA and a local career center. The YMCA provided exercise equipment which is used to provide evening classes for its members and some of the school's physical education classes.
As leaders, we need to reflect on how our learning spaces are utilized. Do they provide what today's digital classrooms need, not only to engage students but to also prepare them for success in today's society? To learn more, check out Sheninger's book.

Instructional Rounds

The last two days I have been attending a training on Instructional Rounds. Here are some of the main ideas of Instructional Rounds I have learned so far. The model provides a basic framework for how to intervene in the instructional process. This in turn has shown to improve the quality and level of student learning. There are seven principles described in the first chapter of Instructional Rounds in Education by Elizabeth City, Richard F. Elmore, Sarah E. Fairman, and Lee Teitel (2010) which guide in work with the instructional core. The instructional core consists of the student, teacher, and content. The authors note that when teacher level of knowledge and skill are increased, the level and complexity of content students received is increased, and we change to role of the student in the instructional process, student learning is improved. All three pieces are instrumental.
The goal of Instructional Rounds is not to provide feedback or evaluative data to teachers. Rather, the purpose is to compare instructional practices and to improve instruction. Rounds are conducted in groups (4-6) and focus areas are identified in advance. The members of the team record what the see/hear in 20 minute sessions per classroom. It is recommended the members go to four different classrooms during a campus visit. After observations, the team meets to debrief on recorded data. During the debrief, the members write analysis statements and short term targets and suggests next level of work to support short term targets or address future goals. This information is left with the campus principal to work with campus leadership to improve the instructional process on campus.

Flipped Classroom and Time

Today I read an article in District Administration on "Maximizing PLC time to flip your class" written by Jonathan Bergmann and Aaron Sams. One of the challenges all educators face is time. So when we ask teachers to create a flipped class, some may feel it is an additional task to complete in addition to the many other tasks (lesson plans, grades, calling parents, etc.). In this article, the authors note the use of PLC time to complete a flipped class. Teachers found through collaboration they presented "to their students in a manner that was better than it would have been had they done it alone." Through the creation of collaborative flipped class videos, several benefits were found, including: creating better content, quality and excellence, reflection, and use of technology.

ISTE NETS A for Administrators Reflection

Today, CISD administrators are engaging in the continuation of a multi-year plan to implement technology as both an instructional tool and student learning tool to improve student performance. As I read through the 5 standards for administrators and began to reflect on where I am, I discovered the following:

1. Visionary Leadership - As an educational administrator, do I "inspire and lead development of a shared vision for comprehensive integration of technology to promote excellence and support transformation?" In this area, I believe I have a greater awareness and am becoming more experienced in the use of digital-age resources to support effective instructional practice and maximize performance. I engage in an ongoing process to assist my staff in the implementation of technology infusion. I feel I could grow by advocating at the state level for funding to support implementation of a technology infused vision.
2. Digital-Age Learning Culture - As an educational administrator, do I "create, promote, and sustain a dynamic, digital-age learning culture that provides a rigorous, relevant, and engaging education for all students?" In this area, I feel that I promote and sustain a digital-age learning culture that is in the process of transforming from implementation to sustainability. At the beginning of each school year, we spend time learning about resources available to support effective instructional practice, and we continue this practice/model at monthly faculty meetings. This upcoming school year this practice needs to filter into PLCs.
3. Excellence in Professional Practice - As an educational administrator, do I "promote an environment of professional learning that empowers educators to enhance student learning...?" I eluded to this standard in my reflection above. As an instructional leaders, I allocate time each month to ensure ongoing professional growth in technology fluency and integration. I need to continue to stay abreast of educational research and emerging trends regarding effective use of technology.
4. Systemic Improvement - As an educational administrator, do I "provide digital-age leadership and management to continuously improve the organization through the effective use of information and technology resources?" In this area, I believe we continue to get stronger each year. As the campus leader, I lead purposeful change to maximize improve the appropriate use of technology.
5. Digital Citizenship - As an educational administrator, do I "model and facilitate understanding of social, ethical, and legal issues and responsibilities to an evolving, digital culture?" As a digital leader, I ensure equitable access to appropriate tools and resources, promote and model for safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information through digital citizenship lessons.

