001I'd like to welcome you to our school board tonight. Will you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you, and thank you for joining us tonight. Um do we have any translation needs? Okay. At this time, I will accept a motion to approve the agenda. But before I get accept that motion, I need to make a motion to amend the agenda to replace the documentation for item C1-7 with an updated certificated personnel assignment. Do I have an approval? A motion. >> I'll second the motion to update the agenda. >> All in favor? >> Aye. >> Any opposed? Motion passes 5-0.
002At this time, we will do what our favorite part of the school board meeting, and we will move it to our recognition portion. >> All right, I'm not going to stand up here very long cuz you guys are going to see a lot of me later. Um but I want to turn the time over. We had two teams at MMS that have done some awesome things just recently, um going out and competing in a couple of different areas. So, I'm going to invite Angela Davis and Devin Lewis to come up and share what our TSA teams and our Math Is Cool teams have been able to do over the last little while. >> All right, good evening. I'm Angela Davis. I'm the seventh grade math teacher at McFarland Middle School. Back in February our math
003is cool team took first place at regionals. We also had two individuals place. Tommy was second place and Jeremiah was third place. Because they placed first at regionals they gave them an invitation to the state competition at Moses Lake High School where out of like eight or nine teams they took second place in their division, which is amazing. And Tommy again took third place and Jeremiah took fifth place in in the individual. So, I'm really proud of them. They worked really hard. >> Congratulations. >> [applause] >> So, I guess I should have introduced all of them, too. Um our team has four students. Jeremiah Jeremiah Terriyama, Thomas Giles, Amber Stuts, and Cedar Wilkins who's playing baseball in Walla Walla with for the seventh grade team right now. So. >> So, how much study time were
004you putting in for this contest? >> Well, some of them studied every night I'm being told. Sorry, some of them were studying every night I was told but we met once a week whether it was in stat or after school. It just depended on how everybody's schedule was and we we worked on up to algebra two level math for it. >> How did your team practice for that? >> What did you talk to you guys about? >> We We What's the question? >> How did your team practice for that when you get together? >> Uh as Ms. Davis said, we usually came during stat or after school. But so, that's usually when we did it. We didn't really go after school Well, we didn't really come together out of school hours. >> Um yeah, I
005was like yeah, so. Uh I I would have them do practice tests. They have a bunch of different tests available online, so they did There's several different layers of competition. There's a mental math, there's individual test, there is um there's the triple jump, there is team multiple choice, college bowl. So, the college bowl I thought was the most interesting. They um were given questions and the four of them would would get together and try to answer the questions against another team. So, it was kind of like a game uh like a like a game show type setting, so. >> Can one of the students explain what the triple jump is? That I don't I don't know what that is. >> Do you want to explain? >> Okay. Um the triple jump is a series of
006three um I don't know how to explain it like questions. You have 10 questions, you have 5 minutes to answer each sheet, and your answers you write them down on a different piece of paper after they're taken away from you every 5 minutes or 15 minutes. I don't really know how to explain this. >> Okay, I'll try to explain better better than Amber. >> [laughter] >> So, you're given a a set of 10 questions to answer over a course of 15 minutes. You You record your answers on the answer sheet. Every You have three answer sheets. Every 5 minutes the proctors take away an answer sheet. So, you can score up to 30 points. >> Okay, I have some questions. How do you How do you get on to this math team? Do you have
007to do like test into it? >> Uh no, there wasn't much many people who uh were interested this year. So, >> And you're all seventh graders? >> Yes. >> So, what math class are you in at school if you're all this smart? >> We're all in algebra currently. We're all I think we're all going to geometry, right? Yeah. >> Wow. And you all have good grades? >> Yes, I think we all have an A currently, right? >> [laughter] >> Now, Tommy, what do you have to add about the experience? >> Um it was fun and I'm glad I got to um be a part of it. >> I just want to say congratulations to you guys. Math for me is awesome. I love the fact that you guys love it. If you guys ever need
008a sponsor to go to something like this, you let me know. >> Okay, so I will say that some of the elementary schools do have a Math is Cool team and so um I was approached by this group of of students to say, "Hey, we want to keep doing it. We need a math coach. Would you do it for us?" So, that's how it that's how it got to be at MMS. >> Congratulations you guys. Good job. >> do much. They did it all. >> [applause] >> Hi, I'm Devin Lewis and I'm our CTE teacher or one of them at McFarland. And um I got the opportunity this year to take a group of five wonderful students if they'll slowly make their way up here. They're terrified. I didn't tell them they were presenting tonight
009at all. >> [laughter] >> Um Um and we got to go this is our third year at state. So, I've presented here three times now and they actually got first place this year in their on-demand video. An on-demand video is the we get to state Wednesday night and at 9:00 9:00 at night-ish, they're given a prompt and they have 36 hours to script, film, edit, and submit a video. And they got number one. >> Wow. Good job. >> [applause] >> So, they competed in a bunch of events. They competed in Tech Bowl, coding, uh you guys can tell me if I'm forgetting any. Uh problem solving, silent video or silent film and on-demand video. Didn't quite get any um placements in any of the other ones, but they did fantastic in their on-demand. >> Is
010there Did you bring the video? >> I could share it, Marissa, if you wanted to. I'll find it here while you guys ask the kids questions. >> Okay. >> Um >> I was about the video, too. So, if we're going to see it, then great. >> awesome. >> That's what I was going to >> I'm thinking about how using them to record graduation. >> [laughter] >> So, are you guys in a club or is this a class? >> Uh it's a club. >> A club? Okay, so how often do you guys meet? >> Uh we typically tend to meet every single Monday after school uh for about an hour. And every now and again, getting closer to state, Miss Lewis will plan work days for us where we can come in after school during different
011days, like Wednesdays and Fridays, so we can have a little bit extra time to get all of our um things done. >> And what inspired you to join this club? >> Um I decided to join this club because I thought it was like an amazing opportunity to get to state. And like I find such an interest in all the things that TSA does. And like this class There's like things you can do over there that you can't really do over here in McFarland. >> Yeah, it's stuff that's extremely important and that will go towards our future careers because it teaches us a lot of very important life skills. >> What classes are you taking that kind of fit in with this? Or are you taking any classes that have anything to do with this? >>
012Um well, I like to draw and be creative, which is why I decided to join this club because it helps my creativity run free. And it helps with world real world problems and scenarios. These problems are things the world actually needs, which is why I decided to help and join this club. >> Awesome. >> Most of them have taken at least one of my either computer science, Steam Park design, um, classes. So, at some point they that's how they got involved. >> And uh, is the class is the club just the five of you? >> There were up to 15 kids at one point on and off. Um, and then in December we kind of have to make a a decision whether or not they're going to compete. >> She really wants to. >> Yeah,
013there was Yeah, there's a there's numerous there's like two different deadlines. There was the December one that Miss Lewis set in place for us so that we had to make sure we had at least part of the work done for the January deadline where we would then send in the stuff during the January deadline in order to see if we could compete or not, in April for state. >> And are any of you wanting to go into like the career that matches up with these activities? >> Straight up no. No. [clears throat] >> You don't have to. Why do you ask? >> [laughter] >> He asked He asked me first. >> do you want to go into? >> What career do we want to go into because of this? >> Because of this? >> Yeah.
014>> Or what does this help? Like what life skills does this teach you for the career you want >> me coding. Yeah. >> They're phenomenal coders. >> I'd love to have seen the 36 hours before the video was made to [laughter] see how they all worked together. That would have been amazing. >> They were phenomenal together. >> And where was state? Tell me one more time. >> Spokane? Okay. >> [music] >> We were gone on Wednesday through Saturday in the middle of right after spring break. >> Or how many clubs or how many teams participated? >> There were 2,400 students from across the United or across Washington state. I think there's 144 different um chapters. Middle school and high school. >> And you guys are all seventh and eighth or >> Seventh and eighth grade
015high school. >> Uh maybe for the young men on the end. I I I know one of the things we try to do with these kinds of experiences. It's certainly interesting to hear what you were working on and the academic part of it, but also being in a different community and staying in a hotel and hanging out for three or four days. What parts of that experience were enjoyable for you? >> Um I usually have problems making friends, so making friends really fast going over the trip helped me a lot and knowing I usually just work with them like in a project, so I didn't really know them, but when I was like in the same like room in the hotel, I really got to know them more, so it was really fun. >> Awesome.
016>> It's so cool. >> And a fun fact, his brother was actually on our team the last 2 years and was one of the ones that got to go to Florida with us 2 years ago. >> All right. Wow. >> So it's kind of fun seeing him. >> So when you guys went to Florida, you you made it to Nationals. Did because of your first place placement at this, do you get to go to Nationals again? >> We don't. So the way that TSA works is they have some that are national events and some that are Washington only events. >> Okay. >> On demand is a Washington only event. Unfortunately. >> Well, congratulations. We're going to watch your film if that's okay. >> Okay. Oh, well before you before you start it. You'll There the
017prompt was good versus evil and they had to have a pen. What was it? >> So our prompt was good versus evil. You had to include the line, "There's some good in the world. There it's and it's worth fighting for." You had to have you had to feature an ink pen, uh eyeglasses with a the word that they used, and you also had to use a phone, like a cell phone. >> Did you use the cell phone again? >> We tried. >> Dear son, there is some good in the world and it's worth fighting for. I know times have been rough, but I think back from the Navy, I'll be waiting for you. Love, Dad. >> Oh my gosh, I got to call my dad. >> Give me your phone. >> No, my phone. >>
018I got you. I'll get you a phone. >> Thanks for my phone. >> I got you. >> Guys, I'm going to call my dad. >> Dad. >> Give me your phone. >> I got you. >> Dear son, there is some good in the world and it's worth fighting for. >> It's worth fighting for. >> [laughter] >> That is dad. >> Nice. [snorts] Good stuff. >> you don't recognize him? >> Was that his dad? >> [applause] >> In the video that was his dad, but if you if you don't know that is Hector Arenzazu who is our high school TSA advisor. >> Oh, okay. >> [laughter] >> No correlation, we just had to have someone. >> There's one state that we haven't heard from yet. Do you have any behind the scenes commentary on the video?
