Science articles, textbooks, journal articles are very difficult to read. And many students struggle with them; I even struggle with them as well. So I have started reading Science Journal Articles with my Chemistry students. They have a difficult time at the beginning but it seems to get easier and easier as they keep progressing. I am coming to a road block, since I don’t teach reading I am having a difficult time teaching it. Journal articles are tough, have large words, and most words I might not even know what they mean.
I am having the students go thru sentence by sentence trying to figure out what is happening, then what is the general idea of the paragraph, etc. Is there a better way to teach this? My first article of the year is about methane gas turning into a product we can use instead of petroleum. The students understand this because they have heard this in the news for many years. So far in the article they have understood what the authors want to accomplish, a little of the history, and what they want to do for the future. Since the article was written in 1998 a lot has been done since then.
So I am trying to teach my science students how to read a more advanced writing, does anyone have any input to how I can accomplish it? I think I have been doing a good job so far, but with it being so technical, and advanced I would like some help.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Tardies
We had a staff meeting the other day regarding tardies in the classroom. Many students are tardy continuously to my 1st hour class. They all have passes from the office, but I don’t know what to do regarding them. Today I even saw one student in the lunch room eating breakfast, and then he showed up late with a pass from the office. So I knew he was here in time to eat breakfast but he still was late to class. I just don’t get how students think.
I understand if there ride is late, or had a doctor’s appointment. But I get the excuse that they had to walk to school (just leave earlier), or that they overslept (make sure a parent wakes them up). I am starting to get sick of the excuses.
I give out detention for the students who are tardy 3 times, but the problem is they don’t show up to detention. And as a teacher I don’t know if they showed up or not, so I start over on their 3 tardies once again.
There has to be a better system. Some teachers make the students stand for the remainder of the class period (or for a great length of it), and some assign detention with the teacher themselves. I have started to lock the door when the bell rings. So the student has to stay in the hallway till I am ready for them to come into the classroom. The main problem I have with this is that today alone I had 6 students tardy, and coming to class at all different times of the hour. There has to be a better system. Most of my classes are great, just my first hour has been puzzling me. Maybe it is because it is an Applied class, but then I feel sorry for the students who actually come to class on time and keep getting distracted and disrupted with the students coming in tardy.
Any ideas on how to fix / solve this problem?? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
I understand if there ride is late, or had a doctor’s appointment. But I get the excuse that they had to walk to school (just leave earlier), or that they overslept (make sure a parent wakes them up). I am starting to get sick of the excuses.
I give out detention for the students who are tardy 3 times, but the problem is they don’t show up to detention. And as a teacher I don’t know if they showed up or not, so I start over on their 3 tardies once again.
There has to be a better system. Some teachers make the students stand for the remainder of the class period (or for a great length of it), and some assign detention with the teacher themselves. I have started to lock the door when the bell rings. So the student has to stay in the hallway till I am ready for them to come into the classroom. The main problem I have with this is that today alone I had 6 students tardy, and coming to class at all different times of the hour. There has to be a better system. Most of my classes are great, just my first hour has been puzzling me. Maybe it is because it is an Applied class, but then I feel sorry for the students who actually come to class on time and keep getting distracted and disrupted with the students coming in tardy.
Any ideas on how to fix / solve this problem?? Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
(August) JigSaw 102,010 years of Bead History
The snow is covering the ground and it's long overdue for my first official blog post. It's not that I haven't been working on my professional goal - I have - and I continue to work on it every week and it's always in the back of my mind and always in my reflection notes from my lesson plans. However, with all the preps this year, I'm focusing on stellar lesson preparation which eats up most of the hours in which I'm awake and leaves very little time for typing up those notes I wrote down in the first place. So here it goes and welcome to reading!
My professional goal for this year is to focus on incorporating literacy strategies in my classroom (trying at least one for a new unit/month). This year I'll be working with the ladies in my department at the JH to integrate reading strategies into our FACS curriculum. (On a side note: I am utterly disappointed in the amount of resources FACS teacher have at their disposal. There are speciality books (SIOP, reading strategies, lesson plan ideas, etc.) for almost every discipline expect for the Career & Technical Education folks. It's like book publishers don't think we do anything but sew and cook! Yes, all of the standard books are applicable but it's disappointing to see resource books for ALL but our content area out there).
