Learning for Lincoln

As the lead learner at Lincoln I try to continue to learn about best practices that will make Lincoln better at getting better.  Having a growth mindset is important for me to get better and for Lincoln to improve.  In having this mindset it is important to continue to reflect and make sure that the tendency to have a fixed mindset does not creep into my learning or leading.  I am sure that all of you can probably think of a time that you might have seen this tendency creep in to my leading.  If you reflect on your own learning you might even think about a time or two that it has creeped into your own mindset.  Continuous reflection is important to keep this tendency in check.  So as I return from a conference on assessment and leading our school.  I am going to share some of the learning that I had last week as a way to reflect.

The conference I attended was New Tech Leadership in Detroit.  Much of the PD that I have had with New Tech is about leading self, others, and the system.  This PD was specifically about leading through assessment.  When we think of assessment there are two kinds, formative and summative, with formative being the most useful in driving our success and improvement.  This improvement happens through collaboration around an abundant amount formative assessment.  Teacher practices of looking at student work is immensely important.  The practice of collaboration is our way of learning through inquiry.  We inquire about strengths in student work, gaps in learning that may be revealed, weaknesses that students have, the types of tasks that students are asked to do, and then we plan for next steps in student learning.   We share what has worked and ways to improve from how students do with the tasks that we design for them.  Task predicts performance and if we are inquiring and sharing our strengths and weaknesses around student performance with the tasks that we design then we can plan our next steps to help all students learn.  In order for collaboration to be beneficial we must keep a growth mindset when doing so.  We must know if we are successful or if we are not. It is ok to not be as long as we are learning but also remember what learning is, a permanent change in beliefs or practices.  So our collaboration is about making permanent changes to beliefs and practices to increase student learning.  We must continue to learn from each other with a growth mindset.

What kinds of assessments lead to meaningful learning (for adults AND students?)

Assessments for learning 

• part of instruction 
• allows for transfer
• problem solving 
• scaffolds to next steps 
• feedback and revision
• Explicit criteria 
• Accumulation of info 
• useful 
• interactive
• cyclical 
• student know that assessment drives instruction 
• transparent
• Need to knows
• brings in prior learning 
• self assessment 

The results of assessments that do not do these things is a narrowing of curriculum.  What do you think this statement means?  Spend some time thinking about the role that assessment plays in your classroom for both you and your students.

News and Notes:  

Parent teacher conferences:  This Thursday our parents will come to Lincoln from 3:30 to 5:00 and again from 5:45 to 8:00 to learn about how their students are doing here at Lincoln.  I ask that each of you not just stop there but to share with parents some of the great learning experiences that their students are experiencing in your classroom.  Maybe you even invite your students to come with their parents so that they can tell the story of their learning.  If there are parents that you really want to meet with and they do not attend have a plan to communicate with them as well.  As we work on our identified weaknesses revealed on the Schools to Watch self assessment that we did on September 4th we know that we will need to look at other ways to conduct our parent teacher conferences in the future but for now leverage this important opportunity to connect with our parents.  

Schools to Watch Update:  

A group of teachers recently visited Westlane Middle School in Indianapolis to learn from them and to see what a School to Watch looks like.  Suze Garrity, Brody Shively, Betsy Barron, Riley Heeren Craig Hopple and I attended that visit, so ask them their thoughts.  On Tuesday this week,  TJ McNally, Leslie Stec, Amie Guy,  Darlene Derifield,  Julie Stauffer, and I will visit Northridge Middle School to learn from them.  If you have not signed up for a committee you can do so here.  

Max Time:  

This past summer I wrote a grant for a Character Education video series that Five Star has made available to schools.  Five Star is the program that mentors students each Tuesday during their three seasons here at Lincoln.  We were awarded the grant and Craig and I will learn this week what our training will look like and what implementation will look like.  I anticipate that there will be a short training for teachers and for student leaders as well.  Why are we doing this you may ask, the answer is to help all of our students to become more successful in the core values that Five Star teaches,  Respect, Responsibility, Integrity, Courage, and Sacrifice.  As a middle school it is our responsibility to help student be prepared to live a Five Star life and to help them build these values.  I believe that if done well this program will help us be more developmentally responsive and socially equitable.  Stay tuned for more information.  

Lastly,  Brody Shively and I will travel to Columbus, Ohio this Thursday and Friday to the National Middle School conference to continue our learning.  We will be joined by some Riverside staff as well.  Hold done the fort and I appreciate your hard work thus far this school year.  Enjoy your Fall Break weak and hopefully it will allow you the time to come back recharged for the rest of 2015.