4-3-13 Vertical Coordination Feedback

7/28/2019 4-3-13 Vertical Coordination Feedback

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WednesdayWorkshops-VerticalCoordination

February20,2013nowreallyApril3

Feedbackandquestions

1a. This session was beneficial.

1b. Why or why not?

Agree It's good to know what the other grade levels are thinking.

Agree It helps me organize and plan lessons.

Agree

Agree I feel that it will help me with planning of lessons and having clear focus onobjectives

StronglyAgree

We worked with our team on the vertical coordination and this meeting helped tiethe grade below us with our essential questions and help us elaborate.

StronglyAgree

Collaboration with colleagues is always helpful.

Agree Discussing the details of the topics for each of our units is helpful for me since thisis my first year at Trinity. I like to hear some of the different activities that otherclasses complete during their unit studies.

Agree This has made us think more about our goals and what steps we must take toreach them.

Agree Good to see where we are heading and what our goals are.

Agree It helped us solidify our curriculum

Agree I need to get in the habit of using I can...... student statements when planning newprojects.

Agree We are in great shape with our I can statements. Just need to fine-tune them fornext year.

Agree We were able to look at the SS curriculum on a K-6 level, very visual the way it was

written on idea lab wall.Disagree

Agree I always enjoy coordinating across grade levels.

StronglyAgree

It was wonderful to hear how all of the skills are developed from 3s to 6th

StronglyAgree

It is helpful to see the big picture regarding the overall strands. We also had theopportunity to edit and add more "I can" statements.

Agree Once this is online, it will be very helpful to inform our social studies instruction andunit planning.


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Neutral Our science units are in need of updating so that we can capture more relevantthemes.

Agree It is good to see where we are going with geography skills and what kind offoundation our children have before coming to us.

Disagree

Agree Getting overall perspective of what we are teaching in social studies and how we

will use this information.Disagree -We were basing our indicators on the geography chart on Exposure, Emerging,

Introductory, and Mastery. Two of these are information for teachers (Expose orIntroduce), and two of these are student "outcomes" (Emerging or Mastery). Thisdoesn't make sense to me as a scale.

-I do not teach social studies, so I was basing this on inferred information.

Agree It is always helpful to discuss with other grade levels what is being taught in eachcurriculum.

Agree We made progress in the SS units

Disagree The entire science team was at Jekyll and have started with these I can statementsa bit behind. It's difficult to align a curriculum that is taught in self-contained unitsand according to individual interests and ability.

Agree L and K were able to "get on the same page" about some geography instruction.Agree Yes, it was helpful to discuss what we do as a grade, and it has made me realize

that our curriculum is a bit ambiguous.

Agree It was beneficial to think about what is actually done in Kindergarten. However, wewere still confused about the exact definitions of Exposure, Emerging, Introductory,and Mastery. In order to fill out the chart, our group decided to keep exposure andemerging as the same.

Agree It was interesting to see how we were all similarly frustrated with the terminology.

StronglyAgree

I loved being able to sit with one person from each grade level. I got an even betteridea of what social studies looks like across Trinity, not just my grade or the gradebelow and above me.

StronglyAgree

We worked on I Can statements collaboratively, which was awesome at our gradelevel, but also wonderful to hear grades above and below share common themes

and curriculum connections.Agree Helpful to work on breakdown of I can skill, but just need more time.

Agree

Agree Good work. Great to see K-6 curriculum development

StronglyAgree

It was interesting to listen to other perspectives on organizing the curriculum.

StronglyAgree

Starting to show links across the board.

StronglyAgree

As a new teacher to Trinity it was helpful to see at a glance what each grade levelis currently teaching.

StronglyAgree

The vertical coordination of even communities was touched on and this is a bigstep. We discussed having more time to do this kind of curriculum building.

Agree Moving toward a final product makes us feel we are getting somewhere.Agree It is always beneficial to hear what is going on in other grades. Looking at our

strands throughout (the visual Kathy made was AWESOME) was very helpful. Ithink we realized that we are not completely vertically aligned and still have somework to do.

