Bowman Woods Principal, Tina Monroe had a brilliant idea for
teachers and staff to share their love of reading with students. At a recent building Learning Leadership Team
Meeting, teachers were discussing doing something building wide to promote the
joy of reading. That collaborative discussion, gave Principal Monroe her creative idea to
seek the expertise of Ryan Gotto, a Technology Integration Coach, to assist the
staff on filming them reading aloud a favorite bedtime story. After further discussion and collaboration they
decided to post the videos in a location where families could access them
at home!
Principal Monroe, conferred with Mr. Gotto on the filming and the website
creation. The project grew from there
and sparked interest, participation, and collaboration far and wide within the
school walls. This project really
involved so many people. The librarian, Carla Clanin, and
her assistant Kelly Simon, created a special backdrop for the
background while people were filmed. Many staff also helped with the filming when Ryan wasn't available, or
volunteered to read a story, including at least one educational assistant!
Not only is this project a fun way to celebrate reading over the
winter break, it fosters quality time for students and parents to watch or read
along, and finally it provides a great model for students to develop a life-long
love of reading.
To listen to the fabulous reading of Bowman Woods Elementary staff, follow the link below:
Tina Oberbroeckling and Kyle Becker during a recent Coaching Conference.
Classroom teachers across the globe find ways to improve what they do in the classroom. As they look for ways to reflect and find solutions to obstacles in learning, they often have only their content knowledge, personal experiences, and classroom data to analyze. While all of that information is powerful, it is lacking one element: another viewpoint. As Linn-Mar continues down the path of Teacher Leadership, some of the most influential components of the program are our strategists and coaches who find time to meet with teachers and listen to their needs and help coach them to find a strategy to improve what is happening in classrooms each day. This short term goal leads to a long term goal of improving student performance.
Just how powerful IS a coaching conversation? Just ask Tina Oberbroeckling, an Instructional Strategist, at Linn-Mar High School. She recently worked with Kyle Becker, a US History I teacher who was looking to improve a looming end of the semester unit that he tended to dread. Kyle and Tina met to discuss the unit in question. Kyle felt like the era did not have the same “oomph” that the previous eras exhibited. He wanted to make changes that would increase student engagement and learning during the unit.
The conversation began with Tina exploring Kyle’s concerns about the lessons in the unit, and what he envisioned in each lesson, as well as what he successfully taught in his classroom during previous eras. By using a series of paraphrasing, and mediative questions from Cognitive Coaching training, Tina was able to listen to all that Kyle had to share, ask questions, and help provoke thinking. This conversation helped Kyle discover the missing pieces he needed to ignite his teaching of this unit.
When Tina asked if there was anything else that she could do to support Kyle he smiled and replied, “No, I think I got what I needed.”
Not only was this conversation successful for Kyle, Tina also claimed a victory. She walked away from this conversation with a sense of purpose and a clearer vision of her role as a Teacher Leader and how she can impact student learning in the Linn-Mar School District.
This quote from Kyle Becker says it best, “As I was struggling with a particular lesson, Tina helped me take a step back and look at the big picture. I was getting too bogged down in the minutiae of teaching that I lost sight of what is most important – student learning. With Tina’s help, I was able to construct a history lesson that allows students to make connections between eras while also remaining relevant to their lives today. The sense of perspective that Tina helped me find is most appreciated.”
Teacher Leadership comes in many forms at Linn-Mar. Not only do we have full time coaches and strategists that were willing to leave their classrooms to devote their time to strengthen adult learning and work with their peers, we all so have around 130 classroom teachers that were so devoted to their classrooms, they chose to teach full time AND take on additional responsibilities in the areas of curriculum, model teaching, and leading teams and initiatives that Linn-Mar is implementing.
When we think about building capacity of our leadership program it starts with teachers. Building rapport, establishing trust, and collaborating with peers to improve what we do on a daily basis is at the heart of strengthening and growing our program. This week I had the privilege of seeing some of our in-classroom teacher leaders show how collaboration and planning can impact student learning.
