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Ward 4 Education Alliance March 8th MeetingTruesdell Education Campus Attending: Truesdell, Powell, West, LaSalle, CM Todd’s office, Takoma EC, 21CSFMeeting DiscussionPresentation by Paul Howard: Ward 4 Middle School – A Traditional Middle School that Should be Anything But Traditional. Paul is well positioned to make this proposal, he is:BSE from the University of KansasEmphasis in Social Studies and Urban Education2013 Teacher of Promise Award winner (Top student teachers in the state)Been teaching for 5 years, all at LaSalle-Backus Been a member of the Building Literacy and Inquiry in the Social Studies (BLISS) for 5 yearsWritten Middle School SS Cornerstones and Unit Guides (Also a 9th grade unit guide)Facilitate district PD for 6th, 7th, and 8th gradeServe as the 7th grade District Course Chair for 3 years (8th grade one year as well)Serve as the DC representative to the Middle States Council for the Social Studies (4 years)2017 DC History Teacher of the Year (Gilder Lehrman)2018 DC Teacher of the Year (CCSSO)The proposal asks the Ward 4 Education Alliance to look at a different way of structuring the new middle school that is being constructed at the same time as Coolidge. Looking at the mission and vision of DCPS and at the current job drivers which are more intellectual than factory driven, it is his view that the way we educate should change. Students are always learning from far more than the subject content. The way the day is structured and the students are grouped and treated teaches them as much. Going forward adults will need to work far more collaboratively and the environment is an intellectual one. This is explained in greater detail on slide 6 of the attached power point. Paul would like to see us embrace a different way to prepare students both for high school and for their world after high school. There are three main drivers in the school day now, The 4 point grading systemAge based groupingThe scheduleReconsidering these three things in the middle school environment , large changes could be made. The attached power point gives the details and we urge you to review that and then forward any questions etc to Paul at paul.howard@ The basic theory is that students work along two paths; one is toward greater independence and one is toward mastery of the content. Some students need help in managing their time but have good reading skills, others are focused and good at working but need support in skill development. This kind of plan is being implemented at Kahn Academy in California. Paul has also been able to implement pieces of it in his Social Studies classrooms at LaSalle. The results have been very promising. Questions concerned:Would this actually be like tracking, do you quickly see the more advanced students working independently with less time from the teacher? Is there a stigma to needing more from the teacher?---all students who may have more exposure to the content are not necessarily independent learners---At LaSalle where many students arrive with challenges it has not met with the problems of tracking and it has allowed the teacher to spend more time where it is needed. ---fostering independence in middle school students is something that parents and students embracedIs this basically an on line learning platform where students miss out on the social interaction of hearing from the teacher and having a class discussion where they learn what others think. ---There are class discussions that are worked into the schedule at least once a week. How this was implemented would really matter. What scale does it make sense to start with? Another concern was in not abandoning or misrepresenting some of the things that work in our current system. Sometimes we don’t know the value until we take things away. Overall folks present were interested in further consideration and discussion. The planning for the middle school has not yet really begun. DCPS has Canvas Platform, IReady and Read180 already available. The District of Columbia Municipal Regulations has provisions for applying to do competency based learning. It is hard to get direct feedback from parents. The power point is attached. Please reach out to Paul and let us know what you think.MacFarland Middle School:There was a presentation on March 1st. . The school will be ready to open to all feeder school 6th graders in the fall of 2018. It is a middle school with a Global Studies Program that also offers a dual language track. All students will take the traditional middle school courses and be involved in co-curricular activities. Students in the dual language track will have three classes, Science, Social Studies and Spanish Language Arts in Spanish. Students will have an advisory every day in groups of 8 to 10 where they will be able to talk about issues like social media or positive body image. The level of instruction in both the dual language and the middle school will be similar. If they are reading a novel in Language Arts in English; they will be reading a similar one in Spanish. MAcFarland hopes to offer additional languages in the near future, maybe even Amharic for the many native speakers in this area. There may also be a way through intensive summer work that students who don’t currently qualify to go into the dual language track may be able to. Students in that track will be prepared to qualify for the Seal of Biliteracy. As the building gets further along there will be tours offered on Wednesday mornings at 9:30am. Should the Ward 4 Education Alliance become a 501C3? the purpose would be to serve as a bridge for schools that currently do not have an active parent group that is able to accept donations and grants for specific purposes at the school. For example Roosevelt’s Global Studies program has programs for students that will require donations. The group felt that this was worth exploring but only as a step toward supporting a school community in getting the support to set one up. Teaching for Change and the Washington Lawyers Committee were very helpful to Powell, perhaps we could invite them to give a presentation to the Ward 4 Ed Alliance as we think this through. Security Do our schools have classrooms that can be locked from the inside? While there are barriers to entry with security guards at the main entrance and locked front doors, the schools present did not have working locks on classroom doors. This is something that needs follow up. There are apparently only 2 locksmiths in DGS. Also we should look at the Ed Specs to see what is required. LaSalle EC is running a Math Quiz Bowl on Pie Day- March 14th. There are 35 schools signed up. It has been a great success in the past. They do need volunteers. Next meeting will be on April 12th. ................
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