001Gotcha. Hi, Carol. Uh, it's 7:05. Uh, roll call. >> Sure. Mr. Coower >> here. >> Miss Cullinin >> here. >> Mr. Eky >> here. >> Miss Fitzgerald. Miss Harrian. Miss Rosenberg. Mr. White >> here. >> Mr. Chair, you have a quorum. >> Thank you, Carol. Uh, I'd like everyone to rise for the pledge to America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> And with that, I give the floor Tonight is of course the elementary showcase and we have a great great presentation for you tonight. We are going to demystify the idea of coaching in Cheshire public schools. And so to begin with, you're going to hear from two familiar faces that you heard from last year, Stephanie Concus and Stephanie Lopez Smith, who
002are our science coaches. And last year they gave the showcase presentation all on the curriculum they had done in robotics and in a science and we thought it was fitting to have them kick us off tonight with year two of their process. So without further ado, I'm going to introduce you to the good evening to everybody. Um tonight we're going to briefly share how science curriculum and coaching are expanding opportunities for elementary students and supporting teachers across our district. My name is Stephanie and I am a science coach for the district. My name is also Stephanie. My name is Stephanie Cungas and we are so excited to share with you ways that we are expanding opportunities for students to experience science in public schools. All right. Our work focuses on strengthening student understanding of science
003concepts while directly supporting teachers in the classrooms. The goal is consistently ensuring all students have access to meaningful hands-on science learning experiences. A large part of our position is making sure that teachers are supported so they can support their students. In addition to modeling in the classroom, we also collaboratively plan with them so they feel confident to go into their classroom and run these hands-on activities with students. And we've also hosted many professional learning workshops with teachers. We are going to go over many many units that have being rolled out in fourth and fifth grade this year. And we have supported teachers in providing instructional strategies and learning experiences in those units that you'll see tonight. Um as some of you have seen our work in robotics, um students are moving from basic coding to
004applying the full engineering design process. They're defining problems. They're working within criteria and constraints. And they're testing and revising solutions. Along the way, students apply math skills like measurement and analyze variables that affect movement and speed. By the end, they program robots to navigate challenges, building both technical skills and problem solving confidence. We're going to just show you guys really quickly one of the robots that they build. um and how it moves. The students actually build this type of program and many more um in this this program. >> The intention of this program in our office, this makes a perfect square. We're going to observe >> different variables in action. >> That was not a question. So our students then have to solve for that and figure out why the variables are impacting its movement
005through the different challenges that they go through. So last year you heard from us regarding the grade four aggra science unit and last year Steph and I pushed into classrooms to run this program in all grade four and grade five uh classrooms. We have then critiqued and changed the curriculum a little so teachers can now run this in their own classrooms with their own students. So, one of the workshops that we led teachers through was how to change instructional strategies and also how to implement a lot of these hands-on activities. So, I want to take a moment to walk you through what the storyline process looks like in the aggra science unit. So, one of the first investigations that students take part in is observing sandpaper. I only have three pieces, so not everyone is
006going to get this opportunity. Uh, and they look at the sandpaper through the lens of the magnifying glass. Some of you may see that you can see the particles on your sandpaper. Some of you will not be able to find those particles. And that is an observation we want students to have is that sometimes there's particles that are large enough to see while other times they're not large enough. And so, thank you. This leads to the idea of particle size in soil. is if there's different particles in sandpaper, can that relate to the particles in soil? And so they then they then investigate three different soil types. Lo, which is your traditional dirt, clay, and sand. They mix it together in water and shake it all up, and then they let it settle. In the
007first picture here, you will see them making observations of their soil shake. So here students are developing and using models to further their understanding. So you can probably see even from the back here uh feel free to pass that. Um is it all the same throughout? No. We see distinct layers. And so students determine through this model that not all soils created equal and that particle size might be playing a a variable in why the soil settled the way that it did. This leads to them asking questions about, well, how else is soil interacting with water, which has them move on to another experiment where they test how fast water flows through soil and how much water gets through the soil. So, they would have a cup with holes that is propped up. They pour
008water in. So, you'll see in this picture, they're taking the time it takes for that water to flow. and they are also measuring the water that flows through. And so here they're analyzing and interpreting that data that they get from the water flow and absorption. This then brings it back to agriculture. The whole reason that we need agriculture is to grow crops. So then they ask well how does soil and water work when a plant is present? So this in this experiment they run a variety of experiments with and without plants in various different types of soil and they put this at an angle and collect water to see what the impact is of having a plant in soil versus not. They also do experiments that focus on soil nutrient testing and pH testing. So
