1. Education Transformation Office
The Importance of Developing a Common Language and Effective Communication
Education Transformation Office

2. Common Board Configuration (CBC)
DATE: June 11, 2013
VOCABULARY: -communication -feedback -relationship
EXIT SLIP: Review Essential Question
BELL RINGER: Acronyms – Test Your Knowledge
BENCHMARK: Communication
AGENDA:
I Do: Model communication skills
We Do: Practice listening skills
They Do: With a partner, brainstorm and plan what information they will bring back to the Reading Leadership Team
You Do: Role play effective communication
OBJECTIVE: Participants will have a thorough understanding of effective communication skills.
HIGHER ORDER QUESTIONS:
How will I ensure that teachers successfully incorporate collaborative strategies during group work?
HOME LEARNING: Review today’s lesson and reflect on how you would implement if you were a coach next year.
ESSENTIAL QUESTION: How can I communicate effectively?

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4. Purpose Why do we need common language?
How do we develop a common language?
How can we communicate effectively?
Share the purpose of this session with participants.
Understand the need for their Reading Leadership Team to develop a common language
Experience an activity their Reading Leadership Team could use to work toward developing a common language.
Brainstorm terms their Reading Leadership Team might need common language for

5. Why Do We Need Common Language?
Divide participants into groups of 3-5. Give each group a list of words to define (provided below). After each group has defined their words prove a context for the words. For example give one group the words foot, square, solid, mean, power, curve, root, product, peck and yard. After they have define each ask them to redefine the words within the context of math.
This activity is from Sharon Kane’s book Literacy & Learning in the Content Areas, page 175.
Facilitate dialogue about the importance of developing their own common language within the context of their school and their Reading Leadership Team.
Math
foot solid root peck
square power product yard
mean mean
Science
motion force fault degree
wave current resistance host
matter charge
Social Studies
key bill race legend
product plain ruler crop
run cabinet
English
case mood tense article
subject tone romance dash
voice stress

6. Words
Group 1: Foot, solid, root, peck, square, power, product, yard, mean
Group 2: Motion, force, fault, degree, wave, current, resistance
Group 3: Key, bill, race, legend, product, plain, ruler, crop, run, cabinet
Group 4: Case, mood, tense, article, subject, tone, romance, dash, stress, voice
foot solid root peck square power product yard mean mean
Motion, force ,fault, degree, wave, current, resistance, host, matter, charge
Key, bill, race, legend, Product, plain, ruler, crop, run, cabinet
Case, mood, tense, article, subject, tone, romance, dash, voice , stress

7. What are Some Terms Your Reading Leadership Team Might Need to Explore Together?
Screening assessment
Progress monitoring
Diagnostic assessment
Dynamic assessment
Static assessment
Evaluation
Phonological awareness
Phonemic awareness
Phonics
Fluency
Expressive vocabulary
Receptive vocabulary
Comprehension
Metacognition
Sources of information
Pragmatic working system
Lexical working system
Schematic working system
Semantic working system
Syntactic working system
Graphophonic working system
Writing as a process
Reading as a process
Literacy
Remind participants there is no ‘required’ list of terms their Reading Leadership Team needs to learn although updating and labeling familiar concepts with new terms does have the potential to promote new thinking. They should develop understanding and a common language for the terms that come up as they learn and work together. Invite participants to investigate these terms as they meet with their colleagues.
Assembling working systems – bringing together information networks that interact and function as a whole used to construct meaning and communicate meaningfully.
Assessment – documentation of student’s strengths and needs collected systematically over time to document change and guide instruction.
Comprehension – critical and defensible interpretation of content in context.
Diagnostic assessments – help teachers plan instruction by providing in-depth information about students’ strengths and needs. Diagnostic measures are conducted at any time during the school year when more in-depth analysis of a student’s strengths and needs is needed to guide instruction.
Dynamic assessment – documentation of student’s strengths and needs collected systematically over time while the student is involved in a particular process.
Evaluation – critical appraisal of students’ strengths and needs based on theory and research.
Expressive Vocabulary – words that are used in speaking and writing.
Fluency – the ability to read text quickly, accurately, and with proper expression.
Formal assessment – reliable and valid documentation of students’ strengths and needs collected systematically over time used to guide instruction and program implementation.
Graphophonic working system – in-the-head knowledge of how sounds and letters interact to construct words.
Informal assessment – documentation of students’ strengths and needs collected systematically over time; that may be interpreted differently from teacher to teacher to guide instruction.
Lexical working system – in-the-head knowledge of receptive and productive vocabulary.
Literacy – the ability to construct meaning and communicate meaningfully by reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing.
Metacognition – in-the-head ability to think about one’s thinking.
Phonological Awareness – one’s sensitivity to, or explicit awareness of, the phonological structure in language. It encompasses an awareness of individual words in sentences, syllables, and onset-rime segments as well as awareness of individual phonemes in words.
Phonemic awareness – in-the-head ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds in spoken words.
Phonics – a method of instruction that teaches children the relationships between the letters of written language and the individual sounds of spoken language.
Pragmatic working system – in-the-head knowledge of an author’s intent in reading and having a sense of audience in writing.
Productive vocabulary – cognitive inventory of words used when speaking and writing.
Progress monitoring assessment – systematically collected documentation of students’ strengths and needs used to show change overtime and guide instruction.
Reading as a process – how individuals assemble working systems to construct meaning from print.
Receptive vocabulary – cognitive inventory of words used when reading, listening and viewing.
Schematic working system – in-the-head knowledge of content and context; background knowledge or prior experiences.
Screening assessment – initial appraisal of students’ strengths and needs.
Semantic working system – in-the-head knowledge of various concepts used to make sense and construct meaning.
Sources of information – elements or working systems used to construct meaning and communicate meaningfully.
Static assessment – outcome measure of students’ strengths and needs based on a given criteria.
Syntactic working system – in-the-head knowledge of the grammar or structure of a language.
Working system – productive network of information used to construct meaning and communicate meaningfully.
Writing as a process – how individuals assemble working systems to communicate comprehensively and meaningfully.

