Advancing the Vision 3-2-18

Vision: We want to get better and better and be playing our best ball at the end of the year. (Students and Adults alike)

Review from Last Week: Overt Responses are how the teacher regularly obtains evidence of student learning for the purpose of determining next steps for teaching/learning. Rutherford classifies an overt response as a type of formative assessment that occurs during instruction for the purpose of adjusting instruction in the midst of the lesson. Overt responses must be ellicited from ALL students, they must be visible and countable, and gathered during instruction and not after. Rutherford writes, "In collecting overt responses, teachers look for proof of learning, evidence of thinking, and artifacts of performance."

This week the Thompsons and Ms. Burton had the market cornered on overt responses.  Let's start with Mrs. Burton...I'm not sure if everyone realizes what is happening in primary, but it's pretty awesome.  To quote the legendary Ariel from The Little Mermaid..."Look at this stuff, isn't it neat?" The small group instruction and the very nature of the guided reading strategy instruction make us have "...overt responses a-plenty... engagement and performance feedback galore..."

See how she is able to immediately adjust her instruction based on the response of the student?  Small group allows her to do that.  Check out how Mrs. Thompson elicits overt responses...

She, too, is using small group instruction and whiteboards to elicit overt responses.  The age of the students is vastly different, but the structure works in both settings. How about the other Thompson?  He is getting tech savvy with Plickers! They are allowing Mr. Thompson to elicit responses from all of his students even though he is using whole group.  

Using this tool allowed Mr. Thompson to see when he could keep moving and when he needed to reteach when most of the class missed it.  

What’s Next: Brain-Friendly Teaching- At our staff meeting Rose shared a handout that gave a really nice overview of the 6 principles of brain friendly instruction.  She talked about how in the training we learned that we can either teach in ways that align with how brains naturally learn, or not.  If we teach in ways that align with how the brain learns, students learn more, learn more quickly, and retain more.  Students and teachers will both enjoy school more and be less tired at the end of the day when learning is based on the principles of brain-friendly teaching.  By implementing the 6 brain-friendly principles, we will reap dramatic benefits for our students.

So…now what? At PLCs teams discussed either nourishment or attention, two of 6 principles that support optimal performance of the brain.  The bottom line to all we learned at the brain-friendly training is that Kagan structures are so effective because they create situations that optimize brain performance.   When you implement Kagan you are teaching in ways that align with how brains naturally learn.

What to Expect When You Are a Teacher at Paint Lick:
You should be able to…

Nourishment:  Plan instruction punctuated by strategies that nourish the brain like "Take 10," brain breaks, and silly sports and goofy games.   

Attention: Capture and hold students' attention with attention signals and choral responses.

You probably will be able to…

Nourishment: Intentionally add more movement to a static structure or procedure to nourish the brain.  

Attention: Use structures designed to clear working and short-term memory to keep students' minds from wandering and help them to retain information.

You may possibly be able to…make a plan to introduce and practice new structures with your class on a regular schedule so that you will get better and better at using a variety of structures so that they way you naturally teach is conducive to how the brain learns.