April Showers?

Does anyone else feel like they are getting rained on this month?  In many ways, April can feel more stressful than "March Madness".  I can assure you, May flowers are coming!  Just hang in there.

In the meantime, I know that practice time for TLAC tends to get squeezed out with targeted tutorial time.  How can we make time for practice?  Here are just a few suggestions to get you started on thinking of creative practice options for your cohort of teachers, when there is no "time" to practice together.  For all of these options, it will be important for you to run these by your administration and documentation that your teachers participated in this type of practice.  We want to make sure you get credit for your work!

How to Practice When There is No Time to Practice!

TLAC Book Study Clubs:  Assign specific chapter(s), then have teachers respond to some reflection questions in an interactive notebook.  You can find some great reflection questions in the TLAC field guide.  Have them turn it in, then respond to what they wrote (that's interactive part).

Observation Rounds:  Invite teachers to come see you trying out a new technique.  Ask them to provide you in writing with one thing you did well, and one thing to try using the language of the technique.  

Practice in the Classroom (with coach):  The best practice is done before teachers "go live" in front of students, but then we have to jump in and try it with the kids.  Take a technique that you have practiced during previous TLAC sessions and let teachers know that we are going to take the practice to the next level...practice in the classroom.  Go visit teachers for 5-7 minutes and look for use of the technique or opportunities they could have used the technique.  Leave them with written feedback- one thing they did well and one thing they could try, being sure to use the language of the technique.

Practice in the Classroom (video coaching):  Some teachers would rather submit a video of their teaching.  Have a student tape their class for 5-7 minutes and submit the video to you.  Provide written feedback-one thing they did well and one thing they could try, being sure to use the language of the technique.

TLAC scavenger hunt:  Provide teachers with a few TLAC things to hunt for in others teachers' rooms.  Be sure to include a form for teachers to record their responses.  For example:

• Look for a Check for Understanding, then describe what the teacher did with that data or as Doug calls it the "do something about it right away" part.
• Observe an "everybody writes" moment.  This can be a moment that a teacher used "everybody writes" or an opportunity that a teacher could have used "everybody writes".  Describe the moment or opportunity.
• Observe a "threshold" moment as a student.  Stand at the end of another teacher's line.  What does it feel like to stand there?  Describe how the teacher greets the other students ahead of you.  How does that compare to how he/she greets you?  What elements of "threshold" does the teacher include?  What elements of "threshold" might the teacher try?

In the comment section below, please write 3-5 sentences explaining how your cohort has (or is planning) to continue practicing 30 minutes per week through the end of the school year.  

Celebrate Success!!

Take a look at one of our program teachers from Edison Middle School describe his "breakthrough" moment using Teach Like a Champion.  Read about it here in the HISD enews.

Nominate Your Campuses' Champions!

Do you have a teacher at your campus that is Champion?  Please nominate them for an opportunity to be spotlighted in the "Breakthroughs" section of the HISD enews.  This is a great way to celebrate the success of you, your teachers, and your campus!  Please fill out this quick survey to nominate your teachers!  PS- you can even nominate yourself :)

If You TLAC...They Will Come!  

So excited to announce that Doug and his team are confirmed to visit HISD Monday, May 19th and Tuesday, May 20th.  Final site visit schedules, including which schools to be visited, are being finalized with campus principals.  In the meantime, we want you reflecting on what Doug might see if he came into your room?  What techniques are your trying out?  What techniques would you want him to give you feedback on?  To help you reflect on this, please complete this pre-site visit reflection survey.  

April Anchor Teacher Update

Good Afternoon Anchor Teachers!!

Word on the street is you are all up to your eye balls in STAAR stuff and some have questions about how to fill out the compliance data form.  To help you with both of those problems, we have extended the deadline to Monday, April 7th and created a video tutorial to walk you through completing the documentation.

Video Tutorial

Anchor Teacher Compliance Form from HISD-TLAC on Vimeo.

BIG SHOUT OUT to the following campuses for already turning in the Teacher Leader Compliance documentation!  Way to go:  Shadydale, Deady, and Hartman!!  (If I didn't list your campus and you already submitted, please accept my apology and send it to pgoodman529@hotmail.com)

March Madness

For most of the country, March is a month to celebrate the start of Spring, avoid getting pinched on St. Patty's day, and to cheer on our favorite college basketball teams.  (SIC 'EM BEARS!)  However, for many teachers, the term "March Madness" tends to have a different meaning.  With STARR assessments just around the corner, I can remember the frenzy of small group tutorials, pull outs, push ins, before school and after school tutorials we engage our students in to help all them be successful.  With that in mind, I wanted to remind you of a few TLAC techniques that might help maximize the classroom time you have left.

