For directions on how to stop getting email notifications of wiki changes click here: emailnotification.doc

 

9/10 At the Department Head meeting we talked about both our October 1st meeting from 1:00-4:00 and the October 10th Staff Development Day. In order to figure out what would be the best use of the time, we agreed to think about the work goals for the year and the needs of your department members.

9/11 Craig and I met to frame the goals.

Below are our preminary ideas for what could be done on October 10th (in addition to work time by department)

- please locate your department, hit edit, type your thoughts below, hit save, read others' ideas. Thank you.

 

 

BALANCED ASSESSMENT Supporting the faculty as its members develop a shared understanding of balanced assessment practices and standards-based assessment practices is a good place to start. The October 10th activity: review the updated assessment policy and balanced assessment frameworks (drafts) and comment on them before they are considered by the Board. We might also review some current research about assessment for learning. (about 30 - 45 minutes).

 

 

21ST CENTURY Asking faculty to read then discuss a section of the "21st century" article (read at our retreat) and to view then discuss some videos on 21st century learning might be worthwhile (about 45 minutes - hour).

 

 

NEASC It will require a group effort to write the NEASC letter (due Nov. 1) and to create an explanation of the NEASC report for parents who attend Nov. 11 Parent Conferences. We think faculty members, by department, should read the actual report sections, summarize section content, then identify what's already underway, questions and/or next steps. (1 1/2 to 2 hours).

 

 

EVALUATION SYSTEM We think we can review some prompts on October 1 (thanks Cheri!).

 

 

ART

Balanced Assessment: I think my staff would benefit from discussing how we use formative vs. summative assessments in the art classroom to answer the question, "How can we engage more students in doing better?" We need to make certain that students know what "quality" work lokos like in our classes and that we can help them achieve that level of success. We will look at the development of a "descriptive feedback" from that could be used in all classes, at all learner levels.

 

21st Century Learning: I think it would make sense to continue our work from the Summer Technology Institute. We want all art students to be able to document and catalog their work digitally and be able to access it at any time. We are working toward an electronic art portfolio that would be ready for all our seniors to use for college admissions and other postsecondary needs. We also need to investigate what art/technology skills students will need in the post-secondary environment.

 

NEASC, in order to help my staff understand the NEASC report and make connections with our work I think we should first review the Commission's request for the special progress report that is due Nov. 1( the gold sheet from Sally that we received at the retreat). Since the area of technology is having the greatest effect on the department, we will report out on our individual efforts both instructional and curricular for integrating technology into the art classroom, reflecting on where we were at this time last year and noting the advancements.

 

ENGLISH

Balanced Assessment: English department faculty could use time to reflect on implications of the evolving assessment environment. Developing and deepening teacher appreciation of how a balanced system of assessments will better meet the needs of our students makes some sense.

 

21st Century Learning: English department faculty will benefit by coming together and discussing the implications of the article's message for curriculum planning and instruction.

 

NEASC: English department faculty should focus upon those report elements that relate most prominently to their collective and individual work in our subject (and, of course, to those elements that influence their work as members of the whole school faculty.

 

 

HEALTH / PE

Balanced Assessment, I think my staff would benefit from taking a look at our present assessments and generating a discussion about where we want to make changes given the fact that the assessment picture has changed considerably

 

 

21st Century Learning, I think it would make sense to look at where Health/PE fits in and how they will be impacted especially with the discussion surrounding wellness portfolios.

 

NEASC, in order to help my staff understand the NEASC report and make connections with our work I think we should look at the recommendations and discuss the ones that have implications for our department

 

 

MATH

Balanced Assessment, I think my staff would benefit from time to understand the shift we are making from our existing assessment system toward a Balanced one. Reviewing the updated policy might be a good place to start. This will definitely generate some questions around what it will look like as an assessment system, how it will be communicated to students/parents, and generally how it will function as compared to our current system. This discussion will be helpful as we continue to examine our current assessments with regard to how we use them.

 

21st Century Learning, I think it would make sense to discuss the 21st Century Learning article in the context of what changes might be considered for for students of mathematics, especially as they progress through high school toward graduation.

 

NEASC, in order to help my staff understand the NEASC report and make connections with our work I think we should work as a department to 1) review the NEASC recommendations, 2) examine the progress our content area/the school has made since the self-study was completed, 3) align the current department initiatives and goals to specific recommendations in the report. (I recommend 2 hours for this rather than 1 1/2.)

 

 

MUSIC

Balanced Assessment, I think my staff would benefit from

 

21st Century Learning, I think it would make sense to

 

NEASC, in order to help my staff understand the NEASC report and make connections with our work I think we should

 

 

SCIENCE

Balanced Assessment, I think my staff would benefit from an understanding of formative verses summative assessment. As teachers we should use assessment to plan curricula. The science assessments are mostly end of the unit assessments. I would like to look at a balanced assessment where assessments inform teaching in the science department. Our assessments should server three purposes: to determine the students' initial understanding and abilities, to monitor student progress, and to collect information to grade student achievement. Time to work within the department to understand how a balanced assessment system can improve learning is important. I also think we need to talk about student self assessment in this practice of a balanced assessment system. The ability to self assess understanding is an essential tool for self-directed learning. As the science department has a goal regarding balanced assessment, I believe a discussion on recent literature regarding this topic would be a good start.