009students are able to collect evidence through a mult multitude of experiments and they're able to use that evidence to create their reasoning of what sustainable or unsustainable agriculture practices uh would be best in our local community. So I actually do have really great news pertaining to local agriculture. We just spoke with Kurt's Farm today and they will be donating our plants needed for this experiment for the district. So we are so incredibly grateful for that. And even though as Stephanie explained that we we've created this unit and handed it off to teachers, it doesn't end there. In fact, today I was there modeling for the teacher and the students um a farm where we show that farming is the center of where we get the things that we are wearing. Everything that we need for
010everyday life, eating our consumption, that it all begins on the farm and then we actually dig deeper into where does that journey actually begin. Then we bring in the soil and at the very end of this unit we tie it back to well how do how do farming practice um practices impact um agriculture in our communities and we talk about pressure specifically and have students gather evidence and do research on which sustainable or unsustainable practice they'd like to have in Cheshure like this is their backyard right this is where they're living and growing um so really great um exciting unit and another really wonderful unit that we've done is our fifth grade um unit, right? It's Earth's place in the universe. And in this fifth grade unit, we had teachers intentionally enter the Star Lab
011and the Earth, space, and science unit. This immersive experience sparks students questions about the stars and the moon, the sun, and constellations. From there, students investigate patterns in the sky, including day and night, seasons, shadows, and moon phases, and gravity. Throughout the unit, students use models and evidence to develop explanations for what they observe. So again, Stephanie and I in the classrooms supporting teachers providing these immersive phenomenon experiences. Yes. >> So stepping back for a second, but I think it's it's really sort of a general idea of a specific concept. You were talking about agriculture and tying it with science. Obviously, it just struck me when you're talking about Cheshure and farming here. Is does it ever get tied back other parts of the curriculum. I'm thinking like just as an example, the dust bowl
012and history. >> Yes. So, it's it's funny that you mentioned that because we did have teachers talk to us about our social studies curriculum and how they're able to make those connections. So, it's really important when we think about curriculum and supporting students and teachers in the classroom that we're helping teachers support students to make those connections. Right? It isn't in but it's it's global, right? We have so many things that are happening all around us. How do we help them have students have a deeper understanding of all of that? >> Great question. Thank you. >> Another unit that we rolled out this year was for grade five. Uh this was the first unit that grade five students immersed themselves in this year. This was their first take on all sort of the new hands-on
013learning experiences that we've incorporated into these new units. One of the teachers was so excited about how their students were interacting with material that she took a video of them doing one of the experiments. So, we're going to take a look at what they're looking at. >> I'm not good at >> it. Let go. Let go. Let go. >> All right. I think you have to weigh it now. >> So you could see and feel and hear that excitement in those students voices. Uh these hands on learning experiences have really increased engagement and uh for the sciences for students. It's allowed an increase of and collaborative discussions amongst themselves um in the classroom. Uh and they've really been able to dig into those science skills like data collection and analysis uh through an assortment of
014these. >> Sorry for all the questions but tying this back. It's students and back to the board and to taxpayers that excitement comes with instructional supplies. True or false? True. >> There's a cost for instructional supplies. Okay. If people are watching, this is and we were very strategic in getting those supplies and keeping it within budget for each class. >> Yeah. >> So, yes, we do need supplies as lucky to get everything donated like We accept we accept all donations. Really again another beautiful unit that we've introduced this year. Um really helping to support teachers and students is the work we've done with our ecosystems unit for fifth grade. Um students investigate how systems interact. For example, they explore how a fallen tree becomes a nurse log and supports new life in the ecosystem. So
015we're really diving into how systems are interacting and how matter and energy are flowing in this system. Through structured discussions and evidence-based reasoning, students build share explanations of how matter and energy again move through the ecosystems. They engage in investigations, analyze data, are developing models, and integrate literacy and math skills throughout this unit. So again, it's not just about science, but we're interdisiplinary and hitting all the targets so that our students are getting the full scope of what equality and learning is all about. >> Good question. I'm been a longtime in the elementary schools. Do all the teachers have to do this? Do we have specialists in science within the f within the grades? Are they sharing? Are they doing it all? >> So, I think they're two-part question. So, this is fifth grade. >>
