D.C. Everest Senior High School Staff Update
Weekly Happenings
Good luck this week to Sara Mayer, Katelin Hall, Nevaeh Mathwich, Makenna Zoesch, and Marisol Swenson as they get ready to compete at the State Swim meet!
Congratulations to Superintendent, Dr. Gilmore on her recent Athena Leadership award! Dr. Gilmore was recognized for having achieved the highest level of professional excellence, contributing time and energy to improve the quality of life for others in the community, and actively assisting others, particularly women, in realizing their full leadership potential. A link to the Wausau pilot article here.
A few pictures from the week
Curriculum and Instruction
How to Make the Most of Student Feedback During Distance Learning
It’s harder to read a class when students are learning at home, so teachers need to explicitly ask for feedback.
By Zachary Herrmann
November 6, 2020
As teachers, we constantly look for clues that can help us understand the impact of our decisions. Are we doing things that are working? How do we know?
Do students appear engaged? What sense are students making? Who is participating, and who isn’t? Should I step in or let this discussion go a bit longer? We rely on data to help us answer these questions.
When I’m teaching in a physical classroom, the data seems rich and abundant. I look for patterns in participation and body language. I look for nonverbal cues that give me some sense of what students might be thinking. I listen for small bits of conversations that help me visualize a picture of what is going on. All of this data is invaluable to me because it helps inform my next steps.
This rich, analog data stream from my in-person classroom has turned into a multichannel digital data stream in my virtual classroom. The data looks different, and I’m much less experienced at interpreting it.
I’m left with questions for which I have little data to support any answers. Is the student on my computer screen with a confused and concerned look on their face lost in what we’re discussing, or are they reading the news? Why did that student just turn off their video? Is any of this working?
In my efforts to get more visibility into what is actually happening in my virtual classroom, I created new routines for gathering, analyzing, and using feedback.
5 IDEAS FOR USING FEEDBACK WELL THIS YEAR
1. Create feedback routines: In-person teaching gave me plenty of informal ways to gather data and feedback. I have to be far more intentional in the virtual setting. I now use a feedback form with four questions. The first section is focused on me, the teacher: “What is one thing you found helpful?” and “What is one thing that could be improved?” The second section is focused on them, my students: “What is one thing you are proud of from this class?” and “What is one thing you'd like to improve on?”
Since I created this feedback form, I’ve gathered thousands of data points that help me better understand my own teaching, as well as my students’ learning.
2. Interpret feedback thoughtfully: I immediately found the feedback illuminating. Overwhelmingly, my students appreciated the breakout rooms, wanted clearer directions for the group activities and needed more organization with all of the digital resources and links I referenced during class. If I hadn’t explicitly asked my students for feedback, I likely would have never considered these issues.
However, students didn’t agree on everything. Some students indicated that they loved how I incorporated the chat box into our activities, while others felt overwhelmed by it. Some felt that we were moving too fast; others felt that some of the activities dragged on too long. This feedback was also helpful, as it underscored the reality that different students were experiencing my class in different ways.
3. Learn from students’ experiences: Although I created the feedback form to learn more about how my students were experiencing my teaching, there was an additional positive benefit that I hadn’t anticipated. Some students described the approaches their other teachers were using. This surfaced a new favorite question for me to ask my students: “Is there something one of your teachers is doing that you wished all of your teachers were doing?”
Students are the ones who are actually experiencing various approaches across teachers and virtual classrooms. They are uniquely positioned to share what is working and what is not.
4. Share with students what you’re learning: I was explicit with my students about how much I valued their feedback and shared the themes that emerged.
I tried to explicitly connect instructional decisions I was making in the moment to the feedback that I had received. When my actions appeared to contradict a theme from the feedback, I’d justify why I was doing what I was doing. In this way, I was hoping to build trust with my students that I was listening to their feedback so that they would feel encouraged to continue to provide me with thoughtful ideas on how to improve the class.
5. Learn to love feedback: Feedback can be difficult to hear, particularly when it contradicts how we see ourselves.
Sheila Heen and Douglas Stone suggest that there are three “feedback triggers” that can be activated when we receive feedback: the truth trigger (dealing with the substance of the feedback and whether we think it is true), the relationship trigger (relating to the relationship we have with the person giving us the feedback), and the identity trigger (feedback that might implicate aspects of how we see ourselves).
