AnnouncementsFEBRUARY 11TH PDS

When: Starts at 9:30am (note earlier start to cohort time to allow for new collaboration structures), Check TAL for a PDS survey, select your session options, and opt-in to a cohort collaboration session in lieu of your CS session if you’d prefer to work with other CMs in our cohort instead attending regular CS time!

SECONDARY COLLABORATION BRUNCH

What: Josh Johnson and Kelly Gleischman invite all secondary CMs in our cohort for a fun and productive collaboration potluck brunch. Complete this survey to RSVP and provide input on the topics/ activities you’d like to engage with When: Sunday, February 26th from 10am-Noon Where: 1110 8th St NE

WENDY KOPP TALK (RSVP ONLY) What: Wendy will be speaking with 40 D.C. region CMs about TFA’s role in the broader education reform movement, what she thinks it’s going to take to truly close the gap, as well as her vision for the future of the organization. When: Monday, Feb 6th from 4:45-5:45 Where: 1411 K St NW, 9th Floor (Union Station)

COHORT CORNERALWAYS FREE Issue # 7

D.C. REGION PILOT COHORT / JANUARY 30, 2012

During a recent observation in a CM’s classroom, I spotted a familiar but powerful quote on the wall: “Intelligence plus character--that is the goal of true education.” As an educator, I wanted my students to leave my classroom prepared with the academic skills they would need to be competitive in other settings. But that was only part of it. I also wanted them to leave having become better people and with lessons that would stick with them for years to come. The challenge for me was not in defining my end outcome, but in knowing what to prioritize and how to get there. While reflecting on this question, I came across a study by Chris Petersen and Martin Selgiman, which helped transform the field of positive psychology. These researchers identify 7 character traits that are most predictive of enduring, positive life outcomes. While this study is not the end-all-be-all, I thought I’d highlight 2 of these high-leverage traits and how CMs in our cohort are concretely cultivating those through rigorous instruction:

Grit/Persistence: Nicole Spoelma presented students with a framework for how to persevere and problem-solve in the face of challenges and also about the value of struggle. During morning meeting, she walked them through a “Cycle of Struggle”, and shared anecdotes of famous people who have persevered and what they learned by experiencing and overcoming challenges. Students were then encouraged to share their own stories, and recount experiences where they struggled and persisted and what was learned because of those experiences. To reinforce this, Staci Holthus posts examples of student work that required a tremendous amount of

persistence to complete on the “Grit Wall”. To introduce this concept at the high school level, Lauren Delaloye used a NYT article to spark a discussion about the importance of grit. She reinforces it through her actions by assigning a high volume of rigorous work that requires grit to complete. She also models grit by carefully grading assignments, showing kids that she walks the walk (e.g., when she pulled out a text and showed her kids how she also highlights and annotates what she reads), and holding a rigorous bar while offering the support students need to meet that bar by arriving early or offering to stay after school for tutoring.

Curiosity: cultivating a love of a content area or learning in their kids is hard, but worth the effort and time investment. Anne Marie and Campbell have done so by making the content relevant to students’ daily lives. For instance, Campbell recently invited parent speakers from the community to share their stories during a mini-unit on immigration. Anne Marie brings the content to life by continually searching for examples of Math being applied in the real world, like when she recently filmed herself using the Math students learned in class to follow a recipe and cook food. Megan Gilbert and Josh Johnson openly express their enthusiasm for what they’re teaching, which rubs off on kids and piques their interest to hear more. Anamika Dwivedi is taking time to craft strong hooks that connect content with real-life situations or couch concepts in relatable analogies/allegories, while Gillon scripts out higher-order CFUs for each lesson that he himself would be curious to know the answers to if he was a student.

Action ItemsSEND YOUR STUDENTS’ MOST RECENT ACHIEVEMENT RESULTS

Please send along your students’ most recent assessment data so I can be looped in about where your kids are and we can use the data to inform next steps in our work together.

