Communication and Resources Link

District Literacy Team Meeting: December 3, 2020

- Send attendance sign in sheets to Verna Jensen
- Link to Communication and Resources Page

Agenda Items: Notes:

1. Welcome ● Positives
○ Kids are back! Having staff and kids in the hallway has been amazing!
○ Using Google Meet and having breakout rooms (much more difficult than
Zoom) to work with kids. Wanted a mute button today…
○ Almost done gathering the data for ISASP groupings. Two middle schools
are done - the smaller numbers help with that.
○ More students came back face-to-face today - it is nice to see more of our
students getting what they need.
○ Kids are super excited to be back face-to-face after all this time.
● Struggles
○ Hard on classroom teachers to have more than 1 or 2 students coming back
in the middle of a content unit.
○ Students are coming back and not quite ready to get moving. Working on a
system for the catch-up needed for students.
○ West is working to meet with each student for an ISASP goal. It’s hard
because many of our students don’t have scores for two or more years.
Last year was a trial in many ways for ISASP, so it feels like it’s a sad/hard
goal. Hoover felt like Edify was rocky and using ISASP and Edify makes it
feel like the data isn’t the best.
○ Finding the balance of moving with the pace of school and our data along
with meeting the needs of teachers.
○ Survival is the name of this tough year. Are we offering our teachers
enough grace, so that they can offer our students enough grace? Time with
the A/B schedule is making things feel really restrictive.
○ Virtual attendance was good; work completion was not great. Having the
afternoon time to plan and grade was great - allowed us to keep the
students more accountable.

2. What is needed ● Edify Update

right now? ○ Long term subs have been given a code in IC that allows them to move into
Edify
○ Tell me more about the info teachers want to know about the Edify
assessment.
● Sacred Novels for K-12: WCSD Sacred Novels and Texts K-12
○ Please move your items to the appropriate place on the Google sheet, so
everything is located in one spot.
○ HS Doc - old
○ MS Doc
● TQ prep
● Curriculum Maps based on new curriculum choices (2nd semester over new
 resources)
● Assessment Calendar:

3. Professional Feedback:
Development
Next Steps:

4. Important LINK to Waterloo Literacy Coaches Beliefs

Documents & MS/HS Vision Document
Actions Assessment Calendar
4 Year Action Steps
MS/HS vision link:
Year 1 - 2019-2021: Explore curricular materials that would best fit our beliefs and CCSS.
https://docs.google.
Year 2 - 2021-2022: Implement Literacy Curriculum Map across all building using newly adopted
com/document/d/1j resources. Infuse Social Studies & Science strategically into our Literacy Curriculum Map.
Dbl30EUh6RjBfbW Year 3 - 2022-2023: Implement Cross-Content Curriculum Map with fidelity across all buildings.
2tnjJqw61EkP8vV Year 4 - 2023-2024: ytd based on feedback
GgnOYvQjbhSk/edi
t?usp=sharing

5. Next Meeting Next Steps:

Dates & ● Discuss meeting dates - are they when they provide the most benefit to this team?
Communications
to share out at
your buildings:

ZOOM Meetings
● Dec. 3rd
● Jan. 21
● Feb. 11
● Mar. 11
● Apr. 8
● May 6

6. Curriculum For whom are we making an adoption?

Materials ● For students
Discussion - ● For us
Reminders
Why?
MS Literacy, HS ● We are going to have a voice, and we are going to stick with it for the next 7 years.
Literacy What does our DATA tell us? Is our instruction working? Is it working for all?
● Most responses were a sideways thumb.
95% agree on the ● Our instruction is the bottom line.
choices made What would we, as professionals, want to see included in our teaching materials?
before closure ● The reading and writing being completely cohesive.
last year. ● High interest, diverse reading selections mixed with the canon
● Digital resources - that get updated over time especially with nonfiction
● Quality assessments
● Interventions based on those assessments (skill support)
 ● Multimedia
● Access to speaking and listening tools
● Tied to the Core
● Recursive
Without support materials, can we provide…in our literacy lessons without a
material/resources adoption?
● Differentiated
● Skills- based practice
● Scaffolded
● Language support beyond English
● Rigorous (DoK)
● Engaging
● Standards-based
● Digitally enhanced for 1:1
● Rich, varied, complex texts
● We teach to the Core, not to the material.
Questions:
1. What will happen with our current materials?
● Your other materials will have to be turned in once this decision has been made.
● Please be very transparent about what you need and want.
2. What about pieces that are missing from the current curriculum choices?
● We wou ld have to supplement this in some way to guarantee that those
important pieces could still be taught.
3. How do we provide the direction around how teachers go through the curriculum
materials?
● We teach standards, not literature - the literature is what makes the standards
come alive.
● Whatever we need to do to make this message be clear, we will need to do so.
4. Do we have to choose the same company for all grade levels?
● Please showcase your needs for students and achievement in the rating forms.
Provide clear and concise explanations to showcase your why.