My first goal: to help my student better understand the history and meaning of beads throughout the world. Throughout history and for thousands (more correctly, HUNDREDS of thousands) of years, beads have served various purposes to people. In search of an encyclopedia of bead history, I went to the public library seeking just that - any and all books that would not only educate me better on the topic but be useful to my students. I wanted to find something that wasn't too long in length but was descriptive and rich in history. Well, out of the 10+ books I checked out, I found one that definitely did the job. Only problem - it was 396 pages, an amount that was a bit much for a semester course. It is called "The History of Beads: from 100,000 BC to present". I read much of the book and since it wasn't my book, marked it up with many post-its of essential information to our course - trying to figure out what was most important. After reading other materials, I decided that I would settle on 7 areas of the world that students would investigate to help them better understand the role beads served in societies around the world. I labored through color coded each country keeping in mind I have a few EL's in my class and a handful of students with lower reading scores. At this point, it might be helpful to know that I seat students according to their reading scores in my classroom, Low(L), Low-Medium(LM), Medium-High(MH), High(H) - Kagen Strategies. I do not seat Low's next to High's because I want the opportunity to say "turn to your shoulder partner and...." and the ability levels between L and H is just too great and might provide frustration. Depending on a student's reading level, I gave them an appropriate section from the book. Those who were lower reading levels, received a more brief section (3 or 4 paragraphs v. 5 or 7) which I purused for difficult language.
- I introduced the materials and reviewed the Content and Language objectives with the students. I handed out the readings according to their reading levels. I told them they could write questions or highlight the sheets as they needed but they needed to come up with the 3 main points of their section.
- I got them into their same colored paper groups and had them come up with as a group, the top three points and see if they had any questions as a group.
- Rather than having students, go back into smaller groups - I have one student in the group report back to the classroom by writing their main points on the board and then explaining them to the class.
- After each group had gone, I then went through my notes of what I thought were the key points in each section. Many of the students mirrored my own summary of the information.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Obesity Crisis:
NEA today, October/November 2010
“Students who are healthy learn better, are better able to concentrate on their work, have better attendance and perform better in class.” People are trying to teach healthy life skills, which is hard to do when students are being fed muffins, breakfast bars, and juice. Some students are opting for the apple and the orange juice (but few are). I worry about child obesity because my sister is a person that has been battling obesity her entire life. We always had a nice breakfast at home, and we made our lunches for school. But like most students the exchange of food happened pretty often. Exchanging a healthy apple for a bag of chips. Schools across the country are trying to change that. They are not offering “bad” food in vending machines or in the lunch lines. Schools are starting to grow there own food in gardens that the students are taking care of. Shakopee will be doing this as well. Unfortunately it might not make a big enough dent in the food service. Many schools don’t have money for nice food options like fruit and vegetables (to much money for the healthy foods). Research done by USA Today concluded that the meat school use is worse than fast-food chains. The USDA is suppose to be inspecting schools twice a year for there performance, this is not happening because they are not keeping great records, and schools have to pay for the inspection (NO MONEY).
http://www.nea.org/home/37485.htm
To fix this schools are starting to have times during the day where students can workout, have a healthy snack which improves there attendance and performance in class. Schools are changing fundraisers from cookie sales to wrapping paper or magazines. Mrs. Obama has started the “Let’s Move” campaign to get students moving and eating healthy. Her mission is to have 1250 schools participating in her program by June of 2011. To help with this is the US Department of Agriculture, to reduce the amount of fat, sugar, and salt. By raising the amount of whole wheat, fruits and vegetables.
http://www.letsmove.gov/healthierschoolfood.php
Obesity is a growing problem in this country. If we are able to stop now hopefully in the future our students will live a very healthy life. By starting now we can have cooking classes the teach nutritional ways of cooking, health classes that focus more on obesity and what it does to the body. And classes that allow students to attend and take care of gardens where we can eat healthy food. All of these ideas are obtainable, just we get stuck with who is going to pay??
Think about it.
