11.10+Board+Meeting

__**Guiding Principles:**__

1. Differentiation of instruction is necessary in order for students to grow and progress.

2. Behavior:
 * Behavior is not considered part of academics and is not to be considered part of the proficiency level assessment.
 * Behavior is to be reported in a separate progress report (behavior rubrics).

3. Extra credit will not be given.
 * High-level work should be used to differentiate for students who show secure proficiency.
 * This should not simply be more work, but work at a level beyond the secure expectations.
 * This can be used as evidence that the student meets the ”exceeds” level for a specific proficiency indicator.

4. Ongoing Assessments (retakes, revisions, alternative assessments, etc.)
 * Students will be given multiple opportunities to demonstrate proficiency following additional instruction and ongoing assessment.
 * Ongoing assessments may be given in a format different from the original.
 * The timeframe of ongoing assessments will be determined based on student progress.

5. Determining proficiency:
 * Teacher will consider multiple data points based on assessments.
 * Teacher will provide evidence to support the proficiency indicator.
 * Teacher will consider most recent data to determine indicator of student progress.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">6. Incomplete work:
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Students are expected to complete all required work.
 * <span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">Teacher will give students opportunity to complete the work.

<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">(Principles adapted from Waukee CSD)

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">-- =**Iowa Community of Practice and Innovation**=

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">**IACoPi Letter from Nancy Movall** <span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">

**Compelling Urgency: “Traditional Just Won’t Cut It”**
 * **Traditional won’t cut it: Designing new Curriculum-** the implication for redesigning curriculum to meet the needs of today’s students in a global, competitive, hyper-connected world.


 * **Traditional won’t cut it: Teaching in a Blended Classroom-** teaching in a Blended environment and the implications for changing teaching pedagogy


 * **Traditional won’t cut it: Collaborating in a Community of Practice**- implications for collaborating and collectively focusing our efforts to improve teaching and learning. Teachers can no longer afford to teach in isolation.

=**Impact at NEH**=

The opportunities made available to me through IACoPi changed the face of my classroom. From blended learning to project-based learning to professional development on e-instruction, IACoPi changed all my classes in some way. My 6th and 10th grade students will each participate in a full year of instruction based in project based learning. All seven of my classes, from 6th grade through 12th grade, are working in a blended learning environment. Although my district is not part of a one-to-one initiative, IACoPi and its members inspired me to give my students the best of one-to-one blended learning and combine it with research-proven instructional strategies.

IACoPi inspired me to become more collaborative and to flatten the walls of my classroom. My students have had the opportunity to work with other Iowa districts, to Skype with professionals as it relates to our course of study, and work with teachers from other states to provide another point of view for our work. They have used Twitter to reach out about new subjects and Today’s Meet to invite other educators and administrators into our discussions. My students are becoming independent thinkers and learners through project based learning. They are mastering life skills through the content as opposed to memorizing facts about the content. They are communicating with peers and adults, creating their own work at new levels, and thinking critically about the world around them in a new way.

=**Assessment**=

<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">*Student work is authentic and based on standards
 * Assessments are focused on real world application or making a comparison between past and present
 * Grades reflect learning, not behavior
 * Students are given voice and choice in how they are assessed
 * Students are encouraged to demonstrate learning on their terms, not mine - ambiguity is okay
 * Focus is on writing and creating
 * Students are given multiple opportunities to improve based on rubrics and teacher feedback
 * Emphasis on group work with individual accountability
 * Formative Assessment

=**<span style="font-family: Arial,sans-serif;">What my classroom "looks" like **=

My 6th grade class will be primarily project-based learning. We will spend the first semester working on skills and content through C-SPAN’s StudentCam. Students will have “voice and choice” in deciding their topic of study through this year’s theme - the Constitution and You. Students will research, write scripts, edit, film, narrate, and create a video project based on the theme in small groups.
 * Project Based Learning (#pbl)**

My World History class will participate in 8 project based/thematic units throughout the school year. These authentic assessments will make up the majority of their course grades.

While studies argue both ways, I’ve decided that while the “flipped” classroom may not be the perfect answer (and I can think of a couple of my twitter friends specifically who will not be happy with this choice), it is a step in the right direction. My 8th and 9th graders will be doing “flipped-lite”. They will get the information/material in class on Mondays instead of doing it on their own outside of class - this will help them transition into what they will do as seniors when it will be truly flipped (which is what my government class will be this year). Flipping the class will allow more time for class discussion, work with primary sources, and student interest based discovery. I want to give students as much control over the curriculum as I can. I’m pushing outside my comfort zone on this one, but you have to give up control, as Andrew Miller (@betamiller) would say.
 * The Flipped Classroom:**

Each of my classes will plan and carry out some sort service project. I will be putting an emphasis on creating an informed, positive, helpful citizenry. Students will be encouraged to pursue a course of study that allows them to help others through the learning process. My 6th graders will focus on a community project, US History classes on a national project, World History on a global project, etc.
 * Citizenship & Service Learning:**

My World History class will see not only an emphasis on project based learning and global citizenship, but a change to standards-based assessment and reporting based on rubrics adapted from the Waukee model. Each theme focuses on a specific set of standards. Students will participate an practice activities to help them meet each of the standards by the end of the unit. Students that do not “meet expectations” will be given additional opportunities in the following unit(s) to demonstrate competency in the skills and standards. Anyone who has looked at #sbar at all knows I could go on for pages about this topic, but I’m trying to keep it simple. This is probably the area in which I feel least prepared. I know how much work others have put into preparing for this process, and that’s intimidating, but I’ve put a lot of work into researching my material, developing and locating quality assessments (thank you BIE), and studying as much of Waukee’s materials as they’ll let me look at (thanks Steph Wilson!).
 * Standards Based Grading (#sbar)**



The Global Citizenship module created by @nmovall ‘s ingenious #IACoPi will be the basis of my curriculum for my “Geography” elective this fall. However, I know that only using it in Geography will reach a handful of students to start with, so I’ll also be using it to supplement my Government, Econ, and World History classes. Differentiation and modifications will need to be made for students who overlap with the elective. I’ll be looking for a partner social studies classroom to complete the summative activity (UN Summit) with.
 * IACoPi**

My fellowship with C-SPAN will also serve as the basis for a distinct flavor in my classrooms. In addition to using StudentCam in 6th grade, the Video Library, Timely Teachable Videos, and the C-SPAN Classroom webpage will provide invaluable access to primary and secondary sources, current affairs, and authentic history. I’ll be using Brian Lamb’s BookNotes - interviews with political and historical non-fiction authors about their works - to supplement and enrich content. I hope my #ela colleagues appreciate my effort to hold up my end of the social studies/language arts relationship.
 * A Touch of C-SPAN**

=**Professional Development**=


 * Curriculum Manager**
 * My time spent working on my curriculum manager allows me to see where my standards are focused or lacking
 * Technology**
 * We have had the opportunity to participate in many technology based sessions
 * Attended ITEC11
 * Regional PD
 * Technology Committee - new teacher laptops
 * Trojan Tech Team
 * Staff Tech Time (after school)
 * Assessment**
 * MAP testing
 * Iowa Assessments
 * PD Day at Webster
 * Waukee
 * Wormeli
 * Grading Committee
 * Regional Collaboration**
 * Social Studies Group
 * Professional Development
 * IACoPi
 * Twitter