Week 7: Co-Teaching Summary

For this week's summary, I began aggregating all of the posts for the 4 main questions into a document to view all the responses to each question separately.

Once I did this, I decided to take each question and create a visual representation for the responses. Lately, I've been playing around with a product called Tagxedo, that allows you to change the shape of the tag cloud, and even allows you to upload pictures to put the cloud into that shape. Unfortunately, the embedded files from Tagxedo did not load properly when I tried to embed them, so I have included the static .jpg image instead. With the embedded version, when you click on words, they are supposed to animate and turn sideways for easier viewing. For comparison's sake, I also created the cloud in Wordle.

Here's what it looks like:

Question 1: What does co-teaching mean for the written, taught, and tested curriculum?
Taxedo Image: Hands and Puzzle The majority of the responses discussed the three stages of beginning, compromising and collaboration as outlined in Gately and Gately. Several mentioned student or learner centered instruction and the ability to differentiate curriculum based on formative assessment. In the written curriculum, several mentioned the importance of including the special education teacher in the process. In the taught curriculum there is a great advantage when students hear how to complete a task or learn from a different point of view. Collaboration between the content and special education teacher is key, and it is important for the special education teacher to know the material and the content teacher to understand the pedagogy of differentiating instruction.
Question 2: What structures need to be in place for co-teaching to be successful?
Taxedo Image Schoolhouse The structures reflected in the summary revolved around: Mutual Respect and Trust Common Planning Time Content Background Good Communication Well Defined Classroom Management Team approach Clear Goals Check Your Ego at the Door Some shared the KU Content Enhancement Routines and SIM Strategies as effective components, and there was also good discussion on the cost of co-teaching to districts facing budget difficulties.
Question 3: What impact does the upgrade of curriculum for the 21st century have on co-teaching?
The Tagxedo image above is from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills Framework image. Many respondents to the question made the connection between the 21st Century skills of collaboration, communication, and problem solving as being directly related to co-teaching and that there was a natural enhancement when these skills are emphasized. The ability to differentiate content, process and product through the integration of technology is a powerful complement to the co-teaching process. Skype and Google Docs were often mentioned as tools to assist in this process, and it was even mentioned that technology offers the ability to co-teach at a distance, or in a blended format.
Question 4:What are some challenges in supervising and evaluating a co-teaching team, and how might supervisors address these challenges?
Tagxedo Image of Supervison The importance of administrative support, professional development and coordination of teams was emphasized as critical. Finding teams that will complement each other is a important first step, as well as monitoring them to be sure the relationship is a positive one. There was a great deal of discussion about taking more time in the evaluation process, observing and talking with staff separately and together. Many mentioned Gately and Gately's Co-teaching Rating scale as a checklist that they would use in their role as supervisor and "The Power of Two Observation and Debrief: Eight Components of the Co-Teaching Relationship was also mentioned as a useful tool. The issue of whether to observe the teacher or the students was brought up in discussion and it was suggested that we develop an observation tool that emphasizes student behavior. All in all, 81 posts on this topic were generated, with the initial ones totaling over 14 pages. In the follow-up the topics of discussion included: Mike Glennon's clever parenthetical usage! Communication, communication, and more communication The cost of co-teaching in an age of budget cuts Questioning the depth of knowledge and dedication to all students learning Methods of evaluation and supervision Consistent classroom management practices Effective Professional Development practices (Including Shared Inquiry.) Planning with Web 2.0 tools Evaluating not just the teaching but the collaboration Modeling the co-teaching process and gaining job embedded PD through co-teaching Suggestion that Special Education teachers be generalists The value of collaboration Should co-teaching be voluntary? High Tech Tools Offering Promise The use of UDL in co-teaching Questioning whether the special education teacher was truly a specialist in pedagogy The benefits of 4 eyes and hands in the classroom The benefit of students seeing more than one way to solve problems and learn Co-teaching becoming a "quick fix" to meet NCLB requirements

Equity for a Global Society: EHS CARE team

Today at Edina High School, the CARE Team(Collaborative Action Research for Equity) presented on Equity for a Global Society.