016Yeah. >> Yes. All fifth graders have >> No, I'm talking about the the fifth grade teachers. They have they're teaching this. Yes. And their support is us. >> Okay. >> Right. So, anytime they have a question or um anything any question that they have, they'll come to Stephanie and I. if the lesson maybe didn't work the way they thought it would. Maybe they're having a problem with one of the investigations, maybe the supply didn't come through, they come to us and we collaborate with them for the best needs to support the students and still understanding what they need to understand about the interactions in the ecosystem. We are district so we split our time between mostly the elementary schools right now but we are for district and uh every unit that you've seen so far
017we've had to push into classrooms and alongside teachers either model those lessons uh co-e those lessons support them in planning those lessons you've even looked at assessment with them as well. How do you find the time to work with each of the teachers to prepare the lessons? How >> I think that's a great question and you really have to be able to apply your executive functioning skills and time management. Uh it is a great task. Um and because because the work is so intense and you really want the students to grasp the understanding that they're supposed to Steph and I have developed um work that we'll invite teachers to. And so during these workshops, we'll give the whole rundown to the teachers, the curriculum, the investigations, how they'll walk through this storyline process that Stephanie
018and I go through so that students are able to have this have this knowledge of every lesson has a question, but once the students get through all the lessons, there's this huge unit driving question that then they're building to answer, right? That's the whole the premise to it. So, yeah, you slow and steady and and you mark your calendar. Well, >> it is is it is tricky. Both Steph and I were in three different buildings today. Uh so, it it is a little tricky. Uh especially since the schools are all in different times and everyone teaches science at a different time and their planning period is different. >> So, it's it's a little challenge. >> Thank you. >> Oh, did you want to show the video? Oh yeah. >> Oops. Oops. Okay. This right here,
019we're just going to show a quick. It's really hard to hear the students, but this is an evidence-based scientific discussion that we helped teachers to do. This is a new strategy that we helped teachers to do so that students can collaborate with one another about ideas so that they could start those um those nuanced uh discourses in the in the classroom. All right. So, boys and girls, in our science circle today, what components and interactions will we need to include as we draw our nurse models, our nurse logs? >> So, just >> start us off. energy from. >> So what you're hearing happening is the teacher has just introduced this idea of a nurse log. What we need to have students in agreement to their initial understanding of how this nurse log is supporting life
020in the ecosystem. So what they do is they sit around, they talk about the lesson that they've had that day and then we come students come to a consensus about what this initial model would look like. Where's the nurse law? Where would the sun go? Where would rain go? Where would leaves go? And the list goes on and on. As they progress through this unit, they'll be gaining evidence and doing research to see if that model is correct. So, they'll go back to revise this model. Stephanie and I had to do an intense workshop with teachers to help them understand how this pro process works so that students again are diving deeper into their understanding of how these systems are interacting. In all the units that we we've looked at today, we've seen both pictures
021and videos of students doing science. So, the impact on students, I think, speaks for itself. We saw students problem solving together, doing data analysis, conducting investigations and they were also using evidence to defend their thinking and uh reasoning. So really diving into not just having the right answer but why is that the answer and what is the big reason that that's the right answer. Biggest thing here is that students are seeing themselves as capable scientists and engineers. We saw that excitement in that experiment that the students did at Chapman. And that's important. Steph said this, it's not just science we're teaching. It's skills that they're going to have their entire life. And they're also going to be a lot of interdiciplinary uh overlap in literacy and in math. So, we hope to have many students
022uh pursue a STEM career in the future. So why continue support matters? This is really important because sustained curriculum development and classroom support ensures all students regardless of school have access to strong science instruction. Continued support allows this work to grow, remain consistent across the school district, and expand opportunities for students. So, Steph and I like to receive feedback from our teachers from the workshops we run. So, we send surveys to them often on reflection of those workshops. And we have a few uh teacher testimonials up on the board here. Wanted to uh read just a couple we have engaging in the experiments was helpful allowing participants to understand the process and anticipate potential student difficulties. So a big part of our workshop is having teachers experience the new activities with a student h and
