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Welcome Back!

2025-2026

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Venture Academy

Please welcome….

• Shelly Blank
• Mary Hamilton
• Ashley Kenner
• Madelyn Knight
• Introductions: Who am I, what is my role at Venture?

Today’s Work

Catch

Grounding: Quote Swap Activity

1. Find a partner and read your quotes aloud.

2. Share: How does this quote resonate with you? And/or how does it challenge your thinking?

3. Swap cards with your partner.

4. Find a new partner and repeat (3 rounds total).

5. Return for a short group reflection.

Group Debrief: How could you use this activity/protocol in the classroom?

Focus for 2025-2026

• Stay the course
• Hone our skills
• Do the right work

Focus for 2025-2026

Stay the course:

• Continue to ensure effective instruction in every classroom
• Continue to create a safe and supportive environment that helps students manage their emotions and build supportive relationships

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Focus for 2025-2026

• Hone our skills:
• Instructional Framework: every class, every day: Instructional Framework Cohorts
• Thinking strategies, Discussion/thinking protocols
• Develop and Use Proficiency Scales
• Develop and Use Formative and Summative Assessments

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Focus for 2025-2026

Do the right work:

• Use the PLC process to ensure all students are learning at high levels
• Use the MTSS process to analyze student learning and credit acquisition
• Use RTI Scheduler to provide time, during the school day, for focused interventions with targeted students

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Personal Styles-

Teamwork Styles

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Working Smarter Together

Big Idea

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Training in communication and collaboration skills helps everyone work more effectively in teams.

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Purpose

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1. Understand your own teamwork style

2. Learn how to identify others’ style

3. Learn how to adapt your style to be more effective with others, including managing conflict

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Personal Styles /Team Work Styles

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At your tables read “Personal Styles/Team work Styles”

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Take Inventory-

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The Platinum Rule vs the Golden Rule

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“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

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“Do unto others as they want to be done to.”

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“Treat others as they wish to be treated.”

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The Four Styles

Tells

Directive

Primary need: To get it done

Checks

Analytical

Primary need: To get it right

Sells

Adaptive

Primary need: To get appreciation

Asks

Supportive

Primary need: To get along

Open

and

relationship

oriented

Self-

contained, task

oriented

Direct and fast pace

Indirect and slower pace

Understanding Your Style

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Make a poster with your dominant group

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Share out:

Goals

Strengths

Excesses

In conflict

Value to the team

Tips to work with us

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Exit Ticket

1. One thing that I learned.

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2. Something I still wonder about.

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3. Something I will think about or do.

Take a Break.

Snacks are in the lounge.

Meet back here in 10 minutes!

Amazing things happen here

• Bring to Every Meeting
• We will add to it
• Resource for you
• Take a minute to label the TOC
• 1. Teacher Handbook
• 2. Instructional Framework
• 3. Danielson Framework
• 4. Protocols
• 5. Student Handbook
• 6. Curriculum
• Leave the final two blank

Teacher Resource

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Purpose

• Promotes active learning, collaboration and accountability
• Engagement and equity as all students have a voice and contribution
• Deeper understanding as it requires them to understand, organize and clearly communicate

Materials

• Content chunked into sections
• A task sheet with instructions, guiding questions, and or graphic organizer/notecatcher

Procedure

• Divide the chosen text into manageable sections.
• Have students count off, or arrange them so there are the same number of students in each section (or nearly the same)
• Students read their section independently, looking for key points, new information, or answers to questions.
• After reading, students meet with others reading the same section (the expert group) to create a large post it of important information to share.
• Big ideas
• Any changes from last year
• Things to focus on with students

Variations

Use Jigsaw to have students read several shorter texts, one per group.

Jigsaw texts, if several are used, can be differentiated according to student need.

Have students work with a single text in topic-alike groups first, to become experts on a text. Then, re-distribute the groups so that each student can serve as an expert on the text they read in their previous group.

Jigsaw

Jigsaw

Variations

Classic Jigsaw

• Students first meet in expert groups, then return to home groups to teach.

Station Jigsaw

• Instead of moving between expert/home groups, students rotate around stations where content is pre-prepared (texts, diagrams, videos). The “expert group” becomes the station itself.

Gallery Walk Jigsaw

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• Expert groups make posters or slides. Home groups walk around, collecting notes at each “station,” rather than hearing presentations.�

Digital Jigsaw

• Students collaborate in expert groups using shared docs, slides, or Padlet, then return to home groups (in person or online) to teach.

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• Section 1: Student Handbook Pgs. 8-10
• Section 2: Student Handbook Pgs. 11-14
• Section 3: Teacher Handbook Pgs. 3-5
• Section 4: Teacher Handbook Pgs. 6-7 (Stop at Trust Based Relational Interventions) and 15-17 (PLT’s - stop at Parent communication)
• Section 5: Teacher Handbook pg. 9 (Learning and Grade Reporting)
• to pg. 12 (stop at Instructional Framework)

Sections

• Meet with your expert group.�
• Read and discuss your section together.�
• Take notes on the key ideas and details.�
• Create a visual summary on chart paper (title, main idea, key points, and visuals).�
• As a group, teach the whole class using your chart. (3-5 minutes)

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Procedure

• On a post-it note choose one of the following questions:
• #1 What is a question you still have?

OR:

• #2 What is something we missed that needs to be added?

(Please denote what question you answered)

• Place it on the parking lot poster on the way out of the room

Exit Ticket

Amazing things happen here

Business Items:

Work hours

• Student Days: 7:15 - 3:45
• PD Fridays: 7:00 - 2:30
• Work days: 7.5 hours
• Family Evenings: 3:45 - 6:45

FFriday Collaboration Schedule

7:00 - 8:00 Work time

8:00 - 10:00 All staff in Library

• Collaboration/PD
• Advisory Planning
• Nuts and Bolts

10:00- 10:15 Break

10:15 - 12:00 PLT’s with dept’s

12:00-12:30 Lunch

12:30 - 2:30 Varies (often teacher collaboration time)

FConsiderations for Week 1

1. Rules and Norms
1. Rules are your rules and norms are how we agree to behave as a group.
2. Students develop norms sometime during week 1
2. Community building activities
• These are often best when tied into academic content
• For example: Science might do an engineering challenge, ELA might do an activity that involves writing and speaking etc.
3. Teach routines and procedures
4. Bell to bell learning, community time is learning time, dinking around is not learning time

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Here’s to a

fabulous year!