To: Michael GreenFrom: Deb KernenDate: March 4, 2011Re: March Special Services Monthly Update
February 23 a large group of 4-12 staff and administrators attended a day training at ESD called Differentiated Instruction and Grading sponsored by ASCD. The presenter, Rick Wormeli, is one of the first Nationally Board Certified teachers in the country and author of many books and articles on differentiated instruction and standards based grading. As you know, one of our district focuses this year has been in the area of instruction. The material presented and the way it was delivered made it one of the most relevant and energizing educational opportunities most of us have ever experienced. The concepts really focus on differentiated instruction to adapt to student needs, to develop a large, diverse repertoire of instructional strategies so we have more than one way to teach students, appropriate use of formative and summative assessments and discussion of whether our grading strategies ensure hope, are evidentiary and standards based. Lots of good discussions and ideas that we will continue developing over the next few years.
The following people attended and will continue having the opportunity to meet to discuss take aways, implementation of the teaching strategies and how to communicate the information to other staff:
Mark Knudson, Kim Knudson, Veronica Heller, Zach Harrington, Chris Wiseman, Mo Anderson, Asha Riley, Nelean Warndahl, Ryan Close, Jody Flanagan, Lauren Cockrell, Emily Swett, Heath Wiltfong, Barb Lutz, Holly Royle, Rebecca Blanshan, and myself.