What+do+we+believe+about...

** SSRT – 4/13/11 – WEDNESDAY NOTES ** ** What do we believe about…? **
 * What do we want our kids to be when they leave us? **


 * __ Great Science Instruction is… __**
 * Interactive
 * Hands-on
 * Inquiry-based – 5E model
 * Engaging!!!
 * Student-centered
 * Differentiated – for literacy/language, too
 * Collaborative
 * Application of content (i.e. engineering)
 * Standards-based
 * Appropriate for various learning styles
 * Driven by formative assessment (and feedback)
 * Modeling
 * Supports metacognition
 * Technical/bench skills
 * Problem-solving/challenge-based
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Students develop understandings around content through investigation/practice - Process > content
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Sometimes noisy
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Sometimes messy
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Students are responsible/have roles and expections
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Rigorous
 * OPPORTUNITY for students

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">“teaching ‘it’ in a semester” is HARD… so, what is ‘it’ that we REALLY want students to walk away from our classroom with… to take with them to the next year... and beyond!

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">A “successful” science student is defined as…
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Proficient on CSAP?

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Integrated vs. 6-earth/7-life/8-physical – what is best for students? __
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">learning progressions
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">cycling is better
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">to build understandings over time/make connections/reinforcement/cementation – learning progressions can be outlined which coincide with student developmental levels… move from introduction to mastery
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">TEACHERS will be better able to see the bigger picture/big ideas… will be better able to help students make connections
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">the real world is not compartmentalized, the natural world is an integration of multiple science disciplines
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">we need to REALLY make sure that we spiral and build development of understandings in our revised pacing/curriculum guides – don’t just plop units in to grade levels – how does the learning build over time?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Teachers will need to talk more?
 * <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Spiraling will better support language learners with key content/vocab/language


 * Learning Progression (vertical articulation) **
 * Resources **
 * Technology issues of equity **** *DoIt grants **** * **
 * Edmodo - website + links with assessment **
 * Netbooks **** * appropriate filtering mechanisms to appropriately instruct **
 * Wireless issues **
 * PD for teachers **
 * * cross-curricular support; allow for discussions with all teachers **
 * * How to teach a rigorous course **
 * Assessment **
 * ** 3 Fs - frequent, formative, feedback **
 * ** collaborative - between T-T and S-T (when appropriate) **
 * ** common district assessments (over and above the interims) - teachers need to talk to each other and develop assessments together **
 * ** common basic rubric - to better communicate district-wide expectations of “proficiency” **
 * ** documents/tracking progress(?) to support student monitoring of self progress **
 * ** standards-based - how to “grade” proficiency??? **
 * ** Interim assessments should assess thinking more than minutia **
 * Pacing / Curriculum Guides (support documents) **
 * ** flexible to allow for teacher professional judgement - to be able to be responsive to the students in front of you **
 * ** supports teachers by providing organization/guidelines for teaching sequence **
 * ** ensures equity in education between schools **
 * ** provides common document for cooperative planning with colleagues **
 * ** lists resources for differentiation (supports, extensions) **
 * ** guides use of common resource **
 * ** user-friendly **
 * ** provides big picture (big idea), conceptual lens/theme, learning targets (relates to interim assessments) **
 * ** outlines learning progression/where students are to be re: PGCs - spiraling vs. repeating **
 * ** Would contain student work/exemplars for proficiency/rubrics??? **
 * ** SLD Support (Science Language Development) supports **
 * ** common assessments - pre/formatives/post **
 * ** online/interactive **
 * ** rigorous/high expectations **
 * ** is designed with content/inquiry (time)/science practices (21st cent, PWR, literacy, math) in mind **
 * ** Teaching-Learning cycle support - use TLC format for the guide format? **
 * Learning **
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">takes place through connecting the familiar old to the unfamiliar new **
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">requires time to struggle with new or contradictory ideas in order to process and make sense of them in terms of your previous world view... **
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">requires metacognitive abilities - what do/don’t I understand? How does this idea/data/etc compare with what I already know? **
 * **<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">re: retention - what is ”IT” that we would expect kids to retain/remember from elementary school? **


 * Science Practices - **
 * Math, Literacy connections **
 * * all curricular skills need to be introduced within science classes (provide examples and have students recognize them) **
 * * technical writing for clarity **
 * * utilize specific vocabulary (i.e. claims & evidence) **
 * * these practices are 21st century skills & post-secondary workforce readiness skills **
 * * high expectations to use these skills with each other **** * supports for the science language **
 * RIGOR or RE (Rigor Equity) **
 * * measurable success criteria **
 * * enduring understandings **
 * * essential questions students can tackle **
 * * learner profiles (inquiry attributes students should have - “A Science Learner Profile” **
 * * encourage students to embrace learning and being invested in their education **** * differentiated instruction **
 * __ What do we want our kids to be when they leave us? __**
 * When our students leave us, we want them to be critical thinkers, able to analyze the merit of various arguments, and make ethical, informed choices about themselves and the world. As scientifically-literate citizens, seek answers to their questions through investigation and research... **
 * * be good consumers of science information **
 * * knowledgeable of good research practices and sources **
 * * technological safety **
 * * understanding the steps of the scientific method and being to apply them **
 * * science is all around us and is integrated within all curricular areas **
 * * curiosity of science careers and their applications **
 * * enduring understandings of specific science concepts **

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Resources: <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">US toys Company@Quebec and CountyLine <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">Learner Profile that Corey uses at his school. <span style="color: #000099; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 16px;">[|http://www.edmodo.com][|http://sciencespot.net][|http://science-class.net]