Deb Wegmann(left) Sarah Doyle(center) Ashley Messerli(right) proudly sport their dots
and enjoy the celebration of creativity at Westfield Elementary
Meet Deb Wegmann. She is the librarian/media specialist at Westfield. She is also an elementary curriculum facilitator. She traveled to ITEC, a technology conference in Des Moines with Sarah, Doyle, 4th grade teacher and 3rd-5th curriculum facilitator, and Ashley Messerli, 3rd grade teacher, and elementary program leader. They were fortunate to hear Peter Reynold's Presentation about fostering creativity and innovation in our students today and helping them discover how to "Make their Mark" on the world. His presentation left a mark on these three educators. They came back to their school and immediately went to work planning their own school-wide DOT DAY, inspired by Peter's Reynolds book, The Dot. Wegmann, Messerli, and Doyle planned a variety of literacy, art, and other activities that took place over two days in November.
Students created their dots showcasing their unique personalities and talents.
Not only did these three teachers plan activities for students to create in the library, they collaborated with other teachers in various content areas within their building. Elementary physical education teacher, Chanda Mooney, and Art Teacher Michael Brandt(also a curriculum facilitator) got in on the day's events. Mrs. Mooney planned gross motor activities that embraced the dot theme. They created the largest human dot-to-dot in gym and played dot tag. Mr. Brandt created a space for teachers to make their own dots and has plans to make some permanent dots in their school.
The Dot takes Westfield Elementary by storm.
This unified effort to promote communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity in classrooms is a great reminder that everything we plan and do in education should be about students. At Linn-Mar we are so lucky to have teachers, administrators, staff, and support personnel help our students "MAKE THEIR MARK" within school walls and beyond.
If you haven't read the The Dot by Peter Reynolds, please follow the link below:
Teacher Leaders preparing for the Classroom Makeover Reveal
MOVE THAT BUS! This familiar phrase from the TV home makeover show took on a new meaning at Wilkins Elementary last week. While teachers had a work day to complete report forms and curriculum work, a task force of teacher leaders whisked into a kindergarten classroom to tackle interior design and maximize classroom space.
This makeover was the brain child of Carol Kesl, elementary mentor coach. After working with first and second year teachers the first quarter of the year she decided to host a drawing and surprise one first year teacher with a classroom makeover. Her budget was small. In fact it was $0. So Carol relied on the generosity of her fellow teachers to donate items and money toward the project. Carol, hosted the drawing at a monthly book club meeting she hosts for first year teachers and then met with the lucky recipient to discuss ideas, themes, and what the teacher wanted help with. The lucky recipient was Molly Wickham, kindergarten teacher at Wilkins Elementary. Molly was fortunate to be a last minute hire, the first week that Linn-Mar opened for classes this fall. This was exciting, but Molly didn't have the time before school started to set up her classroom completely the way she envisioned. Winning this drawing was a fun way to perk up her classroom and give her time to complete other tasks on her work day, such as report forms, and lesson planning.
Kindergarten Classroom Before and During
Many hands do make light work. Put eight teacher leaders in a room for seven and a half hours and what you get is a freshly cleaned, organized, and spectacular room. These eight veteran teachers were able to help this first year teacher clearly define learning and working spaces, find creative uses for nooks and crannies in her classroom, layout teacher materials in key areas, and put away non-essential items for later use. It has been said that sometimes we don't know what we don't know, and having an extra set of hands and eyes, to help us figure it out is sometimes all we need.
Kindergarten Classroom After
Teacher Leader Makeover Team
Below you will find a link to a video of the day's events created by two of our Technology Integration Coaches. We hope to make this classroom makeover idea a permanent piece of the mentor program each year. Our mentor coaches are looking into securing some funding sources to help keep this in place as well as to grow the plan. Wouldn't it be nice to complete a classroom makeover for each level: elementary, middle, and high school?
First Year Elementary Teachers discuss ideas from the book: Seven Simple Secrets by Annette Breaux and Todd Whitaker
When I think about all the helping hands that helped shape who I am as an educator and a person, the list is long. When I student taught, I was fortunate to have great cooperating teachers who patiently guided my professional practice. Then I got my first teaching job and I.WAS. ALONE. That was twenty years ago. Fortunately, things are changing in education in a BIG WAY.
