Sue Roger's websites on sign language and translation sites would make a great center activity.
Shana's random article on the Gazette about going to Harvard for free, if you make less than $40,000 a year. Beth goes on to say taht Ivy Leagues like diversity. If you have the grades, they like crazy thinking and interesting hobbies. She also menntioned an article about getting out of going to highschool and right on to college. Facebook is good for school academic stuff and myspace good to keep in contact woth others.
Beth shared an excerpt on innovation and the curve on how it gets adopted. I would consider myself a late majority. I think that is due to the fact that I do not stay current with ongoing communication. I think that will change because I don't want to be in that category. I really want to be an early majority innovator as I like everyone to try things out before I invest in anything. I actually just sit back and let my husband be the early adopter but I think that in time I want to be on top of that too.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Sunday, October 14, 2007
The Ongoing Saga of Educational Crisis
I've just read about Paul Vallas, Superintendent of New Orleans Recovery School District and his plan to reconstruct the school district's devestation after Hurricane Katrina.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/education/july-dec07/nola_10-02.html
My thoughts on the matter is that this man is taking on a huge task. Although his intentions are valiant, officials in the city have changed hands too many times. Being a superintendent of two large city school systems, Chicago, with 414,000 students, and Philadelphia, with 172,000 does help but he comes with little experience with recovery efforts even though New Orleans is a smaller school district.
In response to the Edutopia video on the New School Deveopment Group, with the limited information I was given, I was pleased to see that the schools were selling their ideas to recruit students and that families were given choices. I am a firm supporter of out of the box thinking as long as there is theory to back up the processes (i.e montessouri, Piaget, Gardner, Vygotsky). It is refresing to know that efforts are always underway to promote growth in economically disadvantaged areas.
Taking what I know about theory and experience, I feel that the best way for change to take place is collaboration. One cannot micromanage the responsibility as some administrators I know do. This superintendent in New Orleans cannot hide in the shadows, he needs to get involved in the community and lead by example and get his administration to do the same. I guess you would call this a constructivists approach. Take what you know, build on it and make it better.
I would be interested in learning of New Orlean's conquests with the school district and if tleaps and bounds were made. I'd also like to see the media exploit such accomplishments. I'm soo tired of hearing about homicides, accidents, fires, negative war campaigns, etc. A mother of two small children, it is depressing to see what the media portrays these days, the news needs to be more optimistic (sorry to be off on a tangent.) That's what I'd like to leave you with for now.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/education/july-dec07/nola_10-02.html
My thoughts on the matter is that this man is taking on a huge task. Although his intentions are valiant, officials in the city have changed hands too many times. Being a superintendent of two large city school systems, Chicago, with 414,000 students, and Philadelphia, with 172,000 does help but he comes with little experience with recovery efforts even though New Orleans is a smaller school district.
In response to the Edutopia video on the New School Deveopment Group, with the limited information I was given, I was pleased to see that the schools were selling their ideas to recruit students and that families were given choices. I am a firm supporter of out of the box thinking as long as there is theory to back up the processes (i.e montessouri, Piaget, Gardner, Vygotsky). It is refresing to know that efforts are always underway to promote growth in economically disadvantaged areas.
Taking what I know about theory and experience, I feel that the best way for change to take place is collaboration. One cannot micromanage the responsibility as some administrators I know do. This superintendent in New Orleans cannot hide in the shadows, he needs to get involved in the community and lead by example and get his administration to do the same. I guess you would call this a constructivists approach. Take what you know, build on it and make it better.
I would be interested in learning of New Orlean's conquests with the school district and if tleaps and bounds were made. I'd also like to see the media exploit such accomplishments. I'm soo tired of hearing about homicides, accidents, fires, negative war campaigns, etc. A mother of two small children, it is depressing to see what the media portrays these days, the news needs to be more optimistic (sorry to be off on a tangent.) That's what I'd like to leave you with for now.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
CLC Visitation
I made the treck to State College to visit CLC charter school. This is what I learned:
CLC is a charter school for grades 5 - 8 multiage classrooms meaning they group grades together. The school has been opened for 10 years and began with 48 students but now has 100 students. It is charted for 200. It has a 33% of their student base with IEP's.
The school philosophy is to build skills, knowledge and attributes through a project based technology environment.
Teachers are on a first name basis with their students. All are certified teachers and certified in math as well. All classes are project based except for math which is the only formal instruction. They've had the same staff for 6 years. Teachers create their own curriculum design as long as their students meet AYP goals. Students also score adequately on PSSA. Teachers are expected to present at the end of the year their achievements and are evaluated by their peers and rated based on rubric.
All classrooms have smart boards and students have their own Mac laptops, e-mail and websites. There aren't any desks. Instead they have long portable tables that they move around as needed. The rooms are always changing according to the needs of the lessons. Students do not receive grades and are scored on rubrics.
The daily schedule is: an AM project in the morning followed by lunch then a readould for a half hour then a PM project.
This is what I observed in the PM: A 7th and 8th grade multiage class of students were presenting their creative writing projects using Power Point. It was apparent that they were meeting specific requirements according to rubric goals. Students refered to literary terms such as "rising action", "foreshadowing", "Man vs. Man", and defining terms. One group even gave informal and formal definitions of terms.
Reflection: Although my time there was short, I observed student work that was technology based and demonstrated an understanding of academic content. I myself wonder if students concentrate more on their outcomes because they don't have to worry about studying for a test because in most classrooms after the test, one usually moves on to other content and here, the task is ongoing.
CLC is a charter school for grades 5 - 8 multiage classrooms meaning they group grades together. The school has been opened for 10 years and began with 48 students but now has 100 students. It is charted for 200. It has a 33% of their student base with IEP's.
