The formula for success

The common room at Hanna Elementary School (HES) is filled with projects from the students who attend the school. From math computations to writing about the Native Americans who lived in Wyoming, the students show off what they have learned.

These projects are a result of a collaboration of teachers in the school and Hanna Elementary School Principal Jackie Jones, using a combination of teaching techniques.

Jones, who is in her second year as the principal of the school, is very satisfied with her staff and the willingness to work together to better the learning process for students.

“This is one of the strongest staff we’ve had for a very long time,” Jones told the Carbon County Schools District No. 2 (CCSD2) Board of Trustees at their monthly meeting in Hanna on October 21.

She has been teaching in the school system for 30 years. Mostly at Hanna Elementary School, but she also taught at Medicine Bow for a couple of years. Jones also taught Kindergarten through 12th grade special education.

Jones brags about her staff, from the secretary Mary George to the 6th grade teacher Annmarie Lamoureux.

It is this leadership which makes these programs so successful. Jones relies on her teachers to work together to develop a guiding coalition, which consists of five teachers at HES. The teachers use a tool called Professional Learning Communities (PLC) which is led by Sarah Jones, the Title 1 Coordinator and Teira Scott the Kindergarten teacher. S Jones leads the Reading and Language Arts area while Scott works on the Math area.

Last year was the first year of PLC and they concentrated on math, as there was a new math curriculum being introduced to the school.

This year, the coalition broadened the scope and is seeing success through testing at HES called Fast Bridge. The school staff is seeing improvement in both Math and English.

“We do a lot with data analysis and individual students,” Principal Jones said.

With S. Jones and Scott leading the meetings, the team is able to make big decisions, then use the PLC to narrow down these options and make choices for each individual student’s learning process.

Since the program is in its beginning stages, the only way to determine its success is through the success of the students. This is where the teacher input enters the equation, and the teachers can identify which student is excelling and which student needs more attention.

“The Intervention and Enrichment (I&E) program is prescriptive,” Principal Jones said, “they are set up to every individual child's needs.”

Principal Jones said the I&E program uses teacher input, along with data analysis, to determine whether a child should move into a group that is more challenging or stay in the current group.

Principal Jones used an example of acute angles. “Everyone learns about acute angles in a classroom setting. But what about those kids who can’t do the math to get to 180 degrees or 360 degrees.” The I&E are tailored to those types of individual needs.

The I&E program has been around for many years in the education community. Principal Jones said. The school is combining it with PLC. “I know it has been a goal of Darrin’s [Jennings]. Ryan Searle, in the central office, is what we like to call a ‘solution tree PLC guru’.” Jennings is the CCSD2 superintendent and Searle is the curriculum director for CCSD2.

“We, as a collective staff, knew we needed to go beyond the classroom instruction,” Principal Jones said. “We need more enrichment, for kids who need gifted education.”

HES’ staff goal was not only to help with intervention, but to work with the students who are more advanced.

The school has a lot of enrichment groups, Principal Jones said. This includes students who participate in “novel talks” where students discuss novels they are reading.

Kit Felton - the music teacher - was a little apprehensive about teaching reading enrichment until she learned what she needed to do from S Jones, as she had never done reading enrichment before. She is now comfortable working in a reading environment.

“They have really deep conversations about the text,” Principal Jones said.

In the classroom, the students may read a few sentences and answer a few questions, but, in the “novel talks,” the students read the book and have adult-like conversations about it. The conversations are not only about the book, but how the students can make real connections in the real world. This helps the students with the comprehension of the book.

Principal Jones said secretary George is instrumental in setting up the bell system at the school so the students know when to go to their I&E classes. Principal Jones praised George for being her right-hand person as she is always filling in where needed and making sure everything runs smoothly.

When setting up groups and moving students, Principal Jones said the teacher's input is valued. Before lunch, the students go into the I&E classes which are 15 minutes of concentrated teaching on numbercy or factor recall. With some of the groups, they went back to the old-fashioned flash cards because they find some students benefit from that type of teaching.

After lunch and recess, the reading portion of the I&E classes takes place. This includes the novel talks for the older students. Other students, like kindergartners, are learning letter recognition and letter sounds connecting together.

Principal Jones said they have some students who score at a high level up to the 8th and 9th grade level and they need enrichment in their curriculum. Other students, like the kindergartners, need the intervention as this is their first time attending school.

The goal is to meet the students where they are at, rather than teaching a whole class at the same pace.

Another program, specialized instruction groups, consist of 1st and 2nd graders, 3rd and 4th graders, and 5th and 6th graders. Currently there are 66 students in the school.

In the 1st and 2nd grade, Erin Kennedy, is the second grade teacher, concentrates on reading while Heather Jones, the 1st grade teacher, concentrates on math.

In the 3rd and the 4th grade, Ryan Grossnickle, the third grade teacher, concentrates on reading. Fourth grade teacher Kyle Warren teaches math.

Fifth grade teacher Debbie McCully teaches reading, while Lamoureux teaches math.

Between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., the students switch classrooms to learn the prospective classes. This works two-fold. It allows the students to move from classroom to classroom, like older students in middle and high school, and it allows the teachers to teach what they excel in.

On October 29, the 5th grade students were in Lamoureux’s room working on math problems - specifically fractions - while McCully was working with the 6th graders on reading, identifying contractions and studying spelling words.

McCully likes the program because it allows the teachers to get in-depth teaching the subject and allows the student to move from one classroom to another classroom.

“I really believe it is beneficial to the older kids … because they are doing one and one-half hour blocks, " said McCully.

Mondays, the 5th and 6th graders study science and Tuesday they study Social Studies. Wednesday is split between science and social studies.

Thursdays, the students study art. Currently they are studying different artists, most recently they studied Picasso’s cubism and drew Frankenstein in a cubism format.

Future plans include making a quilt with silhouette miners appliques.

The Science fair is for 6th grade students, but the 5th grade students also participate, they don’t get to compete in the Science Fair, but it gives them experience in the research required for their project.

Lamoureux says the exposure to how classes are in middle/high school are good because it puts the responsibility on the student. She also likes that they can teach their strengths. Hers is in math and science, while McCully is in reading and social studies, which includes reading.

Lamoureux said she also likes the collaboration when the teachers work together with the students when they do research for science and social studies, which combines writing skills for the students.

Principal Jones touted her special education department, which consists of two teachers and four paraprofessionals. One teacher comes from Rock Springs - Theresa Lembke, while the other she hired, Taylee Solaas, from the Hanna-Elk Mountain-Medicine Bow Middle/High School.

“It truly is a collective effort,” Principal Jones said. “There is a lot of trust. We have a tight cohesive staff.”