They looked at several topics:

• The 21st Century Learner
• Privacy and Protection
• The Achievement Gap
• The Digital Divide
• What Teachers and Schools Can Do

21st Century Learner

Staff in the building were placed in groups, and joined by a student who is part of the "Dare To Be Real" program. First, we watched the Ken Robinson RSA Animate video to set the stage, then started looking

Paul Kile, chair of the Music and Arts department shared a quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes, that relates to his experience with this video:

"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions."

How does this intersect with Equity as we explore this topic with 21st Century, technology, and learning? He sees this as an intersection of opportunity!

There was good discussion and push back on Robinson, pointing out that he doesn't necessarily say what to do instead, and his views on ADHD has detractors.

Equity in Edina Public Schools

Mary Manderfeld, Assistant Human Resources Director shared some statistics on changes in our district.

In 1989, out of 5,000 students, there were 200 students of color, 26 African American. Today, 15.4% are of color out of 8,300, with 400+ African American. Special Education is around 9% and English Language Learners are hovering round 3%.

The district has reached out to families of color and on free and reduced lunch, to save spots in special programs such as Continuous Progress and French Immersion.

The district also has set up a District Equity Leadership Team to develop a cohesive plan for equity in the district.

Initiatives that the district has undertaken includes:

• STRIVE
• EHS Writing Center
• E-Math for students struggling in Math
• EHS 101/102
• May Term Internship
• DARE to be Real
• Options ALP
• AVID
• After School Programming
• Laptop Initiative for Choice Is Yours students-Students who open enroll from Minneapolis
• ACT Prep Class
• Enriched Classes Identification Process
• Culturally Responsive Leadership
• Alternative Compensation Goals tied to Equity
• RTI
• Somali Advisory Group

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

Dr. Martin Luther King

When looking at Gifted Education, which starts at 3rd grade, no African American or Hispanic students at 3 sample elementary schools, despite one having 30% students of color. This includes Free and Reduced Lunch.

Is this ok to have a gifted program that only serves white and Asian students?

This year, the Young Scholars program which provides access, affirmation and advocacy to encourage students who are ELL, Free and Reduced Lunch, Black, and Hispanic to strengthen basic skills and identify students who have creative potential.

AVID-Advancement via Individual Determination, is being piloted at one of the middle schools this year. We then watched a video from 60 minutes on the program.

AVID classes need to reflect the building's demographics.

• Student Selection is important
• Voluntary
• Offered During the School Day
• Rigorous Study-Must also be in an enriched course
• Strong, Relevant Writing and Reading Curriculum
• Inquiry to promote critical thinking-Cornell Notes
• Collaboration as basis of instruction
• Trained Tutors
• Data Collection and Analysis
• District Commitment
• Active Interdisciplinary Site Team

Manderfeld ended with the starfish story, where the person throwing the starfish back in the water says, "For this little starfish, I'm making all the difference in the world."

Teachable Moments in the Written, Taught and Tested Curriculum

On February 1, my son came home from school and I asked him the following question:

"So Evan," I said, "Did you talk about Egypt today in Humanities class (Geography)?" "No," said my son, "we haven't started North Africa yet."

When I tweeted about it that evening, I included the tag: #linearlearningfail.

Recently there have been several current events that have provided great opportunities for learning in the classroom. Unfortunately, those "teachable moments" occurred at times that may not have been ideal for teachers to use in their curriculum, or didn't meet a grade level subject area standard. Perhaps they had an assessment they had been planning, or their favorite lecture on the Gettysburg address, or even a unit on Ethiopia. It got me to thinking about what gets taught in school, when it gets taught, and whether or not current events can provide richer, relevant learning opportunities than what might get written down in content standards, taught to the class, and/or ultimately assessed. When events happen that are tied to the curriculum, should teachers take advantage of the opportunity to make the connections? Should they use these moments to illustrate concepts that students are expected to know, and provide relevance to their learning?

Egypt

Totaling 80 pages, the Minnesota Social Studies Standards, which were adopted controversially in 2004, are broken down into U.S. History, World History, Geography, Economics and Civics.

The standards for each subject is listed for K-3, 4-8 and 9-12 and it is up to individual districts to determine what specific grade level will meet that standard.

