As the vast majority of schools are arriving at the midpoint of the 2021–2022 school year, the famous line from Charles Dickens' Tale of Two Cities speaks to a time of constant change:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…
As we summon the energy to pause and reflect, glancing up into the rearview mirror, it has been quite a ride. Over the past two years, some may have found themselves wishing for a time when things were “normal.” However, do we know what “normal” is anymore? Will we go back to what was? Is there a new normal on the horizon?
During the 2020–2021 school year, we rallied our focus and efforts toward submitting our application for the AVID National Demonstration process. It was an opportunity to direct our energy into collecting artifacts and videos of our journey to implement the AVID Elective and align best instructional practices to strengthen AVID Schoolwide. Positive energy and enthusiasm filled the air when we received acknowledgment for our efforts and were named an AVID National Demonstration School in April 2021. As summer waned, we eagerly anticipated opportunities to host campus visits and to share and learn from other schools and districts with AVID and those schools just beginning to learn more about the AVID College and Career Readiness System. As we approached the 2021–2022 school year, that anticipation quickly evolved into the reality that we would have to rethink the 2021–2022 school year. How do we continue to evolve and deepen the roots of high-quality instructional practices across all classrooms on our campus?
A common theme in the 2021–2022 school year has been the need to adapt, change, and demonstrate an abundance of flexibility. Not the new normal we anticipated. What is consistent, however, is our commitment to one another as professional educators; our commitment to ensuring that we continue to narrow the variance across all classrooms vertically and horizontally so that every student is engaged in high-quality teaching and learning; and our commitment to keeping the social and emotional well-being of every student at the forefront of our practice.
As an AVID National Demonstration School, when you think about the positive impact we have made to date, and the eagerness to continually evolve, teachers’ sense of hope and resilience are illuminated. We anchor our professional energy and commitment to schoolwide non-negotiables and professional practice goals.
This collective commitment has held fast and called us to a common greater good, lifting us up with optimism as opposed to being mired in pessimism, and fueling hope as opposed to helplessness. At the beginning of each school year, we align and recommit ourselves to schoolwide non-negotiables. They have been in place for several years, but we continue to evolve as we align and bring consistency to our professional practice. The non-negotiables are as follows:
- Ensure each student feels visible.
- Greet students at the door.
- Leverage Steffen Middle School's Framework for Teaching & Learning.
- Consistently use our Lesson Planning Template.
- Use data to inform our equitable practices.
Ensuring each student feels visible was added this year, to which I would posit that each of our colleagues also needs to feel visible. Every member of our learning community, students and adults alike, should feel a sense of belonging and purpose. Developing norms and social contracts are woven into the beginning of each year, after modeling during Collaborative Learning in August. Developing these systems and processes is done through a systemized and collaborative process within the learning community of each classroom.
Greeting students at the door is professional practice 101. It is important to personally welcome students as members of their learning community. A conscientious and deliberate practice is also calling one another, students and adults alike, by name. This simple concept personalizes the experience.
Leveraging Steffen Middle School’s Instructional Framework for teaching and learning is a working document co-created by the Building Leadership Team and AVID Site Team. A link is provided above to give context to the following:
- As part of our commitment to equity, we hold high expectations for ourselves and our students, providing rigor and acceleration opportunities for all.
- As we interact with students, we develop a growth mindset using asset-based language to help students build on their strengths in an atmosphere of support and encouragement.
- As communities of learners, we encourage students’ active engagement and interaction through the use of WICOR (writing, inquiry, collaboration, organization, and/or reading) strategies.
- In the classroom and throughout the school, we cultivate positive relationships between teachers and students and between the students themselves to provide an environment where academic discourse and mutual respect are valued as part of the learning process.
- During instructional periods, students have regular opportunities to collaborate, move with purpose, and experience diverse instructional strategies to be physically and intellectually engaged as learners. Teachers will include no fewer than three unique learning tasks for students in a 75-minute period and at least two during a 50-minute period.
Consistent use of the instructional lesson planning template includes:
- Capturing hearts and minds with an essential question
- Providing two-three engagement activities
- Embedding purposeful transitions
- Designing the closure of a lesson with time for students to reflect on their learning.
The use of data to inform equitable practices is measured formally and informally building-wide by evidence including:
- The NWEA Map data is reviewed by the grade-level cohorts and individual teachers for student attainment of growth goals in math and reading and the percentage of students obtaining the district milestone of 70% in math and 66% in reading.
- Social-emotional well-being is gauged through student feedback on a Pulse Survey four times a year.
- The percentage of students obtaining an A, B, or C, is reviewed every twenty days.
Classroom evidence is also reviewed consistently to ensure adult responsiveness to meeting each student where they are at so that each student continues to grow and achieve to meet or exceed personalized and grade-level goals.
Ongoing professional learning supports schoolwide professional practice goals. The Instructional Leadership Team members lead schoolwide professional practice goals (PPGs). Highlights of the offerings this year include a building-wide PPG on Focused Note-Taking (FNT) and other options that include, but are not limited to: Canvas and WICOR Alignment, Conferring Across Classrooms, Data Literacy, and SEL –Collaboratively Building Relationships. Working on the efficiency and effectiveness of our work is a focus.
Our daily work is rooted in our desire to enhance our individual and collective efforts. In so doing, we align with the district mission, vision, and strategic plan, supported by our building scoreboard, and further supported by teachers’ Professional Practice Goals and Student Learning Outcomes. There is no doubt colleagues are working hard. The question that needs to be consistently asked is, are we efficient and effective?
Coupled with the importance of the aforementioned is leaning on research to inform and calibrate the art and science of teaching and learning. One of the resources that continues to come to the forefront is John Hattie’s research on teacher efficacy:
Collective Teacher Efficacy is the collective belief of the staff of the school/faculty in their ability to positively affect students. With an effect size of d=1.57 [Collective Teacher Efficacy] has been found to be strongly, positively correlated with student achievement.
A school staff that believes it can collectively accomplish great things is vital for the health of a school, and if they believe they can make a positive difference then they very likely will. (Collective Teacher Efficacy [CTE] according to John Hattie, 2018)
Teachers’ collective efficacy matters. Our individual and collective belief makes a positive difference to each student within our school and each of the smaller learning communities that make up each of our classrooms. When we turn our attention to the non-negotiables we have established as a learning community, it is no wonder that we have a high percentage of our colleagues aligned in the work and committed to a positive path forward. Survive or thrive? I posit we are thriving. It is by no means a linear path, but when you work with colleagues who are committed to a greater good and look for the best in others, it becomes apparent: We are thriving!