Our first ever round of ILEARN testing is in the books except for a few make-ups that need to be completed this upcoming week. We started talking about ILEARN and the new assessment a year ago and lots of learning went into preparing for this new assessment. Now that it is over we can reflect on how we have grown from our experience. There was learning for all teachers around the administration of the test and more specific learning for teachers on how to kick up the rigor in all classrooms to prepare students for the level of rigor that the new test required of our students. We are better then we have ever been in requiring students to think deeper and we still have room to grow to be even better. In math our students are learning to struggle and learn from that positive struggle . We are challenging students to not only know the procedural math but also understand the math conceptually. Are we where we want to be, probably not, but we are making strides. More kids are asked to use discourse in math classes students are seeing what success looks like at the beginning of lessons and units of instruction then striving for that success more often more of the time. We have provided students more support and time in math and we will see our impact with the results of ILEARN. We are being more responsive in our teaching and that is a good thing.
In Language Arts we have learned to be more intentional with our writing instruction and we have required students to read lots of non-fiction sources then to analyze the multiple sources using evidence from the text. We are better at this in the LA department than we have been in awhile. Students are reading and responding in writing more often and more of the time in LA and we know writing requires student to think. ILEARN results will tell us where we are for sure but we do know better than before where we need to be in both LA and Math and that is a good thing.
Then after we know where we are (ILEARN Results), where we need to be (students thinking at deeper levels), and knowing our impact we can determine next steps to help all students learn at high levels. Some next steps that I feel pretty confident are needed are to establish common strategies for reading, writing, and problem solving in all Lincoln classrooms, to be more responsive in our instruction with our ELL and Special Education populations through intentional strategies and improved intentional collaboration that helps tier one instruction be more assessable for these students, and to improve our use of formative checks to know where students are and our impact with the strategies that we have used in tier 1 instruction. The one thing that is clear is that we have learned and that our continued learning will determine our continued success.
I appreciate everyones growth mindset and commitment to help our students learn more than they think is possible. High expectations have impact and you have raised your expectations because of ILEARN and because we are about helping students and making an impact.
Highlights @ Lincoln:
Track season- The season pretty much concluded this past weekend and we had several student athletes win individual conference championships and it was apparent that all participants improved throughout the season. Great job Coach Bronicki, Coach Hollabaugh, and Coach Bowen. Thanks for your commitment to our students. Thanks to Carol Gilbert for her organization of another successful conference track meet.
Golf Team wins Conference- The boys team won the conference championship on Friday @ Raccoon Run in Warsaw. Our girls team were runner ups with Emma Rozycki winning the match.
Film Festival- Our Spring Film Festival last Thursday was fantastic. Our students once again showed their creativity and produced some great projects. Great to see the results of students collaborating and having fun. The festival is always a highlight for students.
Life Skills- Our Life skills students took a field trip to the zoo on Friday and had a great time. Thanks to Sam and her staff for giving our students this opportunity.
Kudos to all teachers for there flexibility with ILEARN testing. I know the times were not always as accurate as they could be and there were times that students were all finished with lots of time in the session remaining. I appreciate everyones professional and nose to the grindstone approach. Well Done.
Upcoming @ Lincoln:
Monday PD- Behavior Teams tomorrow
May 20th TBD
PTO Meeting- Monday 6:00
NWEA- Reading Tuesday Math Thursday
Peter Pan Musical- 7th Grade Wednesday 9:00 am 8th Grade Friday 9:00 am - Evening shows are Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday @ 7:00 pm.
IPads- Teachers will get their IPADS Wednesday after school- There will be a short initial PD upon distribution on Wednesday. Please make arrangements to be in attendance. There will be summer PD opportunities as well. Our tech committee reps are Bob Garrity, Chris Horvath, and Ryan Ahlrich. We will share those dates and further PD plans this Wednesday.
High School Drama- The PHS Drama class will be here on Thursday at 1:45 for their annual show.
Math Workday- May 15th LA Work Day- May 17th
Check in week May 20-24th
No comments:
Post a Comment