At our Back to School Welcome, Michael Toth and Dr. Grover briefly referenced and recognized Starr, Jefferson and Walnut campuses as our three schools taking on the work of becoming Demonstration Schools of Rigor. (If you are interested in learning more about what a Demonstration School of Rigor is, please check out this video.) This professional learning around this work is intense and will take approximately 2-3 years, but will change pedagogy and transform classrooms to focus on preparing students to be successful in the new economy.
The learning that is happening at all three schools will benefit all of our schools as we build and develop instructional leadership at the student level, classroom level, campus level and district level! We are all learning and growing through this work! In addition to this, by the end of the second year, our Demonstration Schools will become learning laboratories for all GIPS!
This work is not easy! Professional learning for these schools started July 24th!
 Teams sharing and describing the instructional vision during the Designing Implementation Training |
Learning about the new economy and what it means to have a student centered classrooms with rigor.
What is a PLC 2.0 and how do we collaboratively work together and use student learning evidence to inform planning that addresses student needs?
What is the connection to the district strategic plan? Here is an example of how a team made the connection.....
In addition to all of this, all three schools are receiving coaching through our Learning Science Partners around the implementation of Marzano strategies. Monitoring progress is occurring through rigor walks looking for systems that impact outcomes.
Teachers are trying different strategies to move on the continuum to creating student centered classrooms with rigor.
For example: Using the strategy...Organizing students to work in groups. It's important to structure groups with assigned roles and responsibilities, and for a purpose. We learned about the difference between organizing students in furniture groups vs. organizing students in groups to engage in cognitively complex tasks.
Some teachers have also just started implementing the use of Standards Tracker to monitor "minute by minute" learning. Having success criteria for the intended targets (aligned to standards) is important so they, and students, can track progress along the way.
This is a huge commitment for our Jefferson, Walnut, and Starr faculty and staff to take the lead with this work! They are to be commended for their willingness and dedication to this learning. As you interact with staff from theses three schools, please be a cheerleader, a supporter, and thank them for taking risks, practicing new strategies, and transforming their classrooms into student centered learning environments!
It's an exciting journey and I'm so thankful we are able to engage in the work in GIPS!
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