Leadership for Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships

1. Leadership for Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships Susan Gunderman International Center for Leadership in Education Susangunderman@comcast.net

2. Change can be scary. “Some people change when they see the light, others when they feel the heat.” - Caroline Schroeder

3. Leadership for Change

4. Why Change? “The primary aim of education is not to enable students to do well in school, but to help them do well in the lives they lead outside of the school.”

5. Mission • Prepare students for the world they will inhabit outside the schoolhouse walls. • Engage them in learning • that will develop skills • that are transferable • to the 21st Century • world.

6. What do we change? Teaching is only as good as the learning that takes place.

7. Rigor

8. Rigorous instruction prepares students to think critically so they can solve problems in unpredictable, real world situations. Thinking outside the car.

9. Relevance My only skill is taking tests.

10. BBC Survey • 20% believe sun revolves around the Earth • 60% could not locate England on a map • 21% could not locate US • 55% could not name a country that begins with “U” • Bill of Rights: • 1 in 4 could name one • 1 in 5 named “right to own a pet“

11. BBC Survey • 50% could name at least two members of • the Simpsons Family • 80% knew Fiji is located • in the South Pacific

12. Intelligence v Relevance Students will remember learning that is connected to their own lives.

13. Vision and Implementation “There are no teachers with correct answers, only guides with different areas of expertise and experience that may help along the way.” ~ Peter Senge and Fred Kofman, 1995 Flip the funnel

14. Rigor and Relevance Framework Shifts the Focus from Teaching to Learning

15. Rigor/Relevance Framework Knowledge High Application Low Low High

16. Knowledge Taxonomy 1. Awareness 2. Comprehension 3. Application 4. Analysis 5. Synthesis 6. Evaluation

17. Application Model • 1. Knowledge of one discipline • 2. Application within discipline • Application across disciplines • 4. Application to real world predictable situations • 5. Application to real world unpredictable situations

18. Rigor/Relevance Framework Knowledge Application 1. Recall Knowledge 2. Comprehension 3. Application 4. Analysis 5. Synthesis 6. Evaluation • 1. Knowledge of one discipline • 2. Application within discipline • Application across • disciplines • 4. Application to real world predictable situations • 5. Application to real world unpredictable situations

20. Rigor/Relevance Framework Knowledge High D C A B Application Low Low High

21. From Theory to Practice Moving Rigor and Relevance Into the Classroom

22. Theory to Practice • Develop a school-wide focus on instruction through RR • Instructional Strategies Handbook • Common vocabulary • Common vision of effective instruction

24. Collaboration for Best Practices • Give teachers time to talk about their craft. • Use meeting time to talk about instruction. • Share best practices.

25. Collaboration Snack and Shares • Instructional Strategies by Quadrant • Graphic Organizers • Developing a Rubric • Aligning Instruction and Assessments • Designing Writing Prompts in Content Areas

26. CollaborationPrincipal’s Roundtable Discussions The World Is Flat Current literature • Brain Research • Learning Styles • Grading Practices • 9th Grade Success Stupid in America Out of India

27. Collaboration Staff Meetings • Faculty Meetings • Show and Tell • Collaborative Groups • Planning Quadrant D Lessons

28. Reflective Questionsto Provoke Crucial Conversations • What do you intend students to learn? • What is the level(s) of Rigor and Relevance? • How do you know students understood the lesson? • What data are you using to determine you are meeting the standards? • What can I do as instructional leader to support your efforts?

29. Reflective Questions • What strategies do you use to address • individual learning styles? • What was the most successful part of • the learning experience and why? • If you teach this lesson again, how • would you change it? • What evidence can you share regarding • achievement of standards? • How do you know learning has occurred?

30. Benchmarksfor Progress

31. Instruction with High Expectations

32. D Quadrant Lesson Creation Standard: Prose and Document Literacy • Select outcome: Be able to synthesize concepts learned in a nonfiction unit. • Select product: Publish a newspaper article based on children’s literature

33. Required Components • Headline • By-line • Staged photograph • Cutline and pull quote • Map • Continuation headline, if needed • Body (250-400 words) • Interview • Site visit • Archival research

34. Match to verb and strategy Products Verbs Strategies • inquiry • research • cooperative • learning • presentation • project design • evaluate • validate • justify • rate • referee • infer • rank • dramatize • argue • conclude • evaluation • opinion • estimation • trial • article • adaptation • debate • new game • invention

35. Provide rubric

36. All articles presented orally, then published in spiral-bound book and given to each student.

37. Student Reflection “First of all, I never thought we could get it all together to actually produce a newspaper with all the parts that you wanted. But we did it, and I actually learned a lot. Mostly I learned that I had to pull my load so that we didn’t look like a bunch of slackers compared to the other groups. And I think I know what it might feel like to be a publisher in charge of getting a newspaper to press on time. Definitely not for me!”

38. Biology II Human Anatomy Project Dr. Joanne Jezequel

39. Children’s Book ProjectAnatomy & Physiology

40. Student Reflection “I once had a teacher who said, ‘If you truly understand a concept, you can find at least 5 different ways to retell the information.’ The children’s book helped me think past the memorization of dry textbook material.”

41. Renewal • Dr. Daggett meets with students and teachers • Responses surprising • “I feel a little sorry for my teacher trying to get to D” • Teachers 4; students 2.5 • Clearly not there yet • The challenge

42. Answering the Challenge • Each teacher will create a D quadrant lesson • Work in collaborative groups • Present lessons at faculty meeting

43. Expectations and Resources • Work in collaborative groups 1.5 hours per month Workdays • Peer visits • Snack and Shares Rigor and Relevance 101 Movie Maker, Podcasts, Garage Band Designing Rubrics

44. Kennesaw Mountain Model Lessons Presentation

45. Turning Point: Training Students Make them part of expectations and celebrations

46. Sustaining High Expectations for Rigor and Relevance

47. Sustaining the Work “Single mindedness” KFC not Baskin Robbins

48. Sustaining the Work • Collaborative planning • Sharing resources, insights, challenges, success

49. Sustaining the Work Collect and analyze data to help guide work • “Measure what matters.” • See it through to the end.

50. Involve Students in the Conversations about Instruction • Talk to the students • Monthly principal’s lunch Enrollment in AP/Honors classes What motivates you in a class? Interpret test data and climate surveys Delta