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Creative

Approach School Proposal to CAS Panel Queen Anne Elementary 2.0 David Elliott, Principal October 15, 2012
Prepared by Amy Janas

CAS Overview3 How does your CAS proposed approach differ from your current practice?

Table of Contents

Staff Support..5 What motivated your staff to select this CAS approach? Student Engagement9 How will your student community engage in this CAS Plan? School Community and Parents...13 - What motivated your school community to support this CAS approach? - How will your parent community participate in support your CAS Plan? - How will families give input and feedback about your CAS Plan? - How will that feedback be incorporated? Commitment to the Plan....19 How will your staff and parent community ensure fidelity to your CAS Plan? Monitoring Progress ....20 What criteria will your CAS Plan propose to measure its success? And how will you connect data and student achievement? Criteria for Choice......21 Elements of our CAS Plan with an overview of why they are in this proposal. Waivers...32 If you request waivers as part of your CAS application, what impact will the waivers you request have on hiring/staffing policy, enrollment policy, assessment policy, or other district policies? Overview of Positive Discipline..35 Contributed by Meg Farris, Social and Emotional Learning Co-Chair

Queen Anne Elementary, Creative Approach Proposal

How does your CAS proposed approach differ from your current practice? Queen Anne Elementary just began its third year of operation. Our school was designed as an innovative school, so some of the things we are proposing are a current practice or we have been tinkering to figure out how they fit into the vision. Some things proposed are new and they are proposed because we see a need for how they can support existing initiatives. What is different in this proposed approach from our current practice is that we have aligned the components and have developed a strong model for what we believe is an exceptional school culture and philosophy where all children can succeed. We have solid goals for our students, strong leadership and exceptional staff. The three components outlined below are the foundation for our staff to deliver on the vision. Queen Anne Elementary - Five Pillars (The Goal for our Students)

- - - - -

We are Self-Directed Learners We Encourage Each Other to Think Critically and Learn More We are Concerned, Confident and Compassionate Citizens of the World We Learn Everywhere, We Learn Together We are Creative

Five Criteria for Positive Discipline (How we Support the Goal) - -


-

Helps children feel a sense of connection. (Belonging and significance.) Is mutually respectful and encouraging. (Kind and firm at the same time.) Is effective long - term. (Considers what the child is thinking, feeling, learning, and deciding about himself and his world and what to do in the future to survive or to thrive.) Teaches important social and life skills. (Respect, concern for others, problem solving, and cooperation as well as the skills to contribute to the home, school or larger community.) Invites children to discover how capable they are. (Encourages the constructive use of personal power and autonomy.)

Staff Collaboration & Planning (How we Support Each Other) - Support the School Vision (and help shape and define it) - Support continued learning and professional development among our staff - Training in teams, collaborate effectively - Mutual respect and ability to share strength and develop weaknesses - Stakeholders (part of the decision making, significant role in outcome)

Queen Anne Elementary, Creative Approach Proposal

What is Different at Queen Anne Elementary? Positive Discipline is overarching in philosophy and in practice as part of our school culture. In this practice, students realize their ability to learn (mastery), their ability to make discoveries independently (autonomy) and their ability to share what they learn with others (purpose). Having our staff work in strong collaborative environment to supporting the method. This is how we develop each student so that they will be successful at Queen Anne Elementary and in life beyond Queen Anne Elementary.

Positive Discipline

Capable Child

School Culture

Mastery

engagement confidence

Project Based Learning



self- directed

Capable Child

Purpose

joy

Autonomy

Teacher as Guide

School Culture
critical thinking

learn together

Student

Engagement

+
Staff Collaboration/Grade Level Planning Time and Parent Engagement


The Five Pillars: We are Self-Directed Learners We Encourage Each Other to Think Critically and Learn More We are Concerned, Confident and Compassionate Citizens of the World We Learn Everywhere, We Learn Together We are Creative
Queen Anne Elementary, Creative Approach Proposal

Staff Support

There is a momentum about our school that is maintained by all and supported by teamwork.


Our teachers are the front line of shaping our school culture, engaging our students, and creating learning opportunities. We asked them to share why they are motivated to work at QAE and support the CAS. Their responses follow:

When students believe, the possibilities are endless.


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Queen Anne Elementary, Creative Approach Proposal

Students are always first! My curriculum is encouraged to connect to my students and to be made to express their creativity. I teach standards and principles in a way that connects to students and their learning in other areas (in and outside of school). As a teacher I get to be creative and try new projects everyday. As a PBL facilitator and art teacher I feel like my role is to not just support teachers reaching their PBL goals, but I am an active member of making these goals happen. For students they need to know how their learning connects to them. _______________ I work here because we have a staff that works together to do what is best for our students at all times. We honor, care for, and educate the whole child. Positive Discipline can be seen and heard in all areas of our school each day. We also work to maintain rigor in both academics and social/emotional learning. There is a momentum about our school that is maintained by all and supported by teamwork. I feel blessed to work in a school where we are encouraged and supported to push innovative boundaries and do what is best and needed by our students. _______________ Innovation: our teachers are very committed to innovation. We are all on the same page in regards to finding the right approach for each kid. That means we differentiate, inspire and reach for something better. Starting a new school with integrated technology is exciting. It means that we are embracing the future and figuring out a better way to educate versus the same tired classroom. As a Special Ed teacher I am always looking for the best way to keep the kiddo in class and meet them at their zone of development. There is a way to reach each kid regardless of disability or learning style. I think that Queen Anne is closer than most schools." _______________ What I love about QAE is that I am constantly inspired. There are no teachers who believe that they are already as good as they can get. Our teachers always push themselves to improve. We listen thoughtfully to new ideas. We all put in the extra effort to try new things. It never gets old. Another thing I love is the focus on whole child learning. Of course we strive to be great math teachers, literacy teachers and science teachers. However, we also are all very concerned with teaching students how to have self-control, how to work with others and how to be the best version of them that they can be. This makes work so meaningful as we can see so many areas of growth in our kids. At the end of the year, sure, they have grown as writers and readers... But they have also grown as friends and community members. It's exciting to see!

