Happy Holidays!

George Couros recently posted a blog about the importance of taking care of yourself and although his message presents ideas for those weeks just before the holiday, he mentions ideas that are well worth considering over the winter break. 

Here are a few that I'm putting on my list:

• Schedule time to work out
• Read for pleasure
• Watch a tv series 
• Surround myself with people that lift me up

It is a challenge to take time for yourself, but I agree with George when he states, "taking this time not only gives you more energy, but the time spent with those you care about --you will be in a much better mood."  The time with those you love and care about will be quality time because you have filled your own cup! Not as easy as it sounds, because educators are so giving, so try to pick at least one of the few things on your list and stick to it!

Wishing you all the best of holidays!  I look forward to an awesome start to 2018!

Cleaning out the Cognitive Clutter

The holidays are meant to be the the best time of the year.

However, the holidays can be extremely stressful for many of our students and families. Kate Crowe is guest blogger this week with some tips on how to clean out the cognitive clutter.

Each of us has a mental workspace where we process and manipulate information.  This workspace is called working memory.  Your workspace can only hold so many chunks of information at one time (probably about 5-9), and it doesn’t hold on to those chunks for very long.

Most of us have plenty of “stuff” in our workspace - planning, decision-making, cognition, emotion, and behavior can all exist there.  The amount of stuff in your workspace is called your cognitive load, which is the total amount of mental effort

Most of us have plenty of “stuff” in our workspace - planning, decision-making, cognition, emotion, and behavior can all exist there.  The amount of stuff in your workspace is called your cognitive load, which is the total amount of mental effort being used by your working memory.  While a “typical” student has plenty of cognitive load to try to manage, students from poverty frequently have more than the average number of pieces of information trying to take up valuable space in their working memory.  Worries about holidays, home life, and basic necessities such as food and supervision can crowd out and take priority over learning, and IQ can even temporarily drop from having too much cognitive load.  

The good news is that we can help remove some of the clutter from our students’ workspaces and free up room for the learning that must take place.  Classroom environment and instructional design can play a big part in alleviating an overwhelming cognitive load.  

Here are a few strategies that can have a big impact:

• Remove unnecessary complexity and distraction such as poor instructions, visually cluttered presentations, and things not relevant to the learning task (this does NOT mean to “water down” the curriculum or lessen the level or rigor).
• Create a safe classroom environment where students are not bullied or teased.
• Say less - get rid of lengthy explanations and irrelevant content.  Say the minimum you need to in order to convey the necessary information.
• Scaffold your students’ learning.
• Utilize student collaboration - group learning spreads the cognitive load between several brains, and can be more efficient when there are high cognitive demands.
• Provide cognitive aids and memory tools  - scratch paper, checklists, concept maps,  word association, key words, acronyms, loci method, or peg words - any supports that can offload some of the demands on working memory.  
• Help reduce student stress (which has a high impact on working memory) by teaching coping strategies, giving students increased control, and helping them feel connected to their classroom and school.

If we help our students to declutter their working memory, we can dramatically lessen their cognitive load and increase their learning.  I can’t think of a better reason to try to clean out some cognitive clutter!

I Believe.....

In the Grand Island Public Schools, we can honestly say that we have common goals, 11 of them to be exact and I am so proud and excited about the progress and direction that we are making so far as a district. Please know that no progress would be made without the dedication and commitment of all of you!

In today's blog, I'm going to update you on our progress on one of our eight objectives and specific action steps within our strategic plan. I know you are all familiar with our three priorities; PLC 2.0, Standards Based Planning, and Using data to inform decisions, however, you might not be familiar with the progress on our other strategic initiative action steps developed to help us achieve our mission, vision, and goals.  There is a lot of information, but I'll try to be brief!

Obj. 1: GIPS Classrooms will be led by instructional experts who guarantee the delivery of a rigorous and relevant curriculum to all students.

• Strategic Initiative 1: Ensure all teachers have access to high-quality curriculum resources, including curriculum maps, common assessments, academic programs, and instructional materials.
• An external team conducted an audit of our curriculum map and resources.  Initial findings revealed
• High ratings for Elementary, Middle School and High School ELA resources which means our ELA resources are highly aligned to standards and reflect the instructional shifts that we want to make
•  Growth areas: Create more user friendly curriculum maps and lesson level support for teachers to maximize the instructional opportunities
• Next steps: T&L has identified teams that will be working 2nd semester and into the summer to conduct recommended revision work

• Strategic Initiative 2: Develop a school based professional growth system for teachers
• Success criteria has been developed with mentors to ensure high quality supports for mentees.  Overall first quarter reflection from mentees showed positive results regarding the supports.
• Implementation of the Marzano's Focus Framework evaluation model.  Professional learning has been provided to principals and instructional coaches. All certified staff and administrators have set professional goals.  The intention is to move from a compliant practice to reflective practice with growth monitored through iObservation.
• Monthly seminars are offered through sched (14 so far) with a focus on instructional strategies and district priorities.  
• Principals have engaged in side by side coaching (August and Nov/Dec) to calibrate on observations of effective planning and instruction as well as feedback that promotes celebration and/or change in practice.
• Instructional coaches participate in monthly meetings focused on how to improve teacher practice through coaching. 
• Implementation of Demonstration Schools for Rigor initiative at Walnut, Jefferson and Starr

• Strategic Initiative 3:Define the goals and structures for teacher collaborative time at each school level to ensure that all school's educators regularly analyze student outcomes, address individual student's barriers to learning, plan effective lessons

• Resources such as "Collaborative Teams that Transform Schools","Leaders of Learning", "The Essentials for Standards Driven Classrooms" are studied and utilized during principal meetings to develop common language and understanding of effective practice.
• PLC 2.0 and Standards Based Planning guiding documents have been developed with district and school leaders, along with resources and defined supports available
• Two seminars have been offered for teachers around standards based planning along with differentiated supports for buildings requesting additional PL.
• The first set of Data Rounds were conducted in October.  Principals, Dr. Grover, Dr. McDowell and Dr. Palmer met to collaboratively establish indicators for school improvement, collect data demonstrating progress towards those indicators, analyze the data, celebrate success and address challenges.  Action steps for principals and central office were established during this time as well.  The next rounds will occur in February.

• Strategic Initiative 4: Develop a robust leadership development system for principals

• Held Leadership Institute in June to kick off the strategic plan and establish district priorities
• Conducted professional learning in July around PLC 2.0 and Focus Framework
• August administrators participated in instructional coaching training with a focus on professional goal setting
• Conducted new principal induction training-3 days
• Developed guiding documents for GIPS Instructional Leadership Model
• Engaged in professional learning regarding the process of data rounds in September, conducted data rounds in October
• Pk-12 admin meetings focus on strategic plan priorities and collaboration 
• Continue to work on a systematic plan for leadership development including establishing a model for an aspiring principal pipeline.
• Implementation of Demonstration Schools For Rigor, principal and school leadership coaching with LSI

Whew! Sorry for the lengthy blog, but wanted to provide you with a glimpse of progress so far this year just on Objective 1.  Although I am sharing this update, please know there are many others from different departments, campuses, and outside partners working as a team to move this work forward.  On page 9 of the strategic plan, it states: "A plan alone will not change practice".   The evidence here ensures that it's more than a plan.  We are following through with our Theory of Action: Empowering, Personalizing, Designing, and Partnering for the benefit of our students!  If you want to hear and see more about progress on our other seven objectives and strategic initiative action steps, join us at the December BOE meeting!


I believe in this work and I believe in all of you!  We are #bettertogether!