GRADE LEVEL MINUTES – Grade Eight

Oct. 9, 2002

Bellingham School District

OUTCOME:

Teachers will have the opportunity to learn from and collaborate with peers in order to incorporate the elements of the District Social Studies, Health, and Literacy Curriculum and strategies for good instruction into their lessons and units of study.

AGENDA TOPICS:

I. Materials to support the Social Studies Curriculum for Grade Eight

II. Our Vision of Learning and Implications for Good Teaching

What is our theory of learning?

v Learners actively reflect and ask questions about their world

v Learners construct conceptual frameworks by making connections, seeing relationships, considering other perspectives, and

v Learners have preconceived ideas about their world and continually confirm and correct these ideas

What are the implications for teaching?

v Teachers need to provide demonstrations of active inquiry by asking questions that expert performers/learners ask about specific disciplines. (What questions do mathematicians ask? What questions do readers ask? What questions do writers ask? )

v Teachers provide opportunities for students to learn about a subject or topic in depth. Ample time is allowed for students to grasp the big ideas, to reflect, to investigate, to question, to see relationships, and to construct new meaning.

v Teachers expect students to perform the new learning in authentic situations demonstrating the skills and knowledge as outlined in district and state standards.

This theory of learning connects with the Conditions For Learning found in draft of the Middle School Common Practices and Core Understandings for Literacy. Teachers looked at each of the six practices and listed current teaching strategies that make the practice come alive in the classroom.

CONSISTENT GUIDELINES FOR LITERACY AT THE MIDDLE SCHOOL LEVEL

COMMON PRACTICES AND CORE UNDERSTANDINGS

I. Teachers will develop readers who read for enjoyment.

· LAUNCH

· Reading Workshop

· Read Loud

· Partner Reading

· Popcorn Reading

· Book Clubs

· Literature Circles

II. Teachers will develop students who read a variety of text independently.

· Don’t limit independent reading options to only novels (kids can learn from snowboarding magazines, too.)

· Use current events and model the purpose you set as you read

· Use reading strategies that support making meaning while reading informational text

New Social Studies Books

Strategies That Work by Goudvis

III. Teachers will develop students who select appropriate text independently to meet a purpose.

· Help students use electronic information to access information

· Use guiding questions to focus on information gathering

· Recognize and encourage outside reading

· Use on line World Book and Encarta and the Web

· Provide time to use the library

· Support use of Accelerated Reader

· Incorporate independent research into units of study

· Use classroom computers as a source for selecting text

IV. Teachers will develop students who use reading strategies to construct meaning, support thinking and make connections between the text, self and the world.

· Use strategies outlined in Reader’s Handbook

· Use strategies suggested in I Read It But I Don’t Get It by Cris Tovani

· Use these strategies across the curriculum

· Design lessons that use Before, During, and After reading strategies

· Model these strategies using different texts

· Teach different strategies for different genre

· Use similar language when teaching reading strategies across all disciplines when appropriate

V. Teachers will develop students who extend responses beyond the text through sharing, analyzing, and synthesizing and applying understanding in a variety of media.

· Provide many demonstrations and models:

o I do, we do , you do

o Think, Pair, Share

o Write, Pair, Share

· Use Reading Journals:

o Teacher lead reflection

o Student reflection

o Connect to self, others, life, other text, other media

· Design projects

o Students read and research using questions

o Create and make decisions using knowledge and the research process

o Incorporate research strategies that require active inquiry

· Teach the reading and writing processes

VI. Teachers will develop students who take responsibility for their reading.

· Model and design lesson plans that include teacher demonstration

· Connect consequences for not reading

· Provide positive feedback to students who are taking responsibility

· Be specific with feedback on responsibility so that all students know what taking responsibility means

· Give students tools to be successful: Book Chats, Reading Response Journals, Access to books

· Be excited about your own connection with books

· Teach text features that support students in taking responsibility

· Hold the students accountable for what you have taught

III. Backwards Design – Starting with the big ideas to be learned and describing the

Performance expected from the students.

Sample units for social studies were developed and shared by the participants. These drafts will be sent to each teacher and may be further developed at future grade level meetings. The template will be sent electronically to each grade level teacher.

IV. Questions

· How do I meet the needs of both the kids who need more support and those who understand two days ago? (see below)

V. Next Steps

Teachers posted suggestions and topics for future grade level meetings.

Topics:

· Work together to create units

· Time to share

· Divide up the units, bring resources, and share what’s working in our classrooms

· Bring History of US books and support materials and plan units

· Round Robin Sharing of our Best Stuff

· Bring unit strategies that people have tried

· Discussion of Read Alouds

· Share other materials that support units and big ideas

· What’s happening at the high school level

Volunteer teachers will develop a plan for the next meeting in March.

· Sonja Moon

· Tina Allsop

· Jim Zurcher

· Jodie Taylor

ATTENDEES

Fairhaven: Callie Hart, John Stockwell Kulshan: Peggy Zehnder , Jeff Thran, Jodie Taylor, Judy Bennett Shuksan: Tina Allsop, Sharece Steinkamp Whatcom: Sonja Moon, Sara Strommer, Jim Zurcher, Toby McKain, Fred Chung

QUESTION

ANSWER

1. How do I meet the needs of both the kids who need more support and those who understand two days ago?

This is a challenge for all teachers K – 12. A teacher and the school as an organization who accept this challenge, first start with the structure that might support meeting the needs of all students. The Middle Schools are looking at their organization and structuring themselves into teams. A team of 3 – 4 teachers takes on the responsibility of 100 to 115 students. The first step is to use the Teaching/Learning Cycle by assessing students and sharing the identified needs with the team. The team can design a daily schedule that provides more time in specific curricular areas as the needs of students indicate. In addition, the individual teacher can structure class time to provide time for whole, small, and individual instruction. Some teachers are figuring out what kinds of activities can be given to the whole group so that there are small blocks of time throughout the time to work with a small group on common needs or give individual assistance. Finally, teachers can also think about what are some types of support that can be given a student so that he/she can participate in learning the content. Proven strategies are cooperative learning, peer tutors, taped books, etc.