Osseo Area Schools and NUA: Professional Learning Cycle
Pedagogy of Confidence – High Operational Practices
NUA and Osseo Area Schools (Minneapolis, MN area) began their work using The Pedagogy of Confidence® within the context of The C.L.E.A.R Model, which is one of the System Equity Tools that Osseo has adopted. Both the Pedagogy of Confidence and the C.L.E.A.R model are frameworks that guide instruction to be more culturally responsive. By consistently demonstrating how these two frameworks inform each other, administration and staff have been able to deepen their capacity to turn their core beliefs into action in a way that positively impacts each student.

NUA continues to build community and relationships within the district through multiple modalities, such as through providing system-wide professional development, Learning Leader and School Board development, multiple site-based cohorts, CLEAR/NUA Mediators sessions, one-on-one coaching, and a deep collaboration to offer an annual Summer Institute. Together Osseo Area Schools and National Urban Alliance have engaged in a variety of strategies that provide for multiple opportunities to mediate for High Operational Practices (HOP) within the context of the C.L.E.A.R. model. Continuing to respect, analyze and evaluate personal cultural frames of reference in the context of instructional practices, Osseo staff strives to empower students and teachers in all environments.

  • Birch Grove Elementary
  • Cedar Island Elementary
  • Crest View Elementary
  • Elm Creek Elementary
  • Fair Oaks Elementary
  • Garden City Elementary
  • Oak View Elementary
  • Palmer Lake Elementary
  • Woodland Elementary
  • Zanewood Elementary

“NUA strategies and the training have had at Fair Oaks has completely transformed our school and set us on a trajectory forward that has propelled us forward  to deliver equitable instruction and activate student voice. Ultimately teach our students to be critical thinkers.”
—Academic Coach

Leadership:  Principal and Coaches
The collaboration with the whole staff and all grade levels has been part of the transformational process. This includes all teachers on all grade levels pre-k and K-5. Additionally the support staff is part of the regular professional development. The professional development is a Professional Learning Cycle model with creates an integrative hybrid approach using both virtual and on-site collaborations.

This video has the leadership team sharing how the NUA and Fair Oaks Elementary School has collaborated on the transformation process.

“It has made me more aware of engaging students, engage all students. NUA provides the how. Those high operational practices are effective ages 5-12. As a building we have seen lots of success.”
 —Bryan Bjorlin

Reflective Practices:  From Kindergarten to Middle School and Beyond
NUA and Osseo Area Schools: Osseo Area Schools educator Bryan Bjorlin, who has an elementary through middle school perspective, is interviewed by Equity Teacher Hannah Storm. Bryan has taught middle school and kindergarten in the collaboration with NUA to provide a vertical perspective.

“The strategies we have learned in our training don’t add to our work level. They go right along with the different strategies that we can use and are ones that are natural to our teaching abilities.”

“Out of the years I have been in the district, the National Urban Alliance training is hands down the most applicable, practical, useful professional development I have had in my career. Hands down.”
—Teachers

Reflective Practices
NUA and Osseo Area Schools: Oak View Teachers Kristi Eckdahl and Lance Fredrickson.
(6 min, 17 sec)

“Why do you think those go together?”
—During Inductive Categorization of Questions

Peer to Peer Coaching
Powerful Questions in a Fair Oaks Elementary School third grade classroom part of the National Urban Alliance (NUA) and Osseo Area Schools collaboration. The video is an example of a developing regular practice of peer to peer coaching with colleagues and the school academic coach, along with using video as part of the reflective practice. The use of Powerful Questions includes the modeling of the inquiry strategy, and inductively categorizing the questions in small groups. 

“You are working together now.”
—Students Modeling with Students

NUA Mentor Demonstration in Classrooms
NUA Mentor in a second grade classroom following the Peer to Peer Coaching model with multiple teachers observing a lesson using a Bridge Map (analogies and relationships) to demonstrate collaborative processes with students for phonics and vocabulary.

“I have language behind what I am feeling.”
—Teacher

Professional Development with Educators
Professional development with educators from both Palmer Lake and Fair Oaks Elementary Schools including working with visual tools, frame of reference, vocabulary, collaborative processes and more.

“I think teaching kindergarten, the biggest thing it has done is remind me how important student voice is.”

“I keep coming back to student voice. And the kid’s identity. And that the knowing that they are part of this classroom. And that everything they are doing has connection and value.”
—Teacher

Reflective Practices
Sheila Rod, Kindergarten Teacher, Fair Oaks Elementary • Reflective Practice on NUA and CLEAR. (6 min, 6 sec)

“Where did the words come from? Did you see the pattern?”
—NUA Mentor

NUA Professional Development with Educators
NUA mentor modeling hands on use of a high operational practice to build vocabulary that comes from the students with sentence transformation for fluency, recitation, patterns, sight words, context and writing.

”I feel like they are making the connections quicker than the normal cut and paste sorting. It is more their own. It is their own work, their own words.”

“NUA training has brought back a lot of what I knew about Thinking Maps but I kinda look at it with a new lens now and a fresher way to do that.”

Reflective Practices
NUA and Osseo Area Schools: Fair Oaks Elementary educator Kristine Frei is interviewed by School Coach Jeff Aronow.