Queen Anne Elementary, Creative Approach Proposal

This is the only school I have taught where teachers and administrators prioritize long-term success over short-term and narrow goals.
At Queen Anne Elementary, were interested in helping kids understand that for better or worse, they are self-directed learners. Our goal will be to help them direct themselves towards a complex, inquisitive, and positive engagement with learning. Project-based learning does this on a number of levels. It allows kids to grapple with open-ended questions, explore multiple paths of inquiry, experiment with creative solutions, and contend with setbacks in a safe environment. Most importantly, it allows kids to demonstrate mastery of a topic in personally meaningful ways. Under the teachers guidance, a student will strive to present a final project that reflects his or her nuanced understanding of the topic. A unit will lead to a variety of products, depending on the childs interests, skills, and needs. Culminating projects will include a variety of media, forums, and presentation techniques. One student might produce a play, supported by a dramaturgical essay. Another might create a radio documentary. A third might opt for an old- fashioned research paper. Regardless of the format, a well-constructed final project is a superior reflection of mastery than a simple unit test. Energy: Fresh and alive; Drive: whats best for our kids; Risks: comfort, safe place to take risks, our discomfort is where we grow; Attitude: feels like family all inclusive or striving to that; Collaboration: in a variety of relationshipsstaff, parents, and community; Global Connection: reaching out beyond our school boundaries.

__________

__________
I feel pretty lucky to have been able to participate in the creation of a public school. As I look back over the work we have done since identifying our founding pillars I am amazed. At the time, I remember thinking ~ are we really able to create a school that can allow our students to be creative, self-directed, compassionate and caring citizens of the world who learn everywhere, learn together, think critically and encourage each other to learn more!? To do that, we would have to be able to hire amazing teachers (at the time we had 3) and come up with a lot of creative, innovative approaches that connect and engage kids. Every day, I get to teach in a school filled with people who have opted-in. Our entire staff is amazing, and truly cares about each other. We have 11 classroom teachers who want to work hard to engage their students and instill in them a life-long love of learning. These teachers also want to work together, supporting each other in learning and risking and being our best. We have drawn parents who want their children to be kind, safe and fair critical thinkers and kids who are kids ~ connecting well to our positive discipline and hungry to explore their interests (which we will hopefully start to satisfy with our PBL!). Our staff is trained in and committed to using positive discipline with our students and committed to implementing project-based learning with in our classrooms.
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Students and staff co-exist on equal level where all are valued and respected.
In teaching kindergarten, I get the privilege of watching new batches of kids and families join our community every year. Every year I hear the exact same thing from families, "something feels special here." They can never seem to find the right words at first; some just call it "energy." No matter the words you use to describe it, you feel it. Here's what I feel: a sense of passion, a sense of love, a sense of excitement, a sense of commitment, and a strong sense of community. Not only does this feeling flow through the teachers and staff, it flows through the kids and the parents. This indescribable feeling is what makes Queen Anne a true launching pad for learning. _______________ I had always imagined that perfect schoolwhat it would be like, sound like and feel like. In my search to find it I became uninspired and began thinking about school reform. When I landed at Queen Anne Elementary, I was so impressed with each and every staff member. The positive stories, creative lessons and true passion lead me to believe that I have found that perfect school. I felt that I was so lucky! Now, while living the dream. I know the possibilities are endless. Instead of teaching a curriculum using language someone else created, we can think freely. This freethinking enhances our teaching and allows students to engage enthusiastically and take on projects in-depth. Projects become self-directed and can take many paths. Students grow to love learning and see school as a place they can succeed. When students believe the possibilities are endless. Students and staff co-exist on equal level where all are valued and respected. Everyday is a notable experience and we will each carry it with us for life, making the world a better place. _______________ QAE is a 21st century school, which is exciting in itself, but also every staff member is super- motivated and informed on how to make future education a success in our modern times. I am excited about the crossover of content area and subjects students will experience from classroom to classroom as well as into PE, the Arts & Library/Tech. _______________ From my first interview with QAE and everyday, I am struck by how concerned and passionate the whole school is about each student. At Queen Anne, we share all of our students and we are working together to ensure each student is successful in all areas: socially, emotionally, and academically. Additionally, the amount of teamwork that is displayed at the school is amazing. Through all of this collaboration we are pushing each other to be the best teachers we can be and then in turn are able to help our students grow into compassionate, collaborative citizens.

Queen Anne Elementary, Creative Approach Proposal

Students

The best part of me is my heart. If I didnt have a heart, I would not be able to write, draw, or run. I love, love, love my heart. The best part of me is my head, because I can think.
--selected quotes from Ms. Mecks First Grade Class Project, The Best Part of Me. We want our students to leave QAE with strong minds and strong hearts.

Queen Anne Elementary, Creative Approach Proposal


How will your student community engage in this CAS Plan? Student engagement is a key component of our school culture (see diagram on page 4). Positive Discipline, Project Based Learning, and regular use of classroom meetings nurture the opportunity for students to be engaged. We want students to see how their involvement helps their class and can improve their school community and reach beyond. An example of what types of student engagement we wish to see happen at our school is shown in The Ladder of Student Involvement (Adam Fletcher, Meaningful Student Involvement). From Fletcher, the higher the rung on the Ladder, the more likely that activity is going to be meaningful to students. Degrees of Participation: 8. Student-initiated, shared decisions with adults 7. Student-initiated, student-led decisions 6. Adult-initiated, shared decisions with students 5. Students informed and consulted 4. Students informed and assigned Degrees of Non-Participation: 3. Students tokenized 2. Students are decorated 1. Students manipulated In the Project Based Learning example that showcases our 2nd grade community project (page 12) you will see how a project about Community allows for students to initiate an activity that represents the top of the Ladder, Student-initiated, shared decisions with adults. > Positive Discipline in the Classroom (contributed by Meg Farris, SEL Co-Chair) QAE has adopted Positive Discipline in the Classroom (PDC) as the keystone of its Social and Emotional Learning curriculum. Hence, for the staff, PDC isnt a classroom management tool, or a positive-discipline plan. Rather, it is a framework from which to build a larger school culture. PDC has several core assumptions that QAE embraces: - Children want to connect to the people in their lives and continually seek those connections in positive and negative ways - Assumes that children are emotionally and socially competent - Promotes that adults have the job of understanding, acknowledging, and supporting the children as they continue to learn - Misbehavior is a child communicating that he/she doesnt feel connected (rather than being malicious or manipulative)