019>> Um, nothing very much, but it was really fun exploring Spokane and and what's it called? What? And recording the video. It was a lot of fun. >> Were you going in for another elbow there? >> Yeah. >> Were you going in for another one? >> [laughter] >> Well well done and congratulations on a first place finish. Good job you guys. >> You guys are dreamy. >> [applause] >> Thank you guys for representing Novella. >> Can we get a picture first with the math team and then we'll do the the second one with our video team? >> [clears throat] [applause] >> Thank you again for coming and congratulations to all of you. And thank you to our incredible teachers who donate and volunteer their time and spend countless hours helping these students be successful. Thank
020you. Thank you. We're going to move on to our board member discussion, and we will start with our legislative report from Director Gerber. >> I actually don't have anything this week for legislative report. >> Okay, we're going to buzz right through. Does anyone have anything they need to add to board member discussion? Okay, seeing that we have none, I will at this time accept a motion to approve approve required approvals. >> I'll make a motion to approve the required approvals. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion and a second. All in favor? >> Aye. >> Any opposed? Motion passes 5-0. I will accept a motion to approve accounts payable warrants, too. >> I'll make a motion to approve accounts payable warrants, too. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion and a second. All
021in favor? >> Aye. >> Any opposed? Motion passes 4-0 with one abstention. Um now we'll turn it over to our Superintendent Director Perez for our superintendent informational items. >> Yeah, uh opportunity this evening to hear about a couple of projects that have been in the works in the district. Um one of them specific to McFarland Middle School and Othello High School, and then one more broadly about K-12. Will Von Brockt is going to lead um Do you want to start with the AI one? Husky Beginnings. Let's start with Husky Beginnings, and then we'll jump into the AI AI presentation as well. And uh as we set this up, I know the board has uh received some questions from community members about um sort of a change in practice, and and they're going to share the
022thinking behind it. And I'm excited to see that some of the uh middle school staff is here apart from the administrators to walk you through it, and I hope that you have questions for them, maybe things you're hearing from the community, so that we can continue to communicate uh the importance of the change. >> Awesome. Awesome. Well, my name is Simon Pedraneo. Uh this is Kimberly, one of our awesome counselors, and obviously you know Will. Uh but uh definitely uh Husky Beginnings uh started obviously with a vision of something different that Will brought to us, and really it was trying to be kind of with the spirit of what we just experienced. You know, seeing our kids with their growth, the the tenacity they have to be able to bring their talents to the state
023level. But as I've been getting to know Othello and the community, it's a really strong and it it's a community that really cares about each other. And really that's kind of the spirit of why we're bringing it to back to the high school as well as being able to be inclusive with our families and our community to be able to give access because it's towards the afternoon. So, Kimberly, you want to give some highlights? >> Sure. Um so just some things that we want to really highlight in this celebration for our kids. Um we're going to recognize some of our students. We had our students nominate their peers showing them a Sing Way. So, a student who shows responsibility, safety, and respect. Um and then based on that they get to vote for the students
024who are recognized during the ceremony. Um and then we'll also hear from OHS speakers and McFarland speakers during the celebration and every student's name will be called. They'll get a fun little candy bag and our ASB high school president will give them a lanyard as like a hey, you made it. You're coming to the high school. Welcome to our side, I guess you could say. >> [laughter] >> And then if you want to go to the next slide. Do you have it? We do. Yes. >> And so just to pull that together and add on a little bit is one of we Simone talked about the evening move is is to be more inclusive for our families and allow them to we know there's not a never a perfect time but to allow them to
025to be there and participate. >> [laughter] >> And then another piece that we really wanted to we we recognize at McFarland that we're like the middle child, right? Like we we pull from our elementary schools, we're sending them to the high school. One of the things that really inspired with is the success that the high school had with this Husky Pack and being able to say, "Hey, you're part of us." Really bring them in, really nurture that ninth grade year that in the past has been such a difficult transition for so many of our students. And so this is just trying to get that even earlier. To say, "Hey, you're coming up to the high school. You're one of us." Having our students like Kimberly described, putting on the the the Husky medallion on them
026and saying, "Hey, you're you're here. You're it's official. You're a Husky." So bringing them in in even earlier. >> Um so if you look at the screen, this is kind of how it'll be set up. Um something that we wanted to really highlight was the connection between um you know, their time at McFarland and then going to OHS. So uh the yellow kind of half circles are arches and one side uh will be decorated in McFarland colors and the other in OHS colors. And so they'll walk through the McFarland McFarland side as they enter, but they'll exit through the OHS side. So kind of highlighting that we're coming together, but we're passing the baton on and you're now OHS student. >> That's really neat. So are people going to be sitting in the in the
027grandstands and in the bleachers? Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah and there's going to be some chairs as well. Yeah and and uh just kind of like what Will was saying with the Husky Pack. I mean, it's uh trying to reintroduce this kind of this tradition in a way because I know it's happened historically with McFarland and the high school. Um but we're really trying to make this a memorable event. Obviously, this is also an invitation for y'all to be able to come, uh celebrate with us. And we would hope uh we get one or two volunteers to be able to help us out and uh give some candy bags and shake some hands and uh celebrate during the celebration. And we'll be following up with uh any RSVPs uh after the meeting, but yeah. >> Yeah.
028>> Any questions? >> What's been the feedback from parents? >> I can answer that. >> Yeah, um we definitely got some feedback. It hasn't been overwhelming. I mean I think I've met with one individual that said, "Hey, I got some concerns and I want to meet with you." Most of the other came kind of through students where they said, "Hey, my mom was frustrated or something." One of the pieces that we do acknowledge is it came kind of late in the year, some of the shifts, and so people were like, "We already told everybody when it was going to be. We already had these things." And so we recognize that and have already got it shifted on the calendar for next year and hey, this is when it's going to be. So that that piece
029has been the biggest feedback. Full transparency, the other group that has given us the most feedback are eighth grade girls who were very worried that they weren't going to get a dress up as much as they were going to do it. So we've assured them like we still want this to feel like a formal event. Come dressed up, you know, wear your wear your dresses, come and we're going to try to make it a really special occasion. I think that group in particular has seen others go through and have imagined themselves there. And so when they felt like we were moving the the the target on them, they weren't weren't excited. So we've tried to assure them and and kept them coming along with us and said, "Hey, we're going to make something special for
030you." So hopefully they they like it. That's our that's our benchmark. That's our bellwether right there. Hopefully they like it and we'll we'll get good feedback from them. >> Well, as a parent of an eighth grade girl, her and her friends are excited. So I haven't heard any negative feedback. On my end. >> It's good. If you want to go back to the image really quickly, I think it's there's some operational things that board members might get questions about. So for graduation, certainly we have increased security, ways to check people as they come in. We wouldn't expect the same level of crowd here, but we will have additional security on site. There's a lot more parking at the high school than there is at McFarland. So there's some things we can do there as well
031that make it a little bit better set up. And then for our maintenance guys, all that stuff gets moved over there for graduation the few days before. And so there's some operational efficiency that comes from from this move is just from the logistical part. I think they've done a good job of thinking through that. The other experience I think most most people on this board remember when we we we thought it might be a good idea to move graduation to the Toyota Center? >> Yeah. >> And we tried to communicate early and we tried to go through all those things. It speaks to the power of traditions. And they brought that up. There's certainly a tradition to promotion in in Othello. And I I'm I believe what they have designed in the way that they're
032thinking about it is going to enhance that tradition. It's really going to feel better. We just got to get that first experience off and and honor the things that have existed here for a number of years, but you know, do them in a little bit better way. >> Mhm. >> Pete, the only thing or the only concern I had was and I think we do provide it during um graduation for the will we have anybody or can we have parking for like the handicap people around? That'd be my only thing that there was some that's they had some access there when they got to park close by the the uh >> Yeah. We'll make sure that we mirror the communication that we do for those kinds of accessibility issues when we send out the information
033from the middle school, yeah. We'll take care of that for sure. >> Where on the map do you want us? Just so that we when we show up we're not saying where where do we go? Where do we go? >> Yeah, it's going to be right in front of the stage. Uh so you'll be kind of facing the stage. >> Are those chairs like those little black and brown? Okay. >> Uh and since we have a new stage, it was also kind of thinking about even space on there because we're just going to see kind of how they even the practice goes. >> Okay. >> Uh what might make sense also when we go through the >> I think what will happen this year with graduation is we'll have that experience with the larger stage
034and set it up in a way that flows well. And these guys can come watch um you know, rehearsal for graduation and graduation the event itself and decide how what makes sense for them. >> Okay. >> We'll have a spot for you. >> Am I correct this is happening Thursday evening? >> Wednesday. >> And do you think you're going to have students go to school >> Okay. >> Yes. >> You are not. I mean [laughter] >> You're going to have fun days with >> Yeah, those those days, Thursday, Friday. Friday's a half day, Thursday's our field day. >> Okay. >> We really hope kids, and we will send out some messaging letting parents know like, "Hey, they're not gone. This isn't like the seniors." Seniors walk and they're gone. It's not, but I mean we
035will have and we always do have some students that are like, "Hey, we're done." I do want to acknowledge a couple of feedbacks, and we felt this too. It was not ideal even when we made the decision. We try to avoid Wednesday nights. >> Okay. >> Us making this change later, >> Okay. >> um we weren't able to. Next year it will be on a Tuesday. We were supposed to go to Thursday, but uh OHS does their field day that day. Their Husky Olympics, their end of year type of stuff on the field, and they were like, "Uh we'll figure something out." So, we said, "No, that's it." Again, honoring tradition, we didn't want to bump that for them. So, we went to Wednesday. Next year we plan on it being a Tuesday. >> Okay.