Mentor Coaches at Linn-Mar were created to work extensively with first and second year teachers. The intent of this portion of our Teacher Leadership program is to help teachers new to the profession learn to manage the various needs of the job and to embrace their passion for teaching. In addition to observing these teachers weekly and working with them on planning, co-teaching, curriculum pacing, good teaching strategies, and applying the teacher standards into their classrooms, our mentor coaches are also offering an extra layer of support to our new teachers in the form of professional development.
Our mentor coaches have set up book clubs for first year teachers, or study groups, to read current literature in the field of education, collecting data, best practice, assessment, and classroom management. These clubs meet on a regular basis to discuss implementing theory and practice into their daily lessons. The laughter, camaraderie, and team building in these groups is infectious.
First year teachers have a support group unlike years past. This is a great way for them to see each other's classrooms. They have another opportunity to collaborate and build their efficacy in their profession and knowledge and pedagogy.
New teachers goof around with new centers and tricks their Mentor Coach, Carol Kesl provided them at a recent book club meeting.
Fifth grade students at Echo Hill Elementary are learning about Native Americans. Bobbie Janssen organized the lesson for her teammates, by utilizing a website: skypeintheclassroom.com. This site allowed her to peruse lessons. She found one that pertained to her grade level current social studies topic. By using Mystery Skype she connected with the Virginia Historical Society. The Historical Society sent a packet of information to prep students on pertinent information and the process. After that Janssen set up a date to meet with other 5th grade teachers and she covered the materials and the lesson specifics. On Thursday (10.23) students and teachers took a virtual field trip to the Virginia Historical Society via Skype. Students learned valuable information and were able to ask questions. They had a great experience learning more about the Powhatan Indians, Pocahontas, and Native American life in general! The elementary technology integration coaches, also attended the Skype session to learn how to utilize Skype in other schools and classrooms. Several other schools sent teachers from their buildings to watch the Skype lesson while, Instructional Strategists covered their classrooms. This collaborative learning will allow this lesson design to be implemented in several of our schools. Thank you Echo Hill for sharing your experience with all of Linn-Mar.
Corey Brinkmeyer’s "LM Store" class was searching for ways to earn money for start up cash for their class to buy products to sell in their store. After meeting with strategist, Sheri Crandall, at the HS, they came up with the idea to sell used sportswear to earn this start up money. They worked together with the athletic office and district office to get approval of this event and then contacted coaches to get the merchandise. On the first day of the sale, Thursday Oct. 9th, the students in the class raised approx. $500.
Linn-Mar High School will be holding an Athletic Surplus Sale, open to the public, on October 9th-11th. Sales will be inside the High School's Main Entrance (Door #1) on October 9th & 10th, from 7:45-9:45am.
Students will also be selling outside of Linn-Mar Stadium, prior to the 2014 Homecoming Game on October 10th, from 5:30-7:00pm, and on Saturday, October 11th, from 9:00am-Noon, in the High School Auditorium Foyer.
This sale will include game worn jerseys, shorts, and other merchandise previously used by some of Linn-Mar’s finest athletes. Proceeds from this sale will be used to help fund a new student-run business, called theROARstore.
Check out theROARstore on social media sites, listed below:
Meet Rhonda King, first grade teacher at Westfield Elementary and model teacher. Rhonda is one of twenty model teachers in the district this year. Model teachers have an open door policy and allow teachers and teacher leaders from across the district to meet with them, observe their teaching, and discuss how that instruction may apply to his or her classroom.
Today I had the pleasure of visiting with Rhonda and observing her classroom. Her most recent student success is due to a teaching partnership with her first grade team of teachers; Kari Hollinrake, and Jena Conway, Kelly Kretschmar, the Instructional Strategist, and Deb Wegmann, the media specialist. Rhonda King, and her team of first grade teachers at Westfield Elementary wanted to capitalize on the Journeys curriculum and expand it during their intervention block. They were looking for something, but needed someone to help them find the light at the end of the tunnel!
