Instructional+Support+Team

Riverbend Elementary School Instructional Support Team Professional Learning Community F or more information about Instructional Support Teams in the Juneau School District, check out the JSD IST wiki.



Planning meeting Minutes (See individual grade levels for joint PLC/IST meeting minutes): Monday, May 18th, 2009 Present: Weaver, Wittig, Badilla, Doxey, Faure

This Friday (May 22): Third Grade and First Grade Jan won't be with us on Friday.

Third Grade: Will bring their pre- and post- paragraphs (for this intervention cycle) and we will see what kind of growth the third graders made this month. The third grade teachers will be using the same rubric (from the SBA's). We will look to see what worked and what didn't work. Although we will have an intermediate PLC/IST reflection time NEXT Friday, we want to take some time THIS Friday to debrief the process/reflect about PLC/IST for this particular grade level & the PLC process (including your backwards design unit writing process).

First Grade: It would be nice to get the PALS and reading data (whatever's available) in to Doxey by Thursday, so that she can enter it BEFORE our meeting on Friday. The interventionists will also bring progress-monitoring data to share. So, we will analyze student growth. Although we will have an primary PLC/IST reflection time NEXT Friday, we want to take some time THIS Friday to debrief the process/reflect about PLC/IST for this particular grade level & the PLC process (including your backwards design unit writing process).

NEXT Friday (May 29th): All PLC groups (two sessions: intermediate and primary). Carmen facilitating. Reflection on the whole teacher collaboration time. What worked? What needs to change? (Scheduling, who's meeting with who, norms, products). Carmen would also like teams to start thinking about next year - (Carmen will give you an agenda ahead of time).

Obviously, there will not be a PLC meeting on the last day of school.

BTW: Carmen says she is not on a social committee.

Monday, May 11, 2009 Present: Weaver, Wittig, Badilla, Faure, Katasse

This week: Kindergarten & Fourth Grade

Fourth Grade: Spring DRA2 assessments are just finishing up. Everyone should bring whatever DRA2 data they have collected over the past couple weeks. Looking for growth over the year, reflection on what intervention based on DRA2 needs worked and what needs to change for next year. Brenda learned at IRA that we should consider: was the child there, what model(s) were provided, and anything about the teachers' instruction that may contribute to progress. Additionally, we should consider whether (for students not making adequate progress) it was student attitude that impacted performance levels. Biggest concern for this Friday's meeting is that it would take the better part of the 80 minute meeting to enter the data during the meeting, leaving little time for analysis and reflection during the meeting. Would it be possible to enter the data before the meeting? (We are REALLY looking forward to the data management software that we think we will have access to in the fall.) Meanwhile, please give your finished data to Karen Doxey and we will see what gets done before the meeting. The fourth grade to fifth grade placement meeting is being rescheduled to next week (Wednesday), so Carmen can attend.

Kindergarten: K's are in the middle of their PAL's window, so teachers are not expected to have them finished by Friday. However, Carmen would like the K teachers to bring current data: alphabet ID and sounds, the math assessment/screen/progress-monitoring tool, and a sample of current writing. Just bring samples of current work in folders to share. The K to 1st grade placement meeting has been rescheduled for next Tuesday (so folks don't miss half of the shared IST/PLC meeting).

Monday, April 27, 2009 Present: Weaver, Wittig, Badilla, Doxey

K/1: Unless we hear otherwise, the IST is planning on resuming our K/1 meeting this Friday, with an emphasis on K assessment and placement model for the beginning of the school year. Please send the questions that need to be answered, and we will add them to the list.

Third Grade: Thank you to the third grade IST for sending a suggested agenda. Here it is: 1.Would like to have writing paragraphs for next intervention cycle. Which kids would be in which groups? (Sheryl noted that she will have her small group through May 16th, then would be available for whatever is needed).

Assessemn

Monday, April 20, 2009 Present: Weaver, Doxey, Badilla, Wittig We debriefed on the K/1 shared meeting from Friday. We are asking the K & 1 teachers if they would like to meet again, this time during the first grade PLC/IST scheduled meeting (Friday, May 1) - for closure and perhaps to discuss the second question (pre-K assessments and placement options). We looked at the KLST-2 (Kindergarten Language Screening Test) which Doxey recently received.

Also on May 1: Third Grade PLC/IST - Let us know what you would like on the agenda.

Monday, April 3, 2009 Present: Weaver, Wittig, Doxey, Katasse, Faure This week: Third grade and first grade Checked in on our staff meeting work for today (facilitating the staff completing the individual section of the literacy planning tool.

