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January 25th, 2021

1/25/2021

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Focus on Progress over Perfection 
By Apryl Thompson

I want to take us back to mid to late August. If you remember there were a lot of unknowns, needs and a great opportunity to rally for our kids and our community. One opportunity came my way in a sudden and unpredictable way. Sure, there were rumors of teachers on special assignments being reassigned due to a lack of teachers available to start the 20-21 school year but never in my wildest dreams did I think that would come to fruition or impact me personally. However, two work days before the start of school I found this was MY reality. I was filled with many emotions but, I knew there was a need and a great opportunity to serve and grow. 

And just like that I was off to teach first grade! 

As we all started to settle into the unknown I found myself also trying to figure out where to start and what was most important. I found a real struggle trying to balance Covid safety protocols, getting to know the students and my new colleagues, and knowing what and how to teach. It all felt so overwhelming to be teaching in these unprecedented times. After taking a moment to breath and realizing this was not going to be perfect, I leaned into the importance of relationships and trust building, having a mindset focused on maximizing learning time and having high expectations that will grow learners to the best of my ability. 

Build relationships with families, students and the school community
After the initial shock that this was really going to happen, I realized how hard it might have been on the other side of things. There was a school, in fact many schools, sitting with a class full of students without a teacher and unsure how to make learning really work in light of the pandemic. There were students who had yet to meet and greet their teacher for this school year. There were families who had a wide spectrum of emotions and perspectives filled with so many unanswered questions including who will be teaching MY child this year. Who am I trusting to keep safe and educate my most precious possession? So I set a personal goal and priority to connect with the families, students and the community, get to know them, build a relationship and trust that we will do our very best to make this a positive experience for all. As a mom myself, I knew you have to trust the person you are sharing your child with, trust they will keep your little person safe and educate them, and that is exactly what I kept at the forefront of every interaction I had with families, students and the greater community I got to join. 

A mindset of maximizing learning time
As I got up to date on what the current reality was of in person learning, I quickly knew that there were going to be so many more interruptions in teaching and learning due to extra hand washing protocols and mask breaks that I needed to ensure I maximize student learning time. I also quickly discovered that all the ways I once knew of engaging students was going to be challenging due to social distancing rules and recommendations. It was easy to have an “I can't”  attitude but I met that with but I CAN DO this. I chose to become crystal clear with what students needed to know and  be able to do. I leaned into proficiency scales and made connections between content and units of study.   I worked with my amazing colleagues at the school and my fellow TOSAs to ensure I had teacher clarity. I shared with students all that they can do and what is next for their learning. We used outside spaces, made the best use of our handwashing times for extra practice and met them right where they were. 

Having High Expectations for Growth
I also recognized that there were unknown learning losses or learning opportunities as I called them.  I needed to set high expectations and have a dose of reality simultaneously. There was nothing wrong with what happened last spring. In fact I believe that many good things are coming from all of this for the education field, but that is for another day in another post. I remember lying awake at night trying to refine and be innovative as I knew I had a great task before me. I struggled to have learning tasks that students could access. I struggled with the data that was coming in at the beginning of the year. I struggled and was overwhelmed. Maybe others can relate.  Then one day while we were engaging in math my current reality hit me and will forever stay with me about what it was like to be teaching in the era of a pandemic. 

We were working on addition in math. The answer was 5, my students were all 6 years old, so I just knew we’d be successful with writing a 5 in the answer space. In all honesty, even though we were adding, I just wanted the student to write the number 5 on their paper. It had been one of those lessons that I knew very little was successful and I was striving for something positive to come from the lesson so we could end and not feel totally defeated! As I walked the room some were getting the 5 on the paper, but not all, and as I circled one sweet young lady said to me, as she was looking up to me from her lonely social distanced desk, “I know the answer is 5 Mrs. Thompson, but it has been a REALLY long time since I held a pencil and I forgot how to write a 5.” And from this moment on I knew we have a different kind of challenge before us. And this gave me the perspective that having high expectations is all about growing kiddos from right where they are at in a very intentional and passionate way. And right there and then I taught her how to write a 5 because that is exactly what this child needed in that exact moment in time. 

