It's uh it's 7 o'clock and I'd like to call together the February 26, 2026 school committee meeting. If you would please rise and join me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty, justice for all. All right. Um, we've got a quorum tonight, so that's good. Um, Elaine's going to be joining us shortly and then we think's also fighting some traffic
and going to be joining us as well. Um, but we'll move through the agenda. uh as planned. So, first order of business is the posted consent agenda which contains the minutes from our February 5th, 2026 meeting as well as an oath to bills and payroll. Everybody get a chance to read the minutes? Nope.
>> Any edits? Nope. >> Good. Is there a motion to accept? >> So motion made by Sean, seconded by Janine. All those in favor indicate by saying I. I. >> That carries. This is our first opportunity for interested citizens. Is anybody with us in the room uh or on
Zoom? >> There's nobody online >> that would like to speak before the school committee. This is your first chance, second chance to have a meeting. All right, we'll close the interested citizens. And we've got uh Sedarth Padmati this evening joining us. Thank you for being here, Sid, who is going to
prep uh share with us the student representatives report. the start. Shaker Lane would like to update everyone that they have completed their pre-K lottery for community peers and notifications went out to families prior to vacation and deposits are due on Monday. Kindergarten registration is
open online. Families are encouraged to complete this registration as early as possible and coordinate kindergarten screenings in May. Regarding Russell Street, before February break, the fifth grade band had a great performance at the AllTown Music Concert. The following day, Russell Street hosted its mind,
notion, literacy, and math event, which was well attended by Russell Street and second and Shaker Lane second grade families. Russell Street's PTA is hosting the first ever readathon, a big fundraiser for for a goal of to read 100,000 minutes and raise $10,000 during
the program. All registration is now open. Russell She is also excited to bring back wellness from university for the second year. During the half day next week, students will get to choose between several courses focused around health and wellness from teachers and community peers.
At the middle school, members of the LHS staff will be at the middle school on Wednesday the 4th and on the 8th to guide to guide eighth graders in selecting their classes for the fall. Wilson Middle School will host the kids night out for sixth graders on Friday, March 6th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Regarding the high high school on March 3rd, 8th grade parent teacher course selections will happen from 6:00 to 7:15 p.m. On March 4th, early release for professional development will occur on March 5th. The ball in the house performance will occur during an
extended flex block period. On March 13th, parent teacher conference for a pool day will occur where students will have middle school. And finally, on March 18th, spring junior college fair will occur from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. Excellent. Thank you, Seth. Uh, are
there any other I have one any other points of recognition? >> Sure. I'd like to uh congratulate Miss Natalie Croto uh for and she's our technology systems coordinator in the district. uh she recently received Maya's health and
uh wellness award as a best uh overall wellness champion. This is not just a district award. It's an award for the town of Littleton as well. So quite an accomplishment. Uh Natalie's recognized uh for her leadership in coordinating and participating in all on-site uh
wellness committee meetings and programs uh filling out and submitting wellness grants for the town and district and encouraging employees to take part in uh Maya activities. And I have to say in the last two, three years, uh, we've had plenty of Maya activities in our
district for staff to get involved in fitness, uh, learning, you know, cooking lessons, you name it. Uh, it's it's really really incredible some of the programs that Maya offers, wellness as well. So, uh,
with that, uh, we'll be having a followup on March 13th coming up. So, congratulations to Mrs. huge accomplishment for the town. Little >> too. >> Perfect. Thanks so much. Hockey team had
a big win today. >> Yeah. >> 10. >> That's fantastic. >> Nice. >> Right. Um All right. We have a few presentations scheduled for this evening. Uh welcome to our just freshly late arrival. So, thank you for joining
us. Things happen. We get it. No big deal. >> Me, too. Yeah. Yeah. They snuck in one after another. Um, so we have two presentations scheduled for this evening which we're school committee is very excited to hear about. The first of which is portrait of a learner progress. Uh, we're going to hear from principles
of each school that will update the committee with the progress on the portrait of a learner in their respective schools. Well, uh, looks like principal Kane is approaching the podium. Maybe we're gonna go in in order from youngest students to oldest.
>> Sure. Sure. I hope I I hope I can do this justice. I know I'm going to sit down and one of these wonderful principles is going to say something. It's going to come to me. So, I'll try and do the best I can. >> Can't steal. That's just it though. You can't steal it all. You got to leave something for Yeah. >> So, um if you could bring up the There
we go. So, this um portrait of a learner actually started last year. Um and just I I know Beth Steel has brought a lot of um information forward to you. So what we have right there um I'll say that we um started this with staff meetings last
year. So the 24 or 25 school year and that's where we created you can see the the six competency areas effective communication critical thinker and so forth. And what we did as a staff is we met together we put these six areas up and we brainstormed what this would look
like. Then we took that information and kind of paired it down smaller with our leadership team to kind of say, "Okay, what is this going to look like? Let's synthesize what everybody thought on sticky notes, post-its, um paper, and came up with these um defining areas
from that. This year, what we have been focusing in on is our leadership team is what does this look like?" And I don't have it there, but I'm going to speak to it. It's um we came up with I can statements and reflective prompts. And we did this in a smaller group just to
say, okay, what does it mean to be an effective communicator? So we came up with some different I can statements. So a couple of examples of an effective communicator and thinking of our prek to two. So you know three-year-olds to eight-year-olds and what will it look like and you'll hear from everyone as
the trajectory goes up to the high school. Um I can change and grow with new ideas. I can use technology to learn and share ideas. I can use words to solve a problem. So that's what we try to teach is using our words to solve our
problems. Um I'll just talk about another one, a skillful collaborator. Some of the I can statements we came up with. Um again pulling from the skillful collaborator they what does this look like? I can be a flexible thinker. I can work and play respectfully and responsibly with people and things
around me. Um I can be open to trying new things and ideas of others. So our leadership team again took the information under the competency areas came up with the I can statements and then um you know through our um admin team meetings we were then charged with
come up with reflective prompts for kids to think about this. So we go back to effective communicator you know how can you be an effective communicator and we're hoping that over time the kids will generate some of the ideas that we have of their um skillful collaborator.
What did you do to work with someone today? Um, and even giving them sentence frames like when I was working with Michelle, I shared the toy that I was playing with, even though I didn't want to, I shared it. So, really thinking about what is the I can statements look
like in three-year-old's eyes all the way to 8-year-olds. And then what are these prompts that we can say to them so we can pull this information out of them in in that language. So, we worked on that this year. And we also started to work on what we called magnify the moments. And these are some big learning
experiences that are happening in pre-K in kindergarten, first grade, second grade. And one of the things that happened last year when we brought in our new reading program, Weton Wisdom, one of the things that stands out in my mind that I think would stand out in a second grader if you ask them this year, when they were in first grade last year,
they wrapped up one of the um one of the units modules and they had a ball. They had like a Cinderella's ball and they got dressed in dresses and tuxedos and suit clothes and they came in and we had like a dance party. Am I remembering all this gym? It was huge. So those are like
the magnifying the moments. Um I would think this year or in past years it, you know, could be something as fun as Winterfest. This year I think would be the fun run. Kids will remember that the money they raised, the things that that happened. Um I don't have all of them
with me. I apologize. I didn't bring up the magnify the moments, but we we did that as a leadership team. So, we talked about what does that look like? The leadership team went back to their respective teams. They collaborated and then brought that back to us and we created that roadmap of what that's going to look like from preK to grade
two. So, I do feel like we are at the beginning stages. The high school's a little bit more further along than us. Um when you know Beth came to us and he said, "What you wanted to hear is I think we're at the beginning stages." because I know we're at the beginning stages. Um, we look forward to what's
coming in the future and what I see when we kind of wrap this up. Um, I might leave it to you, Colin, to talk about ECC. I don't want to steal too much about like the Cubs and the Tiger names. I haven't if you want me to speak to it, but I know we've been working a lot
together with Russell Street and the um elementary curriculum council, and we have a great visual, some different visuals that are going to mean this. I'll let him share it. They're kind of cute. And um what I envision is that when we have this done, when this is
defined enough and our staff feels comfortable enough that we're working this into our community meetings, we're talking about these little characters um and what it means to be a healthy and well-balanced learner. Um, I'm thinking about try creating a trifold for parents so that they know that these are our
competency areas at Russell Street and maybe that's what it will look like and then transforming as they get older 3 through 5, 6 through 8 and 9 through 12. So, I think that's I think that's what I have for portrait of a learner. I'm sure I'll remember something later and if
it's important I'll come back up. Um, any questions about this? >> I just have a a quick question. I I love the work that you're doing on the six competencies and how to make it appropriate for prek to 2. So this um it still looks sort of teacherf facing.
Were you saying that's one of your goals is to um make the language more studentf facing so that it's accessible to them eventually. I know you're in the middle of it. >> Yeah. No, no, no. Great question. So we have been working about some cub names.
I'm gonna say it. Okay. Um so we are coming up at our ECC. We're coming up with these little tiger cubs and each tiger cub has a name. So, for example, our effective communicator is Enzo, the effective communicator. So, we're going So, we're going to we're working with that. We've come up with the names.
We've come up with a little visual of a tiger with his t-shirt. I think we talked about the t-shirt would have his little symbol, maybe a hat. Cece is the critical thinker. So, I think bringing that down to the kid level. Yes, definitely more important where this is more teacher and adult face.
>> Yeah. So, I love that. So there's >> we have Maria the mindful learner and we have Sai the skillful collaborators involved learner and we have Ellery the engaged citizen. So >> really cute the letter people. >> Yes back
>> yeah. >> Yeah. So they Yeah. So the kids can >> like instead of taking you know say like a three-year-old doesn't say >> this means nothing. >> Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. >> So, seeing Ellery up there and talking about Eller at a community meeting and
what does it look like and having some of our grade two kids do some skits. >> Yeah. >> Um I think will be is what we're seeing in the years to come. >> I had another um I have always been so pleased with how mindful we are in this
district and have been at in transitions. Um like from the time my kids were in school when it's not that long ago. Um, but you know, like transitioning from school to school has been a thoughtful exercise for all,
which I think is really important. How does this work into that? Because it sounds like you're thinking about that >> and and I I I just curious like >> Yeah. Well, I'm happy to hear from from my other colleagues in a minute, but one of our admin council meetings, what we
did is we each looked at what other schools came up with, which was a great way for us to reflect that Russell Street had language that looks similar to ours. So, we should take that language under these competency areas and word it so that it looks like a an easier entry point for our kids, but is
more stepped up when it goes up there. So that's one of the things that you know I can recall that we did to try and make sure that assimilation into the next grade looks continuous but a little bit more grown up. >> Awesome. They'll have something to add to that. >> Can you go over the I can statements again?
>> Yep. So I should have I can send these out to the group. Um so in each area so I'll go up to critical thinker. So to be a critical thinker 3 through 8, great ages 3 through 8. I can be ready to change and try new things because they're critically thinking. I can be a
sharp thinker and problem solver. I can be a careful reader and listener. I can be a truth detective and check if pictures, videos, and stories are real or made up. So what we did as a leadership team is we took a lot of thoughts that were coming from the
creation of the competency areas and we're trying to think what does this look like? um mindful learner. I can prepare my mind and my body to be ready to learn. We talk a lot about that, you know, eyes watching, ears listening, body still with the group. I can be
creative and try my best. I can solve problems and persevere. I can try different learning styles. I can be mindful of how my choices affect the world around me. Um do all of them. Healthy and well balanced learner. I can take care of my feelings. I can show
love and kindness. I can stay calm and be safe. I can keep my body healthy. I can ask for what I need. I can use technology in safe and meaningful ways um and engaged citizens. I can look for ways to grow by helping the community. I
can celebrate the diversity of our community. I can contribute meaningfully to the support those around me. I can show respect and acceptance towards others. And I can speak up for what I believe in and stand up for what's right. I think if you were to look and ask
everyone else what theirs look like, it's kind of the same but just >> more brought up using technology with people around the >> com. >> So, uh, yeah. So, by going first, you might get I mean, I don't I don't know how many questions we're going to have or whatever. >> Yeah,
>> I don't know if these are difficult questions. So, like this is what I'm thinking, right? This is kind of for school committee. So, this this morphed in from like the portrait of a graduate, which is what do we want our students leaving out uh Littleton High School to be to be ready for? >> What do we want in their toolbox, in
their toolkit? And as I'm listening to you talk and I'm like, Colin would love this, right? Like, if if all of your students can do all of these things, how hooked up are you? >> Yeah. So, exactly. Right. But so I guess I guess my question for
you Michelle is >> I think if we talk if we think about sort of maybe your average the average student coming into your building, >> I think these statements are are really nice and a lot of the kids probably can accomplish these things. A lot of the
students can certainly get better >> in all of these areas. >> Maybe you can speak about um those that can't. Yeah. like if someone was in a situation where they the answer is no, as I leave Shaker Lane, I'm actually not
going to be able to do one of these things. Um, and I know it's like a bigger conversation and levels of support and and all that stuff, but what what does that look like in terms of them moving from Shaker? like we're not going to hold a student back obviously cuz they can't do these things. But
>> um can you speak to what efforts are made so that everybody can sort of check these boxes as they graduate Shaker graduate as they move from Shaker Lane to Russell Street? >> I think in a utopic world everyone would check the boxes but that I don't believe is reality though as long as kids are
getting pieces from each one. The next part of the presentation that focuses on our um focus areas for UDL we do speak about that. That was our first competency which was really about this. I feel like at Shaker Lane we need to build their emotional capacity and their
social capacity to even get into stuff that talks more about academics um and and things like that. So how so I just want to make sure I answer your question. You're what do we do for the students that aren't? Well, we're providing guidance counselor groups uh school adjustment counselor groups
meeting times. One of the things you'll see um we came up with a new think sheet this year that really focuses on how my actions have affected others, what I can do as opposed to just a reflection sheet. What can what did I do? What can I do next time? We have visuals for students. So a lot of times now we're
talking about visuals. I do see a lot of growth from kids that are with us from age 3 to eight. It might not be like a flower that blooms differently. You know, some are blooming quickly and some take time. um putting those supports in. We have our student success team
process. If kids aren't progressing, we meet on these students. We set these team meetings up. We set goals. We check in on those goals six to eight weeks. Um so I think if that maybe answers some of the questions, but I think checking all of these boxes, that would be hard for
me to do as a soon to be 50-year-old adult. >> Well, I think I think Mo, you know, if you really tried hard, I think you probably could. you could hit the the the age three to eight benchmark >> um >> for me as a as a five-year-old, six-year-old,
>> right? But now you're ready. >> Now you were saying now you couldn't do it. Yeah. >> Some of the things I see some of our second graders talking and presenting. I'm like, I don't know that I was that comfortable to talk and present in group. But we're giving them those skills. We're having them practice those
skills. What I think is interesting that >> if I can jump in on this and that speaks to what you're saying here is that our um the purpose behind it is not for some a student to become a master at all six of these. >> But this is that's that's utopia, right? That's that's the amazing goal if we can
get there. We are going to have some students who can reach all become proficient. But what is going to end up happening, what I think John will kind of speak to, is once they're going to be able to identify, self-identify really strongly, right, in one or multiple of these categories. And for a student
realizing, I'm a very mindful learner, but I'm not as much of an engaged citizen. So, they can selfidentify. >> I do this really well. I have this skill set really strongly that I'm going to be able to utilize for myself from going forward, but this an area that I know I need to work in. And so that's why
starting and having these conversations being able to self-identify where their strengths are and not so it's okay that they're leaving saying no to certain things or I can't do that yet. >> Right. >> I just want to jump. >> No, I get that and there's a like there's a lot of lot of school left. Um
what I think is interesting about it is a lot of these I can't statements like some translate to academics but a whole bunch of them don't. Right? So it's not like these are going to show up as 1, two, threes or fours on the report card. >> So you know, you're as a district, we're
going to report back to the families what's on the progress report. You know, does it then become the sort of the staff's responsibility eventually? like are we eventually as a district going to get there to be reflecting on this portrait of a learner and identifying students that need help
in certain areas which aren't going to be on their progress report so that when you hand them off to Russell Street you've made best efforts to try to get them as far along this journey as possible. >> I think that's a great question. One of the things I know we have on our report card I think it's similar Russell Street
is we have heart >> which shows some of these competency areas and that would be actually interesting to look at like how close do these match up with our heart like sharing >> right >> collaborating so I actually want to take a look at that because I think that we have that to a degree I just don't know
how specific it matches up with this >> I think Beth to your point like even and you said it jokingly um Michelle but you're right like be a flexible thinker I can tell you numerous adults I work with for a ridiculous amount of competency like Kool-Aid or like some of
these and like even in in workplaces when we do things like strength finders it's not that the other competencies are lacking it's that there's certain strengths that are higher and so I think to your point self-identifying which of these competencies are my
strengths and maybe which are not as opposed to I don't have these and I have these is an important sort of perspective because surely in some scenarios there's flexible thinking but maybe that's something that's not a real strength but the you know engaged citizen and so I think that that's very
true like to have all the competencies all the time is maybe not the goal but to for them to be able to figure out what their competencies are and grow in the others. >> Yeah. So true. I also envision some of a portfolio approach that's transferred
from school to school so you can build upon what what you see at Shaker Range or Russell Street and then to middle school and the high school by the time excuse me by the time they're at high school then I know John is is already uh
looking at students showcasing some of the areas that they they feel that they really shine >> as well and then we would in turn showcase those areas as well. >> You want to share? >> Yeah. Yeah. So, okay. Go for it.
>> Well, I thought what what might be helpful is right, Michelle was sharing some of her I can statements and how they might translate as students move and progress up at least to to Russell Street. So, do you have your critical thinker >> your I can statements for critical thinker? I mean, we can just show kind
of that vertical work that we've already started as an admin team in the schools. So, critical thinker. Yeah, go ahead. So critical thinker. I can be ready for change and try new things. >> Okay. Try new things and be prepared to adapt and change. >> I can be a sharp thinker and problem solver.
