 Hold on there we go. The broadcast is now starting all attendees are in listen-only mode Okay, Sharon. We're ready for you. Okay, but I still have no slides up What is your screen showing I just have the go-to webinar picture Can any of the other presenters see the slide? Yeah, we can see the slides. I can see them Okay, there they are. They're there. They're there Okay, we're good. Good afternoon and welcome. I'm so happy you've joined us today I'm Sharon Ritchie director of first school and the facilitator for today's presentation This will be the first in a three-part series designed to help you think about the overall Components that frame effective pre-k3 reform efforts and to detail some of the ways that schools and districts have brought these ideas to life For today, we'll showcase first school highlighting how teachers in North Carolina have been working to improve the school Experiences of pre-k through third-grade African-american, Latino and low-income children our panelists Juliana Harris, Marcia Zirkin and Sarah Hopkins are teachers who've partnered with partnered with us over the past four years They work in districts that serve primarily minority and or minority populations and or those who live in poverty And they will talk with us about their efforts to transform their classrooms schools and districts on behalf of the children they serve They've asked themselves questions like how can I begin? What is possible and hopeful? What can I do to ensure successful and equitable school experiences for my students? They've worked to make individual and small-scale change and then make it more reflective of their school culture So I think it's going to be really enjoyable to listen to their very specific and on-the-ground experiences During the webinar you can type questions Into the question box on the lower right-hand side of your screen We'll be monitoring these questions across the presentations and give presenters a chance to respond at the end of the webinar We always like to know about our audiences So periodically throughout the webinar will be posting polling questions and immediately showing the results So you too will know who else is interested in this work and their thoughts on what's going on in the field Our first polling question is coming up now You know, it's interesting when you develop these questions is that any number of you could Not decide that this is the most greatest need in education today But they are the ones that we provided for you to think about because for us They're the the things that we're thinking about in the course of this webinar We're hoping that you're answering them so that we can see what What kinds of thoughts are going on in our audience? And Sharon will close the poll in three seconds. Okay, that's soon Here's our results. So money Money is always the biggest problem. And so it's no wonder that so many of you felt that that was an Issue we're going to talk a lot about motivation today So I'm wondering if we pose this question later if we would get a different answer Literacy support certainly a lot of people have been concentrating on that for a long time So maybe that felt not like it's not so important anymore and parent involvement always sort of falls right in that in that quarter range Next slide please First school to just give you a little bit of background is we've been working for about eight years and as I said initially, you know our major focus is The experiences of low-income and minority children in low-performing in high-poverty schools And we particularly pick that those words Improving the school experiences rather than improving the test scores We're talking about young children and we're talking about the minute-by-minute experiences that children have in school and what impact that has on them in terms of Whether they feel they belong there that they're valued there that they can do well there And so really thinking about what happens to kids all day long is is really the focus of much of what we do Really we've taken Seriously the idea of what seemlessness really means what it means Developmentally what it means culturally what it means in terms of whether things should stay the same Or whether they really do need to change and we'll be exploring some aspects of that as we moved on and I think our biggest effort was to move from Rhetoric into reality As you all well know and are probably subject to a lot is it's very not very easy But a lot easier to say what you should be doing then to do it To practice it to know what it looks like to get good professional development And you know we definitely started in the rhetoric area and really You know with the help of the teachers in our seven pilot schools in North Carolina and Michigan You know really came down to get as close to the ground as we possibly could So those experiences that we've had is what's really motivated reform next slide, please So this is our bottom line. This is what we've come to after eight years is The climate is really important that people have to believe that continuous improvement is Part of what you do That you have to collaborate with others and you have to be curious You have to be curious about your kids. You have to be curious about your teaching style You have to be curious about research and that that research should really guide instruction I often do presentations that I title What if we really used research to guide our practice and I you know and I think it's There's so much research out there And how do we make good decisions about what we're going to pick and what's going to really help us do the right thing and then the data should be used as a source of inquiry and To inform and monitor change So those are sort of our bottom lines and how we try and move forward next slide, please we saw so much of teachers who were depressed Apathetic giving up Felt beat up by the system felt beat up by data did not feel valued and So much of our work became to reinvigorate them as professionals and To really think about reinvigorating Professionalism and this is across the board. This isn't just teachers. This is administrators This is people who work in district offices is is that Way too much is put on the shoulders of educators and way too much blame Way too much work way too little money But all of it really just is so much of it is so important about how we treat people and so I think if they if teachers or anybody who's working together Think that they're working with them instead of on them that Things start to get better Next slide, please It became evident to us as we were trying to put together what K3 reform really looks like is that we really had to come to a couple of conclusions and one was that we could not be all things to all people and To was that less is more and we really had to get focused on how we could really support teachers So we really looked heavily into the literature particularly on on minority children and those who live in poverty and looked for instructional practices That were really found to support these populations of kids and in fact Or extremely detrimental when they were not there and as we found these Instructional practices they sort of logically fell out into these