TLC Updates from Kathy and Dana

Update from the Teaching Learning Cycle (TLC) Trainings

From Kathy Devendorf and Dana Lott

·      The “Study” phase has been our big topic for the first three sessions.

·      Important understandings about the study phase:

o   This is not yet about the “what” of teaching (that is considered the planning phase); instead, the study phase addresses the “why” and the “how.”

o   These conversations set purpose for our work with students.

·      Some of you are already participating in this phase of the Teaching Learning Cycle, but we are learning strategies for deepening our understanding of it.

·      We’ve written a few sample Enduring Understandings regarding writing so that you can get a feel for how they sound.

o   We’ve purposely made them:

§  General, broad, philosophical

§  In kid-friendly language—ultimately, we want to share these with students

§  Reaching all grade levels in our building

·      These are only samples of what teams can come up with during the study phase

·      These will be posted in the theater area for us all to view

·      The district may be releasing a few very broad “interdisciplinary” Enduring Understandings (EU’s), but for them to “give these to us” would contradict the purpose for coming up with them in our teams.

·      Most recently, the focus of our trainings have focused on rigor and relevance- these were our group’s definitions based on an activity we did:

o   Rigor=begin with high expectations, focus on deep learning for students, quality vs. quantity

o   Relevance=making connections, kids being able to authentically/genuinely answer the “why are we doing this” question, enthusiasm and passion for a topic are apparent, teachers are able to “hook” the learners

The TLC is not “going away” from the district anytime soon.  It is our primary framework for all of the interactions we have with each other and our students.  We (Kathy and Dana) are a support for accessing ideas for implementation with your teams and colleagues.  We would be happy to meet with you to share more specific materials and information of you are interested. (We don’t want to give materials out of context, as that just gives everyone extra paper. J)  We are all in different places in the TLC process, and we don’t want this to be “one more thing” to get to, since so much is going on in the building right now,

Some materials we have available:

·      Suggested materials to bring to a study session based on content area

·      Unit planner to capture a study conversation

·      Quotes that define what rigor and relevance are

·      TLC Rubric for the study phase

·      DVD recording of a team working in the study phase for a math unit (coming soon)

·      Articles that help define the big ideas in the study phase

That is our quick synopsis for now.  More will come as we have future training sessions.  If you have nay questions, please feel free to see Dana and/or Kathy!  Thanks for reading!

ERD on November 17th!

Hi Teaching Staff!
If you are interested, I will be hosting a short "training" in the library on Wed. Nov, 17, 2010.  We will start at 1:30.  I want to take an opportunity to:
1.  show you how to navigate my blog posts (on both blogs),
2.  show you the library webpage and some resources available there, and
3.  teach you a bit about Destiny--you have an account, and  you CAN use it!
Hope to see you there!  It should last about 30-40 minutes.  Thanks!

Shout outs and Individual Library Visits

Hi!  I'd love to begin this post with a couple of "shout outs" to teachers with whom I've collaborated with recently! 
Here's to Jeff Ward--Thanks so much for letting me come into the classroom and truly co-teach a couple of writing lessons as kids turned their notes into paragraphs.  I had a blast being a part of your classroom community for writing!
Here's to Colin Ellerbruch and Melinda Younger--Thanks for trying out Glogs with your students!!!  It takes courage to step out and try a new tech tool with your kids!  Well done!!
And here's to First Grade Team--Pat Piche, Jennifer Crouch, and Stacy Hestermann--who were incredible to work with during a descriptive paragraph writing unit!  I had so much fun using mentor texts and teaching writing mini-lessons with you and your students.  Thanks!
I am looking forward to upcoming collaborations with third grade (country research) as well as second grade (writing support)!

The Library Advisory Council had their first meeting November 2nd. These were the topics shared with the team:

• Sharing of Developing Power Library Plan
• Specific materials needed for grade levels
• New Internet Safety Professional Tech books
• Databases and Discovery Education as wonderful resources
• How we are circulating CCBA books
• Book Fair prifits were about $1,300--we are using some of it to host an author this year-Laurie Keller didn’t pan out after all, looking into Justin Matott and David Cronk
• Feedback on passes?
• Flexible schedule working well!
• Please make sure kids are still coming down to the library other than their weekly time; centers is a great time for this type of visit!
• Some kids who visit us regularly are already past their 20th visit and working toward their 30th! :)  Some terrific first graders have already come for 20 times as well!  Yippee! (Kids recieve a cool reading keychain--kind of like a dogtag--on their 20th visit as a celebration for the milestone!)

Thanks so much to the Library Avdisory Council and Power Library Team for their help on this committee!! These people are: Sheri Gurule, Erin Dolan, Chuck Freeman, Jeanne Vollmar, Jeff Ward, Craig VanPatten, Christy Walp, Jennifer Crouch, and Margo Walsh.  If you have any questions, please see one of the team members or Dana.