TEACHER/LEARNER PRIORITIES FOR THE TWO WEEKS BEFORE SCHOOL STARTS
These priorities include:
- Introductory and orienting activities.
- Marketing effective activities for role groups — administrators, teachers, students, and parents.
- Building access to students and establish an effective teacher/learner rapport.
- Collecting initial data on students who “at-risk.”
- Initiating learner experiences that support learner work once the class starts (e.g., attending rituals).
- Identifying students who lack access, are alienated, or have an adversarial relationship to authority.
- Establishing work and performance expectations.
- Jumpstarting critical reading, thinking, and writing.
The Pre-Opening Period provides teachers with an opportunity to collect data on their students and then connect that data to real live people. Districts and schools collect many of the data points that
indicate which students will be successful and which will struggle.
One data stream that is particularly valuable during this period is data that relates to “at-risk characteristics.” What “at-risk” means differs from state to state and sometimes from district to district.
There are, however, some characteristics that are common to all school settings. The Ed Directions coaches use the tool below to collect data points that have both schoolwide and classroom implications to help establish the magnitude of these issues schoolwide and in individual classroom situations.
– excerpt from Turning Around Turnaround Schools, Volume 2 – Embracing the Rhythm of the Learner Year
Are your school leaders ready for the opening of school? Here’s a helpful checklist:
The free tools provided on this site are pulled, in part, from our recent book Turning Around Turnaround Schools, Volume 2 – Embracing the Rhythm of the Learner Year. If you have questions about how to use any of these tools, please feel free to contact us, or check out the book, available on amazon.com.
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