New Bedford’s Emerging Work on Transitions and Some Good Resources
The New Bedford Birth–3rd Leadership Alignment Team has chosen to focus its work on three strategies: 1) improving transitions, 2) aligned and collaborative professional development for community-based and district early childhood teachers focused on social-emotional and literacy skills, and 3) effective use of Teaching Strategies Gold data. I’m supporting the New Bedford team along with…
Pittsfield Literacy Partnership Helps Design Innovative Family Court Program
“At first I wasn’t too thrilled about having to be here, but I was willing to give it a chance to help my son and his father.” Heather Hinckley, talking to The Berkshire Eagle, is referring to a new pilot program in Pittsfield, a 12-week course entitled, Enhancing Families through Literature. Through this course, Heather,…
Relationships, Capacity, and Innovation
Innovations often evolve out of a series of what may seem to be minor developments. As a consequence, instead of waiting for disruptive products and technologies, we need to create the conditions for individuals, groups, and organizations to adapt, innovate, and improve all the time. –Thomas Hatch, Innovation at the Core. Principals pick up the…
In Case You Missed It in August …
For those of you who were perhaps enjoying the last weeks of summer and may have missed it in August, here are links to a three-part series I wrote on the experiences of two community-based preschool teachers implementing a new curriculum. Teaching a New Curriculum in East Boston (Boston K1DS at the East Boston YMCA #1) How does…
Small-Groups and the Broader Impact (Boston K1DS at the East Boston YMCA #3)
I introduced the East Boston YMCA’s experience with the BPS Opening the World of Learning (OWL)/Building Blocks curriculum in the first post in this series. In the second, I discussed the impact of longer, more structured units, multiple and multi-purpose read-alouds of stories, and a robust math curriculum. Today I conclude the series by describing the use of…
Deeper Learning (Boston K1DS at the East Boston YMCA #2)
In last week’s post, I began describing the East Boston YMCA’s experience implementing the Boston Public School’s prekindergarten classroom, introducing the range of changes that the new curriculum has brought about. This week I discuss the impact of longer, more structured units that emphasize multiple and multi-purpose read-alouds of stories and a robust math curriculum…
Teaching a New Curriculum in East Boston (#1)
How does classroom practice change as a result of Birth-Third work? How do children, teachers, and leaders experience these changes? Having summarized the strategies of the first five Birth-Third Alignment Partnerships in Massachusetts (Boston, Lowell, Pittsfield, Somerville, and Springfield), I am now posting an occasional series of articles describing the on-the-ground experience of implementing these…
The Work of Kindergarten Readiness in Review
Tufts intern Jess Petraglia has compiled an impressive booklet documenting the learning of Somerville’s Kindergarten Readiness Group over the last 18 months: Somerville Kindergarten Readiness Booklet_2013-14. The Kindergarten Readiness Group is a professional learning community of community-based and public school early childhood educators. The booklet includes Somerville’s kindergarten transition form and visual summaries of the following topics:…
NAEYC Presentation on Birth-Third in Lowell
Linda Warren and I did a joint presentation on Birth-Third in Massachusetts at the NAEYC Professional Development Institute in Minneapolis last week. Linda and her colleagues at Early Childhood Associates are providing support to Lowell’s Birth-Third Alignment Partnership. Linda presented on Lowell’s strategy and plans, and I provided an overview of the EEC Alignment Partnerships. Linda…
Snapshots of Birth–3rd Strategies in Five Communities
This week I’m posting short bulleted summaries of the core strategies of the first five EEC alignment partnerships, an idea prompted by a helpful conversation with Titus DosRemedios of Strategies for Children last week at an ESE Kindergarten Networking Meeting. These updated summaries may be helpful to the seven new communities coming on board in…