>> Solve problems creatively. >> I can be a careful reader and listener. >> Use reliable evidence to form opinions and make decisions. >> I can be a truth detective and check if pictures, videos, and stories are real or made up. >> Analyze media and sources to know if
they can be trusted. >> Right? So like they're like Um, >> that one's totally ska. >> Well, that's but you guys are working on that. >> But as she was say talking about
critical thinker in shelain, I was like, "Oh, yeah, we've it's nice that we're kind of a sandwich school that we have a school below us and above us schools above us because these I can't say it's really all started from right. We want a backwards map and backwards plan and we've had portrait of a graduate from
all the NES work at the high school. So, we used those to start with and then thought about, okay, developmentally, what is appropriate and like reflective of what we want our preK and second graders to be able to do versus when they come up to their third or fifth graders and then up to Jason jump. Um,
so like that's just a really quick example of like that vertical trajectory. The other thing that I want to add because a lot of the things that I have on here are >> very very much similar to to what Michelle mentioned. But um to the superintendent's point about about um
this portfolio aspect of of how do we measure right mastery of some of these of some of these things and that I think is where we might might not show up on a report card but that's why we've been working really hard on identifying these magnified moments which is something that Russell Street has also done this
year. here. And you can see on my slide, we in a staff meeting, I got all the teams together and said, "All right, just give me the laundry list of all of the magnified moments that you can think of, but not only like just the fun stuff that students may do, but how are those things, how are those moments tied to
those six competency areas." So that way we can see okay throughout Russell Street students have x number of opportunities to show that they are an engaged citizen or to show that they are a healthy and well-balanced learner or to show that they have you know
skillfully communicated through whatever project or assignment that they are doing. So by the end of their time at Russell every school we have a road map where they can selfidentify and say okay here are the things that I've done that are really memorable and really impactful from my time there and I can
track myself of you know by doing this and having the opportunities um to express or to you know share what they've learned I can now reflect on how I am a you know one of any of these six competence areas to tie that into the UDL framework also all of those
magnified moments are very different and can touch, you know, and can be uh approached by students in very different ways based on their strengths or areas of growth. So, they might have a magnified moment that they might struggle with a little bit because that's not really their strong suit or they're still working on those skills
and they might have a magnified moment that like is right in their wheelhouse and they're able to show those competency areas really well. And I mean throughout 13 years of school at at Littleton, they're going to have lots and lots and lots of those opportunities to show those six areas, those six
competence areas through those magnified moments. And that's like the real good stuff. What we can say to a graduate, >> remember that thing you did when you were in kindergarten and see how it tracked how you were an engaged citizen all the way through. Right.
>> So I have a quick question about that. And I love the calibration. This is so fantastic. Um, with these magnified moments, are are the teachers identifying that for students and saying, "Look, here's a magnified moment."
Um, this is a moment to reflect on which of the competencies you just displayed or like, and maybe this is a question for all the principles, but like growth over time, do they become more and more independent with identifying those moments for themselves? I can speak to
where where I think Russell Street is right now is we are just at the beginning stages of identifying what those moments are for ourselves as a staff so that we can say hey we have lots of magnified moments for health and wellness or healthy and well-balanced students right but we might not have as many magnified moments as we thought
about you know engaged citizen or whatever the case may be so then that gives us the opportunity to say okay now we recognize that we need to find some more opportunities and avenues where we can have magnified moments in this specific competency area um while students are here at Russell Street. So,
we're still in that stage of like, all right, let's let's level set and see where we're at currently so that we can know where we need to grow and what we need to kind of continue to do what we >> Yeah, that's so great. I mean, I think that's part of the power of this initiative is the impact it can have on
curriculum and instruction because to your point like if you see that, you know, maybe you're not providing as many opportunities for engaged citizenship that maybe that needs to be built into the learning. >> So, um I'm very excited. >> That's part of the future that I look into that we say once we're out of the
staff zone, we can get into the kid zone and connect it once we're pretty confident as >> and we have a tight end. Yeah, >> I love how closely you're working together. It's so important for prek to five to have that continuity. So, thanks for the extra effort.
>> While I'm up here, any other questions for >> Yeah. Well, actually, I think for both of you, too. Um, I so appreciate this as like sort of going handinhand with when we talk about UDL and academics. It's like almost like grounding values through which like everything else
flows. And I think just a suggestion if you're in the editing phase and if you're not feel free to ignore but the especially for the younger children like where they can also because so many of these are like I can or their ownership or they're doing
>> but also the I can ask for help when I need it or I can go to an adult or something that's I don't know where >> exactly that falls or it's like a little nuance somewhere because that also feels >> appropriate for that A lot of the uh
>> standards and the frameworks for younger grades start with with prompting and support I >> so I think there's a lot of that baked into a lot of the work that we do with some of you. >> Yeah. And I'm sure it's like obviously you're not you know the expectations for that age. And then the other one I was thinking about too is like
I can persevere through failure, whatever the the right wording of that is of like you you don't have to be at this level of perfection all the time, but like even failure and then it talks about risks and stuff, but like >> what sort of failure can teach you or
what doing things wrong or what you know like mistakes like all of that too. I was just thinking about that as I was reading that. >> It's powerful. Failure is part of learning. So >> yeah. >> So yeah, specifically Colin on on your slide you have >> um ask for what I need
>> as a >> as a way >> as as a way for your first point. And then you know that other like failure thing I think maybe that somewhat gets addressed in this health and well-balanced learner which is be aware and manage my feelings. >> Y >> like >> not everything's going to go perfect.
Yeah. you know, how does it feel to or how do I get through disappointment there? >> Um, >> so yeah, it's it's it's really >> lots of network that work in >> good stuff. Yeah. Thank you. um you know big picture wise too I think like as we get up to the high school and
stuff like even at the middle school level like you get your you get your course load you get your you know and you're like trying you know I think maybe for most students you know they're trying to do as well as they possibly can in their courses and and then the course closes and they get they earn their A or their B or whatever it is and
it's like now what and it's like you know when you graduate Littleton now what okay I go on to college now what this idea of orchard of a learner is like the fact that the the pursuit of education is a lifelong assignment and as you enter a professional career,
whatever that whatever you decide to go into, you sort of constantly have to try to get better >> to just hang with the competition. >> Um, so to identify where their strengths are and where their weaknesses are and where they can pivot in life and and you know where they'll be successful like
maybe not everyone wants to earn an A in every single class, but I guarantee you everybody wants to be successful in life. Um, and you can be successful in life without earning an A in every single class, right? We all know that. So, yeah, this is this is good stuff. >> Thanks.
>> Real quick, uh, I know you talked a little about small groups and so on. Uh, can you talk a little bit how like students are working together to identify some of these moments and working together to kind of achieve these things? like it's great to have the individual journey, but I know a lot of what you from other conversations you guys have had with us. A lot of it's
just trying to build like small coalition to kind of pull pull us together. Yeah, I think the getting the student involvement is really the next critical step that that we have to work through because you know it's funny some of the magnified moments that our teachers identified based on the
excitement of the students would not have been I think what the what the teachers would have expected right like fractions in fourth grade is like a huge magnified moment for students because it's exciting and they've heard about fractions or multiplying or divide like whatever it is so I think getting that student perspective is is really uh
helpful because we maybe there may be some things that are magnified for kids that we might not recognize as the adults. So getting their voices really important too. >> I think that would be really neat at the end of this year just to do a little a little writing activity for the kids because I know we won't be done with
this this year. Just say what was your best part about prek this year. What was the best part about being in Mrs. Mammoth's class to see what they say to hear their voice? So that I think we're going to take that on Sean. >> Good. What is what was the best part about first grade this year in Miss Ducy's class? Yeah. To see what they
say. Got that written down. >> I got Okay. So, I'm thinking, but I don't have a pen. >> Yeah. >> Great. >> Just making it easier for everybody else. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> So, okay. Oh,
>> sorry. No, you're good. Byebye. This is fine. >> The shelter cases >> school committee always switching up. >> Um, you know, at the middle school, I I don't know how much I'm going to add that's entirely unique because really
this is really about continuity. And so you're going to see some of the same things. I'll just kind of speak to the framework that we're that we're approaching it at the middle school level. really starting sort of big picture and then filtering it down into the individual student experience. So, you know, like Michelle talked about being sort of in that teacher phase. You
mentioned, you know, teacher facing. That's really where we are. Part of this, it occurred to me the other day is, you know, there's the portrait of a learner, but there's also the part that we don't have a slide forms, the portrait of a teacher. And for many educators, this is just as new as we're asking some students. you know, we have
people who have been teaching 20 years and there's been a lot of different models and a lot of different whims that have come through education. And so, you know, getting teachers to to really assess where they are in that path is really important. And so, some of this does apply to having to sort of rewrite
some some traditions and routines and habits that, you know, that have been a certain way for a long time. And so, the approach we're taking is to start at the big level. And so with, you know, working with our staff, really identifying the capacity for independent work when we sat down to to to talk
about these competencies, many of the same ones that came up were the same ones that I remember talking about 25 years ago when I started teaching. Kids need to be critical thinkers. They need to work independently. They need to do this and they need to do that. But one of the things that always occurred to me as a teacher was that we don't ever really take the time to show them what that
looks like. Study harder. Work harder. But if a student doesn't know what good study habits are, just saying study more isn't really the the thing. I can't count how many times kids would say, "Man, I studied for two hours last night." But having the book open on your lap while you're watching TV is not studying. And and I and I so I think
it's important that in that at the middle school level that we're really developing some of these very specific skills so that not only can they be successful, but they can build on what they've learned at the elementary level and prepare them for for moving forward. So really identifying, you know, what does it what does independent work look
like for an 11-year-old coming to Littleton Middle School? What does independent work look like for a 14-year-old about to leave for the high school? Because they're very different things. And so really identifying not only just as a school, but also within the different grade levels, you know, what should we what does this look like?
Where should we be? And then within that, what are the scaffolds? What are the different areas? You know, Justin, you mentioned for those kids that can't, right? It's not going to look the same for everybody. So then how do we make sure that we are appropriately bringing everybody along with the same level of of progress even though they may not
necessarily be you know all at the same place when they get done. So really sort of identifying what that independence and what that critical thinking looks like and then really focusing okay so how do you how do you practice this in the classroom and so that's where we get down to the slightly slightly more um
nuanced part of it. So I challenged the staff at the very beginning to really work on and I I know we talked about it here at an earlier meeting about really focusing on customized assessments where students get to pick and choose but it isn't monatory style where kids can just say I want to do this or I want to do
that. There's a framework and there's a structure to it but within that is the freedom to be able to create and to identify what they think mastery or proficiency of something looks like. And that right there is the the real difficult part of critical thinking. getting students to be able to say like
this is what it looks like, right? Because so many students are used to I'm going to move information from column A to column B or I'm going to see this exemplar and that's what I'm going to create and it takes that that personal part out of it. So what we really want to do is flip that to be able to say to
students like so what does it look like to you? Does it meet the criteria? Does it have all the things? And some of this stuff, you know, will come up in the in the UDL um presentation as well. And so really getting to this idea of students being able to show what they know in a
way that engages them and interests them, but also still meets the criteria that we need to be able to say it meets in order to say that you've gained mastery of this and you're ready to move on to the next part of. There is a there is a part of that ven diagram where these things do overlap and that's the spot that we're that we're really going
to be trying to move towards as we move further through this year and into the coming years. Um, one of the other things too that we want to focus on as we look at these competencies, and this is something that that is critically important in middle school is the idea of in-class brain breaks. Getting students to recognize that they need a
break, but not the escapism of I need to go out and get a drink. I need to go take a walk. I need to go, you know, sit in the in the lobby for a few minutes, but really to say, okay, I I recognize that I need a break, but I I got to be able to sit here and do it. How can I sort of disconnect for a minute so that
I can re-engage? because once we've lost them to the hallway, we've lost them. And trying to gain that back is is is a very very difficult task. And so part of the work that we want to do is not just asking teachers to really think about how they structure their classes, but also asking students how they structure the class for themselves. Are there
moments where they can step back and look at that? And that's going to take some training and that's going to take some thought and some professional development on how to effectively have students access in-class brain breaks. And so that's the teacher student part of this. And then getting down even even more so focusing on student experiences
really like around enhanced leadership opportunities getting kids to be citizens of the school and of the community. So, for example, this year, you know, we've enhanced our our student council. We've added a spirit club. Kids wanted to do this, you know, newspaper club. Getting kids to invest in the
community itself to get to know each other, to talk about it, to lift each other up, to build the culture, see what's working, what can we identify so they become a part of that. And in in a perfect world, if all of these things come together, they hit on all these six competencies. They're not just each their own. They really are touchstones
for all the other as well. And so that's really where we want to live at the middle school level is getting kids to not just be able to work independently and think critically, but to know what that is. If I ask the students, what does it mean to think critically? I want someday to be able to say it means this, this, and this, right? Without me having
to tell them it means this, and this, and this because they've discovered it for themselves because my answer might look different than your answer versus Kelly's answer. And so that's where we want to we want to be. And so that's the portrait of a learner that we are starting with in terms of just that that structure of building the capacity at
the school level, the teacher level and eventually the student level. >> Great. Well, questions are coming in. >> So each teacher is tasked with a lot of content to teach. >> Yes. In addition to um I well now we're
talking about um beyond content and so much I've seen the the model where students in about this age have a completely separate class seminar
on how to study, learn, organize how to start to how to start to have ex to really take control of their executive function >> and and and and it's different for everyone. And one of the one of the advantages of of of stepping it out away
from the content is is I think they were able to um truly create a situation where students felt comfortable having different executive function comfort levels with different different
ways of or organizing and and evaluating. Um and that's a lot to ask of a teacher who is also tasked with with making sure content >> right
>> is is presented. Um, what do you do you think that this is like that's something that we should think about and do you think we've got it
without having a completely separate kind of seminar way of of helping students start and I think your school's the is the great time and place. >> Yeah. you know, to start working with
students on um this is how your particular executive function is going to flourish, you know. I mean, that's that's that was the joy of like really like laying it out there. Um and I just I'm just like I said it and as I was
thinking I'm like that's a lot. >> Yeah. >> For teachers and because they they've already got a job and Yeah. So >> in in a perfect world we would be able to have something like that. I went to a school years ago where they um
>> they took one of the unified arts blocks for the first half of the year and they turned it into like a welcome to middle school block. >> And really all that block was was to really help to train students on what does it mean to be a middle school student, >> right? What does it mean to work? The executive functioning. How do you manage your things? How do you manage your
time? Because you know our students have all of a sudden have 10 teachers now who have equal sets of priorities and expectations and they don't have somebody to put things in a folder for them and to make sure that everything is there. The communication home isn't the same like was and so right
>> it really becomes thrust upon the students to be independent even if they're not ready for it. >> Yeah. >> And so I've kicked that idea around for a while. I just I don't know how I could implement it effectively given you know the time that we have in the course of a school day. Yeah. um and finding the staffing to do that. But what we try to
do if this is working well, it's it's sort of woven in. So this idea when I first started teaching, backwards planning was all the rage. You think and and you can see in in what I'm doing here, you can tell the influence of where I started is is now, you know, upon me as a as an administrator.
>> Starting with the end of what does this look like, right? And how do I know this works? >> And then working backwards from there. And if if we can get our staff to to do this with fidelity, then I think some of what you're talking about is woven in because what'll happen is as a student
tries to imagine, okay, this is what my final product looks like. How much time do I have? What materials do I need? What are the obstacles that I'm going to overcome? What do I need to do to to to address those? And that's part of that executive functioning that you're talking about. How do I how do I do this
if I play sports or I'm in drama or home is just not conducive for me getting work done. these these things come up and that's all a part of that that success. >> So while we don't necessarily have the capacity right now to offer something separate, you know, a separate sort of block to say, "Here, I'm going to teach
you this so you can then take it and transfer it here." >> Yeah. If if the work that we do is is the way I would love to see it, some of this stuff will be embedded naturally and the kids will become proficient at it without us having to say now we're going to talk about time management because it's going to be done
individually on a project by tri project basis, teacher byte teacher and that may look very different where some teachers are going to be much more hands-on and guiding others might be much more I'm not the disseminator I'm just I I I'm the facilitator and that's where we're going to have to to see that happen. And
that's on me then to make sure that I'm providing my staff with what they need to be able to have those conversations to think about that in their lesson planning and to be mindful of that to say, I'm going to build in an opportunity for for us to have a discussion as a class around time management. >> Yeah. >> And and okay, this project is we have
two weeks. What do you need to get done? How do we how do how might you manage your time and get the kids to really be invested rather than saying here's a stack of graphic organizers go to it. really helping kids to really think about what how those uh can be beneficial and resourceful for them and to use them effectively rather than us
telling them how to do it. We need them asking how can I do it >> and and keeping in mind I mean this was some some kids needed a box, some needed a folder, some needed, you know, I mean and that was the joy of having a little bit more
>> you know time. It was almost like a a a a a nicer place and yeah so I feel yeah I feel for the teachers and if there's any way to if physical things might also help you know in if all the classrooms
>> had a couple different kinds of organizers or I you know like I you guys know this better than I do but but but you know I'm just feeling for this is because this is absolutely leads into >> that kind of development right and and it seems like your schools that's where
that starts to happen and it's it's really difficult. >> It is because for some students that independence and asking so for example I was going to talk about this later but I can talk about it right now. So so uh we have some teachers who are early adopters of this idea of this this
student customizing. >> Yeah. >> And what we found is that when you give kids these choices >> I I was surprised how many of them said can I just write a test? >> Can I just do a slideshow? Mhm. >> They are resistant to the students because they just want to stick with
what they know, right? I just want to take a test and not think about it again. >> And that right there is a big part of it because, you know, students all over the country, that's how they've been trained, right? You're going to study for a test. >> You're going to show all this, you're going to show what you know, and then we're going to move on. And that what was committed to short-term memory is
now gone. >> How do we how do we reverse that? And so, >> how do we get kids to want to engage and say, "Listen, I'm going to try something that is a little bit harder. it is a little bit more creative and I don't fully know how I'm going to get there but I'm going to try it. That's a huge leap in middle school. That takes a certain amount of of you know security
and confidence that some don't have. And so that's a part of how we bring that along. Um and over the course of three years we hope to >> to move as far as we can and then >> let John take it from there. >> The middle the middle school model is is really designed for what you're talking about.
middle school has the luxury of of having uh grade level meetings every >> day. >> So what what what Jason is really talking about is having the teachers embed these skill sets, >> common skill sets that they've
identified that the students need specific to executive functioning. >> They they have the they have the time >> to do it. And that that was part of the power of of coming up with a middle school concept in terms of how you how do you offer middle school education in a fashion that that focuses on
development of the whole child. >> So I think there's there's lots of opportunity there and I know Jason is taking advantage of it. >> Yeah. So for example again I was going to say this a little bit later but you know we we we've started taking one team meeting a month you know that an admin
meeting that we meet with the team and really using that to focus specifically on these things. And I'm modeling for the teachers what I want them to do for the kids. Right? So we're starting work. What does it what does a customized experience look like in your classroom? Okay. Now, as a teacher, what do you need to work back from from there? So
our la latest discussion was around exemplars, which we'll talk about in a minute. >> And what does that look like? Because if you ask most teachers what an example art looks like, they can tell you, I'm going to pull up some old student work. I'm going to find something out on the internet that's going to show and this is what I want it to look like. But so many kids then just say, okay, I'm
copying that. and you get 25 iterations of the same thing, >> but none of them really tap into that that thing that they're going to remember. >> So, even having discussions around what does what does an exemplar look like? Does the teacher have to create it or can a student create their own? And this is the part that's been a little bit
controversial in my in my conversations is getting teachers to there is a control part of it, you know, and it's not just our teachers, this is everywhere to say, listen, I am going to let a student decide what this is going to look like. >> And that's hard for some people. For some, it's not. they can just say listen go to it and I'll be there to guide you for others you know because they have a
vision of what they want this to look like. So there is a part of this unlearning in terms of just what we believe to be true, you know, in in our own education lives. And so many of us, you know, went to school at a time was very different than what we're going through now. And so there's that part too, right? And so, you know, we have
teachers, you mentioned the content level, but there's also a shifting dynamic just in terms of uh of how we approach students in class for mental health and social emotional learning. Like that's a big part of something that we didn't necessarily pay as much attention to. >> Yeah.
