Watchung HillsRegional High School
Warren, New Jersey
Representatives:
• Georgia Fisanick
• Michelle Madigan
• Mike Kutch
Plan for your audience!
Plan for your audience!
(not just your content…)
Plan for your audience!
(not just your content…)• Teachers are busy, stressed, maybe frazzled
• New ideas must be presented in this context
• New ideas must apply to a teachers particular situation, they must help them solve a problem
Success #1 De-privatized PracticeWe are all parts of:
Teams (sometimes more than one)Share Student WorkShare MaterialsDiscuss content in 2-D (horizontally and vertically)
Success #2 The language of Connect-EdTeachers:
RecognizeSpeak ofAnd Use
Connect-Ed Terminology:Big IdeasInquiryMindfulness
Success #2 The language of Connect-EdTeachers:
RecognizeSpeak ofAnd Use
Connect-Ed Terminology:Big IdeasInquiryMindfulness
It’s okay for teachers to be at different levels of fluency – We are a learning community!
Tangible AccomplishmentsCreated library of science and science
education texts
Tangible AccomplishmentsCreated library of science and science
education textsPurchased and distributed iPevo cameras to
facilitate sharing student work and inquiry based activities
Tangible AccomplishmentsCreated library of science and science
education textsPurchased and distributed iPevo cameras to
facilitate sharing student work and inquiry based activities
Developed inquiry-based chem and biology labs & associated rubrics
Tangible AccomplishmentsCreated library of science and science
education textsPurchased and distributed iPevo cameras to
facilitate sharing student work and inquiry based activities
Developed inquiry-based chem and biology labs & associated rubrics
In the process of developing ecology/marine bio concept inventories (to be completed this summer)
Tangible AccomplishmentsCreated library of science and science
education textsPurchased and distributed iPevo cameras to
facilitate sharing student work and inquiry based activities
Developed inquiry-based chem and biology labs & associated rubrics
In the process of developing ecology/marine bio concept inventories (to be completed this summer)
In the process of realigning the chem curriculum to new course levels (to be completed this summer)
If we could do it again…Establish norms… really do it!Norms are to PLCs what classroom rules and procedures are to Classroom Management
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!
Obstacles Time management:
we got pulled away to deal with departmental crises: Chemical storage and safety clean-up.
Finding common prep time the contractual issues regarding using guaranteed
prep time for professional development Navigating the business end of dealing with
grant paperwork.
What WorkedA willingness to be flexible
Changing in midstream when an approach stalled out
A tolerance of ambiguityRecognition that this was a learning process
for everyone involvedThere were no right and wrong answers, just
more effective and less effectivePLC’s developed collaborative professional
individual development plans
What Didn’t WorkLack of buy-in of UbD before district
implementationMany competing initiatives
New mandated teacher websites updated weekly
New parent access to grade bookNew format for lesson plans on Atlas Rubicon
curriculum maps
ImprintThe Science department now speaks the
language of CONNECT-EdWe all teach in terms of Big Idea ThinkingConnections across units are being emphasized
in curriculaWe are beginning work on going across
discipline boundariesWe have begun examining student work in the
department mini PLCs
Imprint• School-wide initiatives
BILD trainers are moving into school wide training melding CONNECT-Ed and UbD content
CONNECT-Ed trained teachers participate in the Professional Development Committee Curriculum Committee
Professional development school wide is organized around PLCs and in the coming year most will focus on examination of student work Exemplary rating from County
ImpactsOn development of essential questions On redesign of labs into a more inquiry-based
formatOn deprivatization of practice
What is “good” student work?On more sharing of educational strategies
within the departmentLaboratory notebooks/interactive notebooksAlternate project-based finalProblem-based course assessments
Envisioning the FutureCurriculum RealignmentNational StandardsLab NotebooksCommon Language
Curriculum RealignmentCurren
t Course
s
CP K J H
Current Description
Math Light College Prep
Course
College Prep Course
Accelerated Course
College Level TextNew
Courses
College Prep Accelerated Honors
New Description
Basic Grade Level Math Incorporation
Accelerated course College Level Text
Top Related