We are embarking on a week long trip of enrichment and OTI- other opportunities to improve. This is for all the students who did not pass the EOG's the first time. Most of our students missed the cut off by 2-5 problems. I feel sure they will meet their goal this second time around.
Thinking about OTI- what can you do to improve on what you did this year in the classroom? We had good scores. Some would even say we had great scores in some areas. But, we all have room for improvement. No one teacher in our school can do this alone. It is a matter of building upon what each teacher did beginning from pre-K through fifth grade and beyond. Each one of us adds to the foundation of each student who attends South Fork. Preparation for the end of grade exams do not begin in third grade...it starts the minute they enter our doors and it doesn't stop once they leave us...it continues, I hope, for the rest of their lives. It takes all of us and we are all doing what needs to be done to prepare our students- or not prepare them- if that is the case. We are all in this together. Where one fails, we all fail- We are a TEAM. Where one succeeds- we all succeed- We are a TEAM. Where one receives a bonus- we all receive one- not because of just the one but because we all had a hand in the success of the students. If you believe otherwise- come see me. We need to have a chat.
So, what can you do now and through the summer as opportunities to improve your teaching in science, reading, writing, or math? What can you do to help strengthen the foundations of our students next year? How can you help them build better character, or build more empathy or sympathy for others? Are you a good role model for your students? What opportunities do you need to improve?
Share your thoughts and ideas. The blog has been quiet for too long.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
EOG week
It is End of Grade week this week at South Fork. We have had three tests- including Science- and we have one more tomorrow in math. It is a short day for testing and the last day for most of the students. We have about 7 students who will completing make up the rest of this week. Then we have a long weekend before we hit the ground running- again.
I have been amazed at how hard the students worked so far this week. I have never seen a group of kids stick with the reading test as ours did on Monday. We had several students who took the extra time to finish. It was truly awesome to watch. I hope the scores reflect how hard the kids worked. They should all have fours- if it does. Today, I saw so many students using all the strategies they have been practicing all year. It was a good day for testing today.
We are winding down the year but we still have three weeks to go. I hope now that testing is essentially over, we can take the time to do some activities with our students that fit into our curriculum but is not related to testing. Our multicultural week is the last week of school. Now would be a good time to do some hands on, fun, learning activities that involve the different cultures represented in our school.
Have fun with the end of school. Keep the kids engaged and pull out all those activities you used to do that made teaching fun. Let's end this year with a bang!
I have been amazed at how hard the students worked so far this week. I have never seen a group of kids stick with the reading test as ours did on Monday. We had several students who took the extra time to finish. It was truly awesome to watch. I hope the scores reflect how hard the kids worked. They should all have fours- if it does. Today, I saw so many students using all the strategies they have been practicing all year. It was a good day for testing today.
We are winding down the year but we still have three weeks to go. I hope now that testing is essentially over, we can take the time to do some activities with our students that fit into our curriculum but is not related to testing. Our multicultural week is the last week of school. Now would be a good time to do some hands on, fun, learning activities that involve the different cultures represented in our school.
Have fun with the end of school. Keep the kids engaged and pull out all those activities you used to do that made teaching fun. Let's end this year with a bang!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Good afternoon,
Ok Here is the website I spoke about this morning. It is a great resource for you as a teacher and for our parents- if you want to include it in your news letters.
http://school.familyeducation.com/working-parents/parents-and-school/51326.html?detoured=1&mail-04-07
We hope you enjoy this school.familyeducation.com page.
Also, as promised...the powerpoint is on the s: drive for you to look at. It will be a good resource to read through.
Now for your assignments for April 29th- Your assignment is to work with your table group(from today) to prepare to teach your strategy of writing summaries or note taking to the whole group on April 29th. This should only take about 3-4 minutes at the most for each group. I checked and found that you did not have the books that I was reading from so I will make a copy of the strategies and put them in your group leaders box to share( for those who did not get a sheet today). I will have copies of all strategies for everyone on the 29th so you only have to give info to people in your teaching group.
Group 1- Cindy Wright Summary Frames: The Argumentation Frame, The Problem/Solution Frame, The Conversation Frame
Group 2- Kathy Jackson Rule Based Strategy
Group 3- Blanca Oliver Summary Frames: Narrative Frame, Topic- restriction Illustration Frame, and the Definition Frame
Group 4- Betsy Truscott Combination Notes: Landmark college and the Cornell Two column Notes
Group 5- Connie Allen Webbing Notes- Extreme Notes
Group 6- Jennifer Mickey Roman Numeral Outline
Group 7- Amy Guthrie Post card summary
Group 8- Charlene Wellborn Picture Summaries
Update: All handouts have been put into the team leader's box as of this afternoon.
