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Learning Communities Update
This is the fifth year of Learning Communities at HUHS/MS. The concept of professional learning groups is not new, but if properly implemented and genuinely imbedded into schools, they can have a great impact on teaching practice and student learning. As teaching and professional development needs constantly change, the HU Leadership Team has responded in changing the format and focus of the HU Learning Communities. This year we have modified the format of Learning Communities in two important areas. First, we have grouped staff, for the most part, in grade alike groups. Our intent in grouping staff in this way is to bring about greater consistency in practice among teachers of similar grade-levels. Second, we have used feedback data from staff to create several professional development themed strands; these strands are sequenced using a backward design model so that our collective learning continues to build upon previous group work.
Our first session Tuesday October 1st was titled ‘What is a summative?’... and included these questions of inquiry: “How do assessments contribute to learning? How do I better align assessment and learning targets?”. The session was facilitated with a protocol that collected feedback based on what participants supported, questioned, and motivated them. Some of the most prevalent discussions and overall themes included:
--The relationship of content versus transferable skills development (and assessment)
--The interchangeability of summative content to increase buy-in from a greater range of students
--The diverse perspectives specific to summative design in a professional learning group that has such a cross content representation
--The idea of using summatives to extend (not just measure) learning
--What structures need to be in place for teachers to be able to design summative assessments that promote new learning for students?
Each of the Learning Community facilitators reported thought provoking and inspiring discourse. In several Learning Communities, people were curious about an update from CVU: how do educators feel about this type of summative now? What is the current practice? We have reached out to the CVU teachers who maintain the blog for an update - stay tuned! We look forward to our next meeting focused on this theme of summative purpose/design.
Upcoming Learning Community topic strands:
--What are Summative Assessments?
--Formative Assessments
--UDL Lesson Design and teaching PBL
--Differentiating Instruction
Our next Learning Community meetings are set for Tuesday, October 22. The agenda and reminders will be sent out just before.
Beginning the week of 10/21, the Leadership Team will start hosting weekly informal “listening sessions” for the purpose of hearing more from faculty and staff about a variety of considerations. The plan is to have two of these listening sessions per week, one after school on Mondays (3:00-3:30), and one session before school on Wednesdays (7:30-8:00). We will also link an online communication tool to this blog for those who cannot attend either meeting, but wish to share feedback. The topic of the week will be communicated during the week prior. This week’s topic is…..designing a NEW plan for Open House based on the Open House survey feedback!!!
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HULT Upcoming Tasks
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HULT Completed Tasks
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