7. ISASP Rubrics HS--Narrative Checklist

ISASP Rubric are either informative or argumentative.
Argumentative at 9th and 11th is exactly the same. This is concerning.
8th--Persuasive argument (3 different articles)

There is concern about going solely with the ISASP rubrics. There is concern that the
Calkins checklists/rubrics will slowly go away if we have one from ISASP that is used
solely.
The ISASP rubrics seem very generalized.
Preference at the MS is to stay with Calkins and look at a crosswalk with the structure of an
ISASP rubric (points 5-4-3-2-1). Criteria goes across while the numbers go down the side.
Merger?
HS--Look at a crosswalk to see what their teams think about their current rubrics vs. the
ISASP rubrics.
HS--Moving the science and social studies to the ISASP rubrics...conversations happening
after the break. The general consensus of this group here is that this would be an easier
 process for the content areas.

District Literacy Team Meeting: October 29, 2020

- Send attendance sign in sheets to Verna Jensen
- Link to Communication and Resources Page

Agenda Items: Notes: Assessment Calendar - Tentative

1. Welcome ● Positives
○ MS assessment calendar is delivered
○ PD went well in MS
■ Literacy appreciated having a focus during their PD
○ Fun writing has been positive - transfer is happening
● Struggles
○ Revolving door of students and playing catch-up - how can this be
supported?
○ Quick turn-around with quarter grades -adjustments?
○ Sacred texts - in middle school and high schools
■ Mentor texts in new curriculum at MS/HS
■ Curriculum for HS has been chosen - steps to get to the board
■ Point person…
■

2. What is needed ● Edify for Meyer

right now? ○ Double-check IC connections. Some teachers are loading over to Edify.
● Curriculum Maps based on new curriculum choices (2nd semester over new
resources)

3. Important LINK to Waterloo Literacy Coaches Beliefs

Documents & MS/HS Vision Document
Actions
4 Year Action Steps
MS/HS vision link:
Year 1 - 2019-2020: Explore curricular materials that would best fit our beliefs and CCSS.
https://docs.google.
Year 2 - 2020-2021: Implement Literacy Curriculum Map across all building using newly adopted
com/document/d/1j resources. Infuse Social Studies & Science strategically into our Literacy Curriculum Map.
Dbl30EUh6RjBfbW Year 3 - 2021-2022: Implement Cross-Content Curriculum Map with fidelity across all buildings.
2tnjJqw61EkP8vV Year 4 - 2022-2023: ytd based on feedback
GgnOYvQjbhSk/edi
t?usp=sharing

4. Professional ● Feedback from last week

Development ○ MS -
■ Was unsure if the IC map was correlating to middle school (seemed
very elementary focused)
 ■ Wanting to see what we are doing in each building as it pertains to
the CLM process.
■ Was nice to see what other schools are doing on Jamboard (seeing
what others are doing)
■ The most important piece to the PD is getting to visit with other
buildings to see/hear how they are implementing things.
■ If coaches are seeing things that are being done well, it would be
nice to see those things.
■ Possibly have a little show and tell something they are proud of.
■ Possibly have a shared google classroom to share ideas with
common grades across all four buildings
○ HS - We are at West High. 8:00-9:00 will be American Lit/Comp. If teachers
are not teaching this but have common classes, they can begin meeting.
9:00-10:00 will be specifically for the 9th and 10th grade PLCs. We are
looking to find the documentation to allow textbook adoption to move
forward. Based on adoption, the rest of PD will be spent on curriculum.
● Plan for Nov 13th.
○ MS
■ Middle school literacy coaches meet with AEA tomorrow to help
plan Nov 13th PD based on where we left off from our October PD.
■ We are focusing on the learning environment portion of the IC Map.
■ Take into consideration what we are doing to meet with students in
groups virtually? We are being very creative given Covid, discussing
how we are accomplishing classroom environment within the Covid
lense.

