2017-2018 Teacher Leader Playbook

Teacher Leader Playbook 2017-2018

September 2017

Dear Ipswich Public School Community,

Welcome to the 2017-2018 school year and another exciting Teacher Leader Playbook! Here, you’ll find descriptions of each of the district-facilitated teacher leader groups, including purpose statements, meeting dates, members signed up so far, and more.

Without a doubt, these teacher leader opportunities play an integral role in continuing to build Ipswich Public Schools as a district of innovation and collaboration. This year, we’ll continue developing and reflecting on a Culture of Thinking that encourages creativity as a thinking strategy in our classrooms and in our professional development. Throughout all the teacher leader opportunities described in this Playbook, we’ll encourage a growth mindset for the IPS community where reflective practice and space for exploration and risk-taking is supported. As an example, this school year includes an exciting year-long Project Based Learning course. Funded by a Payne Grant and led by the Buck Institute of Education and myself, this course is a great opportunity for teachers from each school to collaborate in order to dig more deeply into Project Based Learning curriculum and instruction.

I hope you consider joining in on this exploration of creativity as a thinking strategy through a teacher leadership opportunity. Whether you’re seeking to hone the creative craft of teaching, learn more about facilitating creative learners -- be they students or adults -- or challenge yourself to try a new leadership role, I hope you’ll find something here for you.

Enjoy perusing this year’s Playbook! Let’s work together to grow, create and lead.

Tracy Wagner

Director of Teaching and Learning

Ipswich Public Schools

Compass Committee Playlist 2017-2018

Ipswich Public Schools

2017-2018 Purpose Statement: This year’s Compass Committee will continue the work begun in IPS to facilitate and encourage curriculum design and alignment at the district, building and team level. In particular, this year’s Compass Committee will dive into learning about the creative process and the skills associated with creativity as a thinking strategy. Using creativity as a lens, this year’s Compass Committee will pilot priority (power) standards systems of curriculum alignment and bring these systems to their peers. Throughout the year, the Compass Committee will play an integral role in supporting their colleagues in incorporating the creative process and skills into curriculum and instruction that supports a Culture of Thinking. For example, the Compass Committee will continue to work with Principals and the Director of Teaching and Learning to facilitate Learning Cycle discussions and other supports to embed creativity within a Culture of Thinking. Throughout, they will try out and, then, model the development or revision of curriculum that emphasizes students at the center of the creative process.

The Compass Committee’s work this year will be informed by the texts Wired to Create: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Creative Mind and Rigorous Curriculum Design, among others. Compass members will serve as liaisons and resources to colleagues and administrators in curriculum development and alignment that supports creativity as a thinking routine.  

Facilitator/Person to Contact with Questions: Tracy Wagner, Director of Teaching and Learning; twagner@ipsk12.net

Professional Learning Community (PLC) Team Leaders Playlist 2017-2018

Ipswich Public Schools

2017-2018 Purpose Statement: This year’s PLC team will continue the work begun in IPS to provide support to professional learning communities and their facilitators. In particular, this year’s PLC team will work with their colleagues, administrators and the Director of Teaching and Learning to further the use of teamwork in creating a Culture of Thinking that emphasizes creativity as a thinking routine. In this way, PLC team members will continue to build capacity in PLC procedures and protocols that lead to team unity and ownership in the PLC process. Throughout, the team will focus on using PLC tools that support the creative process and skills associated with creativity. Lastly, PLC members will continue to serve as liaisons/resources to colleagues and administrators in effective teamwork. PLC cohort members must be PLC-facilitation trained.

Please note: These PLC team leader positions are related to but different than the “Interest-Based PLC” opportunity. Interest-Based PLC’s are created and facilitated by teachers with the support of the Director of Teaching and Learning. They use inquiry cycles to dive deeply into unique inquiry topics. The PLC Team Leader opportunity described here is for teachers who are interested in supporting PLC work itself in the district and in their buildings. Teachers may certainly be a PLC Team Leader (here) and also be on an Interest-Based PLC if approved by their principal.

