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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Chat from 9/5: "How to be a Common Core Instructional Leader"

This is a summary from the September 5th #NCADMIN chat:
(Note: Not every tweet from the chat is included) 



Good evening everyone! Welcome to tonight's  chat! Looking forward to a great night of sharing
I'm happy to introduce our guest moderator tonight for our chat! Esteemed educator  , Assoc Supt
You R the instructional leader in your building. The tone u set for integrating new standards will permeate your halls & classrooms
Q-1 As instructional leaders, with the CCSS, what are the major look-fors for classroom walkthroughs? 
 A1 - I will be looking for evidence of planned rigor and opportunities for critical analysis for students to engage in
A1: Students answering questions of various Revised Bloom's Taxonomy levels, which blankets all subjects/content areas.
Have any of you seen this CCSS walkthrough app before? 
A1: I would encourage admins to look for the use of EQs to help teachers & students focus on key content in the CCSS. 



Im looking for higher order thinking skills also plus who is the hardest working person in the classroom teacher or student 
 We have been pushing "I can" statements; I require teachers to post these, in lieu of EQ's. 
I look for text dependent questions, more emphasis on the thinking behind answers. 
A1: I'll be looking for all of the things previously mentioned as well as the language and vocabulary of the CCSS and NCES 
These EQs & "I can" statements should be generated by teams of teachers in PLC meetings and focused on the key standards.
 we use google docs to create  form that fits the needs of our school ex. Formative assessment 
  Vocabulary focus will be critical for CCSS standards
 We are asking our leaders "How will you identify power standards / essential skill for grade levels or subject areas?"
A1 During walkthroughs make sure you look for a focus on reading and writing to build knowledge in all subject areas 
 For admins, I would suggest reading about the shifts in text complexity for ELA and the 8 Standards for Math Practice 1st
 Great pts so far! Do you think there's been TOO much emphasis placed on I Can statements vs EQs
 you can see true PLC work by common "I can" statements in the classrooms. 
 check out "dynamic literacy program" 
Those 2 things are great starting pts for an admin to start. Start small, monitor fidelity of implementation and expand look-fors
A1 Looking for collaboration, interdisciplinary connections, engaging tech integration, non fiction integration 
 great conversation going on tonight 
I feel the "I can" statements are beneficial when students understand purpose. If students aren't aware of them, what's the point? 
 