>> For so many years. Oh, yeah. I remember. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. No, and I'm I'm so happy to hear the thought that that's going into this and and the this is Thank you for this exchange. I'm really encourage. >> Thank you for the question. I appreciate it. >> Um I have a question. Um back to the
portrait of the learner. Um so when I was looking through the pack the slides in the packet, I one thing stood out to me with your slide was the focus on capacity for independent work. Um, and when you were talking about that earlier, you were talking about the
students identifying what that looks like. So, I'm I'm curious since this is sort of a unique focus for the middle school, what you think capacity for independent work is all about >> because it's so many different layers, right? There's I can't get
>> That's why I'm asking I I want to find out what layer is the one that you're thinking of the most when you're highlighting it in this broadcast. If I had to if I had to describe one, it's not one that you could enumerate. It's not one that you could measure necessarily, but I do think it comes out and I think it's there's a confidence
part. If you were a student in my class and I gave you a task, is your first thing just show your hand up and say, "I don't get it." Right? As a former math teacher, how many times do you go over something and the kids immediately like, "I don't understand." Right? So, I had a math coach when I was teaching and she would say things like, "For the first
five minutes, the first 10 minutes, you don't answer a single question for a kid. let them struggle because if they don't they're never going to learn to deal with that. So if you ask me in a nutshell what's the one single thing that I would say connect six seven and eight in terms of that capacity for independent thought it's that ability to
say I can do this I can struggle productively and I can come out the other side and then I know what to ask then I know what to advocate for. Oh, okay. >> So, that helps me see how it connects with these other things because it's really taking a risk, >> not to Bean's point earlier like not
being afraid of failure, >> right? >> That you know, productive struggle. >> Yeah. >> All of those things. So that's why I wanted to tease that out a little bit because sometimes like when I see the work see the word like independent work I'm thinking oh well that sounds like
kids working in isolation and not collaborating on teams because that's another meaning of that word you know because you know best practice now is all about student discourse and discussion protocols and >> you know being an active listener and building on the ideas of others. So all
of that >> um you know the benefits of collaboration. So, it's I think it's a little um using the word independent work. I think it >> it probably doesn't sell though. >> Yeah. I mean, maybe find I think some of the words in these um
what's the I'm drawing a blank. >> Competencies. >> Competencies. Wow. I don't know where that some of the words in the competencies are are directly connected to what you mean by independent work. And I hope I hope the students know what you mean when you say that. That it's >> Yeah. We're not we're not giving them
just saying hey listen here's a packet go work independently >> right >> very that's a very very to me that's just as mindless and thoughtless as as anything it's really about saying because even even within a a team setting right even if you're working with a group there are elements of independent work that have to happen I have to be able to be responsible for my
part >> right because other people are depending on me to do that so you know we can find ways to you know talk about the you know the the vocabulary you know but I think >> so what you want to avoid is the learned helplessness. >> Yes. >> Yeah.
>> If I can if I can eliminate that or at least reduce that, >> we've we've moved a mountain. >> Yeah. >> Because part of that, you know, Colin, Michelle, and Colin talked about it too around kids being able to advocate and describe what they need. If if if they have that there and we continue to build
on it here, then they can do that and that confidence will come and that helplessness won't come and maybe that hand doesn't go up right away. Maybe they're willing to give it a try because for some kids, even just trying is a risk. And so many kids, they try once, doesn't work, I shut down. How do we keep them get them to try again?
>> Yeah. >> And that's that's the part. >> And then the other question I had was um so Colin had mentioned earlier that he's a sandwich school. So he's trying to calibrate with the school below him and the school above him. And you're a sandwich school as well. So, um, are you
finding opportunities to calibrate with Colin and with with John on making your can do statements fall in that continuum? >> Con and I and John and I, we haven't sat down to really say like, okay, what does this look like five to six and what does this look like 8 to9? I'm sure we'll get
there at some point in time. I think right now we're we're just developing that that groundwork of being able to say what are the skills that we want to be able to see students leave with. Even if they don't recognize them in themselves yet. Um and I think if what we do works well, they won't necessarily
recognize it as oh I hit one of the competencies. It's just this is what I do. It just becomes an afterthought. And so at some point in time we'll sit down and we'll talk about what is what does the high school need from us, right? What are the what are the competencies that they need? What are what are we working on? And then what's the what's the gap in the middle that we can that
we can target >> and how will the middle school students recognize those can do statements as being aligned with what they knew from Russell Street. >> Yeah. Yeah. Those are conversations that I'm sure that is >> Yeah. I think that's the power of this initiative is the districtwide um continuity. You know that students
will start to become aware of these competencies. I remembered it this time. >> Um and that it won't have to be rettaught at every school. So um Right. >> Yeah. Yeah. But thank you very much. >> Yeah. And I to build off of what you just shared too, like I appreciate that
framing because it's the the work independently. It's almost like I will figure out how I work best independently to to your point and to Janine's point about like learning these skills of executive functioning and sort of where that support can exist. And then tying back to the like you know Russell Street
middle school and you've shared this before uh Jason how like middle school is such a unique time >> so many changes happening and so there's this like health wellness as much as social emotional exists in shaker line Russell Street exists in middle school
so much in a very different way. So there's this to your previous point about the confidence as the lens. It's like being confident to advocate for yourself, being confident to, you know, like navigate some of the complexities too. And I think that now that you've
like said that I'm like reading some of these that lens which I >> and there's it's such a strange justosition in middle school where you have students who crave attention from peers and adults. It's it's the thing they want the most yet they're never more isolated than they are between 11
and 14. And so figuring out how to work within between those two worlds, you know, when we bring them together, it's a beautiful thing, but it is it is something that we address and it's always been a middle school thing. How do you how do you how do you use one to help the other? And so that they create
this symbiotic relationship where my independence is my strength and I can bring that to the group. >> Yeah. >> Right. And and a lot of kids just aren't ready for that yet. But that's where we have to then teach that and build it and practice it and practice and practice. >> Yeah. And so much of the their ability
to do a lot of these things is tied in with the social piece >> in middle school, right? It it is just inextricably. Yeah. Without without that part. But I think the effective teacher knows how to how to use that in class and how to how to how to bring the social component in
because they know that that's what the, you know, um is is the driving factor for some students. >> But then there's the flip side of it. But if you don't do it right, then it just turns into four friends hanging out. >> Yeah. Always tough. that, you know, is is real, too. So, it it it requires a
certain amount of mastery on the part of an educator to be able to navigate that, to recognize when there's productive work happening. I was in in eighth grade, our eighth grade ELA classroom a couple of days ago, and the kids were working on hexagonal thinking. >> And listening to two students argue
argue with each other over this one particular topic was fascinating because they were both so passionate. And those aren't the things that you don't see that level of discourse when kids are just reading an excerpt from a book and then providing a summary based on what they think. >> Those opportunities. So that was a that
was a master class. And how do I use that social part? >> Yeah. >> To to have kids be able to not only talk but to challenge each other >> and and they were definitely challenging each other's thinking. It was great. >> Yeah. So I appreciate you talking about portrait of an educator because that's just as important. >> I didn't mean to add another initiative
on top of all this. Teachers watching. Sorry, this just a you know. >> Yeah. No, don't don't start a whole new thing. But that's an important conversation to have is to even be talking about because we have to be talking about the muscle of educators >> it's part of what we're supposed to do
as administrators, but we don't necessarily always sit down and think of it in terms of something like this. If we had something like that, >> then there's a program that we save, you know, but >> in time. >> I mean, you could use it as like a interviewing hiring, you know. >> Oh, definitely.
Just saying. >> Yeah, I'll write a book about it and we'll come back and try to find out. >> There you go. As a consultant, >> anything else? Sure. Um, like all good stuff. Great comments.
Jannine, I found it and Elena, I found it sort of fascinating like the fact that the two of you went back to back and I think really you were kind of sort of talk in the end sort of talking about the same thing as it relates to this developing student capacity and independent work. Mhm. >> And that's like sort of where it starts
to take place in middle school. Like the middle school model is very different than the than the K to 5. Yet it's still different to some degree than the high school >> model. >> I mean because it becomes the real deal in high school, >> right? >> Um in this developing student capacity,
independent work. I sort of think of that as like the guard rails >> that we provide. >> Yeah. >> In that K to 5 model where it's like you're you're very much in the bubble. You know, you're in the nest. Yes. we're not going to master everything. Um, >> yeah.
>> And, you know, Dr. Harrington would thank you if you could get the guardrails off everything, right? So that everyone is, you know, shows up >> shows up to high school like completely independent, ready to, you know, crush it. >> But that's not going to be the case for everybody. But to spend some time, I
don't know if it's in flexbox or you know during the the you know I know that health's got its own curriculum and all that stuff but to maybe spend some time back to Janine's point. >> Yeah. >> Carve up some time maybe in the in the health program to talk. >> We have our advisory time too that we
can there is time built in. It's just we don't have like let's say 40 minutes to really get rich. >> But like you know like you were saying weave it in, chunk it in. Yeah. >> Um, student ownership so that by the time they're through the middle school, they feel totally confident for high school.
>> And one of the things that that, you know, I I've never actually I really haven't really sat down to try to figure out, but I but I should. You know, when sixth graders come in, they just they're so excited about learning. You could you could give them anything and they're just think it's the greatest thing because they're just they just it's all
so new and so different and and by 14 they become a little more jaded and you really have to sell it in order to get that same level of engagement. But if we could tap into that in sixth grade and just make that the way things are, then maybe some of that carries over so we're
not having to really put on the dog and pony show to get to get eighth graders to buy into something that really is hugely impactful for them moving forward. And so if we embed these things now, then maybe they'll they'll carry and the the the load the lift won't be as much, you know,
>> this time in their their eighth grade year. >> Yeah. >> Great. >> Backpack minute. Backpack morning. >> Okay. Unload it. >> It's in there. >> Exactly. Exact. And now some kids are used to that and they really need that. Some kids thrive when they get to middle school because of the independence. >> Yeah.
>> That was the thing that they just really struggled with at elementary and now they have it and they do well and others they don't do so well with it. And so we really have to think about it case by case. >> Yeah. That's what I meant. It's it's different with every single kid. >> Yeah. >> Every single person works in the work
with our professional peers. >> Exactly. Exactly. >> I was wondering, so you highlighted some of the clubs and I think it's great that you have these opportunities. >> Uh in talking to teachers previously in the year, I know with some of the busing changes, which I'm I'm for, but there's no late bus anymore and some more
difficult. How is that kind of playing out as far as access to clubs at this point in first year? >> You know that when when CO took that that bus from us, it was a it hurt because you know we have students who um you know would love to stay after but
transportation is an issue especially weather like this where it's just not going to happen. Our families have responded very very well. So, um, when we do have students, we're able to work with families to to to make that it I mean there there plenty of times where I walk out at 4:00 and there are students still in the building and I'll sit and
wait until rides come. Like, so we, you know, we try to be flexible with families to say like, listen, this it's so important that a child stays after to get this extra help. Yeah, the convenience of the late bus certainly certainly made it easier, but but you know what? we work with what we have and so um most of our families have been
able to find workarounds so their students can participate and that just speaks to the strength of this community because that that doesn't happen everywhere you know listen sorry you can't um we don't really have that and you can't um so many of our families figure out a way to make it happen so it
hasn't we haven't had to really face it in a way that that some other places might um but yeah the convenience you know was was there but you know what We found ways to overcome. >> Great. Thank you. Anything else? >> Thank you.