NEA today, October/November 2010
“Students who are healthy learn better, are better able to concentrate on their work, have better attendance and perform better in class.” People are trying to teach healthy life skills, which is hard to do when students are being fed muffins, breakfast bars, and juice. Some students are opting for the apple and the orange juice (but few are). I worry about child obesity because my sister is a person that has been battling obesity her entire life. We always had a nice breakfast at home, and we made our lunches for school. But like most students the exchange of food happened pretty often. Exchanging a healthy apple for a bag of chips. Schools across the country are trying to change that. They are not offering “bad” food in vending machines or in the lunch lines. Schools are starting to grow there own food in gardens that the students are taking care of. Shakopee will be doing this as well. Unfortunately it might not make a big enough dent in the food service. Many schools don’t have money for nice food options like fruit and vegetables (to much money for the healthy foods). Research done by USA Today concluded that the meat school use is worse than fast-food chains. The USDA is suppose to be inspecting schools twice a year for there performance, this is not happening because they are not keeping great records, and schools have to pay for the inspection (NO MONEY).
http://www.nea.org/home/37485.htm
To fix this schools are starting to have times during the day where students can workout, have a healthy snack which improves there attendance and performance in class. Schools are changing fundraisers from cookie sales to wrapping paper or magazines. Mrs. Obama has started the “Let’s Move” campaign to get students moving and eating healthy. Her mission is to have 1250 schools participating in her program by June of 2011. To help with this is the US Department of Agriculture, to reduce the amount of fat, sugar, and salt. By raising the amount of whole wheat, fruits and vegetables.
http://www.letsmove.gov/healthierschoolfood.php
Obesity is a growing problem in this country. If we are able to stop now hopefully in the future our students will live a very healthy life. By starting now we can have cooking classes the teach nutritional ways of cooking, health classes that focus more on obesity and what it does to the body. And classes that allow students to attend and take care of gardens where we can eat healthy food. All of these ideas are obtainable, just we get stuck with who is going to pay??
Think about it.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Time
We've already made it through the 1st quarter of the school year. I have no idea how it went so quickly. I don't know about you, but I had a lot of good ideas at the beginning of the year, and I haven't had the time to address/implement a lot of them. I'm sure everyone feels this way. Some of my LD colleagues and I have been discussing the lack of time we have to collaborate with each other and implement all of the things we've been fortunate enough to get some additional training for. I've gotten to attend some really good/relevant professional development workshops, and I always leave them feeling so positive and excited, but when I get back to school and reality sets in (students' daily lessons, accommodations, unexpected problems, not to mention parent concerns/phone calls/emails), the momentum gets lost and frankly so do some of the skills I learned. I wish we had scheduled time during our school day/week/month to spend time with our colleagues planning and training each other with some of the amazing things we have been able to learn about. We have been meeting Friday mornings as a small group (LD teachers) to discuss testing, lessons, student issues, Resource Room concerns, and any other communication needs, but that's not enough time to train each other or really implement any new things. I don't think it's unreasonable to have this opportunity during our paid day because I don't know a single teacher (general ed or special ed) who does not do a lot of planning, grading, due process outside of their contracted day. I really feel this time would be vaulable and would improve not only our daily lessons/curriculum for students, but I think it would have a positive impact on our professional culture as a building and across the district.
Friday, November 5, 2010
Money:
Everyone is interested in money, but as teachers we chose this profession for the students that we teach. Coming into this career we knew that we won’t be making millions, we might not own fancy cars or maybe travel to exotic places but we are in this career because we choose it. So I have a hard time with districts, the state and the nation decreasing the money that we already don’t receive. But with that the government wants us to have opportunities for students (athletics, extracurricular activities, and extra support) so who is going to pay for it??
The reason I bring this up is because of the current elections. Lakeville for example didn’t pass there referendum, so over 90 teachers will lose their jobs. Students will have to pay for athletics, middle school students won’t have extracurricular activities, and what are they to do? Is crime rate, teen pregnancy, drop-out rate all going to increase? The “rich” kids can participate in sports and activities, but what about the kids with parents in the lower economic bracket.
I was reading Minnesota Educator today and it stated that “Districts could feel pinch from recession for decade.” Districts have already laid-off teachers, froze salaries, changed the school week (Northbranch). Shakopee is a growing district, but what is going to happen when we get the next referendum? A new referendum means tax increase, and with people suffering from the recession who really wants to have their taxes raised?
This is a lot to think about, and I am sure that I am not the only one thinking about theses aspects. I luckily don’t have kids yet who might have to deal with these aspects. They might one day unfortunately have to pay for playing in band or shooting a puck around.
Everyone is interested in money, but as teachers we chose this profession for the students that we teach. Coming into this career we knew that we won’t be making millions, we might not own fancy cars or maybe travel to exotic places but we are in this career because we choose it. So I have a hard time with districts, the state and the nation decreasing the money that we already don’t receive. But with that the government wants us to have opportunities for students (athletics, extracurricular activities, and extra support) so who is going to pay for it??