Walkways 
As I reflect on my experiences, I could not have asked for a better experience, if I was going to have one. The students were so wonderful and excited to be in school learning. Families were so appreciative of all the work that was being done to support the safety and learning in our schools. There are so many amazing educators and administrators out there working hard every day and finding the best ways to educate children. One thing I shared with my students, their families and kept reminding myself was to focus on progress over perfection. None of us have done this before so we should not expect to be perfect. Learning and growing is messy, but  if we show up each day and  try our best we will make progress. 

And lastly, believe in them- the students, their families and the other amazing educator teams surrounding you!  We are all in this together and we are all growing together!


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January 21st, 2021

1/21/2021

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Finding the Relevance

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By Magali Saez-Cox

​If you’re like me, you’re not sure what it means to be bored. My to-do list is so long that even when I find a few minutes to myself, I have a long list of fun things to do. So, what is boredom? According to merriam-webster.com, boredom is “the state of being weary and restless through lack of interest.” Well, now that makes sense, a lack of interest. Hattie’s research mentions boredom having a -0.49 effect size in our classrooms; A NEGATIVE EFFECT SIZE!?! So, how might we turn a lack of interest into engagement and connection to the subjects in our virtual classrooms? The Distance Learning Playbook suggests finding the relevance. When students find the content relevant, boredom is turned into engagement. There are three aspects of relevancy: 1. personal association, 2. personal usefulness, and 3. personal identification. Combating boredom in the classroom is not about being entertaining or feeling like we have to move at the pace of video games. When we understand the depths of relevancy and how a stressed brain can feel like boredom, we can help our students connect to the content. 

Relevancy is personal. What I find interesting may not be to someone else (I am keenly aware of my nerdiness). Same goes for each of our students. We can help them find relevance through personal association (Distance Learning Playbook, p.98). Personal association is when students can connect the content through an object, person, memory or something outside of the classroom. When this connection is made, a spark to learn more occurs. Personal usefulness is the second aspect of relevance. What personal goals have students set for themselves that tasks or assignments in our classrooms will help them achieve? A student who desperately wants a dog might engage in non-fiction reading to find reasons to share with his family to convince them to get a dog. A high school student who has goals to become a doctor will be vested in her biology class. The final and most motivating way for students to find relevancy is through personal identification. The Distance Learning Playbook says, “When students get to learn about themselves, their problem-solving, and their ability to impact others, relevance is increased” (p. 99). When the content or task aligns with students’ identities, boredom is not an option. Not all of the responsibility of relevance falls on teachers. Helping students identify feelings of boredom can help them refocus and find their own relevance. 

Studies have shown that boredom is related to stress. When students’ brains are overpowered by stress, distractions from emotional trauma, and ADHD, they can disengage, feel distracted and bored. The answer is not to provide more assignments or to overstimulate which can create even more stress and disengagement. The key is to support students in identifying what is stressful, when they are bored, and what feelings of boredom are so they can self-regulate, ask for help and find ways to re-engage in tasks, texts and content. Helping students find their personal associations, personal usefulness, and personal identification can support their engagement. 

As teachers, we strive to find the magic button to engage our students. Knowing more about relevancy, how to create relevancy for students and what might be causing boredom can be the key to engaging our students.

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January 19th, 2021

1/19/2021

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ARE MY STUDENTS GETTING IT!?!?!?!?1?

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Formative Assessment in a Distanced World
By Grant Euler, Assistant (to the) Executive Director 
​Welcome to the latest installment of The Distance Learning Playbook K-12 blog.  We are sharing tips and tricks around teaching for engagement and impact in any setting.  The ideas shared in this blog series come from the Fisher, Frey and Hattie book, The Distance Learning Playbook and their recent webinar.

How do we know if our students are getting it? That question was hard enough to answer when we saw our students in person every day. Now, seeing them less frequently or perhaps not at all, this question requires some new ideas like so much else in lives right now. 

