for students, and collaborative planning. Teachers
are also encouraged to watch webinars from the
Tennessee Department of Education, Battelle for
Kids, and other groups that support implementation
of rigorous instruction aligned to the Common Core
standards. In the summer of 2012, several teachers
visited a school in Haywood County, North Carolina
that had achieved very high academic growth with
a student population similar to that of John Sevier
Elementary.
Teachers have a full schedule of professional development, including ongoing training in Common
Core implementation, working with students with
disabilities, using technology effectively, and analyzing and using data to improve instruction, among
other topics. Teachers work closely with their grade
level teams during time set aside for professional
learning communities and with cross-grade level
teams at least twice a year. The combination of the
new and more experienced teachers, who are all
changing their instruction to align with the Common
Core, has fostered creative, rich lessons.
Finally, staff members “gather research-based
instructional nuggets” (G.R.I.N.) encountered in their
reading. The nuggets can be about methodology,
technique, organizational ideas, or how to inspire
others. Teachers collect instructional nuggets
throughout the semester to share with the team.
Effective instruction. While John Sevier requires
no specific lesson format, many grade-level teams
have created comprehensive lesson structure
frameworks. The frameworks provide opportunities
for in-depth learning and feature creative ways to
introduce students to lessons and engage multiple
styles. For example, in the third grade’s book club
structure, teachers emphasize building students’
background knowledge, generating a purpose for
reading, and then beginning reading instruction.
Each student has a specific role to help them explore the material in depth. At the end of the literacy
block, which is about 90 minutes long, students
assess their work with an evaluation form featuring questions about preparation and participation,
strengths for the day, and a goal for the next lesson.
The process also has suggestions for early finishers.
To help older students apply their knowledge to
real-world situations, the school has them participate in the Classroom Market, an economics project
that takes place over seven school days. In the first
week, students set up their teams, create a bubble
map of ideas, develop one idea extensively (such as
a business name, product name, product functions,
picture, and materials needed), and make their first
prototype. Students in groups of three get $20 for
the business; individual students get $10 for shopping. Students buy materials and determine manufacturing costs, in addition to determining costs
for advertising, rentals, profits, and taxes. Students
also build an assembly line and create an advertising campaign. In the second week, they have two
Market Days where each student uses his or her $10
to buy products from other stores. At the end of the
first day, students complete a reflection sheet with
questions about how many products they sold and
how much profit they made. Students operate market booths for an additional day and then complete
a second reflection sheet that includes questions
such as how to increase their sales and make more
products and product displays.
“A Classroom Market
Lesson Plan”
http://www.tnscore.org/scoreprize/
downloads/2012/a_Classroom_
Market_Lesson_Plan.pdf
Student interventions. Students making inadequate progress receive additional support through
Response to Intervention (RTI). For the first tier,
the school identifies students in the “danger zone,”
which includes those students with the lowest
scores, as well as students who have failed to
reach the next proficiency level by just a few points.
Students record what they can do and where they
need help on daily exit tickets, which allow teachers to determine which students have or have
not mastered the material. Deep data dives allow
teachers to track progress, differentiate instruction,
reteach, or refer a student for intervention. The principal stays abreast of every student’s progress by
personally signing each report card, often making
comments to parents about the child’s strengths
and challenges.
Students who have fallen further behind are
assigned to the second tier for additional interventions. These students may be served in class
by a teaching assistant or pulled out for tutoring.
Teachers may receive an assistant for up to four
hours a day. Some teachers assign the assistant to
work with identified children. Others teachers work
with students needing intervention, while the assistant takes over the class. According to one teacher,
this type of care “makes my time with each child
meaningful.”
Pathways to the Prize
Lessons from the 2012 SCORE Prize School Winners
18