Skip to main content

Home/ Iowa Core Discussion/ Group items matching "need" in title, tags, annotations or url

Group items matching
in title, tags, annotations or url

Sort By: Relevance | Date Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Susie Peterson

Best content in Iowa Core Discussion | Diigo - Groups - 0 views

    • Susie Peterson
       
      While Kay doesn't address the Common Core specifically, he does address the changes that need to occur for schools to become viable in the 21st Century.  He specifically refers to the 4 Cs, which are found in 21C Skills/Standards.  Creativity, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Communication.  Be committed to the 3 Rs and the 4Cs.  Good article of reform-minded individuals. Susie P
K Wolf

TeachPaperless: Don't Block: Educate - 0 views

  • Don't block: Educate.
    • Russ Goerend
       
      It shows something negative to students when the administration doesn't truth them (or their teachers) with the Internet.
  • Would you rather your child encounter questionable content alone in their room or in a classroom mentored by a trained professional?
    • K Wolf
       
      This brings up a great point. If we use the Internet with students from the time they are in elementary school and teach them to evaluate the text, just like we would with printed text, then hopefully they will be better consumers of online information. We need to TEACH them how to handle stumbling upon questionable content. It's about setting expectations for how to use the Internet just like you would set expectations for how to use other tools in the classroom. Students will still try to get to sites that are inappropriate, but that behavior should be equivalent to anything else they do that's inappropriate and therefore subject to consequences.
  • We are educators. Nobody said education was going to be comfortable.
    • K Wolf
       
      And who says the world is a "comfortable" place. If we choose not to use the Internet or choose not to trust students with it, what message are we sending to them? We're (as schools or educators) saying to them that we're ignoring the one type of media that they find legitimate. We're saying to them that we're going to ignore the one place where they go to first for much of their information regardless of its accuracy. How can we send them that message and claim to be effective teachers???
anonymous

Iowa Department of Education 21st Century Skills - 0 views

  • Friedman
    • Matt Townsley
       
      Have you read Friedman? I have a little...there's also plenty of push-back on this guy's ideas.
  • (1) critical thinking and problem solving; (2) collaboration and leadership; (3) agility and adaptability; (4) initiative and entrepreneurialism; (5) effective oral and written communication; (6) accessing and analyzing information; and (7) curiosity and imagination.
    • Matt Townsley
       
      I think these are all great...but think back to the '5 essential characteristics' and formative assessment, etc. How will we be able to "assess" these skills? It's tough to assess these soft skills, in my opinion.
    • Russ Goerend
       
      Yes, these are definitely broad topics. What underlying, assessable skills make up these survival skills?
Matt Townsley

Iowa Joins 49 States in Common Core Standards Initiative - Iowa Department of Education - 2 views

  • "Iowa is fortunate to have not only state core content standards, but also the Iowa Core Curriculum, which provides rigorous expectations for all students and gives teachers the tools to change teaching and learning in this state," Jeffrey said. "With our recently passed Iowa Core Curriculum, Iowa can easily incorporate national standards because the Core Curriculum provides more explicit guidance to reach high expectations."
    • Matt Townsley
       
      I find this whole discussion of 'common core standards' to be pretty intriguing. Not too long ago, Iowa was the only (?) state that did not have statewide standards - each district was charged was creating its own. Now we're on board with joining a coalition to create national standards. Things change quickly!
    • Gina Martin
       
      They need to be adapted to special education students that are severe and profound....we have to adapt our curriculum to meet these standards, but it would be nice if all schools in Iowa are using the same adaptations.
    • Kim Renning
       
      I find it interesting as well...We (Iowa) should be well on the way with the Iowa Core Curriculum.
  • The goal is to have a common core of state standards that states can voluntarily adopt. States may choose to include additional standards beyond the common core as long as the common core represents at least 85 percent of the state's standards in English language arts and mathematics. The second phase of this initiative is to ultimately develop common assessments aligned to the core standards developed through the process.
    • Matt Townsley
       
      moving towards national assessments?! I wonder what companies like Pearson think of this idea. Not that it really matters, but I could see some special interest groups becoming...'interested' in getting these contracts. Plan on keeping an eye on how all of this progresses.
  •  
    I thought this was interesting...
Russell A

The Changing Face of Education in Iowa: Call for Action: Get Rid of Grades - 5 views

