Beginning Tuesday, March 17th, we will be doing our own "Biggest Loser" at South Fork. Each person will weigh in on Tuesdays at 7:30. To participate you need to bring in your $10.00 for the first weigh in.
We will be basing it on the highest percentage of weight lost and the winner will be determined after 8 weeks. We will not do teams because we have such a small group- but if you did not sign up and you are interested in joining- come ready on Tuesday with your fee and a big smile. If you are not participating in the actual contest- you can join in by being a cheerleader for all of us. It takes everyone's encouragement.
I have heard that if you put a goal in print and put it out there for everyone to see- it holds you more accountable- so here is my goal- to lose 25 pounds in 8 weeks. That would be 10% weight loss for me (if I figured that correctly).
Good luck and I hope we are all "The Biggest Loser" at South Fork.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
New Methods for Getting Deep Math Achievement- a summary
On Feb. 25th I took a group of teachers from South Fork to a half day staff development from Dr. Ron Boykins. It was a half day program and relatively cheap- $65.00 per person if you take 3 or more people. I went hoping to get just one usable strategy and to have my teachers come away with a few other strategies as well.
What we got was so much more. Although it was a half day seminar- Dr. Boykins held our attention, got us motivated, and ended up giving us so many ideas- I couldn't write fast enough to keep up. I will give you some of the ideas he gave us and the website so if you are interested in learning more- you can see for yourself- what his story is all about.
I tried to explain to a group of Elementary Principals what I had heard and seen from this staff development but I couldn't do it justice so hopefully- I will do better at describing the strategies and ideology here in the blog. This is part one of a series- there is way too much to write in one blog. This one will concentrate on the getting the focus and getting started.
Dr. Boykins started off by giving a history of his background and how he got to where he is now. He talked about the school that he moved from #17 in the system to #1 in two years. Here are a few of the things he did to do that.
How to create a breeding ground for Mathematics... The Set Up.
Focus on the NEST- your environment- Expectations that already exist or are established here
Focus on the Nurture- Growth and development of the focus or goals.
Focus on the duplicity- Multiply- everything reproduces from itself- it must reproduce to keep going. Lasting change needs to be fueled consistently.
1. Change our environment- What is your focus? Make the decision to become the best at........! Then do everything you can to build the program around that idea/focus.
Questions to ask:
What are we trying to build?
What kind of school are we now?
What do we want to become?
Once the decision is made to make the change- Everything you do builds or supports that focus.
You will have to control the visuals...What is on your walls in your school that supports the focus? Do you have walls that teach in your classrooms, in the hallways, in the cafeteria?
Control the vision- ID the goal, pick "change" leaders to head it up, Design or find the ACCELERATION programs and materials.
Remember: Control hearing and seeing....leads to "thinking and believing".....which leads to ACTIONS....which leads to "LASTING CHANGE". Good images and proof images= change environment.
2. STOP the 3 R's...Move to Acceleration- We need to move away from retention and review and move towards Acceleration
Retention- retain the kids who do not master the skills- Does this work? Has it worked for you?
Review- Reteach what was not mastered- If we are reteaching everything not mastered- we will never move forward and learn what is coming next.
Rigor- Rigor is gone- How do we get it back? We get it back with FOCUS and keeping it simple.
3. A way to Accelerate!
Small ideas- can spark big change....brainstorm and use ideas that jump out ...
A. Establish your goals- IE- to raise test scores by 10% each year. Post your goals out front and share the accountability with parents and students. Make it known to everyone what it is you are doing.
b. Develop a time table for the test and set goals for each child for the test. Talk to them about the tests and where you want them to be. They may not all be able to make a 3 or a 4 but they can set their goal to increase their score or percentage by 20%.
c. Conduct test staff development- Do we know how to help kids take tests? Do we know how to use formative assessments to lead our instruction for each student?
d. Conduct pre /post assessments- formative assessments on each objective and goal from SCOS
e. Dis-aggregate data until you are blue in the face...know all that you can about the strengths and weaknesses of the students and in yourself as far as teaching and mastering the objectives. What do you need to do to make sure they get what they need? How do you know when they get it? Who in the building can be a resource to get a student in the position to meet the goals set for him.her?
f. Focus Test Prep- Teach the students to read the questions first, Practice Timed drills, Teach them the process of elimination and item analysis.
