Travel light over Spring Break

Do I bring my Mac? Do I pack my iPad? How many pairs of shoes do I really need? If you are reading this and packing for a Spring Break getaway, you might be asking these same questions. Traveling light is not only a necessity, but it serves as a valid metaphor for life as well. Leadership is a lot like taking a trip. Leaders often go into unfamiliar territory, influencing others to follow them there. Leaders must take care of themselves and their people for the journey. Leaders must be ready for and respond to the obstacles and challenges that inevitably come. The best leaders are the most agile, the most able to adjust and course-correct, the most rock solid on commitment to a vision but most flexible on the route. Leaders build trust, build a coalition and deep relationships. All of these can be seen as features of traveling light through life. Though leaders many carry heavy burdens, they do so with grace around that moral imperative...students!

Light is the load of tight friendships, deep bonds and heartfelt trust.

Light is the load of commitments to impactful goals and keeping the main thing the main thing.

Light is the load of a leader who understands that almost anything can be accomplished if enough focus of energy, desire, and relentless effort is applied.

Light is the life given in servant leadership to others.

The best of leaders are like the best of travelers; they travel light. Like the good traveler who takes nothing but pictures and leaves nothing but footprints, the best leaders take nothing but responsibility and leave nothing but love and example.

Travel light over Spring Break, whether it be in your own home or elsewhere. Become the best leader you can be...travel light.

Celebrate, Celebrate!

 

We are heading toward the end of March, almost eight months since the onset of our goal around Blackboard, so we wanted to take a minute to celebrate our success! 

• 19 of our 24 buildings have 80% or more of staff in the implementation phase of the Adult Learning Framework for Blackboard! 

• Nine of our buildings have staff identified in the institutionalization phase! 

In addition, we have some anecdotal feedback to celebrate. 

• Weekly agendas have been incredibly beneficial to students and families as evidenced by the family and student perception surveys and focus group feedback collected in February. 

• Staff who co-serve groups of students (Special Education teachers, Speech Pathologists, Specialists, etc.) have a common platform to access lesson plans, agendas, and curricular materials. This has supported the work around inclusive practices. 

• “As an administrator, when I go into a classroom for a quick walkthrough, I can log onto Blackboard to see where the lesson is going, where it started, and how it fits into the bigger scope of the unit. This makes my feedback and my conversations with staff much more meaningful.” 

• “As a teacher, I’ve been added onto my colleagues Blackboard courses, and we share materials and resources. I’m also able to see how they format their courses, and we learn from one another this way. It’s hard to get into each other’s classrooms during the day, so being a part of one another’s Blackboard courses is a way to learn more about what is happening in classrooms.” 

We’ve kept a narrowed focus on Blackboard this year, and we are so proud of our students and staff as they’ve utilized this platform to enhance student learning! As staff continue to develop their expertise, we’ve seen an increase in the number of teachers using discussion boards, the assignment tracker, the adaptive release feature, and so much more. This tool has the power to enhance our instruction, which in turn, enhances student learning and achievement. Keep up the great work! 

#waukeshaproud

Instructional Coaching in Waukesha

 

In Waukesha, we believe that our instructional coaches are a vital ingredient to the overall recipe of success in our classrooms. As part of our EMLSS (Equitable Multi-Level Systems of Support) work, we have a team working on a coaching vision for our district and the belief that everyone in our system deserves to work with a coach. We embrace that we are all getting better at getting better.

Here is a draft of the team's vision and commitments.

Vision: In the School District of Waukesha, coaching will continuously transform and empower our educators to disrupt inequalities and improve outcomes for all students.

As a catalyst for change we commit to:

* Continuously build trust and collaboration between students, families and educators

* Using valid and reliable sources of data in a well-defined process of inquiry to impact student outcomes and experiences

* Ensuring a system where highly-trained educators utilize evidence-based resources, materials and supports

* Planning with a proactive approach, acknowledging that variability is universal and anticipated

Celebrate Black History Month: Facts 21-25

Celebrate Black History Month: Facts 21-25

Celebrate Black History Month: Tips 16-20

 Celebrate Black History Month: Facts 16-20 

Elementary Social Studies Update

 Elementary Social Studies Update

The elementary Social Studies team and colleagues around the district have started the first resource pilot for elementary Social Studies.  The pilot includes elementary teachers in the areas of monolingual and dual language, special education and English language development, and those trained in using AVID strategies.  We are so excited to start this next leg of the journey reviewing potential resources.