Third grade: Math intervention - How is it going? Changes? (Note that we are expecting the current grouping to change immediately following SBA's - so we might want to look at what is the next subject for intervention, since we are not meeting together again before then). SBA's? (A lot of questions should be answered during the Tuesday meeting after school, but we will address this on Friday, in case we have some follow-up questions that arise). DRA2's - In answer to your question: yes - on the report card. Reading scores - Doxey will talk about that. Professional Leave - Carmen says yes. General discussion: Data and progress monitoring. Maybe bring in some student work (evidence) for students who haven't been scotted, but your are concerned with their progress. Want any differentiation suggestions for your backwards design unit on estimation? How about curriculum mapping the rest of the school year?

First grade: Checking in on progress of first graders in intervention (evidence of progress?) There were about 30 kids that were below core (last time we met together). Brainstorm how we can provide all these kids the services they need to make core in the next year or two? (intervention block, after school tutorial, summer school, triple dipping, quad dipping?) As time permits: Mini-SCOT type meeting for any student who hasn't been scotted - so bring evidence of the student's current level of performance, etc.

Monday, March 16, 2009 This week: Brenda will be out; as far as we know, the other four of us will be there.

This week: Kindergarten - only Marta will be here. Marta has some math data to go over. Our original plan was to sort (four group) the data, so we will look at that. Jean was doing intervention for Marta's class, but she said the students have completed those objectives and she would be available for other intervention. Carmen mentioned that the new state kindergarten profile is now available, and she has those available. Question also came up whether to place the kinders before fall, and she said she would like talk to the IST about that. The IST said that it would be great to include the K teachers in that conversation, so we will start that conversation this Friday (to be continued this spring). Carmen also mentioned that she would talk to MRCS about how they do their intake (setting up stations with a host of professionals each doing a station). Nothing will be decided on Friday - just getting ideas out there.

Fourth Grade: Carmen would like so see lots of test practicing between now and the SBA's. She has binders of test taking strategies in the library she will bring on Friday. In our notes, it said that Brenda would talk with Renouf to see how the ESL students who were out for testing would get caught up in social studies. Carmen will also bring in a new flow chart from special ed. Carmen is asking for the groups' PLC goals & backwards design work, since she hasn't seen that lately.

We are on the staff meeting for Monday, 30 March 2009. Our goal is to have the staff complete the literacy survey.

Other things: Haifa met with Jan last week to go over the mission of her job, which is language acquisition. Right now, she is really being used as a reading teacher in a lot of cases. In the past, that wasn't as big of an issue, since we don't usually have this many very limited English students in the building, but this year it is pretty obvious that things are different and she needs to adjust what she's offering to ensure that she is really meeting the goals of her program. In particular, several of her older students need to work on expressive language & writing.

Carolyn Kelley and Marta Pardee will be at the SBA training on Thursday, so we can look forward to details about students who need special accommodations, how many interventionists it will take to provide their accommodations (who will probably be canceling their classes to cover SBA's), and the rooms that these accommodations will occur.

Monday, March 2, 2009 This week: Second grade & fifth grade.

General discussion: Sheryl would like the group to figure out how to maximize the use of the district IST resources (namely, our time), perhaps by reconfiguring who's at which meeting, and who is providing enrichment, and when.

Second grade: "Reading response rubrics - MAKE THEM not just discuss. We will bring samples of reading responses to show what we use, and student work samples.Watch 5 minute video created by a 3rd grade class about "Reading is Thinking" Share read aloud resources for animal life cycle unit. Can IST bring some ideas also?" We will have the work sort (like the state mentors use) ready, since we aren't really sure what they are looking for.

Fifth grade: Tina - talking about math strategy instruction. Discuss how Math Quest and teaching math strategies are going. (Sheryl wants to know how many travel dots to assign in various classes.)

Next Monday at 3:05 - We will continue our big picture planning next Monday, hopefully finishing filling out the goal-setting forms we started at one of the district IST meetings.

Monday, February 13, 2009

This week: 2nd & 5th (Everyone is planning on being here)

Reminder to everyone: Please do not post students' names on your wiki pages (they are fine on e-mails to your groups). If you have any changes, please e-mail the IST. Thanks.

General discussion about what the DRA2 data tells us (independent fluency score) and what it doesn't tell us (in most cases, we know instructional comprehension but not independent comprehension scores). We talked about the problem of finding the DRA2 independent comprehension scores (which would take even more time than what we are currently doing). Teachers who need additional data on select students (below CORE, with projectiles not headed towards CORE).

Second Grade:1. Look at DRA2 data (just the subtotal scores for fluency and comprehension and the categories for each). 2. Fast Forward status and exiting.3. Progress-monitoring data for those students in "intervention" (whenever that intervention occurs). Fifth Grade: 1. DRA2 status - where are we? 2. Math intervention? Some sort of assessment to see who know who needs what kind of math intervention? 3. Wrapping up art/ other things that inhibit getting this stuff done.

Monday, February 6, 2009

This week: 3rd & 1st:(Doug and Karen will be absent on Friday):

3rd Grade IST Agenda 1. Look at DRA scores. If the testing is not completed on all the students, bring the scores we have.