Process of elimination of test questions-
Item analysis:
1- correct
2-Close, but wrong
3-opposite
4-Way off
Have student write own examples to remember item analysis/ elimination process
g. Simulate "game day"- Eliminate all surprises- Students should know what test day looks and feels like.
h. Put students in test maker role- let them write their own questions for each objective- test each other.
I. Create your own assessments/ use released tests- released test item banks- Examination copies from publishers
J. Motivate them- Give them a purpose to do their best- competition- We can't be number 1 until we BEAT number 1. All kids like to win!!!
4. Instead of remediation- head towards acceleration- For those who have not mastered skills- go for OTI- Opportunities to Improve. The purpose is to get students refocused so they will stay on the right track. OTI- use a set of interventions that begin the day after important milestones from your time line- like progress reports,EOQ's, or EOG's.
Interventions can include:
-Mandatory meetings with parents to develop solutions
-Establish monitoring systems to track performance week by week
-Use clubs/organizations to intervene
-Conduct immediate counseling sessions with student- Admin meets with student to expectations and criteria: show him/her the work, the goal, and what needs to be done to get back on track
-Assign peer mentors
-Assign detention or work detail for students who fail to complete assignments.
-Isolate students during lunch to provide additional interventions- tutoring
-tutor before and/or after school
That is enough for now, I think. If you want to visit the website- go to http://www.mathstaffpd.com/
Next entry will describe a few of the math initiatives he incorporated in his school- MAP and the stock market.
Feel free to add comments or ask questions.
What we got was so much more. Although it was a half day seminar- Dr. Boykins held our attention, got us motivated, and ended up giving us so many ideas- I couldn't write fast enough to keep up. I will give you some of the ideas he gave us and the website so if you are interested in learning more- you can see for yourself- what his story is all about.
I tried to explain to a group of Elementary Principals what I had heard and seen from this staff development but I couldn't do it justice so hopefully- I will do better at describing the strategies and ideology here in the blog. This is part one of a series- there is way too much to write in one blog. This one will concentrate on the getting the focus and getting started.
Dr. Boykins started off by giving a history of his background and how he got to where he is now. He talked about the school that he moved from #17 in the system to #1 in two years. Here are a few of the things he did to do that.
How to create a breeding ground for Mathematics... The Set Up.
Focus on the NEST- your environment- Expectations that already exist or are established here
Focus on the Nurture- Growth and development of the focus or goals.
Focus on the duplicity- Multiply- everything reproduces from itself- it must reproduce to keep going. Lasting change needs to be fueled consistently.
1. Change our environment- What is your focus? Make the decision to become the best at........! Then do everything you can to build the program around that idea/focus.
Questions to ask:
What are we trying to build?
What kind of school are we now?
What do we want to become?
Once the decision is made to make the change- Everything you do builds or supports that focus.
You will have to control the visuals...What is on your walls in your school that supports the focus? Do you have walls that teach in your classrooms, in the hallways, in the cafeteria?
Control the vision- ID the goal, pick "change" leaders to head it up, Design or find the ACCELERATION programs and materials.
Remember: Control hearing and seeing....leads to "thinking and believing".....which leads to ACTIONS....which leads to "LASTING CHANGE". Good images and proof images= change environment.
2. STOP the 3 R's...Move to Acceleration- We need to move away from retention and review and move towards Acceleration
Retention- retain the kids who do not master the skills- Does this work? Has it worked for you?
Review- Reteach what was not mastered- If we are reteaching everything not mastered- we will never move forward and learn what is coming next.
Rigor- Rigor is gone- How do we get it back? We get it back with FOCUS and keeping it simple.
3. A way to Accelerate!
Small ideas- can spark big change....brainstorm and use ideas that jump out ...
A. Establish your goals- IE- to raise test scores by 10% each year. Post your goals out front and share the accountability with parents and students. Make it known to everyone what it is you are doing.
b. Develop a time table for the test and set goals for each child for the test. Talk to them about the tests and where you want them to be. They may not all be able to make a 3 or a 4 but they can set their goal to increase their score or percentage by 20%.
c. Conduct test staff development- Do we know how to help kids take tests? Do we know how to use formative assessments to lead our instruction for each student?
d. Conduct pre /post assessments- formative assessments on each objective and goal from SCOS
e. Dis-aggregate data until you are blue in the face...know all that you can about the strengths and weaknesses of the students and in yourself as far as teaching and mastering the objectives. What do you need to do to make sure they get what they need? How do you know when they get it? Who in the building can be a resource to get a student in the position to meet the goals set for him.her?
f. Focus Test Prep- Teach the students to read the questions first, Practice Timed drills, Teach them the process of elimination and item analysis.
