Science Leadership Support Network

September 12, 2008

Supported by PIMSER and Kentucky Department of Education

Welcome!Help yourself to some refreshments

and enjoy some networking!

Meet Your Facilitators!

• Diane Johnson– Instructional Supervisor, Lewis Co. Schools

• Karen Kidwell– Science Consultant, Kentucky Dept. of Education

• Debbie Owens– Associate Director, P-12 Math & Science Outreach Unit of

PIMSER

• Becky Smith– Regional Teacher Partner, PIMSER

• Kim Zeidler Watters– Director, P-12 Math & Science Outreach Unit of PIMSER

‘ROLE’ CallHigh School

TeacherPrincipal or Assistant

CurriculumCoach orSpecialist

Elementary

Teacher

Middle School

Teacher

Instructional Supervisor

Dept.

Head

Road Map for Today

FormativeAssessment

True Colors

The Earth & the Universe

Teacher Leadership

True Colors• Identify

personality types within the group

Professional Learning CommunityWhat is it?

• Educators committed to working collaboratively in ongoing processes of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. Professional learning communities operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for all educators.

• Learning by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work

PLCFundamental Assumptions

1. We can make a difference. Our schools can be more effective.

2. Improving our people is the key to improving our schools.

3. Significant school improvement will impact teaching and learning.

The ONE Thingin a

Professional Learning Community,

“learning” rather than “teaching”is the fundamental purpose

of your school.

In a PLC, we must avoid…

BOGSAT

Three Big Ideas

Focus on Learning

Collaboration

Focus on Results

Four Corollary Questions

Question 1—What are the essential outcomes that we expect students to learn?

What should students know and be able to do as a result of this course, class, or grade level?

Question 2—How will we know if they are learning? What evidence will we gather?

Question 3—How do we respond when students do not learn?

Question 4—What will we do when students are already proficient?

What’s the source for professional teachers?

“No one of us can be effective as all of us.”

Unknown

“Build your team with a feeling of oneness, of dependence on one another, and of strength

derived from unity in the pursuit of your objective.”

Vince Lombardi

N O

R M

S

…are the standards or expectations by which individualshave agreed to operate while working together in order toachieve a productive outcome.

…help to maximize productivity and effectiveness in apositive setting and insure that individuals are respected.They help to build community within the group, and at the same time allow for risk taking.

…should be positive, kept simple, few in number andposted. The optimum situation is for the group to develop their own norms.

Steps for Establishing Norms

Identify your own needs.

Share norms with table group.

Consolidate norms & present to whole group.

Work toward agreement. Agree to self-enforce. Post norms and review frequently

2008-09 Goals of SLSN

• Deepen understanding of a balanced assessment system and its role in motivating students to higher levels of achievement.

• Understand and incorporate skills and strategies for transforming planning and practice in order to ensure that all students understand key concepts from the Earth and the Universe big idea.

• Develop and act on a personal vision of leadership for sustainable improvement in their school or district.

Assessment

• FACTS– Formative assessment probes

• Measurement topics– Common rubrics for topics– Assessment items

• Student motivation– Clear learning targets– Test blueprints

• Balanced approach– EPAS-Standards correlation– Student choice

Earth and the Universe

• Learning progressions K-12• Unit design

– Lesson design

• Scientific modeling• Teaching reasoning

– Similarities and differences, analogies, analysis, testing knowledge and understanding, examining arguments and assertions, classifying, summarizing, notetaking

• Differentiating instruction– Scaffolding lessons

• Remediation, extensions

– Extended learning– Learning styles– Strategies

• Grouping• Anchor lessons

Leadership

• Professional Learning Communities• Developing Expertise• Negotiating new relationships• Dealing with resistant colleagues• Building support of administrators• Securing resources• Policy support• Developing a critical mass for change

The Earth and the Universe

• Introduce the big idea of The Earth and the Universe – content topic for the year.

• Determine areas of focus within the big idea based on participants’ needs.

Get the Gist

• Read the “big idea” paragraph for the Earth and the Universe from the PoS.

