The end is near... December 14-23

The next week and a half will feel like both the longest and shortest weeks of the year!  It's crazy and fun, and absolutely exhausting.  It's full of excitement, but with that comes the extra management of young kids during the holidays.  10 more days of chaos = 10 days of blissful break.... By December 23, we will all be ready!

Be sure to take time over the winter break to rejuvenate.  Relax and spend time with family and friends.  Rest.  Decompress.  Restore.

Then, when January comes, be ready to hit the ground running!  As we know, January and February are often the most productive learning times - so let's be ready.  We've had lots of ideas and initiatives to process - pick one or two things to focus on and be ready to implement when we get back.  

I have a deep admiration for the dedication, compassion, hard work, and expertise you bring to work every day.  Take care of yourselves, restore yourselves, so we can sustain that momentum through the next half of the year.

Hang in there!
Sue

Keep Learning Going During Holiday Times

taken from Responsive Classroom

What can you do to help your students stay on track and learn at their best during this season? We've found that an extra measure of calmness, consistency, and structure can work wonders. Here are some strategies you might want to try...

Stick to Routines
As much as you can, stick to the routines that you've established to shape the school day. For instance, if a daily Morning Meeting is part of your routine, you may find it's even more helpful now. 
Notice and Reinforce Success

• Be specific, describing the behavior you want to commend in detail and explaining why it's helpful. For instance, "I saw classmates helping each other wipe off tables after snack. That really fits our classroom rule that says 'Take care of each other.'"
• Use positive words that do not single out any one child. For instance, "Lots of people lined up quickly today and waited quietly with hands and bodies under control. That gives us more time on the playground!"

Revisit Hopes, Dreams, and Classroom Rules
Any time children are going off track is a good time to review behavioral expectations. When planning such reviews, it's tempting to think about what the children "should" be able to do by now (It's December—they should know how to sit quietly for sharing!). But it's much more productive to keep your focus on what the children can do right now and what they need from you to help them do better.
Keep Expectations High but AppropriateAppreciate the extra energy your students may have during holidays or other exciting times and anticipate that they'll need to expend some of that energy.
Read Aloud

Engaging read-alouds can really help children focus and calm themselves. Look for extra opportunities to read aloud, just for a few minutes.
Keep the Learning Going

It's natural for children's behavior to veer a bit off track during exciting or stressful times. During such times, observe your students, hold them firmly but kindly to classroom expectations, and make a few simple adjustments in your teaching practice.

And above all, try to have fun the next few weeks!  It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Sue

Attitude of Gratitude

Houlton Elementary Staff

I am thankful for…

• Teachers who care about their students, as if they were their own.
Teachers who stay up to speed with best practices, and apply their new learning in their classrooms.
• Teachers who are playful, and love what they do!

It’s that time of year to think about everything you have to be thankful for. Although it’s nice to count your blessings on Thanksgiving, being thankful throughout the year has tremendous benefits on your quality of life. Research reveals gratitude can have these its benefits...

1. Gratitude opens the door to more relationships. Not only does saying “thank you” show good manners, but showing appreciation can help you win new friends.

2. Gratitude improves physical health. Grateful people experience fewer aches and pains and they report feeling healthier than other people.

3. Gratitude improves psychological health. Research shows that gratitude increases happiness and reduces depression.

4. Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression. Grateful people have more sensitivity and empathy toward other people, and less desire to seek revenge.

5. Grateful people sleep better. Spend a few minutes jotting down or thinking about what you are grateful for before bed, and you may sleep better and longer.


6. Gratitude improves self-esteem. Rather than becoming resentful toward people who have more money or better jobs, grateful people are able to appreciate other people’s accomplishments.

7. Gratitude increases mental strength. Recognizing all you have to be thankful for – even during the worst times of your life – fosters resilience.

            Published in Forbes magazine

Developing an “attitude of gratitude” is contagious to those around you, it's a simple way to improve your satisfaction with life, and it makes you a joyful person to be around! We can all cultivate gratitude in our everyday lives by taking a few moments to focus on all that we have to be thankful for. 

Know that I am so grateful for all of you!

Sue

                                

Professional Reading

Professional Reading

This week's Day 6 PLC (Tuesday, November 17) will provide a preview of a couple of professional books for your team to choose between for a collaborative learning opportunity.  Lori will introduce the titles and provide a brief overview at your team meetings.  