The reason I bring this up is because of the current elections. Lakeville for example didn’t pass there referendum, so over 90 teachers will lose their jobs. Students will have to pay for athletics, middle school students won’t have extracurricular activities, and what are they to do? Is crime rate, teen pregnancy, drop-out rate all going to increase? The “rich” kids can participate in sports and activities, but what about the kids with parents in the lower economic bracket.
I was reading Minnesota Educator today and it stated that “Districts could feel pinch from recession for decade.” Districts have already laid-off teachers, froze salaries, changed the school week (Northbranch). Shakopee is a growing district, but what is going to happen when we get the next referendum? A new referendum means tax increase, and with people suffering from the recession who really wants to have their taxes raised?
This is a lot to think about, and I am sure that I am not the only one thinking about theses aspects. I luckily don’t have kids yet who might have to deal with these aspects. They might one day unfortunately have to pay for playing in band or shooting a puck around.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
The Importance of Incorporating Reading Across Disciplines....
As you know, it's my professional goal to incorporate practice of a reading strategy in each unit of Foods. I figured this aligned with the building goal, as well as our department and vertical team goals. This is something that I'm very excited about, I was a struggling reader, and wished that someone taught me how to pull out key concepts, etc.
The Jr. High recently started using the services of a literacy expert, Elise. She stated training the English department two years ago and now she is training the other areas, to help spread literacy practices though out the school.
This is where I get a little agitated with this goal and the way that it has been addressed. The literacy initiative has been working in phases, the core classes: English, Math, Science are first to be trained. Then Social Studies, ELL, Special Ed and Physical Education. Then somewhere around year three that we have been working on this, they decide it's important to include the elective areas (Art, Facs, Music and Language Arts) If this is a building wide goal....shouldn't be be trained at the same time?! Do we read and write any less because we are an elective area? I just feel like we are a second, or third after thought.
In a discussion in BLT we were talking about upcoming staff development. I expressed the concern that some areas (electives) may not feel supported in this goal. Nothing was really said except, it takes time to train everyone. The question is will the same time, attention and services be provided for these people? Or will the other staff be expected to teach us what they remember? Maybe it should be voluntary not required, if you want the training here it is.... if you careless....good luck.
During my last observation I had a discussion about this same topic. If it is a building wide goal, why isn't everyone having access to the training of best practice. She didn't really have an answer but she said something that really stuck with me. "This is what good teachers do. They vary texts, the check for understanding, they teach tricks and tips. This is something that you do Larissa, you are a good teacher." Sure it's frustrating that I'm not getting "support" but I'm sure Elise doesn't have all the answers, and I won't either. I'm committed to incorporating literacy in FACS, because yes we DO read and write, even if we are a second or third after thought.
The Jr. High recently started using the services of a literacy expert, Elise. She stated training the English department two years ago and now she is training the other areas, to help spread literacy practices though out the school.
This is where I get a little agitated with this goal and the way that it has been addressed. The literacy initiative has been working in phases, the core classes: English, Math, Science are first to be trained. Then Social Studies, ELL, Special Ed and Physical Education. Then somewhere around year three that we have been working on this, they decide it's important to include the elective areas (Art, Facs, Music and Language Arts) If this is a building wide goal....shouldn't be be trained at the same time?! Do we read and write any less because we are an elective area? I just feel like we are a second, or third after thought.
In a discussion in BLT we were talking about upcoming staff development. I expressed the concern that some areas (electives) may not feel supported in this goal. Nothing was really said except, it takes time to train everyone. The question is will the same time, attention and services be provided for these people? Or will the other staff be expected to teach us what they remember? Maybe it should be voluntary not required, if you want the training here it is.... if you careless....good luck.
During my last observation I had a discussion about this same topic. If it is a building wide goal, why isn't everyone having access to the training of best practice. She didn't really have an answer but she said something that really stuck with me. "This is what good teachers do. They vary texts, the check for understanding, they teach tricks and tips. This is something that you do Larissa, you are a good teacher." Sure it's frustrating that I'm not getting "support" but I'm sure Elise doesn't have all the answers, and I won't either. I'm committed to incorporating literacy in FACS, because yes we DO read and write, even if we are a second or third after thought.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Being an ally to GLBT youth
With the recent tragedies in the media regarding GLBTA youth I was curious to look more closely at my GLSEN emails. GLSEN is the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network which is “the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students.” (http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/about/index.html) In one of their recent emails they highlighted an article titled “What can you do to make a positive difference?” I looked through the suggestions of what I can do to make a positive difference and realized that I could sure do a lot more.