I have experienced each of these triggers. For example, if I received feedback that was factually inaccurate (e.g., “You never shared the link with us”) or feedback that threatened an aspect of how I see myself (e.g., feedback that called into question my thoughtfulness in planning), I understood why I was feeling the way I was. I was able to identify and label the feedback trigger, which helped create space for me to actually hear the feedback and move forward, rather than trying to discredit the feedback or dwelling on it.
Students’ feedback dramatically accelerated my learning. Reminding myself that being an educator requires me to constantly reflect and grow allowed me to reframe my relationship with feedback.
I look forward to the day when I return to in-person teaching. I look forward to reacquainting myself with the rich data I get when I take a lap around a real physical classroom, picking up a thousand subtle cues. However, I also look forward to bringing a more intentional approach to my data collection as well. I think I overestimated my ability to truly know what was going on while I was teaching in person. Being remote forced me to be more intentional. We can learn a lot from our students. But we need to ask them.
Week Ahead
PD Day for Grading Monday, November 9 - Please follow the grading timelines that have been published and also listed below.
- Q1 Grading Window will be open on Friday, October 30th. Reminder students will see grades as soon as you post them. If you have any issues with entering in grades please let Melissa know.
- Q1 ends on Friday, November 6th.
- Q1 Grades will be due at 12:00pm on Wednesday, November 11th.
- Grading Window will close at 12:15pm Wednesday, November 11th.
- Q1 Report Cards will be posted to the Infinite Campus portal on Thursday, November 12th by noon.
Transeo Serve Training for Club Advisors and Counselors is scheduled for Tuesday, November 10 via WebEx from 2:50-3:30 PM. If you haven't received a WebEx invite and are currently providing volunteer opportunities for students, contact Rose Matthiae. Information to be covered in this session includes log-in information, adding/deleting students, creating events, messaging students, and approving service logs.
United Way Campaign Begins Tuesday - It is that time of year again. The United Way Campaign begins Tuesday, November 10, and goes through Wednesday, November 18. All employees will receive an email from the United Way on Monday with your login information.
- The senior high will have daily prizes (11/10-13 & 11/16-18) so the quicker you pledge the more chances of winning you will have.
- There are district prizes, given at the end, of Target give cards, a Genesis II SE-410 Premium 4-Burner LP Gas Grill valued at $949, and a Country Fresh Meats Beef Bundle valued at $170.
- United Way is also giving away cash prizes with the top prize of $5,000.
Parent-Teacher Conference Teacher Appointment Schedules - Thursday, November 12, and Monday, November 16, are parent-teacher conferences from 3-6pm with a built-in 20-minute break each night. Refer to the email sent last Thursday from Dawn Seehafer on how to see your individual appointments. If you have any questions, contact Dawn.
Parent-Teacher Contact Time - A reminder that there are an additional 3 hours built-in for teachers to call, email, and connect with parents. We choose not to schedule these three hours to increase flexibility for both faculty and parents.
Friday, November 13, is a Cohort "A" Schedule - Since there is no school on Monday, November 9th, (PD Day for grading) there will be an "A" schedule day on Friday, November 13th. Please keep reminding your students of this.
November 24th - There will be a normal Cohort B Schedule on Tuesday, November 24th. There will not be an altered schedule. We will begin school at 7:28am and end at 2:40pm.
Important Dates, November:
9 PD Day for grading
wks of 10/9 & 10/16 - 3 hours of parent contact - flexible
10 Quarter 2 begins
10 B Day
10 United Way Campaign begins
11 A Day
11 Grades due by noon
11 Grading table closes 12:15pm
11 BLT @ 2:50pm
12 B Day
12 Grades posted to portal by noon
12 Parent-Teacher Conferences, 3-6pm
13 A Day (since Monday will be with no students)
16 Parent-Teacher Conferences, 3-6pm
18 Virtual Faculty Meeting, 2:50pm
18 Board of Education Mtg, 6:30pm
18 United Way Campaign Ends
20 Teacher Work Day
24 Normal Cohort B Schedule, 7:28am-2:40pm
30 Vertical Teaming,
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