The purpose is to identify a resource that will provide practical application of reading strategies identified through our SMART goal.  The SMART Team believes that these resources will provide the support we need to continue the student growth and achievement we have seen at Houlton.  Time will be built into Day 6 protocols and upcoming staff meetings for discussion and follow up on these book studies.  

Here's what we're looking at... (links with additional information below each option)

K-1 option: PALS Resources

K-5 option: Next Steps in Guided Reading, Jan Richardson

2-5 option: The Reading Strategies Book, Jennifer Serravallo

4-5 option: Notice and Note, Kylene Beers;   Notice and Note notes

Small Group Instruction

I find it hard to believe that we are already in November, and quickly approaching the end of the first trimester!  Where has the time gone?   At this point of the school year, our independent reading routines are established, we know our students, conferences are out of the way, we've looked at our data - it's time to dig in.

One of my favorite resources for Small Group Instruction/Guided Reading is Jan Richardson's The Next Step in Guided Reading - here are some of her tips for your small groups:

Once routines are established, and you know your students as readers... DIVE INTO INSTRUCTION!

Divide your guided reading lesson into segments: before, during, and after

Before Reading: "I've seen teachers spend 15 minutes talking about the book, and children only have two minutes left to read it," says Richardson.  She suggests a one-sentence "gist" statement and a quick preview.  For second-language learners, you might need to spend more time, "but for other children, look into the book and then let them start reading."

During Reading: Allow students to read independently - either by reading silently or by whisper reading.  Students should not read round-robin, but instead, make your way around the group to work one-on-one with each student for a few minutes.  If they are reading silently, ask them to whisper read to you when it's their turn.  Different students will need different strategies.  "The idea of guided reading is scaffolding children while they read, doing it with the teacher's support," Richardson says.

After Reading: First, you should check for students' comprehension, which can be done in the form of a discussion question, such as "How did this character change from the beginning to the end?"  You can also use the time for a predetermined word study (e.g. on digraphs), geared toward the group's needs.

And when Guided Reading seems to be going well ... include writing:
Writing about the text is a good practice as well, and it allows you to collect a writing sample.  "The children might do a dictated sentence at an early level, and as they move up, they get more responsibilities for coming up with the message." says Richardson.  In the "Next Steps" framework, guided writing is done at the table with the teacher's support.  It is not assigned writing - it is assisted writing.  By framing the written response so that it relates to the guided reading text, students extend their comprehension.  Guided writing also helps students apply the skills and strategies you have already taught.

We will be talking about building our guided reading lessons at this week's staff meeting, looking more deeply at Jan Richardson's work.  This is a great opportunity to fine-tune our small group instruction, and meet our students' individual needs.

Collaborative Nature

Collaborative Nature...

When people ask me how it's going at Houlton, I tell them how much I love it here.  And when asked why, there are many reasons.  But there's one thing that stands out... how well each of you work together.

As we worked through SLOs this week, I was intrigued by how well teams knew each other, built off each other, and supported each other.  I was impressed by how teams problem solved to best meet student needs.  Whether it be in determining a TARGET time group, team-teaching a lesson to support each other, or brainstorming suggestions on how to best meet students' needs - your combined skills are amazing.

As I walk around the school, I see so many instances of people offering support to each other.  Maybe because of our size, we realize we need to depend on each other.  Maybe the strong sense of community invites us to support each other.  Maybe we realize we are stronger as a team.

I watch parents around the building, working together for the greater good of others.  Parent volunteers reading with kids, sewing club making book bags for babies, book fair and backpack program coordinators providing something for others.  And anticipating the greatest collaborative event of the school year - the Houlton Bazaar!  It is amazing.

This isn't probably anything new to all of you, but it is impressive to someone coming in, like me.  Houlton is a perfect example of "Together we can do great things!"

My continued thanks for the work you do together -

Sue

Collaboration allows people to capture each other's fund 

of collective intelligence.  

-Mike Schmoker

Assessment FOR and OF Instruction

Assessment FOR and OF Learning

Realizing that Friday was a lot of information, and a lot of accumulated late hours... I wanted to provide a quick overview of Standard 4: Assessment to bring our conversations about this topic back up to the front of your thinking!

Richard Stiggins' work (Assessment for Student Learning: Doing It Right—Using It Well, 2004) identifies the 5 Keys to Quality Assessment, which we reviewed last week.  As you plan for your instruction this week - and think about ways to assess students' understanding, here are some things to think about:

• Clear Pupose:   Why am I assessing this?  Who will use the results to inform what decisions?   Is the purpose to impact my instruction, and/or inform other stakeholders (students, parents, district) about how the students are doing?