2. How is the DRA scored so that you achieve an independent reading score for the student? We saw some of the previously scored tests and noticed some discrepancies we didn’t understand. Shouldn’t all the scores be in the independent column? We will bring examples.

3a. When will we re-group the kids for interventions?

3b. What interventions do various students need? How can we cluster them to maximize intervention services?

4. What assessments will we use to monitor progress of the intervention students?

5. When are the IST members available to help us modify lessons for differentiation? Is this something the IST can do?

6. During intervention time can the IST specialist somehow tie in our backward designed unit so that the students have some pre-teaching or is that not possible? 7. Do we want to look at math intervention this year? If so, how and when should we identify students who need intervention in math?

First Grade Agenda:

Attendance Issues and take home reading for students with chronic attendance lapses Feedback on our SMART goal as we had created it in December DRA2 Assessment analysis (as available - see general outline in third grade agenda) Progress Monitoring data analysis for students in intervention (as available)

Monday, January 26, 2009 (Sheryl will be in Anchorage on Thursday and Friday of this week.)Fourth grade & kindergarten this week.

Fourth grade: Classroom teachers are expecting all of us to have DRA2 finished this week. Interventionists are trying to figure out how to get all their groups done before then. (The fluency section should be do-able. Getting enough time for everyone to complete their four-page comprehension packet during intervention time is the challenge - especially if you would need to get it to Sheryl by Wednesday afternoon if you want her to prepare graphs for Friday). We talked about how to display the data. We will review the progress monitoring data. Classroom teachers are expecting to come to the IST meeting with data. We don't think the fifth grade Terra Nova's will impact intervention next week. Sheryl asked the group to consider some sort of math screen and/or math intervention for the following (next month) intervention cycle. Meanwhile: adjusting groups as needed?

Kindergarten: Checking in on kindergarten alphabet & letter sounds recognition. We have Vicky's data. Shawna is almost done with hers. Jan will check with Marta and make sure she's got that data. If anyone wants a pretty graph (prepared by Sheryl), Sheryl will need the data by the end of the day on Wednesday. Look at the data. Discuss appropriate interventions. Is anyone interested in math screening/intervention? Formative Assessment Committee: Brenda and Doxey volunteered for this district committee.Goal-Setting (follow-up from our JSD-IST meeting on Friday): We wish to defer developing IST goals for our building until we can meet with our principal and/or staff for their input.

Monday, January 12, 2009 ALL PLC's will have their shared PLC/IST schedule shoved back one week, so we will do 1 & 3 this week. Next week (23rd) will fifth and second grade. After school on Thursday: Brenda will do running record training for the DRA2. Friday: Third Grade - We are still doing the DRA2 training. Brenda will facilitate a training with BOTH the 3rd and 4th grade during IST time on Friday. (The DRA2 training is different from the running record training). We talked about regrouping;t one option is to keep our current groups, and everyone does the DRA2 on their current groups, and then when we get back together in three weeks, we would have good data on everyone to look at. However, if the third grade teachers have something else in mind, we could talk about that on Friday. First Grade - We are reviewing intervention progress monitoring and classroom performance for students we are concerned with. This may include subjects other than reading (math, etc.). Jan noted that she has just had an influx of new students fresh from a foreign country, and that she will need to have an oral language group for these ESL students.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Everyone: Beginning this Friday, if your PLC will be meeting with the IST the next week, please take a few minutes of your PLC time to develop agenda items you would like on the agenda for the shared meeting the following week. Please e-mail them to the RB-IST on that Friday. The following Monday, we will review our minutes from our last shared meeting, and add items to the agenda and send them out to both groups for final reflection and revision.

This week: Grades 3 and 1 Grade 3: This Friday, the third grade will get training on administering and scoring the DRA. We discussed having Karen have a couple kids read into Garage Band, so that we have samples to use for training. We are hoping that the new DRA kits arrive ASAP, so that folks have them available to use right away. Brenda will try to grab a couple of the lower fourth grade written responses and bring those as well. We will like to set aside some time for the UbD unit - especially science, if needed.

Sheryl: Time keeper & notetaker. Doug: Norm-watcher. Karen: Facilitator.

Grade 1: Brenda: Facilitator. Sheryl: Time keeper & notetaker.

Jan noted that her current intervention is oral language. Karen is doing a SIPPS intervention. It has some built-in interventions, one of which she did today. Other first grade interventionists (special ed.) should be bringing in their progress monitoring data, ready to share. This would also include classroom teachers who are providing intervention for their red flag students. Work samples are helpful. Head's Up for the following (3 weeks later) shared meeting: It will be time for the mid-year DRA reading assessment.

Side note: when we look at first grade data, we need to make sure that we have Carolyn Dukes' students data available as well. Carmen reminded the group that we were going to get together a scope and sequence for learning phonics - and that some of our sources would include Kelly Harvey, and others. Jan noted that at different lower levels, certain phonics skills really fit in.