RATIO
If we think about it, this is probably one of the most under appreciated TLAC techniques, and one that we haven't spent much time practicing.  Doug describes Ratio as the proportion of cognitive work (writing, thinking, analyzing, talking) students do in your classroom.  Read through the chapter in the TLAC book on Ratio (p92-97).  Pick one of the 10 strategies Doug outlines to increase the Ratio in your classroom that would most support your "March Madness" objectives and try them out.

RATIO 2.0-Turn and Talk
I'm so excited for this new chapter in Doug's updated TLAC book.  Seems like the "Turn and Talk" has been a favored technique to increase engagement and ratio in HISD the last few years.  When I first started using the turn and talk, more often than not, students would just sit there looking back up at me.  I could read their minds, "you want me to do what?" or "I'm not doing this unless everyone else is".  Read through Doug's sneak peek into Ratio 2.0 to get some practical advice on revamping the turn and talk "cue in".  How do you cue in your students?  Pick an upcoming lesson, plan a revamped "cue in", and try it out with your students.

#TLACHISD
So I've been brainstorming ways that we could stay in touch and celebrate success more frequently and I thought we would enter into the world of twitter.  If you don't have a twitter account, no worries, guaranteed there is someone on your TLAC team who can help you get started.  Follow me, @pgoodman529, for updates, links, videos and other resources to help you in your quest for creating a model TLAC classroom.  More importantly, I want you to provide TLAC updates for happenings going on in your classroom!!  Upload breakthrough moments, links, resources, pictures, and even video to share with our network of TLAC teachers.  Be sure to use the #TLACHISD hashtag!  There will be a special drawing for teachers who do! 

February 2014- Back to the Basics

Reading through your comments and posts last month, reminded me of some of my all time favorite TLAC techniques and served as the inspiration for this post.  Especially after the holidays and as we gear up for testing season, it is sometimes easy loose sight of the fragile little minds that peer up at us each day.  How can we make sure that we are still meeting their needs as a person while pushing them for greatness during this stressful time?  Let's go back to some of our TLAC basics!  

Threshold:  Seriously, my all time favorite classroom culture technique. I love it for it's ease of implementation and ability to connect one-on-one with each and every student every single day.  Take a look at this picture provided by Teacher Leader Reyna from Marshall Elementary:

• Eye Contact:  The thing that strikes me the most in the picture is the eye contact!  Our little friend is looking his teacher straight in the eye and giving his best handshake.
• Hand Shake:  If I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times:  you gotta shake their hands!  (put your germ-x behind your desk and soak yourself it afterwards if you must).  On a special occasion, a high five or fist bump can be a fun alternative, but for everyday use the handshake is your best bet.
• Address them by name and ask that they do the same:  I got tired of being referred to as "Ms" all the time.  If we expect to be called by name, we should hold ourselves to the same expectation.  
• Look at all those smiling faces:  Take a look at the kids standing in line- they are so happy!  It's almost like they can't wait to have those few seconds with their teacher.  Look at the teacher- he's happy too! Greeting students at my door helped me reset if I had a difficult class period and it helps reset students too.

Does your Threshold need a make-over?  Are your kids (or you) bored with the same old "good morning" greeting?  Read through the Threshold section in the TLAC field guide and post two alternative greetings you can use to revamp a tired threshold routine in the comment section below.

100%: 

Let's be completely honest with ourselves, are we holding students to the same level of 100% expectation as we did at the beginning of the year or are we sliding by and excepting 90% now?  Doug is in the process of rewriting 100% for TLAC 2.0.  Visit his blog to get a sneak peak at some of the new information and videos!  

Practice:   

How many times have we seen this photo?  There's the number one soccer player in the world engaged in a practice session, running drills, under the supervision of a coach.  So many times we go to trainings where we engage in great discussion and reflection of new learning, but when we get back to our classrooms, nothing changes.  Doug calls this the "get it-do it" gap.  He argues that if we are going to change how we do things in our classroom, then we have to practice (even if we are the "best soccer player" in the world).  Take a look at this photo submitted by Teacher Leader Webb from Edison Middle School.

Teachers in this photo are engaged in practicing nonverbal cues to support 100%.  How are you helping teachers get over the "get it-do it" gap in your practice sessions?  Think back to your last practice sessions and answer these reflection questions.

**Please note:  to receive credit for your participation, please complete all three of the highlighted items above**

January TLAC Meeting

Hello Everyone! 

Welcome to our very first virtual anchor and teacher leader meeting.  In order to recieve full create for your particpation, you will need to complete the following action items.




1.  View the Practice Perfect video from Doug, Erica, and Katie.  Post a comment in the comment section of this blog responding to this question:  What is one thing that caught your attention from the clip that you can't wait to read more about? Be sure to include your name and campus in your comment in order to recieve credit.

2.  Upload a picture from your latest practice session and respond to reflection questions.  Read posts from at least 5 other teacher leaders. http://padlet.com/wall/t2o0h8imj0