Year 1 Focus
Getting Started with Core Proposition 3:
Teachers Are Responsible for Managing and Monitoring Student Learning
In June of 2018, Southern's NBPLS leadership team (principal, director of instruction, instructional coach, and two teachers) began to discuss the strengths and opportunities for growth at Southern. We soon realized the same two ideas kept popping up: consistency and expectations. At the end of the previous year, our teachers asked (via a survey) for greater instructional consistency. We also knew that a problem was low or inconsistent expectations for students and teachers across the building. With these issues in mind, we took a look at the Core Propositions that we were originally drawn to: 2, 3, and 4. We placed stickers in the green book next to each "indicator" or subheading that we thought would get us the most "bang for our buck." When we debriefed this activity, we realized that overwhelmingly, our stickers were in Core Proposition 3. We then felt confident that CP3 would be our focus as a school this year.
Systems and Key Areas
Professional LearningAt the beginning of the year, teachers selected an area from Core Prop 3 as the focus of their Professional Growth Plan for the 2019-19 school year. Teachers are supported in the learning of techniques and strategies in their focus area during monthly after-school faculty meetings led by teacher leaders (called "Best Practice Tuesdays") and monthly professional learning sessions embedded into the work day.
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Re-Imagining PLCsEach grade and content-focused PLC meets twice a week: once to plan together as a team and once to analyze student work. These student work meetings are part of a "Helix Cycle," modeled after the Architecture of Accomplished Teaching. The Helix Cycle ensures a focus on what our students are thinking, and supports teachers in using that thinking to inform effective instruction.
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Formative FeedbackEffective feedback for teachers should involve both a high volume of quantitative feedback and in-depth qualitative feedback. Each teacher at SHS receives short walk-throughs on a regular basis, as well as longer visits from their evaluating administrator and an instructional coach in each 9-week teaching cycle. Coaching at SHS uses a Cognitive Coaching model; all resource teachers are certified Cognitive Coaches.
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If you are you an member of the Kentucky NBPLS community, or you have worked with Kate and would like access to the NBPLS resources used by Southern High School, please click the link below.