Category Archives: Connecting Ideas

Conferences, Connecting Ideas, Learning, Questions, Reflection

The Science of Early Learning and Adversity: Daily Leadership to Promote Development and Buffer Stress Day 1

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Rhonda Mitchell (@rgmteach) and I are attending The Science of Early Learning and Adversity: Daily Leadership to Promote Development and Buffer Stress at The Saul Zaentz Professional Learning Academy. This professional development features keynote speaker Walter Gilliam (@WalterGilliam).

How can early education leaders support the design and implementation of strong early learning environments—those that buffer stress, reduce challenging behaviors, and promote development?

Agenda (with my notes)

Today’s Early Education Landscape
with Nonie Lesaux and Stephanie Jones

Understanding Stress and Behavior
in the Early Education Environment
with Walter Gilliam

Reflection and Application
with Walter Gilliam and the Zaentz Team
facilitated by Robin Kane

Strategic Planning Session
facilitated by Robin Kane and Emily Bautista

My list to think about, reflect on, and grapple with  from today includes:

  • Micro-stresses pile up.
  • How might we pay attention to and recognize stress?
    (Student stress, teacher stress, family stress, leadership stress.)
  • Empathy: Who is it given to? From whom is it withheld?
  • What are we looking for and who are we looking at?
  • How might we anticipate expected “unexpected” events?
  • What structures can be put in place to support learners, teachers, families, leaders?
  • When sharing information about a learner, check intent. Are we sharing knowledge and understanding to support the learner?
    • Can we offer evidence to show what we know and understand?
    • Can we share information without adding judgement and labels?
Ask Don't Tell, Assessment, Connecting Ideas, Creativity, Learning Progressions, Professional Development Plans

Summer PD: Day 3 Empower Learners

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Summer Literacy and Math Professional Learning
June 5-9, 2017
Day 3 – Empower Learners
Jill Gough and Becky Holden

I can empower learners to reach for the next independent level in their learning.

Learning target and pathway:

It is not easy, but we need to shift from being the givers of knowledge to becoming the facilitators of knowledge development.  (Flynn, 8 pag.)

UED: 8:45 – 11:15  / EED: 12:15 – 2:45

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Slide deck

Resources:

Connecting Ideas, Learning, Presentations, Professional Development Plans

Summer PD: Day 2 Mathematical Flexibility

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Summer Literacy and Mathematics Professional Learning
June 5-9, 2017
Day 2 – Mathematical Flexibility
Jill Gough and Becky Holden

Today’s focus and essential learning:

I can demonstrate mathematical flexibility to show what I know in more than one way.

(but , what if I can’t?)

Learning target and pathway:

Mathematics is a subject that allows for precise thinking, but when that precise thinking is combined with creativity, flexibility, and multiplicity of ideas, the mathematics comes alive for people (Boaler, 58 pag.)

…we know that what separates high achievers from low achievers is not that high achievers know more math, it is that they interact with numbers flexibly and low achievers don’t.  (Boaler, n. pag.)

UED: 8:45 – 11:15  / EED: 1:15 – 2:45

 Slide deck

Resources:

#LL2LU, Connecting Ideas, Learning, Learning Progressions, Presentations, Professional Development Plans, Questions

Summer PD: Day 1 Make Sense; Persevere

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Summer Literacy and Mathematics Professional Learning
June 5-9, 2017
Day 1 – Make Sense and Persevere
Jill Gough and Becky Holden

Today’s focus and essential learning:

We want all mathematicians to be able to say:

I can make sense of tasks
 and persevere in solving them.

(but… what if I can’t?)

Great teachers lead us just far enough down a path so we can challenge for ourselves. They provide us just enough insight so we can work toward a solution that makes us, makes me want to jump up and shout out the solution to the world, makes me want to step to the next higher level.  Great teachers somehow make us want to ask the questions that they want us to answer, overcome the challenge that they, because they are our teacher, believe we need to overcome. (Lichtman, 20 pag.)