• Clear Targets:  An instructor needs to have a clear picture of what achievement is going to be measured. If you don't begin with clear and understandable statements of the intended learning, you won't end up with sound assessments. What am I expecting kids to know and be able to do?  Am I communicating these targets clearly?   What will it look like when they get it?

• Sound Assessment Design: This key ensures that the assessor has translated the learning targets into assessments that will give accurate results.Which assessment methods are most likely to produce accurate results for the different learning targets?  What is the best way to measure learning for this topic?  How will I check for understanding mid-way through my lesson, to make sure we're on the right track?  How will I check at the end of the lesson to determine my next steps of instruction?
• Effective Communication:  The instructor must plan to manage information gathered from the assessment appropriately, and report it in ways that will meet the needs of those involved. How will I measure student learning?  How will I keep track of it? How will I let them know their strengths and areas of need?  

• Student Involvement:  Students learn best when they monitor and take responsibility for their own learning.  How will I get students to interact and engage in the learning?  How will I set the stage to have students track their own progress?  How can I support students in figuring out their next steps?

I know Lori's name came up in many conversations on Friday - please let her know if you'd like her coaching support.  Also, let me know if I can support you in any way.  Whether it be in planning ways to monitor student learning related to your SLO, or figuring out how kids are doing with a concept before the formal assessment - these keys should provide guidance to your thinking.  I am hoping you can take what we talked about regarding assessment,  and integrate it into your daily teaching, so that we can monitor and adjust to best meed the needs of our students.

Thank you, again, for your hard work and engagement on Friday!
Sue

Teacher Standard 4

The teacher systematically gathers, analyzes, and uses relevant data to measure student progress, guide instructional content and delivery methods, and provide timely feedback to students, parents, and stakeholders.

Balancing Act

Balancing Act

There are two important aspects of teaching:  data and curriculum AND building relationships.  This past week has been filled with both!  As you prepared for conferences, you studied your students so that you got to know their strengths and weaknesses, and then used your assessment data to confirm your thinking.  You shared what you knew about your students with their families in an effort to build a collaborative relationship between home and school.

As we all know, the data piece of our job is important.  We will continue to look at data as we go through grade level roll thrus this week to look at current reading progress.  On Friday, we will talk about how to use assessment to gather data, and then how to use our data as we begin to write our SLOs.  Data helps drive what we do every day. But  what is impressive is how you do the other half of your job.  Each of you work diligently to get to know your students and their families, and you are constantly problem solving ways to best meet students' needs.  You are creating personalized interventions, adjusting your schedule to accommodate behaviors, communicating with parents to work together on concerns,  providing opportunities for students to showcase their strengths, setting high expectations and letting kids know you believe in their ability to reach them... going above and beyond to support the needs of your students.  It is through this hard work that you remind your students that you believe in them, and you care deeply about them.

As I walked around during conferences last week, I heard from many parents about how happy they are with all of the teachers at Houlton.  You are good at what you do.  I can't tell you how many times I have been told how lucky I am to work with the Houlton staff.  And I absolutely agree! You make it look easy to find the balance between the business (data and curriculum) and the pleasure (building relationships) of this really exhausting job!

Thanks for all you do... You are masters at a very difficult balancing act!

Conference Time!

Conferences are an important time to connect with families, and to provide an update on how things are going these first six weeks of school, both academically and socially.  I am impressed how well you know your students, have data to share, and how we are our student's  biggest advocate, cheerleader, and coach.    We are fortunate at Houlton to have such supportive and involved families - they are grateful to have their students here!

Here are some tips:

1. Send a questionnaire home to get a focus for parent concerns.  This gives you a heads-up if there's something you need to prepare for.
2. Take the "sandwich" approach. Start with something positive, continue with the things that the child needs to work on, and finish with something positive.
3. Plan the essential things you want to share - strengths and an area to work on, including essential data and work samples.  Don't feel like you have to discuss MAP and PALS assessments.  We will have those printed out for you, along with explanation letters.
4. Listen and respond to parent concerns.  Sometimes they have insight, or hear things, that we aren't even aware of!  Our goal is to make Houlton a productive learning environment - and parent input is an important part of that!
5. Describe areas of difficulties and accommodations you are doing to support them - but don't diagnose students.
6. Speak about your student the way you want someone to talk about your own child
7. Get support from Sue or Kristen as needed!  Email us to let us know - and we'll be there!