One main suggestion that the article made was that teachers should try to be a visible ally to LGBT youth. I think that I attempt this by making it clear that no slur homophobic terms are allowed in my classroom, but I could do more to be a visible ally. The article suggests printing stickers and posters (some that the website provides) and placing them in your classroom. The website has a few posters that you can order (with a price) found here: http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/library/record/1641.html
The website also suggests that you can be a visible ally to LGBT youth by talking about important people and moments in LGBT history. I was not aware that October is GLBT History Month. A new GLBT icon is highlighted every day on the website with a video and other information about that icon. I think this is something that could easily be added into my classroom even if it is just once a week or so for this month. I thought that as opposed to only focusing or informing students about the negative things that have happened to GLBT individuals (in regards to recent events in the media), why not highlight some iconic GLBT individuals who have made a very positive impact on our world. To check out the resources available to you for GLBT History Month check out this link: http://www.glbthistorymonth.com/glbthistorymonth/2010/
Friday, October 15, 2010
Homework
My main professional goal this year is to increase the rigor (without leaving behind some students) in my junior/senior “Basic English” classes. One of the ways that I intend to increase the rigor is by assigning homework more often. I hesitated to assign too much homework the past two years in “Basic English” because students would usually not do any work outside of class and grades dropped when I assigned any homework. I thought that one way I could fix this would be to get students into the habit of doing homework early on in the year. So far it has seemed to work and students are doing a great job getting their work in on time.
I am being very careful that the homework I assign is not just busy work and is really beneficial for students to spend time on. Barb McNulty passed on some articles having to do with homework and I looked through them and felt like I was on the right track so far with what homework I have assigned. Cathy Vatterott’s article “Five Hallmarks of Good Homework” indicates that homework should:
#1 have a clear purpose
• “Our goal is to give students methods that are purposeful for them, methods that work for their learning style.”
#2 require thinking
#3 should allow students to feel some ownership over their work
• “When we customize tasks to fit student learning styles and interests, the task becomes theirs, not ours.”
#4 should be something that students can do on their own and feel competent at
#5 should be aesthetically pleasing
• “Every day, students make decisions about whether to do a homework assignment on the basis of their first impressions. The way homework looks is important”
I am being very careful that the homework I assign is not just busy work and is really beneficial for students to spend time on. Barb McNulty passed on some articles having to do with homework and I looked through them and felt like I was on the right track so far with what homework I have assigned. Cathy Vatterott’s article “Five Hallmarks of Good Homework” indicates that homework should:
#1 have a clear purpose
• “Our goal is to give students methods that are purposeful for them, methods that work for their learning style.”
#2 require thinking
#3 should allow students to feel some ownership over their work
• “When we customize tasks to fit student learning styles and interests, the task becomes theirs, not ours.”
#4 should be something that students can do on their own and feel competent at
#5 should be aesthetically pleasing
• “Every day, students make decisions about whether to do a homework assignment on the basis of their first impressions. The way homework looks is important”
Friday, October 8, 2010
Better late then Never
Oooops...Forgot to blog in September...as you may have guessed the first month has been hectic with several new kids learning "the ropes" (aka rules and privileges) and the other kids trying to act cool because they already know them. (Not that they always adhere to them...but at least they know them) My professional goal was two-fold for this year. Create a 3 year revolving curriculum in Social Skills class and to increase positive feedback to parents and family. Only two one-day suspensions to date so things are off to a much better start then last year. I've started increasing the positive feedback and the parents really appreciate it. They are not as fearful to pick up the phone when they see the school caller ID number on their phones. Anyway...hope everyone has settled in and is having a great year. Take care
Steve
Steve
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Professional Goal and 1st Reading
My professional goal for this year is to increase the number of professional journals/articles that I read and then reflect upon them with colleagues. I plan to share my reflections here on our blog and during my LD/ASD Communication meetings.
Today I recieved an email with a link to an article in the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/education/28school.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general. This article is about improving a very large high school (and its culture) by raising failing reading achievement scores. A small group of teachers got together on Saturdays and began brainstorming ideas for how to improve students' reading and writing skills. They decided to incorporate reading and writing into every content area including math and physical education. Like many new initiatives there were many skeptics, but after the school's test scores increased they saw their efforts paying off. The school went from only 1/4 of its students passing statewide exams 10 years ago to doing better on the reading assessments than 90% of the states other high schools in 2008.