IST Planning Meeting Notes

Riverbend Staff: The IST will be taking advantage of the time available to us this Friday afternoon to do some reflection and planning for 2009. We would love to include your thoughts in our reflection. Please take a couple minutes this week to complete this survey. (Just as we would not provide information gathered during mentoring to be used as part of your evaluation, we would like you to reflect on the IST process for our own growth and professional development.). Feel free to reply (but not reply all!) to this e-mail or print it out and put your completed survey in any of our mailboxes.

For those of you who would like some background information: Some of the things the IST has been doing this year include: Response to Intervention implementation, resource gathering, assessment process, logistics of scheduling meetings, development of units, communication of our work, facilitation of discussions, norms, progress monitoring, mentoring, and job-embedded staff development. Other information about IST’s can be found at: http://jsdist.wikispaces.com/ and http://riverbendelementary.wikispaces.com/

Survey questions:

What is the most valuable service the IST provides for you and your students?

What is the difference between what you expected from the IST and what you received?

What recommendations do you have for improving the IST at Riverbend?

Notes from Monday December 15, 2008 IST Planning Meeting

Present: Wittig, Weaver, Faure, Doxey (Badilla)

Agenda: - Agenda planning for Friday (our own reflection) - Developing questions for staff questionnaire.

Possible topics of discussion: - 1. What’s working/what have we done? - 2. Survey results - 3. As an IST (inner working (including roles, responsibilities & norms), & with staff & in relationship to our “charge”) - As time permits: o Ideas for staff development for IST’s o Year out universal screen calendar o Progress monitoring tools, including data-management & display o IST staff development ideas (district-wide) o Logistics of flexible groupings: protocol for moving kids between groups o How can we interface with SCOTS and the rest of the Special Ed. staff. o How we are providing service to enrichment staff (et. al.) o Time recording
 * Monday, December 8, 2008**

Present: Wittig, Doxey, Weaver, Faure

This Week’s meetings:

Fourth Grade:

Follow-up from our last shared meeting:

- Revisit Groupings of intervention groups, especially the student at 16 who doesn’t fit in (readiness) with his current group.

- Question about Doug pulling 3:00-3:40 – Is that happening?

Progress Monitoring: We now have the Read Naturally quick check for fluency, so from now on, we can have a quick PM (progress monitoring) check for kids in intervention. Meanwhile, Jan will do a CBM (curriculum based measure) on Night Before Dawn. Weaver will do Read Naturally measure. Doug was absent on Monday, but upon reading this, will probably realize he needs to do something as well.

Discussion about when we will do DRA2 mid-year assessements- The fourth grade teachers know how to score out the tests, but they need some training on administering the tool (which we will do on Friday, only if there is time left over).

Checking in on the backwards design (UbD) unit – What topic? When will it be delivered? What does it need?

Kindergarten: We will skip the “How did we get here?” question and focus on where we are going.

Clarify the interventions required and times interventionists available. (In other words, clarify what is Tier I instruction – general instruction that does the trick for about 80% of the students and what would be Tier II – intervention for students who are not responding to Tier I instruction). Look at the Core, see what curriculum spans the year, and where we expect them to be at the end of the first trimester or mid-year, and use that as a basis for determining who is so far behind that they require intervention. Maybe align SMART goals and data?

Meanwhile, interventionists should get at least one data point this week, so that we have some additional information in case we are regrouping.

If there is time, we can look at and work on the Backwards Design (UbD) unit. We ran out of time before we were able to debrief from last Friday’s meetings (grades two and five).


 * Monday, December 1, 2008**

Present: Wittig, Doxey, Badilla, Faure, and Weaver (except when she was pulled out to work with fourth graders), Katasse

Fifth Grade: Checking in with the book clubs. Question about whether what we are doing (QAR based book clubs) still fits the RTI model. Hmmmm. Meanwhile, we need to develop formative assessments. Looking at the DRA2 data, what do we expecting the students to learn? (Such as retelling, author & me questions, etc. At a core level, we want everyone to develop critical thinking skills) How will we know when they got it? Sheryl will bring her JGB rubric, Karen will bring her flip books. Discussion about what and how do we provide feedback to the students. We will have met in our groups two or three times - what's working? What is the end results we are aiming for. What will we do to ensure that differentiation is happening? (beyond interest-based book selection, and books at their various reading levels) - emphasis on recognizing everyone's voices.

Roles: Wittig - facilitator, Doxey - notetaker, Badilla -, Faure -

Second Grade: We need to check back with in with them to find out how their groups and our intervention groups are doing. Karen will pull Fast Forword data. Check in to see what writing rubrics they are using (or planning on using). Karen was going to facilitate DRA2 assessments training December 5 (we think Jan 16 will be getting late for a midyear assessment) - but we realized that that was too much for one meeting, so Karen will provide that training during an upcoming Thursday afternoon staff development session.

