Instructional Conversation Newsletter - November 2021 (NING Version)

INSTRUCTIONAL CONVERSATION NEWSLETTER, NOVEMBER 2021 https://instructionalconversation.ning.com/

HIGHLIGHT: FALL 2021 IC FOUNDATIONAL INSTITUTE We had a blast at our Fall 2021 Instructional Conversations Foundational Institute on October 19, 21, 26 and 28! Thank you to all the 110 educators who joined us from Rockdale, Gwinnett, Hall, Habersham, Coweta, and Oconee Counties! Welcome to our Community of Practice! Thank you for sharing your experiences and bringing all of your energy to the table as we engaged together in this journey of learning! Once again, a big shout-out to our CLASE team of graduate students and coaches, who worked behind the scene to make sure the institute ran smoothly!

ONLINE COACHING Our coaches are happy to help you with lesson plans or answer any questions you may have. Please do not hesitate to reach out to them: Marni Carter: mcarter1@uga.edu Dianne Hall: drhall@uga.edu Beth Pridgen: elizabeth.pridgen@uga.edu Darlene Hudson: darlene.hudson@uga.edu

Online Office hours

Our coaches will be available on Zoom from 4-5pm on the following dates: November Wednesday 11/3- Darlene Wednesday 11/10- Dianne Wednesday 11/17- Marni Wednesday 11/24- **No Office Hours (Thanksgiving Week!)** Zoom room: https://tinyurl.com/ CLASEOfficeHours2021 Passcode: 971170

TEACHER PLATFORM Lesson Plans Below are some samples of excellent work from your colleagues. These can be found under the “CLASEApproved Task Cards" and "Task Card-Lesson Plans” tabs on the platform. Rely on your Community of Practice (CoP). Let them help you do your work!

1. K_Math & Science_Attributes_WODB_Sort by Marni Carter 2. 4_SS_Economics & Westward Expansion_Sort by Maria Tidwell 3. 6-12_Analyzing Complex Characters_T-chart by Angela Moore, Cassandra Aigbogun and Kelly Alford

Would you like to work with our coaches (as an individual or a team)? Connect with one of our coaches during their online office hours!

Recent IC Blogs Check out our coaches’ insights on these topics. Be sure to go on and add your comments/feedback. We want to hear your voice!

1. Let's Talk Task Cards by Dianne Hall 2. Thinking about Thinking by Beth Pridgen

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UPCOMING EVENTS What

Who

Jan 27th

Webinar #3

Everyone

Feb 1st, 3rd, 8th, 10th

Virtual Instructional Conversation Foundational Institute

Everyone

When

WEBINARS Our next Webinar is on January 27th from 4-5pm EST. If you missed our second webinar from November 4th, our Instructional Coaches discussed "Tips for Task Cards!".

You can watch this one, along with any of our previous webinars, on our platform: https:// instructionalconversation.ning.com/webinars

INSTRUCTIONAL CONVERSATION INSTITUTES UPCOMING Dates Upcoming Virtual Instructional Conversation Foundational Institute:

o o o o

Tuesday, February 1st, 2022 Thursday, February 3rd, 2022 Tuesday, February 8th, 2022 Thursday, February 10th, 2022

Registration

Learn more at tinyurl.com/CLASEPD and register at http://ugaclase-pd.com/register If you have any questions, contact Shannon Rodriguez at sdpenton@uga.edu.

Meet the wonderful participants of our Fall 2021 IC Foundational Institute from October 19, 21, 26 and 28, 2021!

FOLLOW-UP PD ACTIVITIES Renewals and learning labs

Our CLASE GA team gets together to reflect on their work and set goals for the upcoming month.

NOVEMBER 2021

Renewals and Learning Labs are opportunities for IC-trained teachers to network, explore best practices, problem solve, share resources, and focus on specific topics related to the IC pedagogy. These activities are available to school districts that have a current contract with CLASE. If you have any questions or would like to participate, please contact your district administrator!

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EDUCATOR OF THE MONTH Elly has worked in education for over 30 years as a classroom teacher at both the elementary and middle school levels, as well as an EIP teacher in grades 3-5. In her extensive experience, she observed first-hand the multiple changes in education.

