Welcome to our Final Session

1. Welcome to our Final Session Classroom and Lab Management Part 2 Spring, 2014

2. Teambuilder “Scrambler” Let’s get started! If people are missing they can join in when they arrive. This is a team activity. Each person will have a copy of the puzzle, but please work on this collaboratively for four minutes. All words deal with discipline and management concepts!

3. Let’s recap last week’s topic and look at your questions • Liability – being sued – who do you go to? • How can I deal with the students who do not participate and disrupt class? Any KWL charts to turn in from week 1?

4. Maximizing Use of Instructional Time Objective: Topic: Maximizing Instructional Time Do: Discuss ways to use instructional time most effectively L.O.T.: Understanding

5. Greet your students at the door! • Invite them to sit • Give any expectations for what you want them to get working on doing

6. Time Management – over plan!! It’s better to have more to do and not enough time to do it than to have students with extra time on their hands! Kids “cook up trouble” when they are not constructively engaged

7. Provide Concrete Deadlines Be tight with the timeline for assignment completion! Create a sense of urgency for students to complete the assigned task Adjust as necessary

8. Educational “Time Terms” • Instructional Time – • Time used for actual instruction (excluding record keeping, dealing with discipline, disruptions, etc.) • Academic Learning Time, Time on Task, or Engaged Time– • Time that the students are actually learning; they are paying attention, receiving instruction, and are actively engaged in learning tasks(This involves emotional commitment on the student’s part to their learning)

9. The typical high school student’s attention span is 8-14 minutesHere’s what a class period looks like: (Reference: Hartley J and Davies I “Note taking: A critical review” Programmed Learning and Educational technology, 1978,15, 207-224).

10. Educational “Time Terms” (continued) • Golden rule of 15 minutes – Teachers should limit themselves to no more than 15 minutes at a time at the board, showing a PowerPoint, or lecturing

11. Bell to Bell Instruction • Focuses on maximizing all available instructional time! • Does NOT mean that the teacher lectures from “bell to bell” • Lessons should be chunked into different activities involving as much student action as is appropriate for the objective! • Students need to be given the opportunity to process all information that is provided in lectures, Power Points, videos, etc. For every teacher action there should be a student action!

12. Task: • Read through the Time-on-Task: A Strategy that Accelerates Learning article, annotating as you wish • On the cardstock provided, create a table and jot down a few key ideas about each of the steps related to effective student learning – Be sure to title your table!

13. In order for you to be ABLE to use all class time, you must have clearly defined and communicated expectations for behavior

14. Classroom Non-negotiables What will YOU not budge about??

15. Your classroom/lab expectations must be: • Fair • Consistent • Respectful to students • Understood by your students • Workable/Realistic to execute Now, independently on the handout provided write 3-5 “non-negotiables” for your class or lab. Be prepared to share and discuss!

16. Time for a break!

17. Creating Effective Grading and Student Grouping Policies The handout provided, write down the categories that you enter into your gradebook

18. Objectives: Topic: Grading and grouping policies Do: • Examine effective ways to group students, and how to independently assess group work • Identify the categories and weights of headings in grade records L.O.T.: Understanding

19. 4 ways to group students: • Randomly • Teacher-selected • By seat proximity • Student-selected

20. Consider surveying your students’ attitudes prior to setting groups Which of the following best describes your experience of group work? • I like group work because my group helps me learn. • I question the value of group work because in the past I've ended up doing all the work. • I have little or no experience working in groups. • I have different experience of group work than the choices above. (Please explain.) Those who check “B” can be put into a group of their own. They might find this to be the first time they are really challenged and satisfied by group work

21. What about grading group work? • Each student should be graded independently • Students should understand the criteria prior to starting to work on the project • When grouping students the process used to determine who works together should be matched to what the goals of the project are • When the teacher selects the group, “A” students work well with “C” students, and “B” students are helpful to “D” students • Consider having set groups that rotate if you use group work regularly (see handout)

22. Grading Must Reflect Mastery of Course Concepts and Skills • When determining how much an assignment, project or assessment would be worth, always think, “How critical is this to understanding what students need to know about ____________ “ (fill in your course) • Be VERY cautious with “participation points” – if you use them, have how they can be earned/lost in writing and make sure they align with school policies • “Extra credit” for non- academic things (like turning in papers with parent signatures) should not be common, if used at all

23. The district has very general guidelines for grading • Let’s look at the official MPS Administrative Regulation for grading secondary students (green) • Ed Tech has prepared a variety of resources for gradebook help with the system we use within Synergy http://www.mpsaz.org/gradebook/secondary/secondarysupport2 (pink handout)

24. Grading: • Policies need to be clearly communicated to students in writing • Use rubrics whenever appropriate to do so, and give students the rubrics prior to the assignment or project Rubrics created by other teachers are available and customizable if you search the web. A good website to use is Rubistar: www. http://rubistar.4teachers.org/ Let’s look at the writing rubrics that we are suggesting that PLCs use as an example that everyone should be able to relate to.

25. Stretch break with a task! Please get a laptop and log on to the MPS website. You can share a machine with one other person or do the activity independently. If you have an iPad you are welcome to use it, but a smartphone would be too small for what we’re doing.

26. Send your written grading policies home for parent signatures Let’s look at some examples… www.mpsaz.org • Go onto the MPS website and type in “Grading Policies” in the search box – Complete the table using at least three examples you view

27. Article: High School Grading Policies Take a highlighter, identifying what you find most significant

28. Wrapping grades up… Go back to your Gimme an A handout – • Add any categories you might have missed • Change any that aren’t working for you • Put percentages next to each for weight

29. Closure • On the “Week 3” portion of the backside of your name tent, write one thing that you plan to do differently as a result of what we covered today. If there is nothing, write a summary describing why using instructional time wisely is critical! If you are doing this for ADE credit, email Ann a suggested date and time for a visit following spring break. Also – don’t forget KWL charts about your students if you don’t have them in!