 

21st Century Learning, I think it would make sense to read the article we read at the retreat. I found this very imformative. I also would like time to discuss what 21st Century Learning would look like in each discipline. Science will be working with a consultant this year, to look at current best practices models in planning our future science courses. As we move forward in our plans, we need to make sure we are educating scientifically literate students that enter society. These students need to experience the richness and excitement of knowing about and understanding the natural world; use appropriate scientific processes and principles in making decisions; engage intellectually in public discourse and debate about matters of scientific and technological concern; and increase the economic productivity through the use of the knowledge, understanding, and skills of the scientifically literate person in their careers. (National Science Standards) As we move towards developing a science program that is rich in experience, allows for authentic application, and meets MLR for ALL students, a discussion of the 21st century learning needs to occur often.

 

NEASC, in order to help my staff understand the NEASC report and make connections with our work I think we should read the recommendations. I like the idea of seeing what we have already implemented and what needs to be done. I would also like to look at any recommendations that are specifically science related and then look at the science department goals to see how these align.

 

In addition, if I can arrange in the future to have our science consultant work with the science department on an inservice day, that will be needed. I was hoping to carve out some time in this day to start that work.

 

 

SOCIAL STUDIES

Balanced Assessment, I think my staff would benefit from a deeper discussion of the value of formative assessment. For the past ten years, the primary work with assessment in Social Studies has centered on common assessments for the MLR. As the number of assessments began to dwindle over the years due to the lowering standards, the assessments began to heavily emphasize summative assessments. I would like the Social Studies department to examine how to use formative assessments within their instruction and curriculum. I am currently piloting the use of self-devised benchmarks in my Academic European History courses. A few other teachers have latched on to the idea. A more comprehensive examination of the daily work and assessments would be tremendously beneficial.

 

21st Century Learning, I think it would make sense to distribute an outline of the ideas with the 21st Century Learning article, but I do not believe having staff read the entire document would be very helpful. Time spent examining how this impacts and influences each discipline would be the best use of time.

 

NEASC, in order to help my staff understand the NEASC report and make connections with our work I think we should read the recommendations and listing what is currently being implemented within each department. It may be helpful to have our group identify five or six recommendations that are the most important and then let each department figure out which recommendations apply to their discipline and devise some policies or actions to pilot this year in order to address these recommendations.

 

SPECIAL EDUCATION

Balanced Assessment, I think my staff would benefit from entering into discussions with the subject area departments regarding assessments. It would be important for the consultants to each department to have those discussions with their peers. Those who work in self-contained settings should enter into a discussion about how we assess those who receive their education apart from other students. How do we ensure that these students have access to the same tools as other students? How much should we rely on special education assessments versus general education assessments? Should teachers in these settings spend more time conferring with their general education peers regarding both teaching and assessment?

 

21st Century Learning, I think it would make sense to again include consulting and subject area teachers from SWIC with subject area teachers in teh general ed setting discussing the needs of 21st Century Learning. We also need to look at and discuss how being in a self-contained setting may not prepare students for the 21st Century. How can we change our practice to address this? What should self-contained education look like for the next 20 years? Should it exist? Should we deploying our resources in a different manner ?

 

NEASC, in order to help my staff understand the NEASC report and make connections with our work I think we should look at the way we provide support services overall. The NEASC report said that we seemed to have more than adequate resources dedicated to support, but that we might not be using all our resources in as practical a manner as possible. While special services was regarded as a strength to the High School, it is worth exploring how we might use our organizational model to improve other efficiencies of other areas of support services.

 

 

WORLD LANGUAGES

 

Balanced Assessment, I think my staff would benefit from looking at some of external forms of assessment that are available and that could act as summative assessments (other than our midterm and final exams). CLEP, National Spansh, French and German exams, Minnesota Language Proficiency Assessments and others. If we can decide on one (and get funding for such an assessment) we would then look at balancing our formative assessments with the summative assessments.

 

21st Century Learning, I think it would make sense to look at the articles on the topic and research what that means for our department. Obviously our department represents an important part of the 21st century initiative but at MTA WL is considered only an elective for students interested in 4 year colleges. Also, technology is a big part of this initiative. I believe that we need time to continue working on technology that benefits student learning.

 

NEASC, in order to help my staff understand the NEASC report and make connections with our work I think we should look at the NEASC recommendations and create a list of specific tasks that can be done on the Oct. 10th work shop.

 

 

Steps to Building Your Science Portfolio.doc

Science Department Goal Sheet.doc