The idea that struck me most about this section of the book was the idea that good formative feedback needs to be both actionable by the teacher and the student.  With less direct teacher contact, students must take more responsibility for their own learning, and if we think about the student making a change in their learning based on the feedback (in the same way we would change our teaching), then formative feedback could actually scaffold the growth of students’ personal responsibility for their learning! 
Here are some ideas to help implement this idea.

VIRTUAL EXIT SLIPS: Have students just respond with number corresponding to their level of understanding, such as
  1. I’m just learning (I need more help).
  2. I’m almost there (I need more practice).
  3. I own it! (I can work independently).
  4. I’m a pro! (I can teach others)
Then, in the next class, group students based on their answers. For example having #4s with #1s and #2s to help instruct, #3s in a room practicing with each other. As the teacher I could then bounce between rooms to see how well the students rated themselves. At the end of the group time, have the students reflect on how they rated themselves. Over time students will be able to more accurately gauge their own understanding, which increases the effect size for feedback!
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VIRTUAL STORY RETELLING: For younger students, orally retelling a story can remove the writing constraint when trying to measure student’s understanding. If students record themselves retelling you have shared (perhaps recorded as well), it allows you to rewind and hear the student’s retelling more than once as well as providing a record to show growth over time. This strategy could be used in any content or age, where students would retell a story or explain a concept from a reading (such as osmosis from a science text).
There are other ideas in the book as well. If you have any questions, please contact me, I would love to chat with you!!
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January 14th, 2021

1/14/2021

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The Elementary Element
 ​Your one stop Grab-n-Go resource shop!

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We have heard loud and clear that teachers are looking for clearer communication.  AND timely resources to help support their daily instruction.

So we bring you The Elementary Element!  

Tired of multiple Schoology posts from various contents?  We hear you!  Our goal is to streamline the postings you see from content areas into one per week in this newsletter form.  Ed Tech will still provide just in time information through Schoology.

Check out The Elementary Element to find newly created or discovered resources from your C&I content teams, AMP, Ed Tech partners, READ team specialists, and Early Learning colleagues.  We’re looking to provide timely materials that will support your instruction and planning today - sample lesson and unit plans, proficiency scale resources, links to great resources from the field, and MORE!

Bookmark the link to the document, and then look for updates made weekly.  As always you can reach C&I and Ed Tech during office hours (M-F, 7:00 - 4:00).  Please stop by with any questions you might have about the use of the resources, or anything else!
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December 14th, 2020

12/14/2020

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Elementary ELA - Top Resources to Get the Help You Need!

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By Anne Folsom - Elementary ELA TOSA
We all know that time is the most precious resource of all - for people in all professions, but for teachers especially!  If you’re looking for help with all things ELA, start here:
Elementary ELA Resources for 2020 - 2021
This document is also linked in each unit in Bridge to Curriculum.  Here you will find:

  • Professional development sessions (slides and videos) about
    • Teaching a Remote Workshop
    • Planning Using the New ELA Units
    • Introduction to the New ELA Units
    • Introduction to Proficiency Scales
    • Multi-Grade Considerations
  • Quick Links to:
    • All vocabulary for each grade level
    • All proficiency scales for each grade level
    • All curriculum Maps for Each grade level
    • Lucy RUOS YAAG
  • Sample Lesson Plans for Narrative, Informational, and Research (coming 12/16) units
Another consideration for your professional learning needs is the Marzano Webinar Series.  This series of Webinars explain in depth the process and rationale behind proficiency scales in Jeffco.  There are 6 webinars in the series, and you are able to receive clock hour credit for reviewing all 6.  Just search #webinar here in the blog for quick access to all 6 webinars.  Then use this link for a little reflection and to get your clock hours.
Finally, USE YOUR TOSAs!  We are here to help you as you navigate these unusual times.  Have questions about planning, or finding resources, or using assessments, or anything ELA - just ask.  We’re available through email or chat, or you can always come to office hours (daily 7:00 AM - 4:00 PM) to talk to a friendly C&I colleague and get some support.
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Thank you for all you do - and please reach out if there are resources you’re looking for or questions you have.
Kristina Harris (kristina.harris@jeffco.k12.co.us)
Toni Bower (anntonette.bower@jeffco.k12.co.us)
Anne Folsom (anne.folsom@jeffco.k12.co.us)
Apryl Thompson (apryl.thompson@jeffco.k12.co.us)
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December 10th, 2020

12/10/2020

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Think Alongs

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By Kristina Harris
​A well planned think along ensures a higher degree of clarity for students. These can be recorded or live depending on the learning environment. However, teachers should be careful about not including too many ideas or allowing a stream of consciousness to be what is shared. In order to be succinct and simple teachers should keep the following in mind:
  1. Name the strategy, skill or task- “I’m going to think out loud about how I noticed repetition in this passage”
  2. State the purpose of the strategy, skill or task- “Good speakers who are giving a speech will often repeat a key idea or two again and again. It makes the message stick”
  3. Explain when the strategy or skill is used-” The first thing that got me noticing that there was going to be some repetition coming was in the first line of the paragraph  . .  . “
  4. Use analogies to link prior knowledge to new learning- “It’s like when I see a politician given a speech at a rally. They have a slogan and they repeat it over and over so you remember it.”
  5. Demonstrate how the skill, strategy or task is completed- “I’m going to show you the repetition I saw in the first paragraph. First, he says . . . then he says . . . Three times in one paragraph he repeats the same idea. 
  6. Alert learners to errors to avoid- “I have been on the lookout for how a repeated message can change. It’s like the telephone game when you whisper a message to one person, who then whispers to another. By the time it gets back the message is completely different, I look for repetition but also have to keep an eye out for how the message might change  when other speakers use it.”
  7. Assess the use of the skills- “So I am going to make note in the margin that there is repetition happening and highlight those sentences. I want to come back to the original message to compare it if others use a similar message. I want to be able to see if it has started the same or if it has changed.”

When using a think along consider using first person language to mirror what internal dialogue students may use. It is human nature to respond to empathetic statements such as the use of “I” statements. 

Examples
  • First-person statement- “When I read this term, I’m confused so I scan back up to the bolded definition in the previous paragraph to remind myself what it means.”
  • Second-person statement-” When you run into an unfamiliar term, remember to scan back up and reread the bolded definition”

Novice learners need to know not only the strategy but when to apply it.

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December 07th, 2020

12/7/2020

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How does the Acadience Assessment align with Proficiency Scales?

By Lisa Bayer and the READ team

 Are we teaching two different things?
These are common questions that many educators ask.  Fortunately, we don’t have to teach two different things!!  If you use the proficiency scales as a guide you will be preparing your students for the Acadience assessment as well as meeting requirements from the proficiency scales

Want to know how to do this?
.Exciting news!  Jeffco has aligned the Acadience assessment with the proficiency scales in grades K-3. The document below will show you how each benchmark assessment (BOY, MOY, and EOY) for the Acadience assessment and where the proficiency scales align.  

2020-2021 Crosswalk-Acadience and Proficiency Scale components
As we move into the testing season, here are some additional documents that will help you get started as we move to remote assessment and instruction.  
Winter High Priority Information for Acadience Testing
Acadience 2020 Teacher supports
Downloads for Acadience testing
Remote testing guidelines

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December 01st, 2020

12/1/2020

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How Do You Make Student Thinking the Currency in Your Classroom?

