“Let’s label our room!” “I accomplished my writing goal!
” are just two examples of the accountable talk that were overheard during the English Language Arts Instructional Rounds/Classroom Visits this week. Kristy Nadler and Mark Stanford, Elementary and Secondary Literacy Coaches, and many teacher leaders helped plan and facilitate ELA Instructional Rounds across K-12. The goal of this set of ELA Instructional Rounds was to capture evidence of how students are engaged in differentiated critical reading and writing discussions and activities. Teacher leader teams visited schools concentrating on the transition grades at the elementary, middle, and high school level.
During the visits, teachers observed students reading and writing across grade levels with increasing independence. Kindergarten students sang phonics songs and helped “Mabel” label their classroom with long words. Second grade students set goals for writers workshop and shared their excitement as they accomplished goals. Sixth grade students were excited as they received the book club books they chose and ordered. At the high school, students were observed enthusiastically acting out Romeo and Juliet.
After rounds, the ELA leadership team charted the data that was collected during the visit and analyzed it for common themes, language, and resources. Small groups to support students’ needs, conferencing, charts to support learning, student choice and voice were common themes across the grades. Next steps to use the data to inform best instructional practices and a plan for the next ELA Leadership Team meeting was outlined.