Carmen mentioned that she is still seeing a lot of hand raising in the classroom. Is hoping the IST will continue the dialogue about equity (suggesting popsicle sticks and other methods of ensuring equity of voice).

Reminder: Carmen is expecting all special ed. teachers to attend Friday IST/PLC meetings appropriate to their teaching assignments. Sheryl will request that Mark add all of their names to the rb-ist e-mail group (although they will want to ignore anything that doesn't pertain to their teaching assignment. Other than Doug, they won't be expected to participate in our Monday afternoon planning meetings, or our monthly JSD-IST meetings.


 * Monday, November 17, 2008**

Agenda:

Debrief 4 meetings (5 & 2, 4 & K) Plan for 2 meetings (3 & 1) Carmen’s comment

Authentic formative assessments – Carmen went to some training about this, and the District is big on this right now. She knows the grade levels are building UbD units, and wants to make sure that these authentic formative assessments are being built into these units. April’s inservice is on building formative assessments. Teachers use a variety of assessments, but perhaps rely too much on “informal observation”.

December 5th, Assistant Superintendent, Laury Scandling, will be in the building all afternoon to observe the SEM enrichment clusters, the PLC, and PLC/IST meetings in action.

As per Carmen's e-mail, there will not be enrichment clusters, PLC's, or IST the Friday immediately before Winter Break. That will move all the 2009 scheduled meetings back a week. Sheryl will send out a revised schedule (along with the revision for April & May) soon.

Debrief:

5th – Just Nick, Doug & Brenda : Karen will send minutes to RB-IST, Sheryl will post on Wiki. More QAR instruction, by Thursday, adults will model discussion group, by next Wednesday, books will be selected, groups will start Monday after Thankgiving.

2nd – Teachers walked through their literacy block so we could see what they are already getting during their day (so we can dovetail interventions). These minutes need to be sent out as well.

4th - Reviewed notes from Friday’s meeting. Question about what to do when one UbD unit is finished. According to Carmen, revise the new one right after using it (while it’s fresh in your minds), then start in on another one (maybe after curriculum mapping, so you know what’s timely and critical).

K- Same discussion as above. Question about when do we get to revise SMART goals, identify assessments, etc. Carmen says, 1) identify essential end of year skills, from that 2) develop SMART goals with 3) formative assessments. (So, YES! You can work on that stuff). Vicky gave Sheryl the EPSF (Early Prevention of School Failure) research that she could find. Sheryl will look to see if it has morphed into something else or if all the component assessment instruments are still in use (Peabody Picture Vocab, Motor Activity Scale Revised, Preschool Language Scale Revised, Visual Motor Integration Revised, Draw a Person Test).

What are we doing for progress monitoring? Karen will check with Eve to see what would be an appropriate tool. Discussion about IST needing assessments as much as (if not a whole lot more than) classroom teachers.

This Week’s agenda:

Third grade (submitted by the 3rd grade PLC): Follow up: Linda Frame replied to Jan’s e-mail about how the sky/snow/etc. meshed (GLE clarification). Jan will check how the state GLE’s correspond with district (third vs. fourth grade) Intervention Block: Where are we at?

When do we start a new cycle? What’s working? What would you change? As time allows: UbD unit & its formative assessments

First grade: Revisit First Grade alphabet sounds (screening check-up). Interventions – Checking in: How are kids being selected? What assessment data points are being used?

As time allows: UbD unit & its formative assessments


 * Wednesday, November 12, 2008**

The RB-IST met briefly this afternoon to plan for the Kindergarten & Fourth Grade PLC/IST meetings.

Kindergarten: • Articulation: Doug will debrief from CIT meeting (question about screening/referral for K's) • Grip Concern: K teachers will debrief on training with Megan (assuming it happened). • TOLD screening follow-up: We haven't done the reassessments (we need to order the new one, and LL is still developing rapport with targeted students). Brenda mentioned that there is a limit of how often the TOLD can be administered. • Check in on the students receiving intervention (based on the TOLD screen) • Look at PALS data (Doxey will present). • Work on River unit (as time permits).

Fourth Grade: • Check in with everyone - What are each of the intervention groups doing, and who is in each group. • Keeping the same intervention groups through the next cycle. • General, quick preview of upcoming goals & objectives (which will help the rest of us embed these concepts in interventions, when appropriate). • Help fourth grade teachers develop upcoming units.

We will debrief on the 5/2 and K/4 meetings next Monday.


 * Monday, November 3, 2008**

Present: Doxey, Weaver, Wittig, Badilla

Changed dates of PLC/IST meeting in spring to account for PT conferences. Sheryl will resend corrected calendar.

We decided to review minutes from last meeting with group to prep for upcoming meeting with same group.

Parking Lot follow-up:

We will each bring our own curricular binder to each meeting. Brenda will eventually make one that stays in the room.

