In
Attendance: Shane Ogden, Jill Lowe,
Gordon Geddes, Lisa Hopkins, Joyce Smart, Toph Cottle, Jim Peacock, Paul
Wagner, Jayne Hamblin, Drew Nielson, Donna Starley
Excused:
Curtis Jenson
Shane: We need to discuss the following items so
that we remain transparent:
Process
Norms
Purpose:
belief, desired outcomes, school wide systems, professional development,
measurement means
Timeline
It’s hard
when people are popping in and out because it feels like we don’t get as much
done because we have to cover what they have missed. However, people are always invited to
attend. The only norm we broke regularly
is that we started and ended on time. We
want to establish norms to start out. We
want to talk about things that make or break a meeting.
Norms:
Start/end on time, side conversations, shared air time, not personal, open
minded (see all sides), objective for each meeting/agenda, keeping to timeline
We will
operate on consensus. It’s the feeling
or direction in the room that most people can sense, even if you don’t agree
with it, the group will move forward.
As we talk
about our beliefs, do we need to look at our current belief system is vs. what
it should be? Is there something out
there that we need to overcome? Where
are we about a belief system and an intervention?
Paul: I think that all students can learn…I have
found myself not really able to believe that. I had students that didn’t care,
and as soon as I decided that the student didn’t care, I stopped trying. Students have the mechanism where they do
just enough to get by, and being happy with a D-. As teachers, we are all too often ready to
just not let them learn.
Drew: I think in some cases, we don’t have the
resources to help that student. All
students can learn, I agree with Paul. I
can think of one student in particular that hardly comes and I wonder why they
even are there; they aren’t going to do the work.
Lisa: with so many kids in a class, there is only
so much you can do.
Shane: how do our parents feel?
Lisa: In our music classes we have an expectation
for those students. That expectation
isn’t present for all students.
Jayne: It comes from attendance. Those kids don’t come.
Lisa: We have such huge classes; these kids fly
under the radar and don’t raise red flags.
Our higher end learners have that expectation that we know they will
perform. I have a friend who wants to
transfer from the county even though they like the FLEX hour.
Toph:
Paul: I agree with Toph. I am looking at the website and our
DRSL’s. Is that our belief? We don’t measure that. How was our citizenship, lifelong
learning?
Toph: What about a school constitution?
Lisa: I think some of those critical things have
gotten lost-expectations, visions, what we all believe.
Paul: I did
some research for my MS degree. I looked
at Adelei Steveson and a survey all their students of why they were at
school. Once the students held the same
belief of the faculty, behavioral issues plummeted.
Drew: I like the idea that they earn their
educations, by being here every day and learning. Everything those students do had a purpose
(passing a quiz). Kids that pass their
math classes know their math.
Jim: I am hearing that kids were identified right
away, and failure isn’t an option. The
change in demographics has been so severe, that we haven’t been able to keep up
with it.
Lisa: The school system has changed
Jim: There
has to be a way for those students that don’t get it, get the extra help and
flagged daily if not weekly.
Shane: Jim Dufour is the chancellor at Adelei
Stevenson. He said that their program
was 15-20 years in the making. No one
can just take the program and make it fit theirs. What school of thought or you as a teacher?
Charles Darwin: All students can learn based on their
ability. Aptitude is fixed and therefore
we as teachers have little impact on that.
Pontius
Pilot: All students can learn if they elect to put forth the necessary effort.
Chicago Cub
fan: We believe all kids can learn
something. They can experience this in a
warm nurturing environment.
Henry Higgins: We believe all kids can learn and teachers
never give up meeting the individual needs.
I have
always thought in my head which school I am going into? Wouldn’t that be great if we all had a Henry
Higgins point of view? It takes more
than just the normal to get it done, it’s whatever it takes. Is that crazy to have that belief?
Drew: I don’t think we could have anything less. All students at Adelei Stevenson bought into
the program.
Lisa: What about those parents that don’t value
education?
Drew: If this really worked, I don’t think I would
be working more, I think I would be working less.
Shane: If we could create a collective system to
where everyone is a partner in the process.
What part of the system has changed?
We want to hear the perspectives from our Latino students on what they
need to succeed and how we can help them.