Facilitator/Person to Contact with Questions: Tracy Wagner, Director of Teaching and Learning; twagner@ipsk12.net

How to Apply: As of September 1, 2017, the PLC cohort is FULL. Contact Tracy if you’re interested in joining, however!

Technology Specialist Committee Playlist 2017-2018

Ipswich Public Schools

2016-2017 Purpose Statement: The purpose of the Technology Specialist Committee is to build technology capacity in our teachers district-wide. The Technology Specialist will provide support to their colleagues in making the connection between technology and curriculum, SHOM’s, powerful learning experiences and a Culture of Thinking that supports creativity. They will offer one-to-one assistance as well as run workshops that help teachers gain expertise and comfort using cutting edge technology practices.

Facilitator/Person to Contact with Questions: Chris Burke, Technology Integration Specialist/Coordinator; cburke@ipsk12.net

STEAM Team Playlist 2017-2018

Ipswich Public Schools

District STEAM Vision Statement: STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) education engages students with a sense of wonder about our ever-changing world  through questioning, collaboration and innovative problem-solving.

2017-2018 Purpose Statement: This year’s STEAM Team will continue to support the development of the STEAM vision and alignment in Ipswich Public Schools. This year, the STEAM Team will dive into Design Thinking and growth mindset as ways to bring creative thinking routines and mindsets into the STEAM world. STEAM Team members will then bring this creative thinking routine lens to their colleagues and be supports to them. This year’s STEAM Team will also define, develop and produce the 2nd Annual IPS STEAM Showcase, which will serve as an opportunity to highlight learning and celebrate the creative process for both educators and students. Lastly, STEAM Team members will continue to serve as liaisons/resources to colleagues and administrators in all things STEAM.

The STEAM Team will continue to be comprised of community/business leaders, district leaders, an administrator, teachers (with representation from each school and STEAM disciplines), a School Committee member, a parent and students.

Facilitator/Person to Contact with Questions: Tracy Wagner, Director of Teaching and Learning; twagner@ipsk12.net

How to Apply: Please email Tracy with your interest in the STEAM Team. Include your school, any experience you have with STEAM work and/or Design Thinking as well as specific questions and skills you believe you’d bring to this year’s STEAM Team. Tracy will be in touch.

Interest-Based PLC’s Playlist 2017-2018

Ipswich Public Schools

Purpose Statement: Interested in organizing your own PLC group? Have an inquiry question or topic of study you’d like to investigate with a group of teachers? Ipswich Public Schools supports teachers who are engaged in meaningful, authentic inquiry around key objectives and problems of practice. So, we seek to support teacher-created and facilitated PLC’s with well-articulated and tangible goals. These PLC’s are designed to support work that goes above and beyond the expectations of a teaching professional in IPS. As such, team meetings must be in addition to school and school meeting hours.

Please note that in the spirit of creative thinking, preference for Interest-Based PLC’s in the 2017-2018 school year will be given to teams that are cross-grade, cross-content or cross-school.

Special thanks to the 2015-2016 PD Committee for brainstorming this idea, to the 2015-2016 PLC Cohort for “tuning” it and the 2016-2017 Interest-Based PLC’s for piloting!

Project-Based Learning (PBL) Course Cohort Playlist 2017-2018

Ipswich Public Schools

2017-2018 Purpose Statement: Interested in deepening your knowledge of how to write curriculum that uses rigorous, hands-on learning to teach students high-level content and skills? Want to dive into researching the instructional methods that integrate challenging questions, sustained inquiry, authentic learning, student voice and choice, reflection, critique, revision and, ultimately, public products? Come join a cohort of teachers from Ipswich Public Schools as we engage in a year of Project-Based Learning (PBL) professional development! This year-long course will be led in conjunction with the nationally-recognized Buck Institute of Education and Ipswich Public Schools. The result will be a bank of PBL curriculum and tools available to the district, created by this cohort of teachers trained in the Buck Institute’s “Gold Standard” PBL process.