We still want first grade data from Dukes room – to combine with other first grade data.

Carmen has asked Brenda to prepare a training on CGI. She will work with Karen to find a time in the Thursday after school training calendar.

Haifa’s request: three biggest concerns we’ve identified: - Prioritizing our time – we have more on our plate than fits into our work day – what do we need to cut back on? Is there a better way to schedule our time (flex scheduling) to accommodate all those needs?

- How do we involve the non-IST interventionists (special ed. teachers) in the IST work (grouping for interventions, monitoring data points, etc.)? Consider communication, triple-dipping needs, and that special ed. teachers are already overloaded in their job assignments.

- Do we have the intervention tools we need to do the job? Do we have the assessment tools to measure their growth?

Brenda will add staff development opportunities to the JSD-IST meeting.

Carmen and Doxey took the school accountability plan that we helped with in the spring and used it to create the school improvement plan. The IST (other than Karen) was not involved in creating the school improvement plan.

This Friday (Sheryl & Jan will be out of town, Karen will facilitate, Doug is note-taking, Brenda is the rest for the second grade) :

Fifth grade: Looking at our notes from our last meeting – we didn’t do all that we said we were going to do. Doug, Jan/Mary, and Karen supported the students with what they are doing in Pasteris’s class. Nick wanted to keep his kids, and apparently differentiated for his students. Sheryl began taking fifth graders for EL a couple weeks ago. Tina and Nick would like to use book clubs during intervention. Doxey suggests using QAR as the structure for the book clubs. She would prepare and implement whole group instruction for both groups – on QAR, rubric for participating in book clubs, acceptable book choices. QAR instruction begins on Tuesday. By next week Thursday they will have book in hand, and ready to begin the following week. What we don’t know is if Tina and Nick are considering combining the remaining students for a bigger pool to regroup for book clubs. They will need to decide by Friday. Right now, we are not tied to a genre or theme. We will use the same DRA2 data to determine their independent level. Karen and Mary will start looking for titles.

If time permits, we will work collaboratively on the UbD unit.

Second Grade: Looked at the minutes from our last meeting. Fast forward is going 1:20-2:20 (Doxey), Doxey/Faure have a group of students who can use beginning and end sounds but need work on their middle sounds. Used the Nancy Norman pre-assessment. The are considering setting up literacy centers and rotating their group through stations. We need to know what’s going on in the classroom (for literacy), including what the home piece is, if any. Intervention groups will not change at this point.

If time permits, we will work collaboratively on the UbD unit.


 * Monday, October 24, 2008**

NO PLC/IST MEETINGS THIS FRIDAY DUE TO INSERVICE.

Science: Linda Frame replied to Jan’s e-mail about how the sky/snow/etc. meshed (GLE clarification). Jan will check how the state GLE’s correspond with district (third vs. fourth grade).

March 13th is PT conferences. We will move the schedule down a week, but retain the reflection date on May 29.

We will continue to send out Updates, but will add the words “Agenda”, but will not print for anyone. Also posted on the wiki.

Inservice: Previewed the agenda for this Friday’s inservice. Left a few clarifying questions for Doxey and Katasse. Couple comments: if teachers are expected to do research, it would make most sense to give them the agenda ASAP. EL teachers are begging to be released to work on TADS (primary push-in) lessons, and since the special ed. teachers will be released, it seems appropriate.

Timekeeping – Haifa has a new, revised form for timekeeping. It has only four columns, which should be easier to fill out.

We left a note to Doxey asking about Dukes first grade PALS data, since that wasn’t into the database we looked at last Friday.

Parking Lot wrap up: reviewed Doug’s list (all were embedded in minutes).

New protocol: We will review the minutes from the preceeding meeting with the PLC group that we are meeting Friday during our Monday meeting.

The group discussed what to do when one teacher needs to cancel intervention, but the other grade level teachers still can send their students. The group would prefer to minimize canceling interventions, and will strive to find appropriate instruction for the smaller groups, even if it means repeating instruction on another day with the other half of the class.


 * Wednesday, 22 October 2008**

Debrief from last meetings:

Sheryl is frustrated because we never got to finding out where the teachers are in the curriculum so that she could make a natural extension of what’s going on in the classroom. Others agreed. For example the strand in Making Meaning they are working on. Also we need to be forward thinking – what’s coming up on the horizon, not what’s happening today (so we have time to properly plan for integrated intervention).

Fourth grade is studying Alaska and ecosystems. Each teacher is taking one or two regions of the state. They will be using five paragraph essay format to make a page for a travel brochure. The group asked Brenda to type up a few paragraphs describing the unit for us. Doxey also wanted to know what format they are using for notetaking, so we can use the same format. The group also wanted to know what region each student has been assigned. We would each be using this information in differing amounts (EL probably the most). We are starting on Monday with the fourth grade interventions.