036>> But that's telling students they have to be at school the rest of week. >> I think the the give and take nature of that question is a really good example of if we have it on the last day, we avoid that right that attitude not showing up, but then we run into Hey, it's it's my last day of elementary school and I'm going to the middle school, but mom and dad said I have to go to to promotion, and so I don't get to have that final day with my classmates, right? There's all those little components that that go into it, and I I really do think for the system it makes more sense. It's just starting those traditions over. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> All right. Well, thank you all for putting that
037together for your thoughtfulness around it, and we look forward to being there. >> I guess just to help them out really quick, can we get an idea of who's going to be at eighth grade promotion? >> I'll be there. >> I can be there. >> I will be there. >> So, I think all five of us will be there. >> Yep. >> Great. >> Perfect. Yep. >> All right. I I appreciate that update around uh We're not calling it promotion anymore. Husky Beginnings. >> Husky Beginnings. >> Who who who coined that phrase? Who wants to take credit for it? >> AI. >> It depends. It depends who really gets it. >> It depends. Do you like it? >> It was Simone. >> All right. Well, transitioning here to um a topic that we've been working
038on for uh pretty intensely this year, but it's certainly been our experience the last couple of years, and that's artificial intelligence and the impact on education in America. And we want to think about what that impact means for us locally. You all have passed the policy in the past couple of years that says hey, we're we we have access to it, and it's really up to the teacher. Teacher, you handle it. Now, what that has created is some frustration for students uh because there's inconsistency in how teachers use the tools. Uh it's created some confusion for staff. Uh some teammates want to use it heavily, use it to grade, use it to design lessons, others don't. They're they're not interested in using it. So, we know there was a need to um enhance that. It
039also came from a presentation that some of us attended at WASDA from the Quincy School District about how they were using AI effectively in their schools. And so, Will has been leading a group of folks uh for the last couple of months uh thinking about AI, and uh they have an update for you that they're we're excited to for you to hear, and hope you have questions about. >> Yeah, so we've got a couple of people from our committee here with us right now. Brisa >> uh Montejano is uh a world language teacher at the high school and avid, right? >> Anything else? >> Am I missing anything? Okay. And then Scott Richie at Wahitas um who's a technology teacher. So, they represent some groups that were on the committee, but we had I I
040think some weeks we had up to 15 people sitting there with us. Um we we formed a committee recommendations from principals, "Hey, reach out to these people and see if they want to be a part of it." Um we specifically wanted to get kind of a spectrum of um how their feelings were about AI so that we were hearing all voices. So we got those names and then we had people just show up cuz there's a lot of interest. We had people who told their friend they were on an AI committee and they said, well, I'm coming with you. So it was really good and we were able to get some really good voices. Is this on? Yeah. So this was what we started with. Really a statement of our purpose and our mission and
041our hope to create human-centered procedures and classroom guidance for AI use in the Bothell School District that enhances rather than replaces engagement, critical thinking, collaboration, and empathy. So I think these are really the fears when you hear people talk about AI and some of the pitfalls that we have are that kids aren't going to think, kids aren't going to be engaged, and they're not going to collaborate cuz they've got this computer that's going to help and they're going to be disconnected. And what we really wanted to focus on are those things that we think are pitfalls and can AI be used to actually enhance those things in in cool ways. So that's what we started with and said, hey, if we can't do this, then maybe we need to get this stuff out of here.
042But but this is what we're hoping to be able to accomplish. So just to give a quick timeline like Pete said, we started in February and that was Pete and I introducing this project to district administrators and saying, hey, this is what we're trying to accomplish and then saying, hey, get get us some people who are the right people to be in the room and work through this. In March we got together with that group for the first time in the beginning of March and we said, hey, let's determine the scope of this meeting and and have a focus area. In between the March 5th meeting and the end of March meeting, we got with some stakeholder groups. So specifically we got some student groups from the middle school and the high school together and
043got feedback from them and asked them some questions and got input. And then Pete and I actually got together with some business leaders in the community and were able to get some input and some feedback from them and have some really cool conversations. We got back together in March, reviewed that input, and got some consensus. The Oh, the other group that we got input from was that committee itself. So, we had kind of framed it and done some reading in that first meeting. Over the course of that, we put out some surveys to them to say, "Hey, where are you? What's your experience? What's your understanding?" So, really about 15 or so people that were able that were really across K-12 in our system that were saying, "Hey, this is our experience and this is
044what we think about this." So, from those three groups, we got together and said, "Hey, based on the feedback from these individuals," and we'll share you some snippets in a second on what we got from those people, we said, "Hey, this is the direction we're going to take." Then we talked through that, got their input, came back together, and said, "All right, with these focus areas, this is what we've heard from you," and tried to put some things together and refined and got feedback from from that and got prepared to present to you all today. So, we want to share kind of where we're at and what our next steps are from there. >> All right. So, there like Will said, there were three different kind of groups, the students, the staff, and the businesses.
045And as you can see, all together, there's some commonalities amongst these groups. So, one of the things that was clear is that AI is here. We want to use it as a learning tool. We want to use it as a tool, but we don't want to replace. So, we want to find ways that we can continue to use it as well as integrated into what we're already doing. They All three groups agreed that clarity. We need to have some sort of way of making sure that we're consistent with whatever we choose to do. And then all three groups, there were risks and responsibilities. So, how can we use this tool making it responsible using it responsibly knowing that there are some risks um, that are involved when we use AI. >> Any questions on that
046input? I'll kind of try to pause for questions so you don't have to hold them on till the end. Okay, we'll circle back. >> I I think I have one comment. I wasn't part of the, uh, student interviews, but I don't recall you sharing that any students said, "We don't want to use it. We don't want it to be part of our experience." >> No, they didn't say that. What really surprised me from the students, surprised and impressed me, is that students were able to articulate really, really clearly that I could use this to do work for me, but that doesn't help me. So, they were able to describe times when they said, "Yeah, I told it to write that essay." Or I told it to answer that question, and then I didn't learn anything.
047But, when I missed class and I came in and said, "I'm confused about this. Could you help me? Could you tell me the steps to be able to do this process cuz I'm confused?" Or could you put these definitions in like language that I might understand better? And now it helps me understand it. They were able to articulate these other things they were using it for to say, "Hey, my teacher said this. I don't really get it. Can you explain it?" And like then they were like, "That helped me learn. And that makes a lot more sense than just having them do it for me." Like all these kids, and honestly like the middle school kids, I just like grabbed a picture book and said, "Grab me this kid, this kid, this kid, this kid."
048It wasn't like I just grabbed like the top students or anything, but they were all able to articulate that really, really clearly. Hey, there's a place that's useful and helps me learn. If I do this, it doesn't help me at all. I'm not going to learn anything. >> So, students can already use it on their Chromebooks? >> Yeah, right now I think I don't know if there's, um, it's got a Can they access ChatGPT as a elementary student? >> I honestly don't know cuz I don't play it down that world with them. >> Yeah. Yeah, I know middle school and high school can. That it's Yeah, at school level we can watch it. At middle school and high school level we can see what they're doing and things like that. So, you can use GoGuardian
049and be like, "Hey, this isn't the time for ChatGPT." and pull them off. And we'll get to that a little bit later about providing clarity. Um, cuz when you see the clarity of expectations, that was another thing we heard from students. Sometimes I don't know what I'm supposed to do and not supposed to do. I know my own son said, "I don't know if it's cheating or not. I need them to tell me like, did I go too far or not?" So, we'll hear Here's Here's some things that help with that. Okay, Scott's going to tell us what the outcomes that came out of that from from this feedback were. >> Yeah, so after we had all that feedback, we met together again and kind of tried to build backwards. Knowing what this is what
050we want it to kind of look like. Um, some of the big pieces was knowing in even in our committee we had people who were very much against AI use and people who were a little bit too excited about AI use. And having those dialogues back and forth, being able to say, "We need guidelines, not hard and fast rules, that can guide a teacher when they want to use it. Here's how we use it. If you don't want to use it, that's okay, but here's the other things." So, that was really well um established. And it also serves as a good jumping-off point for professional development as people do start to dabble a little bit in it. ChatGPT's fine, but there's a lot more out there that can do a whole lot more. Um, and
051and really learning how to harness that and having those PDs available. Um, and then we had a lot of fun conversations about what the age-appropriate placements um like for me as a K-6 guy, I use AI all the time with the kids, but we're not creating images. Um, I use it in kindergarten. We're using it in a little app called Snorkel, and the kids are reading sight words, and we're using AI to just simply determine did they read the word correctly? And just give us a quick progress monitoring rather than pulling four or five parents to pull kids out of a class and sit in the back of the room and do that, you can do a whole class all at once and then it records their audio and if you know a kid can
052read better than that, you can play back the audio and and modify. So, it's things like that that the kids are using it. They might not get it. They might not know it. Um and then up at fourth grade, I'm able to give them conversation or like questions about coding concepts that we've used and have them explain it. Um and it gives them the feedback to lead them and guide them back. So, finding what that age appropriateness is where they're using it, but they're not maybe using the creative side where you might get into more of the middle school and the high school type setups. Um lots of different opportunities and then looking at different platforms. Uh I took a AI course from WEA this winter that opened my eyes to a whole bunch of
053different options. Snorkel was one of them. We talked a lot about another one that I shared with the sixth graders where you can use an AI chatbot to behave or pretend it's a certain person from history. So, our our middle Wa-Hi was doing um the Underground Railroad. And so, I just was like, I'm curious. So, I went in and I found Harriet Tubman. And so, the chatbot behaves and answers all the questions like Harriet Tubman at a good sixth grade appropriate level. So, when you really start getting into some of the the folklore, it can get a little bit dicey on behaviors that were done to survive and and things. And so, I just pushed the border to see what she's going to tell me. And anytime I took it to anything kind of violent
054that route, it was very good about saying, "They were tough times, but we and kind of turning it back more to the positive." So, it was really good at filtering and and doing those things. And I thought, what's a great way to get the kids to interact with history as opposed to just read about it and be able to interview and things. So, there's a lot of platforms that can be harnessed and used depending on the grade level and the what what you want to do with it really. >> Okay, so this is our first shot. You guys saw the Quincy example. We looked at that as well at a team and they really liked it. Um but we had some things we wanted to add and change from there. So we uh this is
055our first um shot at really getting some of those comprehensive things into one place. And we're going to jump into these portions bre- broken down um individually. But this is really the outcome that we're trying to get to as a district is to be able to provide our educators with clarity and tools and resources that they can pull and we can have some uniform language and some uniform procedures that teachers can communicate with students and with families um on how AI is being used and what's the appropriate ways to do it. So we're going to jump into some components of these um individually now. So uh Scott just talked a lot about this, but if he's got anything to add um Scott's going to share about the learning at every stage. What are the what
056are the different age progressions? >> Yeah, like I don't know if my thoughts all go together, but th- this kind of is an example of what I was talking about before at that younger age level, the kids can interact with AI, but not necessarily on that creative or them prompting it themselves, but using it as a tool for help, for guidance, for feedback. Um when I first started using this little app Snorkel, I was I was really surprised. Um gave them a question, sent them on their way, and and every teacher will know there's always at least one or two kids every year that's just like excessively smart. They just kind of get it. They can teach themselves practically. Um and I watched one of those kids that I just gave it to them and
057off she went and it took her three times before she finally got a passing score. And it made me stop and look at it and go, "That's a kid that I never would have gone and checked on." That's a kid I never I would have handed her a paper, filled it out, she would have turned it in, and we would have gotten to it eventually. It took her three times before she was able to articulate a way to get that high-level four that she needed. And I thought, that to me was profound. We have assumptions about kids, even our high kids, that they get it. She would have caught up herself. So, to me like that K4 area, that's where it's used. It uses that individual feedback loop kind of a thing for those kids.
