Crown Point Junior Music Academy

Monday Morning Memo

2/24-2/28

As I move through Shared Reading lessons with a focus on Teacher Clarity, collaborative practice, and shifting the work to the students, I see our students moving closer to the ideal state of Teacher Clarity.  Your explicit planning and teacher moves allow for critical thinking and high-level collaborative practice.  As you shift more of the work to the students, high-level discussions and writing will be more routine for your students. 

The images of the shared reading lesson below show the clear learning intentions and students referring to the learning intentions and success criteria that were posted.  What I observed was the clear intentional teacher statements and directives to the students.  These students were clear in their discussions with each other and knew exactly what to do when processing the success criteria and performing the task.  Thank you for working diligently when planning for these lessons and shifting the work to the students!!!!

Strategic Focus of School:

Safe, Inclusive, Collaborative Culture

Teacher Clarity

Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum

IDEAL STATE OF TEACHER CLARITY

1.   Students will be able to communicate (verbally, written,

demonstrate…) to you/others the learning intention

2.    Students will be able to communicate to you/others what it takes to be successful in their work

3.    Students will be able to connect the work to the learning intentions and success criteria.

4.    Students will be able to self-reflect and self-assess how they performed in the task and what they learned and communicate to you and others.

Scheduled Observations:

You should have signed up for the lesson observations at this point.  The scheduled observations will be based on our strategic focus areas below. Currently, I have the scheduled dates of Monday, 2/24/20, Thursday, 2/27/20, and Friday, 2/28/20.

For the observations, I am asking for you to plan with your grade level partner to create a common lesson plan for both of you in Shared Reading. 

Please focus on the shifting of the work onto the students by having strategic partnerships collaborate on the task.

Please continue to share how they connect the work to the Learning Intention and Success Criteria in their collaborative conversations or their writing. 

I will be asking for you to share the lesson plans with me via Google Docs by the end of your two PLC days coming up (Tuesday, 2/18 and Wednesday, 2/19).

Here is the link to a sample Teacher Clarity Lesson Plan.

Here is the link to the Teacher Clarity Common Lesson Template.

Data Meetings

I will be scheduling data meetings with each one of you between now and the end of February.  For this please be cognizant of collecting samples of your student work.  You will have an opportunity to share your lessons, the learning intentions and success criteria, and the student work that aligns with the learning intention and success criteria.  More information and dates to come!

During the observations, I will be coming in the lens of the ideal state of teacher clarity which we have been working on all year.  My focus will not be on what the teacher does, but what the students are doing and their overall engagement based on the definition of the ideal state of teacher clarity below.

******Please note the change********Instructional Visit -  New Interim Area Superintendent, Christina Casillas Thursday, 3/19/20 from 8:00-10:00

As some of you already know, Kimie Lochtefeld has taken on a new career path in the Poway Unified School District.  That being said,  our interim area superintendent, Christina Casillas, will be visiting our school on March 19th.

I look forward to showing her the high-quality instruction aligned with Teacher Clarity.  She will also come in with the lens of expectations, support, and intervention for Students with Disabilities and English Learners.

Important Upcoming Dates:

Week of 2/24-2/28

M 2/24- Day 1 of Teacher Clarity Scheduled Observations (More information coming)

T 2/25-

W 2/26- Teacher Prep

Th 2/27- Day 2 of Teacher Clarity Scheduled Observations (More information coming)

F 2/28- Day 3 of Teacher Clarity Scheduled Observations (More information coming), AEP 3rd-5th