Optional Resources for Conferences.

Good Fit Reading Chart

Reading Continuum

Leadership and Learning

 

According to the Center for Educational Leadership, instructional leadership is guided by these principles:

• Instructional leadership is learning-focused, learning for both students and adults, and learning which is measured by improvement in instruction and in the quality of student learning.
• Instructional leadership must reside with a team of leaders of which the principal serves as the "leader of leaders."
• A culture of public practice and reflective practice is essential for effective instructional leadership and the improvement of instructional practice.

In the upcoming week, I will be starting my first round of drop in and informal visits.  An instructional coach at heart, I am very excited to see your work in action. Through this process, I have three goals: 

• I want students to see me involved in their learning.  Our work at Houlton is a collaborative effort that includes everyone, and I want our students to recognize that they have an entire team on their side, leading them to success.
• I am a learner myself, and gravitate towards opportunities that provide me with new ways to think about things.  Through my nine years as an instructional coach, I have been inspired by the work I have seen across the district, and continue to seize the opportunity to process all of the highly effective instructional strategies I observe in Houlton's teachers each day.  This, in turn, allows me to continue to support and lead others in their continued growth.
• As a team of leaders, it is our job to reflect on our instructional practices.  It is my goal, my responsibility, and my privilege, to provide you with feedback that will lead you to continue to grow and learn as an educator.  This is an exciting, and very natural, part of my job.  And the result?  Learning for both students and teachers.

I look forward to our work together!

Sue

Teaching Tools

Over the last week or two, you have been given lots of things to think about when it comes to your work in the classroom.  As you plan your path ahead, here are some things to think about...

WHAT to teach...
Hudson's SMART Goal is focused on reading.  At the elementary level, reading skills and strategies are aspects of just about everything we teach.  When you think about your instructional goals for the year, it will be helpful to focus on reading, as it will be the district priority for professional development, Day 6 collaboration, and the development of your SLO.  Houlton's SMART Goal Action Plan breaks down our reading work into three areas: achievement (grade level expectations), growth (for all students), and closing the gap (identified students who aren't reaching their expected growth).

HOW to teach it...
Our Educator Effectiveness Priority Standards are Instructional Delivery, Assessment, and Learning Environment.  Most recently, we dug into Standard 3: Instructional Delivery.  Think back on the conversations you had in your table groups, and reflect on some of the ideas you considered implementing.  An area we are going to dig into as a school is engagement.  What can you do to engage your students, in both whole and small group instruction?

SUPPORT for teaching...
As mentioned above, the district is supporting the SMART Goal and the Teacher/Specialist Priority Standards through staff development, district-wide collaborative lesson planning, and time set aside to dig into these areas.  In addition, our Instructional Coach is here to offer support in instructional areas you are focusing on.  Most recently, Lori introduced Student Centered Coaching, which puts the needs of the students front and center.  Through this approach, coaching is focused on specific goals for student learning, and Lori can work with you on a plan that will have an impact on increased student achievement.

Seven Core Practices for Student-Centered Coaching

1. Setting student learning goals for coaching cycles
2. Creating learning targets for coaching cycles
3. Using student evidence to co-plan instruction
4. Organizing coaching through coaching cycles
5. Co-teaching with a focus on effective teaching practice
6. Measuring the impact of coaching on student and teacher learning
7. Partnering with the school leader

Please let me know how your work can be supported. 

There's a lot of pieces to put together, 

and I'm here to help!

Have a great week!

Sue

OPTIONAL: First Month Feedback survey

September 24  Late Start 

Standard 3: Instructional Delivery

The district has identified three priority standards, which we will be digging into in the upcoming Late Start/Professional Learning days. This Thursday is our first Late Start, and we'll be looking at Standard 3. 

The HSD Vision for Thursday is:

1. Hudson educators know, understand and practice at the effective and distinguished levels in each of the Stronge Educator Standards.
2. More importantly, Hudson educators have a strong sense of efficacy about their profession, leading to increased student learning.

Below are some things to look at to get your thinking started... Instructional Delivery is something you do each and every day - how can we fine tune it to make sure it includes high impact strategies that meet the needs of our students?

Here is the presentation for Thursday from 8-10:30.

Bring a device and your log in for My Learning Plan

Looking forward to our learning together on Thursday!

Sue

Teacher Standard 3 ~ Instructional Delivery (Priority Standard)

The teacher effectively engages students in learning by using a variety of instructional strategies in order to meet individual learning needs.