058Moving up into the 5-6, that Harriet Tubman example to me is fantastic. I I loved that. I was like, "Oh my gosh, that's awesome." And then again, just slowly progressing them into creating their own things and then using it as resource. In my ideal world, I honestly think of Tony Stark. It's Jarvis. >> Yeah. >> He doesn't use Jarvis to do all of his work, but he definitely uses it as a think partner, as someone to crunch the quick numbers when he's falling out of the sky or whatever it is. That's kind of where I see leading it and and trying to get the kids to understand that's the goal. >> Um just something to add real quick, and Pete, you can jump in, too. When we met with the business and the community people,
059um two of which were also parents, um this was important to them. Um similar to the students, none of them said, "No, we don't need our kids to know anything about AI." They said AI's changing our industries and our kids better know about it and know how to use it well, and also know the limitations. Can't use AI to do your work and you not understand your work because you got to go talk to a client and you better be able to explain it. So, they saw those things, but they as parents, especially, were saying, "Hey, but what's the You better get the right ages. I don't want you getting my kids on here too early and not know know these guidelines." So, we were really careful with this and saying, "Hey, they're not prompting
060and using generative AI as K through four students. We might have products that use AI that help us to meet their needs better and get feedback quicker, but um yeah, so I don't know if you have anything to add there, Pete. >> Uh one of the other interesting things that the the business group shared, I know there's also some fear amongst um folks that AI is going to take all these jobs away. And there are some jobs that are certainly going to go away, but what was interesting what what they shared is how it's actually opening more doors for more individuals because AI So, these guys that are really good at math, right? Those are our top math kids in our school. There's probably another group in the middle who are really effective at some
061um maybe more trade-based or technical kinds of work that aren't great at math. But if AI can do the math part, and then they can go out and run the machinery and be really happy doing that, it opens more doors for them. Uh so, it's really fascinating to talk about how they were using AI in their businesses to be more efficient, but it wasn't it wasn't taking away jobs at least from these industries. >> I have a really good example of how AI has helped at Johnson's Glass. We just went through this process of implementing an AI program into our phone system. So, at the end of the day, you can pull a log to say who did our receptionist talk to, uh what was their phone number, what was their need, what do we
062need to order, um just like this whole level of efficiency. So, it's not taking her job, but it's definitely helping her to become more efficient at her job and letting us know like you need to order this and be proactive and stuff like that. So, you can definitely use it in your business, not necessarily to replace people, but to make them more productive and and help your business to grow. So, I think it's super important. >> Okay, so you've seen the stoplights before, um but we want to share a little bit about where we landed on those stoplights. >> All right, so in the high school, we have um like teachers who are It seems like they're either like no AI, and then these guys are like all AI. So, we wanted a model or
063something that would help both of those and then help our students know when it's appropriate to use AI. So, we I think got this from Quincy School District and we saw it and we were like, "Oh yes, this is perfect. This is what we need." So, the idea is that students will know what level of AI they can use for an assignment. So, if I have a writing assignment where students can't can't use AI, they have to produce it all on their own, I would put up a red and say, "This assignment does not have any AI use. I want this all to be your own work." And then maybe in the yellow, then I say, "Hey, you've gotten your first paragraph done. Now, let's run it through an AI filter. This is a yellow
064where now you've completed your work. Now, get some help. Get some feedback on this." And then the green would be, "Okay, we want you to use AI to brainstorm some ideas or to put together a timeline for you." Um so, it really is clear on when students can use it, when they can't use it, and as well as if they start to see this in my classroom and then in the next classroom, they start to understand, "All right, I'm at yellow. This is what yellow means." And we're hoping that by doing this, it kind of clarifies some of that "Am I cheating or am I not cheating?" >> So, one of the next pieces with this is to create We created this overall framework right here is to actually create some images that we'll put
065in a shared drive for all teachers to be able to access. So, that image looks the same across the district when we assign things. So, a teacher's going to go in and say, "Oh, this is a green light assignment. I can go copy this image, put it on a slideshow. All my kids know." And they're going to see that green light and know what it means. They're going to see these yellow lights and know what it means. One thing that's really important if you look at this top piece, cuz we do have teachers that are hey, all AI, no AI. The determination of the lights on an assignment are a team decision. So, you do have to it wouldn't be right for a student to say, I got um 10th grade ELA with Mr. Perez
066and I have 10th grade ELA with Mr. Van Brockt and in Mr. Perez's class I could use AI like this and I don't get to touch it in Mr. Van Brockt's class. Like that's a different experience and that's a different task. It's not the same educational experience. So, those teams do have to get together and wrestle with this and determine what the right place is. So, that was an agreement we made. Um the last piece that we were really excited about when we had some research and heard this idea um and it goes back to those kids not knowing, you know, what am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to do it? Is this AI disclosure piece. So, creating an opportunity on any assignment for a student to say, this is the level
067of AI I I used, right? To be transparent with that but not put it not try to hide it not feel like they have to hide it. And that way if a kid crosses a line, it's not them trying to cheat. It's them saying, hey, this is how I used it and the teacher going and having a conversation with them and helping them navigate this tool and saying, hey, I really wanted to see your thinking there not AI's thinking. We're going to do redo it, right? Now, if a student doesn't disclose it and they used it and we find out about it, then that's academic dishonesty. You know, that's cheating. That's a fight we've been fighting for hundreds of years in education, right? It looks different now but um you know, we've seen it before
068whether it's passing notes or or doing those sorts of things. So, um we uh that's something we're really excited about. We're going to ask students to disclose when they use AI. If they disclose it and we think they cross the line, we just have a conversation. We go back and we say, hey, you said you used it like this. I wanted you to do this differently and let's try to redo that. So, um next steps Like I said, stoplight and disclosure, we want to create those into usable artifacts, get those out to our teachers um and think about how how they can use that. Um we're going to train and get with our building administrators and then create implementation plans that make sense for the different levels saying, "Hey, what does this look like? How
069are we rolling this out? Do we need to bring somebody in to train? Do we have in-house people that are going to be able to help us with that?" And then one that you might have noticed on our to-do's that you didn't hear very much about are the platforms. There's a lot of educational businesses and things like that selling different platforms that are perfect for schools and things like that. Right now as we looked at it cost-effectively and also just the capability, there's so many platforms out there that are really capable and that are coming out. We felt comfortable leaving it at the level of openness that we have right now. Um but want to continue to research that and watch as we go if other platforms that make more sense um or if we
070get word from legal and things like that that we have privacy issues, then we'll we'll address those as they come and we're going to continue to monitor that. We think that's that's never something that's never going to stop. We're going to have that ongoing. So, um questions, discussion, what thoughts [clears throat] do you guys have? >> Quick question. So, I understand the concern with students using it like why we would worry about that. What is the concern with teachers using it too much? >> Yeah, absolutely. Um I think again in in what uh Pete was talking about that we're seeing in industry, we're facing that in education right now, too. Um it can do incredible things for the efficiency of our work. Um you guys heard us talk several years ago as elementary administrators about
071the work we were doing transitioning to targets, creating new question stems and things like that around all our readings. Um it was incredibly time intensive and like Melissa Rocha and I um and Jesse King at Hiawatha and then some of our teacher leaders spent like hours and hours and hours doing that and we paid a lot of money for it. Um a year later ChatGPT came out and was like, "Hey, we could have done that for you in like no time, right?" Like um so there are those things. We know that the platform's not perfect. Like what it produces isn't perfect. So when we started using Chat GPT and it made our work really, really efficient, um it also became really, really apparent to me that I was glad that I did that work and
072that I understood what I needed to produce at a high level because when Chat GPT gave me the wrong answer, I was able to identify that and able to change that. So we have to find that balance between saying this can absolutely speed up your lesson planning. Um we have we shared with you guys from McFarland that we try to wickerize our lessons and bring in the avid stuff. Um because I wanted to model that for our teachers in our PD, I would design a PD and I would lesson plan out and then I would give that lesson plan to Chat GPT and say wickerize this. And it was so good. Like it gave me really good strategies. It knew what I was talking about from the avid resources. It brought it in and they
073were good teaching and I was able to implement those and have a more engaging and a and a higher level PD because of that. If I was a brand new teacher, just telling me to do that and I wasn't able to filter what was good and what's going to actually work and things like that, that could be problematic. If I just said lesson plan these next 3 weeks for me and I'm not able to look at that critically and do that. So I think that's really the key. Our industry is facing the exact same things that I think every industry is facing as they're trying to implement Chat GPT uh or AI overall into those things. So >> I think I think um one of the other concerns uh that has been expressed to me
074that I've come to like I'm like I think that's it with AI. It's not so much that AI is going to replace people. The way that I heard it phrased it's going to come between us, not replace us. And I think a real concern for teachers is an over-reliance on grading, particularly of student writing, um that they don't have a strong understanding of what each kid is producing and they rely so much on the software without auditing or digging deep or personalizing. I think there's a risk there for sure. The same is true for administrators. We have talked a lot for the last three or four years about feedback to teachers to help them think about or scale good work or to, you know, challenge less than stellar work, right? If if administrators uh and
075that's everyone as we communicate, we get to um we over rely on that and we don't go past the first iteration, which is help me write a letter to the board explaining this. But that's all I do. If it if if there's not another iteration and another iteration, I think it's going to feel like um a false communication. It's not going to be transparent. We already feel that when you're at some kind of a words Here's a test for you. Next time you go to a graduation or scholarship night, listen for the word unwavering. Listen for the word transparency. Like there's a couple four or five words that are just pervasive in ChatGPT. So I I think that really is a fear. The other fear for us is that teachers are going to be We
076have a couple folks who are They're not They don't want to use it at all. And right now, the way that the policy is written and the level of training we've provided, which isn't enough, that's probably what we should be doing. There's going to be some tension that's created between Hey, we're requiring you to do this in your class. And yeah, we get to say that because we want an equitable experience in this secondary course. So there's going to be some tensions there. I think on the other end overwhelming opportunities for teachers to be more efficient, more thoughtful in their lesson design, to have a thought partner to help them produce some new experiences for kids that are really, really exciting. >> Kind of going off of what Pete said, not only is the scaffolding
