Full-day Professional Development 1.11.13
Guess who's coming to Middleborough...
Keep an eye out for weekly clues from Dr. Weiss!
Monday, December 10, 2012
Together We Create a Better Tomorrow...your voice counts!
Professional Development Study
Please participate!
Dear Humanities Teachers,
As you may already know, we are asking K12 Insight to conduct several research projects this year to help us give everyone a voice in collaborative planning of district initiatives. We'll be encouraging you to participate in three projects in the first half of the year, an Opening of Schools study (concluded), a Technology Assessment critical for state reporting and this Professional Development Needs Assessment . This study is designed to provide feedback on PD topic areas such as classroom management, pedagogy, assessments, etc.
Twenty-First-Century Learning means that students master content while producing, synthesizing, and evaluating information from a wide variety of subjects and sources with an understanding of and respect for diverse cultures. Students demonstrate the three Rs, but also the three Cs: creativity, communication, and collaboration. They demonstrate digital literacy as well as civic responsibility. Virtual tools and open-source software create borderless learning territories for students of all ages, anytime and anywhere.
Powerful learning of this nature demands well-prepared teachers who draw on advances in cognitive science and are strategically organized in teams, in and out of cyberspace. Many will emerge as "teacherpreneurs" who work closely with students in their local communities while also serving as learning concierges, virtual network guides, gaming experts, community organizers, and policy researchers.
In order to participate, please follow the instructions contained in the e-mail you received on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 from Dr. Roseli Weiss. The link is designed specifically for you! Your participation is completely anonymous.
Your responses will guide our Professional Development planning for the remainder of this school year and next school year. We look forward to hearing from each and every one of you! Thank you for all you do for our students!
Sincerely,
Dr. Roseli S. Weiss, Superintendent
Anita M. Rodriguez, Director of Elementary Education
Melanie R. Gates, Director of Secondary Education for STEM
Elizabeth A. Haskell, Director of Secondary Education for Humanities
As you may already know, we are asking K12 Insight to conduct several research projects this year to help us give everyone a voice in collaborative planning of district initiatives. We'll be encouraging you to participate in three projects in the first half of the year, an Opening of Schools study (concluded), a Technology Assessment critical for state reporting and this Professional Development Needs Assessment . This study is designed to provide feedback on PD topic areas such as classroom management, pedagogy, assessments, etc.
Twenty-First-Century Learning means that students master content while producing, synthesizing, and evaluating information from a wide variety of subjects and sources with an understanding of and respect for diverse cultures. Students demonstrate the three Rs, but also the three Cs: creativity, communication, and collaboration. They demonstrate digital literacy as well as civic responsibility. Virtual tools and open-source software create borderless learning territories for students of all ages, anytime and anywhere.
Powerful learning of this nature demands well-prepared teachers who draw on advances in cognitive science and are strategically organized in teams, in and out of cyberspace. Many will emerge as "teacherpreneurs" who work closely with students in their local communities while also serving as learning concierges, virtual network guides, gaming experts, community organizers, and policy researchers.
In order to participate, please follow the instructions contained in the e-mail you received on Tuesday, December 11, 2012 from Dr. Roseli Weiss. The link is designed specifically for you! Your participation is completely anonymous.
Your responses will guide our Professional Development planning for the remainder of this school year and next school year. We look forward to hearing from each and every one of you! Thank you for all you do for our students!
Sincerely,
Dr. Roseli S. Weiss, Superintendent
Anita M. Rodriguez, Director of Elementary Education
Melanie R. Gates, Director of Secondary Education for STEM
Elizabeth A. Haskell, Director of Secondary Education for Humanities
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Effective Feedback and more
November 2012
"To know how to suggest is the great art of teaching."--Ralph Waldo Emerson
Introducing the All-New Humanities Blog-ALL Humanities ALL the time!
As mentioned in the introduction of my blogging experience, this is the first time the MPS Directors had attempted to blog. We asked for patience as we know there was going to be plenty of trial and error. We decided to reconfigure our blog, and now our Humanities @ MPS Blog is ALL Humanities ALL the time! You can visit the STEM Blog at www.MPSSTEM.blogspot.com
if you would like to check out what STEM @ MPS is up to too!
30/30 Meetings
As I have mentioned in our Department and Faculty meetings, I will be contacting everyone requesting at time to meet with each person who teaches in the Humanities subject areas: Fine Arts, ELA, Foreign Language and ELA. The meeting will be scheduled for 60 minutes. On the agenda is anything you would like to discuss for the first 30 minutes, and anything I would like to discuss for the last 30 minutes. I have enjoyed a few 30/30 meetings already. Some of chosen to e-mail me a list of topics they wanted to discuss before the meeting, others have brought their list with them, while others have arrived with some ideas in their heads. Any and all formats work. One suggestion I have is to think about how I might be able to help support teaching and learning and what that looks like for you and your classroom. I am looking forward to hearing from each of you and what you think. My goal is to complete these meetings by the mid-year point (or sooner).
Food for thought: Effective Feedback
As I walk through classrooms, prepare for formal observations of student learning, and am wrapping up my season coaching little league field hockey, I have been thinking a lot about feedback. So did you have to go back a reread that sentence? Are you wondering what walk-thrus, observations, and coaching have to do with eachother? [insert wait time here] Think about it...
