Incubator @ NKCS Introduction - Middle School Science

“The INCUBATOR
@ NKCS”
Northgate Vertical Science PLT,
March 6, 2014
Thursday, March 6, 14

3 questions

1

WHAT IS ONE?
1

2

WHAT GOOD
IS IT? 2

3


HOW will we
begin?

3

from pages #142-143

from pages #152-153
from page #95


N

K

C

S

C

H

O

O

L

S

Professional Learning
Incubator
A place where ideas and innovations find growth, development, and
instructional alignment.
A multifaceted approach to adult learning...
Immersion in Digital
Culture
The social web is
currently a part of the
lives of all children...
and most adults. This
approach will
purposefully immerse
adult learners in
modern, online 2-way
tools explicitly shifted
toward learning.

Sharing Instructional
Practices
Shining light on bright
spots across our
organization. Providing
opportunities to
troubleshoot.

...that incubates and reinforces best practices
Making PLT Work
Transparent
Grade-level teams
across the district.
Content level teams.
Cross functional teams.
Multidisciplinary
approaches. Support for
Encore programs.
Empowering
collaboration &
accountability
Thursday to Thursday.

Extending Professional
Learning

Capturing the rich
work of and with our
paid consultants.
Extending these
relationships forward.

A Culture of
Collaboration

Removing Barriers
Teaching today is an increasingly sophisticated
endeavor. More and more is expected from our staff
as we seek to provide the best for our children. The
ceiling we increasingly push against is time. The

Face to face sharing is the best form of
synchronous collaboration. Yet,
asynchronous learning can easily
evolve beyond the physical constraints
of time and place.
simple fact remains that our days will never number
in excess of 24 hours. In light of this, we must seek
to maximize our time in planning, highlighting and
sharing our bright spots and next practices.
Leaders at all levels know we can never afford to
schedule enough face to face time for professional
learning. The logistics aren’t there, and funds are
limited. Given this fact, we are led toward making

NKCS Professional Learning Incubator

We feel that an online incubator for professional
learning will allow us to better connect research to
planning and planning to practice. Ultimately, this
culture of collaboration will help to spread the best
of our work beyond the walls of our individual
classrooms and in a way that allows us to interact
when and where we work best.

Getting There
Startup for this is simple. The roadmap to
implementation is easily articulated. Soon we can
share practices, troubleshoot for alignment, coach
one another, document the powerful work of our
PLTs, and continue the engagement with our
consultants.
Together we can all become more effective in
meeting the needs of our children for today and into
the future.

1

bit.ly/nkcsdincubator

Opportunities to Coach
With teachers reflecting
throughout a common
network, our many
support teams gain
another venue for justin-time coaching.

the most effective use of the time we have. The
question becomes... how do we give teachers more
feedback from peers, Administrators, Instructional
Coordinators, Teaching & Learning Coaches, SALTs,
etc.? How do we do this in a way that honors the
time of all of the professionals involved, and yet do
so in a way that credits the ways in which we
increasingly interact in a digital world?

Providing opportunities to “soften” the walls of our
classrooms as we continue to grow into the 21st Century
The North Kansas City School District is vast with
respect to both geographical area and total number
of faculty. In order to turn challenges into assets,
some form of collaborative sandbox for instructional
alignment & innovation is needed. The Ning
platform is rich with opportunity for the sort of
local customization we need to assist staff in
building relationships with colleagues and coming
together around instructional issues and challenges.
These actions directly impact professional growth,
and ultimately, student performance and
empowerment.

Curriculum
Collaboration
Helping our
curriculum come to life
and find alignment
with both solid
instructional practice
and common, targeted
assessment
districtwide.
Curriculum becomes a
living, breathing entity.

N

K

C

S

C

H

O

O

L

S

Professional Learning
Incubator
A place where ideas and innovations ﬁnd growth, development, and
instructional alignment.
A multifaceted approach to adult learning...
Immersion in Digital
Culture
The social web is
currently a part of the
lives of all children...
and most adults. This
approach will
purposefully immerse
adult learners in
modern, online 2-way
tools explicitly shifted
toward learning.


Sharing Instructional
Practices
Shining light on bright
spots across our
organization. Providing
opportunities to
troubleshoot.

...that incubates and reinforces best practices
Making PLT Work
Transparent
Grade-level teams
across the district.
Content level teams.
Cross functional teams.
Multidisciplinary
approaches. Support for
Encore programs.
Empowering
collaboration &
accountability

Extending Professional
Learning

Capturing the rich
work of and with our
paid consultants.
Extending these
relationships forward.

Curriculum
Collaboration
Helping our
curriculum come to life
and ﬁnd alignment
with both solid
instructional practice
and common, targeted
assessment
districtwide.
Curriculum becomes a
living, breathing entity.

Opportunities to Coach
throughout a common
network, our many
support teams gain
another venue for justin-time coaching.

the most effective use of the time we have. The

1. Immersion in digital culture
The social web is currently a part
of the lives of all children... and
most adults. This approach will
purposefully immerse adult
learners in modern, online 2-way
tools explicitly shifted toward
learning.

“The more skilled a person is on a
dimension, like academia, art,
music, the more important they
consider that activity to be.”
-Pelham, 1991


2. sharing instructional
practices
Shining light on bright spots
across our organization.
Providing opportunities to
troubleshoot.

3. making plt work transparent
Grade-level teams across the
district. Content level teams. Cross
functional teams. Multidisciplinary
approaches. Support for Encore
programs. Empowering
collaboration & accountability

“Connecting people to people.
Over and over again, that’s what
lasts online. Folks thought it was
about technology, and it’s not.”

-Seth Godin

4. extending professional
learning
Capturing the rich work of and
with our paid consultants.
Extending these relationships
forward.

5. curriculum collaboration
Helping our curriculum come to
life and ﬁnd alignment with both
solid instructional practice and
common, targeted assessment
districtwide. Curriculum becomes
a living, breathing entity.

“The value in media is no longer
in sources but in ﬂows; when we
pool our cognitive surplus, it
creates value that doesn’t exist
when we operate in isolation.”
-Clay Shirky

6. OPPORTUNITIES TO COACH
throughout a common network,
our many support teams gain
another venue for just-in-time
coaching.

REMOVING
BARRIERS

24 HOUR DAYS

FUNDING FOR
PD

LOGISTICS FOR
F2F

ASYNCHRONOUS
HONORS TIME

BELIEF
VS.

ACTION

THE CHANGE PROCESS
IN SCHOOLS
Is it this?

Or is it this?

1.Professional development

1.Professional development

2.Change in belief

2.Change in practice

3.Change in practice

3.Change in achievement

4.Change in achievement

4.Change in belief

-Thomas Guskey

“It is easier to act your
way into a new way of
thinking than it is to
think your way into a
new way of acting.”
-Burchell & Robin, The Great Workplace

nkcsedu.ning.com

Thank you.

Incubator @ NKCS Introduction - Middle School Science

Recomendados

Recomendados

Más contenido relacionado

Más de North Kansas City Schools

Más de North Kansas City Schools (20)

Último

Último (20)

Incubator @ NKCS Introduction - Middle School Science