077built for the kids, but it's for the the staff as well. We already have in Google Classroom that every high school teacher is using. There's a feature in there called Notebook LM, which is an AI-powered bot essentially that will only use the resources the teacher uploads into it. It doesn't go outside of that. So, something as simple as that becomes a really powerful tool to just get someone who's kind of against it to dip their toe in it and say, "You have complete control over what that can even provide the kids." So, they can upload their slideshows, their PDFs, I mean, anything they want. And then, it becomes just a little tutor chatbot based off of those resources alone that we already have that we may not even know how to use it. >> The
078only fear that I have is the exact same one that you had is that you will get some teachers that want to try it and there will be ones that are going to fight it the whole way. And and it really ends up making it um hard on some kids because some kids really want to try it and some others I this group I imagine is going to keep meeting until they figure it out, right? I have one question or I guess one >> [sighs] >> I'm not sure how you said but what I'd like is a year from now when you guys come to meet and and bring this back up to us and tell us tell me what didn't work. We always hear of what works or we're moving on to something new
079but never tell us, "Hey, this part that we figured or hey, the stop lights, we didn't add this in and we did now and that's why it's it's become better." We we always hear like the next step but we don't ever hear of what happened before that had to be changed to make it better. And I always believe that you always get to some type of adversity and have to change something to get better. You just don't it this is not really how it is. It's more of a this and this and this. I want to know what you guys found and what changed to go like this. That's all I ask so in about a 6 months to a year, I'm going to ask you the same question. >> So, one of the big
080conclusions from our last meeting was this can't be the last meeting, right? Was was absolutely we know there's kind of a pause that we got to a play place where we've got to go roll it out and we've got to do exactly what you've said. We've got to roll it out, we've got to get it in front of administrators, we've got to go train, and we've got to get it rolling, and then come back and say what's working and what's not working. So, absolutely. >> Yeah, cuz this is going to be huge force in the future and so we can't just stop if we've invested this much time into it, let's see it all the way through. >> I do kind of have a comment. Um, just something to keep in mind maybe for the
081teachers that are so against it is higher education's already using this. So, for example, my my brother is a junior at Eastern Washington University to become a teacher and they're already using a stoplight system like, "Hey, you can use AI, you can't use and it's already kind of letting him use these tools to better himself to be a teacher. So, I think it's just important for teachers to understand that this is already going to happen. So, how can we do it effectively because if someone is not aware of what's happening, maybe when they get to the college level, they're not going to know how to actually use it and get themselves into situations where it's like, "Hey, this is actually cheating, this isn't cheating." And maybe it's going to put students at a disadvantage compared
082to other students that are in the same program or blah blah blah blah. So, kind of just letting people know that this is already happening at the college level at and beyond. So. >> And then I also you had the way you explained it as far as how you can use it for kids, that was great cuz I would have had no idea the way you say you guys use it for the kindergarten kinder through fourth. >> Yeah. >> That to me is it helps you furthers the process. I would have never known that if you wouldn't have said it, so I appreciate that as well. >> I'm curious to hear your thoughts that you've had on the language learning part of it, how it can be used in language classes at the high school
083level. >> So, I'll be honest and say that I'm one of the ones that's more against. Um, but I've come to find ways to try and integrate it Um, and I think this is why I was such a big advocate for the stoplight because when you, let's say you travel to a Spanish-speaking country and you're having a conversation, you know, you don't necessarily want to say, "Pause, let me Google translate this and then show you what it says." So we're really trying to get the kids to understand that and so many of our kids already come with Spanish skills. Now it's just a matter of figuring out which skills they need more support in and usually it's the writing piece. And so we've tried to figure out ways like use your notes or use the
084buddy system or let's work together. But let's not necessarily go right to the Google translate right away so that they can see that with the tools that they have, they can actually write this one paragraph that they need to write. But there are some other ways outside of in the classroom that I think Google translate is amazing. >> I don't know if the high school is using it at all. I don't know what what products are available but Aaron and I have an over 100-day streak on Duolingo that has incorporated more and more and I found it really useful. Incorporated more and more the AI bots for conversation. Right? You get to have a conversation and what you say, it's going to respond. And you get to do a a really natural normal conversation with
085somebody that's actually an AI bot and then you get feedback on your conversation afterwards. It's kind of interesting. >> I know Brandon Holst over at Skutnik, he likes to weedify everything. Just cuz we have so many second language learners and he's using this same app and actually talking to the developers there to create activities and things that kind of simulate or emulate the WIDA that the kids will take so that they can kind of practice those things and get feedback on how well they did, how well they didn't do. Um it never tells them exactly what they should change. It's like, "Hey, think about adding this." And then it lets them try it again. So, I know he's been working on using AI in that form as well to just help kids who have to
086take another language test, another state test that they have to take until they pass it >> [snorts] >> to help them get that exposure and practice. >> I I do want to follow up on uh Director Pernell's question about um you know, sharing things that didn't work. And perhaps we could have been more explicit about it in this conversation, but I think this is an example of that, which is you know, a couple years ago we give you a policy, we we base it on what the state tells us to do, you guys approve it, and now we're done with AI. What didn't work in that case? We didn't give teachers much guidance. We didn't give them a lot of support. We didn't give them clarity. We didn't really go out their opinion. We didn't
087talk to the kids. We never called in business people, right? So, we got something that was on paper that we were by law we were compliant with, but it wasn't working. And so, this group was to say, "Well, maybe we can do it a little better." And all these things might not work. There's certainly if we don't get the training part right and help teachers understand in your PLC this is how we're going to decide what's red, green, and yellow, it's going to be an issue. So, I appreciate the reminder about that, and maybe for us it's more about saying, "Yeah, we we we got this done, but it was very low level. Here's the next iteration." So, good reminder for us. >> I I do hope that you really hone in on the the
088stoplight method with with all the teachers so that it is across the board. Um I know that's the intention of standards-based grading, but that does that's not always the the case where everyone is grading the exact same. Um so, hopefully when we roll out this to the teachers, it can be something where it's like this this is actually what you're allowed to do. So, it it's not different from teacher to teacher. >> With that question, it's the same thing you said, Pete. We learn from how we put that one out, and hopefully we do a lot better job on this one. >> I don't know about the other departments, but I know for my department, our focus next year is common assessments, and we're going to go back, look at our skills, and then make
089sure our all of our assessments align to that. So, exactly what it says there is exactly what the kids are doing, and our goal is to implement the stoplight as well. So, putting the stoplight in our assessments. >> So, when is when are you guys planning on rolling this out or introducing it or or that? >> Yeah, our most immediate next step is to get with the principals, and that's going to got to be determined. Um I know scope and sequencing is happening a lot in the next month where teams are going to determine their their assignments and things like that. It'd be nice to get something in front of teachers. It probably wouldn't be deep training, but some something in their heads about, "Hey, as you do these next year, as you come through
090and are actually implementing them and giving these assignments to kids, you're going to have to think about what what level of that." So, I think maybe a little bit of introduction in the spring, and then probably fall next year that before they start school that they're going to get some more training. I don't know if you have anything to add, Pete. >> I like that idea. Well, thank you, and yes, we'll we'll circle back as as we have more to update. >> Great. Thank you guys so much. [clears throat] Pete, do you want to just jump into the next one? >> Yeah, we'll invite the Ludlow C4 team forward. I think it's we've had a chance to to some recognition, and then some of the committee work that's been going on and it can be
091a busy time of year, but we're excited to have Ludlow here tell their story a little bit about how things have gone this year and your site visit. We hope you have some some questions for the team that's here tonight. >> Hey, good evening. How are you guys? >> Good. Can we get our site deck up? Thanks. Um well, before we begin, I just want to say thanks for having us here. We got to meet a few weeks ago when you were here at our site visit. And then actually we got to see quite a few of you guys just last week with the staff appreciation and the barbecue. So not only thank you for the good food that was barbecued up, but then also just acknowledging the hard work that is happening throughout our
092whole district and really supporting staff throughout. So thank you for that. Um today we are going to be talking about our dual language school, which is Ludlow Elementary School. We're going to have a few of the slides that were that we went through through with with you guys here at our site visit, but then we're also going to go in a little bit deeper because we want to represent some of the work that you probably saw when we went into the classrooms and we were walking through the classrooms with the kids. Before we begin, I have our feedback team here with us this year and let's do some quick intros. Obviously I'm Mrs. Benjamin. I'm the principal at Ludlow. >> I'm Eddie Vela. I'm the Dean of Students. >> I'm Mercy Gonzalez and I'm an
093instructional coach. >> Rosa Loa Salmeron, instructional coach. >> Paul Hoursland, assistant principal. >> All right, so I'll talk a little bit about what our current system looks like. Um K2, uh we have four teachers to a team at each grade level. Um the blue represents then English teacher and a Spanish teacher who partner up. Um and so the students will see um each teacher every other day. So one day is English, one day is Spanish and then they flip the next day. So, um it'll maintain our count of 50/50, and we can still plan in PLC, um and then still do vertical alignment with the rest of the grade teams. Um and then in our third through sixth grade system, um you'll see three different sections. So, we have an English language arts teacher, a
094Spanish language arts teacher, and then a bilingual math and science teacher, and that um depends usually on the trimester or a certain amount of time um where that block of math and science is taught either in English or in Spanish. Um still trying to maintain that 50/50 um model of fidelity to our program for Spanish and English. And these are the tres pilares de educación de lenguaje dual, the three pillars of dual language education. This is what you would see in each of the um schools for dual language. Um so, it's bilingualismo y bilettrado, um altos logros académicos, uh competencia sociocultural, bilingualism and biliteracy, high academic achievement, and social cultural competence. Um a luda caga, there is a system. So, the next one shows how those three pillars are supported with our focuses. So, um
095the bilingualism, how do we how do we get there? So, focus instruction driven by data. Um the high academic achievement through feedback and instructional coherence, and then the cross-cultural competence um is student culture and high student achievement. Um that would be the how, and then the why. Um why is it important for those pillars? How are they supported? So, it's the uh for language acquisition, it's the instructional core, teacher, student, content, and how those relate so that the kids can actually acquire the language, the second language. On the next one, um we have the foundation that teacher clarity and success criterions. We have the reading comprehension. Those are the focuses to achieve one of our pillars and then the interim assessments and data analysis and then common routines and procedures. Those are the things that