I liked that teachers at this school said, "When you go to college..." and set that expectation in their students minds. I was wondering if that is that really the expectation we have for all of our students? As a special education teacher (students with ASD, EBD,SLD, and OHD), I often struggle with this. I feel it is my job to help students (and their parents) set realistic expectations for their future. But am I really helping them set realistic goals, so they can be successful or am I setting the bar too low?
Another quote that resonated with me was from David P. Driscoll, the state of MA education commissioner: “In schools, no matter the size — and Brockton is one of the biggest — what matters is uniting people behind a common purpose, setting high expectations, and sticking with it." Our school district is growing and changing (demographically) every year, which greatly impacts the culture of our school. I think our common purpose is to prepare students for graduating high school and whatever comes next. I think the struggle many of us face is how do we get there and/or do we all have to get there the same way? It seems like there are always new initiatives and strategies, but the amount of support they get varies. Many other teachers were commenting on this article through email today, and I understand their points of view. Sometimes we don't give these new initiatives a chance to work or enough time to see results. It takes time to "work out the kinks" and make "it" work for you. It also takes time to learn new things and encorporate them into our lessons/classrooms and there never seems to be enough time. One of the emails said we tend to say "This won't work" instead of "Let's make it work". I really like that attitude, "Let's make it work" and find a way or a solution instead of not even giving it a try. How can we expect our students to embrace new thoughts or ways of doing things if we can't do that ourselves?
Did you read this article? If so what did you think and what lessons can we learn?
Today I recieved an email with a link to an article in the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/education/28school.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general. This article is about improving a very large high school (and its culture) by raising failing reading achievement scores. A small group of teachers got together on Saturdays and began brainstorming ideas for how to improve students' reading and writing skills. They decided to incorporate reading and writing into every content area including math and physical education. Like many new initiatives there were many skeptics, but after the school's test scores increased they saw their efforts paying off. The school went from only 1/4 of its students passing statewide exams 10 years ago to doing better on the reading assessments than 90% of the states other high schools in 2008.
I liked that teachers at this school said, "When you go to college..." and set that expectation in their students minds. I was wondering if that is that really the expectation we have for all of our students? As a special education teacher (students with ASD, EBD,SLD, and OHD), I often struggle with this. I feel it is my job to help students (and their parents) set realistic expectations for their future. But am I really helping them set realistic goals, so they can be successful or am I setting the bar too low?
Another quote that resonated with me was from David P. Driscoll, the state of MA education commissioner: “In schools, no matter the size — and Brockton is one of the biggest — what matters is uniting people behind a common purpose, setting high expectations, and sticking with it." Our school district is growing and changing (demographically) every year, which greatly impacts the culture of our school. I think our common purpose is to prepare students for graduating high school and whatever comes next. I think the struggle many of us face is how do we get there and/or do we all have to get there the same way? It seems like there are always new initiatives and strategies, but the amount of support they get varies. Many other teachers were commenting on this article through email today, and I understand their points of view. Sometimes we don't give these new initiatives a chance to work or enough time to see results. It takes time to "work out the kinks" and make "it" work for you. It also takes time to learn new things and encorporate them into our lessons/classrooms and there never seems to be enough time. One of the emails said we tend to say "This won't work" instead of "Let's make it work". I really like that attitude, "Let's make it work" and find a way or a solution instead of not even giving it a try. How can we expect our students to embrace new thoughts or ways of doing things if we can't do that ourselves?
Did you read this article? If so what did you think and what lessons can we learn?
Saturday, August 21, 2010
Bring on the New School Year!
I have a lot on my plate for the 2010-2011 school year. I really wish that my professional goal could be
"Try not to lose my mind!!" Before I write my SMARTER goal for the year I have to think about all that I have already agreed to do.... Here are some of the things that I'll be working on this year:
1. I'll be mentoring a new teacher, Courtney Paul. She is great. She has a lot of good ideas, and knows that it is better not to reinvent the wheel. This should help our department work efficiently yet explore new things. I'm also lucky to have Shauna back from the HS, she is very organized and has a great teaching style. Together I think that we can really update and grow our FACS program. Readers: Any advice on how to help a new teacher? Anything that your Mentor did that was just awesome? Feel free to post comments below.
