It was “that time of year again”, for our 6-8 Middle School Math CLCs to meet as a collaborative learning community.  It’s a great opportunity for teacher in the C-A region to come to learn, discuss, and collaborate ideas for classroom implementation.  On October 4th, teachers came to The Barn Training Room to attend the second of three meetings.  The day started off with some learning focused around the mathematical practices, and how teachers can implement them in their planning and preparation for the classroom.  The next part of the day focused around the review of the newly adopted, Next Generation Math Standards.  Teachers were given an overview of the changes from kindergarten through high school, and how the changes would look in each grade level.  Teachers had rich and thoughtful discussions surrounding the implementation of the new standards by the school year 2020-2021.  Another portion of the day was used to look at the activities the PD team brought back from Albany, including learning through Algebra Tiles.  The day was rounded out by digging deep into NYS test data for the 6-8 math assessments, as well as looking at released test questions, and planning instruction for units with colleagues at the CLC.  

By:  Kathleen Agnello, CA BOCES Professional Development; Karen Insley, CA BOCES Learning Resources; and Ryan McGinnis, CA BOCES Professional Development 

Over the past couple of years in New York, the state education department has been developing a new framework for Social Studies instruction, and a new format for the Global History and Geography Regents exam.

The combination of these two changes has brought an opportunity to review and revise social studies curriculum.  One district that has spent time focusing on these changes and developing assessments that align to the content and the format of the state changes has been the Pioneer Central School District.    
 
The middle school teachers at Pioneer spent three days in April reviewing their curriculum and developing assessment tasks that reflected the changes from NYSED.  Utilizing a stimulus source, such as this map, teachers were able to develop questions and tasks that reflected Geographic Reasoning, one of the social studies practices outlined in the Framework.

Spending time doing this type of curriculum development and work not only is preparing teachers for these changes, but allows them to prepare the students as well for what they will be asked to accomplish when they are assessed with the Global History and Geography Regents exam in the future. 

By:  Rob Griffith, CA BOCES Professional Development