different cultures cultures of caring Competence and excellence and as the panelists present They're going to be getting at many of the things that you see here Next slide, please Our mage one of the most major things that we do is use a measure to Observe teachers in their classrooms, but I but for us data is totally transparent We don't keep it a secret. We don't come back to our offices and write peer-reviewed articles on them We sit and we show teachers their data We look at it at the classroom level at the grade level at the school level at the district level And it's all about thinking about how to make things better how to reflect on your practice And I think what's what's key to this is moving from a mindset of evaluation To one of inquiry and we really find that over time That teachers drop their guard and they start sharing their strengths and admitting admitting their challenges And that they start thriving in that kind of atmosphere instead of being afraid That they're doing something wrong that they'll be found out that they're not as good as somebody else But rather it is that notion of continuous improvement and that everybody is always working on doing something to make things better Next slide, please So the instrument we use is called the snapshot and it literally gives a minute-by-minute View of child experience across these different areas you look at there the activity settings They're in the contents that they're engaged in and the teaching approaches that are used We virtually send in our data collectors who sit in classrooms and every single minute record Whatever number of 41 variables are Available to the children at that particular minute and then they go on to the next minute and the next and the next and Next slide, please. I'll show you what one of the graphs looks like This is a graph that shows the activity settings that kids are involved in as they move between pre-k and second grade and Juliana's actually going to talk about this in more detail But a couple of things I'll point out is for example How very different the experiences of pre-k kids are Then k kids and that that kind of a shift is done quickly and on the backs of five year olds So how do you get teachers to really talk about how to make that a seamless Change for kids so that that adapting to new school settings is easier for kids and how do you think about? 45% of whole group time, which is 180 minutes and whether that's whether that's something that That is actually optimal for young children that 90 minutes of individual time in In kindergarten where that means that they're in charge of their own learning for 90 minutes a day So those are the kinds of conversations we can have around this the other big question here is There's that huge change between pre-k and k and then hardly any change at all as we move Move between k and second grade and so developmentally is that appropriate so I believe at this time before we get To Before we get to Juliana, we're going to have another polling question So what do student teachers need to support them? This is such a huge issue And it's certainly one that gets a lot of conversation But we don't see very much change and we you know regularly and I've been doing this for 35 years and Can to have the same discussions on how come we aren't doing a better job preparing our teachers So I'll be curious to see what you think is the thing that would help them the most And the poll will close in two seconds No, that's that doesn't surprise me Mentorships those it you know so much of what we do is about relationships. It's about developing trust and Having somebody you can go to Field experiences you have to know what you're doing. You have to be out there I was a teacher educator for K-12 For many many years and you know and really felt that classes on child development were Virtually non-existent In terms of anything that was helpful other than a survey course in every single developmental scientist that was out there, so Certainly that would be that's something that's important and peer support was not heavily valued in this group Next slide, please So our first presenter is Juliana Harris. She's a kindergarten teacher at East End Elementary And I think she'll bring to life some of the ideas. I just described. She's been involved in North Carolina Reflorm efforts for the past seven years She's a dynamic and powerful teacher who's on a quest not only to improve her own practice But the practice of everyone she can touch with her work and her ideas. Oh Do we have another polling question here or no no you're up to Juliana go ahead and get after me I like to begin by sharing that First school has been the most influential professional development endeavor that I participated in during my 16-year tenure as a kindergarten teacher When our school began to work with first school, we immediately recognized that this initiative was going to be very different from what we Typically encountered with professional development opportunities that we experienced at the school and district levels, especially in regards to the use of data We typically were asked to reflect upon child data But the data that we received through first school was data about our specific practices and emphasis on depth and in content areas as well as our effectiveness when interacting with children and In our work with first school, we were valued as a knowledgeable a knowledgeable professional and First school when we sat together they didn't provide direct answers, you know so so many times we wanted to say okay, so tell us how to fix it and What they did was they turned the turned the question back on us and asked us to think through our questions and to collaborate with Colleagues and use research and data to inform us and to make appropriate adjustments to improve our teaching and our children's learning opportunities Next slide, please So during our initial round of first school our district was in the midst of school and district transformation We were struggling with test scores and so the focus was on transforming and improve improving practice But that transformation included constant scrutiny and walk-throughs by School administration as well as central office and state level administration. There's an increased pressure a specified specified lesson plan template and an emphasis on Identical lesson plans not a plan that you could use just specifically for your classroom, but everybody's plans had to be the same And a set schedule that dictated the number of minutes and content blocks of time and This left teachers feeling less than valued for their knowledge built a tremendous amount of resentment and This force change was more of a one-size-fits-all approach and did not take into account the expertise of teachers in each classroom so These particular graphs that you're seeing are graphs from the snapshot and they they truly show what Transformation and classroom practice looks like this is my personal data and the first graph on the left shows what my classroom data was prior to first school and Then the second one shows after I had been part of first school for Three three years, I believe So The data research shared by first school provided opportunities