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> Classroom Meetings (contributed by Julietta Skoog, QAE School Psychologist) Classroom meetings invite students to learn effective problem solving by doing. They provide the practice arena for all of the skills necessary to grow citizens who are responsible, respectful, and resourceful members of the community. Students learn: To use their voice To practice looking at issues from multiple points of view That mistakes are opportunities to learn To see strengths in themselves and other How collaboration can change things That they have influence in a socially useful way What it feels like to set goals, plan and be able to carry out the plan. The 8 essential skills for class meetings include: Forming a circle Practicing compliments and appreciation Respecting differences Using respectful communication skills Focusing on solutions Brainstorming and role-playing Using the agenda Understanding the four mistaken goals For example, yesterday in our 4th grade class, the students formed a circle, took turns giving compliments, and then solved two problems on the agenda. One student was the note taker, and students respected each other by only talking when they were holding the talk block. The students who wrote the problems on the agenda had the choice to: 1) discuss without fixing (whole class discussion) 2) sharing feelings (individual) or 3) problem solve with help For one of the problems, the student chose to get help, and the class offered solutions that were helpful, not hurtful. Solutions included I messages, talking to an adult, and ignoring. The student decided to try an I message (I feel _______ when you ________ and I wish you would ________), and when I checked in on the pair at recess they were playing happily. For the other problem, the student wanted to discuss without fixing. Students took turns sharing how some annoying behavior was disruptive to their learning, using assertive and respectful language. The student who was responsible responded with a sincere apology to the class.

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> Project Based Learning (contributed by Ciara Leckie, QAE teacher, 2nd grade) The pairing of Positive Discipline and classroom meetings and PBL is huge. They compliment one another well. The project is engaging our students to think critically about rules and reasons why we have them. I think they are more invested in helping our school be a safe and organized place and hopefully this lays a foundation to helping them understand community in a broader sense. Our theme is COMMUNITY. CONCEPT: Governing oneself with an awareness of the needs of community. The title of the project is "WHO'S LOOKING OUT FOR YOU?" And our driving question is: How can a 2nd grader be a hero in their community? We have one main PBL standard and 2 main Common Core Standards we are focusing on. Both classroom meetings and PBL time are venues for us to identify and talk about concerns. We are using resources from the PBL books that help student self-assess and group-assess progress. The students fill out the "Project Team Contract" and sign it. The team will first try to work out concerns if a member is not following the rules and if that doesn't work, they will ask for teacher support. For the school rules, as a class we brainstormed a list of topics we need to cover. The students then picked their top 3 topics and the teachers made groups using their choices. After forming groups, they had to decide who did what role. We have a project manager, assistant project manager, recorder, announcer, and tech/supply manager (groups of 5). With some teacher given templates and some student-created sheets, each group comes up with a plan. (What to teach, plan for interviewing experts, a storyboard for taping, writing scripts, etc.) Before they can video, a teacher will review their plan. We called in some experts such as Mr. Jeffrey to teach us about using flip cams and saving files. They will also be using Mr. R, Ms. Jacki, Mr. Elliott and anyone else they feel is an expert in their area (the running laps group wants to interview Jackson Lee!). This is our kickoff that will start expanding how we contributed to our school community and then we'll take it to our local community and make connections to what is going on nationally/globally. We are going to focus on the 3 areas of local government and democracy 1. Health and Safety; 2. Welfare; 3. Housekeeping (similarly to how our school operates). _______________ We are committed to providing opportunities for student engagement in all areas of our school and have a school culture where student-initiated student engagement is supported and celebrated.

Queen Anne Elementary, Creative Approach Proposal

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Parents

From our own journey of parenting and many years of professional careers, we learned a valuable lesson that being academically advanced is only a very minor part of being happy, successful, and contributing members of society.

Queen Anne Elementary, Creative Approach Proposal

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What motivated your school community to support this CAS approach? Here are some selected comments from parents about QAE and their support of the CAS. We chose QAE for our kindergartener son mainly because of the following two reasons. 1. When we toured different public schools, we were looking for a school where the curriculum is not entirely focused on academic learning. From our own journey of parenting and many years of professional careers (we are a scientist and a software engineer with advanced degrees from world-leading institutions), we learned a valuable lesson that being academically advanced is only a very minor part of being happy, successful, and contributing members of society. The most important factors to your satisfaction in life are your social and emotional well-being and how resilient you are in adjusting to life's challenges and adversities. Therefore, integrating social and emotional learning, in our opinion, should be one of the core curricula in a school. QAE's social and emotional learning program is their "Positive Disciplines" approach. This approach advocates treating children with respect and empowering children to become self-thinking, problem-solving, and capable citizens, which in our opinion, is exactly the goal of education. 2. During our tour of QAE, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that the school has adopted "Project-Based Learning". As an educator who has worked in universities, I firmly believe that knowledge dissemination by traditional lectures is a very ineffective educational method. Knowledge and skills must be learned by students themselves. The educators' role is to motivate, guide, and facilitate this learning process. By doing "Project-Based Learning", QAE is allowing the students to learn important skills in life by working with the issues, observing the issues, and learn first-hand how to inquire knowledge, how to do problem-solving. "Project-Based Learning" also promotes creative thinking in students, a valuable skill that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. We strongly and firmly support QAE's application to become a CAS school, as we believe this is how education should be done. We will do our best in supporting the school in becoming a pioneer in elementary education, to bring up a new generation of children, who will be kind, compassionate, resilient, and capable citizens of the world. --Angela Lui We selected QAE after an exhaustive search in both private and public schools for our son. We wanted to find an educationally rigorous atmosphere along with a supportive community that embraces both new and classic teaching methods. Our son has flourished at QAE and we could not be happier. The community, staff, and principal are all united in providing the best education for each child and building in a love of learning in the process. -- Shelly Dillon

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Our greatest asset at QAE is our teaching staff. Their knowledge and passion for education is the pulse of our school. I support the approach developed by the QAE CAS team because of the autonomy and flexibility it allows our principal and teachers to implement teaching methods that will have life-long benefits for our children. I highly value collaboration among the teachers that nurtures their creativity and allows for consistency with regards to grade level projects, classroom management, and school values. I recognize that relief from the current hiring process is an imperative element of the QAE CAS approach that allows the careful addition of progressive, outstanding teachers. -- Alison Payayus I was motivated to support the CAS approach for several reasons: - I have seen first-hand how even small steps in taking a differentiated approach to learning in the classroom allows all children to thrive and succeed. I believe that the combined elements in the QAE CAS plan will exponentially increase this potential for differentiated learning. The focus on developing the whole child - their social/emotional learning and ability to work in teams on projects- as a part of the CAS was crucial for my support. These skills will serve every child well in their youth and adult years, regardless of their relative academic success. And it has been proven to boost academic success as well. I have personally worked with and spoken with each member of the QAE staff and know that their commitment to individual learning of each and every child at QAE is unequivocal. The plan in place for QAE CAS incorporates all the best thinking from this amazingly talented staff and leadership... to remove the current barriers in place to really deliver on the plan will show definite results. As leader of the PTSA for the past 2 years, I know that the overall parent community supports the initiative, including a long-term commitment to providing resources (time and money) to make this plan succeed.

