Verona Public Schools House Model HBW Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Verona Public Schools Verona Public Schools Mission Statement “The mission of the Verona Public Schools, the center of an engaged and supportive community, is to empower students to achieve their potential as active learners and productive citizens through rigorous curricula and meaningful, enriching experiences.” 2

Verona Public Schools What is a House?  “School within a School” = Small Learning Community  Belief that each student’s total educational experience will be enhanced:  Academic learning  Personal development  Group citizenship  Teachers and students are organized and grouped in interdisciplinary teams in order to provide and receive instruction and learning.  In these teams, teachers share the same students, the same schedule, and the responsibility to share in the planning of the major academic subjects, which students encounter daily. 3

Verona Public Schools “Teams” within each House  The following practices are key for Team Development:  Interdisciplinary group of teachers  English Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Special Education  Teachers will focus one subject  Greater depth of teaching, creativity, and differentiation = Individualized student instruction and improved student learning  Common planning time for teams of teachers to discuss social, emotional, and academic needs of the children  Close monitoring of academic progress and the development of social skills for children  Note: During common planning time, students are in PE/World Language or a Cycle/Elective class 4

Verona Public Schools “Teams” within each House  The following practices are key for Team Development:  Team goals and expectations are consistent across the team  Cooperative learning, critical thinking and problem solving as an instructional approach are the focus  Writing across the curriculum  Integrated Curriculum = Interdisciplinary Units  Updated, exploratory/cycle classes  Provides a sense of community to foster meaningful relationships among students and teachers  Improved communication among teachers, students, and parents 5

Verona Public Schools The Origin of Team Teaching  In a 1963, William M. Alexander — known as the “father of the American middle school” — was scheduled to discuss the structure of the junior high school at a conference at Cornell University.  Proposed the middle school concept where a team of three to five teachers would be assigned to 75 to 150 pupils organized either on a single-grade or multi-grade basis. 1  This recommendation of junior high school reform is where the idea of team teaching developed.  Team teaching is now used in all grade levels and across disciplines.  This approach has been shown to create bonding opportunities for students and to engage teachers in collaborative, interdisciplinary planning.  Team teaching requires sharing a group of students, a common planning time to develop curriculum and instruction in multiple content areas, the same schedule. 2 6

Verona Public Schools What does the Research Tell Us?  The Benefits of Team Teaching  Middle school is a transitional period between the traditional elementary structure (students have one teacher all day) and the high school setting (students have multiple classes/teachers on a daily basis).  Middle school students become overwhelmed when they have to change classes and have more than one teacher.  Research suggests that students who do not feel connected to peers and their teachers often have a higher rate of academic failure. 3  Creating a small learning community within a school provides a more intimate, personalized, and secure learning environment for the early adolescent. 7 “The formation of interdisciplinary teams has been proposed as one way of reducing student alienation and increasing students’ sense of membership… Teams provide students with a greater sense of identity, belonging, and support.” 4 Ideally, teams should consist of 120 or fewer students with a student to teacher ratio of 25:1. 5 The Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development suggests that the size of teams should be as small as possible depending on the content knowledge and strengths of the teachers. 6

Verona Public Schools What does the Research Tell Us?  The Importance of Planning Time in Team Teaching  Thomas Erb and Chris Stevenson (1999) contend that teams need collaborative planning times in their schedules. Research conducted through The Project on High Performance Learning Communities suggests that:  Team teachers should have the opportunity to meet four to five times per week for at least 45 minute s.  Furthermore, the results of this research study show a correlation between frequent common planning time and interaction with school support staff like counselors, specialists and administrators.  Common planning time among team teachers also improved teachers’ rates of coordination of student assignments, assessments, and feedback, and teachers engaged in this type of planning had more contact with parents.  Additionally, research suggests that teachers who actively participated in this frequent collaborative planning time exhibited positive attitudes towards the profession of teaching. 9 8

Verona Public Schools What Will the Houses Look Like at HBW?  Beginning in the fall of 2015, HBW will be split into two Houses, A and B.  Within each house, there will be one interdisciplinary team of teachers per grade level.  English Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Special Education  One Guidance Counselor  One Administrative Assistant  One Administrator 9

Verona Public Schools How Will the Teams be Created?  Brookdale, F.N. Brown, Forest, and Laning Incoming Grade 5 Students  Split into two balanced, heterogeneous teams using the following criteria:  Gender  Social, emotional, and academic needs  Current HBW Students  Split into two balanced, heterogeneous teams using the same criteria as above. 10

Verona Public Schools What can you expect from each Team?  Each team will have a “Team Coordinator”  Weekly communication of what is going on with each team  Friendly reminders  Academics  Socials  Provide structure for …  Extra help before school, during lunch, and after school  Make-up school work  Mentoring  Coordinated calendar of activities and assessments 11

Verona Public Schools Let’s take a look at the fifth grade teams!  Teams A and B will have similar student schedules  4 Core Courses + “1”  English Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies  Additional Math/ELA Class (meet every other day)  PE/World Language  Mandarin, French, Spanish  Common Grade Level Lunch  Cycles  Students will try each of these classes! 12 Daily Teacher Common Planning Time! An Extra 43 Minutes of Mathematics/ELA Instruction (every other day) Cycle Classes (students cross Houses) Art Advisory – Guidance Counselor Health Computer Science Music Technology, Engineering & Design (TED)

Verona Public Schools Let’s take a look at the seventh grade teams!  Team A and B will have similar student schedules  4 Core Courses  English Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies  PE/World Language  Mandarin, French, Spanish  Common Grade Level Lunch  Electives  Students will now have a choice! 13 Electives (Students pick their top two) Art Civics Computer Science Music Oceanography II Technology, Engineering & Design (TED) Daily Teacher Common Planning Time!

Verona Public Schools Let’s Review What We Have Learned Today! 14  “School within a School” = Small Learning Community  Belief that each student’s total educational experiences will be enhanced:  Academic learning  Personal development  Group citizenship  Teachers and students are organized and grouped in interdisciplinary teams in order to provide and receive instruction and learning.  In these teams, teachers share the same students, the same schedule, and the responsibility to share in the planning of the major academic subjects, which students encounter daily.

Verona Public Schools Questions? 15

Verona Public Schools Resources  Alexander, W. M. (1995). “The junior high school: A changing view.” Middle School Journal 26(3):  George, P., & Alexander, W. (1993). The exemplary middle school. (2nd ed.). New York: Holt, Reinhart and Winston. 2  Jenson, E. (1998). Teaching with the brain in mind. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. 3  Wallace, J. (2007). “Effects of interdisciplinary teaching team configuration upon the social bonding of middle school students.” Research in Middle Level Education. 30(5):  Erb T., & Stevenson, C. (1999). From faith to facts: Turning points in action— What difference does teaming make? Middle School Journal. 30(3), pp  Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development. (1989). Turning points: Preparing American youth for the 21st century. New York: Carnegie Corporation of New York. 6 16

Verona Public Schools Resources  Wallace, J. (2007), p  Wallace, J. (2007), p  Erb, T. & Stevenson, C. (1999). 9  Erb, T. & Stevenson, C. (1999). 10   