096we have been working on throughout the years. >> So, it actually kind of got me thinking when you asked the question of what didn't work. Let's talk about that because we don't want to just stand here and talk about what is working right now and what we are going to continue to do. We also do learn from our mistakes. One thing that you'll notice here and this image is going to be one that we build in front of you guys and talk out loud with you. What didn't work is just focusing on this column off to the right with talking about the what and for us in the educational world, that's content. So, if we just sit here and talk about what kids are going to be learning, the curriculum, the content that's in front
097of them, is it grade level of rigor? That's not going to work. It's part of the puzzle. We do need to focus on the how and if you look at the instructional core, it's those arrows in between the student connecting to the content and the student connecting to the teacher. That mixture of the what and the how is extremely important and that's recognizing if we don't put those together and if we don't support our staff members throughout both of those learning processes, it's not going to work. So, Resolvo is absolutely really right. We started a few years ago with reading comprehension and Will was talking about that with a big shift in elementary is moving into target work as well as Will talk a little bit later with our writing content. But, the how really
098came about with those data analysis and common teaching procedure common teaching techniques. One thing I want to dive in a little bit deeper with is is not just teaching techniques because we have common language. It's actually high leverage techniques to really get different types of engagement with the kids to the content. So, there's a little way that you can think about this. Obviously, here's a continuum. One way One way is to really get kids we want them thinking at a high ratio, at a high level. We want to ask questions so that they are thinking at a very high level so that they are retrieving information constantly in their head and that they are doing a lot of hard working, hard thinking. Another way to get engagement is to actually have them participate. There are
099four different quadrants on here and we tap I'll go through actually all of them. So, at a low think ratio but high participation ratio, that's where everybody answers questions but it's really at a low level. So, I'll use an example. I'll ask you guys a question. I'm going to ask everybody question. Did you like your visit here at Ludacauga? I'm not actually don't actually answer. Thank you for participating though. But you can see how every single person would answer the question. You'd sit and wait your turn. But that's a pretty low question. That's a yes, I liked my visit or no, I didn't like my visit, right? That's one way of engagement. Another way of engagement is again, really low thinking and really low participation. This in our world is when you just hear crickets
100when you ask a question. So again, I'll do an example of nod your head if you guys liked our visit, right? Did you like the visit, please? Somebody answer me, right? Okay. All right, that's crickets. Again, very low thinking. Maybe a few kids who are just eager beavers are answering but that's about it. The next way is to have a high think ratio. So, a good really good questions but low participation. The majority of the class is not participating. So, for example, I just want to volunteer. Somebody volunteer, what did you think or if you could summarize something you learned at Ludacauga? Again, a different type of question, you have to actually summarize and give examples, but only one of you is going to get called on cuz you're volunteering for that. But right here,
101this is where real learning happens because you have high think questions and high engagement from every kid. And that happens in many different ways. I'll give you guys an example because you're each sitting next to somebody right now. I'm going to ask you to turn and talk to with your partner for just about 45 seconds. Between the two of you, come up with at least one to two takeaways of what you learned during your site visit. When we're done, when we're done with our 45 seconds, I'm going to call on one of you to answer, okay? Go. Just kidding. But you can see how everybody's going to turn, how everybody's going to start talking. If I didn't have an actual thought in my head, I'm at least hearing and engaging and I better believe be
102listening because I might get called on or my team might get called on, right? So again, a deeper level of question and a lot of engagement for kids. So when we say, oh, sorry, this is some of our common vocabulary that we have. We call them cold calls. I'm going to call on somebody. We have our turn and talks. We have all hands. We have everybody write, so maybe you think first by just processing and writing it down and then I'm going to ask you to show me with a whiteboard. Call in a response. The whole class is responding chorally. Accountable talks or giving kids sentence stems to engage in conversation or engage with academic language. And then wait time. That asking question, pausing for you to think, and then moving forward. Those are all
103things that really get people, not just kids, thinking because what we think about is what actually sticks. That's where learning actually is derived from. So when we talk about the student engagement piece, that's really coming from our common teaching techniques cuz it doesn't just happen in one classroom at Ludacauga, it happens system-wide. Because again, when I move from as a kid from kindergarten to first grade, second grade, to third grade, those practices and engagement strategies continue just at a different age appropriateness and kids engage in the learning instead of just how to be a student. And again, is there what that was referencing was that connection between student and content. We're talking about how. And when we do that, we utilize our PLCs and our common collaboration time for that. Another thing that we've been
104doing at Ludacauga as I build this what and how is we've Well, I'll go into the what first. We've been working on reading comprehension. We're really this year diving into our writing and math clarity. And in fact, you got to visit one of our math PLCs where we did some math calibration with each other. We did it in two ways. The first session was learning progressions. So, we sat down as a K-6 unit and we discussed how we want to make our learning progressions which is um our domains of math. How do we want to make them visual and interactive with kids because when kids know at least 90% of where they're supposed to be going, they're more likely to achieve 100% of it. So, you have to see your actions and steps. And I
105think Marci's going to talk about an example here coming up. You also saw our math coherence work where every single grade level stood in front of ourselves and we modeled what the learning standard was going to be that week. Not just saying this is our standard, but actually giving an exemplar and showing exactly what it looks like. And then we grappled with each other. We had some some cognitive sparring saying, "Well, if that's happening in second grade, then I need to do something differently in first grade to get them ready. Or, hey, in third grade you're doing this, but I'm a fifth grade teacher and I need you to say it like this because it changes how it evolves when they get to me in fifth grade. So, that was us doing our collaboration and
106and calibration with each other. When we get into the how though, again, we utilize our PLC's to do all of that work in our staff meetings, but it really we focus it around exemplars and pre-work. So, when we talk about exemplars, we're not just doing lesson plans. We're actually saying, "Here is an example of what we want our kids a problem that we're going to put in front of kids, and we're going to give us the best example of how kids need to show it and prove that they know how they are learning." And then we also pre-think of questions to get them engaged in thinking at a deep level. And then we also do aggressive monitoring because, again, it's not just about pre-work, it's about when you are live in front of kids, what
107do you do with them after the lesson? I think Paul >> Yeah, so we talked a little bit earlier here about how we really needed to dive into some common language, but also say, "What are techniques that teachers need to be using? We know they're effective, we know they're what's best for our kids." Because um our school and our our team up here have looked in the mirror and said, "Hey, if our students aren't performing, um there's only, you know, the adults that work at Ludacaga that are responsible for that. And so, what are we going to do to do better?" And so, we we dove into some of those strategies. A huge one that actually is even listed in that previous slide is aggressive monitoring. And I could go through and explain each one
108of these steps, but I think the easiest way to describe it is if I just took 15 minutes of a class period to teach my students how to do something, I I if I just cut them loose and then at the end of the class period or maybe end of the week decided to give them a test to figure out if they know how to do it or not, uh that's a lot of wasted time. If I just taught you guys how to do something in the last 10 to 15 minutes of class, and then I gave you that task, and then I went around the room, and I actually physically checked off whether or not you could do what I had just taught you to do, and if you weren't able to do where
109you were getting stuck, now I know a lot about each one of my students and what they need to be able to move on to that next step. And so, really going through with our staff and saying, "Hey, this is a high-yield strategy. This isn't waiting until the end of the week to figure out that a kid was stuck here and couldn't move on because we learned it on our assessment. It's good teaching practice right now. Go around the room, figure out which students still still need that extra support, and which ones got it. So, [snorts] that way we're not um losing that really valuable instructional time because we have students who um can't afford to lose that valuable instruction time, and as part of a free and appropriate public education, it's our job to
110make sure that we're getting the absolute maximum that we can out of that time for students for for their sake. And so, that's part of about what aggressive monitoring, and that's a an example of how you do aggressive monitoring. These are the steps about um how to do it well, but the the gist of it is we as uh educators um don't need to wait around and and give our kids a test at the end of the week to figure out whether or not they have what we just taught. We can go and physically see their papers, see the work that they're doing, and if we plan well and do a good job, um then that's that task is actually really easy one to do. >> That does it. >> I'm going to ask a
111question of the board about what uh Paul just described as it relates to aggressive monitoring in the last presentation. Um based on how he described it and what's up there, do you think um a machine can aggressively monitor how students are doing in a classroom? Or would it have to be an adult the way he described it? >> I would think that was a part of being efficient is that you could get that program to help identify if the kid is stuck or not. >> You could if you So, the one that Mr. Ritchie described about I'm reading into a monitor and it's listening to how I'm speaking and giving me feedback, right? But if he gave us four math problems and we all got them cuz we were trying out for Math is Cool
112and he was going to walk around because he just showed us how to do one on the board, only a human could do that, right? >> Yeah. >> That's aggressively monitoring whether or not kids are are getting what we're asking them to get. The cool part about AI that we hope teachers don't run away from is he could take his notes and then he could go speak them into his computer and say, "Hey, I was aggressively monitoring my class of 25 and 17 of the kids really struggled with this concept. Can you give me three examples for tomorrow's entry task that would help them exercise that skill?" And now he doesn't have to come up with them. Now he can put them out. He has a way to monitor it. So, there are ways those
113tools can be used and enhanced that we need to teach straight teachers about. But the teacher cannot be replaced. The teacher will not be replaced by the computer for these very basic skills that are so important. >> No, because it shows accountability to the kids. >> Yeah. >> And you if you also think So, you're absolutely right in the efficiency aspect of it is maybe I have my notes and I'm going to dump it into AI after school is out to get ready for my what to do with the data, which is maybe my reteach plan or my entry task for tomorrow. But there's also that efficiency piece that only a human can do because one of the first steps before we get to tomorrow's lesson is to really see if maybe 50% of my
114class has it have it right here and now. Well, the forgetful curve tells us scientifically that we do not want to wait one more hour because they're just going to keep remembering the mistakes instead of remembering the learning. So, we're going to do a stop and model right now or we're going to do a think aloud right now because of that data and that wouldn't be capable unless if we have those human eyes on it. Two of the things that were and you guys jump in, but two of the things that were big takeaways when our staff really dove into aggressive monitoring was the statement right here. Never mistake activity for achievement. So, just because kids are busy at work doesn't mean that they're busy learning and retaining. And then the second thing that was