What I love about QAE is that my two children are loved, safe, and learning every day--by every member of the staff and by the larger parent community. It is a team effort by all! Karrie Sanderson 2010-2012 PTSA President

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I support the CAS/Queen Anne's vision as a school because as an educator myself, I am acutely aware of Washington's need to look for unique avenues to build effective education programs for all of our children. A program like this one allows parents and community members to have a hand in ownership thereby promoting education in a way schools alone cannot. By garnering support through creative ideas, we will build lasting educational changes that will benefit students with special needs, those who qualify for Spectrum, and everyone in between. -- Kristin Teske We chose to send our kids to Queen Anne Elementary because of the high caliber and complete dedication of its leadership and staff. Every single staff member at QAE is 100% committed to doing whatever it takes to create a positive and effective learning environment for every child. It all comes down to the teachers and the principal, and I don't know of finer ones anywhere else. CAS is a really exciting development for Queen Anne Elementary -- it unleashes the full potential of our school by freeing our staff up to think and act innovatively. They're trying to do something really exciting and different here at QAE, and CAS removes many of the constraints which would otherwise hinder that pursuit of excellence. -- Lee Wierdsma 2012-2014 PTSA Co-President

Queen Anne Elementary, Creative Approach Proposal

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How will your parent community participate in supporting your CAS Plan? Our parents will be offered multiple ways to participate in the elements of the CAS Plan and supporting QAEs CAS plan. We will continue to use family education nights and parent meetings to communicate information and get feedback from parents. We will use our CAS Parent Review Team (PRT) to continue to monitor our plan, implementation, and performance review. We will expand or modify the role of the CAS PRT to include grade level representatives that work with the BLT. We communicate at a school level with blog updates by our principal, daily emails to our families and updates on our website. Our teachers all communicate weekly by blog (and newsletter). These existing communication channels help us communicate CAS information to families. Since deciding to participate in the CAS in March 2012, we have been maintaining a website dedicated to the CAS process to help keep our parents and staff up to date. There are several ways our families will be able to support their students that tie to our CAS plan. Level of parent engagement makes a significant (and measureable) impact on student success: When families regardless of economic status, ethnicity or the level of the parents' education are involved in their children's learning both at home and at school, the children do better at school. "A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family and Community Connections to Achievement," (Anne T. Henderson and Karen Mapp, 2002) Engagement can be categorized into Six Types of Involvement (Dr. Joyce Epstein, director of the National Network for Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University) 1. Parenting Families help create a home environment that supports children in their learning. 2. Home-School Communication Effective two-way communication (from home to school and school to home) about school progress and the child's progress on all levels (academic, social and emotional). 3. Volunteering Finding ways to help out at school, in the district or at home. 4. Support Learning at Home Schools and families work together to find ways in which families can help with homework and other school-related activities at home. 5. Decision-making Families and schools/district collaborate in school decisions; families are given the opportunity to have input into policies and decisions that affect their child's education. 6. Collaborating with the Community Developing partnerships with the community to strengthen school programs, family practices and student learning.
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We will be targeting areas where we can improve and bolster our types of involvement: > Streamlining a weekly communication about what is being taught in class, questions parents might ask their child, guidance an talking with their child about goals and expectations for that work and providing specific tips about how to help their child at home. (This also ties to elements of our report card.) > Develop a plan for tiered engagement intervention. Identify families reluctant to engage and determine barriers; this support can range from telephone calls, mailing letters and or scheduling home visits. We will work hard to establish a great partnership with all of our families. > Kindergarten Family Outreach. What weve implemented so far: Open House & Tours (Spring) Summer Play Dates Rising Ks Welcome We invited kindergarten families who were placed at QAE to come and visit for a morning in early May. Incoming families had a chance to visit each K classroom, participate in a teacher-led activity, and then have time to explore the classroom. The event culminated with a simple brunch in our cafeteria and a welcome talk from our principal. Back to School Open House: Usually occurs a week before school. Classroom assignments are posted and students and families have a chance to meet teachers and explore the school. An element we are developing is preparing our parents for how the transition will affect them. Casual conversations from K parents at a recent Kindergarten Social brought this to our attention. While parents felt confident in preparing their child/ren for school, many parents expressed how they did not understand the social impact and time impact that school has on their schedule ranging from: making lunches, transportation (in all forms: pedestrian, bus, driving), filling out paperwork, reviewing home/school communications, anxiety about not knowing the their childs schedule and attending school social events. Parents expressed feeling very busy and being surprised by the busyness. How will families give input and feedback about your CAS Plan? How will that feedback be incorporated? The best opportunities for our families to give input and feedback will be at school meetings, CAS Parent Review Team and through surveys. We will also work to understand our parent priorities for components of our plan and balance how different families perceive the importance of different aspects of the CAS plan and work to weight them appropriately. We want to track all responses and reactions to QAEs CAS plan. If we see a trend of negative reactions to a particular point in our plan, we will work with our parents to find out why they object, what their concern is, what solution they can offer and how we can balance their need and the vision and research behind the idea. Positive feedback will help us identify areas valued by our parent community; negative feedback will give us a chance to discuss why a certain CAS component is viewed poorly and determine ways to fine-tune and make things relevant to all our stakeholders.
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How will your staff and parent community ensure fidelity to your CAS Plan? Having everyone committed to the plan before it goes into effect is the first step in sticking to the plan. Next is that our parent community is kept up-to-date on the process. Well outline what were doing, when were doing it, why were doing it and the desired results. For our staff we specifically will keep our CAS plan on track through BLT oversight, staff meetings, reviewing our CAS plans during planning time, and then creating and following a CAS Implementation Checklist. Involving our parent community in the discussion about a site-specific report card will be significant way to outline the plan. The QAE Report Card will be how we measure all the elements of our program and thus will be a good way to outline our curricula and plan.