The school philosophy is to build skills, knowledge and attributes through a project based technology environment.
Teachers are on a first name basis with their students. All are certified teachers and certified in math as well. All classes are project based except for math which is the only formal instruction. They've had the same staff for 6 years. Teachers create their own curriculum design as long as their students meet AYP goals. Students also score adequately on PSSA. Teachers are expected to present at the end of the year their achievements and are evaluated by their peers and rated based on rubric.
All classrooms have smart boards and students have their own Mac laptops, e-mail and websites. There aren't any desks. Instead they have long portable tables that they move around as needed. The rooms are always changing according to the needs of the lessons. Students do not receive grades and are scored on rubrics.
The daily schedule is: an AM project in the morning followed by lunch then a readould for a half hour then a PM project.
This is what I observed in the PM: A 7th and 8th grade multiage class of students were presenting their creative writing projects using Power Point. It was apparent that they were meeting specific requirements according to rubric goals. Students refered to literary terms such as "rising action", "foreshadowing", "Man vs. Man", and defining terms. One group even gave informal and formal definitions of terms.
Reflection: Although my time there was short, I observed student work that was technology based and demonstrated an understanding of academic content. I myself wonder if students concentrate more on their outcomes because they don't have to worry about studying for a test because in most classrooms after the test, one usually moves on to other content and here, the task is ongoing.
Monday, October 1, 2007
10/1/07 Group Presentations
What do I think are factors contributing to dropout rates in schools? First I wanted to say that I found the stats on graduation rates by district to be surprising with Philidephia being only 42%. What are we not doing correctly as educators? Does the family have something to do with this? Is the lack of cummunity support to blame? What I would like to know as an extension to the data are how many students go on the get their GED.
I was glad that the group who presentated on proficiency scores of the PSSA had the same rationale as I did regarding stats on PSSA scores relative to races. Yes, I also agree that populatons of some races might be lower than other ethnicities.
In response to the group who presented PSSA tests as a growing concern for educators, I believe as do most professionals that there will be no school achieving 100% by 2014. School location/demographics does play a role in test scores. I enjoyed the Things to Consider slide which shows ideas to make schools more efficient. Wouldn't it be nice if that were the answer?
The last presentation shows that females scored higher than males in terms of reading. I am so surprised to learn of the graduation rate for females. I would have thought the percentage to be higher. The question I have is: What can we do to make that percentage higher? An issue was raised as to the US being in crisis. A graph was displayed showing the graduation rates of other countries with the US ranked 16th. I am glad that the presenter discussed the different requirements that some countries use to determine a higher education for students.
By the way, sorry this was posted so late as I didn't post after lass last week.
I was glad that the group who presentated on proficiency scores of the PSSA had the same rationale as I did regarding stats on PSSA scores relative to races. Yes, I also agree that populatons of some races might be lower than other ethnicities.
In response to the group who presented PSSA tests as a growing concern for educators, I believe as do most professionals that there will be no school achieving 100% by 2014. School location/demographics does play a role in test scores. I enjoyed the Things to Consider slide which shows ideas to make schools more efficient. Wouldn't it be nice if that were the answer?
The last presentation shows that females scored higher than males in terms of reading. I am so surprised to learn of the graduation rate for females. I would have thought the percentage to be higher. The question I have is: What can we do to make that percentage higher? An issue was raised as to the US being in crisis. A graph was displayed showing the graduation rates of other countries with the US ranked 16th. I am glad that the presenter discussed the different requirements that some countries use to determine a higher education for students.
By the way, sorry this was posted so late as I didn't post after lass last week.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Reviews of PPT's and Webquests
O.K. I finally looked at a couple of samples of PPT and Webquests. I'm glad I looked at more than one PPT because some more interactive than others. The Branches of Gov't didn't seem interactive at all while the shapes PPT seems like it would be fun for the younger elementary student. My PPT project is going to be on the rock cycle and is underway and I realize that I need to make it more interactive. The webquest on wetlands is just like something I'd like to do. I hope that student got a good grade.:)
Reflection on Group PPT's
It was interesting to see that IEP's are averaged into the AYP scores for schools. This really sheds light on the discrepensies of the NCLB act.
As far as my own presentation on reading scores of 9 year olds, I tried to say that I felt that although the testing instrument stayed the same, the varying ways by which teachers teach students could have an impact on test scores. Also, why is it that whites score higher than their counterparts. Perhaps we are not sensative to the way we teach students of different cultures or that they do not learn in the style that we as educators hold our classroom environment?
As far as my own presentation on reading scores of 9 year olds, I tried to say that I felt that although the testing instrument stayed the same, the varying ways by which teachers teach students could have an impact on test scores. Also, why is it that whites score higher than their counterparts. Perhaps we are not sensative to the way we teach students of different cultures or that they do not learn in the style that we as educators hold our classroom environment?
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Technology's Use in the Classroom
I am a first time blogger and feel like the first time I learned how to use the PC and documents. So this tells me that the more I practice the better I'll get. Sometimes it takes a technology class to get a jumpstart on things because blogging is one thing I would have never tried besides the occasional My Space.
I think blogging would be a great alternative to Pen Paling. I'd have to look into that because I'm not sure if you can put a whole class onto a blog page but it's worth looking into.
Anyhow, due to the time constraints in school, any kind of technology that a student can learn and apply from home to improve any academic skills is worth the teaching time.
I think blogging would be a great alternative to Pen Paling. I'd have to look into that because I'm not sure if you can put a whole class onto a blog page but it's worth looking into.
Anyhow, due to the time constraints in school, any kind of technology that a student can learn and apply from home to improve any academic skills is worth the teaching time.
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