‘Intelligence Plus Character’

Team Shout OutsDebbie Sim: for giving me all of her PG County materials -- they've been so helpful as a resource!--Kelly Gleischman

Julia Sadowsky—for rolling out a successful “Best Work” party, which provided her with a great forum to build students’ self-confidence with speaking in front of a crowd, empower them to select and share their “best work” with parents and family members, pass the baton of facilitating procedures over to students, and reinforce the connection between doing hard work, growing your brain, and feeling proud. What’s most exciting is how creatively Julia is thinking about similar types of learning experiences. By implementing them, she is (implicitly and explicitly) reinforcing key mindsets that she knows it will take for students to fully embody their classroom vision.--Joaquin

Eliza Varner: for letting myself and Benjamin Stoddert teachers observe her classroom at Wise High School during our professional development day. I was really impressed by the students working together during the stations activity. PUMA PRIDE!--Debbie Sim

Shajena Erazo and Chelsea Kirk—for taking risks and trying new discussion techniques to engage students, which have translated into increased engagement and investment in the content and pushed higher-order thinking.--Joaquin

Molly, Cendahl, and Julia—for letting come and observe their wonderful classrooms!  I learned so much and it has already changed the way I do things in my classroom!--Maria Roth

Cendahl Cornelio-Alter: for taking concrete steps to build her students’ sense of self-confidence in their abilities as learners by having them practice gesture of what it means to feel proud after they complete a hard task, showing them the great work they’ve done and also sharing this work with key stakeholders (e.g., parents and administrators). Over time, her kids are becoming increasingly invested in their abilities as learners, and making the powerful connection between their hard work and the progress they make.--Joaquin

Anamika Dwivedi: for visiting my classroom, constructively commenting on my practice, and having individual conversations with my kiddos.  I believe it pushed both her and I to work harder for our kids and gave us a chance to productively chat within our cohort.  You rock Anamika.--Josh Johnson

Anamika Dwivedi for observing my class and giving me concrete feedback immediately, as well as asking my kids some really great questions while she was there - questions that they then talked about with me afterwards that opened the door for great conversations!--Campbell Glenn

Laure Kohne: for giving up some time on a Saturday to help me with planning. She was an amazing help and her kids are so lucky to have her as a teacher!--Megan Gilbert

Indira, Lauren, Gillon, Chelsea, and Campbell: for sharing their classrooms with me. I loved watching all of you

teach, and I got some great insights on how to make my classroom even better. Thank you!--Shajena Erazo

Laure and Joaquin: for helping me navigate the transition from teaching science to self-contained. Thank you!!—Beth

Chelsea, Campbell, Carolyn, Jordan, Josh, Lauren, and Maria: for presenting at at the last PDS.  Their resources were SO helpful and their presentations were engaging.  Great work!--Alex Krupp Campbell: for getting a job at Uncommon next year!! They will be lucky to have you!--Gillon Crichton and Meredith Ackerman

Hillary, Campbell, and Alex: for being fun weeknight distractions with our girls’ night dinner!--Kelly Gleischman

Nicole Spoelma: for trying out Book Clubs!--Abby Wihl

Alex, Kelly, and Campbell: for a great chat at PDS :)--Hillary Coleman

Abby Wihl: for pitching in and agreeing to work with another CM in our cohort to brainstorm strategies for meeting the needs of a particularly challenging student. I’m excited to see how this collaboration impacts the student’s progress in class!--Joaquin

Debbie Sim: for for working to organize a team for the MathCounts competition! Go BSTOD!--Jordan Bock

Josh Campbell, Gillon, Lauren, and Anne Marie: for opening your classrooms for one of the best PDs I've ever had.  Each of your classrooms were illuminating and phenomenal in their own, unique way.  The level of engagement, rigor, joy and compassion that I saw in each class was inspiring.  I envy your students' educational experiences with you as their teachers!--Anamika Dwivedi

Lauren Delaloye: for planning to teach her kids to analyze their own achievement data so that they can use this information to drive their own independent and small-group studying within and outside of class. What I like is the way she’s using it to both empower students with the knowledge of what they know, but also with the knowledge of what they don’t know and then giving them the autonomy of determining how they’ll concretely work to reach their goals.--Joaquin

Beth Dukes: for taking the initiative to organize a home visit for her toughest 8th grader, and for reaching out to fellow CMs to figure out how to best make it successful!--Campbell Glenn

Carolyn Byrne: for facilitating the first of a series of "Dinner and Dialogue" meetings around transformational teaching in ECE with members of the ECE cohort, staff, and TFA alums. I'm excited to see all of the great dialogue and thinking that emerges from these region-wide conversations.--Joaquin

Shout outs continue on next page!

