Batesburg-Leesville Middle School’s digital learning coach Magee Ellis and 7th grade English teacher Kim Lawson share their journeys in personalizing student learning and sustaining this work. They speak to the power of vertical conversations regarding critical standards, building the capacity of teacher leaders, and connecting the dots between resources and initiatives.
Your district (Lexington 3) and schools have been engaged in the work of learning progressions. What was it about the culture of your school and district that made learning progressions seem like a good idea?
Magee: From the district perspective, building those were always on our radar. Our standards are so overwhelming and there were so many things within them. We wanted to have discussions about which ones were the priority. While we are still going to teach all of them, having some intentional conversations about which ones are priority, and which ones we are going to focus on was on the horizon.
We've been allowing teachers to explore which entry point was right with them, and Math and ELA are our focus areas, so we jumped in with those. COVID created space while we were home to have some virtual meetings and guidance from Knowledge Works to create those learning continua, pre-assessments and progressions. It got those discussions started. We were able to bring our teachers together systemwide to have vertical conversations that haven't been easy to do before. The virtual platform made a space to do that and being in COVID, we saw an even greater need to do this. We know with COVID, we need to prioritize what we are teaching to give the students what they need to progress from grade to grade.
Kim: As a classroom teacher, we work with 6th grade and plan with 8th grade and even with the English I teacher at the high school. The ELA standards do appear on surface level to be similar, but when you start digging into the indicators, there are slight changes from 6th grade to English I in high school. Having that vertical planning time allows us to hone in on which skills each grade level is focused on and how the next grade will build on it. By the time they reach the 8th grade, they should be at a level that sets them up for success when they do get to high school and begin taking the EOCs. It's been invaluable to us as classroom teachers and we don't feel as overwhelmed, thinking we have to do all of these things. Everybody is working together and that foundational knowledge is being laid in 6th grade and we can build upon it.
This is the first year I feel that even though it's a COVID year, my students are experts in our critical standards. So that's been refreshing.
Could you talk a little more about what that planning for progression process looks like?
Kim: Each grade level had to figure out what we deemed to be a critical standard. Initially, I remember everybody in every grade level had 10-12 critical standards because as a teacher you feel every standard is really important. Then after that first year of trying to implement and create pre-assessments and pathways, we realized we had too many and not all of them are critical. Many of our standards and indicators build on one another, like you have to summarize before you can analyze. At the beginning of the second year, we came together and decided we wanted to focus on expository text. So we unpacked that standard. Sixth grade lays the foundation skill of outlining an essay and 7th grade introduces crafting a thesis statement and using text evidence. I know for me as a teacher, I feel like I have a better understanding of what my indicators are asking me to do with my students. This is the first year I feel that even though it's a COVID year, my students are experts in our critical standards. So that's been refreshing.
Could you explain more about how you structured your time in order for you all to have time to vertically plan like this?
Kim: Most of our planning time happened prior to the school year starting. Our district and administration are phenomenal. I asked to work with 8th grade and English I. Our administration and the high school’s administration made a point to allow us time during that week when teachers return to get together and meet. Then throughout the school year, we connect via email. If we needed to meet again, I feel our administration would find coverage and allow us to meet. We have a great administration and a great support system.
Magee: When we were building those continua, the district was mindful that we created them during the COVID shutdown so they created space at the end of the year to have those conversations. To have those conversations about the topic that we have too many critical standards, and how does that look across grade levels and impact them? We had to make sure we are looking across the content, system-wide.
Magee, as a coach, what is your approach to scaling and spreading this work?
Magee: I think most of it comes from sharing what people like Kim and several other teachers around the school and district are doing. It shows this isn’t just coming from the top down or something we are telling you that you have to do in a specific way. Look at what the people around you are doing and how it looks different for everybody. They say, “The best PD is right next door,” and seeing that success is important. Kim teaches the same students as the person across the hall, so there are bits and pieces you can pull from each other.
It’s about continuing the conversation. Something I've learned is connecting the dots because we do have other things we use: Lucy Caulkins and being an AVID school, for example. We have a lot of resources out there and being mindful that personalized learning is our umbrella and these are resources that support us. We are not adopting a curriculum; we’re using resources to support personalizing learning for our students. We want to go back to tailoring the learning for our learners and these are the tools at our disposal to do that. You can still do Lucy and AVID; it's the way you go about it. And I'm trying to find entry points as I develop relationships with teachers and I can see the elements of PCBL (personalized competency-based learning) that they are already passionate about. We just had a teacher share that she tried an element and she saw success. So that is one of the best ways to scale and spread: when a teacher sees success in their room. If this worked, then maybe they can open their minds to it. This isn’t the next thing; this is what is best for our learners. This is why we are here.
Kim, what is the next step with the work you’re doing now?
Kim: Progressions for ELA and Math have been complete for the past 2 years now. So in ELA and Math, we are already working on pre-assessments and pathways. Having now had a year to implement, I'm starting to learn that most of my kids start on the same pathway at the emerging level. I find the personalization comes in my conferences with them. When I conference with my students at the beginning of the school year, the focus is on helping them understand how to use a rubric and what those scores mean for MAP and SC READY. It’s very time consuming, but it's well worth it because now at this point in the year, they understand why they are taking this test or why they are in this Panther Period (Panther Period is how we handle our MTSS). Reflecting on these pathways I created over the summer, I’m starting to understand students start on the same pathways but they are all going to arrive at the end at different points. I can tailor their pathway through those conferences. For example, we had a major writing assignment. We sat together and graded it and the students self assessed. I might notice some students are struggling with writing complex compound sentences and I can pull them for a mini-lesson. While another student may be struggling with how to write an introduction and include a thesis. So this is evolving. This doesn't fit into a nice neat pathway package, but I am still personalizing for my students.
When teachers hear the term “personalized learning,” they think it's just one more thing we have to do. But what we have to remember is it's those moments when you’re conferring with a small group or an individual, then you see that skill or deficit, and you say, “Hey, I want you to work on this.” That’s personalized learning; it's recognizing where our students need that extra support.
Want to hear more about the journey Kim and Magee are on as they personalized learning for students?
Listen to the podcast episode here: https://anchor.fm/personalizesc/episodes/Ep--27---The-Evolution-of-the-Journey-A-Chat-with-Maggie-and-Kim-e1c0ree