for peer collaboration Data-driven discussions and true reflection to make informed decisions about how to improve teaching practices and better ensure success for all children Especially those that are most difficult to reach So what you see is a decrease from 44 percent of whole group time to 18 percent That is pretty significant when you think about How a typical day Occurs in a classroom There was an increase from 8 percent to 26 percent of in-choice time an increase from 0 percent to 12 percent in small group and Overall There was a major shift into a more well-balanced model that is more child-centered as opposed to a teacher center daily schedule Next slide, please So what the data is shown? Especially with what we refer to as the ally children which Sharon described as the African American Latino and low-income children was that there are much higher levels of distractibility during whole group instruction But during small group and choice time the rates of distractibility were dramatically lower And so I took that information and adjusted my daily schedule to better meet the needs of my children so that I could provide Powerful instruction and learning formats where children were most highly engaged So one of the ways that I did that and I break my literacy whole group into three small group sessions focusing on listening and reading comprehension phonics and vocabulary and I did this by utilizing my teacher assistant and my student intern as group leaders Then I also provided Opportunities for choice during literacy stations by offering a literacy contract where children could select the activity that they wanted to complete that day So they had some autonomy which in turn created better engagement and improve their motivation And then we transitioned immediately after their literacy contracts into developmental centers So this intentional adjustment in my schedule allowed me to increase my choice time From 45 minutes to an hour and a half to two hours depending on you know how the morning runs and what project we're focusing on and That's significant because 45 minutes of time does not really allow children to Reach a high level of mature play and Then children have that time to become engrossed in their place in areas and in their projects Next slide, please So prior to first school I knew that developmental centers was the time of day that best met the needs of children and It was a time when I had some of the most powerful interactions with children But I felt pressure to conform to a handed down schedule Which remained even after reading first came and went and I'm sure many of you are familiar with the reading first An effort to improve reading across the nation But with it came some very strict Policies and practices that You were not able to veer from After receiving my snapshot data and becoming more familiar with With the research on boys and children living in poverty I knew that developmental centers needed to be the crux of my day and everything else needed to Revolve around that the difficulty with that was that for so many kindergarten classrooms develop developmental place centers are not typically valued by Administrators and they become the target for elimination when the pressure is on to perform and test data takes precedence And another obstacle that kindergarten teachers often face is their inability to justify their time Developmental centers with research and data and to articulate it in a way that it resonates with administrators. I Decided however to make an informed decision based on my data and based on research To make developmental centers and choice time a priority in my classroom I had data and research to pack my decision I know that developmental centers supports the development of executive functions The ability to retain and use new information having children be able to make plans for their play Staying focused on projects and play for significant lengths of time to filter out Noise and other distractions that they work to be able to take turns and to think outside of the box Centers provides an opportunity for children to To support children as the teacher in perspective taking Thinking before that they act and it also allows me to assess authentically So that I can see what children have actually processed and to have what has become part of them With the skills that I taught The peer interaction through play allows Teachers the opportunity to support all language development and conflict resolution and it's an opportunity to Truly embrace those Situations where children are not getting along and to really use that teachable moment and And then this choice time also supports the integration of content and the ways that are meaningful for children It can be utilized in playful non-threatening Threatening ways as opposed to rote practice or a worksheet driven curricula Next slide, please Another piece of data that we received from first school showed the percent of the day that content was integrated And so the common core actually lends itself to integrating content areas and districts You'll find still find it so hard and They they feel that it's imperative to require specified blocks of time for reading and for math and Sometimes science and social studies although they tend to get eliminated quickly too in the elementary grades But this data allowed me to have a conversation with my Administrator to demonstrate that I am teaching reading or math or science during other times of the day as opposed to a single designated time Which is much more effective in helping children generalize information and see the connections in the content We were also provided with content specific graphs that show the percent of the day spent in literacy and math Science and social studies and it always exceeded the a lot of time required by the district because of integration Next slide, please And so the the principles of first school allow me to support and reach out to boys in a way that I've not Been able to prior to this work. I didn't understand why the boys were always moving and didn't understand why they couldn't sit In one year of my first school I was blessed with a class of 25 kindergartners seven of whom were African-American boys with very challenging behaviors very aggressive verbally and physically they were explosive and They were difficult to engage and it was nearly impossible to get them to write And so I found that they all had a keen interest in airplane and I used center time to begin a mini project with them We went to the library and checked out nonfiction books spent time reading together creating a list of questions They went out and surveyed staff members about who had ridden on a plane and who was afraid to fly and During this project there were high levels of engagement from these boys who were so difficult to engage and their confidence increased And their aggressive behaviors were minimal and the boys displayed lots of pro-social behaviors that had not been observed before and So what we what we did was we had the boys choose a specific plane that they wanted to Learn more about and as they researched about that plane. I use that as the tool to guide them And lead them into the writing process and