Strategy 8 discusses Implementation Guides for Standards. I was amazed by the number of Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language standards. Teachers are facilitating student knowledge of 42 standards. The authors define implementation guides as establishing "parameters of what should be taught during specific time periods in order to ensure that all teachers address all of the expected learning objectives". Implementation Guides are used to ensure grade level teachers with a realistic time frame for completion of instruction and assessment. The authors also state that while implementation guides can be useful they also have drawbacks, which may come in the form of reduced collaborative work between students and teacher pressure. By using the guiding principles of adult learners, many drawbacks may be avoided.
The implementation guide is divided into six components, is detailed and specific, and ensures that grade level teams are teaching the same standards at the same time. At first I didn't think I would like this tool for use with young children, but the more I read about it and studied the guide itself it seems much like a lesson plan. What I like is the fact that you record goals, instructional resources, assessments, and then reflect on your teaching. It appears to be intentional and purposeful, not merely "thrown together".
I can see the implementation guide being useful for my preschool and prek teachers. For preschool I would use the guide to address the Language Arts Standards listed in the Early Learning Guidelines.
Standard 1: Listening - The child will listen for information and pleasure.
Standard 2: Speaking - The child will express ideas or opinions in group or individual settings.
Standard 3: Print Awareness - The child will understand the characteristics of written language.
Standard 4: Phonological Awareness - The child will demonstrate the ability to work with rhymes, words, syllables, and onsets and rimes.
Standard 5: Phonemic Awareness - The child will demonstrate the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate individual sounds in spoken words.
Standard 6: Letter Knowledge and Early Word Recognition (Phonics) - The child will demonstrate the ability to apply sound-symbol relationships.
Standard 7: Vocabulary - The child will develop and expand knowledge of words and word meanings to increase vocabulary.
Standard 8: Comprehension - The child will associate meaning and understanding with reading.
Standard 9: Writing - The child will use the writing process to express thoughts and feelings.
Each standard includes Indicators of Child's Progress and Teacher's Strategies/Activities which offer detailed descriptions of child growth and specific techniques teachers can use in the classroom. I would begin with Standards 1 and 2 and create an implementation guide that focused on the following for the first quarter:
- Child shows enjoyment of books and stories and discussion of them.
- Understands and follows oral directions.
- Uses language or sign language for a variety of purposes.
- Recalls and repeats simple poems, rhymes, and songs.
- Uses sentences of increasing length and grammatical complexity in everyday speech.
- Shares simple personal narrative.
- Participates actively in conversations.
Again, what I like about the implementation guide is the ability it gives us to plan specific lessons and list purposeful questions we want to ask children. I know that I have forgotten many times what I wanted to ask during group because I didn't make myself a note. The review/reflection used afterward is essential to the guide's success.
Questions:
Kaitlin - Do you think an Implementation Guide has a place in early care settings? What drawbacks do you see?
Erin - How are the Early Learning Guidelines we use similar or different to PASS standards? Are there standards early care should address that we're missing?
I actually do use implementation guides. My head would spin out of control if I didn't. I am extremely OCD, which can be a problem haha. Yet I found mapping out the entire year very helpful and kept my grade level on track. We had a section for literacy, math, social studies, art projects, behavior skills, science, vocabulary, sight words (colors, sight words, number words). It was very in-depth, yet it was very helpful throughout the year when planning as a team. Therefore each week had each of the above things planned with the standard it was meeting. It allowed us to make sure all our standards were met. It also allowed for our weekly planning to be used together by differentiating centers and work for each student, and not used to try to figure out what we were teaching. I'm a HUGE advocate for implementation guides. I seriously would be lost without it. One thing when we plan the whole year and units out, we allow for changes too. If a standard wasn't met the previous week, we could push things back and could move things around if we saw a need. We weren't married to the plan. It was just their to help guide us. It was also good to give to parents so they could literally see our whole year and know we were learning stuff in pre-k and kindergarten, and not just playing, like some tend to think. :( To be honest I had no idea this was called implementation guides. I've just always done them. Glad to have a name for it now! It also helped me write my news letter SUPER fast each week. haha It's the small things when teaching. Right!?
ReplyDeleteThat's great! I love hearing that you use it and it works for you. I didn't think about sharing it with families but that's a great idea, especially for those who don't think the kiddos do much. 😊 The specifics and details is what I like about the guide. I really feel like you have to be thoughtful and aware of what you're teaching and why. I would really like to see this tried in my preschool classes. How much planning time did your group have each week?
DeleteWe met as a team one time in the summer for a couple hours to nail down all the details and reflect on units. Then I usually took on the suggestions and re did the guide. Then once school started we had the guide. We met for 45 minutes once a week. We decided Wednesdays worked well for us.
DeleteOnce a week is so doable for us! I think I'll want to sit in and facilitate for the first few weeks and then go from there.
DeleteI would like to say that CCSS and PASS skills are very similar in early childhood, at least in 1st grade. Luckily, the reading director for early childhood has a year map that compares CCSS and PASS skills. This allows the early childhood teachers see the comparisons during these transition years. The only thing I would say CCSS differs is that the wording is different and requires a little more in dept teaching. Also, I don't ever remember PASS skills stressing the use of non fiction and informational text that CCSS. I don't know if EC standards are lacking. I think maybe CCSS might require too much for such young students. I do feel that some standards might not be developmentally appropriate. For example, CCSS requires kindergartners to write three complete sentences about one topic. When I taught kinder my students really struggled with this.
ReplyDeleteJulie, what do you think? Do we require too much for early childhood?
I think we do expect too much at times. A PreK student from our school tested before enrolling in a private Kindergarten and was asked to name objects (dog, cat, book, etc). She actually NAMED them. The dog was Spot, the cat was Fluffy, and so on. The school told her parents this wasn't normal and that she would not be successful in their program. I know that expectations today are different than 15 or even 5 years ago, but I don't think children have enough opportunities to just be kids.
ReplyDeleteThat's too cute! That's pretty unbelievable. They are kids and get confused. She probably knew it too. Kids are literal.
DeleteJulie, I really agree with you! Many forget that children's work is really play which helps them learn about how the world works. As teacher I also used an implementation guide to help me see where I was going, and I think that is what a syllabus for my classes is for me as well. Key is keeping them flexible as Kaitlin notes.
ReplyDeleteI attended a NAEYC session this morning about intentional teaching and thought about the implementation guides and using them as a tool in our classes. I learned a lot about how they can be from Kaitlin'a response! I would like to start weekly age level meetings and introduce this to them.
ReplyDeleteI think the key to implementation guides to to introduce them and allow the teacher to figure out how they will work for them. I feel if a teacher who doesn't thrive having a schedule might be turned off by the idea and feel pressured. There are so many options it seems to implement.
DeleteThank you for the feedback Kaitlin! I know I'll need to start slow because this is new to them and me, but I'm excited about introducing the guide to them and setting planning time for them.
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