Friday

=Agenda • Aug. 21, 2009=

//"In differentiated classrooms, teachers begin where their students are, not the front of a curriculum guide"// //Carol Tomlinson//

Essential Questions:

 * How can we adapt our teaching practice to meet and affirm the diverse needs and strengths of our students?
 * How can diversified instruction improve success for all students while reducing disproportionality?
 * How are 21st century literacies integral to diversified instruction?
 * What are the connections between DI, RTI, Content Maps, and the 2009 – 2010 Action Plans for Equity?

Major Understandings:
= = = = =Paperwork: Time Sheets and BOCES information= =Lunch Order= =Work Time= =Targeted Support= =Final Evaluation=
 * The teacher focuses on the essentials of the subject- content, principles and skills.
 * All units should be differentiated, whereas individual lessons may or may not be differentiated.
 * Assessment and instruction are inseparable.
 * The teacher modifies content, process and products.
 * All students participate in respectful tasks.
 * The teacher and students collaborate in learning in the classroom and beyond.
 * The teacher balances group and individual needs.
 * The teacher affirms student differences.
 * Connecting district initiatives makes the work manageable and increases chances for student success.


 * What still needs to be addressed that we haven't addressed? || How do you want to use our time on Friday? ||
 * I have learned so much technology that I'm not sure I can fit anymore into mty brain this week. Even so, I would like to learn how to use GoogleDocs. Not that you haven't addressed GoogleDocs; I just haven't practiced it yet. || I would like to consolidate and finalize my unit plan, including links e.g. to Learning Styles Inventory, Aptitude Tests, Interest Profiles as well as links to Youtube and other similar sites. I want to add from the Internet. I hope I can get the unit plan ready to publish. ||
 * I was really hoping we'd talk about ways to effectively use small group work in our classrooms, since that is touted as an important part of RTI, but is often, in practice, a huge disaster. || I wo ||
 * || I hope we could set up further ways to help each other and get technical advice once the school year starts. ||
 * I feel comfortable enough with the tools I have been given to begin using DI in the classroom. || ||
 * Reality--to completely "differentiate" or "diversify" a master teacher's curriculum will take years. Realistically, how much of this should/can be done within the course of the following year? || Group work, working on our own finishing up projects. ||
 * I would like to see more information on how to differentiate homework assignments. || ||
 * || I would love more time to write lessons and to work on my web page. ||
 * I would love for you to do a introduction to blackboard for the novices that need some help understanding the program. Also, I would like to know how to get my own blackboard website. So I can have all my || ||
 * || More time to embed technology into lessons and more time to put units together. ||
 * I would love to have you do that intro for novices on Blackboard. We ran out of || I would like to learn more about how to include wikis and blogs in Blackboard. I would also like to learn more about what can be done to make sure that lessons are culturally affirming. ||
 * time today and I'd appreciate it if you would be willing to give us a twenty minute || ||
 * intro tomorrow. || I would like worktime to upload files to blackboard. I want to bring my jump drive to class so that I can upload files ||
 * || Angela and I still need time to complete our lesson so I would like some time to do that ||
 * feedback on the units/lessons we are creating || in addition to learning about Blackboard. ||
 * I have some specific blackboard Qs, though I'm pretty sure not everyone will want to know about this. || ||
 * Blackboard Qs: || ||
 * - how can I conduct blog-style discussions, where students can respond to my questions and reply to each others' posts? (I think this is under discussion board but I couldn't get it to work) || see first answer ||
 * - How can I post video on the discussion board? || more work time, time for specific tech Qs, maybe some time to share and ask for feedback from others on what has been accomplished so far ||
 * - how can I break up 1 course site into different classes for discussion (I want announcements, most course docs, etc to be the same, but I want to have different discussion pages so that each class can respond to only each others' posts) || ||
 * || Also, we found that we were still somewhat confused on what to write under "students will know..." and "students will be able to..." ||
 * || I would like to complete this project, at least up to the lesson plan portion, then I am also interested in exploring more of the tech options. ||
 * I would like to practice more of the technology. I would also like some ideas for the cultural affirmation portion of our project. || ||
 * I can't think of anything. || More time to work on our own stuff with you guys as resources! ||