Criteria	Distinguished	Effective	Developing/Needs Improvement	Unacceptable
	In addition to meeting the effective standard, the teacher optimizes students’ opportunities to learn by engaging them in higher-order thinking and/or enhanced performance skills	The teacher effectively engages students in learning by using a variety of instructional strategies in order to meet individual learning needs.	The teacher inconsistently uses effective instructional strategies that meet individual learning needs.	The teacher does not use effective instructional strategy or inadequately addresses students’ individual learning needs.

• How do I stay involved with learning targets throughout the entire lesson?
• How do I connect the real world with content?
• How do I incorporate higher-order thinking strategies (metaphors/analogies,compare/contrast)?
• How do I maximize higher-order questioning?
• How do I integrate standards with other content?
• How do I engage students through collaboration and active learning?
• How do I involve every learner in intellectual work?
• How do I create open-ended problem solving/inquiry?
• How do I facilitate learning?
• How do I incorporate students’ creativity and design?
• How do I use instructional approaches and techniques that are based on student choices, interests, passions, and ambitions?

Reflective Questions of Teaching Standards

Specialist Standard 5: Program Delivery (Priority Standard)

Distinguished	Effective	Developing/Needs Improvement	Unacceptable
The educational specialist uses professional knowledge in an innovative manner to provide a variety of exceptional services for the targeted learning community.	The educational specialist uses professional knowledge to implement a variety of services for the targeted learning community.	The educational specialist attempts to use professional knowledge to implement services, but efforts are inconsistent in addressing the needs of the targeted learning community.	The educational specialist rarely uses professional knowledge to implement services to meet the needs of the targeted learning community.

• How do I select, develop, organize, implement, and support curriculum for specific learner and/or program needs?

• How do I use technology, materials, and other resources to deliver services and programs?
• What varied and personalized strategies or approaches am I using to meet the needs of the learning community?
• What specific examples demonstrate my collaboration with instructional staff to design, implement, or support services for specific learner or program needs?
• What methods do I use to consult with administration, parents, community agencies, school, and support personnel to resolve issues and/or communicate progress related to the provision of programs/services to individual learners?
• How do the services I provide  support mastery of state and national standards?
• How do I interpret policies, programs, and procedures related to the delivery of services to learners?
  

  
  

  
  

  Reflective Questions of Specialist Standards

Bucket Fillers

Fill a Bucket

Our mission is to create a world of bucket fillers. A person can be a bucket filler or a bucket dipper. The way to fill a bucket is to be kind to someone.

For our Students...

Our students come to school each day with a variety of experiences - some bucket filling, some bucket dipping.  As an educator, our hope and dream is to be the bucket filler for all of our students.  There are days that it is difficult, when our patience is being tried, but try to remember that positive teacher-student relationships can enable students to feel safe and secure in their learning environments, and provide the scaffolding for important social and academic skills (Baker, et al, 2008).  In addition, teacher-student relationships can have a significant effect on the peer acceptance of students. Teachers' interactions with students can affect classmates' perceptions of individual students, in turn affecting which students classmates choose to interact with and accept (Hughes, et al, 1999). So the bucket filling you do will have a huge impact on the social and academic success of your students.

For each other...
The Houlton staff family knows each other so well that you all just seem to know what each other needs. The bucket filling to each other is endless. I have seen you do things such as adjusting a recess schedule to accommodate others, cleaning tables for a colleague, writing positive notes in the staff lounge, helping each other with challenging students and/or transitions, being flexible with intervention times - compromising to help meet the needs of a teacher or team, or to best meet the needs of the entire school.  These all showcase our way of doing something for others - filling a bucket by being kind to someone.  Your actions serve as an inspiration to adults, and build you as a role model to our children.

This bucket filling for each other not only contributes to our colleagues, but it has a positive impact on our students.  It is no surprise that students of high-ability teachers outperform those of low-ability teachers, but studies have also found that gains are highest among students whose teachers were both high-ability AND have stronger ties with their colleagues.  Research has found that even lower-ability teachers can perform as well as teachers of average ability if they have strong relationships with coworkers.  When teachers trust one another, they are more likely to reveal their weaknesses, and perhaps even address them, using the support and guidance of their peers (Washington Post, September 10, 2014). 

So continue your work as Bucket Fillers.  Collaborate, compromise, be playful, work hard, make student success a priority - and continue to support your students, and each other, in this exhausting yet invigorating journey called education.

Bucket Filling Song (if you want to introduce this concept to your students)