• What is the paragraph about?

• What is the most important information about the what?

• Write a gist statement in 10 words or less.

The Earth and the Universe• Big Idea: The Earth and the Universe (Earth/Space Science) Grade 7The Earth system is in a constant state of change. These changes affect life

on Earth in many ways. Development of conceptual understandings about processes that shape the Earth begin at the elementary level with understanding what Earth materials are and that change occurs. At the middle level, students investigate how these changes occur. An understanding of systems and their interacting components will enable students to evaluate supporting theories of Earth changes. The use of models and observance of patterns to explain common phenomena is essential to building a conceptual foundation and supporting ideas with evidence at all levels. In middle school, students begin to look beyond what can be directly observed as they explore the Earth-sun-moon system, as well as the rest of our solar system, employing the concept of scale within their models. Patterns play an important role as students seek to develop a conceptual understanding of gravity in their world and in the universe.

During the Break

• Please complete the Pre-Questionnaire.– Use the last 4 digits of your SOCIAL SECURITY

NUMBER for ID purposes.

• Vote on The Earth and the Universe topics you are most interested in.

• Refresh your refreshments and take a stretch break.

Teacher Leadership

• Uncover notions about teacher leadership.

• Begin study of Change Leadership.

• Set personal goals for leadership based on 6 themes.

• Prioritize group needs based on 6 teacher leadership themes.

Teacher Leadership….LEAD WHAT?

LEAD HOW?

But first…do you need a little motivation?

Leadership is like _____ because ________.

Big Bang!

The average correlation betweenprincipal leadership behavior and

school achievement is.25

which means….

The average correlation betweenprincipal leadership behavior and

school achievement is.25

which means….

a one standard deviation increase inprincipal leadership is associated with

a 10 percentile point gain in schoolachievement.

Factors Mediating Leadership Behavior

Focus of the change

and

Order of the change

Leadership for Incremental Change

• Emphasize relationships• Establish strong lines of communication• Be an advocate for the school• Provide resources• Maintain visibility• Protect teachers from distractions• Create culture of collaboration• Look for and celebrate successes

“I don’t want to ‘think outside the box.’ I just want a bigger box.”

SIX

C

HIC

KS

High above the hushed crowd, Rex tried to remain focused. Still, he couldn’t shake one nagging thought: He was an old dog and this was a new trick.

Leadership for Second Order Change

• Shake up the status quo• Expect some things to seem worse• Propose new ideas• Operate from strong beliefs• Tolerate ambiguity and dissent• Talk research and theory• Create explicit goals for change• Define success in terms of goals

“Hey! They’re lighting their arrows! . . . Can they do that?”

“This ain’t gonna look good on our report, Leroy.”

When Leadership Spells Danger

• Before reading, write a leadership challenge that you are currently facing on an index card.

• As you read the article, note specifics that apply to the challenge you identified.

When Leadership Spells Danger

• As you read, please mark the article with a

– * for good points

– ! for things that really stand out to you

– ? for things you have a question about or would like to discuss

• When you finish reading the article, note ideas that relate to the leadership problem you identified.

• Write a 2 sentence reaction to the article.

Meaning Making Groups

Please bring your article, your index card with your leadership challenge, and a pen to your meaning making group

1—Diane

2—Debbie

3—Becky

4—Karen

5—Kim

Meaning Making

• Quickly share your 2 sentence reaction to the article.– Note similarities and differences.

• Sort the index cards with each person’s leadership challenge into categories.– The group will decide the categories.

• Identify some considerations for addressing these challenges that are detailed in the article.

• What makes leadership, especially teacher leadership, so dangerous?

Teacher Leadership

• “actions by teachers outside their own classrooms which involve an explicit or implicit responsibility to provide professional development to their colleagues, to influence their communities’ or districts’ policies, or to act as adjunct district staff to support changes in classroom practices among teachers.”– Teacher Leadership in Mathematics and Science, Heinemann

What I’m Here For

• Complete the teacher leadership matrix as a personal reflection of your strengths and weaknesses as well as indicators for success for the 6 leadership themes.

