Gastineau+IST


 * Membership:**
 * Literacy Leader: Luann McVey
 * ELL Teacher: Diana Brann
 * Extended Learning Teacher: Becky Engstrom
 * Special Education Teacher: Teri Nolan
 * Classroom Teacher:
 * Technology Integration Practitioner: Diana Brann
 * Administrator: Angie Lunda


 * Schedules & Calendars:**
 * School Schedule:
 * Site IST Calendar


 * Site Accountability Plan**


 * Inventory of Site Intervention Resources:**

Things to consider including in your IST implementation plan Your plan can include all or just a few of the following suggestions. Please do not limit yourselves to these points.
 * Protocol:**


 * Meeting frequency – time and location: Fridays, 9:30 - 11:00 (when district meetings are not happening). Location: Room 25
 * Who will set the agenda? the team
 * How will the IST members communicate protecting confidentiality of students and teachers? We'll follow the JSD confidentiality agreement
 * How is the agenda communicated to the rest of the staff? via the principal's "Monday Notes" and in our teacher collaboration meetings on Tuesdays
 * How will the IST inform the rest of the staff on a regular basis about its activities, concerns and plans? staff meeting reports
 * What are the strengths of each team member?
 * Becky: learning style analysis & translation to instructional needs, scheduling, divergent thinking, use of movement and other kinesthetic learning modes, fluent in American Sign Language, SIOP training, math, journalism degree, traveler
 * Teri: approachable and teachable, patient, willing to collaborate and to learn about and try new strategies, understands students who learn differently and meet them at their level, speaks her concerns as they arise, Council for Exceptional Children training, traveler
 * Luann: taught for 22 years at a variety of levels, Reading Recovery training, note-taking, literacy leadership (trainings: book studies, etc.), good listener, neutral facilitator, keeps team on-topic, PLC training, SIOP training, math & science background, fisheries biologist, traveler
 * Diana: good understanding of active learning and student engagement, outdoor education, willingness to try different strategies, calm and patient team member, not easily riled, moves in and out of trying situations with ease, determined, perseverance, has worked with children in a variety of roles, strong science background, ESL training and experience (TESOL, Bilingual conferences), biologist, traveler, Spanish speaker
 * Angie: former classroom teacher for 16 years (HS and MS) strong leadership skills, SIOP training, trusting of staff, strong math/science background, approachable, good listener, collaborator, willing to support staff development, Tlingit heritage and community involvement, passion for success of ALL children, traveler
 * How can this be converted into roles and tasks that need to be accomplished by the IST at your school? We have a variety of expertise that allows us to understand and brainstorm strategies that can be used in adjusting instruction for all children. Travel is especially important because it has exposed all of us to a variety of cultures and to understand the complexities of communication, both verbal and non-verbal.
 * What are the resources at your school presently for on-going assessment and progress monitoring? DRA materials, Primary Benchmark Books and BRI assessment materials are used to assess student reading performance. We also have and use the Phonemic Awareness and Literacy Screening (PALS) tool in K, 1, and 2 (for those not meeting Core) and we are expecting to have access to the PALS QuickChecks for biweekly progress monitoring of primary students. In addition, we have access to the Hopp-Singer phonics assessment and the SIPPS phonics assessment. The TOLD is the tool used to assess students referred for the Fast ForWord program as a reading/language intervention. Trailblazers assessments and Math Core assessments are used to assess math proficiency. Marilyn Burns assessment materials and lessons are available as well. As a baseline assessment of oral language, the Oral Language Acquisition Inventory is used occasionally.
 * What are a few areas of potential support that the IST can provide for classroom teachers and the school? Collaborative partnerships and coaching for primary teachers during the current school year and ongoing interventions and extensions for students in need.
 * How does your plan respond to these areas of need? After examining student data and work, the team, in collaboration with classroom teachers, will identify whole class, small group, and individual strategies to meet the needs of all primary students during the current school year.
 * As part of your presentation, encapsulate your discoveries from the data. Does your plan address these needs? We have created a draft assessment wall and have identified student needs in the primary grades; therefore, we'll address these needs by providing intensive intervention as well as collaboration at the K, 1, and 2 grade levels for this year.
 * How will your IST address the needs of veteran teachers? through collaborative relationships with IST members
 * How will your IST address the needs of new teachers to your building? through collaborative relationships with IST members, including offering resources and additional training as needed
 * How will your IST address the needs and issues of beginning teachers who are new to the profession? through collaborative relationships with IST members, including offering resources and additional training as needed
 * How will the IST decide who will support beginning teachers and provide the confidentiality necessary to build a trusting mentor relationship? Our beginning teachers have confidential statewide mentors; in addition, our IST members who elected to work with newer teachers are experienced teachers. All IST members are bound by the confidentiality agreements of the JSD.
 * How will the IST ensure confidentiality to students, teachers and parents? We'll follow the JSD confidentiality agreement
 * How will the IST decide which areas of need to address (prioritize)? We'll meet with classroom teachers during our Tuesday collaborative meetings so that we can review the data in order to identify the areas of need in each classroom

