WELCOME

Teach for America’s Approach to Problem Solving in the Classroom: Teacher Reflection to Increase

Effectiveness

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Objectives & Agenda

At the end of this workshop, you will:

• Have a deeper understanding of how Teach For America approaches problem-solving in the classroom.

• Leave with strategies you can implement in your own practice.

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Agenda

1. Welcome

2. Academic Impact Model

3. Outcomes, Causes, Solutions

4. OCS Reflections

5. Closing

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Where we are going...

AIM

Co-Inves

t

Destination:

Student Achieveme

nt

OCS

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Academic Impact Model

Student results

Student understandings and behaviors

Teacher actions

Teacher knowledge, skills and mindsets

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What it Looks Like in Practice

The Academic Impact ModelComponent Description

Student Academic Results

This is the ultimate outcomes, and it’s impacted by all the things below.

Student Understandings and Behaviors

What students know and understand, as well as their behaviors, will impact their achievement in the classroom.

Teacher Actions

What a teacher actually does in the classroom, will impact student understanding or behaviors.

Teacher Knowledge, Skills, and Mindsets

What a teacher does or does not know will impact the actions the teacher takes in the classroom.

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Academic Impact Model at Work

• We are going to watch a teacher reflect on his students’ misbehavior.

• While watching, think about the following question:

– How does Mr. Melli reflect using the AIM?

http://lab.tfateams.org/mini-visits-video/justin-meli-taking-stock-misbehavior

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Academic Impact Model at Work

• What are your initial thoughts after watching this video?

• How is Mr. Meli demonstrating the Academic Impact Model?

• How has reflecting through AIM set him up to make the right change in his classroom?

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Why the Academic Impact Model?

• Operating with the AIM in mind is critical in making change in your classroom. Not reflecting in this way could cause you to miss the actual reason students aren’t understanding what you are teaching or why they are misbehaving.

• Reflecting on teacher actions sets you up to tackle the right obstacle.

• “Why fix it if it isn't broke?”

• You want to spend your time focusing on the right areas so that you see big change in your students’ performance.

Why Not?

Why Operate with AIM?

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Agenda

1. Welcome

2. Academic Impact Model

3. Outcomes, Causes, Solutions

4. OCS Reflections

5. Tenure Teacher Training

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Where we are going...

AIM

Co-Inves

t

Destination:

Student Achieveme

ntCo-

Invest

Destination:

Student Achieveme

nt

OCS

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• Coach understands teacher analysis • Coach observes to gather additional evidence and identify a cause. • Coach and teacher co-investigate

•Outcomes have been identified• Causes are aligned and finalized • Solutions are refined and finalized

• Teacher tracks and analyzes data • Teacher problem solves• Teacher tries out solution

What Happens during Problem Solving?

We are here

Accelerate your

students’ academic success

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The aim of a co-investigation is to:

• Develop classroom leadership through data-based problem solving

• Problem solve by figuring out what is going on in a classroom, why it is happening, and what the teacher is going to do about it.

• Helps the teacher prioritize actions and how to spend time

• Progress the class towards hitting end of year goals

CoachTeacher

Coach

Teacher

BEGINNING MIDDLE END

Coach Teacher

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Problem Solving in Your Classroom: The OCS Model

CAUSES

WHY IS IT HAPPENING?

OUTCOMES

WHERE ARE MY STUDENTS RELATIVE TO THE GOAL?

SOLUTIONS

WHAT AM I GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

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Three Keys to Effective Problem Solving . . . #1

• Relies on good data

• Makes logical connections between where your students are, why it’s happening, and what you’re going to do about it.

• Prioritizes the most important things

• What is good data?– TCAP practice test data– Discovery (or any other proxy test) data– Progress Monitoring (Dibels, Aimsweb, running records, etc.)– Quizzes or tests (if you don’t have access to the data above)

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Three Keys to Effective Problem Solving . . . #2

• Relies on good data

• Makes logical connections between where your students are, why it’s happening, and what you’re going to do about it.

• Prioritizes the most important things

Links in a chain CAUSES

WHY IS IT HAPPENING?

OUTCOMES

WHERE ARE MY STUDENTS RELATIVE TO THE BIG GOAL?

SOLUTIONS

WHAT AM I GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

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Three Keys to Effective Problem Solving . . . #3

• Relies on good data

• Makes logical connections between where your students are, why it’s happening, and what you’re going to do about it.

• Prioritizes the most important things

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Problem Solving in Your Classroom: The OCS Model

CAUSES

WHY IS IT HAPPENING?

OUTCOMES

WHERE ARE MY STUDENTS RELATIVE TO THE GOAL?

SOLUTIONS

WHAT AM I GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

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Problem Solve - OCS: Where are my students…?

CAUSES

OUTCOMES WHERE ARE MY STUDENTS RELATIVE TO THE GOAL?