  • We never get a chance to have students compare themselves to... themselves. Never to look at how much they have grown, or what they have left to do.
    • Gina Martin
       
      This is so true.
    • Lacy Kolpin
       
      I find this very interesting and it's such a great point that I took some time to reflect on. As a teacher, I can see how this may benefit some students. Some of them would really enjoying seeing how far they've come or what they don't know yet. Not all of them look at their ITEDs scores and really understand them. I guess this would be a good reason for some form of pre/post testing. I really like the idea of having students take pride in seeing what they've gotten out of the classroom since so many of them degrade themselves and what they're learning anyway....thanks for the food for thought.
    • Karen Waid
       
      I teach special education and I compare my students to themselves all the time. The skill areas we work on are charted and monitored twice a month at a minimum. I think it is an extremely valuable tool to have them see a visual of how they have grown (hopefully!) through the year. I agree that grading is subjective in many areas and can be inconsistent. Grades are most important in high school for getting into college and scholarships.
    • Russell A
       
      The way textbooks and goals are set up normally, the tendency would be that students assess themselves against a pre-concieved standard. This will take a lot of re-thinking.
    • Gene McCracken
       
      Many college drop outs have substantial debt - yes kid's expense in more than one way!
    • Susan Sandholm-Petersen
       
      The Iowa World Language Association is working on the materials for a language passport or portfolio which could be used to document what a student knows and can do. This language passport can be used by universities and future employers to attest to a student's competence with a particular language--something that grades don't always show. Perhaps other areas could develop similar tools to showcase a student's competence in that area.
  •  
    Wow...well written. I have been of the same school of thought for some time, but it seems like such an 'out there' concept for so many people.
  • ...3 more comments...
  •  
    I heard Doug Reeves speak on Monday and he spoke to the very same issue. He offered an activity in which he provided a set of five different grades and asked each individual in the room to "average" them in some fashion and then decide on a final grade. In a room of around 75 educators, individuals took the same grades and came up with As, Bs, Cs and Fs for the same set of five posted grades. Doug's point was that grading is so subjective, inconsistent and doesn't provide useful information to students, parents or others.
  •  
    I have never thought of grading being so subjective and inconsistent, but this is very interesting school of thought.
  •  
    Pretty far out; I like it. Thinking about the depth to which grades are in the system - credits, transcripts, GPA - both as a sign of progress and or understanding. Also thinking about assessment and grading - assessment of learning versus assessment for learning...... Great post!
  •  
    I often think of how valuable this has been for my own children. They have had a Montesouri education and have been graded on challenging themselves and not compared to the other students. We have now switched back to traditional school and I find that my children are becoming a bit lazy. They now say things like who cares I always get A's. Is this what learning is about? I try to make sure to stress challenging yourself to my own students and I downplay grades.
  •  
    Great piece and the discussions we must be having as an education community. AND the discussion we should have with students and parents. Often we have this belief that the status quo is just fine, but often do nothing about challenging our system and how it supports learning as a journey. This concept and discussion should be kept alive and I believe we need to keep this discussion open.
S Adair

Evan Abbey - Iowa Core Curriculum Discussion on Diigo Groups - 0 views

shared by S Adair on 11 Jun 09 - Cached
    • S Adair
       
      This is a great idea! How much of my class time is spent with students telling me "I forgot my book" or "I had pizza last night" or other things that may be interesting, but not relevant to what we need to do!
  • I like to say, "let's talk about it later..." It gives students a chance to cool down and me a chance to think about it...as well as keeps the class moving forward.
Russ Goerend

Formative assessment: The most important data you aren't using - 0 views

    • Brenda McKone
       
      Formative assessment needs to be used throughout a unit to check student progress.
    • Russ Goerend
       
      Definitely! I would argue that just as important as checking progress is adjusting instruction based on that progress.
    • Matt Townsley
       
      good point, Russ. It's a big shift from "assessment to report learning" from "assessment to improve learning." I see this difference as one that will be tough for the masses to understand due to the tradition of summative assessments.
  • In turn, it allows the educator to amend their instruction and content before they administer the summative assessment.
    • Russ Goerend
       
      This is also important!
    • K Wolf
       
      I think this is key with students of today. As we (educators) realize that students are learning differently today b/c of the way they use technology, I think we will see that using MORE formative assessments and giving students MORE immediate feedback will be even MORE effective than we think. Students receive immediate feedback all the time from their peers; I think it should be the same with their teachers.
  •  
    Formative assessments vs. summative...meaning of Homework. 21st century skills.
  •  
    Formative assessment.
Matt Townsley

