Professional Learning Day: Grade Level Planning Day 

Agenda and artifacts from a Kindergarten professional learning and math unit unpacking day. 

This planning day was for grade level teachers to be able to unpack and plan for their upcoming math unit. I also wanted to embed time for reflection on their own math teaching practices, observation of another teacher and time to lay the ground work for a future lesson study cycle. I provided a unit planning framework for teachers, and we collaboratively identified the big ideas of the unit and then the team worked together to plan out pacing, look at assessments and plan individual lesson. This team has many strengths, and the open-ended process for the lesson planning framework allowed for the team to bring their strengths to the planning process (III.ii.d.). 

Two new ideas I brought to this planning day are both things I would continue to use in the future. One was the use of the Shifts in Practice continuum reflection. Teachers had open and honest conversations about their practice after using this tool (III.ii.d.).  The way I planned the classroom observation was also a new practice I would keep. Generally for planning days I have teachers observe others from their own team teaching for a short amount of time. Instead, I asked a 2nd grade teacher if we could observe her. In 2nd grade, they were in the midst of a unit that related directly back to the work that the Kinder teachers were planning in their unit. I wanted the K team to have a chance to see the progression of where their standards were heading. Everyone agreed this was a powerful new way to have an observation (III.ii.b., III.ii.d.). 

After the session, I followed up with professional readings from Principles to Action that aligned with the mathematical shift the teacher had selected as an area of focus from their reflection. I asked teachers to read this prior to our lesson cycle planning meeting, focusing on a "what is the teacher doing/what are students doing" graphic. This was helpful to have some new learning to discuss when planning out the lesson for their lesson cycle (III.iii.b). Having next steps after this planning day was helpful for me as a coach to keep our learning journey moving forward. The activities I planned connected directly to the next steps in our collaborative learning (III.ii.a). 

Mathematics Specialist Standards 

• III.ii.a:  Engage in and facilitate continuous and collaborative learning that draws upon research in mathematics education to inform practice; 

• III.ii.b.: enhance learning opportunities for all students’ and teachers’ mathematical knowledge development; 

• III.ii.d.: advance the development in themselves and others as reflective practitioners as they utilize group processes to collaboratively solve problems, make decisions, manage conflict, and promote meaningful change.

• III.iii.b.: use and assist teachers in drawing upon resources from professional mathematics education organizations such as teacher/leader discussion groups, teacher networks, and print, digital, and virtual resources/collections; and