We are looking for three teachers from each school to participate in this year-long course. These teachers and the Director of Teaching and Learning would be trained in PBL from the Buck Institute of Education on-site, here in Ipswich in the fall. These trained teachers will become in-house experts willing to model through lesson sharing and demonstration to support the implementation of PBL into their classrooms. The PBL cohort will meet monthly to share progress and work, problem-solve and give each other feedback as they continue to investigate PBL. Coursework will be guided by the Buck Institute’s “Gold Standard” PBL materials and, locally, by the the Director of Teaching and Learning and the texts Setting the Standard for Project Based Learning: A Proven Approach to Rigorous Classroom Instruction and Hacking Project Based Learning: 10 Easy Steps to PBL and Inquiry in the Classroom. Teachers in the PBL cohort will be provided with resources to visit each other’s classrooms, as well. This PBL-style of curriculum development and instruction lends itself to all grade levels and content areas.  

Facilitator/Person to Contact with Questions: Tracy Wagner, Director of Teaching and Learning; twagner@ipsk12.net

How to Apply: Each Principal will give approval to three teachers from their school. Please speak with your principal if you are interested and, then, complete the following application. Once Principals make their approvals, applications should be sent to Tracy at Central Office. Approved applications for the PBL course are due to Tracy in Central Office by Tuesday, September 19, 2017.

IPS Teacher Leaders in Action

Teacher Leader Playbook Mid-Year Report

February 2017

Dear Ipswich Community,

This purpose of this mid-year report is to give updates to the Ipswich Public School community on progress being made towards the “Purpose Statements” of three of our teacher leader groups -- the Compass, PLC and STEAM teams -- in this 2016-2017 school year. Information is also included here on the progress of this school year’s three piloting “Interest-Based PLC’s.”

Our district's expectation this year is for us to continue to build a district-wide culture of thinking. Cultures of thinking depend on teacher leadership, so thanks especially to the over 75 teachers taking part in and represented here in this body of work. Your work is appreciated!

If you’re interested in learning more about the research these teacher leaders and I used to guide this work -- or if you’d like to see the discussion templates we’ve used (“protocols”) -- check out out the “Texts and Protocols that have Informed our Work so far” sections of the report. I’ve included links for you there.

Best,

Tracy

Compass Committee Playlist 2016-2017

MIDYEAR REPORT

2016-2017 Purpose Statement: This year’s Compass Committee will continue the work begun in IPS to facilitate and encourage curriculum design and alignment at the district, building and team level. In particular, this year’s Compass Committee will work with their colleagues, administrators and the Director of Teaching and Learning to further the use of Learning Cycles as a vehicle for curriculum alignment that showcases the creation of a culture of thinking. Additionally, Compass members will continue to participate in curriculum design professional development with a focus this year on Question Formulation Technique, deeper use of Thinking Routines, public sharing of students’ meaningful work and utilization of feedback from practices such as peer observation -- all towards the goal of bringing this learning back to their schools to strengthen curriculum to build a culture of thinking in Ipswich Public Schools. The Compass Committee’s work this year will be informed by the text Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions  by Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana, among other texts and resources. Lastly, Compass members will continue to serve as liaisons/resources to colleagues and administrators in curriculum development.

Here’s what we’ve worked on so far this school year:

• Reflected on and shared the supporting conditions in which “thinking curriculum” flourishes.
• Gave input to and facilitated “8 Forces of Cultures of Thinking” jigsaws for the district PD day.
• Looked at and gave feedback to a selection of vertical alignment pathways.
• Broke into Elementary and Secondary Compass teams to work with principals to plan Learning Cycles this year.
• Collaborated as Elementary (Doyon and Winthrop) Compass leaders to brainstorm tools for curriculum development and alignment and decided to focus on researching alignment by Power (Priority) Standards and/or by exit outcomes.
• Collaborated as Secondary (MS and HS) Compass leaders to plan and introduce Learning Cycles for joint MS-HS teams. These small teams will each be facilitated by a teacher leader, and will meet three times this school year to address elements of the year’s Expectations document.
• Served as curriculum writing supports for colleagues and principals.
• Met regularly with the Director of Teaching and Learning to scaffold and give input to curriculum development and alignment in IPS.