How will your CAS Plan engage the community? We currently have relationships with Queen Anne Manor and the Queen Anne Food Bank. We have been working with the Queen Anne Farmers Market to support our garden and food/farm programs. This year, we began working with the Dwankhosi Hope School in Zambia. Our focus for partnerships this year is tied to Project Based Learning. For example, our 2nd & 3rd graders just worked with the Seattle Parks Department to provide community service hours in a local park, spreading mulch. We are also defining projects that have a technical aspect and are outlining opportunities to work with local technology companies. We envision a PBL Parent Team that works with our staff and community to help QAE identify possible partnerships with businesses, professionals, and other community based organizations. We have a parent meeting on October 18th to discuss Creative Approach Schools and another meeting in November. We will have CAS Parent Review Team meetings between now and the end of November as well and will have more information and feedback to certain portions of our CAS plan.

Queen Anne Elementary, Creative Approach Proposal

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What criteria will your CAS plan propose to measure its success? And, how will you connect data, monitor progress and tracking student achievement?

We will be using data from our Student Intervention Team (SIT, see page) and QAE report card (see page XX). We will be creating assessment and data reporting tools to allow us to input data and see results immediately. The components that we see necessary for measuring our program and understanding our effectiveness are: - SIT intake data twice per year - Math assessment - Literacy assessment - SEL assessment metrics (linked to Positive Discipline and Kelsos Choices). - Project Based Learning Rubrics and Common Core State Standards - Student self-assessment One of our objectives is to measure how our SEL program is impacting students, the classroom climate, and our school culture. We want to be able to define criteria to measure skills and then be able to look at the effect over multiple years, by student over years, etc. We need to review our various grade level assessments and develop or find a way to assess students in math and literacy skills at the beginning of the year and how we can quickly measure and report on progress. For example: input assessment data directly into spreadsheets (or via a web app). Develop quick review cycles for math and literacy to see whats working, whats not, and what needs tweaking. As our QAE report card develops and we can see what information we want to show, we will be able to start defining what type of data we need to collect and then how we collect that data. This data, as well as our SIT data, will be collected electronically. We will continue to take the MAP in all grades and have our 3rd 5th graders take the MSP track the information.

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In the following pages we have outlined some of our areas to innovate and followed the criteria you requested in the following tables.

Math and Reading Clubs


Criteria for Choice Identifies students who need extra work on math and reading and allows access to online resources to increase skill-building time, offered before school/after school. These will be offered to students who need more time to meet standards. For math, we will use time on DreamBox (for math). And for reading will we offer Raz-Kids, reading time and story time. We will offer this students who need help getting to grade level first and then would like to offer this to all students. For Math, working with staff to understand reporting from DreamBox and using that data to help students in the classroom. For reading, review some research and case studies on effective literacy programs. For reading: Ideally have staff outline information and train volunteers to help oversee students. DreamBox has its own assessment tools and reports to teachers/parents. For readers, time and materials used during reading club time should be kept track of and additional assessments from teachers should be performed to measure impact of reading club program. Provides extra time in small groups to work on core skills. Teach students how effort relates to performance. Continue to measure extra time in math or reading club to assessments in classroom. Detail frequency of attendance in clubs and in-class assessment and track student performance carefully.

Training of Teacher Core Planning Time/ Collaboration Assessment of Outcomes

Response to Student Need Ongoing Assessment

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Social and Emotional Learning / Positive Discipline (in progress)


Criteria for Choice Positive Discipline (PD) is a framework for our school culture and for PBL. Positive Discipline criteria and assumptions align with QAE goals: Five Pillars and Be Safe, Kind, & Fair. - 10-week course - Annual staff refresher - Discuss how PD is used to manage and improve classroom behavior - Planning classroom meetings For students: develop criteria to measure social and emotional skills. For teachers: develop criteria to track and measure classroom management (looking at blow-ups, misbehavior, time it takes a student to calm down, how using PD reduces classroom distractions). - Respects students needs and helps identify causes of misbehavior - Supports how students interact with each other - Helps student cope with peers who are off-task or having problems Long term look at effect of classroom meetings, student self- management, classroom management and individual behavior.

Training of Teacher Core Planning Time/ Collaboration Assessment of Outcomes

Response to Student Need Ongoing Assessment

Social and Emotional Learning (Overview) in progress + developing


Criteria for Choice Social and emotional learning is weighted evenly with our academic learning. Research showing how social and emotional competency and traits influence future outcomes is of high interest to our community and we are responding to this in our programs and development of ways to measure it. When we look at our district goal to ensure every student is ready for college, career and life. Our SEL program is one of the strongest supports we can provide to achieve this. KELSOs Choices, Roots of Empathy, Growth Mindset. Initial training, annual refresher training, getting information home to parents. We are reviewing various ways to measure SEL skills and traits. Helping students develop their skills of self-advocacy, problem-solving, critical and creative thinking, perseverance and goal setting. We will look at SEL from three perspectives: school culture, classroom climate, and individual student competency. Evaluate, self-control/ student-driven intervention (going to calm spots, Kelsos Choices, etc.) and develop assessments for factors in self-awareness, self- management, social-awareness, and social management.
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Training of Teacher Core Planning Time/ Collaboration Assessment of Outcomes Response to Student Need Ongoing Assessment

Queen Anne Elementary, Creative Approach Proposal

Project Based Learning (in progress)


Criteria for Choice An approach that prepares students to think, create, and collaborate. Fits our model for school culture and supporting the capable child. Designed to teach 21st century skills and is moving rapidly to align CCSS. Positive for students and teachers. 2 Days PBL Training - 5 Days Project Planning Time - Grade level Teams meet 2x/month as part of PLC time. - In our lower elementary where we have 2 3 teachers per grade level, we are working toward blocked out planning time during the school day to increase collaboration time -As our grade level teams fill in each year, our ability to have GLP blocked out during PCP (and integrated into the school work day) will improve. - PBL Standards to Guide - Common Core State Standards Integration - Project Specific Rubrics - Self-assessment, authentic assessment - Presentations, blogs, iMovie, VoiceThreadpropos For Staff: As we launch into PBL, we will be reviewing our first year projects and will be fine-tuning as necessary. - Differentiated instruction, effective for all types of learners - Develops 21st century skills (Five Pillars Core) Specific rubrics to measure standards taught. Also align to Common Core Standards. Teachers will use the same projects and will have a chance to fine-tune assessments of projects. Self-assessment and authentic assessment for students to review their own performance and work, with upper grades using their eFolio and blog to share project work.