023go through that productive struggle of figuring out what that activity has them figuring out. And so that's what they're referring to here. Uh we also have that most valuable for students was working together as teams as you saw in the video, problem solving together and seeing their successes and proud of that. So, we're really proud of the growth that's happening in elementary schools and middle school and high school. Um, we are tremendously grateful for the opportunity to support both teachers and students. We thank you for your continued commitment in science and education. >> Thank you Stephanie and Stephanie Wilith. I feel like that was an excellent demonstration of how we want science to be. You know, we had a program that had a lot of kids online. We didn't like it. They're now focused on
024curiosity and discovery, which I think we all believe is what's best for students. So, moving on to our other coaches tonight. Coaches are instrumental to our continuous improvement process in Chester public schools. They are the ones that help teachers understand how what our district objectives look like in the classroom. They support consistency across all schools and they support vertical articulation from kindergarten on. So they are really helping teachers with deeply understanding instructional practices and things change and we try to stay really current with that. And and in part of the work that the coaches do, we're we're conducting professional development and training on those best practices and Our our coaches receive a lot of PD. They are part of a coaching community practice where they come together and they are able to work through problems
025that they may be having within the classroom and in their roles. They are um often having very frequent meetings with administrators and they get a significant amount of touch points with our office. So all of the coaching that you're hearing about tonight is all coordinated through central office. If you think about it, coaches, administrators, uh central office, me, Jeff, Azra, we are looking at student data on a regular basis alongside with coaches and we're also going into classrooms and doing learning walks, sometimes together, sometimes in pairs and we're huddling up after that and we're looking for trends. What are we seeing? grade levels, what are we seeing across schools? So, we kind of get together and we make a plan as to where we're going to send out these coaches. How are we going to
026target the support to where it's needed most? So, tonight you're going to hear from our um reading and math specialists as well as our math and reading coach for the district. So, I'm going to ask them all to introduce themselves. They're all on the sides there. Perhaps Jess and Christine, you want to start and then we can your phone reading math Highland School. >> Hi Jess, math coach for the district. I'm Julie Monty Ram at Norton. >> Kristen Ray Ram at Chapman school >> and Ary Whittenberg districtwide literacy specialist. And now I'm gonna turn it over to Azra, my partner in coaching. And Britney Culver is listed here. She's not here um tonight. She was able to join us earlier. So good evening. So education has evolved. There is current research that demonstrates and unpacks
027for us what effective teaching and learning looks like and how that impacts student outcomes. Just like all of us here wouldn't want to go to a dentist that's using outdated techniques from 15, 20 years ago, that current research has implications for instruction. We consult that research to make sure that we have consistency across those classrooms and that the strategies that we're using are effective and meet the needs of all learners. Our instructional coaching group is critical in this work. They really help us bring around that alignment and consistency from classroom to classroom and ensure that all of our students have the opportunity to engage in rigorous complex tasks and that their social emotional learning needs are met. As you all know, our focus in Cheshure is high quality instruction. With that comes social emotional learning,
028complex thinking, opportunities to engage in that deep thinking. And you've heard us mention multiple times that we are really working through building thinking classrooms. So those instructional strategies that really help us deliver this effective instruction that has those positive outcomes. So our coaches partner with teachers. They might work with teachers one-on-one on an individual basis. They might work with teams or groups of folks. They might help us co-f facilitate professional learning. As you heard Steph and Steph share, they're in classrooms modeling, they're co-eing, they're uh working with teachers to debrief and reflect around those instructional strategies. What works really well? What are those opportunities for us? What do we need to engage in? Uh next, all of you will recall traditional teaching methods, right? We were all in school when we were younger and sometimes
029those were outdated. they might have been ineffective. They might not reach all of our learners. So what we do is when we know better, we do better. So we stay current on that research. We look at those instructional practices. We make sure that our teachers have the tools and the toolbox to engage in those practices to meet the needs of all learners. Our coaches are thought partners in this work. We can't do this without them because they work with teachers side by side. The really is on that teacher's toolbox. They get to collect all of these strategies. They get to practice them. They get to refine them. And they have a colleague that they can bounce ideas off of. It builds their comfort with implementation of curriculum, with execution of these instructional strategies. It builds
030up their confidence. We do all of that because the impact is on student learning. If we do this well, we guarantee that our students are active participants in their learning. They're taking ownership in their learning. We're meeting their social emotional learning and we're providing these rigorous opportunities for them to develop these deep thinking skills and engage in complex tests. So today, tonight, you'll get to hear from our amazing districtwide coaches and reading and math specialists, and you'll get to hear just exactly what that role looks like on a daily basis. So, I'm going to actually ask Chrisa, principal, to come on up. Thank you. So, I have had the benefit of being able to view coaching from multiple perspectives. I started here at Dittle as a teacher. Um, so I taught for 10 years here
