Project High Five:

Culture

Collaboration

Commitment

Communication

Community

Maria Dantas-Whitney, Anne Foltz, Chloë Hughes, Marie LeJeune, Christina Reagle, Sue Thompson

Western Oregon UniversityCollege of Education –Teaching Research Institute

2015 Professional Development Schools Conference -- Atlanta, GA

Project High Five: Description

Project High Five is a consortia partnership:

• Central School District (CSD)

• Western Oregon University/College of Education/Teaching Research Institute (WOU/COE/TRI)

• Ella Curran Food Bank (ECFB)

• Oregon Child Development Coalition (OCDC)

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Practices Grant

• Institutional Goal – to develop Professional Development District focused on co-teaching

• Instructional Goal – to strengthen and expand contextualized English Language Development (ELD) model of instruction across the School District

• Personal Goal – to actively involve Teacher Candidates and Clinical Teachers in self-reflection and community service

History of Partnership with Central School District

• WOU Literacy Partnership with Independence Elementary School

• WOU Writing Project at Monmouth Elementary School

• Math Pals

• WOU Math Partnership

• Building a Bridge

• Western Oregon University-Talmadge Middle School Mentor Program

• Project LUISA (Language Understanding to Increase Student Achievement) – Contextualized ELD Model

Project High Five Demographics

67 Participants composed of elementary and secondary Clinical Teachers, as well as undergrad and MAT Teacher Candidates.

• Of the 67 - 14 are male and 53 are female

• Of the 67 - 22 hold ESOL, 6 hold Bilingual, and 1 has ELA Endorsement

• Of the 67 - 24 (36%) work with K-3; 29 (43%) work with 4-8; and 14 (21%) work with 9-12 grades

• Of the 67 – 58 (87%) are white; 5 (6%) are Hispanic/African American/Multi-Racial with 4 (6%) individuals not responding

• Oregon’s teacher workforce statewide is 92% white (July 2014)

  Spring 2014 Summer 2014 Fall 2014 Winter 2015 Spring 2015Co-Teaching Preparation

Identified who would be prepared as Clinical Teachers and established dates for preparation

2 days Elementary(17 Clinical Teachers)2 days Middle/High(6 Clinical Teachers)

1 day Elementary, and Middle/HighClinical Teachers with Teacher Candidates.Service learning coordinator presented on Service Learning

90 minute Follow up Co-Teaching Meeting.Focus on connecting with students and families (phone calls, conferences) and coaching techniques for co-teaching

90 minute Follow up Co-Teaching Meeting.Focus on connecting with students and families (extra-curricular activities) and using video clips for coaching and celebration

Teacher CandidatePlacements

Placements matched once Clinical Teachers were identified

Teacher Candidates started the school year with Clinical Teachers in late August

Placement 1Half-Time

Placement 1Half-TimeBegan developing video clips of co-teaching

Placement 2Full-TimeContinue developing video clips of co-teaching

Contextualized ELD Established dates for PD

ELD & CRPP PD (3 days for elementary and 3 days for secondary in August)

Planned for focused ELD PD 

Focused ELD PD and observations for elementary

Focused ELD PD and observations for secondary. Teachers present in staff mtgs

Service Learning Appointed coordinator for Service Learning

  Coordinator met with agencies (OCDC and ECFB) to gather ideas about community outreach. Food bank Holiday Project

Planning Service Learning Project forKindergarten Roundup;Family Literacy Project with Monica Brown

Implementation of the Service Learning Project forKinder Roundup;Family Literacy Project with Monica Brown

Advisory Council Selection of Advisory Council 

90 minute Meeting 90 minute Meeting 90 minute Meeting 90 minute Meeting

• Intensive co-teaching professional development for Clinical Teachers across the academic year and follow up networking meetings with Teacher Candidates and Site Supervisors

• Site based supervision of Teacher Candidates and support for Clinical Teachers

• Preparation for Teacher Candidates

PDD and Co-teaching

Co-teachingand the 5“c”s

• Culture• Collaboration • Commitment • Communication • Community

• co-teaching.mp4

PDD and Co-teaching Challenges

• Co-teaching videos did not match the demographics of Oregon

• Reluctance of most people to be recorded

• Placements

• Modification to schedules

Contextualized ELD

• Principles of meaningful, sheltered language instruction (using content areas as the vehicle)

• Principles of culturally-relevant pedagogy

• Familiarization with new ELP Standards

• Work time: collaborative lesson/unit planning

Contextualized ELD:Challenges

• Some building administrators more supportive than others

• Teachers feeling overwhelmed with “one more new initiative”

• District’s emphasis on “compliance” rather than “buy-in”

• Focused ELD model – work with selected teacher-leaders from each building

Follow-up: Focused ELD

Focused ELD: An Example

• First grade classroom

• Social studies unit focusing on a fundraiser for Heifer International 

• Literacy focus: Beatrice’s Goat

• Math focus: keeping track of donations

• ELD focus: descriptions (adjectives) and cause/effect

• Extension activity: – ordering pictures and retelling the story

Contextualized ELD: Video Clip

Community Outreach and Collaboration

Community Collaboratio

n

Community Events

Community Advisory Council

Service Learning Projects

Advisory Council

• To encourage the Project High Five Grant as a collaborative, community based entity, quarterly advisory council meetings are being held to bring together leaders and members from all grant partners, including:• School district administration• Classroom teachers• Teacher candidates (undergraduate & graduate

students)• University faculty• Community partners---ECFB & OCDC

Service Learning Projects

• Although service learning has traditionally been a component of teacher candidacy at WOU, past results have been mixed. Some student projects effectively involved K-12 children in true, academic, and culturally relevant service learning while others were less authentic and not tied to true needs and resources in the local community.

• A concentrated effort was made to support and link culturally responsive pedagogy and service learning for teacher candidates participating in the Project High Five Grant.

Service Learning, continued

• Teacher candidates were provided with additional workshops and educational materials on service learning.

• Additionally, students in the MAT program (graduate level initial licensure) received co-taught lessons in their content literacy classes about linking critical literacy, disciplinary specific content, and service learning.

• A community liaison was available to help co-plan, find authentic materials, and design curriculum for service learning projects.

Community Events

• Three community events were planned into the Project High Five Grant to encourage collaboration and celebration between all partners.

• These community events also were possible sites of service learning for teacher candidates.

Community Event 1: Holiday Food Drive & Community Celebration

Community Event 2: Author Visit

• Children’s author, Monica Brown, whose work includes bilingual books focusing on cultural and social justice issues, will be a featured speaker at the university and local elementary schools involved in the grant.

Community Event 3: Kindergarten “Roundup”/Welcome

• The Project High Five grant will be partnering with the local school district on a ‘kindergarten transition’ event this spring. WOU faculty and teacher candidates will be involved in:• Providing early literacy and math

resources • Discussing parent advocacy and

parental rights• Organizing and sending home

“book bags” with bilingual books, materials, and other home supports.

Project High Five

Becoming culturally responsive requires strong links between schools, families and communities to increase student

success by removing barriers that block educational achievement.

Q & A

Thanks Folks!

We would love to hear your questions, comments and connections!

Project website:http://woucentral.weebly.com/project-high-five.html