GRADE LEVEL MINUTES – EIGHTH GRADE
March 30, 2005
Bellingham School District
Fairhaven: Kimberly Wichers, Dan Stockwell, Callie Hart, Kari VanHouten, Karen Anastasio Kulshan: Jami Aeschliman, Jodie Taylor, Jeff Thran, Peggy Zehnder, Julie Bennett Shuksan: Lorraine Holdcomb, Aimee Langdon, Melinda Galbraith, Pete Nelson, Linda Pletcher Whatcom: Toby McKain, Jim Zurcher, Sara Strommer, Sheila Davis, Sonja Moon,
To provide consistent, powerful instruction in all classrooms across our district by learning from each other and refining our individual practice
ALIGNMENT & CLARITY
Teachers used a protocol to guide a discussion of current challenges implementing district policy 2421 Progress & Promotion. In school table groups, teachers decided on a question and shared it with the other schools. Staff asked clarifying questions and discussed possible answers or solutions in small groups and then reported to the whole group.
POWERFUL TEACHING AND LEARNING
GRADE 8
Alignment Questions for Writing Section of Policy 2421
• Does Policy 2421 have to be the same across the district? What should be the same?
• SMS and FMS do a formal testing process for writing. KMS and WMS do a portfolio and teacher judgment process to determine who is not at standard and recommended for additional support. What are the consistent directions and where is there room for different processes in complying with Policy 2421?
• Terminology about summer school – recommended or required? What is the district language?
• Clarity. What will happen at 9 th grade? Do they need the input from 8 th grade teachers? Will the 9 th grade teachers use our portfolios or our data?
• Policy declares the “what”, who determines the “how”.
• Timeline for unified directions – NEED IT NOW!!! What is consistent across schools?
Follow up –
The questions will be shared with Susan Zoller, Deputy Superintendent, the Executive Directors and the Middle School Principals. Principals will discuss the questions in their level meetings to get clarity on where all schools need to be the same and where they could be different in implementing the policy. The principals will continue this discussion at their buildings.
8 TH GRADE SUGGESTIONS & KEY LEARNINGS
SUGGESTIONS
• More time to collaborate with folks from other schools
• Exchange ideas for units in Core
• Ask teachers what we want to learn/share and then let us know ahead of time
• Continue dealing with questions that need answering
• Look at curriculum maps – long term planning
• Writing programs that are being used in the MS are different – shouldn't we all have the same resources and programs. (Math and Science are all on the same page – what about Language Arts?)
• We should be able to focus on curriculum sharing instead of spending so much time clarifying policy. A committee of middle school teachers could assist administrators in clarifying the policy - might be helpful.
• Survey us on what we need to talk about
KEY LEARNINGS
• I'm okay teaching my curriculum – teaching to the test isn't necessary and can be detrimental.
• Learned that everyone is confused regarding the progress and promotion policy. Seems like what we have here is a partial failure to communicate.
• We have some significant issues as a school district to figure out about 8 th grade testing, portfolios, and school schedules.
• Question authority about policy implementation
• Questions raised re: writing portfolios very thought provoking
• We all seem to have interpreted the progress and promotion policy differently. I am still not clear whether writing examples can have teacher and peer support… that point would make a difference in identifying the students who are proficient or not yet at standard
• There are many views on the progress and promotion policy and someone has to tell us soon – less stress, more teaching!
• Schools have different interpretation of the Progress and Promotion Policy especially related to writing assessment
• Interesting to hear how much Whatcom likes their schedule
• Lots of ways to teach to the standards
• What “GLE” means
• I need to know if we need an expository prompt or portfolio for policy 2421