And anything else that your team feels is appropriate to address in developing the IST at your school: It is critical that our school receive support from the school district in the form of "replacement teachers" who will, by providing enrichment for students, allow our classroom teachers to attend IST collaborative meetings on Tuesday mornings.

Gastineau IST Meeting Notes: 9/09/08

Present: Angie, Luann, Teri, Diana, Becky

Today we read Linda Dorn’s article, “A Comprehensive Intervention Model for Preventing Reading Failure: A Response to Intervention Process” in the Journal of Reading Recovery, Spring 2008, pages 29 – 41.

Round robin: questions and comments related to the article and our work together

• The step-by-step “how-tos” are helpful: see p. 39 for questions to start us off. Key questions. Might use these to get the discussion going. 1. How many students at each grade level are scoring below proficiency levels on reading and writing measures? 2. How many kindergarteners are scoring at low language levels? 3. How many second graders are reading below proficiency (and how far below?) 4. Does the school have a highly mobile subgroup? What district-wide supports are in place for transfer students who need interventions? 5. How are third & fourth graders performing on state assessments? In what areas are they scoring below their classmates? (We’ll refer to this next year when we attempt our “second wave” of intervention support.)

• Tier 1 acknowledges the importance of high-quality classroom performance in meeting the needs of all students. How do we ensure that classroom teachers are providing the activities that we assume are a part of high-quality instruction? Need to make sure that at least 90 minutes/day for literacy instruction are in place and to consider what activities take place during that block.

• Most principals in the district don’t require lesson plans from experienced teachers.

• Intervention group size? Looking at the data should allow us to consider the size of the groups in which interventions are provided

• 30-minute “guided reading plus” lessons might be tricky with some students, some combinations within a group. How to fit everything into 30 minutes? (familiar reading, running records, response to previous day’s text, composing individual messages, writing independently, one-on-one conferences w/teacher)

• Collaboration meetings provide us with the opportunities to learn together so that high-quality instruction is in place.

• We’re starting to implement this model and it’s exciting. When we have our Teacher IST collaboration meeting, we should watch the webinar and also address the questions on p. 37. Reading the article should take place outside of the big group.

• We need to put together an assessment wall that identifies the specific needs of students in each classroom.

• Article says that, often, the problem lies in the instruction the child receives – this might be part of the situation at our school.

• The four layer model makes sense. Focus on acceleration rather than remediation.

• Questions on p. 37 will help us with the assessment wall that shows our kids’ needs – must be easily put away and confidential. • The more we know, the better we remain “teachable.”

• Need more training in Reading Recovery techniques

• Ongoing Primary Literacy Institute during the school year would be helpful. Luann and Angie will propose this to Haifa.

• Successful model relies on responsive teachers’ ability to adjust instruction

Here’s some information on a webinar that might be a good choice as a follow-up to PALS assessments:

Letter and Word Learning in the Early Literacy Classroom  Presenter: Maryann McBride, Reading Recovery teacher leader  Clemson University, Clemson, SC Letter learning alone is not sufficient to assure competent reading and writing. It is, however, foundational in literacy learning. We should not assume that alphabet learning is simple or easy. Webcast includes downloadable slides.

Topics include:   Seeing a Letter-Symbol as a Distinct Entity   Letter Learning and the Demands on Memory   Sensory Store   Short Term Memory   Long Term Memory   How do we help children - especially those who find this difficult?  Learning New Letters   Extending Letter Knowledge   Personal Alphabet Books Made by Children   Elkonin Boxes All you need to view this 60-minute, on-demand webcast is a computer with high speed internet access. Click this link to register for the webcast: http://www.readingrecovery.org/development/web_conference/Letter_And_Word_Learning.asp