Super+Troopers

 Ms. Prois-Balalis Ms. Katz Ms. Wyckoff Ms. Brondolo Ms. Vakalopoulos Ms. Ransom Ms. Bell Ms. Rashid Mr. Isakov
 * Team Members: in room T2


 * We established norms for collaborative work using the activity provided by Mr. Burns.
 * We discussed comprehension strategies to enhance student growth and performance.
 * The strategies will be implemented using a variety of methods to be decided upon review of student work.

10/27/11 Attending: Ms. Prois, Ms. Wyckoff, Mr. Isakov, Ms. Katz, Ms. Brondolo, Ms. Bell, Ms. Rashid, Ms. Ransom, Ms. Vakalopoulos

Students were selected using their 2011 test scores from ARIS (ELA and math). Groups targeted were in the two's and for self-contained, we were limited to one's. The students are primarily Asian and Hispanic. Some were ELLs. The primary cause of the academic need of one's is the inability to focus on the task at hand. For the others, language acquisition is a barrier. Some students do not speak English at home. Reinforcement at home is necessary. Some of the children are unable to come because of busses. Some of the applications have not been returned. Parents will have to be contacted. We will be following up. Once received, it may be a good idea to place the students on rotation with the teachers so that they can get help in all the areas they need.

Many progress reports have not been returned. Some are still crumpled in the book bags.

November 3, 2011 Team Members in attendance: Ms.Hines, Ms. Prois, Ms. Wyckoff, Ms. Brondolo, Ms. Vakalopoulos, Ms. Ransom, Ms. Bell, Ms. Rashid, Mr. Isakov

We discussed the our hypothesis on what may be causing the academic need. We feel that the small group rotation will effectively keep the students focus on task. We will continue to follow up on the students and request their attendance for extended day small group rotation. the targeted students will be grouped together within the classroom.

December 1, 2011 Team Members in attendance: Ms. Brondolo, Ms. Rashid, Ms. Ransom, Ms. Bell, Ms. Wyckoff, Ms. Balalis, Ms. Katz(workshop) Ms. Vakalopoulos

In todays meeting we looked over and reviewed the parent survey "TELL US ABOUT YOUR CHILD", and came to the conclusion that we need to take into consideration the parents concerns for their child and do our best to try and meet the needs of every child.

We also created our Inquiry Space on ARIS.

December 8, 2011 Team members in attendance: Ms. Ransom, Ms. Balalis, Ms. Katz, Ms. Rachid, Ms. Bell, Ms. Vakalopoulos, Ms. Brondolo

In today's meeting we discussed and reviewed the interim progress report provided by Mr. Burns in our email. Additionally, we reviewed the one from last marking period to try and incorporate the best of both documents. We are currently trying to decide upon a final document to use for the second marking period.

December 15, 2011 Team members in attendance: Ms. Ransom, Ms. Balalis, Ms. Rashid, Ms. Bell, Ms. Wyckoff, Ms. Katz and Ms. Brondolo

In today's meeting we are still trying to decide upon the most inclusive document (interim progress group) to use for the second marking period. This will be finalized before the break. Additionally, we are finalizing our after school, "extra help" rotation. We feel that the students should be exposed to all of the content areas as, we are all in attendance, coupled with the fact that they need remediation in all of the areas. This, too, will be finalized before the break.

December 22, 2011 Team members in attendance: Ms. Ransom, Ms. Balalis, Ms. Katz, Ms. Rashid, Ms. Bell, Ms. Wyckoff, Ms. Vakalopoulos, and Ms. Brondolo

Our new progress report has been finalized and we are using it for the second quarter. After reviewing a few different ones and "tweaking" the best from each one, we believe this one best satisfies the needs of all of the content area teachers. Additionally, we feel that it provides parents with a thorough snapshot of how their child is progressing.

January 12, 2012 In today's meeting we discussed the Santa Cruz Handout on "Analyzing Student Work" Ms. Ransom will be presenting student work from her Science classes.

January 19, 2012 In today's meeting Ms.Ransom briefly described the assignment and expectaions. The remaining participants discussed the assignment and expectations for clarity. Ms. Ransom provided a rubric for the assessments of the work samples provided. For our next meeting we will pick up at step 4 for Day 1.

February 2, 2012 Student work~ Lab on Surface Tension In analyzing student work, we found the following patterns: 1. Students need further development in developing a hypothesis based on scientific evidence. 2. Students need further development in constructing a narrative based on data. 3. Students need further development with writing using basic language conventions~ most specifically, punctuation and capitalization.

February 9, 2012 In today's meeting, we discussed differentiation techniques we can use to meet the needs of the different levels in the classroom. We discussed trying to make it part of our planning. We decided that this topic will be an ongoing conversation.

March 8, 2012

Team members in attendance: Ms. Ransom, Ms. Balalis, Ms. Katz, Ms. Rashid, Ms. Bell, Ms. Wyckoff, Ms. Vakalopoulos, and Ms. Brondolo

We are looking at group letters written during Social Studies class that describes a region of Africa. Letters were edited by other groups. Student work was evaluated using a rubric of max 20 pts.

April 19, 2012

Ms. Prois Ms. Katz Ms. Wyckoff Ms. Brondolo Ms. Vakalopoulos Ms. Ransom Ms. Rashid

Ms. Roman is currently tutoring a student. We discussed the format of the Math Assessment. We also discussed reasons for student difficulties based on their thinking.

May 10, 2012

Ms. Prois-Balalis Ms. Wyckoff Ms. Katz Ms. Brondolo Ms. Ransom Ms. Rashid Ms. Romas

Ms. Vakalopoulos( Over night school trip)

We discussed our house multicultural event that is being planned for June 14th. We all stated our opinions, thoughts and suggestions. Our team also discussed that we need to reinforce school policy and rules for the remainder of the school year.