DRAFT CREATIVE APPROACH SCHOOLS APPLICATION

PRINCIPAL: JOHN MINER START UP DATE: PLANNING YEAR 2012-13 FULL IMPLEMENTATION 2013-14 SCHOOL YEAR

Introduction
Thornton Creek classrooms are alive with discovery, collaboration, critical thinking, problemsolving, and relationship building. Our school staff, parents and community have a passionate commitment to imaginative and creative learning. Our staff is committed to integrating practices from our school design into all aspects of our school culture, targeting instruction and assessment. Thornton Creeks learning environment engages students in academically rigorous exploration and discovery. Each classroom teacher develops in-depth projects that emphasize learning by discovery, in a school culture that focuses on character growth, teamwork, high quality work, and personal reflection. The CAS panel asked that Thornton Creek provide something new in its CAS application that would add to the creative work that the community is doing as described in its Declaration of Intent. The Thornton Creek staff has decided to create a writing process that will link students exploration in their projects with writing instruction. Projects often take students outside the school building to do research, conduct interviews or to carry out a range of fieldwork assignments. Projects also bring community resources into the classroom to support student learning and culminating projects. Projects are developed around compelling topics with multiple in-depth investigations, exploration of diverse content and concepts, and the discovery of thematic big ideas. The exploration and discovery within classroom projects will fuel the writing process and improve the quality of students writing. Our art studio teacher will instruct our students in the Visual Thinking Strategies of careful observation, interpretation and analyzing of art, and meaning making creating visual activities to help students generalize the VTS skills to writing. Our self contained special education classes will also participate in our Creative Approach process. Teachers in those classes will be working toward the Common Core Writing Standards for their students grade level. Additionally, they will modify student writing learning targets to fit student needs. Teachers

will encourage students to participate in the writing process and increase their literacy and writing skills by modifying activities to meet their learning needs. Having analyzed students writing, Thornton Creek staff is sculpting a creative school writing process that will integrate the skill expectations and learning targets of the Common Core Writing Standards with the content of classroom projects. Our emerging writing program will provide literacy-rich, project-based writing experiences for all students and raise students writing performance. As staff defines their writing outcomes, they will clarify how our writing instruction will move student writing toward those skills and targets. Staff discovery during our Creative Approach process will clarify the changes we make in our writing instruction to translate vision into action. Each element of our Creative Approach Design is researched based and will support improvements in students written expression, non-cognitive skill development, as well as enable teachers to create writing rubrics and provide a student-centered writing assessment process. Writing will become a central vehicle for learning and communicating the learning in all of our classrooms. Thornton Creek staff will focus our Creative Approach Design on an integration of: 1. The Common Core Writing Standards

2. A Responsive Classroom social learning environment 3. Content area writers workshop instruction 4. Formative writing assessment 5. Visual Thinking Strategies instruction in our art studio

Parent and Community Engagement Process in the Design: The Thornton Creek parent community has participated in this CAS design through Site Council meetings. Thornton Creek staff has been involved in discussion of all elements of the Plans design during staff 2011-2012 meetings. Drafts of the design have been circulated and will be posted on our school website. The Thornton Creek community will continue to revise this draft of the CAS application until our final application is due.

Creative Approach Characteristics: The Common Core Writing Standards will provide explicit writing and student learning targets for all of our students creating explicit pathways and a new common language for the traits of good writing. Thornton Creek staff will scaffold a writing program K-5 that aligns CCSS and Thornton Creeks project-based learning. School-wide, Thornton Creek staff will focus on: Articulating common language for teaching the Common Core writing expectations scaffolding toward using the 6 + 1 writing traits process in our intermediate grades