Training of Teacher Core Planning Time/ Collaboration

Assessment of Outcomes

Response to Student Need Ongoing Assessment

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QAE Report Card (proposed)


Criteria for Choice - To provide teachers, families and students with relevant data and feedback tied to specific curricula - Important step to analyzing our data and moving toward a data- driven school - Step toward more frequent assessments and tracking - Allows us to detail standards taught and communicate specifics to parents (meet home/school objective to help parents support students at home) We will need to work with staff to shift from current (mostly paper) methods of assessment/data collection and track data electronically/online and look to automate where we can. - Helps with our move to Common Core State Standards - Will push our knowledge of PBL/21st century skills + CCSS - Will require development time and GLP time - Tie to Parent Engagement and build in explanatory info for parents, by grade level, seeks parent input/a parent team - Assessment specific to what is being taught at QAE: core competency, enrichment classes, SEL skills, CCSS, PBL - Measures for Parents/Teachers - Measures for Teachers/School - Student Report Card: Tie evaluation to the Five Pillars and Be Kind, Be Fair, Be Safe. Use with students to help communicate expectations and help students goal-set. - Focuses on specific student development - Allows for students to be grouped together more quickly allowing for small group instruction - Helps teachers identified student learning types, can individualize instruction - Move toward becoming a data-driven school - Rapid assessment cycles to help individualize learning, plan intervention and evaluate curricula and/or methods: determine what is working, what is not and take immediate action. - Include assessment & measurement of SEL skills. - Understanding how to have more rapid assessment cycles will allow us to respond to students needs more quickly. We provide self-assessment opportunities for our students (supporting self-directed, critical thinking Pillars). - In art, by grade level our students follow a criteria and assessing their own work based on the criteria. - In our lower grades, photos are taken during the day and students review what they feel they see in the photos and work to identify skills
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Training of Teacher Core Planning Time/ Collaboration

Assessment of Outcomes

Response to Student Need

Ongoing Assessment

Queen Anne Elementary, Creative Approach Proposal

Ongoing Assessment

and traits they see in action. - In our upper grades, we use eFolios for both staff assessment and student self-assessment of work, as well as evaluating their overall eFolio for specific objectives. - In PBL, students have a self-assessment rubric appropriate by grade level and for performance in teamwork, projects, presentations, etc.

Data-Driven School proposed/planning and design


Criteria for Choice As part of a professional learning community, we need to be able to monitor progress, connect data and have a snapshot of student achievement at all times. Our teachers are frequently assessing students and modifying instruction based on that data. We want to be able to track that information and understand how our teaching and assessing and outcomes work to produce resultsand how we can make the assessment and student performance tracking streamlined and easily accessible by student and across school years. Additional training may be necessary to help staff feel comfortable working with data and data tools. This will become an important part of Grade Level Planning time and PLC time. Identifies ways to assess and identify students who need intervention (either as remedial or accelerated) as soon as possible. We need to be able to see our year-to-year data, detailed to our curricula and other test scores. Helps us understanding how our teaching and curricula effects students Adjust instruction to learning Identify where student needs support, more quickly.

Training of Teacher Core Planning Time/ Collaboration Assessment of Outcomes Response to Student Need

Ongoing Assessment

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All-Day SIT (Student Intervention Team) In progress


Criteria for Choice School Intervention Team meets with teachers to review all students. Goal is to understand the areas of needs for all of our students in: academics, SEL (behaviors, social skills), Family and Home, Strengths and other supports. We identify students who need extra support and make sure that we have the resources in place to support the student. For our teachers, this has become part of their standard student assessment and intake. As we define all areas to track, we will consult with our teaching teams to make sure we have all evaluation points covered. The SIT is comprised of school principal, school psychologist, nurse, OT/PT, resource/special education specialist and the teachers. Here is an overview of our last two years of students who needed additional support (either to get to standards or to work at an accelerated pace.) - 2010-11, 10 students identified (112 enrolled) - 2011-12, 12 students identified (225 enrolled) - 2012-13, SIT evaluation to occur in late October. - Allows students be identified for additional resources and support. - We have hired tutors to help students get extra time. - All aspects of student life (from the classroom to home life) are eligible to receive support and resources. We evaluate for our SIT in October and March. We will formalize the intake process and measures that we record. We want the ability to track students throughout their career at QAE and link intervention time and resource to outcomes. Ongoing assessment will include areas outlined above in Criteria for Choice.

Training of Teacher Core

Planning Time/ Collaboration Assessment of Outcomes

Response to Student Need

Ongoing Assessment

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Staff Collaboration & Grade Level Planning (in progress & proposed)
Criteria for Choice - Strengthens our Professional Learning Community (PLC) - Supports teamwork and collaboration - Critical for PBL planning - Target student needs with focus on vision and curricula - Our staff has a strong desire to work in teams and collaborate. They enjoy learning from each other and supporting each other. Our PBL training included training information about grade level planning. - We have doubled our staff in the last two years and will add seven staff members over the next four years. Our strong PLC and GLP will allow new staff to acclimate to our school culture can start the school year on the same track. We are currently splitting PLC time with GLP time. -We are considering adding additional days for professional development (with the goal in mind that we keep students at school for enrichment activities). - PBL/GLP directly supported our rapid launch of PBL GLP and PLC give students the benefit and experience of multiple teachers and more teacher experience years than a teacher working in isolation. We are standard reports to track our PLC and GLP time.

Training of Teacher Core

Planning Time/ Collaboration

Assessment of Outcomes Response to Student Need Ongoing Assessment

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We are pushing the boundaries for what makes a classroom.


--Jeffrey Riley, QAE Librarian

Technology /Adaptive Learning Software (Khan Academy) (in use)


Criteria for Choice Free, multiple levels of differentiation, reinforces self-directed learner pillar, integrates different teaching techniques (videos, guided practice, hints) Self-guided initial use by Joe Bailey-Fogarty. Joe will present a brief training on a PD day to be determined. Some time needed (~30 minutes) for staff training. Planning time to include setup of student accounts, preparation of student help materials and parent information sheets. Collaboration accomplished by connecting students to appropriate coaches, classroom teachers, special ed teachers, administration, (As, tutors, or other mentors.) Coaches have access to an ongoing, detailed reporting system showing students progress. Includes information such as areas of proficiency and difficulty. Specific problems the student struggles with, which concepts they ask for help in, and how long the student took to answer each particular problem. With guidance from the teacher, Khan Academy allows the student to direct his or her own learning. Each student must investigate the various math strands and choose an appropriate level for needs. Mathematical concepts mastered at earlier stages support learning as the student progresses through the knowledge map. Monthly student self-assessment via examination of their own coach reports, re-calibration of the students chosen practice level based on teacher feedback, parent connection via emailed progress reports.