Using Formative Assessments to Meet Student Needs - ASCD Express 5.09 - 0 views

  •  
    Classroom culture + cards + formative assessment = success
  •  
    Some great commentary on formative assessment here.
Abby Hendershot

Why Leadership Matters - Lead Change Group - 5 views

    • Allysen Lovstuen
       
      "Leadership is about making a difference for -other- people" - great thing to keep in mind!
    • Jori Lizer
       
      We all are human and need to stay positive even when others are not. It does make a difference to others. Students and staff.
  • People watch their leaders far more closely than most leaders will ever realize.
    • Abby Hendershot
       
      This is so true. I never even thought about how much we do this until reading this article. Great article!
  •  
    Great article! I love the comment on leaders giving their people hope. Leaders have to surround themselves with people they can trust, but also must be held accountable.
Joanna Seymour

Framing and Learning - 0 views

  •  
    A direction that many schools need to consider is adding more challenge based learning opportunities. The CBL framework is constructivist, the experience is authentic, and the outcome is relevant because it makes a difference in the students' school, community, or world.
Peggy Pavlik

Educational Leadership:Interventions: What's Working:Making the Most of Progress Monitoring - 8 views

  • Developing the data collection system involves decisions about when to collect progress data and which rubric to use.
  • If a student has not made adequate progress toward an objective, the team needs to have a conversation to decide what to do.
  • The visual format of the intervention form enables team members to quickly review the data and make decisions about the intervention.
    • Deb Sykes
       
      I would definitely like to spend more time re-reading this article. However, as a teacher who has worked with similar forms for years, why are all the examples about elementary students with relatively easy barriers to track? The position that online record keeping has more immediacy was interesting.
    • Matt Townsley
       
      good question, re: elementary. Does anyone have any secondary examples to share?
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Better and more efficient progress monitoring tools can lead to better instructional decision making and improved student outcomes.
    • Abbey Thurn
       
      So true! The easier it is to access, and faster accessability, the better!
    • Peggy Pavlik
       
      This also reinforces that progress monitoring is not just the function of special edu, or an interventionist, but a part of the instructional process
    • Julie Sorensen-Skaar
       
      This looks like good information about developing a rubric to use for reading comprehension.
  • Other objectives may not lend themselves so easily to a rubric as rate of reading. For example, reading comprehension will require the team to consider what to measure and how to measure it.
    • Julie Sorensen-Skaar
       
      This looks like good information about developing a rubric to use for reading comprehension
  • In fact, progress monitoring and reporting is the federal special education requirement with which schools struggle the most (Etscheidt, 2006). For students with disabilities, schools follow specific procedures for developing an IEP, which involves selecting targeted goals and services. But even the IEP is not sufficient to guide daily intervention and progress monitoring. Instead, IEPs create the broad structure from which educators can develop a more detailed and practical day-to-day intervention plan.
    • shawna poppen
       
      Instead of stipulation on progress monitoring, why not place more emphasis on quality instruction.
  •  
    A nice write-up on progress monitoring using electronic tools. 
  •  
    This article is a keeper for me. A collection system about data collection, rubric, and progress monitoring.
lgarza

SB 1070 legislative - 0 views

SB 1070 legislative act is the strictest anti-illegal immigration measure in recent U.S history. Arizona Grand Canyon State or Grand Racist State?

need to read

started by lgarza on 06 Jul 11 no follow-up yet
lgarza

SB 1070 legislative - 0 views

SB 1070 legislative act is the strictest anti-illegal immigration measure in recent U.S history.

need to read

started by lgarza on 06 Jul 11 no follow-up yet
Judy Boerm

Education Update:Taking the Fear Out of the First Year:Professional Learning Communities: School Leaders' Perspectives - 13 views

    • Laura Clausen
       
      Being a part of a collaborative culture helped to take my first year from being a complete, disorganized disaster to a year of successful learning for both the children and me.  I felt the mentoring process was a form of collaborative culture.
    • Allysen Lovstuen
       
      The time for groups of teachers to work together is key. This can be difficult at the secondary level, districts and administrators are getting more creative about finding ways to make this happen.
    • Sheryl Dales
       
      Specials teachers also like to be included in these communities. It seems like we get placed in the position of working with students while other collaborate in our building. