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COHORT CORNER
D.C. REGION PILOT COHORT / APRIL 10, 2012

Issue # 9

Action Items
SEND YOUR STUDENTS MOST RECENT ACHIEVEMENT RESULTS Please send along your students most recent assessment data so I can be looped in about where your kids are and we can use the data to inform next steps in our work

Opening Doors During this Final Stretch

Announcements









EL HAYNES EXCELLENT SCHOOL VISITS What: E.L. Haynes PCSand TFA have partnered to offer excellent school visits and teacher
collaboration! E.L. Haynes is one of the highest performing charters in the city, and has generously opened its doors to host visits every other Tuesday When: Every other Tuesday How: RSVP and check dates here CONTRIBUTE TO TFAS IT GETS BETTER VIDEO Want to be a part of a TFAsponsored It Gets Better video? Right now, the video is in planning stages, and Jared Fox, who is coordinating the video, is calling for submissions by LGBTQ corps members, alumni, staff, and allies that could possibly
be featured in the nal edited video. If you are interested in submitting a video (that you will record on your own), please email Jared Fox at jared.fox@teachforamerica.org. The committee already extended the deadline for submissions, so please get involved as soon as possible. NO PDS FOR 2010 CMS As many of you know, there wont be anymore PDS for 2010s this year...so please disregard any TAL announcements
about the May PDS. Only 2011s are required to attend! :)

At the beginning of this school year, we charged ourselves with trying to answer one key question: what do kids need from us to ensure they are set up for success throughout this school year and beyond? During this time of year, its easy to get pulled in a million different directions. Now more than ever, I think its important to reground ourselves in this question when we prioritize what well do with our kids before they transition into another school year with new teachers. Although the answer should wholly depend on your students and context, I think its helpful to consider the resources, skills, and mindsets your students most need access to in order to sustain and build on the gains they made this year. Its also helpful to consider how you can best leverage your unique strengths to meet your students needs. For some, this might mean challenging higherperforming students or closing the gap between higher and lower performers. For others, this might mean focusing more on cultivating the mindsets and connecting kids and families with the resources and

networks they need to be set up for a great school year. Here are just some of the ways that CMs that Ive spoken with are answering this question: *Collaborating with Your Kids Future Teachers: I recently interviewed some students parents, and they said that their biggest worry was that next years teachers wont know them or their kids, meaning that teachers, parents, and students will have to undergo that getting to know you learning curve all over again. To give her kids a running start to the school year, one teacher plans to put together a portfolio for her students that summarizes their strengths and weaknesses (both socio-emotionally and academically) and then passing these portfolios off to the teachers who will inherit her kids next year. *Connecting Parents with Next Years Teachers: the one constant in your students lives will always be their family. Thats why its so important that parents feel welcome to reach out to teachers and empowered to advocate for and support their child from the outset of the school year (continued next page)

(continued from page 1)...To help make this possible, one ECE teacher is planning to set up a parent-teacher bridge event, which will give next years teachers a chance to mingle with parents over light appetizers. She hopes that doing so will help parents feel more comfortable reaching out to teachers and sharing important information about their kids at the beginning of the year. *Data-Driven Interventions: As nal exams approach, its easy to teach to the middle, but often times the challenge is closing skill gaps or raising the ceiling for higher performers. -For Struggling Students: Two teachers in our cohort realized that a small subset of students will not reach their EOY goals without extra support, so theyve begun requiring kids to attend tutoring at lunch, pulling some into extra guided reading groups, or delivering minilessons to struggling students while the rest of the class participates in stations activities. -Differentiating for all: Another realized she needed to challenge her kids at their respective levels, so she assigned kids to level-specic book clubs while a Math

teacher has set up team learning stations that students track themselves into based on exit slip and quiz mastery scores. -Challenging Higher Performers: A high school history teacher realized that kids who struggled to meet their high academic potential often lacked study skills or investment in studying, so she required students to participate in mandatory study groups outside of class for a signicant grade. Another has asked higher performers to play the the role of in-class tutor whenever he/she nishes assignments early. *College/Career conversations: If youre nding that your middle or high school students dont know what theyll need to do next to get on a college track, its never to early to start teaching them about what that entails.
For middle schoolers, it might
be helpful to discuss what
theyll need to do to get into
application-based high
schools, what kinds of classes
theyll need to take to earn
college credit or get onto a
college track, as well as what

kind of extracurricular
activities it could help to join
in high school. For high schoolers, one teacher is planning to set up 1:1 career/college conversations with her students to help kids identify the best path (college, trade school, etc.) to their desired career as well as next steps they can take now to prepare for that. Another secondary teacher is asking his students to
complete recommendation letters and a sample college application so his students can become more self-aware of their areas of strength and growth with regard to their college resume. If youre looking for ideas for how to talk to your kids about college, Id check out some of these resources:
-KIPP DCs PowerPoint
on the college process and an
accompanying packet loaded
with helpful information
-College Boards
Getting Ready for
College site which has
tons of great information
about the college application
process as well as selecting
careers and majors
-College overview
PowerPoint and packet
(courtesy of Clair Briggs)

