Community Building in Action

If you have ever had the opportunity to talk to Meeker 3rd grade Mentor Teacher Ondrea Dellman about teaching, chances are you also talked about Responsive Classroom (RC). For those of you who haven’t gotten the chance to talk with her yet, Responsive Classroom is the classroom management approach used at the elementary level. It is the elementary counterpart to Developmental Designs, which is being used at Ames Middle School.

Ondrea’s passion for RC is clear in everything she does in her classroom. She spends a significant time at the beginning of the year training her classroom expectations, teaching students how to take appropriate breaks, building community through morning meetings, setting hopes and dreams, making classroom rules and learning about building a CARES community (cooperation, assertion, responsibility, empathy, self-control). I asked Ondrea how RC impacts her as a Mentor: “I could not teach without RC strategies. Behavior concerns have come up in all of my mentoring sessions. Now that I have been practicing RC and taken all three levels as well as a few of the 2 day trainings, I feel like I can offer meaningful support and suggestions to them address their concerns.”

One aspect of RC that is used far less often is organized recess, which Ondrea believes is critical to building community with her students even when they are outside of her classroom walls. As the year gets going, elementary teachers are well aware that for some kids recess is the least successful time of the day. Many times those students who need to run around the most tend to find the wrong ways to spend their recess time. Students don’t naturally generalize the rules and expectations from the classroom to the playground. That’s where organized recess comes in. At the beginning of the year, and then continuing intermittently throughout the rest of the school year, Ondrea goes to recess with her students and teaches them group games and appropriate expectations for the playground just like she does for her classroom. Ondrea describes the benefits of organized recess: “The students get to know all their classmates better instead of always gravitating to the same few peers. They don't always know what to do when they are at recess and for some students that leads to problems. They learn rules to games and other options of what to do at recess.  When I am with them I have opportunities to instruct them on using self-control on the playground.”

Some might be skeptical of organized recess, but even students from other classes join Ondrea when she is out there. “I had my kids out and we had the big beach ball to use for our game.  My kids ran out excitedly and several other kids asked if they could play too. The surprising thing was they were all boys and most of them I recognized as kids who have a tendency to find trouble. I even ended up having a fourth grader join us when he came out.”

As a Teacher Leader, Ondrea hopes to inspire new teachers to implement RC strategies in their own classrooms to build a strong positive community and support student learning. She also has an open invitation to all teachers at Meeker who want to learn more about organized recess. If you get the opportunity to spend some time with Ondrea’s class, you will undoubtedly see these strategies in practice whether in the classroom or on the playground.

Open Doors

Opening classroom doors and inviting others in takes courage, and it can make us feel vulnerable when we expose our teaching practices. Yet we know that seeing each other in action is a powerful way to learn and grow. With Model Teachers in place this year, we can expand our learning from one another. No longer are we restricted to learning from only those in our own PLC or building, but we can now learn from others across our District through these open doors.

Garry and Glennis Anderson, educators from New Zealand, along with Ann Pierce from Iowa State University, recently took advantage of the opportunity to visit Model Teacher, Charlyn Mason, at Mitchell Elementary. The Andersons were eager to see first-hand the teaching practices for kindergarten students during their time in the States. They wanted to see how they compared to teaching practices being used in their system in New Zealand.

Glennis Anderson is also a kindergarten teacher, but not all of her students start on the first day of school. She welcomes her students all throughout the year because students in New Zealand begin their school career the day after their 5th birthday. This means new kindergarteners are joining her all year long. Glennis was excited to be able to see how a kindergarten classroom in our District functions at the beginning of the school year knowing that training 20+ students into a school culture is very different than starting with 10 students and adding one or two at a time.  

The Responsive Classroom approach which incorporated some syllable practice, as well as the Gradual Release Model around the letter "i", was very inspiring to Glennis and Garry. After the observation, the Andersons took time to reflect with Karen Mongar, Kate Mitchell’s Instructional Coach. Together, these educators collaborated around the different instructional methods they observed and talked about the Teacher Leadership Program that Ames has in place. Garry Anderson is the Principal at The Terrace School in New Zealand and is hoping to get a Teacher Leadership Program in place within his school. At the end of these conversations it was very clear, that despite living on opposite sides of the globe, all teachers have the best interest of students at the heart of their work and benefit from observing and collaborating with one another.

Charlyn Mason and her husband Jeff, who teaches fifth grade at Sawyer Elementary, plan to go to New Zealand in June to visit The Terrace School.  They hope to continue the collaboration that started with this opportunity to walk through an open door.

TOSAs Working Together

Hello. My name is Erin Miller, and I have problem. I am a teacher who has lost her classroom. I have a cubicle. I have a very nice desk in a freezing office - at least the temperature makes me feel at home. I have access to a conference room across the hall that makes me feel claustrophobic when there are more than two other people in there with me. I no longer have a parade of high school speech students wandering in my room at various hours of the day needing help. I can’t find any students assigned to my name on Infinite Campus. I will admit that this has been the most difficult start to a school year for me since I started teaching.

However, after a full two months on the job, I’m realizing all that I’ve gained. I’ve found an amazing group of TOSAs (Teachers on Special Assignment) who are passionate about teaching and learning in Ames. They are passionate about their subject areas. They want to work together to support teachers as they work each day to help students achieve things they never thought possible.

