ECET2 KY—Your Voice Matters!

By: Karen Handlos

ECET2 stands for Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teaching and Teachers. The idea was borne out of a desire of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to provide a forum for exceptional teachers to learn from each other and celebrate the teaching profession.

These national convenings had two primary goals:

* To inspire and celebrate teachers

* To help teachers become more effective leaders inside and outside their     schools, 
specifically around the kinds of instructional shifts needed to achieve the Common Core State Standards.

Several Kentucky teachers have had the opportunity to attend these national conferences and have come back with the desire to celebrate and elevate their colleagues across the Commonwealth.  On Saturday, January 25, 2014, The Fund had the opportunity to bring this dream to a reality for about 40 outstanding teachers. It was a day filled with singing and shout outs, inspirational and uplifting teacher stories, and engaging and challenging discussions to empower teachers within their profession. 

Master of Ceremonies, Teacher--Mickey Campbell

Here are some thoughts from a few of the attendees:

“The day was so empowering. I left feeling like I had a more defined idea of what I wanted my teaching and leadership to look like.  New goals were realized, new friendships were made, and most importantly, I realized how much more there was that Kentucky had to offer its students.” 
--Robin Ratliff

“The most rewarding times were sitting in the colleague circles and watching teachers encourage one another. My teacher soul was fed as I watched connections being formed.”     
--Sherri McPherson

“Thank you for the great opportunity yesterday! I am pumped to go back to school.”  “The Woodford County contingent of ECET2 KY is working on trying to get an ECET2 KY going in our district.”     
--Melody Hamilton

The planning team did an incredible job in leading the day’s events with the attendees leaving excited and motivated! Many have already shared their excitement in planning for next year’s event.  If you want to learn more from the voices that matter check out some blog posts and follow the Twitter feed (#ECET2KY) here.

Common Assignment Study Gears Up for Second Semester

 By:  Renee Boss

We are one semester into our Common Assignment Study, and this means Kentucky and Colorado teachers have implemented one common unit in each of six subject/grade groups, have reflected upon what worked and what didn't, have analyzed student work, and have designed new units of study based on these learnings.   When we last wrote about our work, we were just beginning the implementation of the fall units, and now we are preparing for new units of study that will be taught during the spring semester, and we are also discussing how our work might expand during 2014-2015.

 For the past six months, Kentucky and Colorado teachers have demonstrated dedication, perseverance, and effectiveness.  Teachers regularly devoted Sunday afternoons or weeknights after teaching all day for conference calls, webinars, and Google Hangouts to collaborate on unit revisions and to share ideas about what was working during unit implementation and what wasn't.  Teachers also utilized social media via Twitter, and the CAS online platform to share ideas, communicate, and to encourage one another. You can read more about the fall units the teachers implemented by visiting this link.

Loveland, Colorado

After months of virtual collaboration, the Kentucky and Colorado groups were reunited in Colorado last week when the Colorado Legacy Foundation and the Thompson Public Schools district hosted workshops for us in their beautiful facilities in Loveland, Colorado.  Days full of collaboration and hard work yielded great results.  Check out our workshop hashtag if you want to follow some of the group dynamics and ups and downs of our week on Twitter at #casconvene. You can also read a personal account of the week by visiting here.

A few hints of what's coming this spring...

• Students in middle school science will design roller coasters.
• Students in middle school social studies will explore Westward Expansion.
• Students in high school science will explore human impact on biodiversity.
• Students in high school English language arts will argue the impact of social media on language.

The above are only hints not complete unit explanations because we want to allow the teachers some time and space for implementation,  but rest assured all units are designed using UbD frameworks and are thoughtful about how to engage students in learning.

While it's too early to communicate any research findings, we can certainly share that an overall impression of the work is that collaboration is tough, but productive struggle makes it worth it when we see improved student work and learning.

Middle School Social Studies teachers from both states

By: Karen Handlos

I just attended an amazing convening in Phoenix, Arizona; the Teacher Voice Convening. The convening only lasted a couple of days but was filled with over 150 educators from across nine different states sharing their stories and learning from others about the positive impact that the Common Core State Standards have and are making on their students.

One teacher’s story really stuck out to me. The teacher is a special education teacher and one of her former students had come to her not knowing how to read. The child’s parent spoke with the teacher and shared that her child was too low functioning and reading would never be a possibility. The teacher decided not to focus on what she was told the student could not do but to find out for herself what the student could do. The teacher believed that all students, despite disabilities, should have equal opportunities for education and that is exactly the kind of learning environment that she provided for this student. She persevered and challenged her student beyond her current capabilities and by the end of the year the student was reading and doing math problems. Had the teacher sat back and accepted the student as she was she never would seen this transformation and the student would still be low functioning and not reading.

Teachers have a powerful voice and position in the lives of their students. They can elevate the teaching profession by challenging their students to new heights and transforming their instructional practices to meet their students’ needs in ways that far surpass the status quo. I challenge all teachers to set the bar high and to work with your students so they may be able to compete in the global economy and allow their dreams for the future to come true!!

"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." - Henry Brooks Adams