031at Dittle as a first grade teacher, third grade teacher, and a fourth grade teacher. So while I was a teacher here at Dittle, I spent a lot of time with the Dittle coach, especially when I was moving grade levels. When I was moving grade levels, I had questions about curriculum. I had questions about management. You know, it was like my my go-to person when I really needed some support in the classroom when I was a teacher. Then I moved on and I was at at Chapman in Highland as a coach myself. So I was really able to be that person kind of taking all of that new learning that I had when I was a teacher and all the new things that I had learned from my coach to be able to help other people
032in the district and I was really able to see that direct impact that I was able to have on those teachers in the multiple schools. Now as building principal I really see the benefits of coaching um Mrs. Roman and I meet with our dittle coach coach many times throughout the day and also with Ann Marie and Jess talking about our school goals and what are the things that we need to be able to do to improve student learning. You know, we right now at Dittle, we're really focusing on improving our reading conferences and building things in classrooms. So, we're brainstorming different ways that we can be supportive for teachers and um our Mary, our Dittle coach, is constantly in the classrooms modeling lessons, providing feedback, giving support, really that that go-to person for everyone. And
033actually, we spent a large majority of our day today with Ann Marie and Mary modeling um for teachers, our reading conferences, and just being that supportive person for them. So, the coach is really a really important role for us, and we spend a lot of time helping support teachers. So, I'm going to turn it over to Kathy Carlo, who is assistant principal at Norton and Chapman. >> Hi, good evening. So, one more quick note before we finally hear from the coaches themselves. Um, as we talked about, coaching really stems from a lot of really good professional development. So, a few examples of the professional development that not only the coaches have attended, but administrators as well, um, would be the instructional coaching with Isabelle Stevenson from Partners for Educational Leadership, where we actually learned how
034to be effective coaches. Um and currently the science of reading master class which is sponsored by the Connecticut State Department of Education um keeping us up to date on as Azra said all the latest research on literacy and then you know the administrators and the RAMs passing that through the system to make sure that ultimately it has a direct impact on student learning. Um the way we do that is from working really really closely with the Rams and then all of our teachers as well. We have grade level team meetings where we are analyzing data and making decisions for our kids. Faculty meetings where we're sharing a lot of the PD teacher networks where teachers are teaching and coaching one another. And then as administrators also the post observation feedback that we give when we're
035going in and seeing the teachers work with their students and then getting a chance to sit down with them and giving them that live feedback in the moment which is really powerful. And then of course ultimately benefits our kids. So now we will finally hear from the coaches themselves. Christine, >> so to add to what Kathy talked about with professional development, one professional development in particular that I think made a huge impact on on us was during one of our district instructional leaders uh meetings where we read an excerpt from this uh book, Switch, where they talked about finding those bright spots to create and leverage for a larger impact. And it was really in that moment that we kind of thought about our roles and how coaching is really one of the the most
036important parts of our day and it's really something that we try to prioritize. So finding those bright spots in order to create that ripple effect, right? Not only are we looking at student achievement, we're also looking at um teachers supporting their teacher networks. So we actually have a video clip from um one of our second grade teachers at Highland that kind of highlights that ripple effect. Coaching is exactly what it sounds like. It is somebody who's there for you to support you and guide you along the way, cheerlead you. But another very important aspect of this role is to provide new learning to teachers. I remember for instance when we changed our approach to the phonics um instruction in our district and at first we the teachers needed a lot of new new information, new
037instruction up front. But the second part of that is then the teacher now has to be learning with his or her students in the classroom. And that is where that co coach's role really shines. That person is right there alongside you to model for you, support you, guide you, show you that you're on the right track, and to make tweaks along the way. I feel like what that ultimately amounts to is greater student achievement in our classroom. Our students can now reach their learning targets because we're providing that explicit instruction alongside the coach showing us the right steps to take. In turn, the teachers are then sharing their learning with other teammates in our grade level. We're talking at lunches. We're talking at grade level meetings. We're visiting each other in the classroom during our