We can’t have our young Latino girls come after school because they have
other family commitments, or the kids going to sports, etc. I am excited that we are at this point; it’s
a lot of work. Are we committed to being
a Henry Higgins school? If so, how do we
get this culture to spread? The culture
of the school is going to be dictated by those who are telling the story. It’s like hearing a story that is incorrect
or telling a lie. Soon, we hearing thing
that are completely untrue. So, it’s
created a culture that really isn’t what it is. We need to tell our story so that we can
create the culture we want. What does it
mean?
Paul: I think most of us can identify with those
schools of thought. Very seldom am I the
Henry Higgins guy. I try to help
them. Pep talks here and there…there are
some students that it would take me 80+ hours a week to help learn. Some students I have to remind a student every
day to take out his pen and paper. I
feel a lot of backlash..like why are we even trying. Because we don’t have kids that want to learn. I think our school culture is more of the
Pontius Pilot school. We will show up as
teachers every day and do our job, if they want to learn, they can.
Jim: What are the criteria we need to establish
Tier 1?
Paul: Will our efforts be in vain if teachers don’t
buy into it? Do we force it down their
throats?
Jim: Do we do Math, Science, English?
Drew: We should do every class if we have a system
that can do that. Every class is
expected at Lakeridge. We will have
teachers that don’t buy into everything, but we keep going and try to get all
onboard.
Gordon: As we experience success, others will want to
get involved. It takes time to buy-in.
Joyce: Of course we care about kids. Because we do care, we will do these things
you are asking us to do. Tier 1
instruction is about all of that.
Shane: Toph what are your thoughts on the teachers
you have had in the past? Where do they
fit (no names)?
Toph: I am selfish and like the whole “take what
you can get”. I see lots of different
things with teachers. Mr. Semadeni will
take you over to the computer to check your grade and let you know that you
need to make up some assignments. It
would be nice to see teachers trying to make sure all students pass.
Shane: In your mind, if it truly was all of us
working towards this high expectation?
Is there any benefit if all kids are working towards this?
Toph: I don’t know of a class where everyone is
trying.
Drew: Those kids tend to all be serious about
understanding what’s going on and dialed in.
Kids challenge each other.
Shane: If that were the case and everyone was
actively learning, you would have more time to not do the reteaching.
Drew: That’s why we have teachers that are
drained. If we have a system that
catches kids before they fail, we can save them before they lose.
Paul: Tier 1 models are built around the 85%
Lisa: it’s hard when our elementary kids aren’t up
to par.
Jayne: I don’t think it is like that anymore,
students are required to pass certain tests.
Shane: It goes back to why assignments are due? If the student can master a skill, that’s
what really matters. I think we have
some work to do on our belief. If we can
come up with the words for that, we can infiltrate that into our system and
allow it to impact our system.
Paul: Let’s just say that from now forward, we are
a Henry Higgins school.
Jim: I think if we proclaim it like we say and
provide assistance for those teachers that need it, they will get on board or
segregate themselves.
Shane: when Adelei Stevenson changed its beliefs,
there was quite a bit of turnover, they told the faculty what the plans were,
and many jumped ship.
Jim: I appreciate our DRSL’s and the effort that
goes into making our students hold to that.
Paul: How do we know that we have reached those
outcomes?
Jim: the middle school evaluated for those DRSL’s every
quarter.
Joyce: Let’s include the DRSL’s in our beliefs.
Drew: I don’t think we have a choice on our
beliefs.
Shane: All students can learn and will, and at a
high level. That’s our job
Paul: We should make all college and career ready
(no matter your SES, language, other issues).
Shane: I think it’s great, we need to also look at
our EXPLORE data, and have other criteria that we can use for celebrations. We need to use common assessments, easy CBMs
and get a good baseline, and as we start identifying kids that need weekly
progress monitoring.
Joyce: Allow them a taste of success.
Paul: Allowing students to see their grade
immediately (immediate feedback).
Toph: I took a test before the break and didn’t
hear how I did until after. It ruined my
break.
Lisa: It is hard for kids to know where they really
are at if teachers don’t update.
Shane: I
won’t be here Thursday, but, I will provide some good reading material for that
day. The next Thursday we will set up
the criteria.
Drew: What students do we want in this? Then we can design.
TIMELINE:
1/17-readings
1/24-criteria/reading
review
1/28-criteria
1/31-pyramid
2/4
2/7
2/11
2/14
2/21
2/25
2/28-Final
Product
Other items
to think about: Logistics, automated system, staffing, PD, organization,
student priority, safety net, attendance, intervention pyramid
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