Spartan PRIDE
Supporting our school community core values.
Spearfish
Middle School
Weekly
Faculty Bulletin
April
14-18, 2014
“Empowering
all students to succeed in a changing world.”
•
Preparedness • Respect • Integrity • Determination •
Excellence
1) FLEX
Block 6 Begins,
Monday, April 14th
2) 6th
Grade Smarter Balanced Assessment Window, April 9-17
3) “Purple
Up! For Military Kids Day”
Tuesday, April 15th. Wear
purple on Tuesday!
4) Spring
Conferences scheduled
(3:45 p.m.-7:00 p.m.), Wednesday, April 16
5) No
School, Easter Break,
Friday, April 18
6) No
School, Easter Break,
Monday, April 21
7) 8th
Grade D-STEP Science Test: Make up tests as necessary
8) Need
3 New Members for the Building Leadership Team:
Please
stop and see Shane
9)
STAR
math and reading testing window: May
1-May 30 (note extension through May
30)
Note:
All students are required to complete the STAR reading & math
assessment in the window.
|
Time is an orchard. Every moment is ripe with opportunity.
-Noah benShea
Educational Initiatives in South Dakota
1) The SD Framework
for Teaching (aka Danielson Framework) is designed to do three things (see the 4
domains and 22 components here):
●
Build a common language so we can discuss what makes
for good teaching. The SD Framework for Teaching describes HOW to teach.
●
Provide a framework with rubrics to give educators
clear guidance about how to improve their practice.
●
Provide a framework for teacher evaluation -- teachers
are judged on how good they are doing at specific components. Districts decide
which components.
Teachers need to know about the components by which they
will be judged, administrators need deep understanding of the components, PLUS
administrators need to know how to observe teachers using the SDFfT
rubrics so that they can be competent evaluators.
2) Student Learning
Objectives were designed to complement the evaluation process (see slides here). Instead of a teacher only
relying on the outside observation of one administrator, they have the
opportunity to measure student growth via an SLO. The two measurements, SLO and
SDFfT, work together to determine a rating for a teacher. Learning about SLOs
does not mean you know about the SDFfT.
3) Common Core
Standards are new standards for Math and ELA and there are Common Core
literacy standards that apply across all subject areas (see details here). We have had standards for
over a dozen years. Each content area has standards. Standards tell
us what we should be teaching -- they define the WHAT. Standards define the
minimum proficiency so that there is some reliability across districts. The BIG
deal about Common Core standards is that they require students to learn at
higher cognitive levels. Teachers must be skilled at helping students reach
higher order thinking. Memorization and regurgitation won’t do. Districts
and/or teachers can decide what materials or curriculum they should use to
teach any standards. No one above the district level mandates curriculum in SD.
A misperception:
Engaging in the SD Framework for Teaching does not mean you are doing Common
Core. The Framework guides us on HOW to teach. The standards, and they could be
ANY standards, tell us WHAT to teach. If Common Core standards went away, we
would still use the Framework to help us shape good teaching. If the Framework
went away, we would need to find different vocabulary to describe how to do a
good job of teaching the standards, Common Core or otherwise. The two are not
one in the same.
A misperception:
Going to SLO training does not prepare you for the Common Core OR the SD
Framework for Teaching. SLO training is specific to writing a good learning
objective and learning how to appropriately measure the objective. Did the
students grow or not? The SLO will be written based on standards, but they
could be any standards depending on the content area.
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