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The
Virginia School-University Partnership Connecting Teacher
Performance and Student Progress: Student Achievement Goal Setting Examining Mathematics
Instructional Quality Using the M-Scan Tool Writing Across
the Curriculum in Grades Three - Five Differentiation:
Making the Journey and Meeting the Challenge Planning Effective
Small Reading Group Instruction in Grades K - 2 Teaching and
Assessing the Social Studies SOL at Higher Cognitive Levels
Word Study:
Using Spelling-Meaning Connections to Build Vocabulary in Grades 4-12 Rigor with Nurturing:
Preparing for Technology Enhanced Questions on the new Mathematics SOLs The Annual Student
Leadership Conference Effective Uses
of Social Media and Web 2.0 Tools in Teaching and Learning Proactive Public
Relations for School and Division Administrators Algebraic Thinking
in Early Childhood Education (Grades K -3)
Final Report on Conferences for VSUP 2010- 2011
On November 10th in the newly opened Bavaro Hall at The University of Virginia, Jane Hansen and Mo Gaffney--the directors of The Central Virginia Writing Project-presented "Writing Matters: Improving Student Writing." This workshop clearly spoke to a need, with one hundred ten participants from sixteen different school divisions in attendance and over twenty registrations having to be turned down due to space limitations. The goal of the day was to enhance the skills of teachers of writing, so conference participants were given the opportunity to participate in the writing process themselves during the opening session. The role of conferencing, the use of supportive responses, the study of mentor texts, the development of mini-lessons based on students' strengths and needs, and strategies to be used in revision and editing were all discussed as elements of effective writing instruction during the course of the conference. Break out groups which focused on writing at the primary, upper elementary, middle school, and high school levels were a particularly popular part of the day's activities, especially the session led by Jennifer Tucker, a fifth grade teacher from Yancey Elementary School. "Acing the A.P.'s: Teaching Writing for Advanced Placement Tests" on November 12th gave forty-eight A.P. teachers from eleven school divisions the chance to share ideas that they could take back to enhance their instruction. The three presenters -- Patricia Vandever, Scovie Martin, and Jennifer Sublette, who have over sixty years of combined experience teaching A.P. classes -- shared assignments, grading rubrics, and activities that they have used in their classrooms and discussed how their experiences as A.P. graders have shaped their instruction. After finding out what graders look for in A.P. essays for all disciplines, participants had the chance to practice scoring actual samples of student writing. The focus on providing scaffolding for weaker students and on mapping skill development across the year was particularly appreciated by conference participants. Small subject-area group discussions were rated as the most valuable aspect of the day, since they gave teachers the opportunity to learn from each other by sharing their own classroom experiences. In addition to the collegial atmosphere created and the excellent job done by the informative, vivacious presenters, another aspect of the conference that received rave reviews was the website created for sharing all of the conference material. "Guiding Your Students to Higher Achievement on the New History SOL" , a two day conference at The Hotel Roanoke, was very well received by participants from over thirty school divisions. Dr. Dan Mulligan was able to engage very large numbers of attendees (196 on February 22nd (K - 6) and 157 on February 23rd (7 - high school), with his humor and low-key style. In a tribute to Dr. Mulligan's skills, 99% of participants said they were highly satisfied with him as a presenter and 84% gave him a five - the highest possible score. This activity-based workshop featured the latest information on the impact of revisions to Virginia's History SOL. Participants were made familiar with SOL changes, new expectations for student understanding, ideas for revision of existing assessments, and new instructional strategies related to the challenges presented by the requirements of the new SOL and related yearly testing in History. Conference attendees were particularly pleased with the variety of strategies that Dan provided that they felt they could take back and use immediately in their classrooms. They were also appreciative of the materials from the conference that were made available on the VSUP website. The "Annual Student Leadership Conference" was held on Thursday, March 10th at Ruffner Hall on The University of Virginia campus. Teams of 208 student leaders and 30 teacher advisors from twenty different high schools (including two high schools which had never before participated) registered for the conference, which is free of charge for VSUP member schools. Although heavy rains closed two schools (so those teams were not able to attend) and forced two other schools to leave the conference early, the teachers and students who braved the weather were overwhelming pleased with the opportunity to come together to work on improving their schools and their own individual skills as leaders. After an opening keynote address by Dr. Jerry Teplitz, a motivational speaker who has given over 1700 presentations to over one million people on Brain Performance Optimization, students spent the rest of the day in small group discussions focused on the issues that they have identified as important in their schools. Conference attendees were impressed by the evidence they received from Dr. Teplitz on the power of positive thinking, but their favorite part of the day was the chance to share ideas and learn from other students from all across Central Virginia. "Teachers as School Leaders and Coaches" the first of a two-part workshop by Dr. Laurie McCullough was held on Friday, March 11th at The Holiday Inn on Emmet Street in Charlottesville. The focus of Part One of the workshop was on enhancing the personal communication skills of participants and on addressing the most important aspects of leading change, such as goal-definition, building consensus, managing decision-making, and measuring and celebrating progress. The thirty-two participants were particularly pleased by the variety of activities and the chance to work on their listening and questioning skills that are important for all leaders to develop. They were also very interested in the partnership