COLLEAGUE SHOUT OUTS

Gillon Crichton and Anamika Dwivedi: for supporting me with resources! I wouldn't have made it through my new honors biology prep without you both! Clair Briggs

Debbie Sim: Debbie for organizing our awesome MSA Pep Rally! The school spirit was amazing." Jordan Bock

All the secondary teachers who came to the secondary brunch - it was great to share so many resources and best practices and it was really fun to see everyone! --Kelly Gleischman

Jordan Bock: for taking a Benjamin Stoddert team to the PGCPS Science Bowl! You rock JBock! --Debbie Sim

Anamika Dwivedi:
for sharing a great game for spelling review--I tried it today and my students LOVED it and learned so much! (The game is board races with a set list of spelling words--they left having SUCH a better understanding of the words.)Meredith Ackerman

Joaquins Shout Outs

Jordan Bock: for engaging in such purposeful reection around student achievement on recent assessments, using that to generate a meaningful theory about her classroom, and then using that theory to drive key planning and instructional changes (e.g., more strategically crafting checks for understanding that scaffold kids from the lowest to the highest level of her objective). These adjustments are leading to spikes in student learning and overall mastery. Im excited to see how these changes have helped her elevate rigor in her classroom while also improving the overall learning of her classroom in just a few short months! Kelly Gleischman: for establishing such a student-driven culture that a student recently said in an interview that Ms. Gleischman could leave the class right now and we would continue teaching and learning. This is a testament to the careful planning she has taken to gradually delegate procedures and learning routines to students so that an increasing percentage of class time is spent with kids at the front of the board sharing, discussing, and instructing. Kudos to her for taking small steps each day/week toward her vision to help make this possible in her classroom! Gillon Crichton: for investing his students in doing well on the SAT I by helping them connect the benets of doing well to their own personal dreams, and then building their condence in the achievability of this goal by giving them ongoing, meaningful feedback (through pair work, exit slip scores, visual trackers that emphasize growth). By doing so, he is fostering a culture in which his kids are eager to push themselves and each other to give their all in preparation for this test. Its inspiring to see kids gain condence from seeing real results in their SAT scores! Beth Dukes: for rolling out Math team stations to keep all kids engaged and challenged with hands-on, student-led, independent work tasks. Kudos to her for nding a way to meet her students varying needs to ensure all of her students receive additional practice with the topics they are still struggling with. Anne Marie Norgren: for planning and co-facilitating rich, thought -provoking conversations around identity at the last SMath summit and pushing students to take on more leadership in her classroom. Im excited about the way shes leveraging her passions and strengths to help cultivate leadership in her classroom, school, and within our corps. Carolyn Byrne and Julia Sadowsky: for continuing to participate in, lead, and shape important conversations around what transformational teaching looks like in an ECE context through the ongoing ECE Dinner and Dialogue series with other CMs, alumni, and staff. Im inspired to hear about the great thinking thats arising from these conversations, and also how thats translating into the work youre doing in your classrooms and school communities (In particular, Im excited for the upcoming school leadership conversation!) Meredith Ackerman: for helping to spearhead some awesome social events within our corps (e.g., March TFA Happy Hour) and for enthusiastically offering her time up to recruit and onboard this years coming set of TTCs. Im inspired by her willingness to pitch in and the initiative she has taken to provide CMs with opportunities to connect, socialize, and collaborate.

Josh Gillerman: for connecting our cohort with representatives form Stanton ES so we could learn more about the turnaround that is happening there and also for inspiring condence in his students through frequent, precise praise that encourages kids to embrace the challenge of taking on hard work and the learning that comes from it. Its clear the way in which he interacts with his kids, whether hes praising their academic efforts or helping them work through interpersonal problems, has inspired his kids to work as a supportive team. Shajena Erazo: for specically requesting me to interview her most challenging students so that we could work together to problem solve around ways to reinvest them! I love how eager Shajena always is to reect on challenges because she knows doing so will make her an even better teacher. Staci Holthus: for quickly incorporating strategies to provide her kids with quick, immediate feedback on their progress. As a result of this, she and her students are becoming increasingly clear on how theyre doing and feeling more motivated by the progress theyre seeing on a daily level. Im also impressed by how she applied feedback from her St. Andrews mentor about ways to raise rigor by adding helpful extension questions (with what she calls the: now what?) that push kids thinking beyond the level of the CAS. Campbell Glenn: for working with her St. Andrews mentor to boost the rigor of her CFUs and assessments and signicantly increasing her use of the target language. Im excited to see the impact that has had on her students comfort and prociency with the language as the year goes on :) Debbie Sim and Cendahl Cornelio-Alter: for leading great share-outs during cohort time. Im excited by the way in which Cendahl is using a variety of small and easy strategies to build students self-condence and the impact that is having on how kids are viewing their learning and school. Im also excited by how Debbie is encouraging kids to present and talk through their work. By doing so, she has seen increased engagement as more kids are doing even more of the heavy lifting of working aloud through Math problems alongside their peers. Clair Briggs: for the all the great work shes done with her 9th grader Valencia, who won 2nd place in Microbiology at the DC STEM fair! Check out a photo of Clair with some great Collegiate students at the fair! Nicole Spoelma: for landing a position at KIPP Chicago as a founding teacher at a new campus. Im excited for the opportunities shell have to impact students in Chicago through her work! Lauren Delaloye, Julia Sadowsky, and Maria Roth: for being selected to represent the D.C. Region as our 3 nominees for the Sue Lehmann Award for Excellence in Teaching. Im excited for you all to represent our cohort as well as the great work work thats happening in DC at the national level! Anamika Dwivedi: for pushing her kids to revamp their personal goals for the school year to spark a strong nish...

