Thank you Beverly. Your response is very thoughtful. I will definitely consider your points.
Sent from my iPhone On Jul 10, 2013, at 2:14 PM, "Beverlee Paul" <[email protected]> wrote: > Hello Evalia, > > > I need to answer half of your question I think. You are getting several > responses about an articulated curriculum. I'd also suggest that you do some > additional reading about curriculum mapping if you haven't done much. The > advantage of that is getting active engagement and input from all teachers. > That might bring seasoned teachers as well as others on board and use > everyone's expertise. > > > What I'd rather respond to at this time is your answer within an answer. I > think your question was: How do we best, as a school, increase student > learning in language arts? The first part of your answer was to articulate a > basic aligned curriculum, both for standards and for genre. However, it seems > as though you added in an additional answer when you specified the timing. > Additionally, there were two elements--curricula itself and genre. > > > There are significant advantages for student learning to being able to use > inquiry cycles and the dynamic studies of a classroom to determine timing of > instruction. (However, from your description, I'm not sure that's what's > going on here.) I personally believe there has to be a solid reason to > override the classroom teacher's decision-making as to timing. However, that > does not mean the curriculum can't be articulated and aligned. > > > I think you need to try to determine why you believe all standards should be > taught by all teachers concurrently. You'll need to be able to make that case > in your conversations and meetings. A help there might be Lucy Calkins' > statements about teaching order for units of study. Without specific > justification, you'll have a hard time convincing teachers to give up the > instructional decision-making which aids best practice. There may be reasons, > maybe some temporary, just to get started, but you'll need to be able to > state them. If the initial problem is some teachers being unfamiliar with > some standards (or just ignoring some standards), perhaps in service directed > toward that standard that period would be a justification to teach > concurrently. You touched on collaboration; that might be a reason. You may > have more. But, without legitimate, vital reasons to control timing, your > argument just can't outweigh the necessary decision-making of the teacher and > students in a particular classroom. All that will need to be clear in your > mind before your meeting. > > > Now, my opinion (which you didn't ask for): Your impetus for change is to > increase student learning by ensuring all teachers teach an aligned > curriculum. I'm not sure you need to mandate timing in order to reach your > goal. You'll need to think about your reasoning and be able to persuade > others. I think you may be able to make a case for standards. However, try as > I might, I can think of no reason to mandate all teaching the same genre at > the same time. I can think of several reasons not to, one of which is > straining your library's resources for no good purpose. For instance, take > biography. If there are 400 students in your school, there are probably not > enough trade books to allow adequate choices at all levels for students. > Other genres lend themselves to particular author's studies, which again > would strain resources. There are other reasons not to, but the real problem > I have is that I can't figure out what the benefit of doing so would be, > especially to the level to override the disadvantages. Perhaps other members > of your team would be more likely to accept the standardization of timing of > standards teaching if you reconsidered genre. Just my own personal reaction. > > > If I were to give you advice, I would say: reflect on reasoning, explore > curriculum mapping in order to get all teachers involved, and look at the > great resources on the web. Good luck. > — > Sent from Mailbox for iPad > > On Tue, Jul 9, 2013 at 9:55 PM, evelia cadet <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> I am in serious need of your input and expertise about reading curriculum >> alignment. This year I am part of the instructional leadership team at my >> school. We know we need to change, but need a clear direction. Allow me to >> share some background information. I know is a lot, but I would truly >> appreciate if you read it. >> - This is how reading instruction looks like in my school: teachers teach >> any standard they want. We don't know what is going on in other classrooms. >> We don't collaborate and there is animosity and competition among the grade >> levels over test scores. >> - We have a new principal who would like to see instructional alignment, but >> is not being specific with how that alignment looks like in practice. >> - I am not an expert on alignment, but I came up with a plan that specify >> the genres and standards ALL reading teachers will focus on every grading >> period. Teachers are welcome to teach more standards if they want, as long >> as they take care of those few standards. Before and during this period >> teachers will collaborate and help each other. >> - The principal liked the plan, BUT, an influential teacher, who is also >> part of the leadership team, thinks the plan is a hindrance to teachers' >> autonomy. In her mind, our alignment should be: get familiar with the >> standards and make sure you teach them all before the end of the year. >> -We are meeting next week to have a discussion about it. PLEASE enlighten me >> about how effective instructional alignment looks like in practice. We have >> been operating in autonomy mode and the school hasn't moved forward. Our >> test results are sad. >> Thank you. >> Evelia >> Sent from my iPhone >> _______________________________________________ >> Mosaic mailing list >> [email protected] >> To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to >> http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org >> Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive
