SIT Agenda 4-19-07

School Improvement Team Agenda

April 20, 2007

7:30 AM

First, please remember that the King SIT has designated tomorrow maize and blue day. Please dress accordingly or risk cruel comments :-)

- EMWP Parent Writing Nights

- advertising

- sign up

- Child care? - TBD by PTO

- What do we want events next year to accomplish? What are the goals?

MLK Education Yes! Report

Hi all,

Attached is a copy of the 24-page King Education Yes! report that was
submitted for the superintendent's approval minutes ago . . . for
your leisure reading:

SIT Minutes 3-23-07

Thanks to everyone for the work and input on Education Yes! today. Our work on section 4 really helped beef up the Evidence section. As a reminder, any additional input in any other section is due to me by Thursday, March 29 at 9 AM. My hope is to factor in any additional input that day and then submit the report to Superintendent Roberts and then to the state.

Other discussion centered around the upcoming parent writing workshops.

SIT attendees at the writing nights:
May 2--Laura
May 10--Laurie
May 15—Mona

Susan and Laurie will be working a flyer, eNotes, blurb for classroom newsletters

Advertising:

• Kevin will set up a table the night of the Silent Auction where the flyer about the upcoming nights will be distributed
  
• Information will be shared at the next PTO meeting
  

Things to explore/think about: Child care

Colleen is going to cost out the price of King SIT shirts/t-shirts/etc?

Education Yes! DRAFT Report

Hello King SIT,

As we approach our Friday morning meeting, I want to share two pieces of information ahead of time.

First, our agenda:

Discuss Education Yes DRAFT documents and process for collection of input

- collect input on highlighted areas

- all input to Kevin by Thursday, March 29 at 9 AM

Parent Workshop Updates

- dates: May 2, May 10, May 15

- needs: PR, registration, what else?

Second, the DRAFT King Education Yes! documents: (sorry, not uploadable to this site)

These pdfs represent the current state of the 40 performance indicators each public school must report out to the state. In other words, we are in the drafting/revising stage of the writing process :-). There may be misspellings, omissions, run-on sentences, etc. Receiving input about these kinds of things would be helpful in addition to other input and feedback. We'll spend some of Friday's meeting time on this.

In addition to input from the SIT, the King staff will also give input between now and when the complete report is submitted to Dr. Roberts and then to the state.

If you have questions, please ask.

Kevin

Fwd: parent night X 3

Hello King SIT,

Based on the input of the last SIT meeting, I've scheduled three
parent presentations on May 2, 10 and 15, each at 7 PM.

While I don't know if anyone else would like to attend one of these
nights, I would certainly welcome the company.

Also, would anyone be willing to help with PR/sign up coordination
for these nights? Let me know if you can help.

Kevin

SIT Notes 2-16-07

Today we reviewed the feedback from the parent workshop—and brainstormed next steps. Here are my notes:

Q: Is offering the EMWP parent workshop alone enough or would it be better to have a series of workshops?
A: Generally the consensus was that the EMWP parent workshop should be offered this year going into summer with on-going planning for an event or events that would take place next school year.

Brainstormed ideas:

• Offer the EMWP parent workshop this year as summer approaches

• Is it possible to offer more than one parent session at the same time?
• Would it be possible to videotape the next parent session? Put it on the website?

• Publicize 826 workshops so parents are aware of this
• Publish family writing ideas in the newsletter
• Grade level writing featured on a website? Blog
• Give parents a tool by which to assess a child’s writing (a rubric)?
• Make a list of family writing ideas and publish them on the school website.

Did I miss anything? Please let me know :-)

My thoughts now: I'll work on getting in contact with the EMWP to see if sessions can be scheduled. I'll shoot for three sessions.


On the horizon (even though we didn't talk much about it at the SIT meeting):

• Education YES--a large part of the state requirement is filling out the indicators showing school compliance. These indicators will be factored into our school grade. The collection period for these begins in early March.
  
• More on MEAP scores for 2006-07
  

SIT notes - 2/16/07

Today we reviewed the feedback from the parent workshop—and brainstormed next steps. Here are my notes:

Is offering the EMWP parent workshop alone enough or would it be better to have a series of workshops?
Generally the consensus was that it would be good to offer the EMWP parent workshop this year going into summer with on-going planning for an event or events that would take place next school year.

Offer the EMWP parent workshop this year as summer approaches
• Is it possible to offer more than one parent session at the same time?
• Would it be possible to videotape the next parent session? Put it on the website?
Publicize 826 workshops
Publish family writing ideas in the newsletter
Grade level writing featured on a website? Blog?
Give parents a tool by which to assess a child’s writing (a rubric)?
Make a list of family writing ideas and publish them on the school website.

King Elementary School Book Release!

NOTE: This is a follow up to the post below called "What your story?"

Location: Crazy Wisdom Tea Room

Thursday, March 8, 2007. Time TBA.

For six weeks in January and February, 826michigan volunteers will be working with King Elementary students in an after-school creative writing workshop. The King Elementary Parent Teacher Organization has generously committed to funding a publication of their work. Their teachers, parents, peers, and the general public are invited to hear students read and to see the completed publication at this book release party.

Crazy Wisdom is located at 114 S. Main Street in Ann Arbor. Hope to see you there!

SIT Team Agenda - 2/16/07

On Friday, 2/16, at 7:30, the King SIT team will meet to discuss the following:

• Parent Workshop Discussion
  
• MEAP 2006 scores
• Education Yes!

Hope to see you then!


The results of the feedback sheets from the January 23, 2007 parent presentation show below.

Evaluations/Parent Writing Night/January 23, 2007

What would you like to learn more about?

• By age, what’s the appropriate help to give your child (6)
• Define outline for various types of writing that would help kids to start thinking in a structural way (3)
• More discussion on how to proofread, correct and critique with my kids (3)
• Better ways on how to help your child organize their thoughts (3)
• Ways that parents can help the teachers with writing assignments (3)
• More exercises for us to use with kids like the one we did in the beginning (2)
• How to help kids with writing when English is not your native language
• Discuss the different problems that elementary students tend to have with writing and how to deal with them
• Review the information presented in smaller segments
• Ways to encourage writing at home
• How criticism impacts kids later in life
• More samples of kids’ writing
• More information about how King’s teachers are using writing in the classroom and incorporating these concepts into their teaching
• Common problems that other parents have faced with their children’s writing and how they overcame them
• More information from a kid’s point of view…how they thinking about writing and why they may not want to write down their ideas.
• How is grammar taught these days
• How my child can be enrolled in this workshop

What was most helpful to you about tonight’s presentation?

• Practical ways to help children be good writers (12)
• Ideas on incorporating writing into daily life (8)
• Make writing a family fun activity (6)
• The many resources and ideas presented (4)
• The presenters’ enthusiasm was inspiring (3)
• The exercise in the beginning helped me realize that there are different writing styles
• Reiteration on encouragement and to tone down criticism
• Tips on how to respond to your child’s writing

Is there anything else you’d like us to know?

• Great workshop (6 people specifically said but all comments were positive)
• How will the school follow up? One workshop – even when every single parent takes part – is not enough to help our kids write better (2)
• I think it would be helpful to have teachers suggest to parents some ideas for incorporating the teaching of writing into family life
• Provide more opportunity for parents to tell their own stories as part of the workshop
• I think it would be most helpful to have this seminar in a longer session maybe laid out during several evenings with or w/o kids
• How can we connect our efforts at home with the teacher so that we can develop some writing projects together

"What's Your Story?" Begins

This is the fourth grade pilot writing project I spoke of at our last meeting. Two fourth grade parents are spearheading this project and have planned it in consultation with me with the support of 826michigan.org.