115a big one it was that immediate feedback. Let's say that we are doing those math examples like Pete was talking about and I recognize that Aaron has a mistake. I'm going to tell him fix X, Y, and Z. I'm going to come back to you in about 3 minutes. So, there's a fix, feedback, and then follow up immediately. Because again, we don't want to wait 1 hour for Aaron to continue to make the same mistake cuz that's what he will remember to make every time. All right. It is me. So, with that with our aggressive monitoring right here, um I would talked about that's part of the how, but the what takes us back into what we've been doing over the last few months at Ludacauga, which is learning progressions. And again, you guys got
116to see a little bit of that with our math learning progressions. We've also been doing it with writing as well. So. >> Okay. So, um just to kind of bring it all together, learning progressions could maybe sound like you're doing some lesson planning, but it's really a lot more than that. So, what you've just heard about is we've done work in PLC to make those learning progressions available and interactive and tied that to our explicit instruction. Just one step of For example, I'm going to show you an example of a writing cycle. So, in writing there's several steps to that writing process, but we're going to break those down to just one step at a time so that we can aggressively monitor. And then that's all happening right now. So, we're tight on this year
117those first three steps and next year that's going to lead us into student tracking and goal setting. So, we're trying some things on with that this year that I'll share as well. But, I wanted to just you know, we've had that conversation about AI. If we could go back to the previous slide right here, and Rosalind spoke about that task predicting performance. So, on the very top of our house, right? And you can't So, when you're aggressively monitoring and you are interacting with kids and giving them feedback during that time, you're building relationships with them. So, that one-on-one feedback isn't just do they have it right or wrong, and what do they need to learn? You're actually interacting and building strong relationships with kids so that the student engagement and teacher knowledge you're credible in
118front of students in a classroom. So, I just kind of wanted to bring that back with that AI conversation as well. >> I love that you're talking about that because when we talked to each other in the library, we also talked about effect size and some of the high levers that we can pull knowing that it's going to produce a high levels of effects for student learning. One of them is if kids actually think that my teacher is credible, right? And we gain credibility with our students by making those connections with kids instantly in the classrooms in the moment. So, thanks for sharing that. >> Okay, so if we'll jump ahead to This is a sixth-grade Spanish writing interactive map if you would for student progress in the writing cycle. And so, what you're going
119to see Can I just walk up? I'm just going to walk up. Um So, it's just related to Super Mario Brothers and Mr. Our sixth-grade teacher, Mr. Daniel, he kind of put together the map and then this is the progression. So, right here they're looking actually researching what they would be using for facts to write. >> [snorts] >> And the way he's created that is that students know, "Okay, this is the goal right now. This is the step in the writing cycle we're we're working on that you need to be successful with." And then if you see the little flags over here, these are broken up actually by classes because if you remember what Maddy shared, Mr. Daniel in sixth grade sees three sections of Spanish writing throughout the day every day. So, this is
120each homeroom's flag so that he can show the kids this is where we're at at the onset of a lesson or lesson sequence. And here's what you, you know, how many of you play Mario Brothers? Yes, I love it, too. So, once they get up to here, do do do do do, and then they jump, and I don't remember the song, but do do do do do do do do do. I do remember the song, and then they, you know, pass the level. But, I think another iteration of this, because remember these are what we're just trying on for next year, would be that these flags could actually represent individual students, and then those flags you might have a flag, oh, I'm here in this goal, or I'm here in this goal, and those flags
121could be seen throughout the whole entire map. >> Can we get that song again one more time? Okay. Um, one thing that I really liked about that example is what we referenced a little bit earlier. When we talk about learning progressions, it's not just telling kids what we're going to learn today, it's also making the connections of what we learned yesterday or last month or last year when you were in third grade, and where it's supposed to take us in the long run. So, making it visible, making it interactive with kids really does produce buy-in, as well as it really connects different pathways in their brain for memory. Going back here, I just want to share that we've added our next year's goals and some of our focus, which is student goal setting. We did
122this very this image very specifically because again we have the what and the how, and we have to have a strong foundation and base because as soon as we get our learning progressions and aggressive monitoring down pat, then we can get students involved in goal setting, which inevitably will lead to student agency, which is just another word for ownership, them believing that they can do it and that they have autonomy over what they're learning. And then, once we build that house, it just becomes a cyclical cycle bouncing back and forth where small tweaks are made based off of individual students, individual class sizes, or classes, or just different curriculum changes in general. So, we are really excited about the foundation that we've been building, and we can't wait to see where we go next with
123goal setting. Um part of that though does involve the students. So, when we talk about that whole picture of student agency, there's a factor here that is truly about just student culture in general. So, I'm going to pass it to Paula Money. >> Yeah, so before you can really talk about student culture in a school, you got to make sure that your your staff is in a good spot with the culture and what we believe and get on the same page and have a belief about our efficacy, right? A belief that all the kids in our school can learn and that if we do our jobs correctly and well, they will. And so, that's what we one of the things that we really worked on through all this work is that staff culture around expectations,
124showing up to work, doing our best every day, and really making sure that we understand that the work we do matters a a lot for students, and it's not something that we can take lightly. And really developing that culture of excellence among our staff, right? We're going to go in there, we are going to collaborate. Collaboration is something that's huge and and it isn't negotiable. Together, we are better than any one of us are alone. And really dig into that and say, "And we have to do this because if we want to change student behaviors, if we want to change student outcomes, if we want to do better than what we're doing right now, we have to really believe in that work that we're doing as a staff." And so, that's something that when when
125we say "Somos Leones" or "We are lions", right? I mean, we're proud of our mascot, right? We believe the lions are the best mascot in OSD, but that's not why we're saying it. We're saying it because it's that affirmation to each other. That's our promise to each other to say when we show up, we show up for kids and we do our jobs well. And so that was that's something that we've been working really hard is making sure that as a staff, we actually believe that and mean that and are holding each other accountable. So if I show up on work to work tomorrow and Christina sees that I'm I'm not focused and I'm not doing my best for kids, that we have a culture where we can kind of call each other out and
126say, "Hey, you know what? I know it's tough, but right now we got to dig in and we got to do this for the kids because that's what matters most. And now that we've done some of that work, we can start talking about that student agency piece and then what's it mean to actually have an impact on our student culture in our school around high achievement. And so I'll let Marty talk about some of the work that we've started with that and then also where we're going with our student agency. >> So something that Marcy said earlier was and it and it has to do with aggressive feedback was we aggressively or we aggressively monitored in order to give feedback on student individual work, right? So you're building a relationship and you're building rapport, but
127you're also building expectations what we expect of them and and what they expect from us so that we have our teacher credibility, right? So it's all become a part of our culture of what it is to be a lion. So we say a daily affirmation every single day and it's about the lion mentality. So somos leones, we are lions. We come to school ready to learn. We are lion or somos leones, we are lions. We work hard and don't give up. Somos leones, we are lions. Um we are kind, respectful, and helpful to all. Um somos leones, we are lions. Somos orgullosamente bilingues. So it's always building um um building language, but building it through relationships and academically, socially, all of it. The perseverance. And what's been really neat to see is kids who are
128going through some adversity, whether it be with health or with family things. Um I've been able to witness students write notes to each other or little videos that we send off to the family saying, you know, so-and-so, um I hope you're doing okay. Remember, you're a lion. You can do hard things. You know, um because it's a part of our chant. It's a part of the the affirmation, right? Um we have pride paws that are pulled every week and one of the questions asked after they get picked, right? They come down and they get their little deal. And I say, like, just four questions. And the last question is, why do you have the heart of a lion? And they're beginning to pick up the affirmation, like, I work hard every day. Or I'm nice
129to people. That's why I have the heart of a lion a lion. Um those kinds of things. So, it's becoming a part of the culture and a part of the expectation. Sorry. >> And And one thing with our student culture before we leave it, it's really important that students believe that they actually have some control over their outcomes, right? In school. A lot of times students might feel like school is being done to them. We don't want our students to feel like school is being done to them. We want our students to feel like they're in the driver's seat. Like they have that control. And that's why that student agency is at the very top. And so, um setting some of that cultural piece is really important. But now, it's time to also say, okay,
130what does it look like for the students to really hold themselves to a high level, to really expect a lot out of themselves, um to achieve at that. And that's not something that kids just naturally do. It's not It's It's a learned trait. It's something that you need to be taught. And it's our job to help students um learn that. And so, that's that student agency piece that's really important. And that's why uh getting the kids to believe in themselves first and foremost is that important first step to then say, hey, and guess what? You're in the driver's seat of your education here. It's not being done to you. We're doing this together. >> I keep thinking as I'm listening to our team talk right now of that most everything we're saying is rooted in
131research and best practices. And so this is the stuff that all schools, no matter if you're in elementary, middle school, or high school or is chasing for their kids and for their community. Um what I want to reference right now as we move on to the next slide is what's coming up next because what we're talking about and what we've built and what we are going to continue to grow doesn't happen by chance. It does happen with intentionality. It does happen with extreme focuses and a lot of support and resources to back it up for the doers doing the work. So um we are blessed to have a lot of opportunity this summer to really dive in deep with our staff members with some professional development. And we have five days that are going to
132be coming up for our staff that's going to be optional. And we've had about 98% to 99% participation over the last few years with all of our staff members for these optional PD days. And it really does show with the collective efforts that we do every single day in the school. This upcoming year, we talked about a little bit with our high student achievement. We're really going to dive into student agency and goal setting. We're going to do a lot of PD about around writing and math and using our learning progressions to get kids actively tracking, understanding their goals, what they need to do next to achieve them, where they're at in their learning process, and how to communicate that with their parents. How to communicate it with the people around them who are also