StronglyAgree

It was nice to have a conversation with people from other teams to simplyunderstand what other grades are doing.

Agree It has made me more aware of the curriculum and what gaps I have in my teaching.I am also realizing that the curriculum map online has become an out of sight out of


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mind feeling. Should we go back to a hard copy? Or do we make it more of a linklike a GoogleDoc?

Agree It will be helpful for someone to look at our grid and see where the holes are. Whatare we supposed to be teaching that we're not? What are our 5th graders supposedto know before they get to us, and what do we do if they don't? What does 6thgrade want us to introduce?

StronglyAgree It really helps to see where the students are coming from and where they need tobe at the end of the year.

StronglyAgree

It was great to talk through what all the grades are doing and how they worktogether.

StronglyAgree

However, we need more time! By the time I really got going with my team, it wastime to switch gears.

Agree This session was very beneficial because we were able to further develop our I canstatement for social studies. I was also able to see new vertical connections.

Neutral This feels stagnant. We got into a discussion about what "subjects" belong underspecific themes. Loss of time doing those things. In my opinion we need a fewleaders to chose specific themes that we grade level topics can fall under.

Productive to see, but I don't see how much got accomplished.

Agree Gave us the chance to look closely at a specific aspect of our curriculum.Agree It was nice to think about the progression of skills.

StronglyAgree

I am learning more about and contributing to the Trinity curriculum & fourth gradecurriculum every time we meet about this. These vertical meetings are also givingme a chance to get to know other teachers in other grades and understand thecurriculum they teach.

Neutral The science teachers found it difficult to construct "I Can" statements because a lotof what we teach is in isolation, at least when it comes to specific content. Weteach and weave process skills throughout everything we teach, but since thoseskills are so broad, it's hard to come up with specific goals.

StronglyAgree

It is so valuable to be able to have the time to talk with teachers above and belowso that we can see connections and weed out any cobwebs in our I Can statements

Disagree Because of the specialized nature of Learning Team instruction, I found this format

to be frustrating and not as pertinent as I would like.Agree Provided a beginning for understanding where the children I see fall behind in the

scope and sequence that occurs before I began seeing a child.

Agree Assessing understanding of some of these social studies concepts for individualstudents is very subjective.

Disagree I found this to be frustrating because this activity didn't lend itself to helping mework with students.

Agree It helped the PE team focus on one aspect of PE throughout the grades.

Agree It made us think of the progression of our curriculum.

StronglyAgree

I am happy to be working on content that is directly applicable to my students and I.I am also given an opportunity to work with other grade levels and betterunderstand what they do.

Strongly

Disagree

Our instruction is so individualized that this seems to be an exercise in futility. I

need to have a much better understanding of what we're doing and why. I have aterrible time with goals and mission statements and this seems to fit in the samecategory.

StronglyAgree

fff

Agree It was interesting and beneficial to see the way themes are threaded throughout thegrade levels.

StronglyAgree

It is a step toward unifying our program


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StronglyAgree

The session allowed me and my teammates to think about our unit a bit moreclosely. Since embarking on the new unit it helped me to hone it on things in whichto build on for next year, while allowing small celebrations for what weaccomplished this year.

Agree It helped us revisit our work on the social studies curriculum and "go further" with itsdevelopment. The vertical coordination was also beneficial because we were

allowed time to share different perspectives between the appropriate people.Neutral The kindergarten teachers need to rewrite their "I Can" statements and come upwith better target statements. The longer we worked the more confusing it got.

StronglyAgree

It's great to know what really goes on before they come to our class. We don't wantto repeat if it's not necessary.

Agree Necessary for goal setting and designing curriculum.

StronglyAgree

We discussed the flow of the curriculum from 3s through 1st grade and saw thealignment and progression from the prospective of a child's scaffolding ofknowledge

Agree

2a. The content of this session can be applied to my work.

2b. Why or why not?

StronglyAgree

We can adapt instruction accordingly.

Agree Keeping and moving a steady is something the children are exposed to on a regularbasis. So the content of this session is definitely applicable.