038lessons and sharing our learning together. So, it's really been such a wonderful experience to receive coaching. >> I promise it wasn't scripted. Like that was truly truly her firsthand account of how it's really helped and impacted her in her everyday practice. And so she really did a nice job of highlighting how her learning is then spread within her grade level. And it actually now that with our professional growth model, it's spreading to our teacher networks, right? Because we're not exclusive to our grade levels. We are helping each other grow and progress. Um I think about my own experience when I was in third grade teaching third grade at Highland and Amarie as my coach um supported me in so many different ways. But I think about particularly when the RAM position opened and I wasn't
039quite sure and she was really able to kind of talk me through how certain qualities would you know make me a good fit for this role. So Amarie is now going to uh talk about how we take district ideas and bring them into the classroom. >> Thank you Christine. So thinking about we've heard a lot about coaches and what we do and how we support teachers. So let's let's think about what's happening now. We are the bridge between professional learning about instructional practices and getting them into the classrooms for our students. So I've been working very closely side by side with Azra helping bring HQI high quality literacy instruction to our students. So back in December, we had a little mini marathon, nine PD sessions in the two weeks right before winter break, right prime
040time. a lot of great learning, a lot of great feedback that the teachers gave us. So actually talking about teacher feedback, a very common practice in many PDs is that we want anonymous feedback like let us know what did you get like what did you understand out of this PD and what do you need next? So in that particular PD um we got a lot of feedback but some examples like I got it. I got a list of resources to use. I need help on how to use them. I got it. I got multiple resources from you. These are actual teacher responses. I need help conferencing with students. Okay, I got a scope in sequence, but I need help with kids who are below grade level or I got it. I got the pacing for
041my bridge lessons. I need time to talk it over. Okay, that was two weeks before winter break. Most of my January, my February, and into March, and in fact all day today here at Dittle, I am side by side with teachers in the classrooms, I am modeling their bridge lesson, their phonics lessons, but the teacher or teachers, depending on what the coverage could be, are watching. But then the great opportunity is that we have a chance to co- sit and talk afterwards where the teachers can stop, reflect on what they saw. So maybe they saw an entire bridge lesson with a lesson with a whole class or they watch a conference and I could be conferencing with a small group of students or maybe an individual student but then we have time to sit the
042teacher can reflect on okay this is what I saw let me ask you some questions so I can answer the questions but then here's the important part now side by side with the teachers we're going to plan the next steps for the teacher because the goal is you learn this in PD right and then I showed it to you we did it we talked about it and now we need to help build their confidence so they can take it back into the classroom. Um just recently um you know I've been doing this January, February and March in all of the buildings. There's one teacher here at Doodle that actually was kind enough to share his thoughts on the whole process. I'm going to share that with you. >> This year coaching has helped build my
043confidence with my reading conferences. Uh, specifically coaching is useful because I get to see um another educator work with my specific students and really identify areas where I can improve my instruction. >> So, as you could see, like coaching, yes, there's professional development. constantly giving teachers the knowledge of high quality instruction and what instructional practices look should look like, but then the coaches take it to that next step, bring it into the classroom with the students and help because at the end everything we do here is to help our students student outcomes. So, um, districtwide literacy in all the buildings, but my counterpart is going to talk about members. Sorry. >> Hi. Um, so just to kind of give you an idea about what we do as district coaches, um, one of the things that
044we really want to make sure is happening is that there's a vertical alignment across schools across elementary to middle to high school. Um, one of the things I'm able to do is also meet with our math coach at our middle school um, regularly throughout the year so that we can make sure there's a a continuity among schools. Um, also we're both in elementary schools every single day of the week. So we go to a different school each day. We spend time in those buildings meeting with teachers, modeling lessons in classrooms, uh co-eing, co-planning. Um this morning, for example, I spent a lot of my time today at Dittle working with small groups of students. Um we were just doing some targeted instruction. So that kind of thing when we're in the buildings each day. Uh
045we also, and I know Emry mentioned a bridge too, we also really try to bridge together all of our schools and make sure that everybody is on the same page. we're getting a consistent message um to all of the schools. Um we work specifically with each of the RAMs in the building so that we're supporting teachers together. Um and then really our overall goal is just to have that consistent vision for instruction for everybody. Um we want our students to have that success in any building that they're in. Um so now I'm going to hand it over to Mary and I couldn't do it without them. And um I one of the first I learned about being a teacher is being able to look at your audience and adjust to exactly what they need in