1. Identify progress and gaps in student achievement towards your Goal

2. Identify student actions, understandings/misunderstandings contributing to and ALIGNED to those gaps

3. Prioritize the most important gap.

SOLUTIONS

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Pitfall #1: Ignoring Progress

Progress Gaps

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Pitfall #2: Skipping Student Actions

Students’ Academic Students’ Academic Performance: Progress/GapsPerformance: Progress/Gaps

Students’ Actions: Students’ Actions: Habits, Habits,

Understandings/MisunderstaUnderstandings/Misunderstandingsndings

Teacher’s Actions Teacher’s Actions

Teacher’s Underlying Teacher’s Underlying Knowledge, Knowledge,

Skills & mindsetsSkills & mindsets

OUTCOMES

The Academic Impact Model

CAUSES

X

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What does this look like? Outcomes

Progress Standards:

•7.5.2 (83%mastery)

•7.6.1 (90% mastery)

Student Subgroups:

•Christiania, Izzie, and Alex averaged 90% on Unit 1 test

Aligned Student Actions:

•On task, participating, completing homework on time

•Mastery on Exit Tickets

•Ask & answer questions during class

Gaps Standards:

•7.4.2 (70% mastery)

•7.5.3 (30% mastery)

Student Subgroups:

•Izzie, George, and Derrick averaged 65% on Unit 1 test

•3rd block averaged 45% as a class

Aligned Student Actions, or Misunderstandings:

•Off task behavior,

•Struggled during practice

•Not completing homework

•Talkative, off task, playful after lunch

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Problem Solve - OCS: Why is it happening?

CAUSESWHY IS IT HAPPENING?

1. Identify teacher actions contributing to progress and gaps in student actions and achievement

2. Identify contributing underlying factors & root causes (Knowledge, Skill, Mindset)

OUTCOMES

SOLUTIONS

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What’s in front of you and what’s underneath?

COMPREHENSION

INVESTMENT

EXECUTION PLANNING

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Causes: Progress example

PROGRESS INVESTMENT EXECUTION PLANNING COMPREHENSION

TEACHER ACTIONS

What are you doing that

contributes to the progress

you are seeing?

I have been giving back grades to these students and having them set weekly goals for themselves based on these grades.

In Period 1, I am CFU. I am able to cold call students and give positive praise for correct answers.

I always plan for student questions and misunderstandings.

I have created aligned exit tickets for several lessons that accurately measure progress.

What knowledge, skills, and mindsets do you have that helped you to do this well?

M: This was a tough class at the beginning of the year. I knew I had to invest them quickly.

S: I have classified my students into groups and I always make sure to call someone from each group to CFU.

S: I use my diagnostic data when unit planning and find areas that students didn’t master that are present in this unit.

K: I know that backwards planning leads students to success.

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Causes: Gaps example

GAPS INVESTMENT EXECUTION PLANNING COMPREHENSION

What are you doing that contributes to the gaps you are seeing?

I am unable to reinforce the goal with my students.

I’m not giving all students the opportunity to practice.

I’m not planning to communicate my expectations. I’m saying them, but I could be planning for them better.

I’m only teaching my SPI and I’m not teaching the remedial skills that some students need.

What gaps do you see in your knowledge, skills, and mindsets? (Refer to your TAL rubric)

K: I don’t know how to build their belief that Spanish I will be valuable

S: I’m not sure how to plan for guided practice where all students can participate.

M: I figured since I already taught them, students would follow them, but they aren’t.

K: I’m not sure how to keep on pace with my unit plan and still teach these lower level skills.

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Problem Solve - OCS: What am I going to do about it?

CAUSES

OUTCOMES

SOLUTIONSWHAT AM I GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

1. Consider the gap, student action, and teacher action you identified as most important.

2. Consider the knowledge, skill and/or mindset that aligns to the teacher action.

3. Identify your next steps and try them out

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What does this look like? Solutions (Spanish 1)

Potential Next Steps:

• By Friday, I’ll have polled the members of my department members to get ideas about building “I want.”

• By next Monday, I’ll have designed two solid mini-lessons to build students “I want.”

• I’ll teach the mini-lessons next week.

• By the beginning of my next unit, I’ll have a long-term plan for building and maintaining students’ “I want” throughout the school year.

• Two weeks from now, I’ll see qualitative evidence of increased student effort.

• On my end of unit assessment, which occurs in three weeks, I’ll see a 5% increase in my class averages.

Targeted root causes for building skill in investment:• Knowledge: You don’t know how to build their belief that

Spanish I will be valuable

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Where we are going...

AIM

Co-Inves

t

Destination:

Student Achieveme

ntCo-

Invest

Destination:

Student Achieveme

nt

OCS

30

• Coach understands teacher analysis • Coach observes to gather additional evidence and identify a cause. • Coach and teacher co-investigate

•Outcomes have been identified• Causes are aligned and finalized • Solutions are refined and finalized

• Teacher tracks and analyzes data • Teacher problem solves• Teacher tries out solution

What Happens during Problem Solving?

We are here

Accelerate your

students’ academic success

31

The coach’s role:

“Thought Partner”

CoachTeacher

Coach

Teacher

BEGINNING MIDDLE END

Coach Teacher

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Tools for Reflection

Pre-Reflection Stage

• Before engaging in a co-investigation, we expect the teacher to reflect on the front end.

• Teacher submits data, planning and a “reflective guide” to the coach prior to the observation.

• Coach prepares for observation, then observes and develops his/her theory.

• Coach and Teacher Co-Investigate.

• Teacher tries out solutions and continues process.

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Reflection Materials

• Please take a few moments to look at the tools provided.

• Some teachers do this reflection on their own, never even needing a coach!

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• Coach understands teacher analysis • Coach observes to gather additional evidence and identify a cause. • Coach and teacher co-investigate

•Outcomes have been identified• Causes are aligned and finalized • Solutions are refined and finalized

• Teacher tracks and analyzes data • Teacher problem solves• Teacher tries out solution

What Happens during Problem Solving?

We are here

Accelerate your

students’ academic success

35

Q & A

• Any Questions?