… designed to help students slow down and really think about problems rather than jumping right into solving them. In making this a routine approach to solving problems, she provided students with a lot of practice and helped them develop a habit of mind for reading and solving problems.  (Flynn, 19 pag.)

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Agenda and Tasks:

Slide deck:

Resources:

#LL2LU, Assessment, Connecting Ideas, Learning Progressions, Professional Development Plans, Reading

Summer PD: Literacy and Numeracy

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As part of our practice, we offer in-house summer professional learning around literacy and numeracy.

There are two strands that both focus on the workshop model and conferring with students in literacy and in math.  Tiffany Coleman (@TColemanReads)and Lisa Eickholdt (@LisaEickholdt) will each join us on June 5th and 6th, respectively, to further our work in conferring.  On June 7th, Marsha Harris (@MarshaMac74) will round out the literacy work with a session on differentiation.  Jill Gough (@jgough) and Becky Holden (@bholden86) will facilitate three days of interactive math learning so that it parallels the work in literacy.
Here’s the big picture view of the professional learning days:
 Our essential learnings are based on ALT’s goal for all faculty-learners:
Connecting Ideas, Professional Development Plans, Questions

Fall PD Opportunity: Embolden Your Inner Mathematician #TrinityLearns

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How do we effectively lead mathematics education in the era of the digital age?  We commit to curation of best practices, connections between mathematical ideas, and communication to learn and share with a broad audience.  

To build confidence as well as a more visual approach to elementary mathematics learning and teaching, we have designed ongoing, early morning, job-embedded professional learning around teaching practices and current research. 

Goals:

At the end of the semester, teacher-learners should be able to say:

  • I can exercise mathematical flexibility to show what I know in more than one way.
  • I can make sense of tasks and persevere in solving them.
  • I can work within NCTM’s Eight Mathematical Teaching Practices for strengthening the teaching and learning of mathematics.

Details:

Facilitators:

The weekly schedule of topics are as follows:

If you are  interested in emboldening your inner mathematician and would like to join us, please contact us for additional details.

Jill Gough | Director of Teaching & Learning
Experiments in Learning by Doing | Jill Gough notes
jgough@trinitatl.org | @jgough

Trinity School | www.trinityatl.org
4301 Northside Parkway | Atlanta, GA 30327
Phone 404.240.6220 | Fax 404.231.8111

Connecting Ideas, Information Age Learning, Learning, Learning Progressions, Professional Development Plans, Reading, Social-Emotional, Summer Reading, TED talk

Summer Learning 2017 – Choices and VTR – here’s the data

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In a previous post, Summer Learning 2017 – Flyer and Choices, I describe our summer learning plans and choices.  We make a commitment to read and learn every summer.  This year, in addition to books and a stream of TED talks, Voices of Diversity, we offer the opportunity to read children’s literature and design learning intentions around character and values.

Here’s the data on what we selected to learn:

Another way to consider the data:

Throughout the year, the Academic Leadership Team has been working with teacher-teams in many ways in support of our team goal shown below.

We can design and implement a differentiated action plan across our  divisions to meet all learners where they are.

Tier 1 Differentiation: Learner Choice and Voice

Our plan involves using the Visible Thinking Routine Sentence-Phrase-Word across all selections to notice and note important, thought-provoking ideas.

Tier 2 Differentiation: Level Up Pathway to Success

To meet our expectations, learners should read, view, or plan closely using the Visible Thinking Routine Sentence-Phrase-Word when engaging with their selection.  To exceed our expectations, learners again have choice.  They can use both Sentence-Phrase-Word and Connect-Extend-Challenge for deeper, connected thinking. Or, learners can learn and share publicly using #TrinityLearns, #TrinityReads or posting comments on the connected blog pages for reading a book, viewing the TED talks, or using children’s literature to build character foundation.

Be together, not the same. Learn and share. Level up when you can.