Teaching Strategies for Success

Teachers

Teaching Strategies for Success

TSS is a two-year module of three workshops per year. Year 1 begins with Workshop One "Building a Community of Learners", which centers on this critical factor in ensuring the culture of trust teachers need as they strive to improve their practice. Outcomes include:

To provide an overview of the professional development model
To build a community of learners in the workshops and in the classroom
To learn how to create an environment that is conducive to students doing higher order thinking
To introduce and discuss Quinn's Questions
To model and discuss teaching strategies
To use Carl Jung's work to assess teaching and learning

Workshop Two "Windows into Assessment" asks teachers to take a closer look at the assessments that students are taking during the year. Outcomes include:

To discuss student work resulting from the use of the three levels of questions.
To analyze ISAT and DIBELS and Learning First sample tests for rigor and format.
To introduce and participate in a Socratic Seminar.
To provide a design format for developing a professional portfolio.

Workshop Three "Revealing Knowledge through Performance" teachers take a closer look at performance assessments and their use. Outcomes include:

To discuss student work resulting from designing a standards-based assessment.
To introduce and practice the key elements of a performance task
To design and present a performance task
To reflect on and celebrate the first year of the network

Year 2 of TSS is built around three additional workshops. Workshop One is entitled "Questioning and Designing for Understanding." In it, teachers learn to write Enduring Understandings and design Essential Questions. Outcomes include:

To "uncover understandings" regarding the year one curriculum
To discuss multiple definitions of understanding
To introduce and demonstrate knowledge of the six facets of understanding
To model and practice the first steps in the backward design process: enduring understandings and essential questions

Workshop Two is "Extending and Refining Knowledge" teachers learn strategies that push students to think outside the box to extend their understanding. Outcomes include:

To examine student work based on an essential question and one of the Six Facets of Understanding
To introduce, discuss and practice reasoning strategies
To introduce, discuss and practice reading strategies
To design a lesson using one of the reasoning or reading strategies

Workshop Three "Keys to Achievement" introduces teachers to reading and reasoning strategies students can use to enhance their learning. Outcomes include:

To create essential questions and enduring understandings of workshop experiences
To discuss student work resulting from reading and reasoning strategies
To introduce and practice strategies for inductive and deductive reasoning
To examine and share professional portfolios