September 13th Edition
Happy Friday (the 13th)! I have a lot to update you all on this wonderful September morning, as the school year is well under way! So far, I've had a chance to get into about 16 of our schools, with my goal of seeing the remainder before the end of the month. I am seeing bright, beautiful buildings, the use of technology (especially in our secondary schools), planned teachers, and positive school cultures. Great examples of this are kids in Biology at Gratz (right) engaging in HMH and google classroom and kindergarten dual-language students at Molina (below) What I am also seeing is teachers almost executing the Common Foundation, but not always fully meeting the mark. I am seeing scaffolds - lots of them, both written (think: graphic organizers) and verbal (teachers narrating kids through the thinking steps). When I see these things, I worry - I think about the level of cognitive engagement that is expected at a given grade level t...