Training of Teacher Core Planning Time/ Collaboration

Assessment of Outcomes

Response to Student Need

Ongoing Assessment

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Technology / DreamBox (in use)


Criteria for Choice Training of Teacher Core Planning Time/ Collaboration Assessment of Outcomes Response to Student Need Ongoing Assessment Adaptive learning software. Free trial and SPS choice. Worked closely with DreamBox trainers in development and piloting. Needed to further assessment benefits of DreamBox and identify correlations exist between usage and improved performance. Rapid, instant assessment, teachers are notified of areas where student are not understanding concepts and can tackle those concepts with students quickly - Allows students to start where they are in a fast paced program. - Helps students improve quickly on math concepts and skills - Integrating DreamBox data with other performance measures - Review time spent on DreamBox and MAP Math test results - Aligning to Common Core State Standards

Technology /eFolios (in use)


Criteria for Choice - Use of eFolios allow our teachers and students to build an online portfolio of their elementary school career. - Allows for a large audience to see student work (other students, teachers, families, and the students extended family). - Promotes students technology literacy and understanding of use of online tools, digital citizenship and technological literacy. - Students begin to blog. Training to understand use of tools and setting up student accounts. As needed. Used as part of overall assessment and building authentic assessment skills. Publishing content online Collaboration skills Authentic assessment Communication information about projects and work at school In lower grades, student work is posted online by staff, volunteers, and parents at home; in upper grades students are responsible for publishing their own work (with assistance as needed).

Training of Teacher Core Planning Time/ Collaboration Assessment of Outcomes Response to Student Need

Ongoing Assessment


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2 1

Other Technology Integrated at QAE

As school focused on 21st century skills, our librarian and technology teacher, Jeffrey Riley views the ways we use technology as a catalyst to get kids to collaborate and create, with our teachers there to encourage and motivate.

We review different tech tools we use at QAE and have parents try them out. Parents get to see student eFolios, read student blogs and leave comments. We support parent connections to school and their students work and our librarian has created a Guide for Parents so they can understand different technology application, websites and other resources we use. For example, our teachers, parents and students use Edmodo to allow for safe and secure communication online without the need to for email. We have an incredible QAE Library and Resources area to support the strong connection between school and staff, home and our students to support reading, math, science, digital citizenship, tech tools, art media, information skills, health and fitness, and information skills. QAE Communication Catalyst School & Staff - Website - Principal Blog, Staff Blogs

- Daily eNewsletter - Edmodo - Library Resources -Orange Home/School Folder

Parents/Home
- Email -Phone -Edmodo
Queen Anne Elementary, Creative Approach Proposal

Students
- eFolios - Blogs - Edmodo - iPad/Device
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Volunteer Training Classes (in progress, continue to develop)


Criteria for Choice Maximize volunteer effectiveness, set expectations, and define teacher needs related to classroom volunteers. Provide introduction to Positive Discipline, tips on classroom management and how to best support the teacher and students. - Give all parents in contact with children a primer of Positive Discipline - Tips & Tricks: Non-verbal ways to help kids get on track or re-focus on task or teacher - Start the year smoothly. Usually, it can take new volunteers a few months to feel comfortable. Our goal with training is to skip those awkward weeks and month and start our volunteers strong. - Communicate school values and visions - Set expectations for parents (how to help, maintain student privacy and confidentiality) The training outlined the volunteers role and was presented by our Activity Chair and parent (a former teacher) and the Positive Discipline training and activity was presented by two of our staff. Our teachers met over the summer to outline best practices for classroom coordinators and volunteers. Created a classroom coordinator handbook and volunteer guidelines document. One staff member is providing the 20-minute Positive Discipline introduction for all four Fall Sessions. Training is one-hour long. - Our student enrollment is currently 278 and we have had 110 parents sign up for training. As of 10/11/12, 87 parents have completed training. - Training has spurred an interest in Positive Discipline from parents. - Our volunteers have only been in the classroom since early October. We should have a better sense of the effectiveness of the trainings later in the Fall. - Positive Discipline/Common Language: Parent volunteers are able to communicate in the same terms, encouragement vs. praise, and understanding PD methods. - Parents can enter the classroom confident with a solid array of tools (how to non-verbally re-engage a distracted child or group of talking children) - The role PD is our school culture is significant. We will survey our teachers after the Thanksgiving break to review differences between 2011-12 and 2012-13 volunteers and seek suggestions for fine tuning the training for the 2013-14 school year and beyond.

Training of Teacher Core Planning Time/ Collaboration

Assessment of Outcomes

Response to Student Need

Ongoing Assessment

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If you request waivers as part of your CAS application, what impact will the waivers you request have on hiring/staffing policy, enrollment policy, assessment policy, or other district policies? > Hiring - Waive Art. VIII, Sec. B, Phases 1 & 2 - Always start hiring at Phase 3 - Start hiring early in the year (before May) We are in growth-based hiring mode for the next four school years. We will need to hire seven teachers to accommodate our existing student capacity and new student enrollment. We would like to open hiring before May to allow for new staff to take training classes (if necessary) and attend our summer training and planning session.

QAE:%Capacity%&%Hiring%Forecast
Current%Classrooms Future%Classrooms/New%Hires No%Classroom *Capacity

2010@11 K 1 2 3 4 5

2011@12

2012@13

2013@14

2014@15

2015@16

2016@17*

We will continue to tailor our job description to include experience with Positive Discipline, Project Based Learning, grade level teams and collaborative work environment as important skills needed to have success in the job. We will also look into partnering with Seattle University to seek out qualified inters and student teacher candidates. Clarification from CAS Panel: Is an alternative to Section B to Opt for Section C. Site Based Hiring Process (p. 72) or is this complimentary to parts of Section B?