Process of elimination of test questions-
Item analysis:
1- correct
2-Close, but wrong
3-opposite
4-Way off
Have student write own examples to remember item analysis/ elimination process
g. Simulate "game day"- Eliminate all surprises- Students should know what test day looks and feels like.
h. Put students in test maker role- let them write their own questions for each objective- test each other.
I. Create your own assessments/ use released tests- released test item banks- Examination copies from publishers
J. Motivate them- Give them a purpose to do their best- competition- We can't be number 1 until we BEAT number 1. All kids like to win!!!
4. Instead of remediation- head towards acceleration- For those who have not mastered skills- go for OTI- Opportunities to Improve. The purpose is to get students refocused so they will stay on the right track. OTI- use a set of interventions that begin the day after important milestones from your time line- like progress reports,EOQ's, or EOG's.
Interventions can include:
-Mandatory meetings with parents to develop solutions
-Establish monitoring systems to track performance week by week
-Use clubs/organizations to intervene
-Conduct immediate counseling sessions with student- Admin meets with student to expectations and criteria: show him/her the work, the goal, and what needs to be done to get back on track
-Assign peer mentors
-Assign detention or work detail for students who fail to complete assignments.
-Isolate students during lunch to provide additional interventions- tutoring
-tutor before and/or after school
That is enough for now, I think. If you want to visit the website- go to http://www.mathstaffpd.com/
Next entry will describe a few of the math initiatives he incorporated in his school- MAP and the stock market.
Feel free to add comments or ask questions.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
South Fork's new theme- What is our focus?
If we were to change our theme what would our focus be? What do you see South Fork's specialty as?
Let's brainstorm our ideas and see what we come up with.
Let's brainstorm our ideas and see what we come up with.
Monday, February 16, 2009
What have you done well lately?
I have just finished my mid year conferences with all of my certified staff members. It has been a great time of reflection. I have not only been able to see and hear what people think have gone well for them this year...I have had the chance to reflect on what I have done this year well and what I need to rethink.
Some of the things I have done well: I like the staff development we have done this year. The Marzano's Strategies have been very helpful and has kept us focused on the higher order questions that stretches the learning of our students. I am also proud of all the staff who have taken the SIOP strategies and incorporated them into each of their lessons.
I also like the Awards program we have done after each quarter. I hope it grows into something that the students all strive to participate in. We salute perfect attendance, honor roll, and any special recognitions the teachers submit. I hope we have so many awards to give out that we have to do individual grade level awards programs.
The Grandparent's breakfast was a success as well. I hope that the Donuts for Dads and Muffins for Moms will be as, if not more, successful this year. It is my hope that these will grow into events that everyone looks forward to each year.
What are some of the things that you have done well lately? It can be a specific lesson you feel good about, getting all your conferences complete, all your students on grade level, or anything you feel good about in school. Please share with us. It is always good this time of year to see all the good things that are happening in our school(s). It helps make these long winter days go quicker and might inspire others to do the same.
I look forward to hearing from and reading your success stories.
Some of the things I have done well: I like the staff development we have done this year. The Marzano's Strategies have been very helpful and has kept us focused on the higher order questions that stretches the learning of our students. I am also proud of all the staff who have taken the SIOP strategies and incorporated them into each of their lessons.
I also like the Awards program we have done after each quarter. I hope it grows into something that the students all strive to participate in. We salute perfect attendance, honor roll, and any special recognitions the teachers submit. I hope we have so many awards to give out that we have to do individual grade level awards programs.
The Grandparent's breakfast was a success as well. I hope that the Donuts for Dads and Muffins for Moms will be as, if not more, successful this year. It is my hope that these will grow into events that everyone looks forward to each year.
What are some of the things that you have done well lately? It can be a specific lesson you feel good about, getting all your conferences complete, all your students on grade level, or anything you feel good about in school. Please share with us. It is always good this time of year to see all the good things that are happening in our school(s). It helps make these long winter days go quicker and might inspire others to do the same.
I look forward to hearing from and reading your success stories.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Staff Development Q & A
I thought it would beneficial to post the questions and responses to today's staff development on our blog in case other teachers have suggestions, comments, etc. that they wish to add. For those who did not attend this morning's session please feel free to provide your suggestions and comments as well.
