COHORT CORNER
D.C. REGION PILOT COHORT / AUGUST 22, 2011
For those of you who are receiving schedule changes, please send your most updated teaching schedule and include the following information: school name, principal name/ email, and the room #s youll be teaching in throughout the day. Im looking forward to seeing you all in action in the coming days and weeks!
Issue # 2
Action Items
PLEASE SEND YOUR UPDATED TEACHING SCHEDULE
Announcements
COHORT MEETING What: During this meeting, well work together to dene what we consider to be transformational teaching,generate the topics well be focusing on together as a cohort during professional development, and share ideas for what professional development will look like. When: Sunday, August 28th from 5-7:30pm Where: 9th oor, TFA Ofce: 1411 K St NW. Pizza will be provided! UPCOMING PDS What: Stay tuned for logistical updates in TAL mail!
When: Saturday, September 10th Where: Gallaudet University
Resource Spotlight
SHARING YOUR VISION (UPPER ELEMENTARY/SECONDARY EXAMPLES) See how Gillon Crichton plans to share his vision with his students and watch videos of how others have done so before ACHIEVEMENT NETWORKS VIDEO LIBRARY Check out Achievement Firsts full video library of professional development clips and learn from some master teachers at work. You can access the library at this link and by inputting the login afvideos and password respect. HABITS OF DISCUSSION Want to spark some meaningful conversation but need ideas for how to teach your students how to engage in them? Check out Amy Filsingers Accountable Talk packet which is loaded with strategies for building habits of discussion in your students. if you want to see how someone sets clear expectations for meaningful conversations, watch these TFAnet videos on book clubs, facilitating Socratic discussions, or social (discussion) skills in elementary contexts. FAMILY ENGAGEMENT RESOURCES Looking for some good ideas for parent and family engagement? Check out Julia Sadowskys packet and unit plan for families or CJ Libassis Parent Newsletter CLASS CULTURE RESOURCES Check out the following strong examples of how teachers in our cohort are building culture topics and objectives into their long-term and unit plans to ensure theyre reinforcing key mindsets, habits, and traits that will set their kids up for long-term success.
*Strong ECE LTP and Unit Plan Example #1
*Strong ECE LTP Example #2
*Strong secondary LTP Example *Second Steps K-5 scope and sequence
Shajena Erazo -for providing some serious cohort spirit at Round 0 and the rst cool icebreaker Ive ever been a part of--CJ Libassi Maria Roth, Megan Gilbert, Molly France, and Campbell Glenn: for their inspiring efforts to build culture at all levels of their planning--from the long-term to unit levels. As with content standards, theyve carefully spiraled culture learning goals in a logical sequence and have been intentional about how they want to introduce important social and life skills at the lesson level. Im excited to see how their careful planning helps foster the culture and habits they want to see in their students. Check out their planning folders in our cohort Dropbox to see what I mean!--Joaquin Clair Briggs: for drafting a proposal and hosting a meeting with her administration where she successfully convinced them to support her vision to encourage all students to take the SAT II Biology exam.--Joaquin Julia Sadowsky: for her incredible outreach to parents and families: from parent surveys to a parent-friendly unit plan loaded with tips parents can use to reinforce their childs learning. Check out her recent family packet to see a bit of what I mean!--Joaquin Kelly Gleischman -for creating such a great mentorship program!--Alex Krupp All the girls in the cohort -for not shunning me as the only guy at Round 0. --CJ Libassi Molly France: for all that she did for our session a few Saturdays ago for the 2011s. Thanks :)--Megan Gilbert Abby Wihl: for sharing resources and taking the time to wake up early and explain how to use the resources. Thanks!--Indira Cruz Meredith Ackerman: for holding herself accountable to living her vision out at the unit level by including vision objectives that map up with her content objectives. By doing so, she is ensuring that she remains grounded in the why behind every lesson and doesnt lose sight of what is most important.--Joaquin Gillon Crichton: for joining elementary and ECE CMs at a home visit training hosted by the Flamboyan Foundation to expand his repertoire of strategies for parent and family engagement. Im excited to see how his
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