Division of Instruction PACE Newsletter

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  • Date: Tuesday, February 26, 2008

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 Data Team Leader Support Course

This five-session course is available for current data team leaders. Facilitators of the course are Dr. Lisa Escárcega, Chief Accountability and Research Officer, Susan Olezene, Director of Student Achievement, and Rich Patterson, Director of Student Achievement. Topics addressed in this course will include facilitation strategies, data analysis using common assessments and common assignments, choosing instructional strategies, and identifying results indicators. Dates and times of the course:

Expertise in developing vibrant Readers/Writers Workshop classrooms continues to expand across the district, and APS secondary literacy teachers are engaged in rich dialogue and professional learning focused on developing students as readers and writers.  Among the many levels of professional learning support for teachers refining their practice in Readers/Writers Workshop is consultant support from Dorothy Barnhouse and Vicki Vinton.  These independent consultants from New York are specialists in Readers/Writers Workshop at the secondary level and consult with school districts across the country, including New York City Public Schools.  Together they provide monthly full-day professional development customized in response to teachers’ and administrators’ questions about the workshop at each secondary building.Among the many dialogue topics with Dorothy and Vicki at various buildings are:

• Using Readers/Writers Notebooks as tools to develop thinking versus places to demonstrate something already thought
• Supporting students to understand how the thinking work they’re doing is clearly leading them to new insights
• Helping students develop a larger vision for what they want to write by examining what this genre looks like in the world
• Using the structure of conference to promote agency and build conscious identities as readers and writers
• Understanding how to gather formative data in literacy classrooms and plan for instruction based on that

In upcoming visits, Dorothy Barnhouse will be at South Middle School on February 25 and at East Middle School on February 26.  Vicki Vinton will be at Gateway High School on April 21 and at West Middle School and Aurora Hills Middle School on April 22.

Professional development for Core Plus, Courses 1, 2, 3, and 4 will be offered July 21 - 25.  This is the fourth year that Aurora, in conjunction with Western Michigan University, will be a regional site for these workshops.  There are several advantages to collaborating with Western Michigan University for this training, including: highly trained and experienced classroom teachers as facilitators, teachers from multiple districts and states deepening their content and pedagogy understandings in a collaborative setting, and being able to offer professional learning for each of the four Core Plus Courses.During the past four years, professional development support was provided by the publisher as part of the textbook purchase agreement.  Since all four of the course textbooks have now been purchased, the publisher will not be providing any support for the professional development needed to support new and returning teachers.  Last year there were 25 returning teachers and 8 new-hire teachers who received this training.  The advertised cost for the 5 day training is $450.00 per teacher.  As the host site for the training, the cost for Aurora teachers is expected to be reduced.  The cost for Aurora teachers is being estimated at $250 - $350 per teacher.  This is only an estimate and several options are being considered to keep the cost to schools as low as possible.  As schools are planning for supporting their teachers’ participation, 2008-09 building professional learning budgets can be used for this purpose.APS new-hire math teachers who will be teaching Core Plus courses will be given information from HR about their participation in the training.  New hires will receive professional learning involving the mathematical content, instructional strategies, and planning support.  District coaches will be involved with this portion of the workshop.  By using district coaches, it is possible that the cost to schools for participation by new hires would be zero.  All teachers will receive CDE continuing education hours for their participation.

A three day Pedagogy Workshop is also being planned during this same time period, July 22-24.  This workshop would also be taught by experienced Core Plus teachers using classroom video and case studies. The cost is $300 per teacher.  This cost could possibly be reduced depending on the number of teachers who register and attend.

As registration and additional information becomes available it will be forwarded to schools.  Please contact Barb Peterson at bapeterson@aps.k12.co.us if you have any questions.

Requests for student teaching placements will begin in earnest in the next month.  When an interested student teacher candidate contacts you directly, please refer them to the Department of Professional Learning.  They will receive instructions on how to apply to student teach in APS.  The process is similar for students who need to do classroom observation for education or special services courses, and for internships and practicum.  When you are contacted by these students, again, please refer them to the Department of Professional Learning.A description of the process for student teaching in APS and the application forms for student teaching, internships, practicum, and classroom observations are available on the Professional Learning Web site, http://www.aps.k12.co.us/instruct/pl/student_teach.html.  When the completed student teaching application is received, the applicant is sent an email requesting they complete the TeacherInsight assessment tool.  Students applying for classroom observations, special services internships, and practicum do not complete TeacherInsight.All interested applicants are also asked to verify that they have completed the CDE fingerprinting process, which includes the CBI background check.  Several universities include this step as part of the admissions process for teacher education programs.  UCD, Metro and UNC have provided letters indicating that all their students have completed this process.  Other programs within these same universities do not have this admissions requirement; this may include counseling, social work, speech pathology, etc.  Due to the long delay processing the background checks, this is causing delays in students’ beginning their observations, internships, and practicum.  Cynthia Milliken and Linda Damon are working with the various institutions to streamline this process.  An APS identification badge will not be issued to students until this process is complete and Professional Learning receives verification that the student has successfully completed the check.

The goal for the student teacher placement is to develop candidates who, when they complete student teaching, are more like first year teachers than brand new teachers.  For this to happen, at many sites, student teachers are placed with teacher leaders/demonstration classroom teachers/teacher leaders in training.

Linda Damon works with Instructional Coordinators, District Coaches, District Resource Teachers, principals, and other instructional leaders to identify potential cooperating teachers.  Principals are then asked if they are interested in having student teacher(s)in their buildings.  Principals may contact their teachers or Linda Damon may contact specific teachers.  If the principal agrees, the teacher receives an email, asking if he or she would be interested in supporting a student teacher.  Usually the principal and/or the teacher interview the student teacher applicant.  Linda Damon is then notified if the placement will or will not work.  A principal may recommend that a student teacher not be placed in his or her building at this time and that request is honored.

If several students from the same higher education institution apply to the district, they are often placed at the same school.  This informal professional development school model provides significant support to both the student teachers and the cooperating teachers.

If you have any questions about student teaching placements, please contact Linda Damon at ext. 28364.

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