Today, I was in Texas for my fifth day at a high school. I have largely focused on the 17 ELA teachers in this VERY large school! We started our work in October with initial drop-in diagnosis. We then moved (from this initial diagnosis) to focusing on Tasking (active student engagement). Next we focused on prioritizing and differentiating core standards. Teachers learned about differentiation in planning and differentiation during the act of teaching. Today our focus was Depth of Knowledge. I then spent time observing in many, many, many classrooms. WOW! I saw HUGE growth in active student engagement! Way less “teacher talk” and way more active student engagement. I saw teachers using proximity not only for behavior and assessment – but also for having DOK 3 (strategic thinking) conversations with individuals and small groups of students.

These teachers are 100% committed to differentiating their teaching to meet the needs of all learners and infusing higher order thinking into strategies for all levels of learners.

Now, I’m at the airport headed to St. George, UT to do demo lessons tomorrow. Yup, the flight layover is the airport closest to my home…