Developing writing instruction that integrates classroom project content Creating anchor charts that document students understanding of the traits of writing Developing rubrics of quality writing as self-reflection and formative assessment Developing revision protocols Adapting writing instruction based on formative assessment Monitoring student progress in writing Providing identified students with additional writing support K First Grade Writing Targets.building the foundation for writing Our K-1 teachers agreed to reference the Common Core Writing Standards as they develop writing activities building the foundations for writing and guiding their students with writing instruction. Primary teachers focus their instruction on the development of the foundational skills of writing, support the development of student expression in written communication, and encourage individual and group engagement in the writing process. Our K-1 teachers will: Develop mini-lessons targeting expressive language class meeting sharing and discussions, drama, peer share Model text types, read aloud examples of genres.exposing students to opinion, informative/explanatory, narrative writing Develop formal spelling by mid-year of first grade Balance choice and guided writing student choice and teacher mini-lessons toward learning specific genres and styles Our K-1 teachers will have students: Participate in shared writing examples field guides, how to books, documenting expedition experiences, class stories Practice letter formation and fluency - HWT Understand literacy conventions examples understanding that text orients left to right, top to bottom, and book/page orientation Engage writing with best guess spelling, dictation, drawing Develop an understanding of writing conventions examples- upper and lower case lettering, ending punctuation, space between words Develop an understanding that words have meaning Brainstorm writing ideas individually and with partners Develop an understanding of what a sentence is

Share writing with peers and adults for revision, editing, multiple drafts I notice - I wonder Develop phonemic literacy - learning letter names and sounds, connecting speech to sounds, sounds to letters, and letters to meaning through Wired For Reading 2nd and 3rd Grade Writing.building upon the foundation Our second and third grade teachers will expand upon the foundation created in K-1. These teachers have agreed to design their writing program around the Common Core Standards and their classroom expedition themes. Our school-wide projects will provide students the opportunity for content area writing. Students will become an expert in content of their class project and express what they are learning in writing. Teachers will also create a supportive balance between the cognitive and non-cognitive foundations for writing. Teachers will offer multiple and varied opportunities for writing in a range of formats, including narrative, poetry, journals, science documentation, note taking, research reports, among others. Teachers deconstruct stories to clarify for students how they are written and choices writers make. Teachers model how to give peer feedback/self feedback in support of student editing, use of conventions, and multiple drafts. Teachers model use of computer technologies and instruct students in the use of a variety of software programs for creating a variety of formats, including presentations, photo stories, and blog entries. Our 2nd and 3rd grade teachers will: Develop mini-lessons targeting CCSS writing expectations and project content Model text types, read aloud examples of genres.exposing students to opinion, informative/explanatory, narrative writing Introduce and model the use of graphic organizers Expand upon formal spelling strategies Balance choice and guided writing student choice and teacher mini-lessons Our art studio teacher will work with students on analyzing art work, articulating what students see and providing evidence for their observations Our 2nd and 3rd grade students will: Participate in independent and shared writing activities Continue to practice letter formation fluency Develop a greater understanding of writing conventions Brainstorm writing ideas individually and with partners Develop an understanding of what a paragraph is Begin to do project content research projects

4th and 5th grade writing.expanding upon the foundation for writing Our intermediate teachers will expand upon the foundational writing skills of earlier instruction. Teachers will focus their writing process on using the 6 + 1 Traits to deepen students communication about what they are exploring and learning in their project content. Thornton Creeks intermediate teachers will craft a writing process for our students that will strengthen their skills of brainstorming ideas, planning and drafting their ideas, revising work in progress, editing and publishing their writing. Final written products will take on many forms all about books, how to books, field guides, historical fiction, research articles, and biographical essays. In addition, teacher mini-lesson instruction will focus on: Writing opinion pieces, supporting a point of view with information and reasons Writing explanatory texts to examine a topic. Writing narratives to develop real or imagined experiences. Teachers will focus their instruction on creating multiple formats stories, essays, reports, biographies, and articles. Our art studio teacher will continue to work with students on analyzing art work, articulating what students see and providing evidence for their observations. As students write, they will pay increasing attention to creating coherency in their organization of ideas, word choice and sentence fluency. Students will review one anothers writing to strengthen the planning, revising, rewriting, and editing of all writing. As students explore the content of their expedition, they will learn the skills of note taking and summarizing information to write short research reports. In addition, students will write personal narratives, literary analysis and a persuasive essay.

