Tuesday Teaching Tips - Weaving Digital Imagery into Everyday Teaching

Why bother weaving digital imagery into everyday teaching....
*All students matter! We can differentiate by using digital imagery.
*It is a requirement in standards.
*It encourages critical and problem solving skills.

Examples of Activities:

#1 Compare and Contrast
*Give students two images and ask them to tell you how the two images are the same and different.

*Give children a Venn diagram with pictures, students fill in with words.

*Give children a Venn diagram with words, students fill in with pictures.

#2 Choose an Image
*Give students 2 images.  They need to complete the set with a third image.
  

*Give students 4 images.  They need to give one word to represent all 4 pictures.



#3 Choose an image that explains/describes/expresses _____
*Students choose 3 images to explain/describe/express a specific topic or idea.
Ex. Students choose 3 images that express why people should be encouraged to recycle.  Challenge - Students are not allowed to use recycle or recycling in their image search.

Great safe and FREE site for finding images:  www.pics4learning.com

Top Ten

Top Ten Reasons to Sign Up For Coaching

1. Together, we can look at student work and decide your next steps for instruction.

2.  We can plan together.

3.  I can help provide valuable resources and materials for your lessons.

4.  I can observe your teaching and offer helpful feedback to help you go from GREAT to EXTRAORDINARY!

5.  I can observe students in your room and offer helpful feedback on what they are doing well, and we can focus on their needs.

6.  We can co-teach.

7.  I can model lessons.

8.  Two heads are always better than one!

9.  It’s fun!

10.  It’s FREE!!

Tuesday Teaching Tips - Formal Coaching Cycle

Formal Coaching Cycle

My goal for the rest of the school year is to find a couple teachers that are interested in a formal coaching cycle.  This would be a 4-6 week cycle focused on improving instruction in one area.  We would meet weekly to plan together.  Co-teaching, modeling, observation, video-taping are all options during this coaching cycle.

What will our initial coaching meeting look like and include?

Two Purposes of Initial Coaching Meeting:
1.  Identify focus area and goal for upcoming coaching cycle.
2.  Review coaching cycle logistics.

Part 1 - Coaching Focus:
1.  What are you thinking you would like to focus on during this coaching cycle?
2.  Discussion about students.
*How would you describe your students as learners in this focus area?
*What are your hopes for students in this area?
*What standards will you focus on?  Are there specific standards that seem tricky for your students?
*Pre-assessment 

Part 2 - Strategies for Coaching and Collaboration:
1.  Our coaching cycle will last 4-6 weeks.  We will meet weekly to plan.  When is the best time to meet for 30-45 minutes each week?
2.  For classroom visits, I plan on coming in 2 times per week with a short debrief after my visit.  This will allow you to reflect on your instruction and time for me to give timely feedback.  
3.  We will use Google Docs to track our progress and record our work.

Part 3 - Meeting the Teacher's Needs:
1.  Do you have any questions or concerns about the coaching cycle?
2.  Is there anything you want me to be sure to do as your coach or is there anything you would like me to know about you or your processing style?

Please let me know if you are interested in a formal coaching cycle.  I would love to work with you and your students!!

Here is a sample Initial Coaching Meeting:

Tuesday Teaching Tip - Differentiating Instruction

Differentiated Instruction:
Here is a great link with many ideas.

Differentiation strategies: content, process and product

The following are examples of differentiation strategies, defined by lesson variable. These strategies are adapted from work by Carol Ann Tomlinson. Consider using these strategies when planning lessons, selecting instructional strategies and determining topics for professional development, and exploring new differentiation strategies.

Differentiating Product Assignments for Advanced Learners

• Have students study key issues across time periods, disciplines or cultures
• Provide advanced-level resources
• Encourage students to use primary sources and original documents
• Allow students to work on long-term, ongoing assignments when they compact out of class work
• Allow students work with professional mentors

Teaching Tips - SWBAT

Tuesday Teaching Tips - Preparing for PARCC

Computer-Based Assessment:  To prepare students for the many different types of questions that could be on the PARCC test, check out this site.  On this site, there are many samples of innovative questions from less complex to more complex.  

Computer-Based Assessment: "Intermediate Constraint" Questions and Tasks for Technology Platforms

10 Key Online Testing Terms

Stems for use in writing PARCC-like items and text-dependent questions

PARCC FAQ

Here are some sites with sample Math & ELA questions:
*CCSS Aligned Practice Tests & Sample Questions for Grades 3-8
*Elementary Research Models
*PARCC Sample Questions
*ELA Practice Passages & Questions

Math Prototype Tasks

The Mathematics Common Core Toolbox site offers examples of the types of innovative assessment tasks that reflect the direction of the PARCC summative assessments.

Elementary School Tasks

• Flower Gardens (Grade 3)
• Fractions on the Number Line (Grade 3)
• Mariana's Fractions (Grade 3)
• School Mural (Grade 3)
• Buses, Vans, and Cars (Grade 4)
• Deer in the Park (Grade 4)
• Numbers of Stadium Seats (Grade 4)
• Ordering Juice Drinks (Grade 4)

Middle School Tasks

• Cake Weighing (Grade 6)
• Gasoline Consumption (Grade 6)
• Inches and Centimeters (Grade 6)
• Anne's Family Trip (Grade 7)
• School Supplies (Grade 7)
• Spicy Veggies (Grade 7)
• TV Sales (Grade 7)

PARCC-like Items

The below PARCC-like items have been developed by Arizona teachers, coaches and administrators. (The teacher version includes rationale, standards assessed, and scoring rubric, along with the test questions)

English/Language Arts

• Grade 3 Literary Analysis - student version
• Grade 3 Literary Analysis - teacher version

• Grade 4 Informational Text - student version
• Grade 4 Informational Text - teacher version

Math

• Grade 4 Math Samples - student version
• Grade 4 Math Samples - teacher version

Sample Items and Think-Throughs

The below Arizona sample assessment item and think-through sets were designed to help prepare students for the PARCC assessments.

Grades 3 - 5

• Caring for Your Pet Gerbil

Grades 6 - 8

• Second Chance for Chance
• Skateboarding Basics

Tuesday Teaching Tip - Child/Teacher Friendly "I Can" statements

As we write ELA curriculum, I find it helpful to look at "I can..." statements to guarantee that we are covering all the required common core standards.  I found this wonderful website that has many great resources called "The Curriculum Corner."  There are many helpful documents organized by grade level.  Find some time and check out your grade level:

The Curriculum Corner (Click on the links below)

I Can... Statements by grade level

Common Core Checklists by grade level