Kindergarten: McLaughlin wanted to know what we were going to do with the student who is reading at a 14. One option is to have the classroom teacher read with that student during intervention, since a fourth of the kids are gone. Another option is to provide that instruction during call-back. Another option is to have that student walk-to-read. In that case, we would need to have the general schedules from all the classroom teachers in the building. Sheryl will talk with Marta to see if their times match up. McLaughlin also requested that we notify parents when we take students from the room for intervention.

Fifth grade: We have to keep our mission clear: “No new whole group instruction” and we are going to try to stay true to the RTI model we are expected to implement. Doxey will meet with teachers who are interested in veering from the model and let them know we are sorry if we started to lead them astray, and that we need to implement the model. The group also looked at regrouping some of the students identified for intervention.

Gearing up for this week:

First grade: They should have their PALS data finished. We will use the document reader to look at the data. “How should this effect classroom instruction?” Doxey is thinking that we don’t need to spend a lot of IST time on this, since each class is going to be serviced individually. So we will probably spend a good part of the time going over the backwards design unit. Those classroom teachers should bring their unit in progress (via e-mail, or hard copies for all). Facilitation by Doxey (plan is to follow the form). Sheryl will take notes. Jan will be timekeeper and gopher. Doug is norm-watcher.

Third grade: We have the interventions up and going. We finally get to assist with designing their backwards design unit. Those classroom teachers should bring their unit in progress (via e-mail, or hard copies for all). Facilitation by Doxey (plan is to follow the form). Sheryl will take notes. Jan will be timekeeper and gopher. Doug is norm-watcher.

IST housekeeping:

Changing the day of week for IST planning meeting. This is our last meeting on Wednesday. Starting next week, our planning meetings are at 3:05 on Mondays. This will give us more time to prepare for Friday meetings, and a quicker turn-around on following up on the preceeding Friday’s meetings. Carmen will also be available to attend our meetings.

Minutes: Reminder that IST members are supposed to be logging our minutes. There is an individual log page on the IST wiki – forms page.

Inservice: Doxey will get the inservice plan out to the teachers sooner than later, hopefully by Monday or Tuesday.

Note: The rb-ist e-mail address is the address used by the IST laptop. At the moment, the IST members are only receiving e-mails sent to that address when the laptop is on and the e-mail program is on.

Present: Faure, Badilla, Doxey, Wittig
 * Wednesday, October 15, 2008**

- Clarify and defining protocol for RTI portion of IST/PLC meetings. Perhaps:

The IST should look at the data ahead of time, do our own analysis, and come to the Friday meeting with suggestions BECAUSE 1) we have noticed that we can't collectively do the analysis with the classroom teachers in 80 minutes, and 2) we have a better idea of what intervention materials are available and appropriate for different interventions.

Based on what we observe (all looking at the data): How should Tier I instruction be tailored? What support/help (materials, plans, modeling, etc. can IST supply?) How shall we progress monitor? When should we progress monitor?

Based on what we observe Which students should be involved with interventions? What should the interventions be? (The intervention team can look at each student, the resources available - make a plan for each student and share this with teachers (along with strategies for support).

This week's meetings:

Kinder: Doug will check with the PT Megan Smith to see what she has about grip concerns. Jan and Colleen will administer a section of the TOLD as a screen for the kinders (repeating sentences). Articulation - teachers are noticing some articulation problems. As the IST, what role do we play in getting them referred? Doug will bring up our concern at CIT with both the red flagged individuals and the screening/referral process for artic. in general. Intervention blocks for K- 9:15-Puustinen, 9:55-Becker, 10:50-McLaughlin. Possibly Jan will take one of the two primary classes in each block and Doxey will take the other. Lynn, Dana, Liza also need to be involved in this conversation. So we need to be sure to invite Lynn to this meeting. We don't know if we will get to the UbD unit work, but they should bring what they have.

We will have the TOLD, PALS (when ready) to look at, plus the data they gathered and e-mailed to us this week.

Plan for the fourth grade PLC/IST meeting: Doug Notetaker, Sheryl Database, Brenda Facilitator, Jan Parking lot attendant, norm watcher, Doxey timekeeper. (Same for K?)

We are meeting 8:45-9:35 Thursday morning to preview the fourth grade data, hopefully with Brenda.

Continued: Looking at Renouf's and Rinehart's data: Looking at 28 and below for intervention (Weaver, Badilla, Weaver, Faure, Cox). Two classroom teachers can work on the 30's and 34's (Renouf, Rinehart). Doxey will be in the Fast Forword lab working with second graders, and could take a couple of the fourth graders who could really benefit from FF. Wittig can work with the 60 and up.

- Minute - logging - We should be doing this.

- Mentoring: Doug has standing appointments, every week or every other week after school. They are having to cancel every now and then, but the rest of us are using Doug as a model of what we should be doing.

- Coordinating with special ed. - didn't get to this.