From their materials (and for your information):
This workshop will use theater games and creative writing exercises to encourage students to tell their own story. Be aware: this workshop will have strict emphasis on having fun and getting creative!
It's a 5-week fiction writing workshop designed to create an anthology of student writing.
Jan. 25th -- Poetry, Sharp Imagery, Picture image exercises
Feb. 1 -- Dialogue, Character
Feb. 8 -- Short stories, narratives
Feb. 15 -- Progression of a story
Feb. 22 -- Writing workshop, choose piece for publication
March 8 -- Readings for family and friends at Crazy Wisdom!

Parent Writing Workshop

Last evening, I met with the King School Improvement Team (SIT) and the PTO board for a parent workshop focusing on writing, an area the SIT Team identified based on King's achievement data. The presenters of the meeting, Kim Pavlock and Cathy Fleischer, came to us from the Eastern Michigan Writing Project, a group that mainly focuses on helping teacher's teach writing. However, they are now offering a variety of parent workshops which was what they brought to King.

By all accounts (including the feedback sheets filled out by attendees), the presentation was helpful, useful, interesting and inspiring.

From the notes I took last night, I'll share the following as food for thought and discussion--and for our purposes, we should all consider ourselves "teachers" of our children.

Research basis for best practices around writing:
1. All children can and should write
2. Teachers must help students find real purposes to write
3. Students need to take ownership and responsibility
4. Effective writing programs involve the complete writing process
5. Teachers can help students get started
6. Teachers help students draft and revise
7. Grammar and mechanics are best learned in the context of actual writing
8. Students need real audiences and a classroom context of shared learning
9. Writing should extend throughout the curriculum
10. Effective teachers use evaluation constructively and efficiently

Our next step: Decide whether or not this same workshop would be helpful/useful to the wider King parent group. Stay tuned!

Beyond Grammar Drills

Below is the title of the article distributed at SIT this AM. Click on the title to view the article.

Beyond Grammar Drills: How Language Works in Learning to Write
The Council Chronicle Online, October 25, 2006

As A resource to teachers, I have ordered Daily Oral Language, a grammar teaching resource, for grades 1 - 5 to be used as needed.

Input on Parent Workshop

I took the following notes as ideas that would be good to hit upon at the upcoming parent workshop:
• Would like to look at the complete expectations of what is expected at each grade level
• Explain how to continuum works
• Reading level booklet has been helpful to parents
• Think over which information is needed for individual parents and what is needed for the whole group
• Ongoing information about writing would be helpful throughout the school year
• Define the different types of writing – and purposes for writing
• Share with parents how much of the writing kids do goes through the entire process and how much does
• Set dates soon for something that would accommodate the all parents being a part of the EMWP parent workshop
• Keep in mind

If there are others that you think we should keep in mind, please email me.

Kevin

SIT Agenda 12-1-06

Dear King SIT members:

Just a reminder that we'll meet on Friday at 7:30 AM. If you have time, I'll buy coffee and bagels/buns after the meeting in the MP Room!

Agenda items will include:
Follow up on grammar
Eastern Michigan Writing Project information
A promising writing practice??? (this is a teaser; I'll tell you more tomorrow)

Hope to see you then.

Kevin

Sharing an email . . .

Kevin,
I understand from Teresa McMahon that the school improvement committee is already investigating bringing the 826 writing program to King. I just wanted to let you know I attended a parents' workshop over the weekend there and it was fantastic. The two EMU professors who taught it were engaging and had great ideas. It seems like it would be great for the King students and parents.

Leah

AAPS Grammar Rubrics

When assessing students according to the grade level expectations in reading, writing and math, teachers use a standard we call a rubric. The rubric targets the expected behavior for students.

Below you will find the grade level grammar rubrics now. It is important to know these are currently being revised by the district language arts advisory committee to be reflective of the new GLCEs for language arts (the same ones posted previously).

1st Grade
Secure Behaviors Include
• Some pieces of writing may contain capitals and periods used correctly, while others may not.
• May be inconsistencies within a piece: some periods and capitals included, others omitted.

2nd Grade
• Child uses capital letters, periods, question marks and exclamation points correctly most of the time.

3rd Grade
Developing Behaviors Include:
Student writes a paragraph with a topic sentence and supporting details, with teacher prompts and guidance. Written piece contains correct end punctuation and capitalization of proper nouns, the letter I, and beginning words in sentences.