This dedicated team of teachers linked here, have been on a several month journey studying the essential shifts in Social Studies referred to in the January leadership blog post, as well as deepening learning around the Social Studies Inquiry Design Model framework we will use K-12 to support our SDW Vision.

The features of the Inquiry Design Model offers a framework for learning with several key features, called dimensions, we have been studying as a K-12 team.  The four dimensions are:

1) Developing questions and planning inquiries

    The inquiry begins with the development of a compelling question.  A good compelling question is the most important element when planning a unit in Social Studies as its purpose is to guide all of the social studies skill development, content acquisition, source analysis and argument skill.  Features of the compelling question are: it is content based, contains a useful tension still disputed in social studies and students lives, is arguable from multiple perspectives.  It is key that this question be debatable, as our learners job is to analyze sources that help them to contextualize and corroborate their information as demonstrated by the summative performance assessment proving their claim with informed evidence and reasons. Tool Question Type Page 1,

Example: Do people around the world care about children's rights? (Debatable, right?)

Summative: Students will write a reasoned essay that includes three sources of evidence answering the compelling question.

     Argument stems: People around the world care about children's rights. People             around the world do not care enough about children's rights.  Under specific             circumstances, people around the world sometimes care and do not care about            children's rights.

2) Applying Disciplinary Tools and Concepts 

Based upon the compelling question and the summative assessment of that question, students will be lead to and or shared several supporting questions that help them into and through a focused inquiry.  For each supporting question, students will experience tasks that require them to learn and apply the skills they will need in preparation for their summative.  Tool Question Type Pages 2-3

Supporting Questions and Tasks: 

1) What are children's rights?  Task: Shared Reading We Are All Born Free by Amnesty International

2) Which are the rights most often violated? Task: Evaluating a World Map of School Access children ages 6-15.

3)Which organizations support children's rights, and how? Task: Compare and contrast child serving organizations, where they serve and which services they provide

4) How are major child serving organizations funded? Task: Evaluate an infographic of non-profit funding sources

3) Evaluating Sources and using evidence

Sources are the content in the Social Studies classroom.  This is a shift from current practice where the teachers own background knowledge may have provided the source.  Teachers will instead be carefully determining sources that help students to build the body of evidence they will need for their arguments.  Sourcing, or the ability to read a source in it's context, of through the lens of an economist or political scientist, to draw evidence and conclusion is key to the inquiry.  In our pilot, teachers are using the instructional resource for the sources: texts, maps, paintings, graphs and tables, stories, newspaper ads, photographs etc. Resources: Document Sourcing ,Visual Sourcing

Sources include: 

1)  We Are All Born Free by Amnesty International

2)  World Map of School Access children ages 6-15.

3) List of child serving international organizations, where they serve and which services they provide

4)  Infographic of non-profit funding sources

4) Communicating and critiquing conclusions and taking informed action

Finally, and most importantly, Social Studies education should result in students ability to have more than an opinion, but an evidence based argument.  An informed citizenry who not only learns information, but has and shares an informed opinion about that information is what social studies is, all about!  Our students will develop an argument for or against the compelling question, in essence, and develop a written, spoken or representation of their conclusions.  The classroom will transform into a place where there can and should be multiple conclusions based on the evidence.  Students will be facilitated then take informed action to address the local issues related to the compelling question.

Summative: Students will write a reasoned essay that includes three sources of evidence answering the compelling question.

Extension/Taking Action: Make a list of local issues impacting children's rights, and create a public service announcement

Our first resource pilot will be wrapping up in March.  At that time we will be considering how to move forward with our planning.  There will be another Connect Posting in March, or join us by viewing the Teaching and Learning Committee meeting on March 2 and April 6 at 6pm.  If you'd like to initiate learning about the Inquiry Design Model, we invite you to start on your own path by watching these web recordings, and exploring the links in this post:

Introduction to the Inquiry Design Model Link

Content, Compelling Questions and Summative Learning Tasks Link

Filling the Inquiry with Supporting Questions and Tasks Link

GOOD JOB!

 

I know many of you have seen this, but I want to thank Tiara Rogers, Principal from East, for sharing this with me. It is worth sharing and being present to listen to. May you never forget the impact you are making, every, single, day!

Good Job Cover by One Voice Children's Choir