046the moment. And um as I've been reflecting and listening, I thought that this um night has been really an amazing adventure for me and seeing just where I've started and where I've come. And I look in this room and I've seen I see lots of faces that have impacted the way that I teach. And um I started a quarter of a century ago. I say 25 years sounds a long time as a classroom teacher at Norton school and um my first year teaching was was with Kristen Rayall who's going to speak next and she then later became my coach and she built up my confidence is when you're a new teacher you have a lot to learn and you're not confident in what you do and you want that support and you want to feel
047like you um can deliver a lesson that's going to sustain for your students and help them grow. So, um, it's been a really awesome journey to go through that process. And if I, if you asked me even 10 years ago, if I could stand up here and talk about being a leader, um, I don't think I could, but it's all because of all the people up here and the people that I work with every day and the students that I get to see in all of the classrooms, which is a unique experience to be able to see. I know all, you know, kindergarten all the way through sixth grade. I could be teaching in sixth grade one moment and helping a teacher and then moving to kindergarten sitting on the floor. And it's just it's
048every teacher should get to experience this. Um, and now I can say I'm two months away from getting my own educational leadership degree and it's because of all of the the the modeling and the knowledge that I've learned throughout all my professional development. And um, it's just an incredible experience. And so my goal here at Dittle is really to focus on creating more leaders and paying it forward. So um I'm proud to say we've had professional development where teachers have led groups of teachers have led building thinking classroom lessons. They've gone to professional development with me. We've collaborated um grade level meeting. Even today, we had a group of teachers go into a classroom and observe a an English language arts um fifth grade lesson or even we had sixth grade teachers join us to
049see how that was run. And the best part, as Amarie said, is being able to go back after and really collaborate on that. So, um you know, as Ara said, if you know better, you do better. And that's that's our goal as coaches to really make sure that they're always learning more. Um I do have two quick videos. Um I asked some teachers if they wouldn't mind um sharing their thoughts on how how my coaching has been here. And I did ask them on the weekend, it was a last minute thing, so they're in different places, but you get the gist. So being coached by Mary was very rewarding. And if I had to choose one thing that um was most beneficial, I would say it was the in the- moment real time feedback as
050I was teaching and as she was modeling. The real- time feedback allowed me to tweak my instruction and how I was engaging with the students right then and there as opposed to going to a workshop and trying to come back and implement changes to your instruction by yourself. Having the coach there was incredibly helpful and benefited both me and my students. >> Hi, I'm Jen Dubie, third grade teacher at Dittle Middle School. I was coached by Mary Bruszik a few years ago and it was an amazing experience that I recommend to everybody. It the coaching process is really beneficial. It is not evaluative. It is really a team effort to try to help improve an area that you as the coachee decides. So I chose something that I was having trouble with in my classroom
051and I reached out to Mary and together we worked on a plan of what we were going to do, what I was going to do and how she was going to help and support me. she came in and did observations and gave me feedback and through that process together I was able to um reach the goal that I had set in the beginning. So again it's it was invaluable to me and I recommend it to everybody. Thank you. >> This was an up plug for commercial. >> Great. Thank you. >> So hopefully at this point in the presentation you're really starting to understand more deeply what Christine was talking about when talked about that ripple effect all the way from our central office staff supporting both Amry and Jess as our district literacy and numeracy
052coaches and they in turn support all of us as Rams who then support classroom teachers and students and that trickle down effect is so powerful. So I'm hope hoping that I might highlight for you a personal experience that I think reflects that as well. So I've had the luxury of being an educator at Chasure Public Schools for 29 years and the last 16 I've moved in and out between being a classroom teacher but also being a coach as well. And so one of the best things most powerful things about being a coach is the amount of professional development that I had to be able to do the job effectively and the amount of conversations deep deep conversations with teachers and my colleagues about um teaching and learning and how that would impact our students. So
053being able to be in a classroom with teachers, as you heard them say, live time and have that trust between us to be able to do that coaching work to benefit our students or working with students and having the classroom teacher be able to see that, think about it, reflect on it, ask questions is really powerful. I thought maybe potentially when I moved back into the classroom that those experiences would end when the position ended. I chose to go back into the classroom around 2020 and felt the need to be present with students. And what I found quite surprised me is that actually that coaching role really doesn't end. Once you become that coach, you've had the training. It really continued on to impact the teams that I worked with and most importantly my students.
