Chilcotin Road Elementary

2017-2018: Reanne Sacchetti continues to facilitate the PLC at Chilcotin Road this year. The staff is working on the following inquiry:

• Focus: Applied Design, Skills, and Technology Curriculum leading to creative/innovative problem-solving.
• Checking: Because the ADST curriculum was new, we assumed that students knew very little about “Design Thinking.” Therefore, we did not do an initial scan and a baseline was not establish.

At the end of May a Student Survey was given out and we discovered the following (Choice on the survey was very well, well, somewhat, a little and not at all):

• Student reported that they were able to follow the main objective of a project. (well)
• Student reported that they were able to give ideas towards a design. (well)
• Student reported that they could add to others’ ideas about a design. (somewhat)
• Students reported that they could choose a design to purse. (well)
• Students reported that they could choose the right tools and materials for a project. (very well)
• Student reported that they learned how to use their mistakes to make a project better (very well)
• Reflection: I think overall, we underestimated how capable many students were in this area of Applied Design Skills and Technology. Technology and design thinking has been part of our world for some time and the education system has just got on board.

Many of these students have been developing these skills at home with gaming programs like Minecraft and are very familiar with the technology needed to run these programs.

It is not surprising that students struggled when adding to other’s ideas. At this age many students are centered on their ideas and what they can do. Working to create something as a team is much harder. In the future we will continue to work on “group works” skills.

2016-2017: Reanne Sacchetti continues to facilitate the PLC at Chilcotin Road this year. The staff is working on the following inquiry:

• To what extent can we improve engagement, creativity and productivity in learning by allowing students to have a personal/emotional connection to what they learn?
• Analysis: 7 classes implemented Genius Hour in their classroom: Of the 7 classes, 5 said that engagement of students greatly improved, 2 said that engagement improved immensely. Of the 7 classes, 3 said productivity improved somewhat, 3 said that productivity improved a lot and 1 said immensely. Of the 7 classes, 1 said creativity improved a lot, 6 said creativity greatly improved
• Reflection: We were interested in finding out to what extent can we improve engagement, creativity and productivity in learning by allowing students to have a personal/emotional connection to what they learn? In other words to what extent can we improve engagement, creativity and productivity in learning by allowing students to purse topics they are passionate about?

We have discovered that there were great improvements in engagement and creativity during Genius Hour. Clearly students are excited about pursuing topics that they are passionate about. Even though there were improvements in productivity it was not rated as high as engagement and creativity. There were many reasons for why this would be so. Firstly, the project required a huge learning curve in the area of research. Many students struggled with effective research techniques, using computers effectively and especially for the primary students researching material they could read. As well, Genius Hour was always under time restrains. If Genius Hour was scheduled on a Friday, which many of them were, many times Genius Hour was cancelled due to Holidays or Pro D.

Overall however we feel the implementation of Genius Hour was a success at our school and will be even more successful next year as students start to understand what is expected of them and staff become more effective in overcoming the obstacles. Many staff are very interested in continuing with Genius Hour for next year.

2015-2016: Reanne Sacchetti is facilitating the PLC at Chilcotin Road this year. The staff is working on the following inquiry:

• To what extent will will working with children in small groups allow us to improve student achievement in Math at all levels?
• Analysis: Guided Math is happening in 9 out of the 11 classrooms. One teacher is not using it and does not attend PLC meetings. The other teacher attends PLC meetings and hopes to use it in the future. All other 9 teachers attend PLC meetings and are using Guided Math in their classrooms.

We were happy to see that most students like math (75%) and many students (80%) are comfortable with math. When we interviewed those who did not like math we found out that they still liked math games and meeting in small groups. Some wanted more examples and a slower pace for math. We also brainstormed why intermediate students may have a less positive attitude towards math compared to primary students. We did acknowledge that primary students have had more Guided Math lessons than intermediate students.

The nature of Guided Math requires us to assess students, teach in small groups and reassess on an ongoing basis. It was clear from the reassessments reported from most teachers that students learning has improved when working in small groups. Students have made comments that they really like geometry or fractions and that they understand more when taught this way.

• Reflection: In reflection, most teachers at Chilcotin Road are committed to continuing with Guided Math for the future as part of good teaching practice. Our survey confirmed what most of us knew already, that teaching smaller groups improves attitudes towards math. Students are less distracted and seem to understand more when taught using a Guided Math Program.

In reading a study done in Florida called, “It Is Not Math They Hate,” we also learned that when students are good at Math they are not affected by a poor Math teacher as much. However, when a student does not do well in Math they are very much affected by a poor teacher. It is evident from our PLC meetings that the teachers at Chilcotin Road have also been committed to becoming the best teachers they can be in this area. The professional discussions and overall commitment to our PLC meetings has been very encouraging.

We shared ideas at how to organize a Guided Math Program, we shared different math games and the use of different manipulatives. Our storage area for math resources became more organized and needed resources were also purchased. Our administration and PAC was very supportive in helping us purchase these needed resources.

In reflection, I feel that the PLC this year was very worthwhile and has helped Chilcotin Road staff to be better teachers.

2014-2015: Reanne Sacchetti is the PLC Facilitator at this school. She also works as this school's Learning Support teacher.

The entire teaching staff is involved in the following inquiry:

• To what extent will the explicit teaching of writing techniques enhance the quality of writing for students at Chilcotin Road Elementary?
• Analysis: Our SWW Results show that the overall improvement for Chilcotin Road Elementary is quite significant. CRE Primary students improved by 22% and CRE Intermediate students improved by 18%.

The district Primary students improved by 23% and the district Intermediate students improved by 10%. In both categories of Primary and Intermediate we are meeting or exceeding the district in our Spring SWW results.

SWW Results Fall 2014:

Percentage of students at and above target: Primary: CR School 49% District 48%

Inter. CR School 60% District 63%

SWW Results Spring 2015:

Percentage of students at and above target: Primary: CR School 71% District 71%

Inter. CR School 78% District 73%

When looking at improvements within the 4 areas of Meaning, Style, Form and Conventions, Chilcotin Road made significant improvements in all areas. Grade 1 and Grade 3 students showed to have the most improvement in all four areas. We were particularly interested in seeing an improvement in the area of Form. Our results showed that this indeed is where the most improvement took place throughout the grades thus proving our inquiry that the explicit teaching of writing strategies using Adrienne Gear Non Fiction Writing will improve writing scores.

• Reflection: Teachers made an increased effort to provide graphic organizers when students are writing their draft copies. The writing process was displayed in the classrooms and time was set aside each week for the specific teaching of a non-fiction type of write. Once a week teachers demonstrated a strategy that was suggested in our resource book. This proved to be a very positive experience. A scope and sequence was set up for the intermediate teachers as suggested in Adrienne Gear’s book Non Fiction Writing Power. The primary teachers chose to not do a scope and sequence at this time.