A Responsive Classroom will become the social environment in which our students write Proactive work is underway integrating principles of The Responsive Classroom throughout the school to create safe and respectful classrooms. Respectful community is a core value of Thornton Creek. Staff strives to create a culture in which every student feels a sense of belonging. This inclusive foundation is laid for a productive and cooperative year of learning. Proactively focusing on group-building activities helps to create the trust and safety we believe are essential for writing. Daily class meetings provide the time and opportunity for teachers to convey the important expectations of mutual support and collaboration. There are three primary themes to our responsive classrooms. First, everyone is expected to contribute to a classroom and school-wide climate of warmth and safety. Second, classroom teachers explicitly teach and practice Thornton Creeks expectations for behavior. Third, classroom teachers establish expectations about ways students and adults will learn together.

Students are expected to grow in their ability to function independently with increasing respect for the needs of the community. This gradual release of responsibility to our students requires constant practice yet is an investment in student learning that pays off all year long.

This work by Thornton Creek teachers will create a strong social/emotional environment for student writing. Thornton Creek staff will build a culture of respect, responsibility, and kindness in which students are supported to express their voice through writing. School structures and rituals will provide a strong foundation for writing. Staff believes that: The social curriculum makes an important contribution to the academic curriculum How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and content go hand in hand The greatest cognitive growth occurs through social interaction To be successful academically, children need a set of social skills Knowing the children we teach is as important as knowing the content we teach Teachers' integration of Responsive Classroom practices with writing instruction will lead to Classrooms that are emotionally supportive for student writing Higher levels of student engagement and discourse in writing A writing process that values learning and the effort to learn

Content Area Writing At Thornton Creek writing skills are taught through thematic learning units (projects) that integrate subjects. The Thornton Creek community believes that a rich arts curriculum offers students a variety of entry points for engagement in writing and allows them to communicate their learning through diverse writing pathways leading with their imagination. Staffing an art studio provides our staff and students the opportunity to explore visual arts as a vehicle to express their learning in writing. Our art studio teacher instructs our students in the Visual Thinking Strategies of careful observation, interpretation, perception, analyzing, and meaning making. As students develop these skills through their work in the art studio, they will generalize them to their writing and peer review. Thornton Creek teachers will design purposeful experiential content area writing activities that: Address the Common Core Writing Standards

Encourage brainstorming of ideas, planning and drafting of those ideas, revising, editing and publishing Capture project content, communicating students unfolding knowledge Provide students with writing experiences that are marked by purposeful learning and challenge Will take on many forms all about books, how to books, historical fiction, research articles, and biographical essays. Thornton Creek teachers devote instructional time to: Multiple genres of writing Individual and shared writing Teachers develop A cooperative learning environment An integrated arts and writing culture An inquisitive, creative school culture A school culture that does not compare student learning Thornton Creek students devote instructional time to: Expressing learning in different ways Being risk takers Participating in discussions Students work at Fully participating in writing activities Being readers and writers Developing their writing voice Engaging in writing and assessment

Monitoring Student Achievement: Our teachers and students believe in the power of student-engaged assessment practices that build student ownership of learning, focus students on reaching learning targets, and motivate achievement. Teachers will scaffold the instruction of writing assessment. Our primary students will be encouraged to Notice and Wonder as peers share their writing. Our intermediate students will be encouraged to reflect upon and improve the quality of their writing through the use of models, peer review, and writing rubrics. Students will share their writing with peers seeking helpful feedback for revision. Staff will examine patterns in student writing to recognize and address gaps in understanding. Teachers will use the CCSS and their project content to create rubrics/formative assessments that clarify quality writing and encourage students to do their best.