4th Grade
Secure Behaviors Include:
Student writes a paragraph with a topic sentence and supporting details. Written piece contains correct end punctuation and capitalization of proper nouns, the letter I, and beginning words in sentences.

5th Grade
Secure Behaviors Include:
Student writes a paragraph with a topic sentence and supporting details. Written piece contains correct end punctuation and capitalization of proper nouns, the letter I, and beginning words in sentences.

King SIT Blog Announced

I put together the site below for the use of the school improvement
team. I hope it will help to document our discussions as well as be
a place to post follow up information from meetings.

From the grammar discussions we've had, I've already posted a subset
of Michigan's Grade Level Content Expectations (GLCEs). More soon . . .

Website address:
http://kingsit.blogspot.com/

Grade Level Content Expectations for grammar

The Grade Level Content Expectations are the guiding documents from the state of Michigan telling school districts and teachers what is to be taught at each grade level. An in-depth explanation of these for parents can be accessed by clicking here.

The GLCEs for grammar for each grade show below.

Kinder
None

1st grade
W.GR.01.01 in the context of writing, correctly use complete simple sentences beginning with a capital letter and ending with a period, question mark, or exclamation point and capitalize first and last names, and the pronoun I.

2nd grade
W.GR.02.01 in the context of writing, correctly use more complex complete sentences, nouns and verbs, commas (in a series, in a letter, and with dates), contractions, colons to denote time, and capitalization of proper nouns.

3rd grade
W.GR.03.01 in the context of writing, correctly use subjects and verbs that are in agreement; verb tenses; nouns and possessives; commas in a series; and begin use of quotation marks and capitalization in dialogue.

4th grade
W.GR.04.01 in the context of writing, correctly use simple and compound sentences; direct and indirect objects; prepositional phrases; adjectives; common and proper nouns as subjects and objects; pronouns as antecedents; regular and irregular verbs; hyphens between syllables; apostrophes in contractions; and commas in salutations to set off words; phrases and dialogue; quotation marks or italics to identify titles or names.

5th grade
W.GR.05.01 in the context of writing, correctly use compound subjects and predicates; proper nouns and pronouns; articles; conjunctions; hyphens in compound and number words; commas between two independent clauses to set off direct address, long phrases, clauses; colons to separate hours and minutes and to introduce a list.

6th grade
W.GR.06.01 in the context of writing, correctly use style conventions (e.g., Modern Language Association Handbook) and a variety of grammatical structures in writing including indefinite and predicate pronouns; transitive and intransitive verbs; adjective and adverbial phrases; adjective and adverbial subordinate clauses; comparative adverbs and adjectives; superlatives, conjunctions; compound sentences; appositives; independent and dependent clauses; introductory phrases; periods; commas; quotation marks; and use of underlining and italics for specific purposes.

SIT Agenda 11-3-06

Morning,

Just a quick reminder that the King SIT team will convene on Friday, November 3 at 7:30 in the school office conference room. Hope to see you there.

Agenda:
Review Achievement Plan (handout)—3 minutes
Review goal of team: Support Achievement Plan through strategies developed through SIT/staff (and consistent with district direction)—3 minutes
District Curriculum (book handout)—10 minutes to preview
How can the King SIT team support the achievement plan? -- 25 minutes of questions/discussion
Please help me to remember to discuss a next meeting time before we leave the meeting. :-)

Attachments to email: King achievement data (also handed out at last meeting) and State of School presentation from curriculum night. It is my hope that these two pieces are reviewed individually before we meet.

Thanks.
Kevin (and Laurie Barnett)
Co-chairs

SIT Agenda 10-20-06

Hello King SIT Members!

Just a reminder that our SIT team activities will commence for the year on Friday at 7:30 in the office conference room at MLK.

Here is what is on our agenda for Friday:

- Introductions
- Review of District Achievement Plan and the King School data (handouts)
- The role of the team
- Input about year
- Eastern Michigan Writing Project
- Other