Team Shout Outs (continued)

Anne Marie Norgren: eager to strengthen her classroom community and build students’ self-confidence through the achievement of goals, Anne Marie is planning to cluster students into “goal groups’ that meet together during her Friday community meetings. This creative strategy will allow students to engage in ongoing conversations with the same group in which they’ll have the opportunity to share their personal goals, progress/challenges in achieving those goals, and also encourage each other and hold each other accountable to reaching those goals. I thought this was a great idea for building a culture in which kids aren’t just forming community for its own sake, but as a means to pushing and motivating one another to do their best.--Joaquin

Joaquin: for giving me some great ideas during our debrief and for letting me crash your debriefs with CJ and Josh :)--Kelly Gleischman

Gillon and Megan: or a great P90x workout that didn't involve a single word about teaching - work/life balance!!--Campbell Glenn

Eliza Varner: for doing an amazing job this year tackling a new school and totally new classes! Thanks for being an awesome painting partner :)--Jordan Bock

Clair Briggs: for reaching out to others in our cohort, on staff, and to me to put together an awesome action plan to get semester 2 off to a strong start. I’m excited to see how all of this hard work pays off in the coming weeks and months!--Joaquin

Kelly and Josh: for agreeing to host our cohort’s Secondary CM Collaboration Brunch on Sunday, Feb 26th and to Kelly for helping me brainstorm great activity ideas for the brunch. I’m excited to see how all of the concrete strategy and resource-sharing impacts your classrooms!--Joaquin

Hillary, Campbell, and Kelly: for lending an ear when I needed to vent.  It's so nice to have people to talk to

about my struggles in the classroom.--Alex Krupp

Joaquin: for implementing the St. Andrews Mentor Program. I can already tell how fruitful the mentorship will be for me!--Laure Kohne

Beth Dukes: for creating and implementing a mentor program for her science fair!--Meredith Ackerman

Chelsea Kirk: for showing us such an awesome method of teaching research and research paper writing to students.--Gillon Crichton

Clair and Shajena: for coming to my classroom and to Shajena for offering to jump on the phone to give me immediate feedback - yall are great!--Campbell Glenn

Megan Gilbert: after watching a video of the incredible engagement in her classroom, I felt inspired and happy all day!--Gillon Crichton

Anne Marie: always being there to check in with me about both life updates and classroom-related things.--Kelly Gleischman

Joaquin: for spending the day toting me to classroom after classroom throughout the D.C. region.  I had such a wonderful and enlightening time conversing with you about what made each classroom successful.  I am so thankful for all the hard work you put in to make sure your corps members get the most out of their experiences in this cohort.  I cannot wait to continue learning what makes a teacher truly transformational in the next couple months with you!--Anamika Dwivedi

Indira Cruz: for working tremendously hard to reach a sometimes challenging student. This student went from being painfully shy, oppositional and disengaged to becoming an active participant in class and one of the first ones to volunteer to present her family tree project. This student’s confidence has skyrocketed because of the strong relationship and care that Indira has put into her work with her. Thank you for going above and beyond to meet the needs of all of your kids, and working especially hard to reach students who sometimes don’t receive the help they need to thrive.--Joaquin

Resource SpotlightSCIENCE RESOURCES

Jordan Recommends NSTA’s “freebies for science teachers” for everything from lectures and videos to labs and community-based projects. Need some science specific iPad resources? Jordan also recommends this site.

CLASS CULTURE SURVEY (GRADES 5 AND UP)

Eager to get a pulse on how kids are viewing school, their futures, your class, and more? Get holistic feedback from students with this class survey. Ask Campbell how she turned it into a Google Survey, which made it easy for her to splice data into helpful graphs and charts.

WHAT DID YOU LEARN AT SCHOOL TODAY?

Kudos to Gillon for quickly implementing a strategy for looping parents in about what students are learning after attending a Flamboyan session. His list of weekly questions gives parents a concrete way to check their child’s understanding of the content they’re learning in class.

BREAKTHROUGH LEVELS (LITERACY RESOURCE)

Have students who are hitting a ceiling with their reading levels? Check out Lucy Calkin’s guide to helping readers break through milestone levels

COLLEGE STYLE NOTE-TAKING Teach your students how to take college style notes with a strategy from Clair’s note-taking PD PPT. Check out slides 6-12 for concrete ideas/suggestions!

LAWYER TALK (GRADES 3 AND UP)

Encourage your kids to cite (textual) evidence with Chelsea’s “Lawyer Talk” sentence starters