so What you see on the screen is actually one of the boys Final pieces about a million-air heart. He was completely engrossed with her work with her and the type of plane that she drove and so he took that and Created his own writing piece and then went to the computer and had a final piece And you know the boys were able to share that at the end of the Of their project and it just provided a platform for them to really shine which was not what they had always experienced Next slide please and so again here you see with these pictures This is what happens during centers. You have Opportunities for children to really engage in deep and meaningful ways As a teacher I can go around and facilitate conversations because I know the content that's supposed to be taught and I can really work with those children and help them develop the skills that they need But it's a way that's appropriate for them and it's a way that is meaningful for them There's so much learning that is a bit we're able to That so much learning that's able to take place during that Center time and that choice time and that was really my main focus at the After my first round of data with first school was how do I help children stay engaged and how do I find that? optimal point during the day where I can really help them Learn the content that they need but in a way that makes sense for them Next slide please Okay, again here you see the integration of the content This was what I was referencing earlier You can see that you what you what you see here is the opportunity for me to use data To speak with my administrator about the specific Blocks of time so I was able to say to an administrator Yes, I'm supposed to do 120 minutes of literacy, but I'm integrating literacy throughout the day Or science throughout the day But the the graphs and the data that we received from first school totally allowed us to have in-depth concrete Conversations with administrators that we would not have been able to have before Next slide please Before I have a I think we have a polling question coming up. Okay. Could I close very quickly? Please? um so Inclosing first school provided opportunities for grade level school and district-wide conversations to take place around really specific areas Be it content be it transitions oral language that probably would not have taken place otherwise They gave us a new lens from which to view ourselves as teachers and our students and our practices teachers emerges Risk takers and were reinvigorated To try new ideas to become more cohesive as a collective group and no longer view data as a threat I actually had the opportunity the unique I'm in the unique position in that I was able to take part in a second round of first school because of a change in district and that has actually allowed me to Have some amazing conversations with my new school and district leadership and how to better serve students To enhance our professional development opportunities that are offered within the district and to shape administrative perception of what good teaching is When I moved in it looked as if I people thought I had three heads But over time and through lots of conversations I've been able to positively influence teachers through up through third grade in their practices and They've actually come down to visit my kindergarten classroom to gain more insight and how to better serve their boys Which are a large majority at our school On Monday, I'll be hosting administrators and a guy to the observation from across the district To help them better understand first school principals and to gain a better understanding of why developmental centers and choice are such critical Elements of the school day for children and our superintendent has even suggested that I invite a local state representative Into our classroom to help him gain a better understanding of the challenges our schools are facing and how we can face those challenging Challenges and ways that ensure success for our children At this time, I think we do have another polling question Thank you so much, Juliana We'll give everybody a few minutes or a few seconds actually to think about the climate of a classroom Juliana talked about the climate in so many different ways and what is it that really affects The climate of the community in which kids and teachers That they share during the course of the day. I wonder what else could be on that list Okay, teacher personality Absolutely, we are all Actors in our own ways as we get up in front of kids. It's such an important part Relationship between peers and then differentiated instructions. So that's interesting Curious, I won't get to know of course, but I'm curious You know what people are thinking about when they make that choice and then certainly a quarter of the group are Converts to the notion of choice Our second presenter is Marsha Zirkin so you could throw the her opening slide up, please She's a second grade teacher at Bogues Sound Elementary and as you'll be able to tell She brings an enthusiasm to the change process. It's infectious to all of those around her. I suspect she'll infect you too Hello I'm Marsha Zirkin and I would just like to begin with saying that first school has given me support like no other and They have given me strategies that are research based That are free that I can take back to my classroom and and show my peers about how awesome they are and Really make a difference in the classroom and my school. I And forever indebted to Dr. Chermitchie and her team at first school So let's go ahead and get started with the next slide Let's just say that I Stunk before first school came about I thought I was a great teacher but looking back. I did a lot of teaching and isolation There's a lot of sit-and-get and I didn't really like worksheets But it's really easy to get into the habit of just pulling it when you're planning just pulling our worksheet. Oh, that's really nice Let's do that. Let's try that And we had this sound unit that we thought was pretty solid and We had it together But when we really took a look at it, we had no hands-on activities with that Hardly and it was mostly worksheets So it really stunk after we you know got our data back and look at it if we did have anything hands-on it was crafts and not a lot of you know, student-led hands-on activities, so I Would like to share how this sound unit has transformed to be one of my most favorite times of year, so if you'll go ahead and switch over to the next slide, please first school really shared with us how to improve your culture of competence and culture of excellence and Prior first school our planning in second grade really involved us just taking our files Going to sit at a large table and we would just pull out Worksheets from the pile and it and it was really funny that looking back we would say oh, that's cute Oh, that's so cute. Oh, we like that one. Let's do that. It really didn't involve a lot of student discussions or you know, what how did that work out last year or you know What it was all what are we gonna do not one of the students gonna do and I like to call I like to refer to it as the File the pile So because I mean really we were just going to the filing cabinet and pulling