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ASF News #1

2007-11-06

Thank you for subscribing to the Arlington Schools Foundation newsletter. The newsletter will appear quarterly, keeping you up-to-date on education resources, new developments in the Arlington Public Schools, and the projects and programs ASF supports.

We look forward to seeing you at our annual fundraiser on Monday November 12, from 6-8 p.m. at Flora, 190 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington. Rebecca Walsh will speak about ASF's recent high school grant and its effects on Arlington High School and her own teaching. Jeanne Wall and Karen Hartley from the Bishop School will talk about ASF's next project: Enlivening Elementary Education.

Arlington Public Schools administrators receive a bi monthly newsletter called the Marshall Memo which summarizes the most important new ideas and research in K-12 education. ASF wants to share these things with you. "Teaching Teachers About Learning" (Leadership Compass, Fall 2004) focused on ways to improve a school's professional culture. We were thrilled to see that, due to the efforts of dedicated teachers and administrators, Arlington Public Schools are on the cutting edge! ASF is proud to support this important work.

Here are some highlights:

  • Form action research teams in which teachers choose questions that matter to them and collect data to find the answers.

    Last year ASF funded the Collaborative Coaching and Learning model at Arlington High School. Teachers who participated in the model met in small groups to explore topics they selected, like how to create classroom community through effective discussions. Teachers also had the opportunity to observe each other and reflect on their teaching practices.
  • Shadow students to get insights on how school looks from the kids' vantage point.

    Arlington High School student teachers from the Harvard Divinity School shadow students as part of their introduction to the school. The student teachers' observations have been an important part of efforts to make the high school a more welcoming place for students. ASF provides funds to support the leader of the student teacher group.
  • Explore "lesson study," the Japanese procedure for collaboratively planning, teaching, polishing, and publishing one lesson. Catherine Lewis calls this the best way teachers to "slow down the act of teaching in order to learn more about students, subject matter, and their own teaching."

    Together with the district, the ASF has supported a study group approach that brings teachers together to develop their teaching skills, particularly in the area of differentiated instruction. At Arlington High School, Collaborative Coaching and Learning groups have worked on the Health Curriculum and new units of study for the AP Psychology class.