• Spend-a-buck– You have 4 “quarters” to “spend” anyway that you

choose on the leadership themes.

• “Vote” for the leadership theme(s) you feel is/are the one(s) you need the most assistance in understanding.

Formative Assessment

Learning Targets

• Learn/review/practice a variety of FACTS

• Identify existing probes, concept cartoons, ‘hinge’ questions that are congruent to learning targets for The Earth and The Universe

…formative assessment…

refers to any number of ways that we can uncover student ideas/knowledge about concepts important to the unit being taught (diagnostic) in order to adjust our instruction to the needs of the students; collecting evidence of understanding in order to focus teaching and learning

FACTS have implications for both teaching and learning

• Selecting specific FACTs can improve teaching by providing a ‘template’ for a new pedagogical practice

• Not every FACT is appropriate for every class/teacher

• Research into science teaching and learning reveals that far too little time is devoted to ‘sense-making’; FACTs can provide a ‘structure’ for doing that

• Don’t GRADE FACTs; use them to provide feedback and open lines of discussion for further thinking

A good idea A good idea

– – poorly implemented – poorly implemented –

is a bad idea is a bad idea (Ainsworth &Viegut, 2006)

Earth-Sun-Moon System

• Form a circle

• Listen to the statement

• Think…do you agree or disagree?

• Agree—move to center; Disagree—stay on the outside; Discuss in groups

• Is your position still the same?

Agreement Circles

• Activate student thinking• Are active/kinesthetic• Safely engage students in scientific

argumentation• Uncover student

ideas/preconceptions/conceptions• Can be used throughout a unit

What are some results of Earth-Sun-Moon Interactions?

• Think about the question

• In your head, compose some sentences/statements that answer the question

• When the paper comes to you, read the other statements and add something new

Chain Notes

• Provides an opportunity to examine others’ thinking

• Encourages synthesis and evaluation over recall• Allows various levels of entry points• Best for checking for understanding after

students have had some opportunities to learn and explore the concept

Moon Shape

• Which child do you agree with?

• Why?

Concept Cartoons

• Promote thinking and discussion• Often allow for the surfacing of common

misconceptions—diagnostic• Can translate some Probes into Concept

Cartoons• Work well in both small groups and whole class• Can use ‘blank’ bubbles and allow students to fill

them in then have other students interact with them

• *Not all Concept Cartoons have a ‘right answer.’

Moon Phases

• Use each letter of the phrase ‘Moon Phases’ to begin a sentence or statement about the concept.

First Word-Last Word

• Variation of acrostics• Used to activate student thinking about a

concept or topic• First Word – at beginning of unit – to uncover

student ideas• Last Word – after learning experiences – to

allow comparison of ideas/growth and depth of understanding

Seasons• Missed Conception: “The reason we have seasons is that, as

the Earth revolves around the sun, it is closer to the sun in the summertime; therefore, it is warmer in summer and colder in winter.”

• Why do you think the student had that idea?• What things could you do to help someone understand the

scientific explanation for seasons? How would this help someone give up his or her original idea in favor of the scientific one?

• Did you ever have a similar ‘missed conception’ at the beginning of this unit-or some other time? Do you think you might still hold some of these ideas or parts of them? Why or how has your thinking changed or not changed?

Missed Conception

• A statement about an object or phenomenon that is based on a commonly held idea noted in the research on students’ ideas in science

• Best used AFTER instruction

• Students should work in small groups to discuss and respond; then share their ideas with others

Take Home Messages

• Probes are assessments for learning—they are different from summative assessments.

• Misconceptions are tenacious—it takes time and careful instruction to help students give them up. Correcting students’ misconceptions before they have an opportunity to think and talk them through does not support conceptual change.

• Start small—pick just a couple of new strategies to implement.

Road Map for Today

FormativeAssessment

True Colors

The Earth & the Universe

Teacher Leadership

Next Time…

• October 17• Four Points Sheraton• Read chapters 1-3 in

FACTS book and complete the reading guide.