things out and then if there was anything Nice or even remotely looking like it was student directed It was a it was cute or like something that really had nothing to do with curriculum It was just something that we could just put up on a bulletin board. So it was really garbage so There is an unspoken competition in our group too to see who can come up with the Prettiest thing and it was all, you know, ditto craftivities So we really needed to work to change the climate and the culture of our team So that we could best teach our children and we wanted our children to work together So we had the better work together and it all went back to that question of Who is doing the talking first school really would we're returned to that question all the time when they would help us reflect with our Practices who is doing the talking and if we're doing sit and get activities It's not the students. So we are planning changed from not What are the children gonna do? It is, you know, what do we want the children to discuss? What do we want the children to learn? Next slide please Referring back to the snapshot data my snapshot data included about 36% of the day in whole group and about 25% of the day in instructions and In transitions and that was telling me that I was spending a whole lot of time Transitioning from activities that could be used in other ways to where the children could be interacting with each other and Really working on that conversational piece with each other I Really wanted them to have more time in interacting. So we also had a minimal of 3% Vocabulary on my graph and my main style teaching was didactic Collaboration among peers was a measly 3% and that's pretty embarrassing First school data made me more mindful of how many subjects I was integrating at a time just like Juliana showed earlier, you know That curriculum integration is so important and I thought I was integrating it But once I saw my snapshot data, I could see that I could talk the talk without was not walking the wall Next slide please So our team approach really changed from What are the kids going to do to these questions? We knew that we had to make some changes and we had to Trans we had to go from cute to a curriculum and by giving them more time to collaborate with each other we would be increasing concentrations on Self-regulation and social emotional aspects of the student and cut down on our transitional time That was instructional time that we were losing So we decided to say how can we incorporate more subjects in the sound unit? and What would happen if we made instruments at home at the school and so home before It was a two week long project that the children did at home And what we found is it really was not effective. We felt like Either the children did not do it a third of the part a third of the children brought in their projects a Third of the children did not bring in any projects and then the other third they brought them in But they really didn't know how they did it or anything like that because it was done for them So we wanted to make this a more meaningful experience for the children Next slide, please So we took the time with our sound project and making instruments and said, okay How can we initiate quality conversations about sound between students? We wanted them talking. So what did we want them talking about? We had to decide to make it relevant to them to inspire them to want to discuss sound So we removed all of the worksheets all of them and that was awesome It was very liberating. You should do it sometimes So by making sound relevant to children we had We made some a few changes Next slide, please so during that time we check we have the We have we're very fortunate to have a high school next-door test. So every year for our sound unit Before the children make Instruments we go to the band next door and the children get to see the instruments and they even let them play them Even though it sounds awful They get to really see Pitch change and they get to see how the volume can be How the volume can be changed and then they have to go back to the classroom and in teams They have to choose an instrument to make on their own They completely come up with that it has it can be a string instrument a wind instrument a percussion instrument and They decide what it would take to make it Collect the materials whether they make posters around the school saying that we need toilet paper rolls or To get gathered in from home. They have to mass produce these instruments and Then create a marketing plan for how they are going to entice other second graders to buy their instruments So we took the sound the sound instrument I mean sound unit sorry and the economics unit and Morph them into one unit and it really made a better usage of our time and it connected the two topics together in a way That was just wonderful. So they didn't create a marketing plan. They didn't mark. They did branding They made advertisements some students and teams even came up with jingles after a Couple of weeks of our rooms looking like they were trashed with all kinds of recyclables and Awesome instruments. We then gathered in the library to make like a world market atmosphere and Students sold their instruments to other classes next slide please We found that this unit was way more valuable and way More Curriculum based then the one that we had Used in the past the children had a much deeper understanding of sound and economics and the relationship between those two topics By the end of the unit and it was real relevant It's whenever we talk to children now about sound they always Think about when we talk to them at second grade. They always go back to that. They're like we love market The social emotional lessons were unexpected gains we did not expect them to really build those relationships and You know those teamwork skills that You know that they had to do I mean, we just didn't think about that when we were planning it We really just wanted them to get to talking to each other and to get rid of the Ineffective instruction, but this was just an out of piece and it carried on into into the rest of the school year is awesome and then Core and essential standards were successfully integrated and we were teaching not one not two, but like three and four Different curriculum areas at a time and that just made us feel like the children were getting a much better bang for their For their buck from us It's awesome Now it is time for your next polling question. So this is actually this question is sort of a Lead in to our next presentation because we're going to be talking about parent involvement So this will be some insight for Sarah as she gets a chance to get going on hers in a minute or two This is an ongoing issue, I believe What is parent involvement and you know, how can we really? Start paying attention to who the parents are What they need instead of making those decisions and sort of putting it on top of them Pull in two seconds Okay, free food has gone away. That was I used to be the biggest one parent teacher Relationships and involvement focused on parent needs. So well, I personally love all the participants because that's what I'd say too It's really all about the