Coaches' Corner

I have had the privilege of attending PLCs across the district over the past five weeks. In that time, there is at least one thing I have learned: setting meaningful goals is tough! Creating a goal that is strategic, measurable, attainable, results-oriented, and time-bound is difficult, time consuming, and at times confusing. We still have teams trying to piece together their short term goals.

However, our staff have demonstrated real grit and determination. Teams of educators are turning their attention on critical areas of need that have a significant impact on student achievement. These areas of need range from class engagement, to completing assignments, and even simply transitioning both within and to classes. Teams are establishing a baseline of student performance and determining what are attainable short term goals and strategies that will help us reach our ultimate goal of increased student achievement.

PLCs can be a bit slow and clunky at first as we are learning by doing, but their effects will have an impact on student achievement not only for this year, but for years to come. Thank you for your hard work as we continue to improve as educators to better serve our students and community.

During the month of September, I made a concerted effort to see math lessons in every grade level. In Shari Cottingham’s 4th grade class, I was excited to see students taking ownership of their goals. For morning work, they completed a series of math practice problems independently and then went over answers together. After grading their papers, students had a graph to fill out. This graph was aligned to overarching math concepts such as measurement, computation, geometry, etc. It was easy for the students to fill out, as the numbers on their morning work paper were aligned to the graph. If they missed #5 during morning work on Wednesday, they simply colored in the corresponding square on the graph. Not only did this activity provide immediate, mastery-oriented feedback (8.4), but it also provided a visual to students that showed them specific areas of math that were their strengths or weaknesses.

With this activity, Mrs. Cottingham was ENGAGING her students by “heightening the salience of goals (8.1).” On our new RISE 2.0 Teacher rubric, in order to be considered “Effective” and get a score of a “3,” teachers must ensure that “¾ or more of students are actively engaged in content at all times and not off task.” Let’s make sure that we are continuing to think of ways to keep our students engaged! I am here to help, so email me and let me know if you want to brainstorm together!

At the close of a recent unit in her 7th grade Careers class, Mrs. Light implemented a new assessment strategy aimed at promoting student engagement which is one of the principles of UDL. Realizing that students will be most engaged with the content when they have choice and autonomy in how they demonstrate their learning, Mrs. Light decided to forego traditional modes of assessment and try something new.

We worked together to develop an assessment we called “Show What You Know.” Students were asked to read the standards-aligned rubric, figure out what skills and content they needed to show their teacher, brainstorm possible ways they could demonstrate their learning, make an individual plan, and then execute that plan. While this kind of approach was clearly new and challenged students’ expectations, they dove right into the work. Students were eager to begin creating their projects as they were able to choose the tools they preferred and felt most comfortable with. Some students excitedly latched on to digital tools like Google Slides, iMovie, or Canva. Others were excited to create posters that could showcase their artistic flair. Mrs. Light worked one-on-one with students who were hesitant or felt stuck to help them generate ideas, organize their thoughts, and get started. Mrs. Light reports that she was impressed with the work students submitted, and she plans to use this assessment strategy again!

In other news, over 20 TCSC teachers and administrators are participating in our UDL Book Study: Unlearning: Changing Your Beliefs and Your Classroom with UDL. We’ve shared great discussions as we learn more about how to use the UDL framework to design learning experiences that are accessible and valuable to ALL students! It’s not too late to join in the conversation! Want to know more? Contact me at bmcdonough@tcsc.k12.in.us.

The first nine weeks flew by here at Tipton High School! It’s hard to believe it is October already. I have been fortunate enough to get to know a lot of new teachers here at the high school and am enjoying my time.

The High School Shout Out this month goes to Jessica Mars. Jessica is teaching Animal Science, among other things here, and I have had the pleasure of observing her class on a couple of occasions. This year, the students will be creating a Producers Management Guide about an animal of their choosing. This manual will include information about the different species and breeds, how to handle the animal and other topics. They have already worked on choosing, classifying and researching general information about the animal and are currently learning about different types of animal behaviors. They will make a manual specific for their animal that will go in their Guide. By the end of the year, they will have an entire binder dedicated to that animal. Way to set ambitious and measurable goals for your students. It’s great to see their enthusiasm and hear them talk about their projects!

Curious what testing windows will look like across the district? Add the 2021-2022 TCSC Assessment Calendar to help plan around these instructional interruptions.

10/26 - THS Math Adoption Committee Meeting

10/27 - THS Faculty Meeting

10/28 - TES Math Adoption Committee Meeting

11/3 - E-Learning Day