1. Creating Opportunities for All Learners
March 16, 2016
Introductions - Noah Wallace Elementary School in Farmington CT
K-4 school with about 370 students located in the heart of Farmington Village
I’m not going to speak much at all today, because our students are the best spokespeople for our learning model. As one fourth grader said last year during a presentation to our BOE about Student Led Conferences, “who better to talk about my own learning than me?”

2. Aligned to Common Core State Standards
WHY? Core Beliefs
HOW?
Framework for Teaching and Learning
WHAT?
Five Year Goals and
Vision of the FPS Graduate
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What prompted us to pursue our current learning model?
A desire for continuous improvement as an organization, including developing innovative teaching strategies which support student centered instruction
This desire lead to our learning model which is based on three core district documents, which are unique to Farmington.
Why: Our Core Beliefs: Expectations, Effort, Instruction, Results, and Relationships Matter
What: VOG:
Critical thinking and reasoning
Communication and collaboration
Problem solving and innovation
Self-direction and resourcefulness
How: Framework for teaching and learning - a set of five principles that define our expectations for teachers and students in the learning process - HOW they create learning environments, teaching practices and student roles that foster the skills and dispositions of the VOG and our core beliefs.
Aligned to Common Core State Standards

3. The Instructional Core Content Student Teacher
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Involving students as active agents in their own learning and directly addressing the student point of the triangle acknowledges the important and complex role that students play in their own learning.
Rachel E. Curtis and Elizabeth A. City
One beginning step was to work with faculty to use Richard Elmore’s Instructional Core to think about how to improve student learning at scale - when you change / improve one element, the others must shift to in order to have a positive impact. Our focus as a district is to change the role students play in their own learning. If you look at our district Theory of Action, also on our website, you can see our focus on increasing student engagement, student agency and students in partners as we work to continuously improve the learning process. What we’ve learned is that continuous improvement happens faster when students are included in the process.

4. Farmington Public Schools: Learn more about our school district by visiting our website….
Reproduction or use of the materials, in whole or in part, in any manner, without the prior written consent of the Farmington Public Schools, is a violation of copyright law
You can find these documents on our website, but the real proof is in students’ understanding of their role in the learning process., which is why I’m going to stop talking now and let our students share what our model looks like and whether it is successful.

5. Noah Wallace School Farmington, CT
I can learn more about how NWS students lead their own learning throughout a unit of study.
Eira
Welcome. As learners, it is important to always keep a learning goal in mind. Have you ever tried to reach a goal like run a marathon or lose weight? It’s the same thing with learning, right? We get our minds set on something and stick with it until we reach it. In Farmington, we aim to reach big goals like these everyday. We might not be trying to lose weight or run a marathon, we’re just trying to do our little part to change the world.
Today, you are the learners. So here is your learning target : I can learn more about how NWS students lead their own learning throughout a unit of study.
Throughout the presentation, be an advocate for yourself and monitor your own understanding- that way, at the end, if you still have questions, you can ask them!

6. Learning Targets Unpacking the target Learn big idea
I can use learning targets to improve my learning.
Unpacking the target
Learn big idea
Celebration/Gallery walk
Elli
At the beginning of a unit of study, our teacher gives us a long term learning target. Do you know what a learning target is?
Turn and talk to the person next to you to see if you might have an idea. (wait 10 seconds then put quiet sign up) Call on one person.
A learning target is basically the learning goal for a unit of study.
To really understand what the learning target is, we unpack it right at the start of a unit.
When we unpack the learning target, we basically put it into our own words so that we all totally understand what the big idea or goal is. How would you unpack this learning target?
This is really helpful because… (explain why this is helpful)

7. Models/Critique Critique a model of work Self evaluate Set goals
I can use models and critique to improve my learning.
Critique a model of work
Self evaluate
Set goals
Savannah
At the beginning of a unit, we create a draft of work and self evaluate. We call this a pre-assessment.
Next, as a class we use a model to study or “critique” what a piece of work should look like. We come up with a few key points or “criteria” and put them up on a chart to guide our work through the unit. We use the criteria chart and the model to help us think about our own performance and set a goal. Now we all know that short term goals can change, right? So once I reach the goal, I am ready to create a new one. All of these short term goals are like steps toward our long term goal- or learning target.
This is relevant to all of our learning all of the time. For example, in order for us to get ready for this presentation, we had to learn a little more about how to teach others about something you feel strongly about, or know a lot about. So, we watched, or critiqued, a ted talk where a kid was talking to an audience of grownups, After watching the ted talk, we came up with a few key points, or criteria that we felt were important to remember. Then, we set goals. What you are listening to right now, is from that hard work of looking at a model, critiqing the model, self evaluating ourselves and setting goals. Pretty amazing, right? We think so, too!
Another tool we use are rubrics and my friend… is here to teach you a little more about how they help us.

8. Rubrics Self evaluate Set goals Reflect on progress
I can use rubrics and checklists to help me improve my learning.
Self evaluate
Set goals
Reflect on progress
Henry
Now, I know this word up here looks like it might say rubix, right? Like the rubix cube? Well, if you read closely, like we aim to do here at NWS, you’ll notice it says rubric. A rubric is another tool we use to guide our work and actually, there really helpful. Most of the rubrics we use show a progression. What I mean is, they show where we were, where we are now and where we are aiming to go. Here is an example of a rubric we might use for our reading. (Point to the different levels) Rubrics help us understand where we currently are as learners, and set goals for our work to move to the next level. For example, in reading we have been working on analyzing parts of the text in books we read. Right now, I’m at a level 3 because….I am working towards a level 4 by….
This is very helpful because...

9. Data Set goal Track progress Reflect on work Set new goal
I can use my own data to help me improve my learning.
Set goal
Track progress
Reflect on work
Set new goal
Leah
Here at NWS, we use our own data to track where we are and where we need to be with our learning. Here is an example of a piece of data we use, a reading log. Our reading logs tell us a lot about ourselves as readers. We can use this data to set a goal, track our progress and reflect on our work. For example, I might look at this reading log and notice that they are reading a lot at home, but want to increase my stamina when reading at school. So I set a goal, in this case it would be a new goal, to increase my reading stamina at school.
This helps me…(explain how this helps you)

10. Feedback Kind Specific Helpful
I can use feedback to help me improve my learning.
Kind
Specific
Helpful
Whitman
Throughout a unit of study we self reflect on our progress towards our learning targets. One of the ways we help monitor our progress towards learning targets is by giving and getting feedback. The feedback we give and receive is tied to the learning targets we’ve identified as personal goals. This makes the feedback actionable for us. One example of a piece of feedback I was given is: ____________ What did you notice about this feedback? Turn and talk to the person next to you.
Did you notice how the feedback was kind, specific and helpful?
Here is an example of a tool we use to make sure we are giving valuable feedback. We call this a feedback continuum. (Here take a moment to explain what is in the picture).
This helps me...

11. Reflection
I can learn more about how NWS students lead their own learning throughout a unit of study.
Eira
We hope that you feel as though you’ve made progress on tonight’s learning target. If you recall, I mentioned it was your job to self advocate and monitor your understanding, so now is a good time to think about those burning questions you might still have.
Don’t be shy to ask. We all have a growth mindset here, so we know that’s where the real learning takes place.

12. Farmington Public Schools: Learn more about our school district by visiting our website….
Reproduction or use of the materials, in whole or in part, in any manner, without the prior written consent of the Farmington Public Schools, is a violation of copyright law