relationships and and knowing on both sides what's needed. So I think that our next presenter Is going to talk about some of these in a very particular way Sarah Hopkins is a pre-k teacher at Bogue found elementary and what I admire most about Sarah is her combined ability To articulate her practice and the reason she does what she does and then actually be able to do it So we're going to hear from her next go ahead Sarah Thank You dr. Itchy and I was going to share that first schools was one of The first times and a long time that I had actually had the opportunity to think about and discuss my educational practices in a meaningful way So that compliment comes Well-taken and I appreciate it So if we can just go ahead we're going to jump in and go to the next slide So that we have time for questions at the end I think everybody in education at some point or another has had the thought or heard the thought That's written across this slide Just let me shut my door and let me do my job and right now in the environment that we are asking educators to be in in most situations it is one that is full of competition and Marsha mentioned it and Bogue found is a wonderful school that is called a family school And you definitely feel it here But even here there is that culture of competition and even when you look at policies that are coming down I know specifically about the ones that are being looked at here in North Carolina a lot of it leads to Competition within our education practices and from that competition leads a culture of isolation Because if I feel like I have something that is particularly mine and that I can't share it Then I start setting up walls and then also those walls lead to fear Because if I share something what if my friend down the hall does it better than me? And we start to set these walls up around ourselves So just as we had cultures of competency through first school and cultures of excellence I think the opposite holds true that we can hold up have a culture of competition a culture of isolation and culture of fear And that those things lead to breakdowns in communication Understanding and lack of emotional involvement not just between your peers But then it falls over into your students and then of course into your families Next slide please as a pre-k teacher in a public school setting is can be a very lonely rat Often we are alone the only one in the building and we don't quite fit We aren't quite easy and we aren't quite kindergarten And so where do you go to begin to fit in and not only that? But if you know anything about NC pre-k or more for we are in our room almost all day long And so you miss out on lunches with peers and even some of the meetings where other people are having staff development And so before I We started with first schools at Bogue Sound I was the only pre-k person in the building but I worked in isolation And I felt very alone and I was happy with my practice as a pre-k teacher But I also felt frustrated that my work was often seen as cute and then consequential Even from my kindergarten counterparts. I had heard. Oh, well, it must be nice to be in pre-k and be able to play all day And I knew I worked hard. I worked as hard as kindergarten as the work is hard as fifth grade I worked as hard as second grade to make my sure that my lessons were relevant But after we started the first school process We began to have meetings and not just grade level meetings But transitional meetings between all grade levels and we began to have conversations And when that happens and you're willing to open up your heart because really as Much as data can be just numbers when it comes to your practice It is your heart when we begin to open up our hearts each other and share our data and share our practice I was still the only pre-k person in the building But now I began to have relationships because I started to seek out advice on areas that I wanted to improve I started talking to people about my math practices and about how I wanted to change things in centers that I wanted to work on And because I was willing to open up and share my concerns I began to grow relationships with strong strong relationships with professionals and Began to talk about our practices and as we began to talk about our practices We began to search out research and to learn how we could change our practice and first schools played an integral part in that And for the first time in the long time, I felt like I was a valued part of the school Not just the pre-k person at the end of the hall who someone might remember to tell about the next meeting But that I was an important part that had the ability to share my ideas share my values and to begin to see change Next slide please so I Had the brilliant idea several a summer ago that We begin to look at professional that parent participation in our school One of the things that we had seen in our data was that family involvement was extremely low at Vogue sound and The conversation that I had with many teachers as I began to see that data was well It's always low. It doesn't matter what we do. It's low. It's always been low. It'll always be low So I worked with a small team And by small team, I mean three people me included So as myself a kindergarten teacher and actually administrator here at the sound And sat down and began to make up a plan of how we could begin to have parent days throughout the year That would Invite parents to come in and be a part of the teaching process The common core was just being rolled out in our county and so parents were having questions And it seemed like the perfect time to be able to say come join in this process we're learning about common core and Come learn it with us so a parent questionnaire was sent out and When we received it back we began to make more concrete plans next slide please It started very small and by very small. I mean two classes pre-k a pre-k my pre-k class and The kindergarten teacher that I was collaborating with we had a total of 40 participants Which actually was really good and we use the data collected from the questionnaire to set up the first time and One of the things that parents asked for was help with Disciplinary issues how do we deal with social emotional issues at home? And so we just shared with parents what we taught our kids in the classroom We talked to them about calming techniques and reading books about social emotional issues Setting up a place in the child's class home about that where they could go and calm down Next slide please But it began to grow so the second parent day we went from it just being two classes to all of pre-k and all of K Which doesn't seem like it would be that big of a deal, but in that conversation. We began having caught we have been to talk to The first grade and second grade team about what they were doing in math because that was the focus of our second parent involvement day And because we started that conversation about math the next parent involvement day our third parent involvement day Which was about literacy. I Had teachers coming to me saying we want to be a part of that now It was also in March the circuit that you heard from who is a very motivated teacher, but between pre-k, k first second and