CFAs afford grade - level and course -
level teacher teams a clear lens through which to see their instructional impact on student learning.
She amended the schedule to foster PLCs so that grade -
level teacher teams could meet daily to reflect on their practice; collaborate around teaching and learning; continuously fine tune their shared beliefs and values; and examine data to improve their craft.
We now have a Coordination of Services Team, Attendance Team, Instructional Leadership Team (ILT), K2College Team, PBIS School Climate team, Redesign Team, and Faculty Council, in addition to the parent involvement bodies and grade
level teacher teams.
They met with grade -
level teacher teams to co-plan a lesson or series of lessons.
Grade -
level teacher teams would collaborate on a weekly basis to determine the «theme» for each morning's jumpstART mini-curriculum.
The district created grade -
level teacher teams in each school and hired a coach to provide professional development to teachers.
I joined the library media specialist and Gifted and Talented Education coordinator, the associate principal, the curriculum coordinator, and grade -
level teacher teams to review units using the Understanding by Design model.
Not exact matches
As one of the very first Prenatal Yoga Instructors in Chicago, Jenny and her
team of Sweet Pea's trained
teachers hold space in these classes for sharing, childbirth and parenting education, ensuring all classes are accessible and therapeutic for all stages of pregnancy and
level of skill.
And further analyses revealed that the classroom improvement effect was not influenced by various individual - and classroom -
level factors, including student race, student intervention condition, and
teacher team, in either study.
She assigned clear owners to necessary tasks (for example, homeroom
teachers were responsible for sharing field trip rules and expectations), and reviewed the list each week with her grade -
level team.
The report tracked
teacher retention patterns alongside effectiveness
levels from 2011 - 13, when the state first implemented its multiple measures evaluation system, the Tennessee Evaluator Acceleration Model (
TEAM).
Teachers can register for free, and grade
level teams can apply (also free).
While many
teachers plan each and every field trip on their own, some schools create a standard timeline to be implemented across a grade
level or
team.
The schools and classrooms where I've seen the strongest relationship - based cultures are ones where students have input on establishing norms and processes, where
team building happens throughout the year so that students and
teachers know each other well, and, on the
teacher level, where
teachers have regular opportunities to collaborate to design meaningful PBL experiences for students and discuss student supports.
Grade -
level chairs lead their colleagues through weekly shared planning sessions, and
teams of
teachers learn by observing each other in sessions modeled on medical - student rounds.
Tony and I developed a 30 hour course at Lead
Level of the APST and we asked
teams to use some of the work that has been done on
teacher observer rating.
Led by HGSE faculty members, the program is for leaders in school systems and state agencies; experienced principals and
teachers who aspire to system -
level roles; and
teams seeking to strengthen their skills and collaborative capabilities.
Teachers led the development of our curriculum, curating and revising projects in course -
level teams.
In Beth Burt's school, all
teachers are members of two
teams — a grade -
level team and a vertical
team.
In a quasi-experimental study in nine Title I schools, principals and
teacher leaders used explicit protocols for leading grade -
level learning
teams, resulting in students outperforming their peers in six matched schools on standardized achievement tests (Gallimore, Ermeling, Saunders, and Goldenberg, 2009).
Co-teaching on
teams where excellence is acknowledged provides authentic on - the - job learning, and it enables a
team's teaching to rise to the
level of the most skilled
teachers in each instructional area.
Early on, the
teachers at Mesquite created their own weekly assessments; now there is a
team of
teachers at the district
level that writes them.
In addition, for the state's second, more advanced
level of licensure, evaluation
teams of two or three state - trained professionals review portfolios and videotaped lessons submitted by
teachers.
While most schools have structures for
teachers to work together — such as grade -
level teams or subject - area departments — these groups don't always have the impact on student learning that they could.
«When
teachers engage in high -
level instructional talk and have the opportunity to improve practice collaboratively and in concrete forms, they develop
team loyalty, trust, and feelings of responsibility and accountability for each other and for all the
team's students.
Once the comfort
levels have been created, the opportunity exists for
teachers to begin branching out beyond departments into interdisciplinary
teams and curriculum design.
So are regular grade -
level and
team meetings to keep in touch with
teachers» needs and concerns.»
In partnership with CLG, the West Clermont
team came to recognize that an effective and sustainable reform plan could come about only if it was initiated by those doing the school's work at the ground
level, namely,
teachers and administrative staff.