Lisa Clayberg, TOSA for Professional Development and Teacher Leadership, is dedicated to supporting all teacher leaders across the district. She has worked tirelessly to ensure that everyone out there who is feeling a little lost in a new role feels supported. She gives us passion when we are feeling overwhelmed by all we want to accomplish. Most of all, she isn’t afraid to put up funny pictures in our office to keep the mood light.

Kari Smith, our veteran TOSA, is our quiet leader. She has great tips for transitioning from teaching students to learning alongside adults. Already, I want to go to every science PD opportunity she is offering this year - engineering with tin foil? Yes, please! If you have the chance to hear Kari share a Think Aloud, take it. Her ability to open up her thinking to allow students to better understand how an expert tackles a math problem or reads a science text is inspiring.

Dan Andrews, another C & I veteran, has been an invaluable resource to all of the TOSAs as we begin our work this year. As the Data and Assessment Coordinator, he can provide a variety of information about our district, programs, and student assessment results. He answers all of our questions with the patience of a saint, demonstrates how to use all of the tools available to us, and challenges our thinking when we are discussing the data. As a classroom teacher, I rarely had the opportunity to work with him, but as a TOSA, he is one of my most valuable new resources.

In addition to the veteran C & I staff, I have discovered that the other new TOSAs have provided me with a great sense of support as I make this transition. Vonda Junck is also leaving a classroom behind to embark on her new adventure as the TOSA for mentoring, CTE and World Languages. She was put to the test before the school year even started, working hard all summer to create an energetic, positive, and useful new teacher orientation workshop. The teachers left well prepared to start the school year, but more importantly, they left with a mentor who will support them throughout the year. Vonda will be providing newsletters, monthly meetings, and one-on-one support for both the mentors and the mentees as they learn and grow together. Additionally, Vonda will be supporting Career and Technical Education teachers and World Languages teachers as they continue to study best practices in their respective fields.

I couldn’t be more grateful to have gone through the last two months with Mary Morton, the PK-6 language arts & social studies, PK - 12 Art & PE, and TTL TOSA. She has been an inspiration with her willingness to tackle the new FAST and ELI updates, coordinate a revision of the testing protocol for Benchmarking and FAST, and deliver PD to support the entire elementary staff as they begin to gather data. As we move forward into more PD opportunities, I am excited to have more opportunities to deliver innovative PD that has Mary’s focus on quality instruction and hard work.

I’m looking forward to getting to know all of the counseling and music staff across the district as well as the secondary language arts and social studies departments. The counselors are dedicated individuals who are embracing their new challenge around implementing new standards without their own classrooms. The music staff has a big year of curriculum review; I am excited to hear the conversations as we talk about best practice and have vertical alignment discussions. In social studies, the content team will begin an exploration into the C3 Framework, as they prepare for new state standards to come out sometime in 2016. Finally, the secondary language arts teachers are studying best practices around instructional methods. Throughout these experiences this year, I’m hoping to feel as though instead of losing one classroom, I’ve gained insight into many. If I can connect teachers to others using all types of Ames teacher leaders, I will have had a successful year.

While I still have days where I want to spend the day conferencing with student writers, I am grateful for these new experiences. I am excited to work with the other TOSAs as we help support teachers & coaches as they implement the district vision. At our weekly meetings, we learn together, share our ideas, and leave with one voice: the Ames CSD vision.

Experiencing "Firsts"

The beginning of the school year is always a busy time for teachers, but for those teachers new to the profession, the beginning of the year is filled with many "firsts".  This rings especially true for several teachers at Northwood this year who are in their first or second year to the profession. Kendra Wuestenberg is a teacher at Northwood who has been designated as a Mentor Teacher this year. As are all Mentor Teachers, she is a built-in resource to the new teachers in regards to many of their “firsts”.

Right off the bat, Kendra had the opportunity to spend some quality time with those new Northwood teachers going over the details of home visits, as this is one of those “firsts” for them. Each of the home visits last about 30-45 minutes. During the visit, the teacher shares information with the family about what to expect during the preschool year and provides answers to any questions the family may have.

Recently Kendra Wuestenberg, a Mentor Teacher at Northwood, spent time on a home visit with the family of Stephanie Troncosco, a Model Teacher at Mitchell Elementary.

As a part of their conversation during the home visit, the teachers guide the family through setting up a "Hope and Dream" goal for their child’s school year. While these conversations are happening, an Educational Assistant works with the child on a few basic academic skills to give the teacher insight into the skills the child will bring to preschool.

Northwood Model Teacher, Alicia Ortner, completing a book activity on a home visit.

These home visits are not just for paperwork though. When the child is able to see the teacher in their own home, it is the start of a quality relationship. Most students at this age are hesitant to trust others outside of their family. By having the teacher visit the child in their home, where they feel the safest, it creates a positive start to their school experience. The child will remember this visit for a long time. There are many times throughout the school year the students will remember and bring up the time their teacher came to their house.

This process rings true for the new teachers as well. Mentor teachers will make "home visits" to the new teacher's classroom throughout the year providing guidance as they work through the "firsts" of their careers.