Tiered Task Cards/Virtual Office Hours

What a great first week of school in a very unusual school year.  I saw students who were very happy to be back at school, and I saw teachers who were very happy to have their students back!

Today's blog has information on virtual office hours as well as Tiered Task Cards (Bill Ferriter)--a technique for designing instruction that moves from learning at school to learning at home and back again. 

Like most things, professional development and curriculum support will look different the first weeks of school this year.  Late starts and early releases are being dedicated to collaborative planning as well as teacher-driven professional learning.  If your team is working and has questions or feedback, I will have virtual office hours on Wednesdays, and I invite you 'drop in' to share questions and ideas.

Secondary Teachers: Virtual Office Hours every Wednesday, 7:30AM-9:00AM.

Elementary Teachers: Virtual Office Hours every Wednesday, 2:30PM-4:00PM.

Tiered Task Cards

Bill Ferriter works with Solution Tree (PLC) and also teaches middle school.  As he was teaching during the school closure last spring, he began to use Tiered Task cards to help students transition from school to home learning.   

Tiered Task cards include different tasks that students can complete to demonstrate mastery.  Each task on a card is designed to ask students to work at a different level-so there is always a task that is at the appropriate level of challenge for every student.

Here is an example for middle school science that is organized around DOK levels:

And a primary math example organized by proficiency scale levels:

And an example from high school history that is organized with interdisciplinary tasks:

If you and your collaborative team would like to create tiered task cards to support your students in the hybrid model, there is a professional development module that is now posted on the PD site.  It includes a short presentation as well as multiple examples and a process for designing your own tiered task cards.  If your team engages in this professional learning and creates tiered task cards, you are encouraged and invited to add your examples to the folder for others to learn from.

Student Ownership of Learning: Tiered Task Cards

Remote Learning Updates

What a tremendous back to school moment for our students and families!  Your hard work and commitment have been so beneficial in supporting students' return to school.  And it was so wonderful to see them! Thank you all for your efforts in creating a positive return to learn.

As families considered their options for the upcoming school year, some chose to learn in the remote learning pathway.  Today's blog has some updates regarding remote learning.

Currently, just over 1000 students have chosen to learn fully online. That translates to about 14% of the student population and closely matches the initial survey of intent that was sent to families. Looking at it by grade level bands we have the following percentages:

• PK-5: 16%
• 6-8: 16%
• 9-12: 11%

At the 7-12 level, teacher teams are doing a great job of providing remote learning by subject area through live-streaming, recording, flipped classrooms, Zoom, Canvas, and other methods and platforms.

For grades PK-6, we are consolidating grade levels across buildings into learning cohorts.  Below is the Southeast Polk Remote Learning Site which was shared with PK-6 families in the remote learning pathway yesterday. 

Southeast Polk Remote Learning Site

A big thank you to district teachers, coaches, and coordinators who have worked hard to get the site up and running as well as facilitate instruction for remote learners over the next 9 weeks. This is the template that will be available for you to use with PK-6 students should a situation arise where a classroom, grade level, or building would need to move into continuous learning for a brief period of time.  

ASK A TEACHER

We know that in both the remote learning pathway as well as in Hybrid 2, students will be learning at home for part or all of the time.  In order to build connections and provide support, we have added an "Ask a Teacher" button to the Remote Learning Site.  

If students have a question when they are working from home, we are encouraging them to "Ask a Teacher".  Their questions will be entered into a form and may be viewed by all Southeast Polk teachers on a shared spreadsheet. Student questions will be sorted by grade level and building.  Any teacher may respond to a student question, and it would be especially beneficial if a teacher who might work with the student face-to-face when it is safe to do so had a chance to make a connection. If you would like to be a resource, the responses maybe found on the spreadsheet at the link below.  

Ask a Teacher: Responses

Helpful tip: To receive email notifications when a question is submitted, go to "Tools" in the menu bar and drop down to "Notification rules."  You may opt to receive an email right away or once a day. If you respond to a student, please put your name and the date in the last column...that will let other teachers know the student's question has been answered.  The "Ask a Teacher" button is currently live on the Remote Learning Site and will be added to the district website for all students next week. 

Again, thank you for all of your efforts to make these first 2 days of school such a wonderful experience for students. It is great to have them back at Southeast Polk!

Jump Start PD Courses Now Open!

 Again, I want to offer a 'shout out' to all teachers who were able to participate in the Jump Start PD this summer.  Over 450 teachers and more than 1,400 courses were taken...that is amazing!  

The Jump Start PD classes are now open for any teacher to add to their dashboard.  You may find all of the courses on the SEP Professional Development site:

The courses you have taken will still be on your dashboard.  To add any of these courses, click on the link (the title of the course) and you will be able to enroll.  You may enroll at any time and engage with the course at any time.  The course descriptions and learning maps are found at a link at the top of the page.

As the school year goes on and we continue to be responsive to the changing needs, these courses will be available to all teachers at the individual, team, department, grade, building, and district level.  Your commitment to ongoing learning in this area is very much appreciated. 

Welcome Back!

The curriculum team would like to extend a welcome back to all teacher teams!  This year will bring unique challenges, and the strength of our teams will help us work together to meet the needs of our students.

Today's blog has some updates for the beginning of the year, including:

• The updated Professional Development Site
• Guiding principles for remote and hybrid learning
• Preservice schedule revisions
• Model PLC logo

Professional Development Site

The Southeast Polk Professional Development Site has been updated and has some new features. It includes a page for asynchronous professional development (more on this to come later) as well a page dedicated to TQ funds and TIME funds.  In addition, you may find the preservice schedule as well as presentations from this week on the Preservice tab.

Southeast Polk Professional Development Site

Guiding Principles for Learning Pathways

As parents make decisions about the best learning pathway for their child for the upcoming year, they are wondering what it might look like if they are in remote learning, or what it will look like during the day of learning at home in a hybrid model.  While this varies at each grade level and subject area, below are some guiding principles for our work in both of these pathways.

Remote Learning Pathway: What to Expect

As we blend face to face learning and remote learning in the Hybrid 2 pathway, many parents are wondering what it will look like on the days their child is learning from home.  Again, this will depend on the grade level of their child, but here are some guiding principles for this pathway.

Students at the High School will be in a modified block schedule and will be alternating days of learning. For students in grades PK-8, our goal is to maximize direct instruction while the students are in school and provide opportunities for practice and independent application when they are at home.  The following instructional components will be prioritized on the days of the Hybrid 2 learning model. 

Learning at School	Learning at Home
Focus lessons from the teacher Guided instruction Additional support Informal and formal assessments Collaboration with other students	Assignments Practice Independent Work On-Demand lessons Check-ins and help from a teacher as needed

While the students are at home, some ideas can be implemented to help establish an environment for learning.  Below is a graphic from educator Sean Junkins with some ideas for families supporting learning at home.

Preservice Schedule Revisions

The preservice schedule may be found on the Southeast Polk Professional Development Site, and may also be found here.  Please note that the district professional development day scheduled for Thursday, August 20th is now a building professional development day.  We wanted to give you as much time at your buildings to plan for the upcoming school year. 

Southeast Polk--Model PLC District

Again, a big thank you to each and every one of you for your commitment to collaboration and student learning.  It is this commitment and the students learning results that led us to being named a Model PLC District.  

CONGRATULATIONS TO EACH AND EVERY COLLABORATIVE TEAM!

Below is a map of the districts across the United States who have received this designation.  

With the notification of this award, Solution Tree shared a logo that you may use on email, correspondence, etc., as you see fit.  In addition, we will be sending the Model PLC stickers out to buildings.  More information on this designation and the PLC process may be found at this site.