Instruction
Teacher and Paraprofessional Qualifications:
Parents have a right to inquire, and for the district to provide information about whether their students’ teachers have met state qualifications; are teaching under an emergency license or teaching out of their field; and if students are served by paraprofessionals, qualifications of the paraprofessional. Please contact Human Resources with any inquiries (715-526-3194).
The Shawano School District is focusing on three practices:
1) Formative Assessment
District Definition of Formative Assessment - The basic idea
behind formative assessment is that evidence of student learning
is used to adjust instruction to better meet students’ learning needs - in other
words, teaching is adaptive to student needs. (diagnostic)
District Definition of Summative Assessment - The goal of summative assessment
is to evaluate student learning at the end of an instructional unit by comparing it
against some standard or benchmark. (evaluative)
Formative Assessment Resources:
2) Student Learning Targets
District Definition of Student Learning Targets - Learning Targets are student-friendly
descriptions of what you intend students to learn or accomplish in a given lesson.What are we learning and why are we learning it?
Stated in developmentally appropriate language ("I can ...).
Description of what the student is going to learn by end of today’s lesson.
Framed from point of view from a student who has not yet mastered the target
and how close they are to the target.Targets are stated in language that describes mastery rather than grading or scoring.
Student Learning Targets Resources:
Learning Targets: Helping Students Aim for Understanding in Today's Lesson by Connie M. Moss, Ed.D.
3) Student Engagement
Engaging Students in Learning (Component 3c of Danielson Framework)
Activities and Assignments: The activities & assignments are the centerpieces
of student engagement since they determine what it is that students are asked to
do. Activities and assignments that promote learning require student thinking that
emphasizes depth over breadth and encourages students to explain their thinking.Grouping of Students: How students are grouped for instruction (whole class,
small groups, pairs, individuals) is one of the many decisions teachers make every
day. there are many options; students of similar background and skill may be
clustered together, or the more-advanced students may be spread around into
the different groups. Alternatively, a teacher might permit students to select their
own groups, or they could be formed randomly.
Instructional Materials and Resources: The instructional materials a teacher
selects to use in the classroom can have an enormous impact on students'
experience. Though some teachers are obliged to use a school's or district's officially sanctioned materials, many teachers use these selectively or supplement them with
others of their choosing that are better suited to engaging students in deep learning
- for example, the use of primary source materials in social studies.
Structure and Pacing: No one, whether an adult or a student, likes to be either
bored or rushed in completing a task. Keeping things moving, within a well-defined
structure, is one of the marks of an experienced teacher. And since much of student
learning results from their reflection on what they have done, a well-designed lesson
includes time for reflection and closure.
Student Engagement Resources:
The Motivated Brain, by Gayle H Gregory and Martha Kaufeldt
Never Work Harder Than Your Students, by Robyn Jackson
Learn Like a Pirate: Empower your Students to Collaborate, Lead & Succeed,
by Paul SolarzHacking Engagement: 50 Tips to Engage Teachers & Learners Daily, by James
Alan SturtevantWorksheets Don't Grow Dendrites, by Marcia Tate
Motivating Students Website (http://danielsonframeworkforteaching.weebly.com/
engaging-students-in-learning.html)"50 Ways to Leave your Lecture" by Rick Smith (https://docs.google.com/document/d/11nPTPOVKj1gPlyUnjeyzW2Ijo6SGT8Nv
1JxzZvlBcv8/mobilebasic?pli=1)