2. Once again this year I'll be FACS Department Head. Not that daunting, because it's a HUGE department myself and two other people! Yet there is a lot to do. Department goal setting, meeting agendas, MATERIAL organization, keeping track of a budget. So it gets to be a lot on top of my other daily responsibilities. I'm happy to do this because it gives me the opportunity to make FACS much more than "cooking and sewing". I really want to make our FACS classes relevant to what kids will be doing in the future. I also want to reinforce those important life skills. Yeah I get it, few 8th graders are going to go home and sew a new outfit. But, they will need to utilize the skills of technical reading to, reroute their emails to their cell phones, set up a new piece of Ikea furniture, and start to construct that model for GTT or Science class. Our classes start to give students that struggle with reading, math, and social skills the confidence and beginning know how to explore and apply their new passions. Readers: What are some of the best things that your classes teach kids? What should kids really understand after taking, Science, English, PE, Music, and other special courses?
3. Building Leadership Team Member (BLT) / PLC Leader, I'm new to this role this year. I think that it will be a good experience to see how some of the building goals are set and achieved. With this responsibility we are also asked to lead a PLC. Our PLC meets bi-weekly, and focuses on the school goals: Relationships and Increasing Test Scores. We plan to increase both of these through Saber Pause (main ideas: character ed, academic monitoring, relationships, and service learning.) I'm excited to lead a PLC, my goal is to make meeting time meaningful and productive. Thankfully, Mandy Gaugler will be helping me lead our PLC. She has great ideas about grading and does good work with her Saber Pause. Molly Evans, will also be a great leader, she has lots of knowledge to share about incorporating literacy across the academic areas. I'm really nervous about this endeavor. I just need to remind myself that I'm a facilitator and I don't have all the answers. Readers: Any ideas on how to make PLC meetings meaningful? What kind of things are overlooked during small group meetings?
4. FACS Vertical Team Member: This is a team that has made a lot of improvement since my first year in Shakopee. FACS is taught 7-12 thoughout the district so it's important that we communicate together. Since joining VT, I think that I have played an important role in encouraging communication between the three schools. It's important that we share new ideas, and make sure not to repeat the same things. I wrote a new course about cultural foods and helped to encourage student enrollment at the HS. This year we will continue to work on Literacy increasing literacy in FACS. I think that if it's an expectation that student's practice reading and writing even in the "fun" classes, they will see the importance of learning to be excellent readers and writers. Readers: Any reading or writing strategies that you have used or tried in your classroom? Any good classroom resources or best practice books on reading and writing?
5. More School!!!!!: That's right on top of all these things above and planning a wedding :) I've decided to go back for my Masters in Education. I'm participating in a St. Mary's co-hort in Shakopee. I'm excited to learn more about the education system and APPLY it in my classroom. I feel I didn't take a lot of my undergrad classes seriously. I wasn't sure if those ideas or principles would work. This time I can try to apply these new ideas and best practices into my classroom, how cool is that? Readers: Any ideas on how to survive Grad School?
Yikes! Are you sure my goal can't be "Try not to lose your Mind?!" Okay I've thought about it and this will be my SMARTER goal for the 2010-2011 school year: Incorporate unit literacy strategies that encourage learner engagement, increase reading and vocabulary comprehension in FACS throughout the 2010-2011 school year. Readers: Is this goal SMARTER?
Specific: Unit literacy strategy that is engaging and used to increase reading and vocabulary use in FACS. Measurable: Completed each unit, increase use of vocabulary and reading comprehension present in unit tests.
Attainable: I think that finding 1 strategy per unit is realistic and manageable.
Results: Unit tests will track the effectiveness of the reading strategy. (comprehension and vocabulary assessment.)
Time Bound: By Unit for the entire 2010-2011 school year.
Expect Set Backs: I have a lot on my plate, I think that making unit goals instead of weekly goals is a lot more manageable. This goal also is present in my building, VT, and department. Making it easier to stay on track.
Reward: This is the best part of a SMARTER Goal! I'll have a Quarter reward, of shopping and an end of the year award of a pedicure. :)
"Try not to lose my mind!!" Before I write my SMARTER goal for the year I have to think about all that I have already agreed to do.... Here are some of the things that I'll be working on this year:
1. I'll be mentoring a new teacher, Courtney Paul. She is great. She has a lot of good ideas, and knows that it is better not to reinvent the wheel. This should help our department work efficiently yet explore new things. I'm also lucky to have Shauna back from the HS, she is very organized and has a great teaching style. Together I think that we can really update and grow our FACS program. Readers: Any advice on how to help a new teacher? Anything that your Mentor did that was just awesome? Feel free to post comments below.
