PDS Meeting

October 5, 2016

Dr. George Brown

  • Updates:
  • Reading Intervention Committee
  • A survey was filled out that showed elementary schools varied in reading intervention.
  • The committee is made up of K-12 teachers, administrators, and Dr. Welsch.
  • A universal screen is now being used: Dibels
  • 4-9 Reading Comprehension screener: what used to be the Scholastic Reading Inventory
  • Secondary: quick phonics screener
  • They are looking to create protocols for all assessments, so it is uniform across all schools.
  • Next move: Finding 3-4 research based comprehension strategies to use from K-12
  • SWIFT provides technical assistance
  • Once we come up with our research based strategies, they will create the protocol.
  • 62 teachers K-12 are trained to use Orton Gillingham. There is at least 1 in every school.
  • GRUDL
  • Gradual release framework combined with UDL
  • This will be talked about at the October 18th Professional Development
  • Lesson Study Module
  • Secondary Social Studies and Science teachers
  • The first 2 cohorts finished 1st cycle
  • 1A: Planned the lessons
  • 1B: One teacher facilitated the lesson and the others observed
  • Met after the lesson to have a debriefing
  • They will repeat two more times.
  • Books:
  • Critical Vocabulary
  • Better Learning- Fisher & Frey
  • Focused instructional writing for content and language purposes
  • Writing is for the students, not the teachers.
  • 10 Skills for Successful School Leaders being used by Assistant Principals
  • Goal: To create consistency K-12
  • Elementary “I Can” statements- carry through K-12
  • Students need to know what the purpose is. During walk through students will be asked what they are learning
  • Dr. Brown wrote a rationale for GRUDL and why we are doing what we are doing
  • New teachers looked at this.
  • They took a K standard and two Common Core standards that show collaboration and found the content and language purpose.

Roles of Site Coordinators

  • University supervisors will now also be liaisons. We did away with the liaison positions to provide more money for mentor training.
  • Site Coordinator roles:
  • Point person for the principal: The contact person
  • Welcoming the interns into the building and being the go-to if they are struggling or need help
  • Introduce the interns to the staff
  • Sit them down and give them information on school policies and things they need to know
  • Google drive: You may need to ask Intern Is for artifacts you need and maybe Intern IIs
  • Recruit good mentors. They need to be tenured
  • We need social studies mentors for secondary
  • If there are any problems collecting/storing artifacts or if you need a google drive account- contact Mr. Eirich

Last June we held mentor training.

  • Due to accreditation
  • 70 teachers came
  • Recommendations/Feedback:
  • Break-out sessions were very good
  • People in charge of sessions did very good
  • Topics:
  • Portfolio
  • This coming spring: invite teachers who did not participate last time

Forms

  • Forms were changed and new forms were used last spring
  • Students should have forms in their handbooks and mentors should have a purple handbook and a link to Taskstream (forms are in the mentor section)
  • Elementary:
  • New this fall: mentors are no longer evaluating content mastery
  • There is now an addendum for every level
  • Early Childhood: Pre-K or K
  • Elementary: 1-5
  • Middle Grades: 6-8
  • Addendum will be done based on the grade they are in during each internship
  • Students and mentors will now fill out Performance Rating, Dispositions, and Addendum
  • Secondary:
  • Intern I is now 30 days
  • Intern II is now 70 days
  • No longer assessing content knowledge midway. This will only be done at the end.

Preparation of Interns

  • Induction Days
  • Students should be helping with things
  • They were told they should not be sitting in the back of the classroom. They should be hands-on.
  • Feedback:
  • Interns thankful to experience the induction days
  • Positive experiences with interns
  • Induction days may change next year if schools start after Labor Day
  • May be changed or shortened

PDS Entrance Interviews

  • Restructuring
  • For P-9 students after their 3-week assistantship
  • Create a basic portfolio
  • Meet with a team to answer questions using their portfolio
  • Proposal for Restructuring
  • Students are still creating a portfolio and answering questions
  • It will be during the day on Friday, December 9th from 9 AM to 12 PM
  • This will take place in the block rooms and classrooms
  • Teams will be made of 1 faculty member and 1 site coordinator
  • It will be the same question format, but questions are being revised
  • Will arrange for vouchers for lunch
  • Emails will be send at the beginning of November for volunteers
  • Portfolio night will be the same
  • Site coordinators will be asked to participate in portfolio night

Secondary Entrance Interview

  • This will take place in October
  • 2 faculty members will evaluate students
  • Half hour time slots
  • Transcript analysis
  • Grades and content knowledge will be looked at
  • Immediate feedback so students can create their schedules for the next semester
  • Looking to add school teachers to the teams in the future