Writing in Chorus - Gradual Release of Responsibility

Heather Zimmerman contributed this post. Click here for more of Heather's thinking.
This is part of a series of posts about writing coaching cycles, which include examples from several disciplines.

Have you ever tried to look for literacy examples for your music teachers?  It can be hard to find a lot of ideas.  

During one of my coaching cycles, I worked with our chorus teacher, Eric Britz.  We talked a lot about some of the great things he was doing regarding writing.  He had so many practices already in place.  

At a collaboration session, he shared with staff what gradual release of responsibility looks like in his classroom.  Take a look:

*This was an organizer to get students thinking before they wrote.

*You might notice the lyrics are not in English.  This was intentional.  He noticed students paid more attention to lyrics than to the music.  He decided to help them focus mostly on the music.

Writing in Math- Graphic Organizer

Heather Zimmerman contributed this post. Click here for more of Heather's thinking.
This is part of a series of posts about writing coaching cycles, which include examples from several disciplines.

During a coaching cycle, I was working with math teacher individually.  A trend I noticed was that teachers commented on how they were looking for a tool to help organize students’ thoughts. Together, a math teacher and I, created this graphic organizer.  Click here.

One part we got stuck on was that the writing is so individual depending on the math content.  So it is hard to make a common graphic organizer.  We are hoping this is a start.  What math writing tools do you have?  Share in the comments!

Writing in Band- A Reflection Organizer

Heather Zimmerman contributed this post. Click here for more of Heather's thinking. 
This is part of a series of posts about writing coaching cycles, which include examples from several disciplines.

As I went through my coaching cycles, I was excited for my time to work with the music department. I did not have as many opportunities as I would have liked working with that department.  

The band teacher expressed he wanted a way for students to focus on the recording of a concert that could carry over into a reflection.  Together we (me and Brad Curran) made a checklist of ideas to look for during the viewing of the concert. The band teacher also added sentence starters.  To view the organizer, Click Here.  

Coaching Cycle Protocol

Heather Zimmerman contributed this post. Click here for more of Heather's thinking.
This is part of a series of posts about writing coaching cycles, which include examples from several disciplines.

How many of you sometimes feel as if you spend more time putting out fires or doing quick coaching in the hallway during passing time?  This year our district implemented the idea of coaching cycles in grades 6-12 that focused on writing and gradual release of responsibility.  

This is how my middle school approached the initiative:

• Everyone will meet with a coach
• 6 week cycles
• Meet for 20 minutes once a week.  Could be longer if needed for planning in place of the following week.
• Work on something related to our school goal- writing.
• Teachers met individually with a coach. If it worked, teacher could meet as a group, but due to schedules that rarely worked.

Here is the protocol sheet (created by me and my school’s IST or Instructional Support Teacher - Tom Anfinson) that was used to help organize and track time with teachers.  Click here.

 

Here are questions from an optional Google form after the cycle had ended:

I loved having the more formal cycles.  It really helped to meet with everyone and the feedback has been positive from the teachers who submitted the optional form.

How does your school approach coaching cycles?  Share any resources down below!