Based on the literature reviews, observations in the schools and meetings with the departments at the Ministry of Education, the
team presented several key policy considerations to the Ministry: (1) utilize a website, the National Play Day, and the Jamaican Teaching Council as platforms from which educators can develop and share best game - based learning practices; (2) promote a culture of collaboration through the Quality Education Circles (local discussion groups for educators), and by allocating time for
teachers to develop and share game - based learning strategies; (3) provide resource support for schools in the form of workshops and training; and (4) create a monitoring and evaluation plan to be conducted at the school
level.
Each year I hosted an afternoon training [session] with my grade -
level team that began with a group meeting and ended with parents rotating through
teachers rooms and the school office learning various activities like using the copier, working with small groups, and conducting fluency testing.
This would — normally — be conducted by a senior colleague on behalf of all
teachers and communicated to all colleagues in the year
level team who work with the student in question.
A variety of factors were considered when establishing the
teams; each
team would comprise
teachers at different
levels of experience and from different content areas.
As
teachers gave up some «academic freedom,» their isolation from each other was greatly reduced, and grade -
level teams had a common purpose.
The base -
level «Essential» package provides primary schools with essential IT comprising of: • Remote ICT support — for
teachers and technical staff • Online helpdesk — a school - branded system • A dedicated, named, local service delivery manager • Dedicated support line — speak to a
team member within three rings
School -
level planning
teams were organized for all Algebra I
teachers (from high schools and middle schools), and a districtwide meeting was held (at first weekly, later monthly) for a representative from each
team.
Imagine this: You're a ninth - grade math
teacher, and you've just been anointed as head of the school's wellness committee, a
team thrown together to deal with student stress
levels that are «far too high.»
They have their grade
level teams, and everyone is on a vertical
team that comprises one
teacher from each grade
level plus either a special ed or special subject
teacher.
Our grade -
level teachers work as a
team to plan for instruction, activities, and field trips so that all students in that grade get that experience.
In addition, we have a School Success Leadership
Team, which comprises a representative from each grade level, the in - school support teacher, other support staff, and representatives from the School Council; the purpose of that leadership team is to guide the school success planning proc
Team, which comprises a representative from each grade
level, the in - school support
teacher, other support staff, and representatives from the School Council; the purpose of that leadership
team is to guide the school success planning proc
team is to guide the school success planning process.
Grade -
level teams can see and provide support if a
teacher isn't getting results.
That
team might include the principal, the
team leader / grade -
level chairman, and other
teacher leaders from the school.
At the local
level,
teams of
teachers routinely collaborate on assessments to ensure consensus and consistency in the scoring of work.
In contrast, the evaluations for certifications at
Levels II and III were conducted largely by a three - member
team of peers from outside the
teacher's district.
There are plenty of curriculum models (Tylers seminal 1949 work ~ Bruners definition of curriculum ~ Wiggins and McTighes Understanding by Design model ~ and Jacobs curriculum mapping instrument come to mind) ~ but none of these strategies help guide curriculum leaders to sit down
teams of
teachers to develop user - friendly curricula that can be institutionally implemented in classrooms across a grade -
level or content - area and that are aligned with state or national standards.
Teachers and research
team members found that the majority of students selected book that were too easy for their skill
level.
9 — Middle schools: «Advisor / Advisee: An Integral Part of Effective Education,» and «Developing Effective Middle -
Level Teams,» seminars, sponsored by the New England League of Middle Schools, for middle school
teachers and administrators, to be held in Providence, R.I. Contact: Jean Blanchard, N.E.L.M.S., 460 Boston St., Suite 4, Topsfield, Mass. 01983 - 1223; (508) 887-6263; fax: (508) 887-6504.
That means
teachers being able to work together in
teams, people who are teaching in the same subject area or at the same grade
level, sharing their knowledge, getting out and about to conferences, participating in professional learning to really build in each school a genuine professional learning community.
If a school leader balances the teaching talent on each
team so that there are no discernable differences between
teams at different grade
levels, then parents don't worry so much about «poor»
teachers, because they know that there will be strong and less - strong
teachers on every
team that their child could be on.
The report warned that new
teams were causing «unintended and unsustainable
levels of work for learners and
teachers» and warned that «the need to take action to address the very real pressures on
teachers».
Practically speaking, this macro
level work is best undertaken at the state, regional or district
levels by
teams of content experts and experienced
teachers.