TASSP 2014 Reflection

This past week I attended TASSP conference in Austin. Throughout the three day conference, there were a variety of sessions to choose from and several well-known speakers. Day 1 for me consisted of Trends, Tools and Tactics for the 21st Century Learner (Kevin Honeycutt), The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction (Sean Cain), Effective Digital Leadership: Moving Our Schools Forward, Building the Capacity of Schools to Meet Student Needs (Pedro Noguero), and TEA Foundation High School Program Graduation Requirements Update.
I decided to purchase Cain's book - The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction and plan to read it during my 2 weeks off this summer. I took the following ideas from another session on day 1:

• Flip beginning of year procedural items to a prerecorded blog allowing more time for staff development geared toward improving student performance
• Use of Fast Follow on Twitter
• Professional weekly Twitter Chat Times for my own professional development/growth

Day 2 began at 8am with Tools to Increase Rigor in Your School. During this session, the presenter shared a research-based definition of rigor and elaborated on 4 key aspects found in the definition - environment, expected, supported, and demonstrates. The environment must be safe and secure, routines and procedures established, use of positive language (refrain from negative comments), and celebrate progress. "Expected to learn" meaning it's not enough to have high expectations; we have to put them in action. In addition during this sessions, the presenter shared 5 Tools for Increasing Rigor in Your School.

• Tool 1 - Culture Framework
• Tool 2 - Ownership and Shared Vision
• Tool 3 - Managing Data
• Tool 4 - Advocacy Scorecard
• Tool 5 - Instant Credit Recovery

Day 2 ended with a fun-filled session on Team Building…An Important Piece of Professional Development. My staff has expressed the desire to engage in activities to build more camaraderie. During this session, 51 participants actively engaged in 7 different team building activities. I am so excited to try several of these with my staff in August. 

Day 3 things began to wrap up with Steve Gilliland: Making a Difference in Education. If you have not had the opportunity to hear Mr. Gilliland speak he has a unique way of sharing stories about his family and work experiences to insightfully focus on the conscious choices people make daily that impact the lives of others. His stories are heartfelt, humorous, and real. 

Technology and Mobile Learning at CHS

The Class of 2014 was one of the original group of students at Castleberry HS to begin the district's journey on our one-to-one initiative with technology. Our seniors were asked the following questions:
How do you believe our one-to-one initiative with netbooks has prepared you as a 21st century learner? How has mobile learning helped you personalize your learning?
See below for a few responses from Castleberry HS seniors.

"I think the netbooks were more of a convenience. They were very resourceful..."
"I get to keep my netbook/files organized the way I need it to be, and finding resources is much easier."
"It's helped me become more familiar with Microsoft Office programs."
"Using the Edmodo app on my iphone has helped me keep up with assignments when I don't have my netbook with me."
"Has made information easier to reach. Any question I have can be Googled and check in a second."
"Allowed me to find important information as soon as I needed it."
"Mobile learning helped me personalize my learning by locating research I wanted."
"It helped me to better understand technology in a deeper way."
"It has helped me gain more skills in Microsoft Office and using them for presentations for projects."
"Helps me learn in my own manner that makes me more efficient at retaining information."


For more tools on student-centered learning go to  http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/education/k12/teachers.html.

Transition to Technology

Transitions are often seen as an obstacle by some. Others view transitions as opportunities - opportunities to become better instructional leaders, more effective teachers, and more engaged students. During the 2012-2013 school year, CISD introduced blended learning. The 2013-2014 school year our district and campus instructional leaders, teachers, and students focused on integration of technology as both a teaching and learning tool. The journey began with leaders completing numerous days of training on Digital Aged Leadership. Then, the journey continued by campus leaders disseminating acquired knowledge to teachers. As the year progressed, teachers created and delivered technology infused lessons allowing students to demonstrate acquisition of content. Who knows what the 2014-2015 school year will bring? One thing I know is that the direction we go will be about students first.