EQ's I believe are more effective because it requires students to understand the learning target for that days lesson 
Q-2 How are you aligning your resources (human & capital) & assessments 2 the CCSS & how R U monitoring the fidelity of alignment? 
 In our district we used 5 PD days to align resources and assessments thru google docs. It's ever growing as we find more resources
A2: NCCS called a team of leaders across the district to become experts in areas of the CCSS and train/support teachers over time.
Required PLC's that meet each week and check the pacing guides as they plan 
I believe the essential question is helpful to see make connections throughout curriculum- broad/overarching - 
A2: our common planning is even more valuable for PLC collaboration this year; teachers aligning instruction, analyzing data, etc. 
 A2 We have the required days as well but our teachers are realizing they can't wait for teacher work days
We had teams of educators work to develop and align resources and assessments during the summer. Work is ongoing 
 Our collab planning in  groups will be what makes the difference
A2: Each AP is assigned a tested area PLC and attends the meetings. Every PLC is required to meet twice-per-week. 
I can statements are more specific and do set the purpose for lesson - both have different purpose 
A2: A shared Google Doc helps district leadership monitor follow-up support provided by these district CCSS experts. 
 The shift is to help them move from compliance to changing behaviors 
 Our instructional team, principal, APs, instructional coaches will focus on the informal monitoring for the main focuses
Teachers have common planning five days a week. All grade level teams also meet on their own several days a week after school
 And some of our PLC's don't need any admin assistance; therefore, I bring my own skill to group, usually data analy. 
 We all have the 5 days, I'm curious what are you doing that will uniquely prepare/support teachers? A2 ish
 What is the admin's role in this? 
PLC's are also focusing on the use of common formative assessments and using that data to drive instruction 
My Common Core page:  Yes, I have "I Can Statement" links there.
 We used the time to train (don't assume they know), then have all common grade teacher across district work together
DC K-8 teachers have plan time but not seeing the focus on common core, at least not what I have observed in my first weeks there.
We did county level work last year and through the summer to align and unpack. We are also using our collaborative planning time
A2: Back to the monitoring question > Admins HAVE to be part of the instructional conversations. How else can they monitor? 
EVASS Data shows where our strongest PLC's are so is our greatest growth 
Q-3 How are you communicating the CCSS to stakeholders and helping them understand the shift? 
A3: We had presentations for students & parents at Freshman Camp; district provided handful of parent info sessions last spring. 
 A3 This is one area I need to do better in. I need to plan share sessions for parents and students
We created this and sent home with all students in district to communicate the common core shift
 No longer is it ok for us to lecture and hope students can regurgitate information back to us on a SUMMATIVE type assessment
Teams of teachers created Essential Skills posters in kid-friendly language and brochures in parent-friendly language. 
 The district sent a letter home with all students. At my school we are planning a parent meeting to give an overview
 we have to challenge students to be creative and to be treasure hunters. Searching and investigating to find answers to their ?'s
 A3 I just met with our 'communications team', this will be a great piece to add to our weekly communication that goes home
 I like the concept of a "communications team". Much needed in schools. 
 We also had informational meetings at each school. Real questions will come when they see no more traditional Alg I, etc.
 students in our school get frustrated because we will NOT spoonfeed them answers. They have to take ownership
Q-4 What kind of support and resources do YOU need as an instructional leader? 
We are using an early release day this month to bring grade level teams together to plan common lessons w/CCSS focus. 
Curriculum and PR Teams will be adding info to our school website, share with local media, and provide info to homes regularly 
Agreed! RT : What kind of support/ resources do YOU need as an instructional leader?  to host more chats!!
More examples of what a great common core lesson looks like inside the classroom (videos). This way we can show teachers examples
A4: Tonight's conversation has been a tremendous help. Effective professional growth! 
Teachers must embrace common core teaching is not just different but more difficult. Spoonfeeding is easier. must support tchrs
 I need specific best practices and opportunities to share ideas and build them - great conversations A4
A4: Time to work with teachers across teams to support, coach and build collegial relationships 
 Yes! Identifying model lessons, teachers, & classrooms is a great support for implementing CCSS well. 
A4: Time to study and learn as much as I can about CCSS and specific and effective instructional practices to share with teachers
 We R working on. We R setting up "model classrooms" for CCSS & giving teachers 1/2 day sub to observe/discuss. 
 great point. And often the sample is helpful if it is in their subject area, grade or discipline. 
 that is a great idea. Would love to see examples and share between schools. 
Sept 24th will be this school year's 1st  focus on CCSS. Previous chats are on My  page: 
 I'll post on  our plan for this. We are also toying with idea of videoing model  classrooms and critiquing in PLC
 is a good place to start. 
 It's important that teachers know where they are with new common core, where they're going, and how to get there. Lots of support
MT  we R creating benchmark assessments that R aligned to our new pacing guides. We are using rbt to write questions. 
Important to go to professional dev and PLC's and listen and asking questions then researching further using my PLN 
For what it's worth, pre-service teachers are digging into CCSS in their teacher ed programs & will enter the field equipped! 
 This foreshadows a possible future chat topic; Jayme, you might be called upon to moderate! 
Hopefully the implementation of new standards will allow teachers to feel more open to ask for help & support. 
It may be beneficial to have a common core for admins link on the blog. We could post resources there for those who miss the chat
 we are using Classcapes to build benchmarks
   I would love for that to be a future topic "what do preservice teachers need to be prepared for CCSS"
 Absolutely; new page on site will be strictly for resources. Great collection shared tonight. 
 GREAT sharing everyone. Thanks for all of your sharing.
Tonight's chat epitomizes why I'm requiring my students (pre-service teachers) to participate in one twitter chat this semester. 
Enjoyed my first  chat tonight! Learned a lot! Thanks everyone!
 I can't wait until the next chat. Be on the lookout for the new additions to the blog
 Thanks to everyone for joining! Special thanks to for moderating! WOW! This was expertise no others could bring!









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