CCSS Implementation in a Principled Manner @ Fountaindale School for the Arts and Academic Excellence

Artifact Description CES Principles Notes

Unpacking Standards:
To implement the CCSS with fidelity
requires a close read of the standards and
appendices. In an effort to further
understand the specific expectation of
each standard, teachers unpacked the
standards by identifying the verbs, nouns,
and modifiers. This led to a professional
conversation around WHAT was expected
and HOW mastery would be
demonstrated.
o Learning to use ones mind well
o Less is more, depth over coverage
o Goals apply to all students
o Personalization
o Student-as-worker, teacher-as-
coach
o Demonstration of mastery
o A tone of decency and trust
o Commitment to the entire school
o Resources dedicated to teaching
and learning
o Democracy and equity


Scrolls:
After reading Charlotte Danielsons
Framework for Teaching -Domain 1:
Planning and Preparation, our teachers
identified a need to plan differently! We
were disturbed and this led to the
arrangement of learning through Big
Ideas. Grade level teams dove into the
standards, wrote big ideas on post-its, had
conversations about what made sense,
and developed a year-long map of
curriculum plans.
o Learning to use ones mind well
o Less is more, depth over coverage
o Goals apply to all students
o Personalization
o Student-as-worker, teacher-as-
coach
o Demonstration of mastery
o A tone of decency and trust
o Commitment to the entire school
o Resources dedicated to teaching
and learning
o Democracy and equity


EUs and EQs:
Standards are unpacked. Now what?
What do the students really need to know
and understand? Teachers worked
diligently to create Enduring
Understandings and Essential Questions
that would be the foundation of all
learning within units and learning
experiences. These have become the
simple statements that help make the
learning meaningful and transferable.
o Learning to use ones mind well
o Less is more, depth over coverage
o Goals apply to all students
o Personalization
o Student-as-worker, teacher-as-
coach
o Demonstration of mastery
o A tone of decency and trust
o Commitment to the entire school
o Resources dedicated to teaching
and learning
o Democracy and equity

Artifact Description CES Principles Notes

Unit Planning Process:
We have a scroll of the year now what?
The old scope and sequence provided
from our county would not
workFountaindale needed to change the
way we arranged for learning.
Understanding by Design was the answer
to this dilemma: Stage 1- Desired Results,
Stage 2- Assessment Evidence, Stage 3-
Learning Plan. Many different planning
templates were developed. This year, a
process for developing a unit using UbD
has helped grade levels collaborate/plan.
o Learning to use ones mind well
o Less is more, depth over coverage
o Goals apply to all students
o Personalization
o Student-as-worker, teacher-as-
coach
o Demonstration of mastery
o A tone of decency and trust
o Commitment to the entire school
o Resources dedicated to teaching
and learning
o Democracy and equity


Assessment Photo Albums:
All end of unit assessments have always
been created by our county. Now, we
have the freedom, and responsibility, to
design assessments based on the
standards of our own units! We use a
photo album approach to assessing
students both at the end of a unit and
throughout a unit, as opposed to just a
snapshot of their learning.
o Learning to use ones mind well
o Less is more, depth over coverage
o Goals apply to all students
o Personalization
o Student-as-worker, teacher-as-
coach
o Demonstration of mastery
o A tone of decency and trust
o Commitment to the entire school
o Resources dedicated to teaching
and learning
o Democracy and equity


Learning Experiences:
What really matters are our students
learning? Fountaindale has shifted from a
place of doing to a place of learning!
Our students are engaged in meaningful
learning experiences with clear and high
expectations. There is coherence in what
they just learned, are learning now, and
will learn next! The teachers are
empowered to make professional
decisions based on knowledge of the
standards and the students are equipped
to demonstrate mastery!
o Learning to use ones mind well
o Less is more, depth over coverage
o Goals apply to all students
o Personalization
o Student-as-worker, teacher-as-
coach
o Demonstration of mastery
o A tone of decency and trust
o Commitment to the entire school
o Resources dedicated to teaching
and learning
o Democracy and equity