Kelly Kretschmar, an instructional strategist met with the first grade team, and their building principal to have a planning conversation about what was happening in first grade classrooms during intervention block. Kelly discovered the first grade team was noticing that their students were lacking in consonant/vowel/consonant work. They were searching for more resources for practice and assessment. Kelly asked a series of questions that helped her select resources to share with this team of teachers.
After some research, Kelly found Galacticphonics.com, a relatively new site to help students work on phonics, sight words, and spelling. She followed up with the first grade team at their weekly meeting and shared the specifics. Rhonda and the other first grade teachers utilized resources and games and activities that had been organized by the Instructional Strategist.
A few of the materials from the site, organized by the instructional strategist.
"Without, the help of an instructional strategist, we never would have found time to research these resources, nor create them to use with students," stated Rhonda. Rhonda uses the website to help reinforce the phonics skills that are embedded in the Journeys curriculum. She uses it whole group to play some games with students, as well as for small group instruction during reading groups. She also uses it one on one to assess students' understanding of consonants, vowels, and blends. This website is a great way for students to work on high frequency word lists, as well. Rhonda has found the information to be two-fold. She can easily see what students have sounds, and which students can then transfer those sounds into spelling and reading. She explains it beautifully in the following video.
A final thread in this partnership, was the first grade team sharing the website with the building media specialist who has added the link to the building library website. Now teachers, parents and students can access this tool at school and home.
When I think about the impact of this one planning meeting, it is prodigious. An activity that started out to impact 25-75 students has now ricocheted into a possibility for a school of 500 and now all seven elementary buildings in our district can utilize these on-line resources. That is potential impact of 3,500. As I reflect upon the instruction, learning, and assessing I observed this morning, I am reminded of the focus of teacher leadership: adult learning and collaboration to improve teaching and influence student performance.
I want to give an huge shout out to Westfield Elementary for collaborating with classroom teachers, their building media specialist, and their instructional strategist to influence what happens in their classrooms. You truly are OUT OF THIS WORLD!
Today is Saturday. I'm snuggled inside on this crisp morning with a warm peppermint mocha reflecting on another week in the trenches of Teacher Leadership.
In today's world we are constantly "doing." The more peppermint mocha's I have, the more I can "do." Life is fast paced. We have technology at our fingertips 24/7. I can check my email, shop for things and communicate messages with multiply people at once without "doing" much.
I'm always busy. I've created lists of more things to "do" to stay busy. I create lists for the Teacher Leaders I work with to "do." I have made them busy.
I recognize we all have work to "do," and part of that work will keep us busy, but this week I've had the opportunity to be away from my phone, computer, desk, and lists. Myself, and the other Program Coordinator, Erin Watts, have been in our schools in classrooms observing, working with teachers, or helping cover their classes, so they would have an opportunity to learn from other teachers and reflect upon their own teaching, and best practice. The idea is for teachers to see great teaching, have conversations with other teachers, reflect upon their own teaching, and apply the new learning into their individual classrooms. To do this properly, teachers have to be given the opportunity to SLOW DOWN, REFLECT, and PROCESS how they can make changes in their own teaching. Time is the key. Reflection is necessary. We need to stop "doing" and ask questions about the "doing."
I am thankful for the opportunity our school has to implement leadership roles for teachers and the impact it is having on teaching, and learning for students. I am thankful that I had this week to be in classrooms seeing teaching practice that ROCKED MY SOCKS OFF. I am thankful for the reminder to SLOW down, and REFLECT. I know the classroom teachers at Linn-Mar are benefiting from the opportunity to collaborate, and learn from each other. I didn't realize how much I would learn and benefit from covering their classrooms, and working with them. My mind is full of ideas I would want to implement into a classroom if I had one:-) Now, I can share those ideas with other staff.
I am more aware of the resources our school district holds within it's school walls. My challenge to all our teaching staff is to connect with the teacher leaders in your building and begin observing, collaborating, and reflecting with your peers.