If you come across any websites or programs, or other user friendly ideas that will help us with the summaries and note taking process- please add it to the blog.
Any suggestions or things you have used is most welcomed too.
Ok Here is the website I spoke about this morning. It is a great resource for you as a teacher and for our parents- if you want to include it in your news letters.
http://school.familyeducation.com/working-parents/parents-and-school/51326.html?detoured=1&mail-04-07
We hope you enjoy this school.familyeducation.com page.
Also, as promised...the powerpoint is on the s: drive for you to look at. It will be a good resource to read through.
Now for your assignments for April 29th- Your assignment is to work with your table group(from today) to prepare to teach your strategy of writing summaries or note taking to the whole group on April 29th. This should only take about 3-4 minutes at the most for each group. I checked and found that you did not have the books that I was reading from so I will make a copy of the strategies and put them in your group leaders box to share( for those who did not get a sheet today). I will have copies of all strategies for everyone on the 29th so you only have to give info to people in your teaching group.
Group 1- Cindy Wright Summary Frames: The Argumentation Frame, The Problem/Solution Frame, The Conversation Frame
Group 2- Kathy Jackson Rule Based Strategy
Group 3- Blanca Oliver Summary Frames: Narrative Frame, Topic- restriction Illustration Frame, and the Definition Frame
Group 4- Betsy Truscott Combination Notes: Landmark college and the Cornell Two column Notes
Group 5- Connie Allen Webbing Notes- Extreme Notes
Group 6- Jennifer Mickey Roman Numeral Outline
Group 7- Amy Guthrie Post card summary
Group 8- Charlene Wellborn Picture Summaries
Update: All handouts have been put into the team leader's box as of this afternoon.
If you come across any websites or programs, or other user friendly ideas that will help us with the summaries and note taking process- please add it to the blog.
Any suggestions or things you have used is most welcomed too.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Back to Marzano...Writing Summaries and Taking Notes
Before we begin on this section of Marzano's High Yield Strategies...What are some things that you already do for teaching how to write summaries or to take notes? Do you teach your students how to take notes or to write summaries?
My daughter, Megan, has a hard time figuring out what is important enough to talk about when she is telling me about a book she has read or a movie she has watched. I have always said that she can't see the forest because she is so busy looking at each and every tree. So, when I ask her about a book or a movie- I tell her she has to tell me about the plot in only three sentences. This is extremely hard for her but after a while- I did notice that she was getting better at picking out the main ideas from the stories. Her book summaries are still just a recap of the entire story in her own words. We are still working on ways for her to shorten them and still get all the important information.
One way that was helpful to me as a student and what I did with my students for note taking was to provide a sheet with the information I wanted the students to know with blank spaces. As I went over the material or we came across the information in a book, an article, movie, etc. I would point it out to them and they would fill in the information on their study note sheet. After we used this for a while, they knew when they received the sheet they needed to read over it before class got started so they would recognize the information they needed to fill in the blanks. I found that to be helpful to them.
Another easy thing- I did for note taking- was to point out vocabulary in bold print. That was usually a clue that they should pay attention to. I included those in my note taking sheets as well.
What are some of the things you have done with summaries and note taking?
My daughter, Megan, has a hard time figuring out what is important enough to talk about when she is telling me about a book she has read or a movie she has watched. I have always said that she can't see the forest because she is so busy looking at each and every tree. So, when I ask her about a book or a movie- I tell her she has to tell me about the plot in only three sentences. This is extremely hard for her but after a while- I did notice that she was getting better at picking out the main ideas from the stories. Her book summaries are still just a recap of the entire story in her own words. We are still working on ways for her to shorten them and still get all the important information.
One way that was helpful to me as a student and what I did with my students for note taking was to provide a sheet with the information I wanted the students to know with blank spaces. As I went over the material or we came across the information in a book, an article, movie, etc. I would point it out to them and they would fill in the information on their study note sheet. After we used this for a while, they knew when they received the sheet they needed to read over it before class got started so they would recognize the information they needed to fill in the blanks. I found that to be helpful to them.
Another easy thing- I did for note taking- was to point out vocabulary in bold print. That was usually a clue that they should pay attention to. I included those in my note taking sheets as well.
What are some of the things you have done with summaries and note taking?
Monday, March 16, 2009
The Biggest Loser hits South Fork ES Staff
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.
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.
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.
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