133their advocates for and stakeholders for themselves. We're also going to have an entire day around that gradual release. We term it I do, we do, you do. Um when I went to school, it was a lot of sit and get from the teacher where there was a teacher modeling a big portion of the lesson of the I do and then I practiced it just a little bit. We know that that's not done. Um that's not how you create learners. We have to do short little bursts of a teacher explicitly modeling, us collaboratively practicing and trying it on, and then me doing it by myself and getting immediate feedback from the teacher, and then in that same lesson doing that all over again. Because that's what's going to make the learning stick. So, we're going to
134spend a lot of time doing that work and using our exemplar planning to help guide us. We're also going to dive into Driven by Data in a very unique lens by adding responsive teaching to it. Because, again, I know where my students want to go with their goal setting, I know how to do explicit learning and teaching for it. Now, I know how to instantly respond to my teaching when the kids are telling me what they've learned or what they need to know next and do next. We also have been doing a lot of our work around our common teaching techniques, the things that I was modeling earlier with the high think ratio, high participation ratio. So, we have some presenters from Teach Like a Champion, which is a book that we've been using as
135a book study. They're going to come help us for an entire day and help add onto our repertoire of teaching techniques. And then we have a lot of team time on Friday to really get our teams into the classrooms, not to just talk about it and do the motion, but to actually build the action before kids come in front of us. Anything you guys would like to add? Oh, Marcy, one more slide. I'm sorry. >> No, that's okay. I just as I was thinking about this, what you're looking at is our state-wide assessment data for ELA and math. And then the ELL and the greater than 30%, those are just in the low income, too. Those are just broad filters for filtering out other schools. They kind of kick out the the west side schools
136like Bellevue school district, things like that. So, as you look at that with the dual two-way elementary school in 2022-23 all the way through 2025, we were ranked 16 out of 21 and then 15 out of 21 and nine out of 24. Or sorry, out of 24 and 24. And that that number just changes as schools there's always opening and closing schools throughout the year. So, that's pretty normal. But just to see our growth there as a dual two-way school and then all elementary schools, um if you want to click on that is 97 out of 124 to 121 to 67 out of 152. And I I mean those are numbers, but as I was thinking about that I was thinking about what we've done. I know I I came to Ludocaga in 2007. I
137spent the majority of my years as a teacher at Ludocaga. And they've all those years have been dual language program of some sort. I wasn't always in the dual program because we started with just a track, but I've always believed that we're doing really hard work. I've always believed that we're asking a lot of our students, but we need to know if that's working and we need to know if we're improving. And so this is just a really great look at growth. And it's also showing us that we're not there. You know, our goal is to total world domination. And so we are still working to improve our program and improve our practice, but we've got a lot of growth out of what we've tried to do and I'm just excited for the years to
138come. Questions? Thoughts? >> I do have a a couple questions. Those optional days you mentioned, so those are Ludocaga specific, that's not a district thing? >> Yeah, so we are blessed with getting four professional development days. All schools get those to use that what we deem as necessary for our own focuses. So, we have four that we're going to use at Ludocaga and those are the specific ones for us. We've added on two additional ones that we just fund from different funding sources. >> And so that would be planned and or run by this group, by this team? >> Yep. >> Okay. >> You just don't know it yet. >> [laughter] >> And then, can you go back to the pillar diagram? Yeah. Why are there oranges, grapefruits? What are What are these? >> [laughter]
139>> Who Who wants to take the slices? >> Not me. >> I'll I'll take that. >> [laughter] >> Those are the standards for math. So, there is like the computation for the math, and then the the pieces are the the slices of the oranges are the standards into the pieces. So, it's >> I'll I will add on. >> Okay. >> No, just that I didn't want to say it because I always get it mixed up. I didn't I never like connect well, but we were doing interviews and one of the candidates did mention like it's like the oranges. Like she totally recalled. So, it's just a really great visual for the work. Sorry. >> And it's a visual that was presented to us given to us by a presenter named Luis Cruz, and he came
140in and did some work that really resonated with our teachers about how we kind of breathe some life into our collaboration, and the oranges were one of his examples that really stuck with people. So, he said, "Well, let's talk about oranges." >> Yeah, it's truly when you think about that whole orange, and it's just funny we had oranges sitting at one of the tables one day as well just by random. Again, Dr. Cruz was talking about how we're going to utilize PLCs, how we're going to collaborate differently, and also knowing that some of the stages that we're going to go into as a dual language program model is going to be adjusted for the work that we're doing. And we have a whole orange of what we want our kids to learn, let's say it's
141math. Now, you take that orange and peel it or cut it open. Now, those are domains, and then each individual slice is a standard. So, you're working feed one slice to a kid at a time, but overall that orange becomes or one slice becomes an entire orange that they're eating. And it's really based around that teacher clarity work that everything is rooted in found in in our rooted on in our lesson planning. We can't just say I'm planning for math. Well, what specifically are you planning for because we need to know how we're going to aggressively monitor the kids to give them feedback so that they can be a part of their learning, to have student agency, to build it on into the next school year. >> [snorts] >> That was a good question. >>
142I have a question just back when we were we did walk-throughs, something that was weighing on me and maybe you can just clarify. Um in each classroom right where you talk about that progression, a lot of times the classrooms had some sort of bulletin board kind of showing where the student was how they were progressing, right? With their names on it. Those students that are maybe aren't progressing very well and it's shown in the entire classroom, is there any concern about how those students may feel about that being so visible? >> Yeah, at this point what you were probably seeing cuz I don't have an example right here, but there was some >> It was the fish, the water and I felt like the ones at the bottom were drowning. That's how I took it.
143That's how I mean I mean if I were a student, that's how I would be thinking I'm I'm drowning and I'm not going to I'm going [laughter] to I'm going to I'm done. So, I was just I was wondering what if there was any concern about that cuz then all the rest of the students and they see that. >> Well, part of it is also about growth. So, it's not just always meeting benchmark which naturally as educators we're going to be here and saying we want kids at grade level all the time, right? But we also know and I'll I'll just use Paul as my student example. We also know what Paul does in 2 months time is different from what Resolve is going to be doing in 2 months time and that's deserves to
144be celebrated as well. And so, we do have that little visible tracking, but kids know where they started, kids know where their goals are and their progression along the way and those are celebrated. I think one thing that you didn't get to see in a 5-minute clip walking through classrooms is the environment or the community that is evolving around kids making growth and making achievements. Achievements does not always mean at top-tier grade level or above. It does mean that I am click It's clicking in my brain. I'm making moves. And also, if you think about us doing it in a bilingual sense, I have it over here in Spanish, and now I'm just going to be transferring it over in English cuz it's the skill, but I'm using the language as my modality. So, those
145little things we didn't get to see and capture, but it really is a part of the environment that's being created. I won't lie though, it is being created still. >> Yeah, and that's to kind of go to what Ysora mentioned earlier where it's like, "Hey, there might be some things about that that aren't working." And like I said earlier, we don't want feel students to feel like this is being done to them. And so, the more we can get students involved in tracking that work themselves, we do have like one team, and I wish we could have seen it where they do have all the students um up there. The students know every row is a kid, but there aren't the names, right? And then they are seeing those arrows moving, right? And they are
146seeing how much progress, and then there is a goal for the class, and then they're celebrating it and getting really invested in like, "Oh, come on, guys. We all need to do good, right?" Like building that culture of excellence. And so, like, "Hey, this is important. We care about how we do, and we're kind of collectively in this cuz we all have a collective goal also." And so, as we pursue that student agency, when you do find those things that work really well, you say, "Oh, sweet. This thing's working really well. Let's Let's run with that cuz that's the thing that that seems to be the thing that works the best for our students right now." And so, we are early in that process, and when we see those things that work well, we'll glean
147onto them. And when we see some things that maybe don't work well, or we're finding that for some students it's it's not making them feel like they do have that ownership, then we we can toss those things out cuz at the end of the day, like we said, uh Ludacris exists for students. It does doesn't exist for for us to feel good about ourselves. So. >> I do want to add something to that because um you were in the English that was an English classroom. And so but if those kids are like um Christina mentioned that dual language piece, right? So those kids that may be low in the English, you would see them higher in in Spanish. So and then then there's also setting goals for themselves. So if I'm reading 50 words, I'm
148not a great level yet but you know your growth and your goal is 10 more words the next time. So they have that in in the mindset but you know that their names are in a different place in the Spanish or the English vice versa. >> I had a question. It beat the bush, I always do it. Are we doing a slow start for kinder this year? >> No, we are not. All kindergarten is going to be starting on the Tuesday after the official school day or school start. >> Why did you What was the reasoning behind that one? For all elementaries or just in yours in general? >> Uh actually it was an all elementary decision and it was based off of feedback from teachers and parents. Teachers primarily saying that uh the two
149week soft start or strong start >> [gasps] >> did not actually produce the intended results which was to get them softly introduced in small groups because they just had to re-teach it over and over again cuz of the duration that they didn't see the students. Um and then also some of the parents were telling our district that there's just a lot of confusion with when they sent their kids, when they didn't. And we just had a lot of transportation mishaps and some parents dropping them off but then having to pick them up. There was just a lot of just discombobulation around it. So we went back to as a district a one start time. >> Well, I just want to say thank you so much for having us. You guys are always amazing hosts. So,
150thank you so much for all of the information you gave us while we were there and then again today. Thank you so much. You guys are quite a team. Thank you. Do we have any public comment? No. Okay, we will move on to upcoming events. Um, May 12th, which is tomorrow, we have our future ready schools team meeting here at 6:00 p.m. May 18th is our site visit to Wahitis. Um, May 26th is our school board meeting at noon. June 5th is graduation. June 9th is Ludacauga Dual Night. What was that? Graduation is at 8:00 p.m. on June 5th. And June 10th is Husky Beginnings at 8:00 p.m. as well. Okay. High school graduation is at 8:00 p.m. Husky Beginnings is at 7:00 p.m. Got it. Okay, now we'll move on to the board self-assessment
151of the meeting. >> Really good presentations tonight. >> Mhm. >> I thought the AI one was very informational for for the school district. >> I missed our girls tonight. >> Mhm. Really appreciated the student recognition that we got to hear from two clubs tonight from our middle school. That was outstanding. >> Informational. I think. I can't remember. It's already gone. A great presentation by Ludacauga. [clears throat] Appreciate them hosting us for our site visit and then such a thorough presentation. Does anyone have anything else? Okay. At this time the board will recess into executive session for 15 minutes to discuss the performance of a public employee. No action will be taken following the executive session. This meeting is adjourned.