DWT – Language Arts and ReadingAugust 11, 2014

North, South, East, West Activity

Remember: North – Like to act, try things and plunge in South – Caring, likes to know that everyone’s feelings

are being taken into account East – Likes to look at the big picture and the

possibilities before acting West – Pays attention to detail, likes to know the who,

what, when, where and why before acting

Who was in each category?

What is the breakdown in our departments?

Common Core and Curriculum Maps

Important People: Head of Middle School Language Arts: Chastity

Downing Head of Middle School Reading: Beth Anderson SMS Reading Coach: Barbara Shannon

There will not be a printed curriculum guide this year. Everything will be posted in Focus, including the new curriculum maps, the Core Connections lessons and lists of suggested readings.

Core Connections trainings are continuing. Grades 6,7,9 and 10 have two lessons/trainings Grades 8, 11 and 12 have three lessons/trainings Our first trainings: (dates subject to change)

6th grade: 10/9 @ Safety Harbor Middle 7th grade: 11/20 @ Osceola Middle 8th grade: 10/24 @ Seminole Middle

Core Connections News

Core Connections Lessons are mandatory, and should be completed before each training so you can bring student work to analyze.

New this year: Both language arts and reading teachers will get separate lessons to do that compliment each other.

The lessons are meant to be done at the same time. Language arts and reading teachers should coordinate

to teach these lessons around the same time. Teachers should also meet to share results of lessons. The lessons will now be much more detailed and come

with two pieces: A lesson to do with your class (3-5 days) An assessment piece for the students to do alone (1-2

days)

Don’t worry 7th grade teachers, the lessons are going to be new!

Lessons will be posted online in Focus.

Curriculum Maps

New this year: Curriculum maps!

Maps will be posted in Focus, and you have a paper copy in your handout (and I e-mailed one to you a few weeks ago).

Maps are organized by quarters and tell you which standard to focus on at what time. These are aligned to the Core Connections lessons.

The language and speaking/listening standards are not on the map. You are expected to cover them throughout the year at your discretion.

Also included in your handout are theme ideas for each nine weeks.

These go along with our new textbooks. They are optional.

Also being posted on Focus are a list of recommended readings to go along with the theme ideas. They are also completely optional.

You must follow the pacing guide and teach the specified standards at the right time. However, the way you teach those standards and the materials you use are still your choice.

Progress Monitoring News

FAIR is now FAIR-FS Will be given three times again Only testing 1s and 2s Testing through reading classes this year Test is updated to go with the new standards. No Maze or Word

Analysis anymore. More info will be given through the reading department.

Write Score is the LA common assessment Will be given two times – once in September and once in January Will be given to all grade levels The LA final assessment will be the new Florida State Assessment Write Score is now aligned to the new standards and test

specifications. Practice lessons will be available on the website. One of our tests will be an explanatory writing and the other will

be an argumentative writings. Narrative writing is part of the standards, but apparently won’t be

on the new state assessment.

Student data is being scrutinized more closely this year than ever before. Please be aware of where your students are and align your instruction accordingly.

Florida Standards Assessment News (FSA)

The FSA replaces the FCAT Reading and Writing tests.

A practice test was recently released online (I e-mailed you all about this the day it came out).

View the practice: http://www.fsassessments.org/

The new test includes: Multiple choice Short answer Grammar/Spelling/Editing Listening Essay writing (the writing portion is still given earlier, in March)

Please note, the practice test only simulates the testing tools and question types. It is not an example of the rigor students will face.

Chastity says: practice resources for this will be coming soon.

Some additional test info located in your packets.

Testing window for the reading portion: April 13-May 8

New Standards Coding

When we switched from the Common Core to the LAFS, the coding of the standards changed.

A cluster number was added (everything is still in the same order and has almost the exact same wording).

For example, the code for RL Standard 1 (8th grade) would be written like this:

LAFS.8.RL.1.1

Subject Code

Grade Strand Cluster

Standard

LAFS(Language Arts Florida Standards)

6, 7, 8,&

910, 1112

RL (Reading Literature)RI (Reading

Informational)W (Writing)

SL (Speaking and Listening)

L (Language)

RL: 1-4RI: 1-4W: 1-4SL: 1-2L: 1-3

RL: 1-7. 9-10

RI: 1-10W: 1-10SL: 1-6L: 1-6

Culturally Responsive Instruction

Culturally responsive instruction is a pedagogy that recognizes the importance of including students’ cultural references in all aspects of learning.

All teachers should be using CRI in their classrooms. The district is really pushing this idea.

CRI must be a way of work. This is more about a state of mind than a list of strategies you pick and choose from.

CRI stresses getting to know students and building relationships with them.

Demonstration of CRI will have a positive impact on your appraisal.

More Information: http://www.brown.edu/academics/education-alliance/teaching-diverse-learners/strategies-0/culturally-responsive-teaching-0

Culturally Responsive Instruction Cont.