Setting Objectives
Setting Objectives
- How do you currently share your class's current objectives? Essential questions on the board; Teachers goes over verbally; Have children read questions to each other;
- Do you currently set a language objective along with your content language? Vocabulary; Language objective covered in essential question;No-but we think about it; Yes-because of SIOP training; It is embedded in daily reading and writing-building background knowledge helps to integrate language instruction into content areas;
- What was one idea about setting objectives that really jumped out at you? Projecting brainstorming ideas for students; Surveys for parents & students; Created rubrics (generic, teacher or student created); Student/Teacher generated scavenger hunts;
- Do you think South Fork should consider setting reading goals as a summer enrichment initiative? If so, what ideas do you think would help in accomplishing this? Funding for (PreK-5) books; Check in, check out program; Communication with families; Packet to go home-picked up by parents; Book mobile to coincide with summer feeding program; Include Math and Writing; Prizes; Look at objectives students are weak in;
Providing Feedback
- What are your thoughts about using peer feedback? Have you used it in your classroom? Have students tell each other what they learned; Share writing and ask how they can improve; Teacher question students while in line;
- Feedback to your students...how have you done it in the past? How will you do it now? Share an example. Conferencing and quick score results (immediate feedback); Summarization-write in journals; What they did well in and what they need to work on; According to grade level-age appropriate; Immediate feedback as well as incentives for long term goals; Writing conferences; Comparing work samples from earlier in year; Graphing how many sight words they know; Graphing minute math
- Are you currently using technology in the classroom that generates immediate feedback to students? If so, provide an example. Online assessments; AR; Games (give answers);
- What are your thoughts about granting a student who does poorly on a classroom assessment an opportunity to make corrections based on feedback? Do you agree or disagree? Support your answer. Yes; Older students also need to be prepared for middle school; Based on teacher judgement; May be an issue with teacher, necessary to RETEACH; Gives students a chance to learn from mistakes; Take home to do; Give extra points/grades averaged;
Monday, January 12, 2009
Setting objectives and providing feedback
We had another good session on setting objectives and providing feedback with the specialists and the second grade team. Although we talked about different objectives, we still found that we could use similar strategies to receive feedback from the students when we are checking for understanding.
We talked about ways to write the essential question. We found that we could have one broad question for a unit and then more specific questions for lessons within the unit. We would keep the unit EQ up for the duration of the unit and the day to day EQ's would change based on the desired objective. These can be displayed on the board, on sentence strips, or posted on a unit board.
We then talked about ways to check for student understanding in closing the lesson. There are several good ways to assess if students learned the objective. A few of those are: 1. A ticket out the door- ask students to write down a sentence answering the essential question. They then hand it to you on their way out the door. 2. Think-Pair- Share- Students are asked to think about their answer to the essential question, or whatever objective you are checking. Then they turn to their neighbor to share their answer, then- they chose which answer to share with the group. 3. 3-2-1- You ask students to think about three things they learned in this lesson, write down 2 of them in their journal, paper, card, then share one thought with a partner or the group.
What other ideas do you have to add to closure activities to check for understanding of objectives?
We talked about ways to write the essential question. We found that we could have one broad question for a unit and then more specific questions for lessons within the unit. We would keep the unit EQ up for the duration of the unit and the day to day EQ's would change based on the desired objective. These can be displayed on the board, on sentence strips, or posted on a unit board.
We then talked about ways to check for student understanding in closing the lesson. There are several good ways to assess if students learned the objective. A few of those are: 1. A ticket out the door- ask students to write down a sentence answering the essential question. They then hand it to you on their way out the door. 2. Think-Pair- Share- Students are asked to think about their answer to the essential question, or whatever objective you are checking. Then they turn to their neighbor to share their answer, then- they chose which answer to share with the group. 3. 3-2-1- You ask students to think about three things they learned in this lesson, write down 2 of them in their journal, paper, card, then share one thought with a partner or the group.
What other ideas do you have to add to closure activities to check for understanding of objectives?
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Feedback from TWC Survey
Thank you to all who filled out the questions for the TWC Survey. Your responses were very specific and informative. I have and will continue to take your responses, suggestions, and criticism to heart and incorporate what I can for next year. If you did not turn in your responses- please do. I would like to hear from all of you.
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