Collaboration + communication = more unified education

HAYDEN — Most teachers can't help but be proud when they see students improve.

It can really tug the heartstrings when a struggling student takes ownership of his or her learning and perseveres to meet educational goals.

Hayden Meadows Elementary School fifth grade teacher Meg Westrup shared the progress of one student who has made leaps and bounds since the start of the school year.

“She’s kind of my girl on fire right now," Westrup said during a Monday morning collaboration meeting, gesturing to pages within the student's data binder.

"Where she started here, she was in the red," Westrup said. "It makes me emotional because this kid’s awesome, but you can see where she started and where she’s at now. She’s just grown so much. I just had a conference with her dad and he is beside himself.”

This student has advanced in reading and math. Westrup said the student has been tenacious, constantly asking what she can do to improve.

“You can have a kid that comes in at a third grade level and they most definitely can finish at a fifth grade level,” Westrup said. “The biggest thing for us is the ownership the kids have. It’s student led. We just try and facilitate and support and allow them to run their learning. It’s been really nice and I think they have a lot of joy in that."

Every Monday morning, educators across the Coeur d'Alene School District team up with their grade level teaching partners for one hour as they plan their lessons for the week. They discuss learning metrics, expectations, how to challenge students who are ahead, how to help those who are trailing behind and best practices for engaging students in their own educational journeys.

“It’s really unifying as a team. We get to choose resources and make sure we’re all on the same page of what we’re teaching,” Hayden Meadows second grade teacher Ella Judd said. "We’re presenting a unified front: 'Everyone in second grade is going to be learning this at this time.'”

Although collaboration is a natural concept for academia, the Coeur d'Alene School District has increased its educator interconnectedness since it has taken on the Professional Learning Communities approach. This teaching model encourages educators to regularly meet to share expertise, evaluate student work and create lesson plans that improve their teaching skills as well as enhance student achievement. At their core, PLCs ask what is expected from students, how teachers will know the students have met those expectations, how educators will respond when some students do not reach those expectations and how learning will be enriched and extended for proficient students.

Hayden Meadows' second grade teachers use a three-tier evaluation and will switch students for three days. One teacher takes students who need extra help, one will take the students who are on par and one teacher will take the kids who are ahead, shaking up which teacher does what each time.

“When kids come back to our home-base rooms, we’re finding we’re seeing so much more when you’re working with those students and setting up beside them,” Judd said. "Something that was exciting for us was that our largest group this time was on level, which is a really cool feeling."

This gives students experiences with other teachers while creating a sense of unity across a grade level.

“I think our biggest shift, other than just looking at our kids in our room, we’re now looking at all of the kids within the grade level, and they’re all of our kids," Hayden Meadows fifth grade teacher Sara Bramblett said.

This approach also allows teachers to individualize learning more than in the past. They keep tabs on student success while the students do the same.

"All of the kids have a math notebook, which is something we really enjoy because then they can take ownership of what they’re learning," Bramblett said. "That’s the goal in fifth grade, so they know how to be accountable on their own, and keep track."

Hayden Meadows Elementary Principal Lisa Pica said this approach helps students be more aware of where they are in their learning processes.

“They’re setting their own goals,” she said. “We know exactly what each student needs, because we are looking at individual data and collaborating around that.”

It allows for a laser-focus on student learning and student needs as well, she said.

"We’re using data for every decision that we’re making in order to meet those student needs,” she said. “I don’t think people understand the depths that we go to meet students' needs."

    Second grade teachers Ella Judd, left, and Tracey Karst go over teaching strategies Monday morning during a staff collaboration hour at Hayden Meadows Elementary School.
  

    Kilee Wilson, left, discusses vocabulary lessons with teaching partners Meg Westrup, in blue, and Sara Bramblett during a Monday morning collaboration at Hayden Meadows.