Probortunity

Sharon Seely contributed today's post.

Last year was my first year as our district’s first instructional coach. What an eye opening experience!  It was definitely a year of growth for me.

 

The year for me began at our annual District Data Dig in Mid-August. In the past I sat at a table filled with my individual building colleagues. This year was different; it was the first time I looked at the data from all of the elementary schools in our district. There were similarities and differences in and among them all. The discussions at each table representing each of the schools in our district were amazing – talking about students, needs, interventions, data results and closing the gap. One common thread that was woven throughout was, "Yes, we are doing okay, but what can we do better?"

As a first year coach, our CESA Literacy Leader recommended that I attend The Wisconsin RtI Center and PBIS Network Leadership and Coaching for RtI Implementation – Implementing a Culturally Responsive Multi-level System of Support. In October, I attended the pre-requisite two-day RtI training. This is where I learned more about the RtI pyramid, the tiers, and what the percentages really meant.

Yes, we were doing okay, but in studying the scores I realized that we didn’t have 80% of our students at or above district benchmarks.  “What?!?!” We are doing okay… meeting expectations…that’s what our school report cards said. Probortunity moment… We needed to take a closer look at our universal instruction.

So, a team from our district attended the Wisconsin RtI Center K-5 Universal Reading Instruction three day training…talk about enlightening!  Day one was overwhelming, wondering, “What are we doing right?”- so much information – lots of questions about our instructional practices, research based best practices, consistency between all of our elementary buildings, etc. Great discussions! We spent lot of time reflecting and questioning. We realized that we needed written non-negotiables and consistent teacher resources from building to building.

Day Two followed with more great discussions and Day Three was time for planning… moving forward …coming up with the beginning works for our district’s Instructional Playbook (non-negotiables), bringing this information back to our district with consideration of varied learners:

• Listening Learners: heard the information, believed the information
• Visual Learners: watched someone else try it, saw the results/effects
• Kinesthetic Learners: jumped right in, learned through doing/trial and error

and having great team (grade-level, building, district) discussions to have a positive impact on everyone – teachers and students alike. 

       

So, find those probortunities, partner with a team and embrace them.