Non-Negotiable Instructional Practices

The faculty and staff of the Macon County Schools are committed to providing a quality learning environment that will inspire, empower, nurture, and support our students to become highly productive citizens in a global society.  We believe that students should participate in multiple learning environments that are creative and nurturing. To achieve this goal:

1. (Curriculum) We will teach curriculum with fidelity by:
   • Designing lessons aligned to state and national Pre-K – 12 standards and curriculum frameworks.
   • Using essential questions to connect instruction to the standard
   • Including literacy strategies, graphic organizers, and integration of technology as appropriate in our weekly lesson planning and implementation.
   • Requiring verbal and written student responses using the language of standards.
   • Using higher-order thinking questions to gauge and deepen students’ understanding.
2. (Assessment) We will monitor the progress of our students by:
   • Developing common formative assessments that are explicitly aligned to standards.
3. (Instruction) All teaching and learning activities will reflect a shared understanding of what students should know, do, and understand and will be built around a common framework for instruction (Gradual Release) that consists of:
   • Opening
     • Activating Strategies centered on the standard, element(s), and essential  questions
     • Mini-lesson - Modeling while referencing standards and key vocabulary     (I do it/ We do it.)
     • Using exemplars (examples of student work that meets or exceeds the standard)
   • Work Period – Engaging all students using performance tasks.
     • Modeling expectations and helping students to work both cooperatively (You do it together) and individually (You do it alone).
   • Closing - Summarizing strategies to check for understanding
   • Classroom Environment: All classes will be standards-based which will include but not be limited to:
     • Standards and EQ posted
     • Daily Agenda Posted
     • Lesson Plans  available in Classrooms
     • Current Content Vocabulary Word Walls posted
     • High Frequency Words Posted
     • Classroom Expectations Posted
4. Our communication with students and parents will include:

• Regularly collecting and analyzing student work and providing teacher commentary.
• Identifying students who are not meeting standards, meeting standards, or exceeding standards using the Classroom Achievement Report (CAR).
• Adjusting instruction based on assessment results (differentiation).
• Collaboratively analyzing and publishing student data in and outside of the classroom with regards to ensuring student data privacy.
• Goal setting with students and parents.
• Having student/parent conferences, including student led conferences.
• Explaining individual student data.
• Listening to student and parent input about learning via survey and conferences.