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Waivers (cont.) > Additional Days for Professional Development. We would like to explore the option of an extended day and need more time to discuss this with our parent community and staff as well as review cost-neutral ways we might be able to sustain this for three years. Add up to up to five (5) additional days for grade level planning and/or all staff planning. Students would stay at school and participate in enrichment activities. Days could be restricted to load core standards instruction in the first half of the day and then plan enrichment in the afternoon either with PCP staff or other enrichment. > Extended Day. We would like to explore the option of an extended day and need more time to discuss this with our parent community and staff as well as review cost-neutral ways we might be able to sustain this for three years. Length of school day for elementary schools in Seattle Public Schools is currently 6 hours. The Washington State average length of day is 6:24 (6.4) and the U.S. national average is 6:42 minutes (6.7). (Source: nces.ed.gov/surveys/annualreports/data/xls/daylength0708.xls) An extended day allows for increased enrichment time, built-in grade level collaboration time (reviewing assessments, responding to student needs*/interventions, and lengthened core subject block time). Its beneficial to supporting PBL (longer, uninterrupted blocks of time). 15-minute extension (6.25 day): adds 45 hours to the school year 30-minute extension (6.50 day): adds 90 hours to the school year 45-minute extension (6.75 day): adds 135 hours to the school year > Extended School Year. We would like to explore the option of an extended school year and need more time to discuss this with our parent community and staff as well as review cost- neutral ways we might be able to sustain this for three years. We propose an extended school year based on the effects of summer break summer slide on all children and particularly due to the cumulative effect of summer slide in K-5, especially in certain student populations. (http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs /2011/RAND_MG1120.pdf) > Transportation. We would like to review our transportation expenses and student usage to evaluate costs associated with transportation of our students. We would like to explore other transportation options and compare expenses and viability of this as an option. > All City Draw. Reducing our geographic footprint to provide greater access for all Seattle families. This supports our vision to have a more diverse student body. We would also consider set-aside seats for students from other areas of the city, such as No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Opt-Out students.
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Waivers (cont.) > Nutrition Services We are considering asking for a waiver from the districts school lunch program and allowing another vendor to replace service. We would like to be able to service our free and reduced lunch students with optimal nutrition and offer school lunches to families who would like the option to purchase lunch, but do not consider the current lunch menu as nutritious/acceptable. Summer Program. We would like to explore the option of a summer program at QAE and need more time to discuss this with our parent community and staff as well as review cost-neutral ways we might be able to sustain this for three years. - Use community based partnerships (Seattle University teaching interns, enrichment - QAE Staff Oversight/highly capable staff - Align summer program to - Seek Interest from families for a five week paid program - Develop competitive pricing and forecast scholarship students and sliding scale - Work with PTSA At-Home Summer Reading Program - Partner our families with their local library program - Provide lists of books for students to ready by grade level - Online reading programs - Coming back to school - Library at Home making a place for readers at home. _________________________________ Thank you for reviewing our CAS Proposal. We look forward to having an opportunity to discuss our proposal and seek feedback from the CAS Panel.

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An Overview Positive Discipline Curriculum at Queen Anne Elementary Contributed by Meg Farris, Social and Emotional Learning Co-Chair QAE has adopted PDC as the keystone of its Social and Emotional Learning curriculum. Hence, for the staff, PDC isnt a classroom management tool, or a positive- discipline plan. Rather, it is a framework from which to build a larger school culture that makes our 5 pillars possible. PDC has several core assumptions that QAE embraces. First is the assumption that children want to be connected to the people in their lives, and continually seek those connections in positive and negative ways. Second, PDC assumes that children are emotionally and socially competent. Third, PDC assumes that adults have the job of understanding, acknowledging, and supporting the children as they seek to connect and learn. Fourth, misbehavior is a child communicating that he/she feels that she doesnt feel connected, rather than being malicious or manipulative. Teachers have received professional PDC training, and were given a refresher at the start of school (Sept 4th). New teachers will be trained in PDC as they join the staff. Staff is considering the Advanced PDC training in the future, as well as training in trauma literacy. From the base of PDC, the teachers have added or expanded other mini-curricula that build SEL skills. For example, conflict resolution one of the five core SEL competencies is taught through the PDC class meetings, but is also enriched through the Kelsos Choice curriculum. Kelsos distinguishes between problems that kids can solve on their own and problems that they need support or intervention from a trusted adult. Kelsos gives kids a choice wheel of suggested actions for kid-sized problems. Teachers ask kids to try two strategies on the wheel before they offer support or intervene. Emotional literacy is another of the five core SEL skills, and the K and 1st grade teachers have infused story time with books that foster emotional literacy learning, such as When Sophie Gets Angry, Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang. After reading the story, teachers ask the students to identify the feelings of the characters in the book and to reflect on times when they felt similarly. They go further by asking the students when they have seen others have the feeling, and discuss strategies for when the feeling causes conflicts, or if it is feeling that they want to have again. In addition to the training being offered to teaching staff, the volunteer community has been trained in the basics of PDC: its purpose within the school community and how it works. Volunteers are not expected to have proficiency in PDC techniques, but are expected to support its principals and goals. In addition to curriculum enrichment, the QAE staff seeks to adopt or improve their SEL best practices. Many of the teachers have been exposed to SEL best practices, and have used them for years. As part of creating our school-wide SEL curriculum, it is important to identify, affirm, and review best practices. (I've grouped them according to whom the focus is on, but they overlap a great deal.)
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An Overview Positive Discipline Curriculum at Queen Anne Elementary (cont.) Contributed by Meg Farris, Social and Emotional Learning Co-Chair How Positive Discipline Support Skills for Student Engagement Student based: Connect with every student, engage kids as individuals every day (greeting them, etc.) Connect students with each other through school meetings, class meetings, school activities such as assemblies, holiday celebrations, before/after school clubs; community events like Jog-a-Thon Involve students in age-appropriate leadership of school and in establishing the school- wide culture (Kind. Safe. Fair. and Five Pillars) Recognize accomplishments and contributions throughout the school community

Teacher/Staff based: Understand that relationships are crucial to learning, and relationships must be based in trust and mutual respect Teachers and staff share about what is meaningful to them. Know that children shape their behavior on adult behavior (mirror neurons) Encourage students to reflect and explore rather than to seek only the right answer

Parent/Home based Bring parents/guardians into the school community with engagement activities Share the job of building the schools culture of Kind. Safe. Fair and Five pillars. Know that children shape their behavior on adult behavior (mirror neurons)

Community based Develop broad world-view. Expose children to economic and cultural differences around their community and globally. Encourage tolerance Service learning

Multi-generational learning (Reading buddies, Roots of Empathy, and project with QA Manor residents).

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