5. Next Meeting Next Steps:

Dates & ● Discuss meeting dates - are they when they provide the most benefit to this team?
Communications
to share out at
your buildings:

ZOOM Meetings
● Dec. 3rd
● Jan. 14
● Feb. 11
● Mar. 11
● Apr. 8
● May 6

6. Curriculum For whom are we making an adoption?

Materials ● For students
Discussion - ● For us
Reminders
Why?
MS Literacy, HS ● We are going to have a voice, and we are going to stick with it for the next 7 years.
Literacy What does our DATA tell us? Is our instruction working? Is it working for all?
● Most responses were a sideways thumb.
95% agree on the ● Our instruction is the bottom line.
What would we, as professionals, want to see included in our teaching materials?
choices made ● The reading and writing being completely cohesive.
before closure ● High interest, diverse reading selections mixed with the canon
last year. ● Digital resources - that get updated over time especially with nonfiction
● Quality assessments
● Interventions based on those assessments (skill support)
● Multimedia
● Access to speaking and listening tools
● Tied to the Core
● Recursive
Without support materials, can we provide…in our literacy lessons without a
material/resources adoption?
● Differentiated
● Skills- based practice
● Scaffolded
● Language support beyond English
● Rigorous (DoK)
● Engaging
● Standards-based
● Digitally enhanced for 1:1
● Rich, varied, complex texts
● We teach to the Core, not to the material.
Questions:
5. What will happen with our current materials?
● Your other materials will have to be turned in once this decision has been made.
● Please be very transparent about what you need and want.
6. What about pieces that are missing from the current curriculum choices?
● We wou ld have to supplement this in some way to guarantee that those
important pieces could still be taught.
7. How do we provide the direction around how teachers go through the curriculum
materials?
● We teach standards, not literature - the literature is what makes the standards
come alive.
● Whatever we need to do to make this message be clear, we will need to do so.
8. Do we have to choose the same company for all grade levels?
● Please showcase your needs for students and achievement in the rating forms.
Provide clear and concise explanations to showcase your why.

7. ISASP Rubrics HS--Narrative Checklist

ISASP Rubric are either informative or argumentative.
Argumentative at 9th and 11th is exactly the same. This is concerning.
8th--Persuasive argument (3 different articles)

There is concern about going solely with the ISASP rubrics. There is concern that the
Calkins checklists/rubrics will slowly go away if we have one from ISASP that is used
solely.
The ISASP rubrics seem very generalized.
Preference at the MS is to stay with Calkins and look at a crosswalk with the structure of an
ISASP rubric (points 5-4-3-2-1). Criteria goes across while the numbers go down the side.
 Merger?
HS--Look at a crosswalk to see what their teams think about their current rubrics vs. the
ISASP rubrics.
HS--Moving the science and social studies to the ISASP rubrics...conversations happening
after the break. The general consensus of this group here is that this would be an easier
process for the content areas.

District Literacy Team Meeting: September 24, 2020

- Send attendance sign in sheets to Verna Jensen
- Link to Communication and Resources Page

Agenda Items: Notes:

1. Welcome ● Positives
○ Some teachers are really doing amazing things by looking at our models.
○ Enjoying the smaller class sizes in order to build relationships with kids.
○ My classroom allows for physical distancing to happen.
○ Our students that are with us are doing amazing things - progress bars are
green!
○ Kids are glad to be back with kids!
● Struggles
○ Edify with certain groups
■ ELL
○ HS - Use of Seminar time, differentiated windows
■ Time
○ Feels like we are assessing too much
○ Is the data valuable to us?
○ Does the flow help us help our students?
○ If we do all the assessments on the calendar, getting to curriculum will be
extremely difficult.
■ Kids are treating that day off as time to work.
■

2. What is needed ● Checks on Edify

right now? ● Check on assessment calendar (MS)

3. Important LINK to Waterloo Literacy Coaches Beliefs

Documents & MS/HS Vision Document
Actions
4 Year Action Steps
MS/HS vision link:
Year 1 - 2019-2020: Explore curricular materials that would best fit our beliefs and CCSS.
https://docs.google.
Year 2 - 2020-2021: Implement Literacy Curriculum Map across all building using newly adopted
com/document/d/1j resources. Infuse Social Studies & Science strategically into our Literacy Curriculum Map.
Dbl30EUh6RjBfbW Year 3 - 2021-2022: Implement Cross-Content Curriculum Map with fidelity across all buildings.
2tnjJqw61EkP8vV Year 4 - 2022-2023: ytd based on feedback
GgnOYvQjbhSk/edi
t?usp=sharing