>> Thanks. >> Last but not least. >> Yeah. >> Hello everyone. >> Hello. >> Um I do appreciate Janine's comments and bringing up uh executive skills. That's something that's come up even particularly in the ninth grade a focus on study habits. And one of the things
we've thought about it's a staffing and scheduling issue to some extent. But we would have to think about we've thought thought about instead of study halls maybe a freshman seminar or even just for a semester or a term. There are different designs that work at the high school level. It certainly we certainly would benefit from having something like
that in the middle school when kids come up more maybe even more ready but the still developing in that nth grade year. They're just a few two couple months out of middle school. So that has come up. I just wanted to acknowledge that. Um you'll see in front of you portrait of a learner at the high school. Something
you've seen consistent. And I want to point out that there we spent significant time at an admin council meeting back in 2024. It was the ad admin retreat developed talking about a through line. So it is present. You'll can see the same competency areas and
the same language. It's all purposeful. But if you look at just the the IAN statements right that have been mentioned these uh skill areas underneath I'll just highlight the critical thinking since I think there was an emphasis on that a little bit. You can turn that in. We have we have
student reflection sheets as part of their preparation for their presentations which I'll explain in a little bit. Uh you can turn that into an I can statement. I develop under critical thinking. I develop and apply problem solving skills. I apply knowledge and skills to understand contemporary global issues. I make
decisions and arguments based on evidence. I develop media literacy skills to identify and analyze bias and misinformation. But Sean got me thinking when he started talking about collaboration and the Wii. And I said we could turn the I could imagine there
will be a group presentation or or a student presentation a collaborative effort where it's a we can't statement and so a student would say we developed and applied crit problem solving skills and here's how in their presentation. So I can see this evolving even in the high school potentially even this spring if
students wanted they did they do do a lot of collaborative projects and there might be an opportunity for them to present together at their own uh portfolio you know a jo or a joint venture in some way so I think there's a lot of potential there I just wanted to acknowledge that >> so we'll just go to the next slide
there's a lot of bullet points I won't be reading them all I promise but I want to give a little bit of the history I mean before even April 2024 the high school was focused on developing the vision of a graduate as is expected through the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and you look at
most high schools in our area certainly have a vision of a graduate profile of a learner. They have used different names for it. Um there are only a few districts that really have I'd say in Massachusetts that have developed the portrait of a learner and we were inspired in our training with a neighbor
with a another Massachusetts school district. It was NITMK regional with their work on a portrait of a learner. They had started the same way and started to focus on a vision of a graduate and then they decided to go K to2 and I'm I'm pretty close with the principal there. I know him really well,
John Clemens and it's actually a co-principal model with Maryanne Moran as well and in conversations with them we were talking about this I bet Kelly and Kelly was more than enthusiastic about it. He was super excited about the idea of of this. It's certainly a legacy
piece for Kelly to have brought this to Littleton. Um and the in the April after our April 2024 conference, um I've already presented on that previously. Um we knew we wanted to do more. So if you look at the August 14th bullet, August
14th, that's sort of where it all kind of came together in that summer retreat workshop with the admin from NITMK regional initial planning development of district-wide portrait of a learner. So I just want to give you a little I was charged with giving a little bit of a history there of where where we've come from. So that hence all the dates and
you can see all the intensive work at the high school. We're just that's just the compact since 2024. There was there's history at the high school before that about all the work we did to prepare for that April 2024 collaborative conference which you presented on already. So we're building
toward May 3rd through the 6th to our accreditation. So a lot of activities have been focused on um preparing for the reacredititation but we also in tandem with all the schools did we participated in the same exercise uh
that we had we didn't have the exact same model developing the vision of graduate but we wanted consistency prek pre-k to 12. So all the things my colleagues have mentioned about developing their portrait of a learner, magnifying the moments, looking at co-curricular activities, we
participated in that model of defining what learning is. I know Bets's already presented on that previously. Big accomplishment for us this year with the last two bullets that September we really kicked off this year with an intensive focus on going from intention
and vision to implementation. Uh so the PD days were very beneficial to have and focus on that. And then we went we said the next PD day on September 24th uh focused on assessing and demonstrating the skills and the faculty were th this is happening in our advisories uh
models. We have we meet the cap the teachers uh have as everybody knows they loop with their kids uh 9 to 12 and they have an advisory that meets every Monday and then we have the flex block. It's the same time roughly 9:10 to 9:40 every
day. Uh and Monday is the dedicated advisory and that flex block is not advisory. It's an opportunity. They can stay in advisory and stay stay with their advisor but they can also go and do lots of other things. Get academic support. They can go work out in the gym uh in the weight room. They can play
basketball. They can do all kinds of things. They can hang out in the calf. So you you've heard about that flex block already, but the advisory is critical to this and I really wanted to emphasize to your point earlier about this is going to be a lot of work for teachers and there's definitely there was definitely apprehension about what
we have another prepared to teachers in all the faculty meetings that we've had this year. They are the guide on the side not the sage on the stage is the old expression no cliche goes and they are just to basic you know, guide the students on
the the develop check. They have to check on their portfolios. They say, "How where are you at?" And and I told them to let us know as administrators if they're falling behind, if they're not, you know, being compliant. Some of the kids will, especially 11th grade, what is all this? We never had to do this. Ninth graders, it's all new. They've
known they >> so this over time as they all come up, they'll be accustomed to it. You know, we purposely um left out the class of 2026. the seniors are their minds are on totally other to so many other things and we
didn't want to bother them with this especially where they're they will start to check out when we're doing these in the spring when we're typically do doing these presentations and they're ready to move on and transition to their whatever they're doing the post-secary life um so
we can go to the next slide next so here's uh on the top there you'll see roll out for grades 9 10 and 11 and class 2026 is not participating. We created digital portfolios that have Google folders for all six competency
areas. Um, and we clarified I want to go to this third bullet. Uh, I know it's it's a little dense there, but you have in front of you on your screens too. Clarify the learning experience assessments that are already that already exist in the curriculum because this is to the point of like extra workload like are we going to have to do
a whole other thing here? No, we're going to use our existing uh assessments, our existing act curricular activities, instructional activities and the students can ident we went through an exercise where every department participated in this and they identified all kinds of things that they are
currently teaching that they can uh and we shared this with the kids. The kids have a long list of cross departments and every course every course had to list something that a student could use as a magnified moment potentially something they could claim for critical thinking engaging in you know you know
great communication u engaged citizenship all the different competencies um and there's certainly plenty of examples of critical thinking and healthy and well balanced learner throughout what we're currently doing at the high school. So that was a relief to the staff that they didn't have to ne they don't have to go out and create
something new. we we're already they can take credit and kids can claim what they're already working on and it wasn't an add-on for kids. It's just you know what you're already doing exhibits this our curriculum instructional delivery is all built around these competencies. I mean this is fused into the curriculum
even through the frameworks critical thinking skillful collaboration. Um so as was noted earlier we reviewed a road map for grades 9 12 that show current course assessments and co-curricular experiences that students may use in their digital portfolios and we brought in a lot of things that weren't
necessarily you know curricular. It was um one student well it was it's kind of it's more of a club activity but a STEM research project that she participated in that was related to curriculum but if a student had done something remarkable with community service and it wasn't
even a little high school thing they can present on that in the spring uh they can present on all kinds of things that they engaged in maybe they participated in some type of thing in the town that displayed uh engaged citizenship. Um, a lot of our kids, they're involved in so
many co-curricular activities that aren't connected to the public schools. Um, and it might be even something that they do in athletics or even, you know, learning earning a black belt or something and we have kids with black belts in Taekwond do and things like that. They could present on that and we
so we wanted to broaden the view and this was really refreshing to learn. We learned this from NITM. I we don't this that's not an ES thing. That was something we thought and the nipmark fortunately the nipmark um administrators principles they're professional presenters for NEAS as
well. So we know that this is going to you know hold up. Um so down to the bullet where it says communicated advisory process student reflection demonstration presentation of the learning. The huge focus here is on student self assessment and student self
student self-reflection. They're assessing themselves and they're going to present on what they learned. Um, we had a very important meeting this this month, February 11th, faculty meeting where we focused on reviewing the portrait of a learner template. And I wonder if Steve will be able to access
it or you can too because it it says example of a portrait of learner student template. Um, and we wanted to provide this to the staff so they all the advisory teachers grades 9, 10, 11 advisories could present this. A student did this. She actually completed it for every
competence a junior at the high school and she was guided through through her advisory um you know uh teacher and in developing this portrait of a learn and it was it's a nice exemplar u and so I'll just go walk you through this um
let me just bring up this my example here I bring in front of me so you'll see just the first one my portrait of learner student name it's sort of a generic material my learning story this guiding questions. So, every student has a template that they can
modify. They also have some additional things that I haven't included in the presentation for brevity, but they have a really comprehensive reflection sheet and they all all those uh magnified moments of learning that they can easily access. There's a list of them if they're stuck like what what should I
present on what's what's a crit example of my critical thinking especially for the younger students. So my learning story, you go through this, you'll go through the next guided questions are there. Um, okay. And I think there's another one. I'm a critical thinker. So here's the model. Here's the prompt for
the student, the sample of what a student h how did how did you identify a problem, evaluate information, and develop a solution. So you see how this goes right back to the the big visual graphic, and it connects to all the schools, too. Artifacts. Include two to three pieces of evidence. For example, a
research paper, a local issue, a flowchart outlining your problem solving process for a project, a lab report with your analysis, and then a reflection. Write a short paragraph explaining what each artifact demonstrates about your critical thinking. I won't go through each of these, but I want to I want to go just stop there for a second. I want
to focus on the critical thinking one where the student presents on a study of the effect of supplements on all kinds of things longevity but in and a high on a high glucose diet. The print side kind of small so
have trouble reading it. Reflection for this STEM research project. This is the student saying I needed to think critically about the problem to develop a research question. After de developing the research questions, I had to make a hypothesis and whether or not the supplements would be effective. After
making the hypothesis, I ran experiments and wrote a lab report based on a scientific evidence. So that would lead to dialogue with the maybe with the advisory teacher. Right now it's we wanted to keep it low stakes. I've mentioned this at previous presentations that we're not bringing in the public. Some schools do that, you know, with the
sizer model. They have they can have community members come in, family members, parents can come in and watch. We might do that at some point. There might be something a student's really excited about and wants to and they collaborated with a professor somewhere because that is happening at our high school. They might want that person in the room so they can present on it. But
that's it will lead to some dialogue. We purposely are keeping these presentations especially this year low stakes and brief on time. We really we're gonna I mean even like there's going to be there gonna be time like in the sense of like they'll told present you know practice this at home practice
this at advisory if a student's uncomfortable with that you know because they will be presenting to their advisory classmates and they can range from 5 to 12 in room depending on the size. But if a student's really uncomfortable and anxious about that they can present privately to the
advisor because it's the first time we're doing it. We just want to keep it low stakes and and they're not getting graded on it and it's just about them demonstrating their learning. There's not a report card coming out. It's not in a transcript. But they do have an artifact. They do have a demonstration of learning. Some of the kids in the
future the way this we've learn what we learned from NITMK is that some of the kids can even include this in their college application. there is a demonstration of the more and more kids are up not just writing essays they're uploading videos of something they did d you know that is really impressive in the high school years this
will lead to that no doubt and make it really easy for kids because they oh I'm going to showcase that unbelievable thing I presented on junior year and or sophomore year and it's their senior year and they can use that for their college apps or even presenting something extraordinary that they did in
high school to an employer that all has potential here. So this this goes this stays with the student uh their presentation and in their demonstration of their learning. So if we just go through this presentation from from the student who's a junior again she had a template of how she is a can demonstrate
I'm a skillful collaborator. All the prompts are there. The next slide she goes in I I'll spare you my reading of it. She this was from a French class I believe she has a demonstration of how she is a mindful learner as well. uh
with journal writing. She has a demonstration of how she's an engaged citizen and then she wraps up with uh you know she also demonstrates her healthy how she's a healthy low learner. Then she has a reflection at the at the end to sort of bring it all together. Um
we'll go to that slide. What's next? You know and then the next slide I think this should be that's it. Okay. That's her then. Okay. um what the what's next is she goes and explains and this is up there for her to read and present if she wants to and engage with
the audience. So that just the skill alone not only the practice of the uh effort of creating this presentation and compiling really reflecting upon powerful learning experiences and she had an extraordinary she did an extraordinary job on this. Uh I was blown away when it was presented in the
faculty meeting and I said wow here we go advisory teachers we're all set just share this with the kids and the kids can just go with this and they'll do it to different levels of um you know enthusiasm for this year they only have to present on two we reminded the faculty of that this this young lady
wanted to present on um all of them you know so she just did it as an example uh she she did it really effectively but the students will only be engaging on, you know, one of two of the six uh this this spring. So, it'd be I think I've
mentioned this before, too. It'd be great to have some of you come in maybe at some point if students were open for it. I think it would be impressive for you to see. Um we'll get maybe someone who's willing to do it. I'm sure there'll be a few juniors. I I know this student uh who presented a lot of our
kids who have presented um with DECA and with the STEM research project with Dr. affinity. They're very comfortable speaking in front of you've had presentations from them. >> Yeah. Some of those those kids will be great. They'll be happy to have you come and see that presentation. Show off a
little bit. >> Sure. >> We'd love to hear from students that like we want to take a risk with, you know, maybe they're not the same group of kids that always come. >> Yeah. But there's a bunch of other kids too who we don't necessarily showcase at school committee >> who don't know about the opportunity to
present and I think they they would take us up on it and yeah >> we would take them up on it. >> The other thing I wanted to share with you I'll pass this out here if you wouldn't mind passing these around. >> It's fantastic practice for them. >> I'll share Sean. This is you'll see this
is our school profile and what's different is I I we've changed it at the you'll see the big blue block on the back there uh where it says you might want to turn it vision of you'll see the vision of portrait of a
learn um that's something that didn't exist on our profile last year this is new but we wanted to make sure this was there especially our accreditation year so you can see there's more there'll be more and more publication of this uh you know for sure
and sending it out messaging more to parents to make them aware of it that's come up at previous school committee meetings to do parents really know about this and why we're doing it that certainly has come up related to UDL and that's something that that one of our next steps there but we want to also
really spread the word among the kids this month uh I'll be meeting with all the the ninth 10th and 11th grade goal course selection uh the course selection process we want In that meeting this month or it's actually in March, I will be talking about the portrait of
learner, the purpose of it, the process, trying to set them at ease about it, but making sure they're aware of it directly from me of why we're doing this. They've already heard plenty from the teachers. And then the the last thing we're I've already mentioned a couple of times, but it was one of my last bullets, which is that this spring student presentations
are going to current advisory at our EAS visit will be happening in May, May 3rd to the 6th. I we have purposely planned to have some of the presentations happen while Mask is here so they can they can see it you know they'll there'll be some receptive advisories they can see it in
action. >> So that's a little bit of history. >> No no >> yeah this was a great piece and that was a a good presentation. uh towards the end when you when you started talking about you know a college interview or an employment interview or an interview for
an internship as you were talking about the creation of this I was thinking like what confidence this provides our students because they've had an opportunity to sort of zoom out on all the things that they've accomplished and they can just go to the well and talk about all these wonderful experiences
that they've had as it relates to differentiating themselves from every other student that's you know had similar our curriculum, right? They'll be able to speak to um and like sort of elevate themselves over, you know, every other kid that's just >> Yeah.
>> got a high school, you know, high school degree and had a summer job. >> You want to use this as motivation for them to do it, too. Just >> really, >> they can see a connection benefits them. What's in it for me, right? The kids are going to for them real life translatable skill,
>> right? But that's question kids will ask, you know, why why are we doing this? Why does this matter? Why should you make more extra? >> Just wait and see how much it matters. >> Yeah. It's not extra work. It's actually them just highlighting what they're already doing co-curricularly or within their existing course load. Correct.
>> They're just grabbing something and spotlighting it and presenting on it. So, it's not an add-on. Yeah. >> Years ago, the NES model was asking for too much and it was very much perceived as an add-on. And we've kind of turned it in a direction that really works for
kids and works for us as a staff. Um, but the connection too. I want to compliment my colleagues on their presentation tonight because I was just smiling over here listening to them all because I could see the benefit of when these kids arrive in nth grade, they're going to be even if they're not, you know, they might have a different
portfolio presentation model or something like that that's age different age appropriate. But I can see the benefit and the confidence that kids will have certainly the familiarity with all this language it when they're in ninth grade. And it will just get better
and better as they take each step, >> you know, up through, you know, 9 to 12. >> Yeah. I mean, it's essentially their resume as they graduate. >> That's something kids could do and present on. >> Yeah. you know, even if it's even if they've practiced the presentation, like
it's the mental well that they can go to to talk about the experiences they've had and then as they progress in whatever field they in, they just simply replace the previous example with the ne, you know, the next example they've got that's more relevant to the topic. It's just it's a great skill set for these kids to have. And to Jason's point
earlier about uh you know taking a test you know or studying for something and then just forgetting it. Kids just think of the portfolio itself over time as kids go through high school they're going to look back I really did learn something. I really did this was me and they're highlighting things they pick
with some with guidance and counsel from staff. They're picking things that they're proud of. They're things that they're they were excited about learning whether it occurred in the class in a course or outside a course. >> Right. And I don't want to step on but I can add to what you're talking about is
so my my kids went to Parker and my oldest >> um started seventh grade and >> asking her to speak in front of people was like torturing her. >> She was she was one of those students who was like never and they really kind
of didn't take no for an answer. Mhm. >> Um, so and I know that, you know, I don't want to force and I don't want to torture anybody, but I will tell you that by because it was just like, okay, you don't have to do a lot. A little bit
now, a little bit more, a little bit more. And by she was in 10th grade. She was not a math student. She was she was like, I'm going to read my books. I'm going to do my thing. I saw her give a presentation about
um the math that she had chosen to present. >> Yeah. >> And her her peers came in and and having the peers there has something I I I it's like specifics. I don't have any data,
>> but it's something. And I saw her teach some of her peers in 10th grade really advanced mathemat mathematics. A couple of them were like, you know, I've never been able. And she sat and they just noodled and back and forth
>> this kid that didn't want to talk in front of anybody. >> Yeah. >> And didn't do math. And then, you know, like by 10th grade by not >> Yeah. letting them >> completely slide away from that and by giving them that opportunity to present
and talk and and and share. You have to do it to learn it. >> Right. >> Right. >> Yeah. And you'll be happy to know that that is really a staple part of our program already. It's not just for for this presentation. If you were to go
into Littleton High School two or three years ago, probably same for middle school, you'll see kids presenting all the time. And what I'm amazed at is in the world language program, world language teachers have a strong emphasis. I've been noticing especially through the walkthroughs this year on student presentations. Now, granted,
they're they're min, you know, depending on the course that whether they're sealed by literacy kids with high fluency or not or just kids who are beginners, they're they're they're in a different language, you know, highlighting things as well. So that's happening actively at the high school already and also in multiple departments
espec I think it's really pronounced probably in ELA his just from my observations world language and history and social science students getting up making presentations about a project or something they learned with different levels of length you know timelines
>> nice I mean my fourth grader showed me her Canva presentations like it is very much a skill that we value and It's very obvious. I had a couple of things. I wrote them down, but it's because this is so exciting and really cool.
>> One, really appreciate just seeing the whole timeline of the process. >> And actually, kudos to all of you and Beth because that's something that we had asked for last time. Um, and you you definitely heard that and we see that throughout the presentation. It's why we're all so engaged. Um, so really appreciate the the structure of the
whole presentation and I think it's so cool to see at this point that you are at because you're further along than some of the other schools how the theory turns into practice. Like that's why we're asking all these questions but we can see it in yours which is really cool. >> I love the last slide of this exemplar
>> in the what's next where he says I was surprised my assignments were connected to things like effective communication and critical thinking. Yeah, >> that level of like metacognition on the students part to say I had no idea that these things my teachers were asking me to do were leading me through these
competencies like that aha moment is just incredible and it made me think about when you were talking about this whole presentation. >> This is literally again an adult skill like I'm about to go through supervising annual conversations and we ask
employees to like you know show an artifact. I mean, Kelly, you do your own evaluation, right? Like even in the professional world, you show artifacts. And so to have them practice this at this age is is just so incredible. And to your point, leads right into their
their life in college and beyond. And so it made me think about something that we do in the workplace related to that is then start to create like smart goals on where they could continue to grow and learn. And to your point earlier Justin like being an exemplar in every
competency is going to be challenging. So where they're able to identify like I did this really well here's my artifact are there also opportunity to say like as a freshman my goal next year is to really work on this competency great suggestion >> and here's how I will do it right
>> right that's what we do in the workplace like I got this I really want to work on this and then to make it a smart goal like I will do it by this timeline in this way with this support like that >> we could have the advisory teachers who want to loop with that student you know remind them of see them in the fall and
help them reflect on it and say, "Well, let's write let's write down what we're going to do next year." That that could be like a a summary activity. >> They conclude their, you know, it is there. It's what's next, but what's next next fall, you know, next >> year. Yeah. Because then it becomes an ongoing again a skill to practice is
like you won't have every competency all the time, but how are you going to set a goal for yourself? How is it going to be attainable? What's the timeline? It's really hard for some adults to set smart goals. It's just so it's wonderful recommendation. We'll we'll include that in our process this spring. We can jump
right on it. It's a it's easy thing to do >> and we'll add it. >> Great. Um I just want to express my gratitude to my colleagues too that for their engagement in this. This has been really a great conversation and also you
know thank you to all the principles for coming and I I know that our typical format has been to come and present something when it's already completed but our discussion is so much more robust when we get to learn about things while they're happening and actually get
into the weeds a little bit with you. and it's um this has been really beneficial. So I I always feel bad asking you to come in after work for these presentations because you've already had such a long day. But um really appreciate it. I did just have one kind of smalish question for you. Um
>> um on your third bullet point, we don't have to go back to the slide, but that you're looking for opportunities that already exist in the curriculum for students to reflect on, you know, whether they showed one of the competencies. So are teachers kind of
pausing at the end of like a moment like a a lesson or a project and being like so this is a time to maybe reflect on was there a competency that you were showing in this assignment. >> We talked about that our faculty meeting and we some teachers are actually there's a couple of extraordinary examples of that where teachers are
actually putting it on the assignment. >> Yeah. >> This is an example I was really impressed by that when that came up in the meeting where teachers are actually spotlighting the the critical the competency critical thinking. This is a good example you could use for a portfolio. There are teachers starting to do that and they were sharing that in
the meeting with other with their colleagues. So I think that will be more on it more display. The other thing is teachers could u use it in their unit plans and identify it there um you know prime examples u but it is being spotlighted for sure and and the
advisory teachers are guiding them through it if kids get stuck. So yes, it is starting to happen. And I think um one of the last things I would say is that we're going to learn from this visit and see what NIA says about the process too and how we can refine it because their colleagues at other
schools. That's how the model works, their administrators and teachers and counselors from other school districts that will convene here in Littleton and give us feedback and write a report and then we'll present their findings back to school committee as well as part of the process. Um but I think you know
we'll learn a little bit about that. Hopefully they'll come away impressed by what we're doing. Uh we we we kind of accelerated things this year with the whole portrait of a learner emphasis. Um so I'm really pleased just as principal with the progress we have made and that we're going to be prepared. The students
are going a lot of times can come in and that this is not the assessments are not underway. That that's a typical thing that they have a vision of a graduate or portrait of a learner but they don't have the assessments. It's so easy to have that happen because of so many competing commitments. We have the assessment process underway and we think
it's a really good one where it's it's based on students student self-direction, self assessment, self-reflection. Um, and it's real it's studentled. >> That's awesome. >> Thank you. uh kind of jumping off of email spoke about self-reflection and
kind of Justin talked about being able to kind of sell yourself but you just want to say self-reflection I think is really good too because you know whether they go to college or whatever is next for them they need to think about what they want to do right you've all been 18 and picking a major that's a big life choice to make I think it's really good to have the presence of mind to kind of
understand what you like doing who you are how you got here to then make that next choice right I think that's really big um and kind of what Justin was saying as far as like you know if you're in an interview and how that helps I think selling yourself is such a critical piece like it's such a skill you'll always have to use and that's
really good and it kind of coincides with you know understanding yourself right so that's great >> thank you very much yeah >> great so really proud of our leadership team and uh for me this evening you can you can
see the passion and commitment for this initiative uh it's a for me it's marking a moment But it's time I I have because my transition and uh you know presentations
like like this for me just give me I I always had confidence in our leadership team but this is just another verification that the district is in great hands as a result of your leadership. So thank you very much. >> Take care.
