Learning Progressions Walking Tour - Professional Development at Sacajawea

Parents sometimes ask what we do when we have student free days for "professional development."  What exactly is that?  This is an understandable question, as we know it is an extra burden for parents to plan additional child-care, schedules, rides, etc on these days.

What do we do on these days?  We learn to be better teachers and to use more effective methods of instruction.  A couple big ideas we have been working on all year long, starting with book groups and conferences this summer, are "Learning Progressions" and "Success Criteria."

To learn effectively, a student needs to have a clear idea:

• What specifically they are learning
• Where they are in the learning progression (a sequence of skills from novice to more advanced in a particular area)
• What they need to learn next.
• How they will know or be able to prove that they have learned it (Success Criteria).

Our teams worked on a few important learning projects at Sacajawea on Thursday, including teaching scientific inquiry, personalizing reading practice and building better instruction in math and ELA (English, Language Arts).

One simple activity was surprisingly powerful as a learning tool for us.  Our instructional coach, Mrs. Knowlton, took us on a field trip up and down each hall in Sacajawea to see the different ways we have implemented "Learning Progressions," "Success Criteria," and the idea of the "Learning Pit" in each of our classrooms.  We walked to eight or ten rooms from kindergarten to 5th grade and learned so much from examples shared by our colleagues.

All of these examples really are up and used in our classrooms.  None of these teachers knew we were going to visit their classroom until a few seconds before we headed to their room.  They shared their real life instructional tools.

Professionals ready to learn from each other, clipboards in hand.

Mrs. Campbell shows us a writing learning progression for kindergarten writing from 1 star to 4 stars.

Mrs. Friddle shows us a 1st grade learning progression with examples from each level of writing.
They are posted on the wall so kids can compare their own writing.  

Mrs. Rohall shows us how she uses "Austin's Butterflies" as an example of working towards great writing in 1st grade.

Ms. Morton shows us her learning progression for 2nd grade addition and subtraction.
Students are eager to show that they can move from one level to the next more advanced level.

Ms. Burton uses this learning progression for 2nd grade reading fluency.
Students advance their avatar when they can prove they are at the next level.
They also use a similar progression for addition and subtraction fluency.

Mrs. Cataline shows us their learning progression for 3rd grade writing with examples at each level.

Mrs. Hoilien's learning progression for 3rd grade math.

Ms. Lovell shows us the learning progression they use for 4th grade writing.
They also use writing folders with rubrics and checklists for ARMS and CUPS (revision and editing).

4th Graders use this "I'm Lovin' It" tool to choose more effective words for their writing.

Mr. Thomas uses criteria to determine physical intensity in PE too.  

We use the concept of "The Learning Pit" throughout our school.
Mrs. Olsen shows how they have adapted theirs to also include different levels of cognitive demand and to include typical phrases or feelings that kids might have as they struggle through the learning pit and up the other side to understanding.

What Sac Teachers Did This Summer - Learning

Like our students and families, the summer schedule for our teachers is a little different.  We get some flexibility to do some things we don't get to do the rest of the year.  We love vacation as much as our students do.  We need to be refreshed before we can jump into a new year (We are almost ready).  We'll do some other posts about the fun things and adventures we have had this summer.  If you dropped by a local coffee shop in June or July (Thanks to The Bird Stop and The Flying M) you might have bumped into a few Sacajawea teachers.  We have read three different books this summer and have met to discuss the main ideas and how we can use them.

The books we have read are:

• Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning by John Hattie
• How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough
• Teach Like a Pirate: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator by Dave Burgess

Several of us also attended professional conferences this summer. Hundreds of Caldwell teachers worked on math and English and language arts during the CSD curriculum institutes in June.  I was lucky to be able to attend the "Visible Learning" institute with several teachers from Sacajawea and from other Caldwell schools. We were challenged but I think we brought back some great ideas.  The collaborative learning atmosphere was one of the best professional learning experiences I have had with our staff.  We are excited about putting our ideas into action.

Sacajawea Teachers at the Visible Learning Institute

Five Skyhawk teachers and I also attended the Southwest Idaho Google for Education Summit at Idaho State University.  Again, we gathered many new ideas.  We look forward to sharing what we learned with other teachers on August 6th.

Mrs. Friddle and Mrs. Saunders Learn About New Tools