Agenda: Parking Lot - anything? -
 * Wednesday October 8, 2008, 3:05-3:45 PM**

Meet with CIT to talk about Sp. Ed. service delivery in a particular primary classroom. Primary caseloads were modified due to a couple Sp.Ed. teachers being out on leave. As they come back, they may restore the original caseloads, and the plan for some of the targeted students to spend more time in the self-contained room.

Doug has prepared a current list of which identified students are assigned to which special ed. teachers. He will type it up and get it to us in the next day or so. Sheryl will include that information on the DRA2 database.

Coordinating with special ed. One idea is to include all of them on all IST e-mails (K-5). Another idea is to actually know which special ed. teachers have students at each grade level, so we can include them on selected e-mails.

Johnson- K-1-2 Cox 3-4-5 Badilla 3-4-5 Ross K-1-2 Wyatt K-1-2

This Friday's meeting agendas: Fifth Grade: (Database is ready to go). Analyze DRA2 database. Will assign students who need interventions. Who's available: Wittig, Doxey, Badilla, Cox, Faure. During intervention, push or pull? Badilla and Wittig know they will pull. Faure is considering preteaching upcoming curriculum. Does the intervention come from the needs identified by the DRA2? Yes. What measures will we use at data points along the way. With the remaining time, we will collaborate on the fifth grade backwards design work. Fifth grade teachers should e-mail the IST & Deb whatever they have, or bring copies for everyone.

Second Grade: Same plan as above for the second grade. Who's available: Johnson, Faure, Doxey (doing FF), Ross/Wyatt subs (Sanders/Offer?). Note about Dukes intervention time - shared with a kindergarten, so maybe two 20 minute blocks.

Tier I reading instruction - walk to read? The FF/math flip-flop thing for the 1/2?

Present: Wittig, Doxey, Faure, Badilla, Katasse (drop in)
 * Wednesday, October 1, 2008, 3:05-3:45 PM**

Sheryl will send out an e-mail to the staff encouraging all teachers to consider checking out the Smart Board and MM projector, up to a month at a time. Also the Dukane and Elmo are also available for loan as needed. Equipment needs to be back by Fridays at noon, if we need it for IST.
 * Loaning out / encouraging use / supporting use of IST equipment (especially smart board) - process & priority?**


 * Setting agendas for this Friday's meetings**

Third grade: • DRA2 rubric (just the quick overview) - 15 minutes - we will do the interrater reliablity work for the spring assessment, but we don't want to loose three weeks of intervention in the fall. • Looking at the data (DRA2 results) - What trends & implications do we see? - 10-15 minutes • Figure out "How will you deliver literacy instruction?" (Classroom teachers) • What can we do with the intervention block to meet the needs of all students? We will need all Sp. Ed. teachers who work with third grade to participate.

First Grade: • Just working on the backwards design collaborative work.

Fifth grade - finish comprehension scoring, enter in database. Decide whether to wait until Oct. 10 or have a meeting before then with them to plan for interventions. We decided will wait until the 10th, with instruction starting on Oct. 13th. (FYI: Doxey will be gone on 10th & 13th).
 * RAT - Fall Screen - Status update**

Fourth grade - classroom teachers are on the first scoring. We are waiting to do the second score.

Third grade - student part done. Adult assessment still to do. IST will score out comprehension

Second grade - McGuan done, Maki started, Dukes should be done by Tuesday. PALS being done when reading assessments are being done.

First grade - Savikko starting on Tuesday PM. Then Becker. Becker has done PALS. Savikko has alphabet done. We need to find out whether he wants to do the assessment or have the IST do it. IST is offering to do Dukes' PALS.

Kindergarten - K-PALS - IST can help administer the week of October 12-17.

Thought: Next fall, divide up classes by their spring DRA2 scores. We each (RAT & classroom teachers) take kids during their intervention block, teach the small group how to select an independent level book, have them read independently while we are doing assessments one-on-one with the group (fewer than a dozen kids each).

Looks good. Sheryl would like to know when the monthly special ed. meetings are. Use to be that all special ed. teachers from a building attended. Now they are looking at one special ed. teacher from each builidng, and then that teacher reports back to the other special ed teachers in the building. Second Tuedsday of every month, 2:30-4:00ish. No subs. Which is part of the reason they are looking at one teacher. Why did they decide on Tuesdays? Why not Friday mornings, when interventions are not going on (at least in our building)?
 * Draft RB-IST calendar**

Concern that people are taking Fridays off, and that it impacts what we are supposed to be getting done during collaborative time. (And that if we abuse this schedule, we will end up moving collaboration to another day, and do interventions on Friday afternoons!
 * What else?**

Carmen is waiting for the data (reading assessments, PALS, etc.) before making any changes. There's a motivation to get the fall screens finished!
 * Support for Kindergarten (during call back time) & 1/2 split clas**s:

Next time: Mentoring