Adults in Action
Preschool teachers, Ramona Vargas and Meagan Malone, traveled to Colorado Springs to attend training in the Lindamood-Bell program called Talkies. Melissa Garcia and Kathy Kulp also attended, along with Head Start Education Manager, Annette Martinez, and Denise Martinez, and Angela Montoya, teachers from the Center Head Start project. We are very grateful to Mr. Paul Worthington, Director of Professional Development at Lindamood-Bell, for the generous gift of this training. It was his way of celebrating and recognizing our move into the new building.
Talkies is a primer to the Visualizing and Verbalizing program and can be used as both an intervention and as a developmental instructional program for young children. It will be an effective way for pre-K teachers to develop their students' receptive and expressive language and their ability to image concepts. It is particularly exciting to know that the teachers and administrators at the Center Head Start program agreed to attend the training and deliver the program in their setting. They feed the majority of kindergarten students into our school, so this promises to have a positive effect for our children. As expected, the training was exceptional and the program is of the highest quality. We are all enthused to begin delivering the instruction to our preschool children as well as providing it as an intervention to some of our current kindergarten students.This is a very exciting step as we all know that the earlier we intervene to meet the special needs of our students, the better the outcome is for them. Thanks to Ramona, Meagan, Annette, Denise, Angela, and Melissa for the professional way in which you participated in the training and for your willingness to provide this instruction to our students.
Talkies is a primer to the Visualizing and Verbalizing program and can be used as both an intervention and as a developmental instructional program for young children. It will be an effective way for pre-K teachers to develop their students' receptive and expressive language and their ability to image concepts. It is particularly exciting to know that the teachers and administrators at the Center Head Start program agreed to attend the training and deliver the program in their setting. They feed the majority of kindergarten students into our school, so this promises to have a positive effect for our children. As expected, the training was exceptional and the program is of the highest quality. We are all enthused to begin delivering the instruction to our preschool children as well as providing it as an intervention to some of our current kindergarten students.This is a very exciting step as we all know that the earlier we intervene to meet the special needs of our students, the better the outcome is for them. Thanks to Ramona, Meagan, Annette, Denise, Angela, and Melissa for the professional way in which you participated in the training and for your willingness to provide this instruction to our students.
Students in Action
Students came back to school primed and ready to go. To fourth grade students got sleds over the break. They had the foresight to ask permission prior to bringing them to school. The children thouroughly planned their presentation. Their innocence, honesty and integrety was shining through, so of course, we had to say yes. Great job students for asking permission prior to doing something new. We would like to celebrate 6 students who graduated from our Lindamood Bell program. The students haveworked very hard and the data shows that they are ready to move back into the classroom. The children will be recognized sometime this week for their achievements.
Core beliefs in action
Core Belief #3: Quality planning, instruction, and assessments lead to high achievement for ALL students.
This week we would like to take a moment to reflect on the administration and use of DFA's to measure student learning on a daily basis. Instruction begins with a well written objective, which serves two purposes. First of all, this gives the teacher a clear focus on exactly what is being taught. What is the specific goal for this lesson? What specific skill or concept will students know and be able to do or express at the end of this lesson? Secondly, a quality objective, shared clearly with students, gives them the focus they need in order to understand and be able to articulate exactly what they are to be learning during that lesson. The DFA should measure whether or not students achieved the goal. If we are to truly measure and remediate or reteach concepts and give students frequent feedback, we must take an honest look at how we are administering, scoring, and responding to the results of Daily Formative Assessments. Without thoughtful reflection on our practice, this process can become a routine activity that has little impact on student learning. One adjustment you might consider is moving the DFA earlier in the block. If the DFA were administered fifteen minutes before the end of the block, the teacher could move around the room with clipboard in hand, score the assessment, and determine which students were successful in demonstrating mastery of the skill. These students could spend the last few minutes of the block practicing some appropriate skill or completing a meaningful activity. The teacher could immediately pull students who were not successful on the DFA, those who demonstrated some confusion or misunderstanding, to a table where they could receive immediate remediation and coaching from the teacher. This is particularly important if students will be completing homework that night on the same skill taught during the lesson. In this way, you can be assured that they will not be practicing something incorrectly, cementing errors. Please take some time to reflect on your practice and take an honest look at how you are administering and using the results of your daily formative assessments. Are they giving you a crystal clear picture of which students "got it" and which students need further instruction? Are you using the results to give frequent (daily) feedback to your students on their progress? Do the results lead to immediate remediation or re-teaching to students who need it? Sharing your reflection with your colleagues and grade-level teammates might be a great way to refine your practice and increase the effectiveness of the DFA process. Participating in such reflection and refining your use of DFA's is an excellent example of Core Beliefs in action.
This week we would like to take a moment to reflect on the administration and use of DFA's to measure student learning on a daily basis. Instruction begins with a well written objective, which serves two purposes. First of all, this gives the teacher a clear focus on exactly what is being taught. What is the specific goal for this lesson? What specific skill or concept will students know and be able to do or express at the end of this lesson? Secondly, a quality objective, shared clearly with students, gives them the focus they need in order to understand and be able to articulate exactly what they are to be learning during that lesson. The DFA should measure whether or not students achieved the goal. If we are to truly measure and remediate or reteach concepts and give students frequent feedback, we must take an honest look at how we are administering, scoring, and responding to the results of Daily Formative Assessments. Without thoughtful reflection on our practice, this process can become a routine activity that has little impact on student learning. One adjustment you might consider is moving the DFA earlier in the block. If the DFA were administered fifteen minutes before the end of the block, the teacher could move around the room with clipboard in hand, score the assessment, and determine which students were successful in demonstrating mastery of the skill. These students could spend the last few minutes of the block practicing some appropriate skill or completing a meaningful activity. The teacher could immediately pull students who were not successful on the DFA, those who demonstrated some confusion or misunderstanding, to a table where they could receive immediate remediation and coaching from the teacher. This is particularly important if students will be completing homework that night on the same skill taught during the lesson. In this way, you can be assured that they will not be practicing something incorrectly, cementing errors. Please take some time to reflect on your practice and take an honest look at how you are administering and using the results of your daily formative assessments. Are they giving you a crystal clear picture of which students "got it" and which students need further instruction? Are you using the results to give frequent (daily) feedback to your students on their progress? Do the results lead to immediate remediation or re-teaching to students who need it? Sharing your reflection with your colleagues and grade-level teammates might be a great way to refine your practice and increase the effectiveness of the DFA process. Participating in such reflection and refining your use of DFA's is an excellent example of Core Beliefs in action.