StronglyAgree

Agree Better organization and flow of topics between grade levels in science

StronglyAgree Helps create a solid base for the curriculum among various grades.

StronglyAgree

Helps to solidify units of study.

Agree

StronglyAgree

See above!

StronglyAgree

Great reminders about why we teach everyday!


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Agree helpful in planning class lessons

StronglyAgree

Student I CAN goal statements are very powerful and will be a benefit to students andteachers.

Agree

StronglyAgree

Helped us to see where we need to narrow down, and where we need to have thekids in order to be prepared for the following year.

AgreeAgree We are in a unique spot where we are all entering year one.

StronglyAgree

Gaining perspective

StronglyAgree

StronglyAgree

see above

Neutral

Agree This will help us to determine what terms and skills we may need to introduce in thecourse of designing and developing our Social Studies curriculum.

Agree

AgreeNeutral Vertical coordination is applicable to my work, but this specific topic does not apply to

my work.

Agree It is good to go back and make it a point to look at the curriculum. Sometimes we arenot always aware of what needs to be taught and/or mastered.

Agree

Neutral I know our looking at our curriculum is necessary, but there are many others whoteach science who change the curriculum that is delivered to their grade level andneed to be part of this alignment.

Agree We learned.

StronglyAgree

We need to align more in the future, but I think it is helpful to understand what theexposure, emerging, introduction, and mastery terms mean and how to apply it.

Agree It will be helpful when we are able to see where the holes are in our curriculum for

geography and for every grade level to be "on the same page" and to know where thestudents we get each year are coming from and where they should be heading...

Agree I liked being able to have the entire school's chart and look at what I expected versuswhat others expected.

StronglyAgree

StronglyAgree

Definitely!

StronglyAgree

StronglyAgree

Seeing the broad strokes of what is being taught in each grade level and how eachgrade level's curriculum is connected to each other is very beneficial for me. I canbetter see to what my students have been exposed and where they are headed after

they leave 4th grade.StronglyAgree

StronglyAgree

StronglyAgree

Breaks our social studies units into more compact areas of study.

StronglyAgree

I am now able to ensure that we are exposing our Kindergartners to the areas that willbe introduced in 1st Grade. I look forward to the next conversation when we can


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discuss in detail whether or not we are aligned with 1st grade appropriately and ifthere is something we need to change.

StronglyAgree

As a grade level we realized that there is an I can statement we can work on for nextyear.

StronglyAgree

It helps focus our instruction.

Agree First Grade is looking back at "I can" statements for GA tomorrow, so this session willdefinitely be applied tomorrow.

StronglyAgree

It made me rethink some of our I can statements.

Agree

Neutral Not any clear takeaways yet, but there could be once the holes are identified.

StronglyAgree

It is the foundation for everything we do.

StronglyAgree

I was able to think about and talk about different I Can statements that relate to 5thgrade.

StronglyAgree

Strongly

Agree

This can be applied to my work because I have a better understanding of what is

expected in the grades before and after 2nd grade. Each time I discuss the socialstudies curriculum with my team I seem to gain a better understanding of the subject.

Neutral See above.

Agree

Agree Thinking about where kids are working and where they are expected to be is helpful.

StronglyAgree

It is directly connected to the curriculum I teach everyday.

Neutral What was helpful today was sitting down and identifying the major sections of ourscience curriculum: process skills, physical science, ecosystems, andhealth/wellness. Further discussion and elaboration on these main sections will allowus to develop more targeted learning goals and statements.

StronglyAgree

We were able to reflect on the I Can statements we previously wrote to see if we haveactually taught those skills. We also are able to reword statements

Neutral

Agree As I work with a child I have to go back to where the gap in their learning occurs andbegin the remediation process.

Agree It is related to my job, what I teach, and how I assess understanding.

Neutral My work with students is so individualized, it is hard to look at students in this format.

Agree It reminded me of the importance of teaching the whole child.

Agree It's a great addition to our curriculum guide!

StronglyAgree

Yes it is directly applied to my work. Continued work on the curriculum will benefit ourstudents and definitely improve our community of educators.

