Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-10-09-DIAMOND-min William Diamond Middle School 99 Hancock Street Lexington, Massachusetts, 02420-3484 Ms. A. Carothers, Principal Office: (781) 861-2460 Mr. B. Klimasmith, Assistant Principal Fax: (781) 274-0174 Ms. E. Sharp, Assistant Principal Diamond School Council Meeting: 10/9/14 6:30 – 8:00PM Location: Principal’s office Members Present: Anne Carothers, Ed Dube, Jane Kalinski, Linda Boardman Liu, Heidi Pasternak, Johanna Rodrigues, Agenda & Minutes 1.Official List of participants a.Participants in attendance signed official list for town 2.Voting for co-chair a.Tabled for next meeting, more parents present to discuss. 3.Set meeting dates a.Tabled for next meeting or via a doodle online 4.Taking notes a.LBL volunteer for this meeting. 5.Update from School Council Roundtable meetings a.Tabled till next meeting 6.Questions about School Improvement Plan a.Discussion of how used, more a framework than a work list of things to do. Heidi identified communication as an area for improvement, related to technology use and deployment. Mr. Dube identified technology as a continuing area needingimprovement… b.Opening “gradebook” was discussed as a possible solution for communication of progress notes and other information relative to students and performance. “Obaworld” might be coming as an LMS, which could improve the platform for sharing information, resources, and so on. Technology should not a barrier to communication and information for students. c.Johanna raised the idea of possibly having a survey or study done with parents to understand expectations, areas to be engaged in, and give the site council some data to work with to focus thinking on particular areas. d.Departments have been focusing on crystallizing thinking about the key standards for learning, and the work is well underway e.Discussion of how assessed: admin reviews, provides feedback, but is not a big driver of performance on a day-to-day or regular basis. f.School improvement plans being standardized to a certain degree cross the town, with members of the school committee bringing in ‘experts’ at the monthly roundtable to help people understand what the goals are and what they mean. 7.Updates: a.Teaching All Kinds of Minds i.Still looking at if and how this can be useful to the Diamond faculty and students. Teachers being trained on using the techniques to guide analysis of a student, from interviews to data review. Once faculty have triangulated on a particular learning profile, teachers can access the AKOM resources to help identify strategies and tools to help a child engage and learn more effectively. Can help all kids, but in particular children who are not necessarily receiving services thru IEP or other resources. Using this framework to see if the learning team (Apollo, Everest, etc) can serve as the child study team. Although the process is time-consuming, and our understanding is growing slowly, does seem to be helping identify resources and approaches. With more experience, believe the teams will move along the learning curve and become more efficient and capable in executing quickly. Next steps are for both trained groups to revisit with consultant, and consider where they have been, where they are going, and 2 new groups receiving initial training. b.Supervision & Evaluation i.All teachers are now involved with the new evaluation system. Evaluators visit classes to observe and then provide feedback and coaching. Rather than hanging on format (SMART) are focusing on innovative areas (such as focus on 2 kids, how can we help them get over the bar). Some departments are agreeing on a particular goal. Goal is then to measure success in reaching articulated goals. Student improvement and professional practice are the two key areas to focus on. ii.Coming is a survey (for parents and students) addition to evaluation system, but is farther down the road. c.ICE i.Reintroduced this year, lots of interesting and exciting classes that kids are enjoying. 6 week program, Thursday 2 – 3 PM. Some kids running ICE blocks, considering how to support them in doing that well. d.Faculty Conversations i.Running faculty conversations on 4 key topics, that will be revisited for several sessions in order to get deeply into the topic. ii.Lengthy conversation about scheduling: possible longer days, need for more time to engage in more hands-on work, or work that has students working collaboratively and/or independently. Longer blocks could enable this kind of learning, but can be difficult to schedule with current model; some questions about different needs for different subject areas, and for different types of learners.