3 Big Takeaways from Model Classroom by Lance, Deborah, and Mindi

1. Co-planning is powerful.

The model classroom experience is the most beneficial training I undergo each year. The co-planning, collaboration, and immersion into another classroom at this intensity level is definitely worthy of being out of my classroom. I learn so much from discussing student work and student thinking with other teachers, and then interpreting what instruction needs to occur next as a team.  Co-planning the next lesson and watching it unfold together is powerful and reshapes my teaching again and again.
-Deborah

2. Meet your students where they're at right now.

The learning that comes from participating in a model classroom lab is beyond compare.  Being in a classroom full of students, carefully observing some aspect of learning, and then talking with colleagues about next steps is powerful.  I learn more from these collegial conversations than I ever learned at a conference or in a graduate class.

I have a tendency to get on “the curriculum train.”  In our planning/coaching session, Luanne encouraged me to slow down and really think about where my kids are at RIGHT NOW and to consider a simpler, more concrete lesson than what I was originally thinking.  She helped to remind me when we increase cognitive load in one area (like identifying conflict and resolution in a narrative), we might need to decrease it in another (sending kids into picture books to practice instead of the novels they’re reading).  This discussion helped me think through how I might differentiate the choices I provided for our composing time.
-Mindi

3. Slow down.

Mindi was awesome to allow us visit her literacy block for model classroom. Being connected before her lessons helped us to understand her process for planning and the importance of purposeful scaffolding. Luanne helped us understand the importance of slowing down the amount of content we share with kids. We learned to break down what seem to be simple concepts into even smaller parts. She used the metaphor for shoveling snow. If you shovel a little at a time you will be able to open your front door. If you wait till there is lots of snow you will have a problem. For example, teaching students how to find conflict in a story, we might start with a picture book instead of a novel. A novel may equal too much snow.
-Lance