third grade we had an overwhelming participation and The fourth parent day we had every single grade level in our school participating and By the end of it over half of our parents had come in for participation And if any of you know the data on parent participation half of your school showing up throughout the year is amazing data And one thing I will want to say is that administrators played a key role in making this happen We still had teachers who were saying we don't want to do this parents don't show up It's not worth the time the hassle of preparation and we had administrator who kept saying What can I do to make it easier for you? And what can I do to take the blockages out of the way to make this work for you? And because of that we were able to have so much involvement next slide And just quickly I want to be I want to say that I am no longer The only expert in my room and this has come through that parent-teacher connection that we talked about on the last Pulling slide because I was willing to open up my classroom and share what I was learning with my families My families were willing to come in and share things with me So we had a pancakes prepared by a Sheff and that's the local chef in the community whose daughter was in our class and he came in in his full Guard and took special orders for every for every child in my classroom. We also had a Coast Guard Man who was willing to take us out and look at boats And I may not be able to answer every single question about a boat But he sure could and if he didn't he knew which guy to ask that was standing on that boat with us. We also had Hispanic family that was willing to join us and share with me about her culture around Christmas and share with me about Las Pesadas because of that I was able to come up with in conjunction with her to come up with a plan of how to share with the Children about Las Pesadas and their Christmas traditions in the Hispanic community Along with this information I was able to step out and share what I have learned about parent development Not only with my district level pre-k teachers, but also with several other meetings in the state And I've been able to see implementation throughout the district in pre-k of parent involvement happening And it's been very exciting to see this person who was closed the door and let me do my work be able to go from I don't I just want to be left alone to let me share Let me share with you what I'm doing Dr. Ritchie Okay, now I'm not on mute Okay, so All in all you've gotten to hear from three of our many first school teachers and How articulate they are and and the actual on-the-ground work that's being done We you go ahead and flick through all of the go ahead and put everything up there. Thank you There's three of them. Okay, so I mean it's basically our effort to Build pre-k through third-grade experts So, you know the three who talked today are such a good example of not only are they in their classrooms Doing this work, but they're out doing conferences They're writing chapters They're doing this webinar Because they have become champions of a cause that they feel is important for young kids And and that is our goal is to build these pre-k through third-grade experts As you've seen they're knowledgeable about effective teaching practices. They can align them with the state standards They know the research on developmental science and they certainly know more than they were able to tell you in our short time today and that they can reach out to others and Give support there and so that's our effort in first school is to develop more and more people who are just like Sarah and Marsha and Juliana, so I really appreciate their efforts Connor I Got some questions were sent to me. Did you have any to send any more to send to me? Looking at my email waiting to see All right. Well, I'm going to start with some of the ones that came my way and One of the questions that came through Was I think I'll start with you Juliana What impact have you had? On others in your school and in your district you sort of started to answer that question But a little more detail on some of those efforts So When I moved to the new school district Where first school was not originally in place? I walked into a school that There was very little small group instruction There were no centers for kindergarten there were two pre-k teachers who Were extremely gifted But there was no collaboration between pre-k and kindergarten and so as I began to do the work that I did in my classroom, I was able to Share with Folks in my grade level It was really funny to watch people walk by even as I was sitting at the classroom like what are you doing? And my teacher assistant who was assigned to me said you do realize you're teaching kindergarten not pre-k So that was that was a real eye-opener for me that I had a lot of work to do in that school I was fortunate to have an administrator who was willing to learn and ready to learn Spend a lot of time in my classroom trying to learn But it you know, it takes time Takes time to again build relationships with people you need supportive administrators You know when you have an administrator who backs you The mileage comes a lot easier and a lot faster And then you know with the the relationship with with pre-k, you know, just like Sarah said earlier It is so important to to have that Opportunity that was one of the things that we worked on at my in my previous district was you know really trying to enhance that Collaboration between pre-k and kindergarten and we were very successful. They are and have been in the in my new district They're more sharing No, that's that was that was great Um, it made brought something to mind for me is of course, you know we're constantly learning lessons and refining and modifying the work that we're doing and I you know, we started our work in seven individual schools throughout North Carolina and Michigan and as we moved into the next phase of our work We moved to a district level and we moved to actually asking districts to apply and to sign memorandums of agreement that they would Back what we were doing that so that such that in our work in Martin and Bertie counties now Is that the central office staff the superintendents? Are obliged to come to all of our professional development That they have to be a part of it that they have to voice support Because we really discovered without the principles without the central office staff That we could not have the kind of impact that we wanted to have so that was one of the lessons that we learned Sarah or Marsha do you have anything to add on that question? Nope. All right. I think for me. This is Sarah. Okay. I think for me. I Was just gonna say and I'll be quick sharing For me Being able to talk to the pre-k teachers in the county has been fantastic, but also looking at working with some of the child care facilities in the county within our district has also been one of my focuses because of first school and helping bridge that gap as well and Being able to meet with them and the partnership for children and share what I'm learning and Be able to step into their classrooms But also have them step into mine and be able to share and for them to see what I