Taking Center Stage - Act II (TCSII) Getting Everyone Into the ACT! To Ensure Success and Close the...

Taking Center Stage - Act II (TCSII)

Getting Everyone Into the ACT!

To Ensure Success and Close the Achievement Gap for All of California’s Middle Grades Students

Presented by

Middle and High School Improvement OfficeCalifornia Department of Education

February/March 2008

These professional development activities weredesigned and developed for TCSII and adapted for today’s

presentation.

Taking Center Stage - Act II

Rob HooverPrincipal, Deer Creek Middle School

Jefferson County School DistrictLittleton, CO

rhoover@jeffco.k12.co.ush

Michael DonhostPrincipal, Lake Bluff Middle School

Lake Bluff School District 65Lake Bluff, IL

mdonhost@lbsd.lfc.edu

Special thanks to the ACSA Middle Grades Council for making the connection!

Purpose of today’s session

In this interactive session, you will “Get into the Act” through “constructivist” activities that build consensus for change.

Constructivism Constructivism allows the learner to create

meaning based on exploration, interaction, and discovery.

From experience, we know that humans understand things better when they have the opportunity to explore and construct their own understanding.

“Others can give us information, we can find information in books, and we can get information from the media, but as important as information is . . receiving it, getting it, and hearing it does not necessarily equal learning.”

--Marlow and Page, Creating and Sustaining the Constructivist Classroom

Taking Center Stage—Act II

Closing the Achievement Gaprequires consensus for change based on research and best practices.

Taking Center Stage—Act II

In the first activity, we are going to design our ideal

middle grades school.

• Form into table groups of 6-8 people.

• Select a recorder and a timekeeper.

Constructing Change – A School Design Game

Each table should have a set of game cards and a

tally sheet.

There are three (3) color/pattern game cards

(descriptors) per topic.

There are twelve (12) topics – 36 game cards to

each table group.

One tally sheet for each table group.

Constructing Change – A School Design Game

Discuss the three (3) descriptors for each topic.

Choose the description that would best fit your Ideal School.

Constructing Change – A School Design Game

On your table-group Tally sheet, the recorder indicates which descriptor your group agrees on as the best for each topic.

You will have 15 minutes for the entire activity.

Click here to go to Module 1.

Groups report on their consensus for each topic

Group discussion

Leader toggles to Excel “Graph of Group Data Results”

Outcomes of the School Design Game

Generates discussion around issues

Establishes a common vocabulary

Focuses on What Should Be rather

than What Is

Uses for the School Design Game Tally

Shows current views within the group around these topics

Shows level of consensus across group

Highlights areas for further study Topics with high disagreement Topics with undesirable strong agreement

Focuses staff development needs

Directs school improvement efforts

How do we Get into the Act from here?

Taking Center Stage—Act II

The dynamic Web portal contains:

Hyperlinked research-based content

Vignettes of school practices

Connections to middle grades organizations

Related links and more

BINGO Research Game!

Your table group is your team.

In your envelope you will find:

A BINGO card Red and green playing chips One red folder and one green folder

BINGO Research Game!

A statement will be displayed on the screen

Each group has 30 seconds to decide whether the statement is: TRUE – supported by a body of

research FALSE – contrary to research

BINGO Research Game!

At the signal, each group holds up the colored sheet of paper that represents their decision:

TRUE FALSE A correct answer wins a game chip on

the BINGO board in the indicated space

The first group to get BINGO wins!

READY???

You have your group BINGO card…

You have a person to hold up a RED card when the answer is FALSE…

You have a person to hold up a GREEN card when the answer is true…

GO!

And the winner is . . .

Other Uses…

Parent Education Increase understanding of best practice, educational

philosophy, or instructional strategies Build support for change

New Teacher Induction Orientation with existing programs & practices Identify and develop goals for professional growth

Team Building Encourage the sharing of philosophies & practices Identify areas of agreement/disagreement Develop and prioritize team goals

TCSII footnotes link to studies

Getting All Stakeholders Into

the Act

Getting All Stakeholders into the Act

Your table group will act as your school’s leadership team

You will be developing a plan to introduce stakeholders (teachers, parents, school board members, business partners, community partners, etc.) to

Taking Center Stage - Act II

In your packet, you have one planning sheet and a set of descriptors of potential presentations and activities

From these descriptors, select two (2) hours of presentations that you would use to introduce TCSII to stakeholders

Explain why you selected the activities and for which stakeholder group

Indicate your choices on the planning sheet

Getting All Stakeholders into the Act

Getting All Stakeholders into the Act

What is your plan?

How will you get everyone into the Act?

Getting All Stakeholders into the Act

Getting All Stakeholders into the Act

Would the order of presentations matter?

Did you select different presentations and activities for certain stakeholder groups?

Getting All Stakeholders into the Act

Introductory Activities

Guest Lecturer

Training Video

Group Reading

TCSII Jigsaw

Book Study KWL

Getting All Stakeholders into the Act

Building understanding through interaction

TCSII IntroQuest

TCSII Inventory

TCSII Gallery

Getting All Stakeholders into the Act

Constructing change through consensus

Provocative Prompts

TCSII Case Studies

TCSII Bingo

School Design Game

Getting All Stakeholders into the Act

CD Road Show Training: The professional learning modules include:

Sneak Peek Presentation

Module #1 – Setting the Stage

Module #2 – Backstage Pass

Module #3 – Meet the Recommendations Module #4 – Dress Rehearsal: Explore the Possibilities

Quotes on Change

"Learn as if you were going to live forever. Live as if you were going to die tomorrow.“

Anon.

"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The

greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.“Henry Ford

“The world will not change until we do.”Jim Wallace

Quotes on Change

"Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way.“

Abraham Lincoln

"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.“

Albert Einstein

“There can be change without progress, but not progress without change.”

Anon

Taking Center Stage—Act II

Visit the TCSII Portal and explore the possibilities . . .

http://pubs.cde.ca.gov/TCSII/