The 16 Week Challenge: Week 3

 

Welcome to week 3 of our Fall 2024 16 Week Teaching Challenge!

Is this your first time checking in? No problem. Take a minute and read The Big Launch post here. You can also get caught up on weeks 1 and 2 by scrolling to the "Labels" section at the bottom right of this page and clicking "The 16 Week Challenge," but you're welcome to just jump right into week 3 if you prefer. 

If I were to choose only one thing to improve my craft as a teacher, checking for understanding would be at the top of the list. It's that important. So, here's this week's challenge!

Week 3: Aug. 26 - Learn about Checking for Understanding

1. Begin by reading (or reading) EL's 8 High-Leverage Instructional Practices, and read the row for checking for understanding most closely.
2. Next, read this excerpt from the chapter on checking from understanding from Teach Like a Champion.
3. Then, read this document from EL about checking for understanding. On page 2, consider which of the tools and protocols would help you check for academic understanding, and which are self report. Both can be important, but only the academic ones will help us know whether students are understanding what they need to.

Last, choose one (or more if you want) of these videos to see checking for understanding in action:

• Scott Wells: Grade 4 ELA
• Matthew Gray: middle school ELA
• Denarius Frazier: Grade 11 math
• Courtney Huber: Grade 4 ELA

Completed those 4 tasks? Phenomenal! You just completed your Week 3 Learning Challenge. If you want (and you want to qualify for that lovely little prize I mentioned in the Launch), you can log your success here, and be sure to check back next week - September 2 - for Week 4!

P.S. Missed a week and want to get caught up? You absolutely can. Just go back, complete those challenges, log your success, and join us again next week!

Here's to simply teaching well,

The 16 Week Challenge: Week 2

 

Welcome back to week 2 of our Fall 2024 16 Week Teaching Challenge!

Is this your first time checking in? No problem. Take a minute and read The Big Launch post here, and get caught up on the Week 1 Challenge here. 

If, on the other hand, you're ready to begin, here's this week's challenge.

Week 2: Aug. 19 - Practice Learning Targets

The challenge is to put into practice what you learned last week by actively using learning targets throughout lessons. (Revisit pp. 152-153 of last week's reading if you need a refresh.)

What does this look like? The method is up to you, but it should look like revisiting them throughout a lesson so you and students know what you're trying to accomplish and how close you are to it.

That could look like:

• Inserting learning target slides before each new section of a lesson
• Internalizing a lesson to plant Checking for Understanding opportunities, and fronting them with a quick learning target reminder.
• Or - my favorite - simply writing the targets on the board so they are ALWAYS visible to kids and revisiting them as often as you and they need to.

So, choose an idea, try it out, and see what impact it makes on your teaching (Does it improve your clarity? Your pacing?) and your students' learning (Do kids know why they're doing what they are?),

Completed that? Yay! You just completed your Week 2 Teaching Challenge. If you want, you can log your success here, and be sure to check back next week - August 26 - for Week 3!

Here's to simply teaching well,

The 16 Week Challenge: Week 1

Welcome to week 1 of our Fall 2024 16 Week Teaching Challenge!

If you're wondering what's going on, take a minute and read The Big Launch post here. If, on the other hand, you're ready to begin, here's this week's challenge.

Week 1: Aug 12 - Learning About Learning Targets

1. Begin by reading (or rereading) the list of EL Education's 8 High-Leverage Instructional Practices That Empower Students to Own Their Learning, and read the row for Learning Targets most closely. 

2. Then, read the document Using Learning Targets. I encourage you to approach this with fresh eyes; we've heard the term "learning targets" so much, it's easy to have a bit of an "expert blind spot" about them. Print this out, mark it up, and reflect on what this adds to or changes your thinking about learning targets. What new did you glean from it?

3. Last, watch this 5 minute video of a teacher using learning targets at the beginning of a lesson. What do you notice about the teaching? What do you notice about the students?

Completed those 3 tasks? Congratulations! You just completed your Week 1 Learning Challenge. If you want, you can log your success here, and be sure to check back next week - August 19 - for Week 2!

Here's to simply teaching well,

The 16 Week Challenge: The Big Launch!

 

Welcome to the official launch of our Fall 2024 16 Week Teaching Challenge! 

The whole goal of this series of teaching challenges is to revisit the learning we've already done as a district (especially EL 201: The 8 High-Leverage Practices of EL Education) and focus our first 16 weeks of school on getting really good at the things we already know to do. Getting meticulous about the fundamentals.

Nothing new. No long PD session. Just quick learning and easy-to-implement, evidence-based ideas each week that can help us get better at teaching so our students get better at learning. For 16 weeks. 

If you'd like to join in the fun, here's what you do:

1. If you want, check out the "EL 201 Revisited: Meticulous About the Fundamentals" year-at-a-glance on my professional learning menu here to see the big picture.

2. Put a reminder in your calendar to check the blog each Monday at 8:00 a.m. beginning August 12 for the newest learning or challenge.

That's it! Easy as that.

Each week you complete the challenge, you have the option to enter your success in a Google Form here. There's no outside accountability for this - just good teaching fun on the honor system. 

You can complete the form each time you complete a week's teaching challenge. Complete at least 12 of the 16 challenges and log them on the form, and a very small (but lovely) prize will find its way to you. Miss a week and want to get caught up? You absolutely can. Just go back, complete those challenges, log your success, and hop right back in.

I can't wait to see all we learn and do this fall.

Here's to simply teaching well,