We have our FIRST Bright Spot Moment of the 2020-2021 year! We also for the first time have TWO people to spotlight at the same time.
Bright spots are stories that show the impact that our teachers are having on our school and district. When I see a bright spot moment you will be given a token that states, "You Blew Me Away." Have it as a momento of what great teachers we have in Amesbury Public Schools.
India Kolman and Mark Rinaldi are our Bright Spot Moments. They both have started a new curriculum this year using the Desbook. India did a paper lesson where she had students in groups discussing the problems together. Students were engaged and used conceptual understanding to describe how to find an area of a parallelogram. As students worked in groups she floated around the room to have deeper conversations with students about their work. When students finished she had them do an exit ticket and had them do a ST Math assignment connected to what you were doing in class. Mark did an online Desmos lesson where he had students on their chromebooks to answer questions on Desmos. He had students work on one slide at a time and walked around to have discussions with students as they worked. He asked students questions such as, "why did that work?" When he pulled students back to the whole group to have a discussion he asked students, "how did that work," and then used students' work to have further discussions. He continually made students explain their answers in-depth. Both educators facilitated the Desmos curriculum differently but still used student centered techniques such as having students explain or show their own thinking to check on their understanding. Due to these great lessons India and Mark are my next Bright Spot Moment (the first of 2020-2021!). Thank you India and Mark for the positive impact you make in Amesbury Public Schools.