Students in grades 4-8 learn about government, but only in relation to United States government. They learn geography, as well as history. Did the recent events occurring in Cairo and other parts of Egypt provide teachers the opportunity to solidify connections to these lessons? I think so!

As I watched the amazing events transpire in Egypt, and viewed how social media was impacting those events, I wondered how many classrooms would take advantage of this opportunity to view first hand a relatively peaceful democratic movement.

I created this screencast to demonstrate how much information was coming out:

Here in "real-time" social media sites and on cable news channels, students could observe history in the making, and make connections to civil disobedience, our own Bill of Rights, non-violent protest, diplomacy, and geography, with a teacher their to guide them and weave the standards into the discussion. How many Social Studies teachers took advantage of that opportunity? How many Language Arts teachers, with communications standards in their curriculum took a moment to share the massive amount of powerful communication and collaboration being used by the protesters?

Wisconsin

Recently on Facebook, one of my friends was complaining about the teachers calling in sick to protest Governor Scott Walker's proposal to eliminate collective bargaining for teachers and other public employees. She pointed out that many parents rely on school for custodial care while they are at work. While I believe that the teachers are exercising their civic right of assembly in the wake of Governor Walker's refusal to negotiate attempt to push the bill through, I understand her concern. My hope, as illustrated in a column in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, is that when teachers return to the classroom they will use this as an opportunity for dialog, beliefs, a discussion of workers rights, economics, politics, First Amendment rights and civil disobedience. They are living those rights and beliefs out in front of our eyes, and as educators, have a unique opportunity to share that experience with their students.

Blogging Teacher

A few months ago, Natalie Monroe, a teacher in Pennsylvania had a bad day at work. The students were particularly unruly and didn't seem to care about what she was attempting to teach to them. She decided to share her frustrations about her experience on a blog that a friend had suggested she set up. And so she did. She berated the student attitudes, lack of interest, and lack of parent support, calling the students, "rude, lazy whiners." Surprisingly to Ms. Monroe, parents and students found out about the blog and were upset to read the commentary there.

This past week, Ms. Monroe has been making the morning entertainment program circuit and blogging again, attempting to repair her reputation. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that she has learned her lesson from all of this. As Chris Lehmann eloquently stated on his blog, Monroe did not do the most important thing she should have: apologize!

Not only have Monroe's students been hurt by her words, but her digital footprint and reputation have been permanently disfigured by her actions. How many teachers took time during class this past week to have a discussion with students about their own digital footprint and make a connection with the methods they use to communicate with others?

I believe that learning is NOT linear, and that as educators, we should jump at the opportunity to connect student learning to real world events and experiences. Of course, we never know when those opportunities may arise, but expert teachers will seize the opportunity to blend these events with the written curriculum to make the taught curriculum a richer experience for their students.

Curriculum Course Reflection:

This week, I was asked to respond to the following questions. I decided to create the video screencast below to share my thoughts.

As a school administrator and instructional leader, what instructional technology would you expect to see in the written, taught, and tested curriculum of a school or school district striving to meet the needs of 21st century learners?

What instructional technology would you promote to differentiate instruction for all learners?

Here is the presentation to navigate if you wish. It also includes references.

I recorded the video with Screencastomatic, which has many nice features. Unfortunately, the Prezi effects did not hold during capture, and that was disappointing. I like the fact that Screencastomatic includes up to 15 minutes of recording per session, and can be edited on the fly. You can also embed your Webcam while talking, which personalizes things very nicely.

Action Team February: TeamWorks International-The Four Color View

Today, our district invited those of us, "in the middle" to work with Julie Goldsmith from TeamWorks International to learn about the Four Color View, adapted from work by Carol Ritberger, Ph.D. and her "Color Personality Indicator" (CPI). The overarching concept is that the "color" of our personality influences how we relate to one another, and the more we understand about ourselves and our colleagues, the better we will be able to interact and improve the culture of our organizations.

TeamWorks believes that the Four Color View is a "lens for the different stages of Decision Making, Whole System View, and Guiding Change components of the Frameworks.