>> Wait, there's more. They're all coming back. >> I know. So, um, that was a super impressive presentation and really engaging conversation. I'm gonna have to like police this a little bit because we're
>> we're at 8:38 and at this pace, >> I mean, I don't know if you brought some sleeping bags or not, but >> with this next presentation on UDL, if the school committee would just allow the presenters to sort of go through the material, feel free to go through it at a quicker pace because I know we sort of weaved some of these UDL concepts into
this massive portrait of learner conversation. We'll ask our questions or comments, but we should try to do so in such a fashion that we can get through the rest of agenda and be respectful of everybody's time. Can I just add something to that just to I know Michelle you're first up and I I looked
at the slides already and I think um the school committee might benefit from a like a very brief overview about what UDL is because there's a lot of references to the you know engagement and you know representation and action expression and without understanding the
framework those terms might not land. >> Do my best. I might need to call on Mrs. Steel for this. Um my understanding the way I look at it is universal design for learning is what are the practices that we can put in place that all students can benefit from. Not just one thing for
one student but a general practice that many students could benefit from whether they are a high performing student a student has challenges student who has ELLL challenges. Um just it really kind of levels the playing field so that they can all enter in a similar area and then find their path that matches them.
>> That was beautiful. The only thing I will add is that the purpose of university design learning is to have student agency. So it's to create students who know how to learn and how they can learn and overcome barriers.
And so it's done in three if you look at the actual like um framework. It's set up in three columns which is what Elaine you were just referencing right. So, it's multiple means of engagement, multiple means of representation, and multiple means of exa um action and
expression. And so, all of the it's as educators of trying to lower barriers so that students can create their own agency to learn by way of the examples that Michelle just gave. >> Perfect. Thank you so much.
>> Okay. So our our focus this summer when we were at our summer AC actually dubtailed with something that we were working on at the end of last year and brought into this year. So we are working on our first goal was multiple means of engagement and it's specifically guideline number nine which
talks about design um design options for emotional capacity. So just really quickly those areas are recognizing expectations, beliefs and motivations, developing self-awareness of self and others. Um you know kids are
very egocentric when they're 3 4 5 6 7 8 that that's their life but really starting to realize that there are people around them. Um promote individual and collective reflection and cultivate empathy and restorative practices. So when I was talking earlier and said you know what's coming it kind of it kind of think if you think about a
portrait of a learner this is what we are focusing on. So last year we created a 25 minute morning meeting. The whole school shuts down right after announcements. We have 25 minutes. If you are not a classroom teacher, if you're the principal, the reading specialists, the school adjustment council, you are joining a classroom for
morning meeting so that everybody is engaged in creating that environment. Um so what we did this year is there are a number of staff members. We have a kindergarten teacher, three grade one teachers and a grade two teacher who worked with me who were trained in responsive classrooms. morning meeting
style which has different components. You can see them there under building connections. We created PD for our staff so that we could build these small communities. After COVID, we started to implement a 45minute block which was great and I think we brought some of
those social emotional skills that were lacking. But now our kids are getting better. The social emotional learning is it's coming along. So we're really trying to create these classroom communities. And this dedicated 25 minutes is something we set aside last year. And you know when Beth had asked
us, you know, she she said, "Make sure you present to them. How are you going to measure it?" Well, we can do plenty of measurements. We can look at, you know, how are the kids engaging in morning meeting? Are they sharing? Were they not sharing at the beginning of the year? One of the things that was so powerful yesterday, I read a diversity reading of a book called All kinds of
families that talked about, you know, different kinds of families. two parents, um, one parent, two moms, one dad, and one of the kids, I said, you know, we're like a family here at Shaker Lane. And one of the kids in this first grade classroom said, that's kind of like our classroom. We're a family. You see that poster, Mrs. Kane? That's all
of us together. And I was like, okay, that is not something that I could have qualitatively measured like the think sheets or the reflection sheets, but that is something that these kids said, yeah, we're a family in Mrs. Giles class. So, that was really cool. Um, I bring that up because um, one of the things up there is a revised think
sheet. You can look at you can look at it more closely on yours if you blow it up. This was really the reflection piece for kids visuals. Um, what zoning we talk about the zones of regulation, red zone, yellow zone, blue zone, green zone. So when the kids fill out this think sheet, it's, you know, what
happened? Um, who did it happen to? Where did it happen? How was I feeling? How was the other person feeling? This is like a five to 10 minute conversation that a six-year-old and then it really gets them gives them a chance to look at different perspectives. Did it happen with my teacher? Did it happen with a
friend? What could I do it next time? Uh um how could I make this right? So we revamped this this year. Um again all falling under this um design options for emotional capacity. And the bottom part is that's a second grade classroom and
that was one of the activities that they were doing during morning meeting. That's one of our reading specialists right there who happened to be in the morning meeting with me that day. So that was that's our focus this year. All right. Number two is multiple means of
action and expression. This one really stemmed from our first year of implementing Whiten Wisdom. Kind of going through the year and seeing what went well and what are some areas we needed to grow in. And we really found that there were some challenges to wit and wisdom for some of our students who
struggled um whether they were you know had some reading challenges or just weren't connecting with the material that we wanted them to. So the first thing we started here was partnering with Leslie University to provide scaffolds for witten wisdom. So we have um a person that we're working with
three times so far this year. She's coming in again in March. And you'll see on the bottom left that is a highly scaffolded sheet. A regular entry point would be completely blank and just has the prompt. I can't read it but how did
the actions you can read that. So that is this is like the most scaffolded. What they did with um Nikki Drury the our PD person from Leslie is we took that original one and one of the scaffolds just having first then finally. And when we talk about
universal design for learning, when Beth said that kids can kind of pick their entry point, some of the kids don't have pictures. Some of the kids um this one has I believe there's a spot for writing the information in. So, it's really finding out what in the beginning of the
year, what does the kid need, but then at some point transferring that ownership. You know what? I need that one or I can try that one. It's even the teacher pushing the kid and say, you know what, I think you're ready for this one. You can do that one after if you want because it's a little easier, but I think you're ready for this one. So, we
have been working with um Leslie University to really create those create those scaffolds to build fluency and support for the kids. Um the top right one is one of the PDs that we are working with our staff is really using Gemini to put a prompt in there to put
in a lesson plan and say, "How do I create scaffolds for a student who's struggling with comprehension and this is the lesson that they're working on?" So really trying to use AI to help teachers work smarter, not harder, and thinking about it themselves, but really using AI to tailor stuff that's going to spit it out that would have taken them
probably an hour to research, create, develop. Um, and then the bottom right one is creating opportunities for cooperative learning within the school day. Again, this is during a what I need time. And I talked with the teacher about this said she I said, "Tell me
more about this." and she said, you know, some of the kids want to do the easy activities and I wouldn't want a kid to not do that. So, it's still there. It's there for them to do that fun stuff if they want to do an ABC sort or if they want to do something. But really getting them into the area that's going to push their thinking, challenge
them, but also be available to just do something fun because it's easy for them. So, I think I think that's my stuff. >> Great. >> Thank you. Good. go with collective questions at the end that might speed things along.
>> Hello again. So for Russell Street um our first goal around multiple means of representation um the consideration about flexible methods and materials and those considerations came from a document that we all looked at at our admin retreat over the summer from the
Novak consulting group which just Katie Novak's kind of like the the guru of uh of all things UDL and came up with these look fors of if UDL is working really well in a school here are the things that we can look for and find evidence. for. So we've been looking at some of those specific look fors and making
plans um for individual schools around what are the places where we feel we did some self- assessments at admin retreat. We had our teams do some self- assessments at the beginning of the year. Um so for Russell Street the first look for that we looked at was flexible methods and materials. So I'll just kind of share a few things that we've been
doing uh in for that look for and the first thing that I wanted to to just was a a good thing to remember is that that is a direct alignment with our school improvement goal. It's actually goal number two. I looked at it before. It's
not goal number one. It's number two of similar to what uh principal Kane was saying, right? Our year 2 implementation of Whiten Wisdom is the year where we can find the ways to adapt and adjust Whitten Wisdom to better meet the needs of all of our students. So that was our school improvement goal which is a great
tiein to to these UDL look fors. Um and some of the things that we have been doing so far this year is customizing um the learning experiences for um the focusing question tasks and the end of module tasks for our students. Those are kind of the the big assessments that
come out throughout a weight and wisdom module. Um, and the the picture that you see there with the astronaut on top of the moon is a just one example of how our third grade team has been working on adjusting um some of the expect some of the the ways in which students can meet
the expectations for um what they're learning in Whitten Wisdom. This assessment as it is written in the Witten Wisdom teacher manual has nothing to do with any artistic component of it. Has nothing to do with finding uh pictures from online. I think there's a
little lunar lander there that you can see there. Um it really is just a writing assignment that students can either put down on a line sheet of paper or type in the Chromebook. But our third grade team and all of our teams have been thinking about how can we make these assignments and these um these
assessments more engaging for our students and they uh have also come up with ways to have an exhibition component for some of these assessments as well. You can see there that that student work is put on their locker. So that the third grade hallway, if you walk down it, you will see lots of
different um examples of students were studying space for module 2 and they had the option to write about whether or not it was a good idea um whether or not the Apollo missions were a good idea for for us to to explore space. So, um you can
see lots of different um student writing, student artwork, um student represent representing kind of their thoughts on whether or not uh the Apollo missions were success for space travel. Um other things that we've been doing also we we're working with a consultant from Leslie University this year. Some
of the professional development that we've worked on with our teams again using AI to support flexible methods and materials. Um, we gave uh teachers a lot of uh instruction and time to practice and kind of get messy with some
generative AI tools so that they can find what works for them so that the the the goals can stay firm, but the ma the ways in which students can reach those goals um are varied um and using AI as a tool to help give teachers some inspiration and some thought to how they
can um adjust and change some of those opportunities for students. And then most recently when our um consultant was here, we developed a schedule where we were able to have teachers meet vertically um with third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers all meeting together so that they could continue um
to have those discussions on how are they adjusting Whiten Wisdom. How are they adapting because a lot of the the work from Whiten Wisdom, right, is it is continuous. So what they're working on um has those those pathways and those throughways from third, fourth, and fifth grade. Well, really starting in
kindergarten, but all the way up through fifth grade. So, it was really great to get our teams vertically talking to each other because there's always new and great ideas that are being shared from team from colleagues that might not be a part of your team but have really great things to share with what they're doing. Um, and then the last thing that I'll
share for flexible methods and materials, that screenshot is a Padlet um that we created during a couple of our staff meetings. Um, and the columns there are uh one, two, three, four, five, I think there might be six, but I
got cut off. um six five or six um common types of activities that you will find in a witten wisdom module. Um I think I see a notice and wonder chart, a chalk talk, a mix and mingle, a Socratic seminar, and a teacher read aloud. Um
those come up over and over and over and over again for um all of our students throughout Whiten Wisdom. and they're great lessons, but if you're doing the same thing many times over, um it can get a little stale and stagnant or it might not be the right way to reach
those certain or specific students in your classroom. And if you just keep doing the same thing over and over again, you might be missing out on some really great student learning. Um, so what we did at a few staff meetings was we just put it out there and said, "Hey, we know what the goals are for those lessons, but how can we approach and
still reach the the expected goal of a chalk talk or of a Socratic seminar, but in ways that might be a little bit different and might be more relevant and resonate with kids more. So right for Socratic seminars which as it's written in the manual is a full group whole
class discussion right where the teacher basically takes a step back and the students engage in the conversation. And that's a really great opportunity for some of our students. But if you're a student that's really hesitant to raise their hand or to participate or to speak in front of a whole crowd that might not
be the greatest option for you to show what you know. So, we had our teachers kind of talk about, hey, what are the different ways that we can get students talking and communicating, maybe arguing or disagreeing with one another in respectful ways around what they're reading, and they came up with so many different ideas of how we're doing it.
And um just in some classes that I've been to when they've had Socratic seminars going on. I've seen uh classroom debates where they're split the class in half and if you're agreeing, you're on this side. If you're disagreeing, you're on this side. you're using text evidence to support your arguments and trying to get people to
cross the room over to your side throughout the lesson. I've seen Socratic seminars that are more like what I call fishbowls where you have smaller discussions happening in table groups all around the same things but maybe a little better entry point for some students that are, you know, hesitant to
speak in front of a whole group. So, there's a Padlet there that's live and active and our teachers are putting new ideas into it um based on what they're trying with their students. So just that collaboration to to keep it open and and share the good stuff that people are are doing in their classroom with their
colleagues. Second goal is around uh multiple means of engagement and the look for that I highlighted here but we're obviously doing more work than just these two look fors is learning objectives and what I wanted to highlight here in the way that
we um wanted to promote these look fors as a whole staff is we've been doing um learning walks throughout throughout the year as an administrative team and central office team members come around and and do these observations um using some of these look fors. Um but what I
wanted to do at Russell Street was make that uh or establish um a culture of peer observations around these UDL look fors so that colleagues could get into their their their teammates classrooms um to do a few things. One, see all the
great things that are happening in other classrooms around the around the school. um have a culture of being more comfortable like sharing your work and sharing your practice with peers and then um having staff members be a part of that data collection on how we are doing and what we are seeing in
classrooms that's working really well and where are the areas that that we need to grow. So um I put a couple bullet points here of just what we've done in that regard so far. So as a um leadership team we established the look fors that would be best suited for peer
observations to go in learning objectives being one of them. Um we I presented kind of the the goal for these learn for these peer observations to the staff at a staff meeting took all of their questions. Um it I I think it had been some time since um peer
observations or instructional rounds were done at Russell Street School and it's putting teachers in somewhat of a vulnerable position to welcome other adults into your classroom and and put your practice you know on you know on display for others. So lots of questions around how we were going to handle that
and making sure that everyone felt comfortable and and it was on a voluntary basis to have people come into your classrooms while we get this off the ground. Um, we conducted our first round of peer observations a few weeks ago, early February. The leadership team, uh, we split into to two groups
and they were the the first people that that got the opportunity to go into classrooms and take some notes and give some feedback and and really appreciate their colleagues for all of their great work. Uh, the screenshot that I have there is the note catcher that that uh, we were using to to just look at
specifically learning objectives. Okay, how are we seeing learning objectives in this classroom? On the other side of that page, we're also looking at formative assessments. So, okay, what how are we seeing learning objectives and how are we seeing teachers assess in their classroom and how are those two things interrelated? Um, and then we
plan to conduct these monthly peer observations as a consistent practice at Russell Street going forward. So, uh, in March, I will invite the people that got observed to now come with us, uh, on a learning walk so they can, uh, be on the other side of the the notecatcher and
see some of their peers in classrooms and make that a a constant and and, um, a consistent practice at Russell Street so we can all be a part of seeing all the great stuff that's happening in our school because I think a lot of times uh, it feels very insular and isolated
um, and we think we're just kind of alone in our classroom. It's great to give people the opportunity to to see what else is going on and then also to to collect that objective and quantitative data as a staff so that when we come together and make our next year's school improvement goals or you
know think about what we're going to talk about at a staff meeting we can say we were all a part of understanding you know where we want to go next because we were all in each other's classrooms. Great. found it interesting when I was creating this how the four schools have forced
such very different formats for their slides. It's very UDL and I will I will speak to them. You know, middle elementary is colorful and bright and lots of stuff and middle school is just like uh black and white. Just tell me what I need to know and move on.
we tend to represent our schools, I think, in that way. Um, I'll start with with, you know, kind of where we left off, at least in terms of the the portrait of a learner. Um, you know, one of the nice things about what we're doing at the middle school is I think both things there are a lot of touch
points along the way. um I really want this to be the focus of this year and so it just so happens that it that it um covers you know in terms of both initiatives but our f first focus area is you know actions multiple means of action expression and what we really
want to do is we want to have opportunities for students to customize their learning experience so to go just a little bit more in depth into what specifically that looks like. You talked about capacity and independent work, but it's not a small thing to ask teachers
to allow students to demonstrate their knowledge in their own way. It's it's really not it actually is not something where you can just say, "Listen, here you're going to create this. Show me what you have in the end." It actually takes a massive amount of frontloading. And if if you're willing to do the work
up front, it pays off in the end and you can be the facilitator. Um, but that it's it is laborious to start if we want to do this the right way. And so just the idea of saying we're going to change the way students demonstrate their knowledge. It's it's just not as simple
as that. It's it's it's it's so nuanced. And so just getting people to that point of saying, "Okay, I'm I'm ready to submit to this. I'm ready to say, "Okay, we're going to try this and we're going to try a different way and I'm going to trust." And trust is hard, especially when you're working with people who've been doing this for such a long time and they have a way that they know that
works and it's proven. And here comes the principal asking to change that. And so, um, the how part of this really does become important and this is what we kind of wanted to dig into. I wrote, you know, the bullet of the choice boards and the menus and all that stuff. Those are just, you know, certain examples that we provide. But what we really want
to do is move beyond the choice board to to say, okay, you can do a f, you know, a trifold, you can do a brochure, or you can do a slideshow. We want to move beyond saying, you have choice, but I'm going to prevent I'm going to present you those choices. To me, that's not really the same thing. All right? It's
it's just expanding what you're asking kids to do, but it's not really giving kids the creative to say, "Listen, I I I I want to do something that's really going to tap into what I do, and I see how this connects because at the end of the day, we want this to connect to them and hopefully to connect to other content areas." And so, these these
methods to navigate the content really become part of of a new way of looking at it. And so, what we really focus on is what does it look like in the classroom. So in that second box, the the developed structure of these routines to to to help with the creative
process. This isn't something so I will speak to to to the experience. We've had a number of early adopters and we've had a couple that have been very thoughtful about it and gone through and we've see we saw really great success and we had some others who were like I'm going to try it. We're just going to let it go.
