Vertical Team Planning

I am going to jump right in today!
Horizontal & Vertical Alignment is the topic!  

What is horizontal alignment? 

Working within the grade level to align the content taught from one grade level classroom to the next (within the grade level).

Horizontal alignment does not have to stifle the creativity of teachers or even be a cookie cutter approach to teaching, but it for sure can lead to better communication among teammates/grade levels, ensure key concepts are taught in the classrooms, and allows each student access to the same content no matter the educator.  Horizontal alignment is naturally a bit easier to plan for (weekly plannings, ease of teammate access, etc).

If you are interested in how we horizontally plan long range within a grade level you can read about that HERE.

What is vertical alignment?  

According to Dr. Jason Perez curriculum alignment fills the gaps of learning from one year to the next. 

Vertical alignment can be daunting. When you are a grade level teacher, finding the time to jump in and study the grade level standards above or below  you can be almost nonexistent. I mean you are immersed constantly with planning for your own area and grade level. 

If you are on a campus that values vertical alignment and makes time for teams to meet consider yourself blessed. Carving out time to do this is essential and proves to provide gains for teacher's knowledge and ultimately carrying over to the students. 

Vertical and horizontal alignment are both pivotal in making sure the full picture is attained and students are getting the full scope of  learning from grade level to grade level.   

At our campus we have quarterly meetings for vertical teams (ELA/Math) to get together and work/discuss.  Today I am going to share just one way we provided vertical alignment for all teachers K-5 this year. 

Step 1: 

Choosing the focus TEKS

My IC partner and I pulled data for 3-5 to look and see which TEKS to hone in on based off of scores (lower performing). For ELA it happened to be the Poetry Reading TEK and for Math it was Geometry. 

Once we identified the TEKS we were using, we typed them up on one document to share with the teachers at our whole campus professional development day. 

Step 2: 

Whole Campus PD Day

All K-5 teachers, along with SPED and in class support  met on this day with us to walk through looking at the designated TEKS for ELA and Math. 

We shared the TEKS we chose with everyone and then gave each team a large chart paper. They had about 20-25 minutes to collaborate and chart out how they teach and assess that TEK.

Once the allotted time was up, we had them display their charts by content and grade level throughout the hallway. One team member from each grade level stayed with their poster to be the spokesperson. We then had them do a gallery walk to each poster within their content to see how that grade level teaches and assesses that particular TEK (we gave about 5 min per poster).

( I was not able to get pictures of all the math posters in time-sorry!!)

                                                           KINDER                                                                          

This is an example of Kinder Math

FIRST

SECOND

THIRD

FOURTH

 FIFTH

The teachers really enjoyed seeing how the TEK progressed from Kinder all the way through 5th and even gained new insight to how they can help support the grade level above them and build on the grade level below them. 

Fast forward two weeks later, we had a PDR meeting with all grade levels at their planning time to follow up. 

Step 3: 

Combine grade level assessments

My IC partner and I asked each grade level to submit a copy of an assessment they give in their unit addressing the TEKS we identified above. Once we received all assessments K-5 we made copies as a packet for each grade level to be able to make notes in the PDR. 

Step 4: 

PDR Day-Review all assessments

I mean who wouldn't want to analyze assessments with this spread ;) 

Day of the PDR we gave each team the packet of vertical assessments along with a pen that is their grade levels designated color. (EX: 5th grade is green, 4th grade is purple, etc) As a content team, they started at Kinder and worked their way through each grade level looking at each assessment answering the following questions:

1. How does the learning from this grade level support my students?

2. What gaps can you identify from grade level to grade level?

3. Is the assessment aligned to the TEK?

*note- all feedback given on each document was anonymous- the color coding was mainly for us as IC's to separate feedback later on. 

I really enjoyed sitting and listening to the conversations among teachers. We  had a lot of realizations and many compliments to the teams below and above. They were really able to see the impact of why vertical alignment in teaching/assessing the TEK is so important.

For teachers, when you are many times sucked into your own world and grade level it was an eye opening realization. It also forced home for us as IC's to be diligent throughout the year when in plannings with teams to continue to spiral and guide the teachers in creating/planning for their units. 

Step 5: 

Gather feedback

We will now gather the feedback and take that (again anonymously) to teams to help them tweak their assessments as needed for next year. We are making a goal for next year to do at least one PDR per month utilizing this same structure for the various units taught. 

Do you need more info or guidance on making sure you are vertically aligning? If you are in Texas here are two places you can go!

• TEA
• Lead4ward

I hope this helped even in the slightest! 

Have a BLESSED weekend!
"So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. 
Galatians 6:9