March+12+2009


 * ISB 21 Team Meeting Agenda **

Understanding = U Informing = I Recommending = R Deciding = D ||
 * Date: Thursday, March 12, 2009 || Starting/ Ending Time: 8:30 – 10:00 || Place: MS SkyBox ||
 * Facilitator/Timekeeper: Chad || Recorder: Dennis || Purpose:

Participants: Tara, Jeff, Kim, Chad, Rob, Dennis, Ida, Stephen Guests: Bill, Tom, Andy, Ann ||  **P** || **Guiding Question** || **Background/ Process** || **Person/Time** || Sharing Successes || **I** || What is a recent success that you've had in collaboration with another a faculty member? ||  Rotation to share recent successes with colleagues. || 10 min || News and Reviews || **I** || How can our two "departments" communicate more effectively? || Tech and Library Teams share what's happening || 10 min || Nuts & Bolts || **I** ||  Keeping up with daily business || Tech and Library Teams share business ||  10 min ||  ||
 * **Task**
 * Weekly:
 * School Vision || **D** || * How do we fit within the school vision?
 * How can we come to an understanding about this? || Progress in IT:
 * Grad course and impact on learning & teaching (Jeff & Kim)
 * PantherNet (Dennis)
 * InsideISB (Jeff)
 * MyISB (Chad)
 * Google Apps (Chad)
 * Main Library Review (Rob, Ida, Tom)
 * Infrastructure and hardware (Chad and Stephen) || 60 min ||
 * Weekly:
 * Weekly:

**Minutes**
Share successes:


 * Tara: 5th grade poetry using VoiceThread to share and publish with Tracey Garner
 * Bill: Dave Krocker's Ning - high level of intellectual discourse happening online
 * Jeff: NCTE good article on Age of Composition
 * Rob: Positive reflection opportunities using WWW blog on the Jewelry course with kids from outside merging written responses with typed ones
 * Kim: VoiceThread with Grade 3 Rebecca Rodgers
 * Ida: Book reviews by MS students uploaded onto Destiny - 6th Grade are independent & 8th graders are being monitored by teachers using TurnItIn
 * Ann: Grade 7 - Connected World Unit designed using UbD. 8 Global issues being looked at and technology tools are facilitating the collaboration
 * Bill: 16 visits this week had IT in the classroom going on

Progress and current Projects:


 * Graduate Course (Kim & Jeff)
 * 40 ISB teachers in class
 * Besides using/learning tools they also must produce a Unit of Learning that embeds ideas and best tools for the learning
 * Wide range of starting points in the participants, but now that has narrowed as we continue the courses
 * Has been powerful, effective PD for changing/improving teachers
 * Bill asked if there was anything in place to share the learning these 40 have had with the 160 others?
 * This would be powerful
 * Part of the course requirements could be to share with team
 * Next course is focused on social and ethical issues
 * PantherNet (Dennis)
 * Moving forward...getting close to tipping point
 * Powerful use of features starting to grow as teachers begin to use it and share their uses
 * Others shared success stories
 * Tom asked about connection between PantherNet and Rubicon - are we still looking at this concept?
 * Sharing occurring but not fully collaborative
 * Rubicon link...getting curriculum documented
 * Written (Atlas) - Taught (PantherNet) - Assessed Curriculum (PantherNet)
 * This technology has allowed a firmer connection between Written Curriculum and the other 2 pieces

Side Tangent....


 * Chad suggested now, it's time to survey what's worked with this and what are its best uses
 * Stephen said, this brings up the issue of when does best practice become recognized and then expected (this is the Moose - or hairy goat)
 * One of Andy's big roles next year will be to look at how we can move to this level of "expectations"
 * Tom reminded us that we ask, "what do we want kids to know and be able to do" - Curriculum Office re-design will focus on this and how we implement this
 * We need to ensure that we facilitate teachers being much more clear on the Standards and Benchmarks that guide our learning endeavors
 * This ensures that our taught curriculum doesn't drift
 * Curriculum discussion ensued in whichbrought up concerns of whether we were confident that all teachers know and use the Written curriculum
 * We are improving/updating this information to ensure it's relevant

Chad asked about the status of the Vision revision to include ISB21 ideas (from our last meeting)
 * Bill said that right now we are looking at repackaging of our marketing side to better reflect the powerful learning that we have going on already
 * We are moving along...is it a big deal to ISB21 team?
 * Chad responded that it is a big deal for us because this give us the administrative justification for pushing our message with teachers and student learning needs
 * This allows teachers to buy into necessity of what we are selling (which currently comes across as our ideas)
 * The "requirement" of the changes in Science has helped make that coaching and implementation model successful
 * Will 21st Century ideas get that same push from both sides?
 * What are L.T.'s thoughts on accountability to the Vision?
 * Bill brought up the Performance indicators
 * We are working towards this with Definition of Learning and getting that common message out
 * Right now it's an option to do ISB21 concepts
 * Tom: We are conceptualizing these skills and moving forward so it is still work in progress
 * Ann: TLC Coaches are a step that work help push this model
 * Ann: Our view is that it's NOT going to be top down...but rather "organic", not dictated
 * Bill asked for examples of 21st Century skills
 * Effective Communication
 * Effective Collaboration
 * Effective information processing/evaluation
 * Effective independent learning
 * Tom: Organizational Goals are a direct connection to the Vision and what teachers are doing to address it
 * Principals use this process to get a sense of how teachers work towards Vision point (eg. academic potential) in specific instances
 * Kim: when will ISB21 get that same kind of push?