“The pendulum has shifted back and forth, but one thing that has remained a constant is the emphasis on relationships within the classroom. I cannot think of a better initiative that is more basic and beneficial in today’s educational climate than Instructional Conversations. Being able to affirm each other, whether teacher/student, student/student relationships, is so vital.”

Elly believes that it is of paramount importance for one to understand one’s essential needs. In her case, what gets her through long days Elly Bridgham is an Instructional of work is sugar. For this reason, Elly bakes pound Coach at Social Circle Elementary School. cakes for grade level planning meetings. This is her Recently, Elly attended the Instructional way to inject kindness in the work she does and Conversations Foundational Institute, where better connect with her peers. Building bridges is she was an active and enthusiastic at the core of her practice, and Instructional participant. Even before she was trained, Conversations are a key asset in the process.

Elly knew enough about Instructional “Having active and purposeful discussions Conversations to believe in the power of the by intentionally listening will encourage students pedagogy. She is looking forward to helping to respect and respond to others in positive ways. teachers take that important first step or We can equip students with important social skills next step in using Instructional that will help them to become mindful citizens. We Conversations regularly in their classrooms. need more kindness in this world and intentional “It is a pleasure to work and support listening is a generous act of kindness.” teachers with their professional/personal Congratulations to you, Elly. The CLASE goals, and in any way they might need Team appreciates your dedication to the teaching assistance,” says Elly. “It is just fun to still profession and your work with fellow teachers in be in the classroom, working with teachers embracing the use of Instructional Conversations and students in the instructional process, in their classrooms. We wish you well! no matter the role.”

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE FEATURED? Don’t be shy; seek out your group members, greet other educators on the community of practice and share your lesson plans. You could be featured here next month!

NOVEMBER 2021

FOLLOW US! @clase_uga

@uga.clase

@clase_uga

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THOUGHTS TO CONSIDER The Media Center: A Great Space for Instructional Conversations!

Just as the kitchen has become the heart of many homes, the media center can be the heart of a school! It’s a place where teachers and students funnel through to gather and learn.

This space makes a wonderful place to incorporate Instructional Conversations! When the media specialist within a school is IC trained, he or she gains the tools to create IC lessons and collaborate with teachers to create IC lessons that incorporate the standards they are working on. You will get a lot of “bang for your buck” this way for both content and language standards!

We see, by looking at the crosswalk of the National School Library Standards with the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Students and Educators, that many of these standards can be addressed through Instructional Conversations! Let’s take a closer look at one of the shared foundations-- Foundation III: Collaborate. The key commitment of Foundation III is to “Work effectively with others to broaden perspectives and work toward common goals.” It’s as if they are describing Instructional Conversations, where the common goal could be a Joint Productive Activity (JPA)! We have a bank of JPA Task Cards available-- many that include a digital tool!

Check out this link to the crosswalk that we created (adapted from the crosswalk above) to showcase how the IC Pedagogy supports the standards in Shared Foundation III: "Collaborate". This is just a sample of how the National School Library Standards, the ISTE Standards, and the Arch IC Components all align for great collaboration: Foundation III: National Library Standards/International Tech Standards/IC Arch Components Crosswalk

NOVEMBER 2021

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THOUGHTS TO CONSIDER cont.

As a Media Specialist, you could browse our many ELA task cards that you could implement in the media center. You could also integrate other subjects within your lessons by collaborating with your teachers to see if there is a specific book or books you could pull to incorporate what they are learning in Science, Social Studies, etc.

The sky is the limit!

Check out these IC task cards below that would work great in the Media Center. You could easily edit them to plug in the content you are focusing on or the books you are using.

Media Center Task Cards We would love to work with you to plan some great task cards that could be used in a media center!

Are you already thinking of an upcoming unit that would work perfectly for a media center IC? Do you know a Media Specialist that would love to be IC trained?

Please don’t hesitate to reach out! We are here to help!

Resources: https://standards.aasl.org/ https://www.iste.org/iste-standards

Marni Carter Marni Carter, M.Ed., is a CLASE Coach. She is a veteran teacher and instructional coach. She taught 3rd-8th in public and private schools.

Marni mainly supports Gwinnett County Schools and is a team member supporting CLASE Institutes, Renewals, Webinars, and On-Line Coaching.

NOVEMBER 2021

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