At Thornton Creek, teachers see the value in student involvement as a group in the classroom assessment process. One of our learning targets is that students become important users of assessment results without comparing themselves to others. Teachers will use classroom assessment as a teaching strategy to motivate students to strive for higher quality work. In this way, assessment serves instructional purposes helping teachers guide students to improve writing. Thornton Creek teachers see classroom-based assessments as the most important level of assessment. Teachers will create assignment-based rubrics/assessments to provide information to a student about her/his writing. Evidence of student achievement will be found in a students writing revisions and final products. Teachers will work to align their rubrics with performance expectations across grade levels. Professional development will focus on furthering the teachers collaboration and work to create writing activities and rubrics for assignments that align outcome with expectation. Research:

1. The Common Core Writing Standards are national, research based standards 2. A Responsive Classroom social learning environment, 2008-0-2011 research by Dr.
Sara Rimm-Kaufman at the University of Virginia has found that the Responsive Classroom approach leads to higher academic achievement, improved teacher-student interactions, and higher quality instruction in mathematics.

3. Content area writers workshop instruction research at Teachers College Columbia 4. Formative writing assessment research by Richard J Stiggins Student-Centered
Classroom Assessment

5. Visual Thinking Strategies instruction, VTS has been field tested since 1991 in
longitudinal studies employing experimental and control groups in multiple sites in the United States and other countries. Multiple studies have produced corroborating and complementary findings. The studies have found that VTS builds critical thinking skills that students transfer to other settings and other subjects, including writing, math, social studies, and science. VTS produces measurable academic growth in students with varying ethnicities, income and school achievement, including those with limited English skills and poor prior standardized test performance. Over two to three years, VTS students demonstrate significantly greater academic growth than control groups. Significant additional research exists for each of our Creative Approach School elements. We can make that available upon request. Accountability: Teachers will rely on continuous observation and multiple forms of writing evidence over time to both assess and evaluate what their students are learning. Comparability of one learner to another is less important at Thornton Creek than is immediate feedback about an individual student against explicit rubric criteria the teacher has created. At Thornton Creek, we believe in the importance of maximizing a students individual growth and achievement. That form of assessment takes precedence over comparing students growth and

levels,

achievement. Assessment in the classroom strives to promote student learning by highlighting an individual students strengths and weaknesses in performance and celebrating their growth over time. Assignment rubrics will provide students not only with performance expectations but also with a means for students to check their progress. Teachers will expect students not only to master content knowledge, but to also to develop specific skills and create products that meet or exceed performance expectations. Teachers at Thornton Creek are working to create writing rubrics as parts of our student assessment. In kindergarten and first grade the writing prompt will be based on expectations in the Common Core Writing Standards. In grades two through five the writing prompt will be based on classroom project content area and the Common Core writing expectations. Teachers will calibrate their writing assessments. Our classroom-based assessment will provide teachers with information to guide instruction.

Evidence of Success: Students enjoyment of and engagement in writing Teachers will use students writing as formative assessment and evidence of progress Student written responses to our writing prompts will show growth over time Student performance on the 2013, 2014, and 2015 writing MSP state assessment

The Initial Goals in our Creative Approach Planning year: Create developmentally appropriate writing activities addressing the CCSS Create developmentally appropriate assignment rubrics that clarify levels of writing proficiency Create grade level DWA writing prompts Create peer and self critique protocols Develop a portfolio system to collect examples of students writing Articulate supports for those K-2 students who are struggling with the writing process Develop additional science writing activities

Waivers Requested Upon Approval of Application: Thornton Creek is requesting the following waivers should our application for CAS designation be approved: Budget: Cost neutral for Seattle Public Schools Designate the instructional model that will best align with the schools program design Select the instructional materials that will best align with the schools instructional model and program design Designate the classroom based assessments that will be used to account for student learning and progress Fill all open staff positions based on site interviews and the recommendations of the schools interview committee