What’s Next?

So what is happening now and for the coming school year…

Impact and Next Steps

In May 2016, I presented an overview of the spring GID Institutes and unit implementation along with the survey results (I shared some of those yesterday) to our principals and central office staff. At this presentation, Norman Public Schools offered to host a 2016 GID Summer Institute in June for teacher teams. We asked principals to sign their teams up using a Google form. The response was overwhelming, more than 90 teachers.  So we have completed one institute this summer and have another one at the end of July. I can’t wait to see the units these teachers create.

At the June GID Institute, we had several unique teams including a high school Algebra team, a high school special education team, a secondary family & consumer science team, various other teams from all levels.  I am looking froward to visiting them in the fall as they implement their units.

You saw some of the statistics we collected yesterday.  I would like to share a few more stats and comments so you understand why we think GID is important enough to invest so much time and energy in:

• 100% of participating teachers agreed that the Guided Inquiry process was beneficial to student learning
• 81% of teachers agreed that their collaboration with the teacher librarian increased during a Guided Inquiry unit, while 77.3% agreed that their co-teaching with the teacher librarian increased. (We all know two heads are better than one!!!)
• Percentage of teachers who agreed that the Guided Inquiry process was beneficial for these subgroups of learners:
  • ELL learners 90.5%
  • Special Needs learners 90.3%
  • Gifted learners 98.4%
  • Regular education learners 100%

So as you see the stats are great, but what about the comments from the survey?  Let’s listen to the voices  of a few of our educators:

• When describing evidences of how learners met the standards and expectations, one teacher said: The genuine discussions after and during the units involved making real world connections. Many of those connections were very personal to the students themselves. This led to more questions that the students wanted to investigate long after the unit was complete.
• One teacher shared: I felt as though all of my subgroups were able to benefit from the process. For gifted students, there was no limit to what they could do. For struggling students, a natural scaffold fell into place.  I believe guided inquiry is so beneficial for all students because of the individualized nature, and the fact that the impetus is on the student for decision making.
• As we look at the data about students creating their own questions, teacher comments are promising for the future: Students found it difficult to formulate their question, but were able to express their ideas clearly. It will be exciting to see their growth in this area as they participate in more GID units.
• One secondary principal made this comment: Guided Inquiry has given our teachers a way to build cross-curricular and more importantly, relevant lessons for our students. Pushing students deeper and empowering them to drive their learning through research is timely and is preparing them for the world we are arming them to change for the better.

As we look at this data and, most importantly, at our students and the products of their learning, we are excited about the future of GID and its impact on teaching and learning.  We will be offering two more GID Institutes this fall.  After these institutes, approximately 25% of our staff will be trained in the process. District leaders and those teachers, gifted resource coordinators, and librarians who have experienced GID are invested in and committed to this process. As we make GID a consistent part of our learning landscape, I look forward to seeing the transformation in teaching and student learning. Keep learning!

Kathryn Lewis