Office of Teaching and Learning Updates - Week of March 9, 2015





Strategic Planning Update:

Yesterday, twenty-eight members of our Strategic Planning Team met for the annual planning team retreat. The role of the planning team is to oversee the work on the 5-year Strategic Plan and make recommendations to the Board of Directors and Leadership Team regarding its implementation.  The purposes of the yearly meeting are to share the work we have done throughout the year on the strategic plan with the planning team, reach consensus on whether or not that work is now embedded in our ongoing work or needs to continue as a priority focus, and make recommendations or needed adjustments to the plan.  If you are interested in learning more about the work that was done yesterday, I encourage you to visit the presentation that was used to guide the day.  A huge thank you is extended to everyone involved - we were able to embed 10 of the end results and keep 2 as continued priority focus!  Additionally, 4 new end results have been added to the plan and I look forward to sharing more information on those with you in the near future. 


Planning Team in action
Considering new end results
Prioritizing the end results 

















LRC opening:   

Do you know a great special education teacher who would like to join the AISC family?  We are still recruiting for this position.  If you have any good leads, please do let me know.

 Adaptive Schools Training

To support our continued commitment to creating a collaborative community of professionals learning, we are pleased to have sixteen teachers and administrators attending the Adaptive Schools Foundation Seminar this week in Kuala Lumpur.  Aren't attending but would like to get the training in the future?  Mark you calendar now for the last week in October, when we will be hosting both the foundation seminar and an advanced course for people who already have the foundation training.  We are thrilled to have Bob Garmston and Carolyn McKanders booked.  More information will be coming your way before the end of school with all of the details.

Considering enrolling in an online learning class?  Here are some things to consider.



NESA SEC

Next week several of our colleagues will be attending the NESA Spring Educators Conference.  Not only will they be hearing from the following keynote presenters:
they will also attend special sessions and teacher workshops.  Four of our very own have been selected to present - join me in extending best wishes to Paula and Andea and Jet and Megan.

Levelling the Playing Field (Language Strategies for All Learners), K-12
Explore how a combination of purposefully chosen language strategies, the 20-60-20 lesson delivery design model and the teaching of academic vocabulary, can improve the academic achievement for all students. You will leave this session with practical solutions to everyday classroom situations! PAULA PETERS FRAMPTON & ANDREA MORRIS, American International School-Chennai, India


#ENGAGE, #LEARN, #GROW: Global Collaboration through Twitter Chat, PK-12New or old to Twitter? Learn how to connect with educators globally through Twitter Chat, a great personalized PD tool. Following the workshop model, we will engage in a hands-on, international Twitter Chat focused on Visible Thinking. Please set up a Twitter account and bring your device. Let's chat! #nesasec. JEREMY WILLETTE & MEGAN McCRINDLE, American International School-Chennai, India

Not going to NESA, but want to follow the Twitter Chat?  

Jet and Megan invite you to join in at #NESASEC.  The Twitter Chat will be on Friday, March 20 at 7:45 PM  Chennai time.  The topic is Visible Thinking and they would love to have your support and input.



Literacy Updates from Megan:


Professional Development
Thank you for everyone who attended this week's session on the use of text-dependent questions in promoting close reading.  We will have another session on close reading next month.

Visible Thinking: Success/Dilemma Analysis
Moving forward with a strategy shared with us by Mark Church last month, we will take time to analyze either a success we have had or a dilemma we are facing.  Please bring with you either an example of something that has gone really well in your class or a dilemma you would like help thinking about.  These examples would be best if related to making thinking visible, inquiry, etc.

Collaboration & Co-Teaching
Over the past month, more than twenty AISC educators have been participating in a book club on collaboration and co-teaching.  One focal point of this week's chapter was on effective use of co-planning time.  A few suggestions were:
*Establish norms for co-planning time.  This may include what you will and will not discuss in a co-planning session (ex: we will bring student work samples, we won't focus on one student, etc.)
*Set a clear purpose and outcome for each co-planning meeting (ex: is this something that will be accomplished in one sitting (finite) versus an on-going topic we are exploring (on-going).
*Establish protocols to follow during co-planning meetings.
*Make sure there is time set aside for not only planning content, but making decisions around lesson delivery. Lesson delivery is critically important to plan, as this is where co-teachers plan how they will scaffold lessons, work with small groups, etc.  Co-teachers should head into a lesson knowing who is teaching what, as well as how they will teach it.
*Set aside time in each co-planning meeting for reflection.

Guided Writing
Guided Reading is a component of most AISC literacy classrooms, yet Guided Writing remains elusive.  In this blog post, Heinemann literacy expert, Linda Hoyt, discusses the possibilities of Guided Writing in Reading and Writing Workshops as well as content area classes.  
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