C urriculum
O
R
E
IMPORTANT
UPCOMING
DATES
March 2
Virginia Duff
Fine Arts
Festival @
Paramount
Center
n
e
r
March 10-14
Benchmarks
March 14
Schools Closed
Race Day
March 17-21
Spring Break
March 24
Teacher InService Day
PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
SUMMER 2014 SCHEDULE
Check out the Summer Staff Development
Schedule & Register at www.SchoolStation.com
before classes fill up!
'egg'-citing
'egg'-speriments
Holston View students
learning about inertia
in LEAPs.
Additional classes will be added as they are
scheduled.
February 2014- Volume 2, Issue 9- Bristol City Schools- 615 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Bristol, TN 32760 (423) 652-9451
Engage. Challenge. Inspire.
DISTRICT NON-NEGOTIABLES
High Quality
Standards-Based
Curriculum
Targeted
Response to
Learning
Highly Effective
Instruction
Balanced and
Reliable
Measurement
INDICATORS
Content
Knowledge
Environment/
Pedagogy
Assessment
Informed
Instruction
Responsive
Teaching
TEACHER PRACTICES







Uses collaboratively
agreed upon essential
learnings and
standards, as unit and
lesson foundation
Posts and clearly
articulates standards
in student friendly
language
Connects prior
knowledge to current
content and
understandings
Incorporates
collaboratively agreed
upon district
resources into lessons
Demonstrates
extensive content
knowledge
Provides
progressively
meaningful and
challenging learning
experiences
Creates lessons and
utilizes materials that
are challenging,
engaging, and
supports the
objectives










Environment
Fosters the belief that
success and achievement
are a result of effort
Gives verbal and
nonverbal indication all
students are valued
Ensures positive
relationships and
interdependence
characterize the
classroom
Accepts errors as part of
the classroom culture
Establishes consistent
procedures and clear rules
for learning and behavior
Pedagogy
Selects strategies such as
Marzano’s 9, nonfiction
writing, and building
background knowledge
through academic
vocabulary
Demonstrates
expectations through
modeling, uses examples
and non-examples of
quality work
Uses effective questioning
techniques
Incorporates thinking and
problem solving skills into
lessons
Uses varied instructional
grouping arrangements to
maximize student learning






Sets high and
demanding academic
expectations for
every student
Provides scaffolding
for support so all
students can achieve
the learning goal
Ensures standards are
the foundation for
continuous classroom
tier one instruction
Consistently extends
and deepens
understanding for
every student
Knows students well
academically and
personally through
readiness, interest,
and learning style
assessments
Uses knowledge
about students to
differentiate content,
process, and product





Uses preassessments,
formative
assessments, and
summative
assessments
Checks for students’
understanding of
identified standards
and objectives in each
lesson
Circulates during
lesson to stimulate
student thinking,
provide feedback, and
assess progress
Provides both oral
and written academic
feedback that is
focused and high
quality
Consistently applies
collaboratively agreed
upon criteria to judge
the quality of student
work related to
essential learning(s)
…….From Dr. Tudor
Part IV
Just two weeks until spring break and then four weeks after spring break until students begin taking TCAPs, EOCs,
and final exams. Seems like it was just August, doesn’t it? Where does the time go? You’ve been working so hard
helping students prepare for these end of the year or end of the course assessments the year must seem like a
blur to you! So, after all of your instruction and assessments, how do you respond when some students do not
learn what you wanted them to learn or how do you adjust when some students are ready to learn more? This
is part four of a four part series of articles that are reexamining our district framework and describing each of our
four research-based, district non-negotiables in more detail. As a reminder, our district non-negotiables are:
1. High-Quality Standards-Based Curriculum
What do we expect students to learn?
2. Highly Effective Instruction
How will our instructional practices ensure growth for all?
3. Balanced and Reliable Measurement
How will we know when they’ve learned it?
4. Targeted Response to Learning
How will we respond when they do not learn it?
Our fourth district non-negotiable helps us to focus our attention on responsive teaching. Responsive teaching is
the act of adjusting instruction in response to formative and summative data that tells teachers where students
are in their learning. Teachers respond to student learning every day in a variety of ways. Responsive teaching
can be as simple as re-teaching a particular skill or standard because evidence on an exit-ticket indicated
students had not mastered the skill or as complex as analyzing TCAP/EOC/TVAAS results to determine class rosters
and schedules for students based on individual instructional needs. The key to targeted response to learning is
that we are adjusting instruction based on student needs.
Oftentimes, and certainly in the past with such an extensive list of standards to cover, students are left behind
when they do not learn as quickly as some of their peers. At the same time, more advanced students are often
prohibited from moving at a quicker pace. The majority of instructional time has been focused on meeting the
needs of the majority of the students in the class. Responsive teaching challenges teachers to spend the majority
of instructional time meeting the needs of all students by differentiating instruction. Easier said, than done, right?
It is quite a challenge to be able to translate a district pacing guide and unit plans into a daily lesson plan that
incorporates the needs of each student. However, highly effective teachers are able to do just that.
At the district level our focus for professional development during the 2014-2015 school year will be differentiated
instruction. We will support teachers by providing training that will model appropriate differentiation techniques
in the classroom. This focus will ensure students are receiving the personalized instruction that is best suited for
their individual needs as we transition further into the new RTI 2 model.
LOL!!
February 2014- Volume 2, Issue 9- Bristol City Schools- 615 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Bristol, TN 32760 (423) 652-9451
Simple K12
“101 Tech Tools”
Google World Wonders:
http://www.google.com/intl/en/culturalinstitute/w
orldwonders/ Bring to life the wonders of the
modern and ancient world
Kideos: http://www.kideos.com/
Safely watch videos online
Flubaroo: http://www.flubaroo.com/
Auto grade assignments via Free Google Apps
Titanpad: http://www.titanpad.com/
Collaborate on one document simultaneously
ClassDojo: http://www.classdojo.com/
Online behavior management system for
teachers
The Three Things You Need To Know
About TVAAS
TVAAS measures the impact schools and teachers have on their
students' academic progress. It is a powerful tool because it
measures how much students grow in a year, and shines more
light on student progress than solely considering their score on an
end-of-year test. As such, there are three fundamental things
everyone should know about TVAAS. Please check out this
Classroom Chronicles article for a more thorough explanation.
1.
2.
3.
TVAAS measures student growth, not whether the student
is proficient on the state assessment.
Low-achieving students can grow, and their teachers can
earn strong TVAAS scores.
High-achieving students can grow and their teachers can
earn strong TVAAS scores.
Check out the new and improved www.team-tn.org website. Take a few minutes to peruse the new site and share any
feedback you may have. This new website will be much easier to navigate and will ensure that you can easily find the
most up-to-date information when you need it. To help you familiarize yourself with the new website, check out the brief
tutorial.
If you have any feedback to share, please reach out to [email protected] or through the 'Contact Us' link on the
website. This website is all about trying to improve communication with you, so please don't be shy about sharing what
TEAM can do to make your experience even better.
February 2014- Volume 2, Issue 9- Bristol City Schools- 615 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. Bristol, TN 32760 (423) 652-9451