2. Once again this year I'll be FACS Department Head. Not that daunting, because it's a HUGE department myself and two other people! Yet there is a lot to do. Department goal setting, meeting agendas, MATERIAL organization, keeping track of a budget. So it gets to be a lot on top of my other daily responsibilities. I'm happy to do this because it gives me the opportunity to make FACS much more than "cooking and sewing". I really want to make our FACS classes relevant to what kids will be doing in the future. I also want to reinforce those important life skills. Yeah I get it, few 8th graders are going to go home and sew a new outfit. But, they will need to utilize the skills of technical reading to, reroute their emails to their cell phones, set up a new piece of Ikea furniture, and start to construct that model for GTT or Science class. Our classes start to give students that struggle with reading, math, and social skills the confidence and beginning know how to explore and apply their new passions. Readers: What are some of the best things that your classes teach kids? What should kids really understand after taking, Science, English, PE, Music, and other special courses?
3. Building Leadership Team Member (BLT) / PLC Leader, I'm new to this role this year. I think that it will be a good experience to see how some of the building goals are set and achieved. With this responsibility we are also asked to lead a PLC. Our PLC meets bi-weekly, and focuses on the school goals: Relationships and Increasing Test Scores. We plan to increase both of these through Saber Pause (main ideas: character ed, academic monitoring, relationships, and service learning.) I'm excited to lead a PLC, my goal is to make meeting time meaningful and productive. Thankfully, Mandy Gaugler will be helping me lead our PLC. She has great ideas about grading and does good work with her Saber Pause. Molly Evans, will also be a great leader, she has lots of knowledge to share about incorporating literacy across the academic areas. I'm really nervous about this endeavor. I just need to remind myself that I'm a facilitator and I don't have all the answers. Readers: Any ideas on how to make PLC meetings meaningful? What kind of things are overlooked during small group meetings?
4. FACS Vertical Team Member: This is a team that has made a lot of improvement since my first year in Shakopee. FACS is taught 7-12 thoughout the district so it's important that we communicate together. Since joining VT, I think that I have played an important role in encouraging communication between the three schools. It's important that we share new ideas, and make sure not to repeat the same things. I wrote a new course about cultural foods and helped to encourage student enrollment at the HS. This year we will continue to work on Literacy increasing literacy in FACS. I think that if it's an expectation that student's practice reading and writing even in the "fun" classes, they will see the importance of learning to be excellent readers and writers. Readers: Any reading or writing strategies that you have used or tried in your classroom? Any good classroom resources or best practice books on reading and writing?
5. More School!!!!!: That's right on top of all these things above and planning a wedding :) I've decided to go back for my Masters in Education. I'm participating in a St. Mary's co-hort in Shakopee. I'm excited to learn more about the education system and APPLY it in my classroom. I feel I didn't take a lot of my undergrad classes seriously. I wasn't sure if those ideas or principles would work. This time I can try to apply these new ideas and best practices into my classroom, how cool is that? Readers: Any ideas on how to survive Grad School?
Yikes! Are you sure my goal can't be "Try not to lose your Mind?!" Okay I've thought about it and this will be my SMARTER goal for the 2010-2011 school year: Incorporate unit literacy strategies that encourage learner engagement, increase reading and vocabulary comprehension in FACS throughout the 2010-2011 school year. Readers: Is this goal SMARTER?
Specific: Unit literacy strategy that is engaging and used to increase reading and vocabulary use in FACS. Measurable: Completed each unit, increase use of vocabulary and reading comprehension present in unit tests.
Attainable: I think that finding 1 strategy per unit is realistic and manageable.
Results: Unit tests will track the effectiveness of the reading strategy. (comprehension and vocabulary assessment.)
Time Bound: By Unit for the entire 2010-2011 school year.
Expect Set Backs: I have a lot on my plate, I think that making unit goals instead of weekly goals is a lot more manageable. This goal also is present in my building, VT, and department. Making it easier to stay on track.
Reward: This is the best part of a SMARTER Goal! I'll have a Quarter reward, of shopping and an end of the year award of a pedicure. :)
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Welcome to our Blog!!!!
Hey guys! I know you are all SUPER excited about blogging about our upcoming year! I think that this will be a good way to keep up with our professional goals as well as a way to share resources. Remember to keep it positive and professional!
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