 * I don't know :) || More work time would be great. I'd also like some help starting a blogspot blog for my classroom. ||
 * We've gone over a lot of broad ideas about DI and have read about a few specific ideas. While I appreciate the technology connection and the time to do content mapping, we have not gone over or been given time to explore as many specifics as I'd like. For example: Tapping into students interests. what is an example of how you would do that. Barry gave some examples today, but I honestly can't think of how I'd do that for many of my lessons. Tapping into students readyness and learning styles have been touched on, but I guess I'd like to hear more specifics and get into the nuts and bolts of ways to do that. I'd like to hear from other teachers about their ways of doing this. || We were asked to bring a unit to work on. I'd like time to really dig into this unit and actually develop lesson plans, reading materials, alternate worksheets etc for that unit. Doing this with other teachers around might be helpful. ||
 * I can't think of anything. || More time to work on our own stuff with you guys as resources! ||
 * I don't know :) || More work time would be great. I'd also like some help starting a blogspot blog for my classroom. ||
 * We've gone over a lot of broad ideas about DI and have read about a few specific ideas. While I appreciate the technology connection and the time to do content mapping, we have not gone over or been given time to explore as many specifics as I'd like. For example: Tapping into students interests. what is an example of how you would do that. Barry gave some examples today, but I honestly can't think of how I'd do that for many of my lessons. Tapping into students readyness and learning styles have been touched on, but I guess I'd like to hear more specifics and get into the nuts and bolts of ways to do that. I'd like to hear from other teachers about their ways of doing this. || We were asked to bring a unit to work on. I'd like time to really dig into this unit and actually develop lesson plans, reading materials, alternate worksheets etc for that unit. Doing this with other teachers around might be helpful. ||
 * We've gone over a lot of broad ideas about DI and have read about a few specific ideas. While I appreciate the technology connection and the time to do content mapping, we have not gone over or been given time to explore as many specifics as I'd like. For example: Tapping into students interests. what is an example of how you would do that. Barry gave some examples today, but I honestly can't think of how I'd do that for many of my lessons. Tapping into students readyness and learning styles have been touched on, but I guess I'd like to hear more specifics and get into the nuts and bolts of ways to do that. I'd like to hear from other teachers about their ways of doing this. || We were asked to bring a unit to work on. I'd like time to really dig into this unit and actually develop lesson plans, reading materials, alternate worksheets etc for that unit. Doing this with other teachers around might be helpful. ||
 * We've gone over a lot of broad ideas about DI and have read about a few specific ideas. While I appreciate the technology connection and the time to do content mapping, we have not gone over or been given time to explore as many specifics as I'd like. For example: Tapping into students interests. what is an example of how you would do that. Barry gave some examples today, but I honestly can't think of how I'd do that for many of my lessons. Tapping into students readyness and learning styles have been touched on, but I guess I'd like to hear more specifics and get into the nuts and bolts of ways to do that. I'd like to hear from other teachers about their ways of doing this. || We were asked to bring a unit to work on. I'd like time to really dig into this unit and actually develop lesson plans, reading materials, alternate worksheets etc for that unit. Doing this with other teachers around might be helpful. ||

1. Sign in, get materials, read article, discuss 8:30 – 10:00 //(Skrla & Scheurich)// 2. Worktime on units 10:00 - 10:30
 * Identify 2 -4 key quotes you want to discuss
 * Discuss the article using the //Save the last word for me// protocol
 * Large group discussion: //Do we believe it is possible for all students to be highly successful?//

Break 10:30 – 10:45

3. Continue working on units 10:45 - 11:30

4. Lunch 11:30 – 12:30

7. Sharing of units in groups of three 12:30 - 1:15

8. Sharing of unit plans for the whole group (volunteers) 1:15 – 2:00

8. Self assessment 2:00 – 2:15
 * Use the rubrics we developed

9. Deepen our understanding - general discussion of our work this week 2:15 – 3:00 (record this for our digital archive)
 * Whole group or 4 groups, discusses each essential question

10. Workshop evaluation 3:00 – 3:30 (individual/anonymous)

Homework: • Barry and Roger will upload all units to the ICSD content map database. • Barry and Roger will reach out to all participants throughout the year to provide ongoing support. • Participants will collect artifacts. • Group will meet for food and follow-up two times.