Fall is in the air.With the leaves and the temperature changing
that can only mean one thing:Parent
Teacher Conference time is here!
This year our Mentor Coaches, Carol Kesl,
Jennie Lorenzan, and Sue Atwater are working with first and second year
teachers to help them prepare for conversations with parents.
By holding mock conferences new teachers can
practice their delivery of information, learn how to share delicate
information, and make sure they are prepared to answer all the questions
parents may have about their child’s academics, and social behaviors.
We know that practice makes perfect and if you
have never attended conferences before as a parent or a teacher, it can be
stressful.At Linn-Mar Community Schools
we want the very best for our students and we know how important the
Parent-Teacher Partnership is for student success.
Amanda Farber, a 2nd grade teacher at Linn Grove Elementary, has brought a version of the tweet to her classroom. Her goal was to have students transfer learning from their small group guided reading lessons to their independent reading. After a Cognitive Coaching lesson with Linn Grove's Instructional Strategist, Tiffany Kinzenbaw, Mrs. Farber generated ideas of her own for students to showcase their utilization of the strategy. She came up with a creative way for students to "post" tweets during independent reading time using post it notes and a bulletin board.
Students will also have the option to actually tweet on her classroom Twitter account. Students will need to be mindful of the words they choose as they talk about their reading, since Twitter allows for only 140 characters or less.
One story they read in small groups was called Adios Oscar! . She told students that, "Great readers ask themselves questions before, during, and after their reading." On the their classroom Twitter board, students were able to share their questions they had about their book, but also a favorite part of the story. Some of the classroom tweets were...
How did the moth figure out his way to Mexico?
Do all moths have dark bodies?
My favorite part is the author's message of accepting who you are!
The students have been productive during independent reading and love their new Twitter board!
Teaching little cherubs to write can be a challenge. Molly Dabroski, Instructional Strategist at
Wilkins Elementary has been co-planning and co-teaching with Betsy Bushlack, a
fourth grade teacher.
Together they have been co-planning and co-teaching
writing. After several planning and coaching conversations, Betsy told
her Instructional Strategist that she would like her students to improve their
writing. She wanted to start with narrative writing. Her goal was
for students to be able to "hook" their reader with a bold beginning.
Molly
and Betsy co-taught several lessons on good hooks and made many anchor charts
to help students remember the important aspects of personal narrative writing.
As
a final culmination the classroom teacher and the instructional strategist
dressed up as fisherman with poles for students to grasp the importance of
writing good hooks. Students learned that "Fishing for Great Beginnings" in their writing would be the best catch of the day. This skill will feed their writing skills for life.
When
asked about the value of having an Instructional Strategist to work with, Bushlack
commented, “The co-planning and co-teaching has positively
impacted the students in my classroom and it is very evident in the student's
writing.”
This
is what teacher leaders do: they work
with teachers to improve their adult content knowledge and instructional
practice to make a difference on how students learn and perform.
Meet Kendra Starkey, Student Support Services
Teacher at Echo Hill Elementary School.Each day Kendra works with the students in her classroom on a wide
variety of skills and curriculum.As a
part of her daily routine, she has students participate in calendar
activities.
She was looking for a new
way to make her white board interactive. Previously she made manipulatives with magnets that
students could move around on the board for calendar time. This was adequate, but students were not as eagerly engaged in the lessons. Another problem was that the magnets and manipulatives took up all of Mrs. Starkey's whiteboard. She was not able to utilize it for other lessons. Mrs. Starkey met with a Technology Integration Coach, Jessica Zimmerman. Jessica helped locate a MimioTeach bar for Mrs. Starkey to use.
One week after being given the MimioTeach capture
bar, Mrs. Starkey eagerly went to work creating lessons with the software associated with the MimioTeach bar. Her lessons were instantly brought to life.
Now the students are fully engaged in the interactive white board lessons that
Mrs. Starkey created.Mrs. Starkey and her class are taking Calendar Activities to a new level. Students independently maneuver through templates on the MimioTeach and are fostering self-confidence and comprehension through each lesson. Well Done!
