Activity: Develop a series of PD sessions for teachers regarding increasing the level of

rigor in their curriculum and instructional practices.

Description: Working with the math and literacy coaches, we worked with individual
grade levels to make sure that the level of rigor was kept high and that all students were
being challenged at their own level throughout the day and in all subject areas.
What went well
!eachers use information that is gathered from various assessments such as the "ountas
and Pinnell #enchmark Data, the $%D& district #enchmark Assessments, !%AP, etc. to
determine what guided reading group or skills group a child will be placed in. 'nce the
groupings have been determined, the teacher can focus on providing a rigorous
curriculum to that particular group and challenge that group so that each student shows
growth. !eachers at &ast #rainerd truly understand that you meet a child at his or her
instructional level and you push him or her from that level. Another thing that went very
well is that teachers are using materials that have been given to them. !eachers were
trained on how to use %ognos. %ognos is a database that contains information that can
help teachers move their bubble kids to the ne(t level and teachers were using it. "inally,
teachers were using best practices across the curriculum to help provide a rigorous
curriculum. We provided trainings on the habits of mind and interaction and the teachers
used these habits, along with other strategies such as mental math, etc. to make their
instruction more rigorous.
What did not
)ome teachers claimed that they did not remember how to use %ognos. )everal teachers
continue to use traditional forms of teaching that does not entail the same amount of rigor
that we would like to see from our teachers at &#&. We also have a couple of grade
levels that are not working together to create the rigorous curriculum that we e(pect.
*iven the chance to do it again, how would you do it better
*rade levels were never e(pected to have evidence of how they were making their
curriculum more rigorous. As + continue to work with grade levels in the future, + will
have them keep documentation to show the growth in their planning and their
e(pectations. + think that this reflection will help them grow as a teacher because their
e(pectations will be higher and they will look for more from their students. +t will also
be a lot easier to sit down and have professional discussions with grade levels if you have
this kind of documentation. + also think it is important for grade levels to set goals for
their students ,e.g., smart goals-. !hey need to look at their curriculum, determine how
rigorous they would like to make it, and create goals to reflect that desire.