Digital Learning Environments

Summer 2011

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COLLABORATION IS THE KEY

By Andrew Camarda
Coordinator of Elementary Instruction and School Support

What I have routinely observed is that great teaching rarely happens in isolation. Rather, instant dividends are recognized when a team of teachers comes together to plan rigorous instruction.

To ensure a challenging curriculum for all learners, collaborative teams meet across Fairfax County to determine the best methods of carrying out the rich program of studies.

Teams identify instructional challenges based on prior and current data as well as teachers’ anecdotal experiences, asking themselves “where do we need to get better?”

With these multiple points of data, they collaboratively craft differentiated lessons that provide the necessary scaffolding for any child to be successful.

To do so, teams further unpack the standard in which they want to improve upon to get a clear sense of what a child needs to learn and be able to do. They then refer to a variety of resources on eCART and rely on each others’ expertise to enrich the collective repertoire of strategies.

Teams also develop a common assessment to identify the results of their teaching and to make instructional adjustments as necessary. What do we notice when teachers engage in this continual cycle of improvement?

Students are able to achieve at much greater heights and often not only meet the bar, but bust right through it. The teachers develop a strong sense of efficacy and continually grow professionally based on internal job-embedded experiences that become the fabric of their teaching.

As we work with teachers across our district, providing them curriculum and instructional support, we ask ourselves, “How can we support the collaborative learning process” so teams of teachers can effectively assimilate new content and instructional strategies?

We know that our department’s mission to ensure all students experience a rigorous curriculum cannot be carried out without the dynamic interplay of a collaborative learning team.

Andy Camarda is currently the coordinator of Elementary Instruction and School Support for Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS). In this position, he coordinates the curriculum and programs across all subject areas for grades PreK-6. Camarda began his career in 1990 as a 6th grade teacher at Terraset Elementary in Reston. He taught 5th and 6th grade before becoming a language arts curriculum resource teacher in 1998. He is a past-president of the Greater Washing Reading Council, served on the leadership board of the Fairfax Association of Elementary School Principals and frequently presents on topics related to effective school leadership, strengthening professional learning communities, and collaborative efforts to improve instructional best practices in every classroom. Send him an email at: acamarda@fcps.edu.

How We Can Work Together to Make a Difference

By Craig Herring
Coordinator of Secondary Instruction and School Support

Students arrive at school with different backgrounds, knowledge, interests, and learning styles. Understandably then, these differences can be challenging for teachers as they strive to enable all students to master the content of each subject as defined by the FCPS Program of Studies (POS).

In schools, collaborative teams have discovered the power of working together to meet this challenge head on.

Not only can collaborative teams collectively unpack standards to understand what students need to know, understand, and be able to do, and to create common assessments to measure student progress—they can also design lesson plans that differentiate the learning for students.

Differentiation Is the Key to Success

Undeniably, instruction that meets the needs of each student is best achieved through differentiation. This philosophy of teaching maximizes student growth, learning, and success because:

1. It is focused on the learner and responds to students’ academic, social, and emotional needs.

2. It is proactive and requires purposeful and intentional planning.

3. It is rooted in ongoing assessment and adjustment of high-quality, standards-based instruction according to readiness, interest, and/or learning profile.

4. And, it is guided by the use of respectful tasks.

Unintended Consequences

An essential component of differentiation is the guarantee of a high-quality curriculum. However, an unfortunate side effect of the current environment of accountability, standards, and high-stakes testing is for schools and teachers to focus solely on the acquisition of knowledge (know) and practice of skills (do).

In reality, it is more important for teachers to identify the big ideas and teach for the understanding and internalization of these ideas (understand).

Big ideas are core concepts, principles, or theories that teachers identify because they have value beyond the classroom (Wiggins & McTighe, 1998).

In the differentiated classroom, the importance of knowledge is not ignored. In order for students to gain enduring understanding, they must easily access key vocabulary, definitions, dates, places, and people.

Similarly, the acquisition of skills allows students to demonstrate that they understand the big ideas.

When collaborative teams plan curricular units that are focused around important transferable ideas, or understandings, it sets the stage for high-quality differentiation.

Craig Herring is the coordinator of Secondary Instruction and School Support for FCPS for grades 7-12. His began his career as a math teacher in 1994, and became the mathematics curriculum specialist for FCPS in 2005. He since has co-authored an Algebra I SOL manual for Barron’s Educational Publishers and is an adjunct professor for the University of Virginia, School of Continuing & Professional Studies. Herring has a master’s degree in Teaching from the University of Virginia, a master’s in K-12 Educational Leadership from George Mason University, and frequently presents on differentiation, instructional best practices, and the effective use of data. Learn more: CAHerring@fcps.edu.

Next: What Do FCPS Students Think About Our Rigor?

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inside is an online publication published by the Fairfax County Public Schools Instructional Services Department. Its mission is to share thoughts and ideas about curriculum and assessment that are fundamental to the good work FCPS principals and teachers are doing with students.

Questions and comments are welcome and should be directed to Peter Noonan: peter.noonan@fcps.edu / 571-423-4510.