Pilot Plan

• Core Curriculum Training: The purpose of core curriculum training is to ensure authentic program implementation and to develop teaching strategies that best align with program implementation.  Core curriculum professional developments will be facilitated by program publishers during the Summer Institute and throughout the year as needed.  California Treasures (Macmillan), enVision (Scott Foresman), and FOSS (Lawrence Hall of Science, UC Berkeley). 

 

• Differentiated Instruction:  Professional Development (PD) will assist teachers in providing quality whole group instruction and follow-up small group instruction that is differentiated, reflecting student needs.  This training will include access to leveled materials from core curriculum programs and to flexible grouping strategies to meet instructional levels.  Trainings will include discussions on teacher roles and collaborative accountability to enhance the way teachers deliver instruction to fit student needs.  This PD will be held throughout the year during grade level meeting. 

 

• Project-Based Learning:  PD on the  philosophy and theory of project-based learning in the classroom.  Teachers will apply the design principles for creating and managing standards-focused projects that align to the school vision of integrating inquiry into cross-curricular instruction. 

 

• AVID:  PD to introduce teachers to program implementation and engagement.  Teachers in grades 4th through 6th will participate in this specialized training in the beginning of the school year.  The AVID program teaches students to develop Student Success Skills (speaking, listening, self-advocacy, study habits).  Organizational Tools (agenda/planner, organizational tool/binder, time management, goals, note-taking) and "WICOR" lessons that emphasize writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization, and reading. 

 

• Data Analysis and Application:  During the Summer Institute, teachers will analyze student assessment data  to inform yearly growth.  Quarterly PD sessions will be used to review both formative and summative assessment data across content areas.  Results of this analysis will inform subsequent professional development sessions.  Teachers will become proficient at disaggregating analysis, and interpreting student datasets using the cycle of inquiry.  Teachers and staff will use the Data Wise model to provide collaborative methods and protocols for looking at the data in an objective, interpretive and decisional manner.  

 

• Readers & Writers Workshop:  Lucy Calkins' (R. Fletchers, Debbbie Miller, Keene/Zimmermann) approach to Writer's and Reader's Workshop offers a structure that allows our students to actively engage and experience what real authors and readers do.  It also takes a developmental perspective that builds on writer and reader strengths while providing individual support where growth is needed.  

 

• Guided Reading:  PD would be developed with teh approach described by Fountas and Pinell where students are given the opportunity to develop as individual readers while participating in a socially supported activity.  Teachers will receive support in incorporating reading strategies that challenge the students as they are introduced to increasingly difficult texts.  The goal of this application of strategies is to develop the students' ability for independent reading.  GLAYS staff (w/Reading Specialist Credentials) and UCLA will deliver this PD during the Summer Institute and on an ongoing basis throughout the year.  

 

• Thinking Maps:  Thinking Maps are instructional tools that include visual patterns that help students organize their thoughts and ideas for the prewriting stage of the writing process.  They create a common language throughout grade levels in our learning community for transferring thinking process, integrating learning, and for continuous assessment.  Faculty and staff who have received this training will provide support to grade level colleagues on program implementation through leadership opportunities.  

 

• Habits of Mind:  Habits of Mind is a set of values and skills that will serve students throughout their life and includes habits such as convention, perspective, evidence, connection, collaboration, service, and ethical behavior.  This PD will be given by teacher experts and outside pilot affiliates across small schools. 

 

• Social Justice:  Adams, Bell, and Griffin (2007) define social justice as both a process and a goal.  "The goal of social justice education is full and equal participation of all groups in a society that is mutually-shaped to meet their needs.  Social justice includes a vision of society that is equitable and all members are physically and psychologically safe and secure."  The PD will include teacher conversation around the integration of social justice to the curriculum and it will be organized by Lead Teachers.  

 

• Technology:  Teachers will receive PD to enhance their know-how in the use of technology in the classroom.  Technical support will also be provided for more specialized projects, such as the Digital Portfolio for Teachers and the ePortfolios, which students will put together to document learning growth.  Lead Teachers will organize professional development aligned with The Mind Institute that fosters the development of critical thinking skills as well as problem solving skills for English Learners.