mean when I talk about Integrating curriculum or how to have a plan When you're sitting down with that story to meet the needs of the children that are sitting in front of you And how to give those boys some choice Has been really helpful. Thanks Sarah Marsha a question came across for you Somebody wants to know who develops the curriculum for the integrated units Well, of course, who use the Common Core curriculum and essential standards as a framework and then We collaborate This particular unit was created by the second grade teachers at my school And then we shared it with the entire district and it is used district-wide now question for Juliana Said could you point me to some of the research that supports? Developmental centers in kindergarten. I think she's looking for something to read. Where could you head her? Um Actually, if you would visit the office of early learning For North Carolina, there is an entire page of resources that provides some insight into Developmentally appropriate practices There's a Document called guide for the early years that North Carolina has produced that is a really powerful document Crisis in the kindergarten is another one That I have used a lot in talking with administrators either Phillips and Amy scrimsey or the head of of a Four-year professional development in North Carolina called the power of K which was an incredible project that supported Best practices in kindergarten and they just wrote a book. Do you remember do you know the name of the book Juliana? I? Can look it up very quickly Okay, it's an NYC Publication by Eva Phillips and Amy scrimsey if she doesn't come up with it So there will certainly be a lot in that and they did that With support from Subaru to camp. So I think that it's an it's an excellent book Um, let's see. There's a question that's sort of for me. I think and it says Can you say more about the snapshot? So the snapshot at this point in time has been something that we have administered through the Through the university and you know, it's been part of grant proposals and it's you know it involves hiring data collectors and training and It's sort of a Having providing we provide all the data back to the schools But because it was the it's becoming so unwieldy and so costly For schools and districts to do that and we have so much interest is That I myself as the lead author of the snapshot along with my three co-authors Are in the process of actually putting together a company to publish the snapshot and it will be a web application so that districts can buy it and we will provide the training and Help you know how to do the feedback in the kinds of ways that the teachers have talked about that really make them feel supported and so we're anticipating having that by fall of this year and I think that it will allow Like at this point in time. It's a full-day observation But we know that that's a little unwieldy, you know when you're not researchers But that you can really concentrate on well what happens in whole group time in first grade I'd really like to look at our new math curriculum. What's happening for black boys? You know that you can you can pose your own questions and get Get much more targeted data. So So we're working on that and hoping that it will be something that schools and schools find useful Did you find it Juliana? I did it's called Basics of developmentally appropriate practice and introduction for teachers of kindergartners And that again is by Amy scrimsey and Eva Phillips And there's another question for me or am I planning on tracking the programs effects longitudinally? so our first Our first group of seven schools We we followed them for three years and looked at the changes that happened over time with the teachers and You know sort of our biggest effect was the addition of Across the seven schools the across each classroom in seven schools Essentially what amounted to an additional 36 days of instruction just because the amount of time That teachers spent interacting with kids changed that much So that was one of our important findings. We're working in a Project in Lansing, Michigan right now which which is the entire school district pre-k through 12th grade is Engaged in this approach and the pre-k through third grade classrooms all have snapshot data and The fourth through 12th grade classrooms all have class data And we just completed time to data which was across a huge district So we're talking 19 schools where we had nowhere near the contact that we had with our schools here in in in our pilot work and that Just in that first year across the district. They added Two hours of literacy a week and that showed up primarily in oral language development and vocabulary They added two and a half hours of math instruction a week which showed up in what we call algebra But it's the proxy for higher-order thinking and in in the use of numbers and that we saw a Complete Switch from where we they dropped 25 minutes a day of didactic instruction and Exchanged it for 25 minutes of scaffolded instruction or being more responsive to kids asking open-ended questions Finding out what they know Listening to them as they solve problems. So those were those are some of the the ways that we That we follow we are just getting time to data in Martin and Bertie counties, which is our race to the top work right now, so I hope that answers your question and All right, let's see if we have one more and then I think we will wrap up a Couple of you have alluded to this and I'll let you decide who you want But it's several people are wondering. How do we get administrators on board? So Whoever wants to jump in there Somebody must I can start You know again, I think it's being able to talk the language of administrators and right now their language is Test data numbers amount of time on task and you know really trying trying to figure out a way to Collect data, I mean you you know you can design Your own sort of mini assessments and things in the clap in your classroom But I really think it goes down to being able to talk the talk and and I think Making sure that Administrators are spending quality time in classrooms. They have to be really familiar With what's happening in classrooms Or not happening in classrooms to be fully engaged But I think when you can talk the language of as Sharon was saying earlier You know adding X number of minutes per week or hours per week In certain content areas, you know, that's pretty powerful All right, and I know that there's there's lots of other answers, but I think we're about ready to wrap up Thank you so much for joining us today. We hope this has been helpful and motivating We are having additional webinars. We have two more in this series and they'll be announced soon We'll post it on our pre-kate or our national pre-kate third website and These are our contacts. So that's all of us. So if you have more specific questions, you'll know where to find us and We'd appreciate it if you'd ask answer the last polling question because it lets us know whether this was helpful Because we're always trying to make sure that we're providing what people need. I surely appreciate everybody's Participation and surely thank the teachers for your very hard work Wow