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By C&I Math TEAM

Maybe you remember when Graham Fletcher was in Jeffco last year?  Or, perhaps you saw Dan Meyer when he was here in January of 2019.  Graham Fletcher quoted James Hiebert in Making Sense: Teaching and Learning Mathematics with Understanding, saying “Student thinking is the currency in the classroom.”  How do we make the learning in the classroom center around students’ ideas?
Jo Boaler says, “By putting problems first, we give students opportunities to make sense, rather than follow prescribed rules.”
When students are making sense of problems, they have valuable ideas to share with their peers.  These ideas, and the conclusions thereof, provide the necessary depth and complexity for students to evaluate, synthesize, adjust, and adapt when problem solving.  These shared ideas are gold we want to mine.  They are the currency of the classroom!
Where do we find problems worthy of our students’ time and attention?  Jo Boaler’s website youcubed.com has lots of math resources.  The staff there has even collected some into “A Week of Inspirational Math.”  These playlists are designed to help students begin to take ownership of their own meaning making.  
Math 3-Act Tasks also provide opportunities for students’ thinking to become central to the classroom conversation.  Graham Fletcher has many ready made tasks for the elementary grades.  Check out Dan Meyer’s 3-Act Math for secondary.
Making student thinking the currency in the classroom isn’t specific to just the math classroom.  The Wonder of Science is a great resource to find rich, inquiry-based problems that encourage students to share their ideas.  EverFi offers engaging digital curriculum from Personal Financial Literacy to Social Emotional Learning and also STEM and Career Readiness.  Actively Learn is a powerful tool for finding texts and videos that support multiple content areas.  Jeffco has a premier membership for teachers and students 5th through 12th grade.  Here is a recorded webinar from EdTech to get started! 
Across the day, students need to share their ideas and make their own meaning.  So, what problems are you going to give your students to grapple with?

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November 30th, 2020

11/30/2020

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Engaging Students who are Hard to Reach

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By Anne Folsom
There are learners in every classroom that are hard to reach.  We teachers know the value of relationships, and we work our hardest to build connections with all of the kids in our room.  We know that ALL of our instruction and ALL of their learning will be better if we start with a respectful and caring relationship.

But sometimes, it doesn’t work quite as well.  We have students that are more challenging to connect with and who are more disengaged.  The Distance Learning Playbook invites us to, “[Flip] the switch on this narrative by intentionally increasing your positive attention efforts with students you have identified as being difficult to reach.”

The book suggests using a chart to record your interactions with 3 students who you’re having a hard time reaching.  Challenge yourself to interact with them each day by:
  • Greeting them by name
  • Using their name in a positive way during a lesson
  • Asking a critical thinking question
  • Asking a personal question
  • Paying them a compliment
  • Praising them for learning performance

Use your data to make decisions about how you might increase your positive interactions with these students.  And track the changes you see - positive relationships are sure to increase!
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November 20th, 2020

11/20/2020

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Passionately Curious


By Joanie Farrow
Ever since I can remember, my mom would tuck me in bed, kiss me on the forehead and whisper “Lead with love.”  Long after I grew up and had children of my own, that nighttime ritual continued with a phone call or a text from my mom.  When I had my own children I began the same tradition with a little modification; “Lead with love. Stay curious.” 
I have always been a bit obsessed with restoring kids’ ability to wonder in school.  We are living in an age of complexity, with a global pandemic, rapid technological changes, growing indifference, and ever increasing demands on teachers.  Recently I was asked to dive into that complexity and shift from being a math Teacher on Special Assignment to teaching a remote sixth grade class.  I had 48 hours to prepare and I was nervous. In 20 years of teaching I had never taught students remotely.  I worried about all of the uncertainties and complexities -  how would I make this experience joyful and meaningful?  As my anxiety and deep sense of being overwhelmed grew, I decided to approach the new journey of keeping my students engaged, motivated, and learning in a remote environment by trusting that if I led with love and fostered curiosity, the rest would come. 
Did You Know There Is a CQ?
We have all heard of IQ and EQ.  IQ stands for intellectual quotient and refers to mental ability and EQ stands for emotional quotient and concerns our ability to perceive, control, and express emotions.  But did you know there is an equally important CQ?  CQ, or the curiosity quotient, measures an individual’s desire to know. Knowing there was a lack of student driven curiosity in my past face to face classrooms, I became deeply focused on the importance fostering students’ desire to know in the remote environment.  According to the Harvard review, “CQ concerns having a hungry mind.  People with higher CQ, or intellectual curiosity, are more inquisitive and open to new experiences.  They find novelty exciting and are quickly bored with routine.  They tend to generate many original ideas and are counter-conformist.”  CQ leads to higher levels of intellectual investment and knowledge acquisition over time, especially in formal education (Chamorro-Premuzic, T. , 2014).  Many researchers contend that not only does intellectual curiosity make a big difference in learner outcomes, but it also increases overall happiness.  So, not only is curiosity linked to better memory and job prospects – it also makes people happier!  People who are curious report increased levels of satisfaction and mental well-being (Leslie, 2015).  

