Best Practices for Teaching and Learning

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Best Practicesfor Teaching and Learning

• Kathy Draper
• Linwood Elementary
• May 5, 2006

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Best Practices-School Culture

• Professional Learning Communities as a foundation
• Mission, Shared Vision, Core Values, and Goals
• Celebrations
• Staff
• Child Advocate, Leadership, Curriculum
• Given monthly
• Passed onto each other by peer

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Best Practices-School Culture

• Celebrations( cont.)
• Creating interdependence and team building
• Photo Scavenger Hunt( see website)
• Hospitality Committee
• Successes shared by all
• Student
• Celebration of Learning monthly assembly
• Monthly Informances

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Best Practices-School Culture

• Support Collaborative culture
• Respect a teachers TIME by restructuring staff
  and grade level meetings
• Give up faculty meeting time to support
  professional growth

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Best Practices-School Culture

• Streamline staff meeting time by using email to
  communicate
• Tuesday are dedicated to growth
• 1st Tuesday General Staff Meeting
• 2nd Tuesday Vertical Planning
• 3rd Tuesday Professional Development
• 4th Tuesday Open to the above depending on need
• Agenda to keep focus on tasks( see website)

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Best Practices-School Culture

• After-school Vertical Horizontal Planning
• Clear focus towards goals for teaching and
  learning
• Collaboration form and sign in sheet( Title I
  stipend) see website

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Best Practices-School Culture

• Systems Thinking
• Committees consolidated and restructured to focus
  on clear, communication
• Clear processes in place for shared leadership
  and resource utilization
• Problem solving form( see website)

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Best Practice-School Culture

• Do not support unproductive professional
  development
• Support differentiated professional development
• Let the exemplary teachers be mentors and leaders
• Create site-based induction program

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Best Practices-School Culture

• Parental Involvement
• Community Involvement

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What we want to be..

• There are two distinct roles for a parent when it
  comes to parental involvement
• parent as supporter and
• parent as an active partner.

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Parent Communication

• All communication is given in English and Spanish
• Student Handbook
• Website (Currently English only)
• Auto-dialer( phone tree)
• Student generated newsletter
• Title IV HSC Newsletter
• Surveys

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Parent Communication

• Literature
• Dept. of Education
• Resources to services
• Environmental Print
• Strategic Scheduling with Bilingual Assistants
• Parent Kiosk in hallway and resource center

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Empowering Parents

• Evening Classes
• GED
• Beginning English
• Advanced English
• Spanish
• Removal of barriers to attend
• Daycare funded by Title I
• Adult Literacy

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Best Practices-Community Support

• CiCis Pizza
• Family Night
• Attendance and Homework incentive
• Fire station 14
• Tutor once per month as shift
• Involvement

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Best Practices-Community Support

• Mercy Health Center
• Enhance school events
• Donation of furniture for sitting area
• Playground Grant
• Teacher Grant
• Mercy Mentor Program

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Best Practices-Community Support

• Northwest Baptist Church
• Single Mothers
• Mural
• United Way- Smart Start
• Parent Resource Center
• Parent Resource Coordinator

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Best Practices-Community Support

• UPS
• Transportation support
• Grant Junior Achievement
• Role Models for classes
• Whiz Kids
• Linwood United Methodist Church

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Parents as Advocates

• Volunteering
• Finding their niche and what makes them
  comfortable
• School events
• Parties
• Book Fair
• Serving on Committees
• Title I Planning Process
• Safe, Healthy, and Fit Schools
• SmartStart Board
• Parent Teacher Association
• Technology Committee

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Celebrations

• Open House
• Goal Increase PTA enrollment meet with
  teachers
• Giveaways w/ raffle tickets
• Food for enrolling
• Turkey Bingo Night
• Turkeys for families other prizes
• Celebration through the Arts
• Singing at Governors mansion lighting ceremony
• Mercy Christmas Party
• NW Classen Winter Performance
• Multicultural Performance
• Monthly Informances

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Celebrations

• SmartStart
• Family Literacy Monthly Activity
• Parents as Teachers
• Health Fair April 3, 2006
• Collaboration w/ Mercy, SmartStart, Firestation
  14, etc.
• Caring Van
• Kids Place
• Smoke Detectors
• Safekids Coalition
• Lifeline,etc

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Celebrations

• Mayfest May 5, 2006
• Dunk tank and other activities
• Art Auction

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Best Practices-Teaching and Learning

• School wide initiatives based on the work of
  Robert Marzano
• Aligned to Mission, Vision, Core Values and Goals
• Aligned and written in Title I plan
• Power Standards
• Technology Integration
• Arts Integration
• Multiple Intelligences
• Curriculum Mapping

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Best Practices-Teaching and Learning

• Meaningful Involvement of Art, Music, PE, etc.
• Thinking Maps
• Character Education
• LifeSkills Curriculum
• Taught through Literature
• Extended Day Kindergarten

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Best Practices-Teaching and Learning

• Focus on results
• Endorse collaborative assessments, projects, and
  curriculum
• Benchmark assessments
• Data disaggregated in a variety of ways
• Teacher-created assessments already in use now.
  Create time to share.
• Tools for continuous monitoring( see website)

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Best Practices-Teaching and Learning

• Access to Resources
• Weekly e-mail of lessons and strategies
• Sharing time
• Purchase of materials if supportive of goals

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Best Practices-Change Process

• Leadership
• Organizational Health Inventory
• Understanding your Staff to Create Shared
  Leadership
• R1
• R2
• R3
• R4
• Modeling
• Open Two-Way Communication

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Best Practices-Change Process

• Shared Leadership
• Committees
• Shared Decision Making
• Projects put at the closest point of
  implementation
• Continuous Improvement
• Always evolving

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• Coming together is a beginning, staying together
  is progress, and working together is success.
  --Henry Ford