For Ontario educators interested in the ppt that Janice and I did at our Oct 22 PA Day regarding Growing Success, feel free to adapt this presentation for your purposes. The workshop provided hands-on team writing time to create constructive, parent-friendly Learning Skills and Academic comments for the NEW upcoming Elementary Progress Report. Let me know if this is helpful! @taniasterling

1. October 22, 2010
NEW

2. 1. Raise awareness regarding decision to revise
the Elementary Reporting Cycle
2. Practise writing comments for NEW Learning
Skills for November 2010 Progress Report
3. Practise writing comments for Academic
Progress for November 2010 Progress Report

3. Excellent
Janice
Good
_______________
___
Satisfactory
______________
Needs Improvement
__________________
Partner Pair-Up
Excellent
Tania
Good
_______________
___
Satisfactory
______________
Needs Improvement
__________________

4.  There is broad agreement among
educators, researchers and
international organizations that
learning skills and work habits
contribute substantially to student
success.
 Development of learning skills and
work habits needed to succeed in
school and in life begins early in a
child’s schooling.
 Students benefit when teachers
discuss and model these skills and
when teachers and parents work
with students to help them develop
these skills
WHY
?

5.  New progress report
 No letter or number grades
 Focus on assessment FOR learning (formative)
 Fewer learning skills; more comprehensive

6. Handout

7. The NEW learning
skills are what we
have been focusing
on to set up our
classroom climates
since September

8.  Think about:
How did you establish
classroom routines and
norms?
 Find your EXCELLENT
partner and discuss
 Debrief as a whole group
Milling to Music (5 minutes)
EXCELLENT

9. Participation Listening
Appreciations Mutual Respect

10. Handout

12. Click here to view video
 Alan November
http://newlearninginstitute.org/21stcenturyeducation/index.html

13.  In your table groups,
compare the
Process of Tribes TM
with the Sample
Behaviours listed in the
Learning Skills of the
Report Card
 Highlight and code
similarities on your charts
 Find and share with your
partner
GOOD

14. Learning Skill
(Sample Behaviour)
TribesTM
Processes
Collaboration
Responds positively to the
ideas, opinions, values, and
traditions of others
APPRECIATIONS-NO PUT DOWNS
Autonomy & Independence
Self-Esteem:
Values respect for diversity
Problem-Solving
Collaboration:
Practices democratic values,
fairness ,and equity

15.  In your table groups,
compare the
Process of Tribes TM
with the Sample
Behaviours listed in the
Learning Skills of the
Report Card
 Highlight and code
similarities on your charts
 Find and share with your
partnerGOOD

16. What do,
really mean?
E  G  S  NI
Excellent Good Satisfactory Needs
Improvement

17. “E” Responsibility & Organization
XXX is off to a very good start this year by following classroom rules and completing
school work on time. He manages time effectively and uses our school agenda to
stay on top of upcoming deadlines.
“G” Responsibility & Organization
XXX understands our grade X routines, and accepts his roles and responsibilities in
our classroom by following the Four Agreements.
“S” Organization
XXX brings his agenda to class everyday, however he sometimes runs out of time to
copy down the homework before the end of the day. We will continue to practise
time management skills by breaking down tasks, and more closely monitoring how
long it takes him to complete in-class work.
“NI” Organization
During independent work time, XXX has difficulty focusing and taking out his learning
materials to begin work. He often needs instructions repeated. In class, we will
continue to practice keeping our workspace organized. XXX is encouraged to
practice daily routines and organizational skills at home to maximize the amount
of time he has to complete a task.

18. “E” Responsibility & Organization
XXX is off to a very good start this year by following classroom rules and completing
school work on time. He manages time effectively and uses our school agenda to
stay on top of upcoming deadlines.
“G” Responsibility & Organization
XXX understands our grade X routines, and accepts his roles and responsibilities in
our classroom by following the Four Agreements.
“S” Organization
XXX brings his agenda to class everyday, however he sometimes runs out of time to
copy down the homework before the end of the day. We will continue to practise
time management skills by breaking down tasks, and more closely monitoring how
long it takes him to complete in-class work.
“NI” Organization
During independent work time, XXX has difficulty focusing and taking out his learning
materials to begin work. He often needs instructions repeated. In class, we will
continue to practice keeping our workspace organized. XXX is encouraged to
practice daily routines and organizational skills at home to maximize the amount of
time he has to complete a task.
Parents can infer that
you’ve worked with
students to instil this
routine
This is the most neutral
comment-on the right
track to success
This indicates that you as the teacher will make
this a focus of your instruction. Parents can
expect follow-up on the first academic report
card in Feb 2011

19. Steps
Think about a student in your classroom
What has been a LS of focus for this
particular learner?
Describe his behaviour wrt that particular LS
How would he ‘rank’ on the scale of
EGSNI?
What does he need to do to improve? What can
you/parents do to help?
Compose your comment
Working Towards a Learning Skill
Comment
Joey
Collaboration-working with others to resolve
conflict and build consensus to achieve group
goals
He always wants to take over in a group; has
difficulty sharing the leader role with peers;
bosses around other students
S or NI
He: Show mutual respect for the variety of roles
needed to achieve a task; allow others to lead;
reflect on what it means to be a good group
member Me: revisit class norms and role
play cooperative learning
Joey has difficulty working in small group
situations. He often dominants and does not
allow others to have a chance to lead. In the
coming months, we will revisit our class norms,
and role play effective behaviours for cooperative
learning .

20.  Find your partner
 Select one other LS that
has been a focus for you
thus far
 Create a comment
following the 6 steps
 Share your comments
with peers
SATISFACTORY

22.  Rate the child’s academic
progress in all areas taught
thus far
 Provide a general progress
update on performance in
Language and Mathematics
 Only add additional comments
for other areas where the child is
Progressing With Difficulty

23. Steps
Think about a particular student in your class
Think about the content/strands of a particular
subject that you have taught
How has the student performed wrt the
content/strands that you have taught thus far?
Where does the student’s academic performance
rank on the scale?
What does he need to do to improve? What can
you/parents do to help?
Building Towards an Academic Comment
Gabriella
Language (Reading, Writing, Oral, didn’t quite get
to Media yet)
She is strong in oral (PW), but has difficulty
generating her ideas about what she has read on
paper (PWD). Her writing is also very basic-she
does not use new vocabulary to support her
answers (PWD)
PWD
She: Use post-it notes as she reads to track her
thinking; use class anchor charts to apply
comprehension strategies while reading; use the
class word wall when writing about themes we’ve
discussed in class Me: model how to use
post-it notes during think alouds;
explicitly use vocabulary during modelled
writing; provide GO to plan written
responses. Home: practice retelling what
she did at school orally and in writing

24.  Gabriella has strong oral language skills and offers
interesting ideas during class discussions. In
reading, she has difficulty generating ideas on paper
about what she has read. In the coming months at
school, we will practise how to use post-it notes to
track her ideas as she reads. At home, she is
encouraged to practise retelling what she did at
school orally and in writing using specific detail and
vocabulary.
This is where parents
can help at home
This becomes our
teaching focus from
November-February

25.  Think about what you have
taught thus far in the other
content areas
 Brainstorm academic
performance comments for
PVW, PW, PWD with your
grade lev el partner
 Exchange ideas with other
grade level colleagues
NEEDS
IMPROVEMENT

30. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybmo58bTRj0