for students, and collaborative planning. Teachers
are also encouraged to watch webinars from the
Tennessee Department of Education, Battelle for
Kids, and other groups that support implementation
of rigorous instruction aligned to the Common Core
standards. In the summer of 2012, several teachers
visited a school in Haywood County, North Carolina
that had achieved very high academic growth with
a student population similar to that of John Sevier
Elementary.
Teachers have a full schedule of professional development, including ongoing training in Common
Core implementation, working with students with
disabilities, using technology effectively, and analyzing and using data to improve instruction, among
other topics. Teachers work closely with their grade
level teams during time set aside for professional
learning communities and with cross-grade level
teams at least twice a year. The combination of the
new and more experienced teachers, who are all
changing their instruction to align with the Common
Core, has fostered creative, rich lessons.
Finally, staff members “gather research-based
instructional nuggets” (G.R.I.N.) encountered in their
reading. The nuggets can be about methodology,
technique, organizational ideas, or how to inspire
others. Teachers collect instructional nuggets
throughout the semester to share with the team.
Effective instruction. While John Sevier requires
no specific lesson format, many grade-level teams
have created comprehensive lesson structure
frameworks. The frameworks provide opportunities
for in-depth learning and feature creative ways to
introduce students to lessons and engage multiple
styles. For example, in the third grade’s book club
structure, teachers emphasize building students’
background knowledge, generating a purpose for
reading, and then beginning reading instruction.
Each student has H