So far we've discussed revisions to our model and daily schedule. Our district has mandated some big changes by eliminating our weekly early release day (for staff development) and requiring that school instructional hours are neither more nor less than 7:45 AM - 3:45 PM. This was incredibly hard for me to swallow at first as it meant shortening our regular full day schedule (already packed to the max due to the extra time demands inherent in a dual language schedule) AS WELL AS eliminating our weekly 2-hr block of staff development...another critical element of dual language launch, particularly those first couple of years. I'll admit that I freaked out at first, then got angry and went into protest mode, and finally have come to accept that it is what it is and I'd better find a way to make it work. (Ah...the grieving process in miniature). Interestingly, I'm actually really pleased with the results and believe we've really found some great ways to make it work. Should I admit that I might even like our new ideas better than what we're currently doing this year? Humble pie. Eating lots of it.
So I went to work trying to figure out how to maximize a shorter school day and how to fit in substantive professional development without having to spend thousands of dollars for substitutes to provide release planning/PD time. Some things had to go, unfortunately. Right now we have a daily assembly or class meeting time. Next year we'll only be able to have school assembly once a week and an extended (20 min) class meeting once a week. I also had to eliminate our 30 min daily intervention block and, instead, add 20 minutes to centers time to allow for pull-out/push-in interventions for struggling students during that time. Saves 10 minutes without having to do away with it altogether. I created a special planning time schedule (STEPP Days...stands for Staff Time for Evaluating a Problem of Practice) :) where one grade level a week will have a 2 hour period without students (kids will be in an extended enrichment rotation in PE, Art, etc...) during which we'll engage in intensive PD activities. Got that idea from Sharon at Quest. However, it will only be tri-weekly for each team (1 team per week) instead of the current weekly PD time. Better than nothing. Also, it won't be the entire school together--it will only be by grade level. Again, better than nothing. Download Proposed Master Schedule
Blanca & Christine provided valuable input during meeting 1 and then came back with additional thoughts from other teachers during meeting 2. That's when I shared with them a very new idea I'd hatched for Kinder and 1st grade--a Teaching Fellows program. I'll give further details in a post dedicated just to this idea.
Here's my plan for meeting 3 (this is the email I sent yesterday):
Hi Ladies,
For some reason I’d calendared Tuesday 3/23 as the final dual language revision committee meeting date. Instead it will be the following Tuesday (3/30) at 4:15 PM. I’d like your feedback on the following two things:
1) Unit Planning Template
I’m attaching a unit planning template for next year that I’d like feedback on. Download Proposed Unit Planning Template I’m also attaching an “overview” help sheet that includes questions to think about at each stage of the planning process. The template I’ve created is based primarily on the Understanding by Design (UbD) backwards planning model (something I’ll be developing you all on at the beginning of the school year and throughout) and will allow us to “beef up” the tremendous work that’s already been done in planning our units. I anticipate this document going onto Google Docs so that all grade level team members could access them simultaneously and collaboratively and use the template to together create a detailed plan for each unit of inquiry. While you’ll see that it’s primarily UbD, I’ve also tweaked/revised it to ensure it includes critical aspects of our dual language planning expectations as well as some key pieces of IB’s PYP unit planning process (particularly the stage 4 post-unit reflection...this isn’t a part of the UbD framework). If you want to find out more about UbD’s planning framework to help you better understand the template’s organization, you can learn more (as well as see sample unit plans for different grade levels) at: UbD on Google Books. It’s actually a pretty fascinating read. :) After participating in a book study of this text, I used UbD as my primary unit planning approach as a teacher and found that it really pushed me to think very critically about how I planned, taught, and assessed units of study.
2) Website: Teaching & Learning Central
I’d also like you to take a look at a (VERY rough) draft of a website I’ve been working on to better organize & streamline all the information we need to access as well as our collaborative planning documents. I’ve invited you each to view: https://sites.google.com/site/ideaprimary/. The invitation was sent to the gmail accounts you use to access Google Docs. Some of the links on the website are “live” and accessible, many are not, so just play around for a few minutes and see what you think. I’d love questions, ideas, & critical feedback.
Ultimately, this final meeting will be the time to provide final feedback on any of our committee discussions:
- Next year’s proposed model
- Next year’s proposed schedules
- Teaching Fellows proposal
- Unit Planning approach
- Improving our use of Google Apps (website)
- Any other aspects of dual language planning you want me to take into consideration
Thanks!
Bethany
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