Ways to Foster Curiosity in the Remote Environment
Although IQ is hard to coach, CQ can be developed.  A strong sense of curiosity is the key to student engagement, motivation and developing a lifelong passion for learning.   If students are curious, engagement and motivation issues are naturally resolved. This became an important daily goal in my remote classroom.  There are numerous ways to foster curiosity in the remote classroom.  Here are a few that worked for me. 

Science - Begin each topic with a phenomena - Students’ attention is instantly focused when we share the experience of viewing a truly unique scientific phenomena.  A phenomenon is simply an observable event.  In the science classroom a carefully chosen phenomenon can drive student inquiry.  It leads to questions, speculations, and energy you can feel through the screen.  Mondays in my virtual classroom became phenomena time, and even the sleepiest of students never missed a Monday morning science class.  The phenomena became a launch pad for asynchronous science weekly work, where students did quality problem based learning on their own and couldn't wait to come back together on Fridays and share what they learned and created.

Math - Start with curiosities, puzzlements, logic, riddles etc.  We began every single daily lesson with these.  Students loved starting math with an atypical math problem, sharing their thinking and asking questions.  They learned to love slowing down and enjoying the challenge of maybe only one right answer but so many ways to find it!  The few times I tried to skip this and dive right into a mini-lesson, my students were quick to protest.

ELA - Read aloud. No matter what the age of your students, read aloud to them.  My students couldn’t wait to curl up with a blanket or a pet or both and listen to the next chapter. This is how I ended my ELA sessions and students looked forward to it.  Sometimes we read more than one chapter; and sometimes I stopped in the middle of a chapter. I started each session by having a student share their summary of where we ended the day before.  Then we all shared our predictions for what would come next - myself included! Through purposefully questioning and intentionally letting students do the talking before, during, and after a read aloud, my students slowly believed in their ability to wonder in the remote environment. Through daily read alouds we bonded; we shared our predictions and feelings, laughed, cried, and imagined. 

Social Studies - Take virtual field trips. Yes we read, and we wrote, and students created amazing projects - but what kept them curious?  Inspired?  Motivated?  Virtual field trips! Take them with your students during synchronous time so you can share the experience in real time. Student choice is key to curiosity.  I allowed students to add to our classroom playlist of virtual field trips they would like to take.  During the virtual experiences, plan on pausing and reflecting live about what they saw, heard and felt. 

My Wish For You...
Albert Einstein famously said, “I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.”  My experience left me with a renewed appreciation of the impact curiosity has on student engagement, participation, motivation, and overall happiness.  When I close my eyes, I can see my now 18 year old daughter when she was two wandering around the house kissing each cat and dog on the forehead and whispering “Lead with Love”  and “Stay Curious.”  The pets seemed to get it.  My remote students got it.  My daughter is still curious. And so that is my wish for you...lead with love and keep your students curious.  Happy Thanksgiving, Jeffco teachers!  I am grateful for you, and the entire Jefferson County community is grateful for you.

For more tips and resources that I used for relevant k-12 phenomena, read alouds, math puzzles and virtual field trips, check out the links below.
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Science
The Wonder of Science
Project Phenomenon
Wonderopolis

Math
Esti Mysteries 
Would You Rather?
Splat!  
Estimation 180

ELA
100 Best Read Alouds
Good Reads

Social Studies
Discovery Ed Virtual Trips
The Nature Conservancy

Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2014). Curiosity is as important as intelligence. Harvard Business Review,24(4), 166–171.
Leslie, Ian. Curious: The Desire to Know and Why Your Future Depends on It. Basic Books, 2015.

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