This was my daughter's first year playing field hockey, as was the case for the majority of our team in the Pee Wee Instructional Division. I coached high school freshman field hockey 7 years, and this was not a huge leap. The proficiency level of first-year players is not much different between a 1st grader and a 9th grader. We had a great season, finished 2nd in the league, and had a lot of fun. Last week we attended a post-season reflection meeting with the League Director to provide feedback about what worked well, what didn't work well, and how we might change it.
As I thought about what points I wanted to present at the meeting, I remembered some feedback I had received from some parents and players about how "loud" I was when I "yelled" during games. My response was, " I am not yelling, I am coaching...giving feedback" Upon reflection I realized that I was providing feedback, but it wasn't necessarily effective feedback.
At the post-season meeting, I suggested that in the Pee Wee Instructional League coaches should not only be allowed, but encouraged to be on the field during the game. We could provide instruction and immediate and effective feedback as the girls play resulting in more effective field hockey players.
I was not new to coaching field hockey this season, as I am not a new to classroom observations, but I am new to both teams. As a coach, I want to provide effective feedback that will help the players improve their skills and proficiency in field hockey. As a classroom teacher, I wanted to provide effective feedback to help students improve their skills, knowledge and proficiency in the subject matter. As an educational leader, I want to provide effective feedback to our teachers that will result in increased student learning. I look forward to working with all of you, and will do my best to be a coach that is helpful, supportive, and effective for our team. I hope the resources I have shared are helpful.
Below you will find some quotes from one of the best resources of teaching best practice I have ever used: Research for Better Teaching's The Skillful Teacher. I hope you will take some time to reflect on "Feedback" and maybe even provide some to me if you incorporate any of these resources. Feel free to include such feedback in the comments section below.
"Academic feedback is more strongly and consistently related to achievement than another teaching behavior. This relationship is consistent regardless of grade, socioeconomic status, race, or school setting" (The Skillful Teacher, 6th Edition, p.460).
"The most powerful single modification that enhances achievement is feedback. The simplest prescription for improving education must be 'dolops of feedback'"(The Skillful Teacher, 6th Edition, p. 461).
"Feedback Defined: Feedback is information about how we did in light of some goal. Feedback is descriptive of performance in relation to a standard or to criteria for success that have been clearly communicated" (The Skillful Teacher, 6th Edition, p. 461).
"Feedback the increases student learning significanly is:
- direct
- specific
- timely
- in the appropriate amount
- able to be understood (developmentally appropriate)
- credible
- frequent and ongoing
- nonjudgmental"
(The Skillful Teacher, 6th Edition, p. 461)
Humanities @ MPS
Elizabeth Haskell, Director of Secondary Education for Humanities
Nichols Middle School Room A304
Office Phone: 774.766.6480
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Reposted from Middleborough Director Connector
September 2012
-author David McCullough
Welcome Back!
We are at the end of our first full week back from summer break. As I walk through classrooms at NMS and MHS, I have had the opportunity to feel the positive energy from teachers, support staff, administrators and students alike. I am working my way around to touch base with everyone, and look forward to working with all of you.Drop-in Fridays in September
I am looking forward to meeting everyone and listening to your thoughts and ideas. I will be available on Friday, September 14th at Nichols in room A304 and at Middleborough High School on Friday, September 21st in the Career Center from 8:00-1:45 both days. Everyone is welcome to drop-in any time on any day!
A little about me...
I am very excited to be part of the Middleborough Public Schools Team. I was a classroom teacher at Carver Middle School and Dartmouth High School for 12 years and I am coming directly from Sandwich High School where I was an Assistant Principal. Throughout my career I have taught Spanish, grades 6-10 and Social Studies grades 9-12 including U.S. History, Economics, and AP Macroeconomics. I am looking forward to working together with teachers, directors and administrators "to prepare all
students to excel as educated, responsible, global citizens."
MESPA - Massachusetts Elementary School Principals Association
MSSAA - Massachusetts Secondary School Administrators' Association
MassCUE - Massachusetts Computer Using Educators
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
Revisiting Professional Learning Communities at Work: New Insights for Improving Schools by Richard & Rebecca Dufour
Schools as Learning Communities May 2004 Volume 61 Number 8
The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement
I am very excited to be part of the Middleborough Public Schools Team. I was a classroom teacher at Carver Middle School and Dartmouth High School for 12 years and I am coming directly from Sandwich High School where I was an Assistant Principal. Throughout my career I have taught Spanish, grades 6-10 and Social Studies grades 9-12 including U.S. History, Economics, and AP Macroeconomics. I am looking forward to working together with teachers, directors and administrators "to prepare all
students to excel as educated, responsible, global citizens."
Professional Development
There are some great opportunities for professional development in the area. Checkout the workshops and conferences happening this fall!MESPA - Massachusetts Elementary School Principals Association
MSSAA - Massachusetts Secondary School Administrators' Association
MassCUE - Massachusetts Computer Using Educators
Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education
Professional Learning Community (PLC)
Dr. Richard Dufour is the education guru most closely associate with the term "Professional Learning Community." I hope that our team of Humanities educators can work together to function as a true PLC by incorporating in our interactions Dufour's 3 Big Ideas:- Big Idea #1: Ensuring That Students Learn
- Big Idea #2: A Culture of Collaboration
- Big Idea #3: A Focus on Results
For more information about PLCs:
Revisiting Professional Learning Communities at Work: New Insights for Improving Schools by Richard & Rebecca Dufour
Schools as Learning Communities May 2004 Volume 61 Number 8
The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement
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