An overview of the day:

Self Awareness

• Authority and Power
• Operating in the Present
• Growth and Transition Framework

Group Awareness

• Leadership Choices Framework
• Decision Making Framework (group)
• Growth and Transition Framework
• Participation Framework

System Awareness

• Decision Making Framework
• Transition and Change Framework

We began by looking at Self-Awareness, to see what color is our personality.

These are the traits and characteristics. Traits are hard wired into us, characteristics are learned behaviors. Our personality is determined through our experiences, education, culture and family blended in our brain.

Based on the answers I gave, my score indicated:

Red: 3 Yellow: 12 Orange: 12 Green: 21

Characteristics of Greens are: Intuitive, Creative, like gathering information with Pictures and intuition, Use feelings and emotions to process information and make decisions, and primarily operate in the right brain. They like to look at the "big picture", and randomly explore data which I do! Greens can also be "chameleons", living in other colors for a time, but also cannot last in that color very long without feeling stress.

Reds like to "get er done!", gather information through the senses, use thinking and logic to process information and make decisions and operate primarily in the left brain.

Orange people wish folks could "just get along", gather information through the senses, use feelings and emotions to process information, and make decisions, cross from left to right brain for decision making.

Yellows gather information using both intuition and senses, primarily use logic to process information, will also use feelings, but not as much, and are hardwired in ALL four quadrants of the brain. Yellows might be thought of as the "devil's advocate." They sometimes are slower decision makers because of the way they process.

When working with people whose dominant color is different, knowing characteristics about their color can assist us in understanding differences and conflict, and how best to work and interact with one another.

We completed an interesting scenario, where we were given $30,000 for new technology in the district, and were asked to develop a description questions about first steps for our color to solve the problem, what aspects of the process would trouble us, what part of the process we would find rewarding, what good things others would say about us, and what complaints others have about us.

After a break, we looked at data from Ritberger and Teresa Heck from St. Cloud State University on "Other Awareness."

General Population		Licensed Teaching Staff
Red: 85%		Orange: 40-50%
Orange: 7%		Green: 30-40%
Green: 6%		Red 5-8%
Yellow: 2%		Yellow:3-5%

This data may explain the disconnect between parents and educators and how we perceive one another. It also gives good information to help frame problems/solutions with education reform.

Communication with both verbal and non-verbal cues can be impacted by our personality.

We then started looking at how communication works best with each of the colors. I questioned some of the date in regards to presentation and each color type. This got me thinking about Gar Reynold's and Presentation Zen, and some of the data presented regarding learners and images vs. text presented at ISTE by Ian Jukes. If the general population really is dominantly red, what does that say? Julie mentioned that the inventory is most effective with people over age 14-15, where parental and peer influence may be less of a factor.

If we are not heard, responded to and understood, we are end up responding according to our color lens on the world.

Next we looked at conflict, and how it can arise based on our personality color. One of my colleagues made a great point that where your positional authority is within the organization can influence your reaction to the conflict.

Partnership

Through active partnering, there is better balance, greater commitment to the outcome and more successful results.

Peer Coaching

How do we communicate, solve problems and lead other colors? Our activity involved beginning with a "storyteller" who shared a situation, 1 minute sharing of the situation with 9 minutes of peer coaching. We discussed situations where we in the middle have to be the "messenger" and have to present data to different color types. NCLB is such a "red" designed mandate, and we as teachers are much more "orange" and "green."

Knowledge of our own color personality and the color personality of those we work with in an organization can profoundly impact how we work together, and the process of how we work on different initiatives.

Ric Dressen our superintendent hopes that we can use this framework to guide us, understanding the importance of "what", "why" and "who" before we look at "how."

Some take-aways from our group:

• The context of relationships and how it can impact the work that we do
• Dealing with differing opinions in a non-threatening way
• Value of team perspectives
• We can be chameleons, but that we need to recognize the stress of working outside our color, and our need to recharge.
• Different definitions of process/trust.
• Language that is helpful to those we work with. This can help us recognize how to best help those whose colors are different from our own.
• "Re-Languaging"-reframe language when we default to our own.
• How do we build cultural capital and competency capital with people in differing groups.