Neutral

StronglyAgree

gggdd

Agree It was also important to see if there were topics being covered in other grades but notthird.

StronglyAgree

StronglyAgree

The session provided insight from teachers in other grade levels that will help me toplan lessons that will enhance the students' understanding of community and theirrole within it.

StronglyAgree

It helped us to align our current practices with the direction that the entire school isheading.


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Neutral When we come up with more appropriate information, it certainly could help with ourplanning and our assessment of each student.

StronglyAgree

We have clarification on what we are teaching-making sure we cover all bases.

Agree Clarify expectation for the grade level in skill development.

Agree We clarified the "I can..." statements to be more specific.

Agree3. My questions are:

what do we do about 3s and PreK

When can we meet with kindergarten to make sure we are all on the same page? Thanks!

How do the 3yr.olds fit in with the I can's with regard to previous preparation

Are we head toward writing I can goals for each skill/content area of our curriculum or will thisbe a teacher document included in lesson plans?

Will this document always be evolving? Our SS curriculum always seem to be, which is a goodthing- I think!

Where is this document going? Math seems to have a strong flow to its curriculum. We knowwhat is needed before and where they are going after.

Do we need an understanding goal if we already have a unit theme?

When will we finish this online document? We need time as a grade-level team to complete "Ican statements" and essential questions rather than in vertical groups.

When will see this again? What are the next steps?

Where is this going? Is there a concrete goal, or is the exercise for reflective purposes? I feelthat math already has a step-by-step curriculum, and this process is redundant for us.

We are having trouble with Ex, Em, I, M and the differences between each of them. A cleardefinition that everyone is comfortable with would help.

If geography skills/concepts are discussed in future, will Loretta and Kato be the Fourth Gradepoint people for the discussion?

Can we combine emerging and exposure? Can we have this in a hard document instead ofonly online in the future?

Is there a way that we (the whole faculty) to be on the same page for the definitions of theterms expsosure, emerging, introductory, and mastery.

Is it possible to meet in this same group again to continue with this same information -consistency?

Is the online curriculum guide helpful? Or is it out of site, out of mind.

Do we want to see scope and sequence in a broad sense or in a more specific skill view.

Why is 6th grade not included as one of the options?

Will there be a follow up session this school year? It would be great to have this informationbefore summer break so we can come back in the Fall with ideas for teaching.


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Is it possible to have a dedicated time to discuss this topic every month, etc.

When are we going to make some decisions about terminology?

How can we find time to really do more with this! Loved it!

What are the next steps for the curriculum guide? How do we make sure all four classroomsare on the same page in terms of what to teach? How do we support an open curriculum but

also have structure and a guideline?Should we be reviewing terms that previous grades were supposed to master? Which ones canwe expect them to have retained, and which do we need to revisit?

When are we going to do this again? I would like to meet with my whole team to talk through allthese I Can statements.

How is this different that the curriculum guide we already have?

My group had a difficult time seeing the purpose of this activity.

Can we add time to do this at the end or during preplanning. An hour is valuable but we trulyneed more consistent and a longer amount of time. I would like to see this done throughout theentire year. My suggestion is to build in 1/2 days every other month for this type of work.

I would like to see this kind of information applied to more of a curriculum based conversation.I am having a hard time understanding how this would be incorporated in my job.

How are we going to use this with Learning Team Kids

Does Social Studies have to be evaluated? Can't it just be experienced?

ttt

How specific should we be?

Can we have a substantial block of time to work on this again?!

Are the targets like the goals for teaching a unit? If this is true, then the "I Can Statements" arewhat each child should be able to do to show that they have achieved each target?

Please let me know if I am thinking in the right direction or if I am way off? Many thanks!

can't wait to see where kindergarten goes and how we tie in.

How general/detail are the areas to be covered?

Who will blend our work with that of the other group? Two colleagues said they also changedthe Google doc but neither group saw the other's work in progress. I'm wondering if we usedthe wrong link?

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4-3-13 Vertical Coordination Feedback