Year 0 instructional notes

The conversations I'm having with teachers about next year often turn to the unique challenges we'll encounter in opening a new school, forming new collaborative teams, and establishing new routines. The prospect of starting the year with small(ish) class sizes is one potentially exciting challenge we discuss. We've wondered aloud how we'll establish collaborative classroom cultures if, hypothetically, a class is particularly small and shy, or just low energy. At the same time we wonder about the kinds of problems we encounter, we talk about how small classes afford us the chance to teach in ways that are more responsive, and individualized than we can when our classes are at capacity.  I like to imagine we'll know each individual student a little better, and the supports we plan for students who seem to need extra help, or who need a challenging extension will be tailored to the specific learners as a result of small student numbers. It is fun to think about how th...

In a teaching partner meeting just before the holiday break, we were asked to look through the APS PLC Rubric to describe the work of teachers we were observing in PLCs. Since the school I work for is still one that lacks teachers and student work, I chose the rubric indicators that struck me as the most important for effective PLCs. Here they are, cut free from their boxes in the rubric, with key phrases bolded.  Dillon/Highlands Copy of APS PLC Rubric I expect some of our teachers next year will be familiar with this rubric because they’ve used it in a professional development setting. Others might be seeing it for the first time. Whatever the case, the document will probably help anchor our initial work in PLCs because it provides some vocabulary, and critical criteria for us to consider.  Here are the four boxes I chose, with some key phrases highlighted: Priority standards, assessments , and instruction are all aligned to focus teaching and learning. Priority standards us...