8. Points to Ponder
What are the implications of this information for your Reading Leadership Team?
What information will you share during your Reading Leadership Team’s planning time today?
How will your Reading Leadership Team identify terms that need to clarify as a group?
Should a definition be provided or just a list for consideration? Why might it matter?
How could this common language be developed school-wide?
In small groups participants brainstorm and plan what information they will bring back to the Reading Leadership Team from this breakout session.

9. Effective Communication
This first exercise demonstrates the importance of detailed directions for ensuring consistent results (Silberman 2006). This is also a good icebreaker for your first team-building meeting.
Give everyone one sheet of paper. Tell people to close their eyes and listen to your directions.
Give the directions as follows:
Hold the paper in both hands.
Fold the paper in half.
Tear off the lower left-hand side of the paper.
Fold it in half again.
Tear off the upper right-hand side of the paper.
Tear off the lower right-hand side of the paper.
Then, say, “If you did a good job of listening and I was effectively communicating, all of our papers should look the same. Now, open your eyes.” Inevitably, everyone’s papers will look completely different, and this usually garners a few laughs. This will clearly illustrate that, without detailed directions, you cannot expect the same results from everyone.

10. Article: What Teachers Want from their Coaches
How does communication play a role in these expectations from the teachers?
Build Trust
Demonstrate Competence
Give Respectful, Specific Feedback
Avoid Assumptions about Individual Abilities
Consider Various Learning Styles
Make Change Meaningful by Empowering Teachers
Take Time to Build a Relationship
Jigsaw Activity:
Each group will share out their interpretation of the assigned section and relate it to effective communication.
How does communication play a role in these expectations from the teachers?

11. “No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship” – James Comer (1995)

12. Language of Coaching Tell me about your purpose in/when …
Tell me about your lesson/focus of…
Describe the students’ behavior when . . .
After this lesson, can you describe how the outcomes matched your goals?
Were there any shifts in your instruction?
How did you figure that out?
What challenges did you encounter in the lesson?
How are you planning to go about this…
What are you planning for with the next lesson…
“What Teachers Want from their Coaches”
Reflect on a positive experience with your coach
Reflect on a negative experience with your coach
How can you change a negative statement to positive?

13. The Principal Coach Relationship
An effective principal/coach relationship can be achieved by having the coach and principal:
Collaborate
Create an action plan
Develop or participate in the Reading Leadership Team
Review and discussing the coach’s log and calendar
Attend common planning to know what are the look fors when he/she conducts their walkthroughs
Communicate and share ideas with the leadership team

14. The Principal can… Support and protect the role of the coach
Share a common vision for the coach’s role with the whole faculty
Protect the coach’s time
Guard some time for professional development for the coach and by the coach
Revise and guide the coaches through the discussion of their weekly logs
Create tier action plans to guide coaches and administrators work

15. Leadership Team Coaching Model

16. Questions & Discussions
Do participants have any questions?