Shout outs continued on next page!

Most Viewed Videos of the Month

...and for going above and beyond with ongoing student communication via texts/phone calls/ emails/conversations to push kids to ask more of themselves. Also, kudos to her for implementing strong hooks to spark student conversation and engagement at the outset of her lessons--its exciting to see kids talk about interesting questions and immediately diving into the content before the lesson even warms up. Eliza Varner: for joining her kids and some parents on a college tour of Howard University to spark their interest in and awareness of what it takes to get into college and giving them exposure to what life on a college campus is like through technology (e.g., Edmodo, online instructional videos, and Twitter). In particular, shes using those Webbased tools to broadcast important messages and foster a student-driven learning environment in which kids learn new material at home and then engage in practice at school. Megan Gilbert: for planning out concrete ways that shell boost her students reading independence by strategically planning to pull a subset of kids for an extra guided reading group. Shout to her for also thinking creatively about the ways in which she can set her kids up for a smooth transition to 1st grade by asking parents what theyd need from her to make sure their child had a successful year next year and by planning to share concrete information about students areas for growth/ strengths with each of her students 1st grade teachers. Laure Kohne: for putting in the planning time and securing the funding for needed books and materials so that she can launch book clubs to differentiate for readers at a variety of levels. By rolling out these book club conversations, shes helping kids develop their condence and skills they need to engage in meaningful small-group conversations around texts with peers who are on similar reading levels. Im excited to see how these conversations build students skills and love for reading. Indira Cruz: for pushing rigor in her classroom by asking her kids to craft essays, fables, and story reections entirely in the target language. By sticking to her goal of immersion, she has prepared kids to engage with the Spanish language at a solidly pre-AP level. Hillary Coleman: for working hard to release more responsibility to students during each lesson, and honestly sharing both the challenges and wins shes encountered by doing so during a recent PDS session. Specically, she has cut down on teacher talk time and replaced that with opportunities for students to present and review each others work via error analysis exercises, participate in meaningful speaking tasks, and answer her questions as an entire class. By making these changes, she is successfully boosting rigor and engagement. Molly France: for sharing great resources on promoting student problem solving in an early childhood setting. Im excited to see how she implements these practices to promote a supportive culture in which kids are empowered to resolve their own conicts! Abby Wihl: for devising strategies to boost attendance and ensure that kids who miss instructional time receive the practice time they need at home and at school. Im excited to see how this impacts students reading growth during this next round! Lydia Peele: for working hard to brainstorm and implement a great pre-CAS review plan that will help her students develop study skills, increase the amount of practice kids engage with outside of class, as well as prioritize the material theyll review. Alex Krupp: for working with Maria during our Virtual Visits session at PDS and sharing some great, concrete feedback that Maria could then use to help her 1st grade readers. Chelsea Kirk: for rolling out some new goal reections with her kids to boost daily investment, nding ways to build in rigorous discussions around text throughout daily lessons, and showing kids the value of the writing process by celebrating and documenting it! CJ Libassi: for always feeding me a steady stream of awesome news articles that push my thinking about our work and for being quick to implement another staff members recommendations for tweaking tone and execution to increase engagement during his lessons. Josh Johnson: for making a weekly commitment to share data with students about their progress so that they can use that to make smart decisions about what to prioritize in their studies and how to improve their overall understanding of the course material. Im excited to see how this new practice boosts students academic self-awareness and overall performance in class.

1. Book Clubs with Ms.

Sadowsky (ECE/ELEM)

2. Maria Roth Sue

Lehmann Teaching Sample (ECE/ELEM)

3. Lauren Delaloye Sue

Lehmann Teach (Secondary)

4. Student Take Over

Math Meeting (ECE/ ELEM)

5. TLAC Technique: No
Opt Out (ELEM and Up)

6. K Guided Reading
Lesson(ECE/Elem)

7. Julia Sue Lehmann

Teach (ECE/Elem)

8. Joy Factor w/ Ms.

Cruz (Upper ELEM and Up)

9. Student-Led Physics
Lesson (Secondary)

10. Alex Krupp Book

Talk (ELEM)