Culture of High Expectations

Team,

This week, we will take a deeper dive into our instructional practices, beginning with core instruction.  In every classroom, we are using the Classroom Instructional Framework (CIF) to frame our lessons.

An updated copy of the CIF will be emailed as part of this blog so that you can save it as a word document and use/reference the document when planning lessons.

Clarity with each step in the CIF will be obvious to any staff member or peer that is visiting your classroom.  Student engagement is twofold: (1) students are actively engaged by participating with the lesson/activity and (2) students are intellectually engaged by being asked challenging questions that push them to analyze, critique, and defend their thinking.

The Lesson Frame:

• Start of the lesson --- student writes the learning target in their agenda/set the goal for this lesson's learning
• Anticipatory set -- teacher explains the "why" students are learning the concept or skill - makes learning relevant to students
• Teaching and Learning -- "I do" -- teacher models the new knowledge & skills -mini lesson
• Guided Practice -- "We do" -- students practice the new concept/skill and teacher monitors and supports -- providing immediate feedback
• Independent practice -- "You do" -- students engage in independent practice to reinforce skills and knowledge (if you have students who need additional support, pull them into a small guided group for independent practice with your support).
• Daily formative check -- quick, formative assessment so you know who got it and who didn't
• Students moving to learning centers -- they are practicing the same skill/concept presented in the lesson, but participating with a hands on project (application of skill)

Don't Forget to Specifically Include:

• Content vocabulary -- with definitions
• Higher order questions -- write them down, so you are ready with challenging questions

Data:

Digital Backpack  --  We are up to 60 students with at least one artifact in their digital backpack of our 373 students who are enrolled at King.  If you have questions, please see resources on the teacher backpack page or consult our backpack team (Ms. Gamble, Mrs. Lamb, Mr. Handley)

SRT Calls -   We had 49 calls last week, this is down from 55 the previous week!  Hooray!!!  This is evidence of students increasing ownership and staff members setting clear expectations.  This week, take a few minutes to review your lesson plan for evidence of engagement, remind yourself of our restorative questions, set clear expectations with the morning meeting circle and encourage students to set a daily goal.  

Attendance -- We have had another week of 95 and 96% student attendance days -- please continue to encourage daily attendance.  As a staff, we are not hitting 95%, we have a short week, let's all be present.  Remember, there is not substitute for you.

This Week:

• Monday ---NWEA representative will be at King for embedded PD -- SA in library, others in 312 -- topic is goal setting -- be prepared with your class growth report
• Monday -- PGPs are due -- turn in to Perkins
• Tuesday -- PLC collaborative meetings -- paper copies of minutes/products to Mrs. Perkins by 9AM Wednesday morning - no exceptions
• Tuesday -- Faculty meeting -- bring a paper copy of a lesson plan you have taught or plan to teach this week.
• Friday is a flexible PD day -- be sure you have 12 hours or the allotted hours needed to be off for the day -- otherwise, you need to attend PD sessions.