And I didn't say much because you you know everybody has to learn along the way. But as a as an observer sitting there watching going, "Okay, here's an area where we can tighten. Here's an area that I can tap into when we talk about it, right? To take what is happening, just to say that we've done it and checking a box is not what I'm looking for, right? I I I I know our
teachers would do that, but I don't want that from us. I want this to to create something that people go, "Wow, this was much better uh from our students. I got more out of it, and frankly, I didn't have to work as hard when it was all said and done." So developing what those routines are and those routines are
going to look different in a sixth grade classroom than they are in an eighth grade classroom. And each one is going to be different depending on the teacher and and and their strengths. But the idea being is that if we're going to do this, our teachers need to have some time to really be reflective about their practice, what it is they want students
to know, what do they want them to do, and how do they guide that along the way? And that's not something you can wing. That's not something that experience just has, right? It can certainly help you with that, but in its own you just can't show up and say, "Okay, guys, you're going to do your own thing." You really have to prep this.
And that part is is where the real learning for our staff is. My hope then is that's what they model then for the students because the students are going to be going through a very very similar process. And so this implementation really to begin with is about developing those structures and those routines.
thinking about it from the time that you start this to the end and my way starting at the end and working backwards to think about every absolute part of what you're going to do along the way. You have to think about it on a step-by-step basis because if you're just looking, you know, those those
those marking marking moments is great, but those areas between the moments, the little mile markers in between are just as critical because that's where we can veer off the road. If the teacher is not diligent and if they haven't prepped and they're not the students aren't ready for that, so much of that can can veer off. And so really helping teachers
think about it mindfully and really sitting down going, okay, this is going to happen and then this and then this or working backwards from that. And then as we as we move towards students and they starting to create, what we want to see is then teachers challenging students to
do something different, more in depth, right? Going to areas that they hadn't thought about before. So the student that says, "Listen, I just want to write a test." Okay, that's where you are right now. But the next time around, we're going to take that option off the table right now. We're going to start to move this. And so ideally, as the student moves through sixth grade,
eventually into eighth grade, those those opportunities, they change and they morph. We're nudging them along the way to say, "We're not interested in status quo. I don't want you doing the same level of work in sixth grade that you know, as as you or in eighth grade as you as you were doing in sixth grade." So while this doesn't have the
flash that that I would love, this is the roll your sleeves up and do the hard work. The conversation began from in the beginning around critical thinking and independent work and we talked about it and the kids need to have this. This is where we roll up our sleeves to say,
"Okay, we're going to teach kids to be critical thinkers, then we've got to do this part of it." And so this is the meat, this is the eat your vegetables part of of this work. and and it and our teachers are doing this and and some are faster along where they are and others are coming along, but I think we're
starting to see that. So really for us, it's really about laying the bedrock. So this right here is the bedrock of of what we're doing is creating that capacity in our staff to be able to say, I'm going to trust something that I have no reason to trust that I've never done before, or I'm going to listen to, you
know, a person on my team who's done it. Now I'm excited. Now I want to try it because now I'm engaged in bringing something new into into my into my practice. So that's really what this part of it looks like is is really establishing those structures that are going to allow us to happen. Uh next
slide please. Which then gets us to and I spoke to a little bit about this in the in the um portrait of a learner part. Really thinking about exemplars and really helping teachers. So this is the first real strategy besides just mapping out
how you want your next class to go or your next two classes to go. Really thinking about what is it that we have to provide for our students so they can do the work that we need them to do. And the question then becomes do we provide exemplars? Do the students provide it? Are we somewhere in the middle? How do
we scaffold those things? Right? Students who on an IEP might need certain supports that other students may not. What does that look like? How do we craft that? And how do you how do you build uh you know the student confidence and the vision for for them to be able to um create something on their own and
try and try again? Because chances are the first I'll speak from my own practice. You know the first time you try something like this and the kids come back and they're excited about something but you're looking at it going you've been way more than you could chew here. You know you want to do a stop motion movie that shows you know this thing happening that would take you
months and months and months to create. So sometimes as a as a ST as a teacher, you have to be able to know your students and and what their strengths are in order to move them towards those things. And so focusing on exemplars as a way for us to think about what do our
students need, what do I need to provide, what structures do. So for me, that part right there is the lynch pin to so much of the work that we're going to do because everything else then you can base coming off of that. The students know what they want and what it's going to look like. the teachers know what it's going to look like from
the student and we have something that we can create on our own to make that happen. And so that capacity then finds itself in the obstacles helping students identify the obstacles that they're going to face. And that's part of the executive functioning that we talked about. If a student can say, okay, I
know this is going to be a problem. I'm not going to have time at home to work on this. Okay, so how do I how do I overcome that? And so those are part of the routines and the structures that allow for some of this work to to to really happen. So, what does it look like? Really getting kids to spend time reflecting and thinking about what does
this final product look like? And it's going to be hard because there are some who just I don't know. It's too overwhelming. For some students, it's too much choice and they get they get locked up in that. So, how do we break that down? What's the entry point that we can find to help students at least begin something and then they can take
it and run from there. and those executive functioning routines to allow them to be able to not just manage their time, but their resources, the materials that they need, and things like that. So, these are the really two areas when it comes to the UDL practice that we're really focusing on at the middle school
this year and into next is is how do we embed this in what we're doing in the classroom level. So much of what you see in these other uh competencies and other focus areas that we have at the middle school, we have we have 10. We're working on one a month in in the course of this process. These are just two that
we're working on at the moment. Um it doesn't necessarily describe the whole year. And so that's what that's what we'll really be talking about here is is getting granular and really looking at how do we make the best practice. I I worked for a job for years and one year
they brought in um Bigwigs from Disney to talk about customer service and it was one of the best lessons I'd ever I'd ever heard and they talked about when you go to Disneyland you'll never see anybody point a finger if you ask for directions it's always this right this open hand but the one thing that that they said that what they want to see
from their employees whether it's Snow White or somebody else that it's okay to be off task as long as it's on purpose and I've never forgotten that lesson and if you can do do that in the classroom. If you can reach that spot where if I walk into a classroom and it looks like
chaos, but it's not. It's controlled and it's focused and it's guided. It's off task, but it's on purpose. That's where that that begins to create and students begin to discover parts of themselves, but it takes a while for for educators to get there. It took a while for me to get there as an educator and now as an
administrator, how to facilitate that. This isn't something that I just wing. this is something that I have to think deeply about in terms of when we do meet with our staff and how do I want to lay this out. So these are the two areas that we're focusing on at the moment and then as we move forward we'll talk more about student reflection and that part
of it so that it circles back around but in terms of our two focus areas. I think these two will really take care of a lot of the work that we want to do and I think the the web that will connect to the other areas of focus certain again
lot of dense text promise not to read it all just give you some highlights mindful of the time >> you've already read it so you're got uh so multiple means of engagement really in according to our training the why of learning. This focus at the high school is on learning objectives. I think it's
similar to Russell Street and what they demonstrated today. The firm grade level learning objectives are visible to students who referred to throughout the lesson. So what I've captured here for you are lots of examples either through you know learn through walkthroughs but
also lots of collegial conversations and teacher reports and I'm very grateful to our teachers for demonstrating and sharing these examples in order to you know be here tonight present this. So, I'll highlight a few. The first one, learning objectives frequently posted, projected with agendas, and warm-up activities. That's something if you
walked into a Littleton high school classroom, you'd see routinely um they're noted in unit plans, curriculum maps, Google classroom for sure. A science teacher shared they they frequently post objectives with an essential understanding or question and return to it during class. I wanted to
highlight that because I know you have essential questions in each packet or or the school committee meetings. student students in applied music course, they develop their own goals. I had a good conversation with Hillary Bridge about this that how that works. Another history teacher begins every class with
a question of the day of the day that addresses the learning objective of that day's lesson or the previous day's lesson. This teacher also provides students a list of essential questions for the unit that aligns with the summit of assessment. And then students complete uh completing weekly reflection sheets connected to goals and
objectives. Learned that from the special educators in the learning center. So to sum this up, you know, one of the the key phrases that's used with UDL is firm goals, flexible means. Um so I'm going to turn now to the next focus area, which is multiple means of
representation, the what of learning. Um and this really anticipates learner v variability. um and flexible methods that a learning design provides students with flexibility in how they learn in some lots of varied instructional methods especially notable I mentioned
this earlier in world language classes there's a whole list of things music songs different speaking activities you you've read it uh you can see all kinds of examples of how things you if you were walking through or talking to teachers well how do you you know vary your methods they would be sharing all
this with you um there's The another one I wanted to highlight was the last bullet. Uh I thought this was interesting. An AP psych teacher um you has students use an adaptive quiz for their homework assignment. Students may com uh complete it any time in a unit
and may attempt it as many times as they want until they are satisfied with the score. And I really think this captures a lot of m ways of present multimodal ways of presenting content and help helping student learning. So you can just, you know, take a look at that.
It's all for you to see. I want to go to the next slide. And again, another phrase that they use with UDLT, your original question, you know, was proactively designing. This is I love this phrase because it's right from the Novak training. Proactively designed for
the predicted predictable variability of all learners. Proactively designed. So teachers are anticipatory, not reacting to it, for the predictable variability of all learners. So, here are some areas of growth. I wanted to point this out for us that we're going to continue to conduct more walkthroughs with follow-up
conversations. I like a lot of what Colin said about having peer observations and we'd like to get that going uh and continue to provide staff time for common planning, which is one of our priority areas, our goals and and the sharing of UDL practices because they're doing in different pockets and some of them are really excelling at it
and others are, you know, sort of stuck on or stuck in their old ways of doing things and the standardized way. attend to the next two UDL focus areas. Uh J Jason mentioned this how we're through our walkthrough forms we have different areas of focus and the next two for us
that we're going to really emphasize throughout the remainder of the second semester in the formative assessments and flexible assessments. So if I were to present to you in future I would be able to present a slide that was similar to the other two where I show lots of examples of this flexible uh you know
assessments and formative assessments. We're going to communicate, we want to broadcast this more widely. Uh, this came across in a conversation with Beth Steel, you know, really and I think you might have emphasized this too at one point. Um, communicating messages to parents about what UDL is all about. I think you might have brought this up,
Justin, at one point per the purpose, the spotlights in our Friday flyers, but also just showcasing it. We we talk a lot about it, but do people really know what it is and why we're doing it and really getting that out there and show examples of it. And we want to coach teachers and I think actually some of
the best coaches are actually not uh the administrators necessarily Keith or me. It's actually co it's the teachers themselves teaching each other. So coaching teachers who are attach who are attached to established standardized assessment practice and and prompt more flexibility. They might take it better
you know veteran teacher from a colleague who's experienced just like them but who has adapted practice after all these years and they're and they they said they can explain it to them. they're they're going to be able to be more convincing, I think, to say, "Here's an example of what I did, and I didn't actually used to do this, but now
I do, and here's why." And highlight excellent LHS teacher examples of UDL practices at staff meetings. So, we want to showcase the teachers more with teachers teaching teachers. And so, that's my presentation. >> You want me to stay up for questions? >> Yeah. Well, I have a question. Yeah,
>> we could go backwards so that you don't have to jump up twice, but >> Okay. Yeah. Yeah, that sounds good. >> So, it's so interesting about the um the flexible assessments at the high school level because you've got um you know
some AP classes and honor honors like classes that are preparing kids for MCCAST and those assessments are not flexible. So yeah, feels like there's some tension there with >> you know what teachers are going to be able to be flexible about when they know
this end goal is to prepare kids >> for these high stakes tests. Um, so I imagine there's been some interesting conversations. >> One of the classic things that comes up a lot, and this actually was before even any emphasis on UDL going back 10 years, is teachers, high school teachers in
particular, 11th to 12th grade really feeling that they need to prepare kids for colleges and university professors who don't often have the best teaching practices. You know, it's, you know, stand and deliver lecture and all that stuff. It's still happening even though there's been so much research about the
best ways to learn. You know, a lot of the best practices are happening at the primary grades, right? Best teachers you see in terms of being able to meet the needs of so many different kids and and you know, kids are learning in different ways at different rates. We see that, you know, this real high skill level, I
would say, particularly, you know, not that our high school teachers don't do it, but really, you know, Shake and Russell Street, uh, for sure. And um that would be and I'm generalizing it to that grade level like pre-K to five, pre-K to six, you start to see really amazing teaching to reach different
learners. So I think there are constraints for sure and there are debates. I mean we have some really talented teachers, teachers who have been named teacher of the year Littleton High School who feel like they really need to teach it this particular way because you know they're constrained by
an AP course. They're preparing kids kids for a test. They have to answer a prompt in a certain way on an MCCAST test. They want students to be able to handle a certain assignment at a collegiate level in terms of writing or research. You know, it has the research paper needs to be done this way. So,
it's true we we're balancing that, but when possible, how do we vary? How do we flex? Because it is possible. It it doesn't all have to be so standardized. And we have to find those opportunities and highlight them. Yeah. Is I I love that you're having the conversation
though. It's a >> Yeah, >> it's an important one to have. And then actually this is a question for both you and Colin because you had both talked about um looking for learning objectives during the walkthroughs >> and I was wondering if one of you could
speak more to why how that is part of the UDL look fors and I I can tell you what I'm assuming and you can tell me if I'm wrong is the so is the importance of the learning objective that there may be
variation in the learning approaches in the classroom to apply UDL strategies but that everybody will be meeting that same learning objective. Is that the idea? >> Yeah, I would say it's trying to align to standards so we have curriculum maps and we put there's a lot of work put into that. Make sure the teachers are
teaching to the standards so that the goals are firm but the needs are flexible. Um I actually have the UDL walkthrough form uh right here from you know in front of me and we had sort of a test a checklist post lesson objectives refers to objective multiple times
throughout the lesson. You don't always see that. Um provides opportunities to students to discuss and reflect on learning goals. That doesn't necessarily always happen. Clearly align instructional materials and assessments to stated goals. I saw that extensively and heard that extensively from teachers. So there's some place some
another point here from uh from this uh this walkthrough form is provide opportunities for students to craft their own goals as they work toward those objectives. That's something we could work on probably a little bit more but there has to again it's we were constrained by a standardized curriculum. We need the frameworks.
>> There's this only so much customization teachers can have have the time to do. uh there's a real tension there in terms of the the workload they're failing to be able to implement this in a real real with real fidelity to the to the model uh but there are more there we are
trying to reassure them there are ways to be more flexible in how we teach and how kids learn and I think the objectives to go right to the point of your question was it's that is fundamental so we focused on that first semester and it was part of the Jason
mentioned the 10 areas and that is a focus focus area for multiple means of engagement and engagement is critical. So we wanted to make sure that the teachers were adhering to the um objectives and we were pleased to report find not only through through uh observations but also through lots of
conversations and just their own reports to me that that's happening all the time and that's good. So check that box and then we'll move on to the next area of focus which is what I mentioned. >> Thank you very much. Just real quick, uh it seemed like a very clear through line about the pair
of review. I think that's great. Um I think that uh anytime you can kind of capitalize on kind of the human capital you already have in the building, I think is great, right? We're putting a lot of investment in with PD work and um I think it's great that they can work together to kind of solve problems.
>> Thank you. >> Questions for Dr. Harrington, questions for Jason Everheart, >> questions for Jason. for Jason. >> Middle school question. >> Yeah, >> come on now.