4. Professional ● Feedback from last week

Development ○ MS - didn’t meet as a group
○ HS -
● Plan moving forward
○ Middle School
■ grading/norming with Calkins
■ PLCs
■ Power in district-wide discussions and collaborations
■ Discussing sacred texts, mentor texts
● Differentiated mentor texts
● Share with grade level
■ Writing mentor texts
■ Calkins PD - what we are looking at
■ Calkins - conferencing cards/tips/rings
○ Edify hopes and dreams
■ Number of questions
● 40 is disheartening
● 42 questions with audio, writing, and multiple passages
● 10 questions??
● Finish in a block
● Can we know the SKILLS that will be on the upcoming edify
● Shorter Edify’s with a possible quicker turn around to do
something with it
● Structure of test was different - lots of 2 part questions
○ HS
■ Work on interrater reliability skills for 9-11
● 9th
○ Each teacher will supply one narrative sample from
last year
○ 6 copies of each narrative and rubrics from last year
● 10th
○ Each teacher will supply one literary analysis
○ 7 copies of each sample and rubric
● 11th
○ Continue discussing Am Lit curriculum IF TIME after
inter rater reliability

5. Next Meeting Next Steps:

Dates & ● Assessment Calendar
Communications ● Trouble-shoot Edify connections
to share out at
your buildings:

ZOOM Meetings
● Oct. 22
● Nov. 19
 ● Dec. 17
● Jan. 14
● Feb. 11
● Mar. 11
● Apr. 8
● May 6

6. Curriculum For whom are we making an adoption?

Materials ● For students
Discussion - ● For us
Reminders
Why?
MS Literacy, HS ● We are going to have a voice, and we are going to stick with it for the next 7 years.
Literacy What does our DATA tell us? Is our instruction working? Is it working for all?
● Most responses were a sideways thumb.
● Our instruction is the bottom line.
What would we, as professionals, want to see included in our teaching materials?
● The reading and writing being completely cohesive.
● High interest, diverse reading selections mixed with the canon
● Digital resources - that get updated over time especially with nonfiction
● Quality assessments
● Interventions based on those assessments (skill support)
● Multimedia
● Access to speaking and listening tools
● Tied to the Core
● Recursive
Without support materials, can we provide…in our literacy lessons without a
material/resources adoption?
● Differentiated
● Skills- based practice
● Scaffolded
● Language support beyond English
● Rigorous (DoK)
● Engaging
● Standards-based
● Digitally enhanced for 1:1
● Rich, varied, complex texts
● We teach to the Core, not to the material.
Questions:
9. What will happen with our current materials?
● Your other materials will have to be turned in once this decision has been made.
● Please be very transparent about what you need and want.
10. What about pieces that are missing from the current curriculum choices?
● We wou ld have to supplement this in some way to guarantee that those
important pieces could still be taught.
11. How do we provide the direction around how teachers go through the curriculum
materials?
● We teach standards, not literature - the literature is what makes the standards
come alive.
 ● Whatever we need to do to make this message be clear, we will need to do so.
12. Do we have to choose the same company for all grade levels?
● Please showcase your needs for students and achievement in the rating forms.
Provide clear and concise explanations to showcase your why.

7. ISASP Rubrics HS--Narrative Checklist

ISASP Rubric are either informative or argumentative.
Argumentative at 9th and 11th is exactly the same. This is concerning.
8th--Persuasive argument (3 different articles)

There is concern about going solely with the ISASP rubrics. There is concern that the
Calkins checklists/rubrics will slowly go away if we have one from ISASP that is used
solely.
The ISASP rubrics seem very generalized.
Preference at the MS is to stay with Calkins and look at a crosswalk with the structure of an
ISASP rubric (points 5-4-3-2-1). Criteria goes across while the numbers go down the side.
Merger?
HS--Look at a crosswalk to see what their teams think about their current rubrics vs. the
ISASP rubrics.
HS--Moving the science and social studies to the ISASP rubrics...conversations happening
after the break. The general consensus of this group here is that this would be an easier
process for the content areas.