Welcome back! Secondary Language Arts Department Head Meeting Leon County Schools Office of Curriculum Services Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Introductions Kathy Corder – Secondary Language Arts and Reading, SpringBoard, and Advanced Placement Cara Zatoris – Secondary Language Arts and Reading, Achieve 3000, Title I All

How our PLC Works Teachers Department Heads Curriculum Staff

Department Head as Liaison Curriculum staff balances teacher/school support with implementation of district, state, and national initiatives. The department head is the collective voice of his or her teachers and the courier of information from the district. Teachers in the trenches rely on the communicative nature of the curriculum staff-department head relationship.

Calendar of Important Dates Department Head Meetings: 8/20, 9/24, 10/22, 11/19, 1/14, 2/18, 3/25 and 5/6 Writes Upon Request Scoring for 8 th and 10 th Grade Language Arts Teachers: 8/30,10/7, and 12/9 Text Dependent Writing Follow-up for LA Teachers of 6 th, 7 th, and 9 th grades – 10/17

Our Focus for FCAT Writing Performance Alignment of CCSS Writing/Language Standards Modifications to Major Works Document Other Concerns?

Contact Information Needed for: Names of SpringBoard Teachers and Grade Designations Names of 8 th and 10 th grade ELA teachers Please get this information to me by the end of the day tomorrow.

Review of Major Works Alignment Project For implementation, each teacher is asked to teach one new work from the grade level list this year. During the 2 nd semester we will revisit our product to consider minor modifications and additions. To eliminate future problems with the teaching of works at multiple grades, please make sure that all of the works you want to protect at a grade level are in the Major Works document. If something is missing that you want included, please let me know as soon as possible. If you want to request an exception, bring your request to department head meeting for consideration. Notify me prior to the meeting and I will put it on the agenda.

CCSS Curriculum Units for Novels A team of teachers created resources for teachers to use for 11 of the major works. Resources can be accessed on the Sharepoint page. Please share the resources with your teachers. If you have a creator in your department, allow him or her to lead a training session on developing CCSS units. If you dont have a creator at your school, see Cara or Kathy about getting someone to lead a training at your school.

Sharing of Curriculum Units

Leon County Schools 2013 FCAT Writing Results (1)What is considered proficient for FCAT Writing? (2)What percentage of your students met proficiency? (3)What percentage of your students did not meet proficiency? (4)How does our district proficiency rate in middle school compare with the middle school state proficiency rate? (5)How does our district proficiency rate in high school compare with the high school state proficiency rate? (6)Where does Leon County Schools rank in the state with writing proficiency in middle school? (7)Where does Leon County Schools rank in the state with writing proficiency in high school?

Lets take a look at some of our papers. FCAT 2.0 Writing Rubric/Calibration Sets Analysis of Papers Distinguishing Between the 3s and the 4s Instruction Needed to Move our 3s to 4s

Questions for Schools to Discuss What can we do to help our students scoring 3.0 to meet the standards for a 4.0? Have we closely studied our 3.0 papers to help us develop an instructional plan? What action plan can we create to bring about results? What obstacles will we face? How will we overcome them?

District Goals for Schools with Less than 60% Proficiency* Teachers should regularly integrate elements of writing process into weekly lessons. At least once a month, students should participate in a 5-day writing workshop activity that includes prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing. (Traditional WUR prompt) Teachers participate in three district-sponsored training/scoring dates. *Title I schools have additional requirements.

District Goals for Schools with 60% Proficiency or Higher Teachers should strategically integrate elements of writing process instruction in weekly lessons. At least once every nine weeks, students should participate in a 5-day writing workshop activity that includes prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing. (Traditional WUR prompt) Teachers participate in three district-sponsored training/scoring dates.

Instructional Implications We must re-emphasize writing process instruction in our language arts classrooms. Feedback and revision are needed, particularly for our students scoring 3.0. A balance of creative, text-dependent, and prompt writing activities utilizing the writing process will help our 3s achieve success.

Thank you for your active and positive participation. Thank you!