Some characteristics of CRI are: Positive Perspectives on Parents and Families Communication of High Expectations Learning Within the Context of Culture Student-Centered Instruction Culturally Mediated Instruction Reshaping the Curriculum Teacher as Facilitator

In your packets, take a few moments to read the list of ideas for each characteristic of CRI. As you read, star a few that you think would be nice to focus on for the upcoming school year. We need to pick three as a department that we want to consciously do this year and turn it in.

New Features on Focus

Focus is undergoing a major update. The plan was to have it live by today.

You should be accessing Portal using Firefox or Chrome. Internet Explorer doesn’t work.

We will have a thorough training during pre-school.

Major features of the new update: Pacing guides, Core Connections Lessons, suggested reading

lists, etc. will all be posted online. Lesson planning tools

Ability to upload lesson plans (it will be a site-based decision as to whether we HAVE to upload them – I have not heard anything about this)

Can share uploaded lesson plans with colleagues or parents. Administrators can see what you upload.

“Year at a Glance” feature will allow you to see what’s going on in each quarter.

Teacher course pages will be nicer and more user-friendly Teachers can make tests and assignments and put them

online

Textbook News

Books are here!

I e-mailed instructions on how to sign up for our online accounts. Let me know if you need help.

Student accounts are coming, Chastity will e-mail more information.

One textbook per child will be delivered. No extras. Chastity recommend checking them out to students on an as-needed basis.

I went to the textbook training. If you have any questions about how the online stuff works, let me know and I can help.

Books will be delivered to our rooms next week. Mrs. Lurie is still stamping them. She will try to get us our teacher editions on Tuesday.

School News

Open house is coming: 6th Grade: Thursday, 8/14 @ 6:00 p.m. 7th and 8th Grade: 9/8 @ 6:30 p.m.

The language arts and reading departments will now be meeting TOGETHER for our department meetings. Meetings will take place in room 302 (Mrs. Marn’s room)

All Read 180 students now have a regular LA class as well

Accreditation

SIP

Accreditation

Over the summer, a small team of teachers met and rated the school’s performance in several categories.

Basically, the team completed a pre-assessment for accreditation.

Now, each department is going to look at a section of those standards and see if we agree with the team’s rating or not.

We rate each standard on a scale of 1-4 1: No evidence of this practice in our school 4: We are completing this standard to perfection

Indicator 3.7Committee: 2

Indicator 3.8Committee: 2

Indicator 3.9Committee: 2

Indicator 3.10Committee: 2

Indicator 3.11Committee: 2

Indicator 3.12Committee: 2

SIP

We are responsible for: Creating a writing goal Listing data sources that will measure that goal Four top actions we will take to accomplish our goal Four plans to implement our actions

SIP – Goal and Data Sources

Our goal from last year: To improve the number of students scoring a 3.5 score

on the FCAT Writes test in February of 2014 from 53% to 80%

Possible goal for this year: 80% of students will write to proficiency on the writing

portion of the Florida Standards Assessment in March of 2015.

Data Sources: Writing FSA results data Write Score results data

Other ideas?

Actions and Planning

Action 1: Teachers will use formative assessment data to guide instruction.

Plan to Implement: Teachers will participate in two Write Score practice

assessments in September and January. Teachers will view their students’ Write Score results and use

those results to focus on teaching areas of weakness and reinforcing areas of strength.

Action 2: Teachers will implement appropriately rigorous writing lessons aligned to the Florida Standards.

Plan to Implement: Teachers will attend Core Connections Trainings and learn

effective and rigorous writing strategies for their classrooms. Teachers will implement Core Connections lessons in their

classroom and receive feedback on their students’ writing progress via trainings.

Teachers will use the knowledge gained from their Core Connections training to design their own writing lessons aligned to the Florida Standards.

Actions and Planning

Action 3: Teachers will pair close reading of texts to writing assignments using a variety of research-based strategies.

Plan to Implement: Teachers will attend training on the Cornell Way and implement

the process in their classrooms. Teachers will use strategies such as Cornell Notes, collaborative

group structures, and WICOR to encourage close reading, text marking, citing textual evidence and writing from texts.

Action 4: Language arts and reading teachers will collaborate to improve the writing instruction of their students.

Plan to Implement: Language arts and reading teachers will meet together as

departments to coordinate instruction and stay informed of county directives regarding their subject areas.

Language arts and reading teachers will share student data at PLC meetings to diagnose areas of difficulty and design writing lessons.

Teachers will participate in lesson studies to create effective, rigorous lessons with writing components.

Extra Activities

Use blank calendar pages in packet to plan out a time to work on the first Core Connections lesson.

Remember, LA and Reading should coordinate with each other to do their lessons around the same time.

You should allow 3-5 days for the lesson and 1-3 days for the assessment.

Both parts should be completed by your Core Connections date.

Explore the online practice tests for the new assessment

http://www.fsassessments.org/

Explore the new features on Focus

Work with grade level colleagues to plan.