Texts and protocols that have guided our work so far:

• Ritchhart, Ron (2015). Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Schools. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Curriculum & Creating a Culture of Thinking protocol
• “Priority Standards: The Power of Focus” by Peter DeWitt

What’s next for Compass this school year?

• Leading and supporting Learning Cycles at all schools.
• Researching Power (more currently called “Priority”) Standards and exit outcomes as vertical alignment tools.
• Drafting a plan for curriculum alignment using Priority Standards and exit outcomes along with Successful Habits of Mind for rigorous, district-based curriculum alignment.
• Creating tools for curriculum writing for use by colleagues.
• Researching what "student demonstrations of learning" might look like.

Professional Learning Community (PLC) Team Leaders Playlist 2016-2017

MIDYEAR REPORT

2016-2017 Purpose Statement: This year’s PLC team will continue the work begun in IPS to provide support to professional learning communities. In particular, this year’s PLC team will work with their colleagues, administrators and the Director of Teaching and Learning to further the use of teamwork in creating a culture of thinking. PLC team members will continue to build capacity in PLC procedures and protocols that lead to team unity and ownership in the PLC process, with a focus this year on using PLC tools such as data-review protocols, looking at student work protocols and sharing dilemmas -- all towards the goal of building effective teamwork in order to build a culture of thinking in Ipswich Public Schools. The PLC team’s work this year will include looking at the text The Power of Protocols: An Educator’s Guide to Better Practice by Joseph P. McDonald, et al., in addition to other texts and resources. Lastly, PLC members will continue to serve as liaisons/resources to colleagues and administrators in effective teamwork.

Here’s what we’ve worked on so far this school year:

• Continued to try out new protocols as tools for using teamwork to contribute to a culture of thinking as we also develop PLC members’ skills and tool bags as trained facilitators. For example, we used the “Looking at Students’ Thinking” (or “LAST” protocol from Creating Cultures of Thinking) in vertically-aligned small groups and shared how it might be used in schools by teacher teams.
• Gave input to and facilitated “8 Forces of Cultures of Thinking” jigsaws for the district PD day.
• Used the “Success Analysis” and “Affinity Mapping” protocols to develop a guiding “What Makes Successful Teamwork in IPS” document and shared ways to use this guide as a tool for teamwork in Ipswich Public Schools.
• Dove into looking at and discussing different models for peer observations, with an eye to protocols and facilitation of the observations.
• Broke into Elementary and Secondary PLC teams and worked with principals to share different options and plans for peer observations.
• Met regularly with the Director of Teaching and Learning to scaffold and give input to effective teamwork practices and tools in IPS.

Texts and protocols that have guided our work so far:

• Ritchhart, Ron (2015). Creating Cultures of Thinking: The 8 Forces We Must Master to Truly Transform Schools. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• “Looking at Students’ Thinking” (or “LAST”) protocol
• “Success Analysis Protocol with Reflective Questions” & “Affinity Mapping” protocols
• “Rethinking Classroom Observation” by Emily Dolci Grimm, Trent Kaufman and Dave Doty.

What’s next for PLC this school year?

• Researching, informing and supporting peer observation possibilities, with an emphasis on facilitation and tools for successful teamwork.
• Continuing to try out new PLC tools and bring them back to schools in order to build and enhance cultures of thinking.
• Serving as liaisons and resources to colleagues and administrators in effective teamwork.
• Continuing to meet regularly with the Director of Teaching and Learning to inform teamwork in IPS.

STEAM Team Playlist 2016-2017

MIDYEAR REPORT

District STEAM Vision Statement: STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) education engages students with a sense of wonder about our ever-changing world  through questioning, collaboration and innovative problem-solving.

