Since the Instructional Partners Network online space launched in fall 2011 (with two dozen users) we’ve grown into a robust virtual community where nearly 400 school-based IPs, coaches and other professional learning specialists share and learn together.
Inside “The Ning” (as most of us call our private forum) participants can reflect 24/7 on what worked and what needs improvement; ask for help and ideas; and generally explore the best ways to promote teacher growth with colleagues doing the same work. This summer, we’re sharing several IPN Ning posts from the 2014-15 school year.
by Casey Tate
Although I am now an assistant principal and no longer officially the instructional partner at East Lawrence High School, I still enjoy staying connected with all my colleagues in the Alabama Instructional Partners Network to learn and share.
Over the past several months, on the IPN Ning community website, I’ve reported some details about the outcomes of our student data meetings at ELHS, and Cathy Gassenheimer asked if I’d summarize the experience here at the ABPC blog. So here goes!
Developing an ACT plan of action
First a little history: Alabama requires all Juniors to take the ACT. This was new for all of us last year. Upon reviewing the 2014 data, we as administration knew we had to take action to improve our scores. However, we also believe in the partnership principles, so we simply presented the data during a PD session and had small groups of teachers brainstorm.
From this session our ACT Plan of Action was born, and at the top of the list was an ACT mock exam. So before Christmas, we held our first ACT mock exam and tried to stay true to as many of the testing factors as possible. For some of our students, this was their first time actually being this close to the true ACT testing atmosphere.
The mock testing was over and the results were in. So now what? When school reconvened in January we knew we needed to not only shared the results with teachers but with students, to ignite their reflection and ownership.
Mrs. Jacki Hall, our principal, and myself met with each Junior to discuss results, benchmarks, goals, and rewards. We gathered their input on what they thought we could do to help. We also talked with teachers about the next steps on our ACT Plan of Action, and we heard some very innovative ideas. I was amazed to see how many of Jim Knight’s partnership principles were at work, namely partnership itself, as well as voice and choice, equality, and dialogue among everyone – students, teachers, and administration.
I was also amazed at the students’ responses to the meetings. They genuinely cared about their progress and wanted to work diligently to meet the goals and tasks at hand. These meetings also helped the students see us as instructional leaders and not just school managers or supervisors. After all, it’s not every day that you meet with the principal and assistant principal to discuss something other than behavior or policies.
I have to post the student data meeting selfie because it just may be my favorite picture of this year. (L to R) we have me, Casey Tate, Assistant Principal; Jacki Hall, Principal; Josh Garrett, Junior, and Eryn Gillespie, Junior.
Both students had outstanding scores on the ACT Mock Exam and chose to focus on the Reading sub-test during the Blitz. What’s the Blitz? Read on!
The East Lawrence learning blitz
One of the innovative ideas that emerged from our teacher brainstorming session (above) was the EL Blitz. We decided to build an extra period into the schedule to provide an intense focus on ACT extra practice for 10th and 11th Grade.
And let me interject an important insight here. Rather than placing the 11th graders in the groups that we thought they should be in, we decided to have yet another student data conference to give them voice and choice on which content area they felt they could work the hardest on and see the most improvement in.
From this information, we placed our Juniors in a subject-specific small group assigned to a teacher in that content area. During the extra period, the students were engaged in an intense time of ACT prep, including both content and test-taking strategies. We decided to use the online ACT test prep site for our 10th graders during the set-aside time.
We also needed to engage our Freshman and Seniors in some way. Seniors had no other major test to prepare for and in the last semester, the real world was ever closer. So our seniors were given the option of several service-learning projects, including reading to elementary students, helping in the Lawrence County Developmental Center with our students with special needs, working on a special Ag project for the school, or taking life skill classes in car maintenance, character education, or finance. (Pictured at right: Bridgette Davis, Eli Nolen and Angel Bolden, who took life skills classes during the Blitz. From The Decatur Daily.)
Last but not least, our 9th Grade returned to their history classes to take on project-based learning centered around WW2 and the Holocaust.
Put all of these activities together, across all grade levels, and our teachers collectively coined the name “The EL Blitz”, which ran approximately 6 weeks, 2 days a week, for 35 minutes each day.
The benefits of Blitzing
We experienced multiple benefits from our EL Blitz.
► First of all, we saw a significant boost in confidence among our Juniors as they prepared for the ACT.
► For the 9th Grade, it was the hands-on aspect of their project-based learning and seeing it come full circle as they presented a Living Museum on the Holocaust to the 7th and 8th Grade classes from the Middle School.
► For the seniors, it was seeing them give back to others through all kinds of service learning and career development activities. We feel like we helped all our students be more college and career ready, but with the senior side of this project, we feel like we have helped them be more life ready.
► I’ll also mention the teamwork it took to implement the Blitz. Our faculty and staff owned this. It was their idea and they took it and ran with it. It was also cool how the Blitz just became a part of our vocabulary, exemplified no better way than when students would ask, “Are we ‘blitzing’ today?”!
Personally, some of my favorite time during the EL Blitz was just going from room to room and seeing our students 100% engaged in learning and our teachers working so hard to make it a success.
I’ll also want to share an article the Decatur Daily did regarding the Senior service projects that were part of the Blitz. And the Moulton Advertiser reported on the Living Museum presented by our Freshman (below).
I could share picture upon picture and more details, but there just isn’t enough space. So I would like to share the link to the May issue of our Digital Newsletter. In it you will find more specific information on our ELHS Data Dive and EL Blitz along with pictures from both events and video clips from service learning activities.
Students want to be heard
Student voice and choice is an important aspect of the education world today. Students are different. They’re more connected and aware. When it comes to school, they want to know what’s in it for them and how they will use what they are learning in real life.
That doesn’t mean they should have free rein (or reign!) but it does mean they are given opportunities to take more ownership in their learning. More ownership equals more engagement, which equals more learning.
In taking the ACT performance data to the students, we helped them own the data, thus leading to ownership in the need to make improvements. Isn’t this what real-life is all about – taking ownership, whether it’s your health, job, bills, or everyday tasks?
We like to look at it like this: We’re the Eagles here at ELHS. Eventually, eagles have to learn to leave the nest. Our ultimate goal in this entire project, and in everything we do at East Lawrence High School, is to prepare our Eagles to soar!
Casey Tate became assistant principal at East Lawrence High in 2014, after serving for a year as instructional partner/coach. He holds a bachelor and master’s degree, as well as educational administration certification, from the University of North Alabama. He taught for 10 years at Hazelwood School in grades 3-8.