principals that Dr. McCullough emphasized. "Writing Across the Curriculum in PreK - Second Grade," led by Jane Hansen and Kateri Thunder from the Central Virginia Writing Project, was held on Tuesday, March 22nd at Bavaro Hall on the grounds of the University of Virginia. This workshop gave teachers and instructional leaders the chance to learn how to use writing to enhance instruction across the curriculum, PreK - 2. The thirty-six participants from eleven different school divisions engaged in several writing exercises in order to experience how writing can be used to teach mathematics, science, and social studies, as well as language arts. Workshop participants felt that they particularly benefitted from being exposed to current children's literature and a variety of websites through which they could learn about different formats that writers use when they write across the curriculum. Participants were able to stretch their ideas of what it means to write well, learn about instructional processes that the presenters have seen work in local classrooms, and see writing by young writers who are excited about their work. "Teaching Mathematics in the 21st Century," which was held on Wednesday, March 23rd, at the Holiday Inn on Emmet Street in Charlottesville, was led by Vickie Inge, Director of the University of Virginia's Office of Mathematics Outreach, and Megan Murray, Project Director for PCRRC: A Process Standards Approach to Build Bridges from Arithmetic to Algebraic Thinking, Grades 4-6 Grant. This conference for teachers of mathematics in grades four through seven focused on helping students make the transition from Arithmetic to Algebra. The presenters addressed the new SOL process standards - multiple representations, justification and proof, problem solving, making connections, and communication - making explicit what the new Mathematics Standards are looking for and why these concepts and skills are important for all students to acquire. The forty-one workshop participants from thirteen different divisions had the opportunity to work with various thought-provoking math tasks that they can take back to their classrooms to help their students to explore the connections between Arithmetic and Algebra and to handle the increasingly rigorous demands of the new Math Standards. "Teachers as School Leaders" - Part Two - by Dr. Laurie McCullough was held on Monday, April 25th, at The Holiday Inn on Emmet Street in Charlottesville. This workshop was focused specifically on instructional coaching - what coaches do, what coaching relationships look like, and how a coach and a principal work together in partnership. Specific tools coaches use for planning, organization, and communication were shared and case studies and reflective practice groups were used to generate recommended actions in challenging coaching situations. The twenty-seven participants from seven different school divisions particularly appreciated the specific knowledge they gained about coaching strategies by comparing three models of coaching and assessing the applicability of each to their own roles. They also felt they benefitted greatly from the opportunity to learn from colleagues about the challenges that coaches face. The VSUP Summer Leadership Conference, Using the Newly Revised Teacher Performance Standards To Improve Your Teacher Evaluation System, which was led by Dr. James Stronge with the assistance of Dr. Deborah Jonas, was held on June 24th at The Holiday Inn in Charlottesville. The 189 participants from 28 different school divisions and educational organizations were very impressed with the quality and quantity of information they received on this extremely timely and important topic. After Dr. Stronge gave the philosophical and statistical background for Virginia's new teacher evaluation model, he focused on exploring the first six "Universal Performance Standards" for teachers. After considering various "look fors" and "red flags" of teacher quality, participants used videos to practice observations of benchmark behaviors. After lunch, Deborah Jonas' presentation of The Student Growth Model answered many questions about the Department of Education's goals and expectations. Dr. Stronge ended the day with an overview of other measures of student achievement which will be explored more fully in the September 23rd, 2011 VSUP Workshop Connecting Teacher Evaluation to Student Progress and Teacher Improvement. Although most participants expressed the desire for more interactive activities to develop their confidence with rating rubrics, by the end of the workshop they generally felt that they had gained a good sense of the next steps needed to begin the process of implementing the new Virginia Teacher Evaluation model.
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The VSUP series of professional development conferences for this year
got off to a great start on October 6th with Ron Nash's "Gotta
Move, Gotta Share: Life in the Active Classroom." Ron kept the
twenty-seven participants from six different school divisions actively
engaged throughout the workshop with his energy, positive attitude,
and use of humor, music, and a variety of hands-on activities. Focusing
on the VAK Predicates (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic), Ron modeled
how to get students deeply involved in their own learning. His philosophy
is that we teach people, not content, so he helped workshop participants
to develop their ability to build relationships and actively influence
the flow of communication in the classroom. Conference attendees were
particularly impressed with strategies such as "Chief of Staff
Editing" and various partner and group collaboration activities
which they felt could be easily incorporated into their classrooms.
Virginia
Bowerman's October 22nd workshop "The Principal's Role in Ensuring
a Strong Literacy Program" was very positively received
by the nineteen attendees who included teachers and literacy specialists
as well as principals for elementary and secondary schools from seven
different divisions. Conference participants particularly appreciated
the wealth of research-based information they received as well as strategies
and other resources that could easily be passed along to others in their
schools. They also responded enthusiastically to the opportunity to
share ideas and ask questions of colleagues as well as the focus on
data-driven support for student learning. The conference was quite successful
in fulfilling its goal of helping participants learn how to develop
a vision and initiate change in the culture of their schools through
Literacy Leadership Teams.