>> This is actually just a clarifying question. >> Um, so on your focus area number two about the exemplars. So, can you talk a little bit more about um so you're you're looking for student independence and creativity, looking for
different ways to show what they know, like the action and expression piece. >> But then the way I've always thought of as exemplars is is like a model that the teacher provides for what high quality work will look like for this task. But
if if it's all different tasks, does that mean that there has to that student would create an exemp like how do you have all these different exemplars for >> you're going you're going where I want you to go. I want to turn this on its head. >> Okay? >> Because I do think there is a point where we we have to stop spoon feeding
and saying this is what I want and I want you to create something that looks very similar to this. I think we have to get to a point. We don't start there, right? this is this is you know a long a long uh we're down the road but I think we have to get to a point when a student is faced with something that they need
to do right I need to show what I know that that they can lean into it because they've shown it in many different ways they have an idea of what that might look like even if they don't have a vision of what the completed product looks like it's the exploration of what it is that they want to show that I think is more important than what the
actual product looks like because if they're thinking about what do I want to show what does that have to have in it what are the what are the what are the requirements right what's the content that's that I'm responsible for you know size time these things I think that process at the middle school level is so incredibly important I think we rob
students of that when we say create this and so my staff had a similar reaction that you're having in terms of like I'm not quite sure >> former teacher >> yeah like I'm not quite sure what you're talking about I'm not sure I like it but I I think as we move forward word,
people are going to realize that this is that journey. That's the critical thinking and that's the independent work. It it is it's in the ether. It's not something that you can quantify. It's not something you can touch and say, "Okay, I get what you're saying." It's something that's going to have to be experienced. But once you do that,
aha moment, that's the mile marker, right? That's the thing when a student says, "Oh, you know what? I know exactly what I'm going to do and it's going to look like this." So, for, you know, for example, I'll use one one of our first early adopters, and I think I mentioned this. she uh our our sixth grade ELA teacher, she rolled this out and she
wasn't sure, right? She was one of our our our you know uh she was somebody who had a lot of questions about you know exemplars because we've been told okay our students need exemplars students on IEPs we have to provide these things but to say like okay I'm not going to do that we're going to let them find their
own what we what some of these students ended up with was amazing work uh podcast one kid you know wrote a whole rap song and other others did this the amazing puppet show in seventh grade I saw in ELA like things that would have never happened otherwise but they every
bit as rigorous. They were every bit as contentoriented. They were every bit as interesting as anything that they would have done if if the teacher had said, "I want you to do this." The difference was was that leap of okay, I'm not the one in control. And I think for a lot of teachers, as educators, we need to feel
a little bit of that like we are guiding. So, it is it's it's >> well and teachers are also living in within their own constraints that they have to come up with equitable grades for a report card to report to parents. And so if everyone's doing something different and everyone's coming up with
their own exemplar, I think it can get a little >> fuzzy for teachers to feel like they're being equitable among all the student. >> One of the things that that I didn't get into just because for time is the importance of rubrics and having something for kids to be able to say, okay, how do I know I've done this?
Because we have to provide that. We have to provide at some point some level for kids to say, okay, I I've done everything that I've been asked to do. So, this isn't just like I said, go for it and give me what you have and I'll because you're trying to grade apples to apples. But if you say, listen, this is the rubric they want to use. And
sometimes where I'd like to get to is maybe where kids start to develop their own rubrics. Again, this might be pie in the sky, but I don't think it's I don't think it's harmful to set the bar that high and see how far we can get towards it. So, if the students start thinking about themselves as a worker, I know what profession looks like for me. This
I could do better, right? Or or you know what, I nailed it. Like I think we need to have opportunities for students to have that moment to say, you know what, I I could have worked harder on this, right? That feedback that comes and we haven't even talked about the feedback loop that's a part of these things. And so just the idea of having students
create their own exemplars is is enough. But that it there are so many things that have to go with that in order to make it really function the way that that I think it can. But yeah, what I'm asking is not common. It's a little unorthodox, but I think it's going to produce far better result and something that's far more meaningful and
longerlasting if we can do it and we can continue to do it. I don't want this to be something we're just doing for a year or two and then we're off to the next thing. I think there's something foundational about about rethinking exemplars, reflective practice and and routines that I that I think could really tap into something in a in a
different in an era where teaching has to be different. I think we have to find ways to to sort of say, okay, you know, then we're going to adapt to instead of trying to get kids to fit into, you know, a pre-COVID world of it. So, >> yeah, it's I understand your questions and I don't have all the right answers.
Some of this I'm I'm on this journey myself, but I but if it works out >> like I've thought about for so long, I think we're going to we're going to tap into something really really special. >> Thank you. >> All right. >> Not just a pre-COVID role to your point, a pre-AII role. Oh, >> like what is our exemplar when AI
regurgitate the most beautiful and perfect? And so like really flipping that on its head. >> But this is where this is an a space where then you could use AI to help you, right? A student can create their own exemplar now that they have access to something that that they could see in their mind but had no way of creating.
Now they can and now that becomes the thing they want to work towards. And that's where it's up to the teacher so that it doesn't just become, >> you know, something that they can plug into Chad GBT and get. But I think >> AI might in this particular case might provide an opportunity to open some floodgates for students to be able to
tap into some things that they might not otherwise. >> Yeah. >> Right in their own creation. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> And the critical thinking which goes back to this because it might look like an exemplar is >> Yeah. And but I think that's where at the end that's where the the conversation right the wraparound
conversation at the end with teacher and student to really ask those questions. None of this just happens and then you're off on your own. everything circles back to um to that point so that when a student walks out of that class, they know what they did, what they didn't do, what they could be improved,
what they should continue to do, who they are as a learner, how best to manage, you know, their time and resources. I think there's something, you know, like I said, that that builds that they can carry to those next levels.
>> Great questions for Principal McDonald or Principal Kane. I just have a a comment. So, I love that you're doing the peer observations. I think those are so powerful and they're actually very hard to do because you
have to um arrange for coverage for teachers that are out of their classroom. It's like it's a heavy lift schedule-wise, which is why a lot of principles don't do it. But I really um appreciate you making that happen because it can be so eye opening for a
teacher to walk into another teacher's classroom and be like, "I never knew that was possible." >> So um thank you for doing that. >> I agree. We're not going to let the the the weirdness of coverage and schedules and the minutia of how the school day runs get in the way of what we know is good practice. >> Thank you.
>> Well, stated well done. Yeah, very nice. >> You all have been up for over 14 hours. So, I think it's time that you uh start your journey home. Drive safe. >> Yeah. I just I want to say thank you very like two pretty heavy topics today. So, thank you for the extra time
tonight. It was like fascinating to me how involved and engaged we were in presentation one and then we sort of flipped the switch and it was like, >> "Oh my god, they have this going on on like the the portrait of a learner felt so fun." And then we went into the UDL and it was like this is the in the
trenches type work. So we just want to say thank you for doing that on top of the really engaging conversation we had before. We don't like discredit the UDL and I think it might have been a lot of content for one night. So thank you for the extra time and we appreciate all the hard work.
>> Yeah. And it really needs to be stated uh these are two transformational changes. They're not transactional. You very seldom find a district that will embark upon a journey of two to two tra trans transformational changes. This
is unique and and it's through the commitment of of the leadership uh and the commitment of our staffs that make this possible and actually K5 you have three transformational changes because wisdom is transformational as well. So,
>> this is unique and and uh I think we always have to remember and we do we sometimes we need to slow down >> because if we don't slow down, we're not going to be successful and and that ability to to do the litmus test and see where we're at is so important and you all do such an excellent job at that.
So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Keep thinking about rubrics and the rest of student as worker is teacher as coach, >> right? Drive safe. >> All right. Thanks everybody.
>> Um Elaine has Kelly. Elaine has one follow-up question for you on top before we move on to the next agenda. Sure item. >> Yeah. So we were um I was remembering last year when we were talking about your goals for your evaluation and we
tal the UDL walkthroughs were kind of a next step that you had mentioned for this year. And so that that was part of why I was curious about the walkthroughs and a couple of the principles mentioned that leadership were doing walkthroughs
looking for um UDL practices. So I just wanted to clarify is that happening in every school like is the leadership team going around to all four schools or is it just >> well
specific with and Bethlyn and I so we're not we're not at that stage yet. We our principles need to focus on their staff. I mean they they have over 40 staff. So that will will come eventually up to the central office team to try to put the
pieces of the puzzle together to see where we're at as a district. Right now we we want our administrators in our schools focusing with their staff. >> Okay. So it's so because it was a an interest uh at the high school and at Russell Street that those walkthroughs
are happening, but it's a in the future thing where it would happen more with a more continu >> Well, they're happening in all No, no, no, no. They're happening in all four schools. >> But I mean the the learning walk type of walkthrough is specifically looking for UDL. >> Well, we we Yeah, we're already doing
that. We're specifically looking for for UDL. >> Yeah. and we we developed our our own walkthrough strategy and uh assessment sheets. So all four schools are doing. >> Okay, great. That's what I just wanted to clarify that um that was happening
this year. >> Thank you. >> Very good. All right, that wraps up presentation portion of the evening. It's 9:32. I think if we stay on task, we can get out of here next 20 minutes or so >> because we've all read the policies, >> right? Um, and it's not it's not going
to be Steve Mark that likely keeps us here beyond bedtime. So, >> uh, Steve, we've got a, uh, we'll go move into two items of old business. First is a financial update. Business manager Steve Mark. >> Uh, reporters in the packet. Uh, that's
been the this tough act to follow is uh, the principles. So, um, I'll make this quick, but um, reporters in your packet. Um, again, as I've stated, uh, we're in, uh, shape financially to meet all of our obligations through the end of the year.
Um, I don't see, uh, budget shortfall. I don't see, uh, any issues. Uh, we've, we have had some relatively minor unexpected expenses. The middle school elevator required about $30,000 worth of uh, repair uh, which is still ongoing.
It's temporarily fixed right now while the park comes in and then they have to kind of uh re re-engineer the whole middle school elevator for the new park because they don't make the old parts anymore. Um but u we've had some repairs on some vehicles that were unexpected.
nothing we can't handle within the budget. But um again, we're working with um the assistant town administrator on some utility contracts moving forward, which will give us some good rates not only for the rest of this year, but uh for the future years as well, which
those are usually uh two or three year uh rate lock contracts for natural gas and things like that. So, we're working on that. Um, but again, there's nothing in this report that concerns us uh as far as budget or meeting obligations through the end of the year.
>> That's good news. >> Yeah, >> Steve did a bang up job today on uh on Sean's podcast. So, >> I urge everybody more budget information. There's a bunch of >> recorded podcast. >> Um, if I could also take a quick 30
seconds here on it's not open yet. Uh but I just want to prepare everybody. We will be opening bus registration up for next year soon. We're working on a small um enhancement to that registration, online registration which we're in
testing now. Um so I just want people to be aware of it. Registration will be open soon. We encourage everybody when it's open to register and don't wait until two weeks before school next year to register your students because it's a nightmare. So, thank you.
>> So, Steve also slipped his bus registration commercial into the podcast. >> All right. You got yourself, but it's you're consistent if nothing else. >> That's awesome. >> Yeah. Yeah. Steve was excellent. Appreciate Justin as well. Great. >> It was actually fun.
>> It is kind of it. All right. We good on the financial update? >> Yeah. >> Good. All right. Great. Um item number two, which is the superintendent search update. uh member Sha Hearn provided a brief update on the process of the search. >> Yeah, I'm trying to be brief with this.
So, uh a couple things. Um so, as I think some of you are aware through communications committee, we're working a couple websites. One of the websites uh in tandem with Taber uh who really did a great job of making everything look uh great and and bring it to fruition and then Julie Lord helping to
kind of set up everything and and bring it to the full vision. Um, we're going to have a website that has everything from recording forum, a breakdown of the um of the survey that everyone took, has all the dates going forward, so everyone
knows when interviews will be and so on. So, that's really great. Um, as far as the process itself, uh, Elena and myself met with Alicia from MASK. Um, and so some of the things that we went through was a draft of the day of the district.
Um the general sense would be that it would start about 9:30. Uh there would be a tour of the buildings and then there'd be lunch administrators, uh conversation with the current superintendent, um additional meeting with uh staff in Paris, teachers, there'
be a dinner break, uh be a community opportunity, and then we would interview at 7. So just to give everyone kind of an overview, we can dive into that more when we have more time, but I just want to give everyone a preview of that. Um, and then a couple things I don't know that's worth having debate now. So, we can kind of table this, but just want
people to be aware. Do we want to have dinner with the candidates? Do we not? So, just not to debate now, but just to think about um and then what stakeholder groups do we want to have included? So teacher staff, central office leadership team, um what we do uh one-on-one for
superintendent, current superintendent, uh students, parents, caregivers, community, uh CPAC, ELP pack, uh and uh PTO. Um how we want to frame that, how we have space for that, what we think is
a priority. Again, I know we're kind of late, but just for people to think about that and kind of um I don't know, Elaine, if you want to have a discussion with us now or if we wanna um >> Yeah. Well, the what Alicia needed from us was um just some clarity about what stakeholder groups Yeah.
>> we want to have meet with the candidates on that day that they're here in the district. So, um definitely has to be teachers because that's in our teachers contract. Um, >> I do want a team. I do want >> and the leadership team >> and Kelly, do you want to have a
one-on-one meeting with the with the finalists? So, >> um, and then >> please make sure that you give the candidate some time to gather their thoughts before the interviews. >> That's what it was being not having dinner with them, but we can do that later.
>> Yeah. And and you know, even if you do dinner early enough, they they're going to need half an hour to to wind down from from the grueling day. >> No, I appreciate >> before they they they come into the final interview. So, >> yeah. And there's, you know, on the
schedule that Sean just read, there was an opportunity after dinner to meet with the community, but to your point, that might be a lot right before an interview, >> right? Agreed. Um, >> I mean that that interview's they have
that hour >> to sell themselves. That's it. So, you want to make sure that you're not you're not unintentionally setting yourself up where, you know, some some candidates may be more adept at at switching it the switch on and off than others. And
that's not necessarily a quality that that you really need. So, you want to make sure that you give them all a level playing field. >> So, I think takes take that into account. I agree with that. I think if we figure out which stakeholders we want to use, we can start to kind of slot that in uh and figure out how much time
we need to kind of break that up. Do you agree? >> Yeah. I mean, right now with the proposed schedule, there's only a 15minute break between meeting with the community and starting the interview, which is barely enough time to catch your breath. >> But the dinner could be a break, right?
>> The dinner could be a break, but then the way the schedule is laid out now, there would be an hour long opportunity from six o'clock to 7 o'clock. We're trying, you know, where we'd be trying to catch the folks who are working during the day and this is their
opportunity, parents, you know, to meet with the candidates, which that's an important component. Um, this is this is what MASC recommends. They what they typically do with these
searches. So, we wouldn't be unique if that's the way we rolled it out here. But it does I agree with you. It just feels like a a long day ending up with an important interview. But it's um >> the most important interview, right? >> Yeah. Well, you know, you get to see the
person under stress, right? Like >> and we are also doing these three days back to back >> possibly four. Yeah. >> So, we're talking about 9:30 to 8:00 p.m. for three days straight. Well, but we wouldn't need to be here. >> You would just need to be here at 7.
Exactly. >> Right. It would just be evenings. >> The seventh. >> You could absolutely go if you want. If you want to be a part of like a parent, >> you can go up at 6 and be part of the community thing, right? >> But you're like a you become a school committee member at 7. >> That's totally up to you how you,
>> right? So, um there's kind of value of just like walking in at the end. Okay. Hi. Yeah, like being a being a brand new face at the end and then interviewing >> however you want to do it.
>> So the four stakeholder groups that we mentioned, you all agree are all important. So teachers, we have to have them. Teacher staff, central office leadership team definitely, right? One-on-one with the superintendent, you do want to do that. And then we have to have
the community. So that would include students, parents. I I would say I would think the students would kind of need to be part of the school day to some degree because I feel like it's hard to have students come at six o'clock if they have sports or they have whatever. Yeah. I don't know how to schedule that. I don't know either. >> Yeah. I think
>> that's kind of tough. You may have student council or something, but >> Okay. >> And then do you think like CPAC would come maybe >> during the community time? Yeah. Like not have a separate because we don't have an LPAC. >> You don't have a I don't think you have
time. your math. I don't What time you starting in the morning? >> 9:30. >> But the building tour is also 3 hours long. >> Yeah, that's a >> See, it's interesting. I >> I very Yeah, I very seldom did of course
districts are bigger, but I didn't do building doors. >> I did that if if I was this selected superintendent, then I did the building, too. I was Okay. So, >> yeah. I mean, I don't think we only have four buildings, so I don't think it's going to take that long. But you have to
prioritize. Yeah. What's the most important here? Is it the building tours or, you know, you have that community component you want to get in as well? >> Yeah. I mean, maybe we could bump the whole schedule up a little earlier if
you know, I think our building tours could be brief. Like it doesn't have to be walking around to every classroom and meeting every staff member. It would be more like here are the four buildings, you know, and uh Shaker Lane was going to be replaced and um
>> you think there's value in even I guess there is some you think there's even value in going to Shaker Lane to some degree? >> Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. But it's I mean this is a small town. It's not like other districts where you're driving across the city to get to another school. So >> it is I'm not saying to eliminate it all
together because you >> that again we are being interviewed as much as we are interviewing you have to feel the school day like you just have to walk through it and feel it. So don't take that out alto together. I was just questioning whether it needs three hours and the
>> conversations with staff >> is then the hope that like staff from all the schools can come together or is it like do a building tour a conversation with few staff there do a building tour conversation a few staff there you know like is there a way to break that >> I think it's hard for the staff to make themselves available if they have
students in the building because there's a need for that to >> supervise and educate >> so that's after school and there's language in the contract Right. So I my understanding was candidate arrives um they would visit all four schools. It's
like a half an hour a piece. Lunch gets slipped in somewhere. As the school day wraps up, we have a a session available to the teachers, staff members to meet with this individual. They would then take a dinner break. There would then be like a six o'clock session that would be
the catchall. It would be called community. parents, students, other organizations that have special interest in in Littleton public schools. And then at 7:00, we basically call together our meeting and have our interview. >> And are those open like the teachers in
the community? Are those open to who? Like the anybody in the community can come and just like sort of fire off questions or >> No, they can't ask questions, but they're observers. >> Oh, at the community. I thought you meant at the interview. >> No, at the community. at the community
one. Yes. At the school one, ideally it would be at the conclusion of the school day, buildings are still like to some degree locked because there's students in the building. So that would probably be a staff only opportunity. >> It would be difficult to be letting the the the true public into the building at
that point in time, >> especially since there's an opportunity for the public later that evening. agree. >> So, I think it's nice to have a dedicated staff >> and that would be essentially like 20 minutes after supervisory duties end at Shaper Lane, everyone would probably
come over to the high school. >> Is it typical to have a completely open community forum as opposed to like a student panel, a parent panel, an educator panel? Do you know what I mean? Like >> like somebody is standing here and literally anybody in the community is
just sort of coming up and like firing. That's typically >> Yeah, I think it's >> I think at 6 like if that if it was a 1 hour time block at 6:00 the the candidate addresses who's in the room, makes like sort of opening remarks, introduction, talks, and then there's
like, you know, an opportunity for 45 minutes of Q&A. And if it's 30 minutes, there's like this awkward pause where the the the individual can take a breath and then we start at 7 o'clock. But if the questions are coming fast and
furious at, you know, 6:55, we gotta >> Yeah, >> we got to turn the session off because we got to transition into our school committee meeting at 7 o'clock. >> I do wonder if I assume at that point Alicia's probably going to facilitate that portion. I don't know exactly how it'll go. Yeah, >> we could say something like we want to
make sure that, you know, >> we can almost call on students like I don't I don't want students to feel like they don't get the opportunity in the sense that uh I feel like or different groups get the chance, right? just doesn't mean it's the whole time. It's just, hey, we're we got 45 minutes to go. Sorry, we have 15 minutes to go. 45
minutes and we haven't heard from this group. Just want to give you a chance. I think that might be a good way to kind of >> maybe there's a a like a form in which that groups or individuals could, you know, sign up to ask a question ahead of time. We make sure that we just like uh
with the screening committee, we made sure that there's some some representation across the community in the event in the event that it's a packed house, we could >> make sure that some individuals are heard and then go to the general public. >> Definitely not. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. We can I mean Alicia is going to be facilitating this so we can ask her
what her strategies are for that. But I think if we sort of had the school day plus a block for the teachers and then allow a break for dinner and you know allow the candidates to recharge then they see
the community and then they see us and then they're all done by 9. I'm sorry all done by 8. >> So again not trying to dive the debate but if we are in all agreement that we want to give the candidate a break for dinner. Is that good with everyone? >> Yeah that's good. I took notes on the
document um to consider maybe having the community session before the dinner break and then the dinner break can be like the get your thoughts together moment before the interview. >> I mean five to six, >> right? I mean this is not
>> it's not a requirement like people who can make it will make it and people who don't can >> often >> the candidate with three finalists if he can swing it meet with a high school student council >> or a group of students John I mean yeah
you don't need 100 students 10 is plenty but they're representative of the school kind of student >> okay I'll add that on >> bus officers >> yeah school council I think that's great. Yeah, >> I think that sounds right. Always to take the break six to seven.
