1. 2009-2010 Engaging 21 st Century Learners at Anderson Creek Primary School Tammy Wilson Literacy Coach

2. Who are the children we serve? Anderson Creek Primary School has a high population of students who receive Free/Reduced Lunch. Many live in poverty. Our Comprehensive Needs Assessment shows that African American students and the economically disadvantaged show lower academic achievement. This school has a highly transient population of students who move in and out of schools. There is a disproportionate amount of males who are classified as having Learning Disabilities. There is a high number of students served in Speech. Operations and Probability are the two weakest Math areas for our students. Students need more experience with Spreadsheets to be successful in Technology.

3. Why does our staff development plan change yearly? Our students and their needs drive our instruction and strategies. Our plan changes as we adopt more SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Operation Protocol) components and continue to implement them as part of Harnett County’s Initiative to increase all students’ learning. Bloom’s Taxonomy has been revised and we need to adjust our lessons and focus to accommodate the change. Every year we build upon students’ technology skills to make them globally competitive, 21st Century learners.

4. What is our plan for improving technology skills for students and teachers? Anderson Creek now has a Technology Facilitator. Yeah! Teachers will be trained on using the SmartBoards and develop interactive lessons that will be shared in a Document Folder for all staff members to use. Teachers who already know how to use these tools will support others. Teachers will be trained to use iLife for instruction. Teachers will incorporate technology into lesson planning and will demonstrate this through Snapshots and Observations. Student will be given ample opportunities to use the Technology tools we have. Teachers will be willing to learn with the students and become more comfortable using technology as a valuable way to build background and provide comprehensible input. Teachers will schedule time for students to work on projects in the computer lab.

5. Building Background and Comprehensible Input These are our SIOP components to focus on this year.

6. SIOP Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol Lesson Preparation Building Background Interactions Practice and Application Lesson Delivery Review and Assessment Comprehensible Input Strategies 8 Components

7. Building Background Features Link to Students’ Background Develop Key Vocabulary Link Past + New Learning Content LanguageSchool LanguageMultiple Meanings

8. Comprehensible Input Features Appropriate Speech Clear Explanation of Academic Tasks A Variety of Techniques Engaging and effective tasks Slow, simple, gestures… Mnemonics, Illustrations …

9. How will these two components be addressed throughout the year? Your literacy coach will be providing information at a Teacher’s Meeting on Sept. 14. Your literacy coach will meet with you during designated Professional Learning Communities and practical ideas will be shared and items will be made to use to build background information and make concepts comprehensible to students. The revised Bloom’s Taxonomy Questions and verbs will be a focus for planning.

10. What Components need to be maintained? Lesson Preparation – Utilize the Curriculum Mapping that was done last year. Continue to write Content and Language Objectives for Math in a student friendly manner. Lesson Delivery – Incorporate SIOP strategies to keep students actively engaged. Follow EXCEL Reading plans, display the Content and Language Objectives for these lessons.

11. Turn and Talk Find a partner. In your own words, explain what Anderson Creek’s Staff Development Plan is for the year. Then listen while your partner explains the plan. Work together with your partner to create a nonlinguistic representation of what the staff development’s purpose is. Remember that you can draw a picture, make a gesture, or act out a skit that reflects meaning.

12. What we do is for the children!