054I took all of that learning with me and was able to apply that in my own classroom which was really a gift. Um some of my colleagues were kind enough Um, when I asked them, I said, "It's my perception that it might have been helpful, >> but I don't know. Was that the case?" And they were like, "Kristen, come on. You know, of course it wasn't." They talked about some of I won't read the entire quote, but just to highlight some of the things that they said. One of my fourth grade colleagues at Norton School talked about how um it was really helpful when I came back into the classroom after being in the coaching role because it helped her in that support of understanding the standards and knowing what students need. So, we had
055had conversations centered around that. Um, Mr. Para is also a fourth grade teacher at Norton School and much like when Kristen Lopa let it off this evening, she talked about moving into different classrooms and always going to the RAM as that go-to person to help her learn what was the key points in a new grade. Mr. Par having knowing that I had been in that role was able to tap me in and say, "Hey, what about the writing? What did you how did you do that? And we had lots of conversations about the curriculum and needs that his students had. And so I was able to teach the new learning and apply it with my colleagues as well. So a great gift. Thank you. I'm going to wrap things up, but looking at the trend
056in here with our coaches and coaches, I actually um was coached by someone in this room. Christa was one of my uh teacher coaches when I taught fourth grade at Chapman and now I am lucky to be at Norton as a reading and math coach, curriculum coach. Um in this position really the real conversations with the teach the whole coaching starts with real conversations with teachers about student data. So when I'm sitting in data teams, I will talk about student data with and really delve deep. And with my position, I've had the opportunity of being in this position for seven years now. So, I've seen kids from kindergarten all the way up to sixth grade and really get to know these kids to the point where when I'm sitting in a data meeting, I can
057talk to teachers about, okay, yes, that's a point, a score, but let's talk about the whole child. Okay, these are the the strengths that this child has. this is where I think a strategy might work for this child. So I have that um luxury of being in that position where I can pass that information on to their next teacher. Um we dig deeper. We go beyond the scores. We look at their strengths and we look at areas of growth together as a team. Um with that information we do adjust the instruction together. And if they need some modeling with that instruction, I will go into the classroom and model for the teacher. I will also um even just sit and have a discussion with the teacher so they can come up with okay, what's going
058to work and what can they try in the classroom. It's all about it's centered always about the success of the student. And my purpose is to get into the classroom to model for the teacher to show how data um instructs um directs my teaching and adjusts the instruction for the specific needs of all of those individual students. So really coaching it's centered on the success of every student. The whole purpose here strengthens our practice in for the data that we look at informs our decisions. um we become responsive to what the students need and adjust instruction for that and that targeted support grows growth and therefore we see the success of the student. So I do have something to a testimonial that a teacher had uh given me about her coaching experience. Um, receiving math
059intervention coaching has truly strengthened my effectiveness as a second grade educator. By closely analyzing student data and collaborating on targeted next steps, I've been able to better identify learning gaps and provide more intentional differentiated instruction. That's what we're going for. This process has not only improved my students confidence and achievement math, but also has deepened my own understanding of how to respond thoughtfully and strategically to their individual needs. That's our goal. So we did that succeed. I just want to thank the entire team. This is a a demonstration or an example of it takes the whole team. There's not one person in this room, middle school, high school, elementary school, that's not a not a part of trying to do what's best for kids. And I think we're really grateful to be able to have
060these these resources here. So certainly we'd answer any questions, but I just want to thank you for your time today. >> Oh yeah, sure. Sorry, but yeah. Are there any questions at all? comments. Thank you. >> Coaching's got real time. >> She picked up on it. >> If only I could change him. >> I got that one for my wife. She will appreciate it. Um, but honestly, I want to thank you all. This this was a a wonderful wonderful description of the effectiveness of coaching and working together and looking at data and analyzing and moving, you know, kiddos forward. And um, so I want to thank you. I I I love this tonight. Thanks for the team. >> And for anyone who doesn't know it, she's former assistant superintendent in the nearby school system. She's
061deeply She's fully >> I'm still going to change it, Tim. I don't >> What do you say about me? I'm still next. >> Uh, so with that, I think we have a motion to >> motion. >> All those in favor? >> Thank you everybody. here.