>> Yeah, that's smart. Okay. >> And all of these also >> could be 45 minutes because you're going right up to the hour. You might want to do, you know, 1:30 to 2:15, 4 to 4:45, 5
to 5:45. >> Yeah. Give yourself the 15 minutes even to transition between Great ideas. >> Awesome. So, I guess we can we can keep kind of iterating on that. I think we have some good notes here. Uh and we'll
kind of come back with what we do as kind of final pitch. We can debate that. We have some time here. Um applications will close tomorrow at 3:00. Uh we already have some applicants. Um so, we we do have a pool of candidates already. Haven't got to look at them. Uh we'll
start the screening committee will start reviewing that. We'll probably get something around 5:00 tomorrow. >> Yep. >> Uh and we'll start reviewing that on March 5th. Uh screening committee will get together. We'll decide on uniform questions and we'll decide who we want to do a semifinal interview with. And then as as we talked about kind of
through mid-March, we will hold those interviews. I'm not sure we'll need four dates. If we need three, we can again we've talked about this. We can adjust that date. As of right now, we're holding uh the 23rd of March as a a day to have kind of an overview from Alicia and to go through the slate. Um, and
then from there we've all talked in kind of that last week of March, first week of April. We'll do the interviews, you know, three to four days in a row and then we'll vote on April 9th. Um, you know, our final viewpoint in that. Um, you know, Elena, if I forget anything,
jump in. But obviously after the third or fourth final interview goes through, um, we will put up all the interviews online so that everyone in the community can see them. uh we don't want again to have uh candidates be able to see the questions in advance. Um and then we
will have a survey that goes along with that. Uh likely that survey will close. Did we decide was it Monday? So that uh it was either Monday or Tuesday following. I can get back on that. But the idea being that at least she has enough time to kind of gather it and package it and send it to us and we can actually evaluate it and not get the
last minute. Um yeah. Uh, I did want to highlight, I know it's again kind of communications what, but if Justin and Kelly are okay with the website, you're welcome to look at it again before you give final say, but just to put it up uh, you know, we can talk tomorrow, whatever, but just do
another look at it. >> Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, just whenever you're ready. Uh, that way we get that to the public just again uh, that we'll have a lot of information and we'll continue to iterate on it as we get more information. >> Is the meeting on the 23rd over? Is it virtual? >> It'll be virtual. Yeah. Yeah. to make everyone's life easier and we can debate
what's better for time and whatnot, but the idea is that that will be a quick meeting. So, it just it just allows Alicia to now start scheduling things. >> Um my my question not to be answered now is just the the uh the dinner break. >> Sure. >> Um the way that the schedule works now
was it would be like community dinner break and then school committee. I mean, personally, I think it'd be great to have dinner with the individual, but I don't know how we would circumvent like an open meeting law violation with five of us having dinner with the individual. >> Um, but maybe you could think through
>> who might have dinner with that individual >> or what dinner would we provide because I certainly don't want to just be like, okay, you're at the high school at 5:00 and it's like, we'll see you at >> right there. >> Yeah, we'll see you in, you know, 2 hours. Good luck. here's about
>> walking away to get to your interview. >> Maybe maybe that >> maybe that time maybe they meet with student counselor class officers and maybe that that could just be >> I like that a lot. >> Yeah, maybe >> like a lower low stress environment where it's a conversation. It can't be with us obviously because that would be
likely a violation of opening law. >> Um >> and we've been so careful. >> Yes. >> Or just maybe the dinner gets brought in and they they have an opportunity to unwind for an hour. But I don't like the idea of an individual sitting in a room by themselves, you know, having an
arrow. >> Uh >> I don't know. For some people, that's exactly what they >> introvert versus extrovert, >> right? >> I just suggest that you guys come up with a plan. >> Could we do something where perhaps you have like you said student council or something for the first half hour of
dinner with them and then you guys have half hour to breathe. sort of whatever you guys too much. >> You know, typically my experience is >> the uh the two school community members that were on the screening committee
usually have have supper or dinner. >> Oh, that's a good compromise. and and then >> in my experience and they've I've had half an hour and 40 minutes to okay to gather my thoughts because >> again this is the the grand finale and I
don't think it has anything to do with introvert or extrovert it has everything to do with >> you want you want them to be prepared >> yeah and and thorough when you're they're answering the question you've been talked at or talking to for eight
hours and you need 30 minutes of silence to gather your thoughts this for sure. >> And I imagine you have notes going into it that you might adjust a little bit after you talk to everyone. >> Oh, definitely. You know, it's a learning experience, you know, during the day. So, >> yeah. And you
>> I think that's a good idea. Perhaps 30 minutes with just a screening committee or the two of you and >> then dinner and how we're going to get dinner in and what and >> yeah, >> we can talk offline about that. But that sounds great. I appreciate that. So the
the only problem with Sean and I being there would be that we would be a quorum of the subcommittee and we would have to post it >> which we could do. >> We could also disband that committee once like once the >> we wouldn't need that subcommittee anymore. So you could disband that subcommittee before
>> does it change if you sub one of us in for you on any given night if it's >> when we when we do the final slate >> right we just debate >> we can just disband the committee >> then we're done >> and would hope that we don't ever that we don't have to bring the committee back >> in that case you might want someone else
>> I mean all it would take is the meeting done >> no I know I'm just we would be that would be because we didn't successfully >> right get a candidate >> which would be a disaster as being pointed out I mean One of us could ask ask act as host
you know like like so you can you can ping >> you don't have to like the >> be team or everything if he's just like hey >> we need you can you pick up this night you know I don't that that's that makes sense
>> that could work too >> yeah that could work too >> let us know what you decide >> um so there was one other thing so from the conversation at an extended conversation about should we do district visits or not and I think
>> um upon reflection we had a lot of concerns about consistency you know if it's not the same people going to the districts then that might not be equitable and you know um so I think the the takeaway Sean and I discussed
this was that we won't do district visits the data the data might not be perceived as being that valuable because there would be equity concerns. So if everyone else is comfortable with that decision, I think that's the direction we're heading.
>> Personally, I was very likely to be able to unmake those district visits myself. So if you folks are okay with not doing them, I'm certainly I'm in favor of that as well. >> I think that's realistic. Yeah. >> That's good. >> Great. Okay.
>> Cover all our bases there. Thank you. Awesome. >> And I think we forgot to add you Elaine to that agenda. Our apologies. >> No, no, that was on purpose. >> Apologize. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Yeah. >> No, no, that was fine. >> We don't always have to have
co-presenters. Sean Robert and Elaine Dun. >> Yeah. You know, as always, >> yeah, you know how it is. >> It's good. What is it? >> Okay. All right. We're moving on. We're losing people. >> We're getting deleted. >> Uh, second opportunity for interested
citizens. There's nobody online. Ding. Hearing none. We'll close that. We're going to roll through our subcommittee reports rather quickly, but listen, we're here for the time that you need. PNBC. >> Yeah. So, PNBC is still dormant. While I have you, I'll just quickly do Shaker Lane because it's kind of related. Uh we
approved uh the OPM and the designer contracts at our last meeting. Um and then we expect, I think, I guess before, but we expect to have more information on a timeline by June. as far as there's a couple of different timeline options. We'll know by then. Uh and then I'm working on getting somebody from Gil
Bane to join me and Mary Lee to discuss the project on the podcast when time runs better instead. >> Great. Next up was is the budget subcommittee. >> I don't have anything in particular to report. >> I have we no that we presented at the
budget subcommittee presentation uh formal presentation is I believe it's the next school committee meeting. Yes. Yes. So, we're in good >> show. We're putting the the >> polishing touches on our presentation. >> I sent you a graph of it. So,
>> thank you. >> Policy subcommittee, we have a number of um >> policies for the second reading. Um since we've already spent some time on these, if there are any policies that we wish to revisit or question, I can
hear those now. Otherwise, we can move through them. I just have one. >> Yeah, I did. I mean, after reading them all through one more time, there was just one where I thought the language was a little confusing. There was ICA
about the length of the school year. Now, I got to find it again. Oh, yeah. So, we talk about I'm not saying this language because it has to be changed, but I just want to make sure I understand it. So we talk about the Mass Board of Education
requiring 185 days >> at least. >> At least, right? But then we're talking about, you know, our elementary and our secondary schools will operate for a minimum of 180 days. So I was wondering
why those different >> Excuse me. It's 180day school year. Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has us tap on five snow days. So it's still 100. Oh, that's all it is. >> It's just the calendar versus the actual school year, >> right? >> Okay. Yeah. And I didn't know if that was days or something.
>> No, it just it's >> so that's the by yesterday we had we got five snow days out. >> Okay. That's all I just wanted to >> My question is on the same policy. So, we go ahead and say that the school committee will approve the following year's calendar by May 1st.
>> I would I will acknowledge I think that's late. >> Very late. >> That our practice is to we did it in February. Yeah, >> our practice is definitely do it by March. I'm just thinking, you know, there will be school committees after us and they can certainly change the
policy, but do we want to make an edit here and move this up so that it is because it's really because expectation that we have the calendar out by I'll say March 1 or March 15. >> Um, >> March 30th.
>> March 30th. April, April 1, >> it's by May 1. April Fool's Day. >> Anytime before May 1st, we can do it, you know. >> Yeah, I >> I'm going to move it up. I think it makes sense. I got a lot of questions from parents even before we present it. Correct. Like it if you're in contact
with a parent, everyone wants to know if they can book vacations particularly because next year we're starting before Labor Day. Everyone had questions. Yeah. So, I just think it's good to get ahead of it. >> So, is our practice I'm looking at Beth, too. Is our practice that we always try to address this in the month of
February? We have got it used to be March and then we have upped it. Um the only thing is that on some years that like there's some more debate than others. We have had to we presented in February but you actually all voted in March. Yeah.
>> And so I would give yourselves the flexibility of March would be >> from past practice. Okay. >> It just says will be prepared and submitted for approval. It doesn't say approved by. So it the language flexibility might already be there just
that it's presented >> great >> to the school committee by >> would be approved in May because of circumstances or whatever that is not >> so do we want to say >> you want to put it to March 30th
>> Sure moving it >> we're moving it 31 days >> sure >> it's a good practice because if it does end up taking two months you know god forbid you start in May We're not going to approve it till >> it was smart to have the conversation about holidays in a separate meeting
because that made the school calendar conversation much shorter. >> Mhm. >> Right. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, with that with that one edit >> why are we saying March 30th as opposed to April 1st? >> Maybe April 1. >> April 1.
>> You're just changing the format on me like picking the last day. April 1 >> feels like it's by the end of March. Yeah. >> Was the beginning $99 versus 100. That's >> 30th day. >> All right. You sold me on that panel.
>> It's March. >> You really want April Fool's Day? >> All right. Any other questions? >> Um Okay. Does somebody want to um carefully make a motion that we accept those and then with the one edit for the >> Sure.
>> For the one. Um, I'd like to move that we accept for second reading policies. HA negotiations goals. HB negotiations legal status. HF school committee negotiating agents ICICA school year school calendar
with the um a four stated edit ID school day IGA IGD curriculum development and adoption. IG IGB learning support program services IHBD title one supplement not supplement policy and
procedures IHBA English language learners second >> motion made and seconded. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. >> Excellent. I have one more thing for the policy subcommittee. Please
>> please go right. So um today the policy subcommittee met um and um we have we've looked at all the um policies that we should be reviewing uh up until the end of the year and we also discussed what
is happening in our committee and and some of the meetings coming up like the big budget meeting. um instead of working and we also discussed um we are working on hiring a new superintendent who will be part of some of the
conversations around um policies and and any policy changes. So, our proposition to the committee is to um put off reviewing most of the policies on our
list until we have until next September when we have a new superintendent with the with the um exception of three policies that we pulled out that we thought were important to address um soon. um JFBB
school choice because we're going to be talking about school choice soon. So, we want to um pro proceed with reviewing that policy. Um JH school absence and beg um minutes. Um those were three we
looked at. They we thought that those were things we might want to discuss. So, our proposition to the committee is to address those. um a review of those three policies and um to postpone the
rest of the review and and pick up the review cycle again next September with our new administration. What do you think? >> Sounds totally fair. I'll just add that in the event that a school committee member wishes to, you know, address a
policy, bring it forward, certainly happy to entertain that and look at on agenda item, but I think it's totally reasonable. There's no expectation that we had to review this. I just want to check that >> that we had to what >> there's no Okay, >> we're just being diligent when years has passed to
>> we we did take a look. Um everything has been reviewed since 2020. >> Um we we are working to review them every three years. um we we are a little bit behind in in that goal but we aren't
we have um I mean several you know several dozen that we have reviewed in the past two years. So um we are you know we are coming close to being up to date and we can you know
move a little faster maybe next fall. Um we just we just thought that it was it just feels kind of um thoughtful of a new administration to to move forward and also like our our agenda is really full from now to the
end of the year. >> No, I agree. I just want to make sure you weren't anything that was >> Yeah. So, those those were the things that we were we talked about. We were like, hm, maybe that let's let's I just wanted to bring it to the committee and see what you thought because I'm I'm happy to keep going forward, but you know, it's like squeezing them in um all
the time as opposed to having the opportunity to really sit and and and discuss things if we find some wording that we want to talk about. >> Well, thank you both for your thoughtfulness on that. >> Yeah. >> So, that that all sounds good. I'll just I'll add I had a conversation with an administrator in another school district
today talking about the superintendent search and what was on tonight's agenda and stuff and they they were like that's that's so interesting because those are like really big initiatives specifically what they are both but the portrait of a learner and they were like you know your superintendent's predecessor like might
think that that's not like the direction the district needs to move in and then after tonight's conversation with how engaged we were all are and how what a wonderful job we're doing I I think we need to make sure that the objective of a portrait of a learner is involved in
this interview process. >> Oh yeah, 100%. >> I don't know if it's going to be, you know, one of our six questions or if it's going to be subcommittee level or if it's going to be part of it just it probably needs to be addressed because there's such an init like
>> there's such momentum here. >> We certainly wouldn't want somebody coming in being like well I forgot the job now that's you know I don't wish to carry that forward. Thank you. That idea. >> Did we talk about that in the um in what we put out into the world um asking for
people to apply? Did we talk about our curriculum? >> Whether we did or didn't, we still want to hear from the candidates what their you know belief system is on that and what their what their work has been if any applicable to uh to those initiatives. So 100% forgive me if I'm
wrong, but I believe that in the next few years, Desi will get everyone to some sort of version of it. >> It's not gonna catch me off guard, but >> that was my point. I think regardless if we put it in the brochure or not, all candidates are expecting to do this at some point in their tenure. >> I mean, isn't it Kelly to what John was
saying earlier that it was part of the NEAS accreditation process? So every high school is going to encounter this process and it's just up to the district whether they want to articulate it to >> K. I would also ask the candidate about UDL.
>> That's a pretty >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> cemented uh >> Yeah. >> transition. >> Yeah. >> So, and and even if they don't know that much about it, at least they're aware and they will >> read up on it. >> Oh, yeah.
>> I agree completely to that. Just >> you agree. >> We need to start referring to Portable Learner with an acronym so that it >> P. Yeah. Exactly. >> Yeah. have to >> the date. >> All right. >> We're getting silly. >> Universal design for learning.
>> Okay. >> Is uh is there any other old business or new business before the school committee? >> No. >> Hearing none. I'll announce that our next school committee meeting not to be missed. It's March 12th, 2026. It is the official budget hearing which will take place at 7 o'clock at the Littleton
Police Station. >> Do your homework and listen to the podcast. >> Yeah, that may have also been covered in the podcast. Uh is there a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Made >> second. >> Second. All those in favor indicate by saying I. >> I. >> We have a journ. >> Thank you. Yeah.