2016-2017 Purpose Statement: This year’s STEAM Team will continue to foster, align and celebrate STEAM work and vision in Ipswich Public Schools. This year’s STEAM Team goal will be to create opportunities for Ipswich teachers to engage in and publically share STEAM curriculum and instruction. The STEAM Team will explore STEAM curriculum and instruction both in and out of the district. Throughout, we will endeavor for the district STEAM Team to be a model of effective teamwork and to support the district in developing a culture of thinking. Finally, the STEAM Team will bring the STEAM vision to fruition by supporting a district-wide culture of thinking.

The STEAM Team will continue to be comprised of community/business leaders, district leaders, an administrator, teachers (with representation from each school and STEAM disciplines), a School Committee member, a parent and students.

Here’s what we’ve worked on so far this school year:

• Reviewed prior accomplishments of the district’s STEAM Team to make sure that we are building on past successes and best practices.
• Identified a focus for this year’s STEAM Team: developing and producing a district-wide STEAM Team Exposition to highlight and celebrate STEAM teaching and learning in our district while also generating a list of problems teachers might write STEAM curriculum around. In short, we want to promote STEAM curriculum and instruction as a pathway to problem-solving.
• Used the “Success Analysis” protocols to develop a guiding “What Makes a STEAM Success” document and shared ways to use this guide as a tool for STEAM work to develop and showcase in our district’s STEAM event this year.
• Broke into three STEAM subcommittees (Logistics, Communications, Problems and Solutions) to work on the STEAM exposition and other STEAM resources and outreach this year.
• Met regularly with the Director of Teaching and Learning to scaffold and give input to STEAM in Ipswich Public Schools.

Texts and protocols that have guided our work so far:

• “STEAM-Focused Needs Assessment Report and Strategic Plan” by the International Center for Leadership in Education
• “Microlabs” protocol
• “Success Analysis Protocol with Reflective Questions”

What’s next for the STEAM Team this school year?

• Working together to plan, publicize, invite and celebrate our district-wide STEAM Showcase on April 11, 2017, 5-7 PM.
• Serving as liaisons and resources to colleagues and administrators in using STEAM to problem-solve.
• Continuing to investigate STEAM tools and best practices and share with colleagues and administrators in the development of a culture of thinking.
• Meeting regularly with the Director of Teaching and Learning to inform STEAM teaching and learning in IPS.

Interest-Based PLC’s 2016-2017

MIDYEAR REPORT

2016-2017 Purpose Statement: Ipswich Public Schools supports teachers who are engaged in meaningful, authentic inquiry around key objectives. As such, groups of teachers may apply to form and lead Interest-Based PLC’s that are created and facilitated by teachers with the support of the Director of Teaching and Learning. Team Leaders support their PLC’s work by using the action research cycle (developing a clear guiding question, researching solutions and trying them out, problem-solving and revising, and celebrating and sharing). Interest-Based PLC Team meetings are held in addition to school and school meeting hours.

Interest-Based PLC's in Action: This year, we are piloting Interest-Based PLC's with three teams:

#1: Elementary Math PLC: Math Writing, Mindsets and Practices (at Winthrop & Doyon Elementary Schools)
Guiding Question: How can we develop our students' abilities to explain their mathematical thinking orally and in writing?

#2: Using Socratic Seminar through a Humanities-Based Approach to Reading Instruction (at Ipswich Middle School)
Guiding Question: Will a student's close reading skills improve through the use of Socratic Seminars and a humanities-based approach to reading instruction?

#3: Maker Space Curriculum Connections (at Winthrop Elementary School)
Guiding Question: How can we integrate maker space activities into our current curriculum mandates?

What’s next for these Interest-Based PLC's this school year?

• Continuing to move through their action research cycles, with the goal of trying something new, reflecting on it and making a plan for the future.
• Facilitators continue to work with the Director of Teaching and Learning to support their work.
• Presenting work to the Ipswich School Committee this spring as a way to showcase findings to the Ipswich community.

Whew! That's a lot -- which makes sense because cultures of thinking depend on supporting teacher leaders to ask probing questions, to dive into research and theory, to problem-solve and, ultimately, to create the tools and resources we need to move forward together.

These teacher leader initiatives lead the way in furthering Ipswich Public Schools as a district where teacher leadership is valued, fostered and supported.