I am getting feedback that mornings are good for most.
Who can meet me tomorrow morning at 7:35?
We do not have to do this every week - just until we get our plans so that we are preparing a week+ in advanced. We gotta suck it up for a little bit to make life easier later on.
Power hour plan:
1. Prepare materials/texts for this unit. We need literature that includes ample dialogue, plot incidents and character develop that also can help look at culture and how people are defined by their culture. Think about a variety of cultures: Native American, Appalachian, African American. Look through our text, plus any other resources or novel excerpts you can think of. I have chapter 1-2 of The Kite Runner?
2. What text are we going to use to assess RL.8.7? Must be available in print and performance form.
3. BE PREPARED TO CHOOSE YOUR JOB(S)
I am all about efficiency for this group and I finally feel like we are getting a handle on this!! But we have to FOLLOW THROUGH! Let's talk about roles we could each be in charge of so for each unit we are not all doing 7 different things every unit. You would be in charge of getting a plan together for your particular area of expertise. You use the existing unit plan and standards, and you come prepared to each PLC with materials and ideas to share for the current unit and, eventually, future units. We need the following jobs to be worked out by the group. 1-2 people could work on each. When you take this job you are responsible for the group, so you must offer items and materials in a timely and accessible manner: use dropbox, offer clear instructions, provide a teacher copy if dropbox isn't an option, eventually a week in advance (but we can settle for 2-3 days until we get to the 'week' part).
a. Year-long specific plan for vocabulary: Latin root and affix work + activities/quizzes; L.8.6-academic/domain-specific words*
b. Year-long specific plan for College Readiness English/grammar + activities/quizzes*
*These items essentially will have their own curriculum map created for the whole year. They are on-going.
c. Year long unit-by-unit texts & materials for reading standards considering lexiles, variety, standard-connection, EQ connection, availability, etc.
d. Year long unit-by-unit materials for writing standards considering on-demand requirements, plus a variety of writing needs as determined by the unit plan
e. Year-long unit-by-unit materials for struggling readers (A-Z, strategies, modifications to assignments) - would work with job c. very closely - but also needs to communicate with the 8th grade SPED people
f. Bellwork plan for the year or a bellwork bank. Something we can pull from as needed: flashbacks, test prep, writing prompts, grammar, edits - a variety of standards-based ideas for the year. *Optional (is this necessary Would it help?)
g. Test Format Maker- We give the common assessment materials to you and you work your magic putting it into the proper testing formats for K-Prep, making a teacher copy and getting it to assessment folder for Mr. Halsey
h. Remediation expert. You will work mostly with reading/writing (for now) to develop assignments/rubrics/tasks that could offer remediation for students as they learn the new reading & writing standards. This is different from job e. because ANY student can struggle with a articular standard and we have to have the go-to materials to support re-teaching.
i. Enrichment expert. Same concept as above, only you are thinking about strategies to take existing reading/writing tasks (as established by job c/d) and enrich them.
j. 21st Century Connection Expert: We need to look at each unit and how the reading, writing and speaking/listening make 21st century connections. You need to be familiar with the state's KY Curriculum Map document for Next Generation learners and you will work closely with the unit plan, plus jobs c/d to see how you can tweak/enhance activities so that a variety of 21st century skills are made each unit.
Have a great day! See you at grade level meetings! :)
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