THE PROCESS
Much like a strong piece of writing Gwen starts with the big picture when she first starts working with a school. Once she has collected data, become familiar with the school’s background and current state, she is able to narrow her focus and make recommendations. From there Gwen begins to design and implement professional development that is customized and focused. This focus allows the school to make changes and improvements that begin to affect more and more student outcomes, thus widening the spectrum of impact and changing the big picture.
Writing Program Review:
The writing program review is the first step in the data collection phase and is best conducted in the spring of a school year. Data about a school’s current writing expectations, instructional methodology, and language used when discussing writing is gathered through a series of surveys and meetings, from all content areas. Information regarding teacher expertise and level of confidence with Common Core Standards in the strands of Writing and Language will also be gathered. Data is also gathered from the area high schools that the school feeds into in order to determine what type of writing students should be prepared for as they enter high school.
All School Writing Assessment:
In the fall students at the school will take part in a Common Core aligned all school writing assessment. Staff will work together in two sessions to score the assessment and record the data. This data will be used to inform recommendations and professional development.
Report:
The data gathered from the audit and all school writing assessment is evaluated looking for repetitions, omissions and Common Core alignments. Gwen will provide a comprehensive report that looks at the data in a variety of ways. The report provides a section which provides recommendations for next steps and how to address any issues that were identified.
Professional Development Plan:
Once the report has been presented to the staff, Gwen will meet with the administration and lead teachers to come up with a plan for further professional development. This plan could involve any or all of the following; customized workshops, coaching of specific teams or teachers, as well as developing a scope and sequence that spans grade levels and content areas with lead teachers. Gwen works with the leadership team to develop a calendar that would lay out the timing of the professional development plan. This plan could extend over several months or years.
Customized Workshops:
Each workshop is tailored to a school's needs and culture. Through the use of a professional learning community model, Gwen will facilitate relevant and timely sessions that have immediate impact on the writing program at the school.
More Information about Customized Workshops
Coaching:
Gwen’s major focus in working with schools is to help teachers and teams become the best practitioners possible in order to improve student achievement. Hiring Gwen as a coach is one of the most powerful ways to impact teacher success and student learning. Gwen will meet with individual teachers or teams and set specific goals for specific timeframes. During this coaching, Gwen will help develop effective units of study for writing as well as model any methodologies needed. Participants will work with Gwen to align units to Common Core as well as develop resources that will support their efforts throughout the year in all content areas. People who have worked with Gwen in this capacity have had this to say:
“I didn’t really like to teach writing. It was probably the last of my go-to things, you know, like, okay, I have to teach writing now. But Gwen has made it more interesting for me and more like, ‘Oh, yeah. I can, I can do this’ So she’s changed my attitude.” (Peggy Aman, 3rd grade teacher)
“Gwen will do what she says she’s going to do. She will deliver what she says she’s going to deliver. She approaches everyone that she interacts with very professionally, and she will work as hard as she’s asking the teachers to work. In the classroom, in front of the kids, in front of colleagues, or in small groups is a high level of professionalism, and a high level of preparation.” (Meg Wolfe, Learning Resource Specialist)
“Gwen would meet with the teams on a weekly basis, or more often if they desired, and she didn’t let go of that. She always followed through. She always made sure the teams were aware of when the meeting date was coming, what to bring to the meeting, and how her work and the work of the committee or the work of the team would advance student learning. She did all the fieldwork, got the team together, provided professional development, went into the classrooms, worked with the teachers and the students on the writing programs, and then looked at that data to see how did that impact student learning. That’s been tremendous. We’ve had her for three years, and we’ve seen our writing program just go through the roof.” (Rick Boyle, Principal)
Resource Development:
As the school year progresses schools may desire to have standardized rubrics, benchmark assessments, and other resources developed. Working with the school, Gwen develops these resources and trains teachers on their use.
End of Year Assessment:
At the end of the year, Gwen will conduct an assessment of how effective the professional development plan has been. This will include surveys, meetings and an end of year all school writing assessment to measure student growth.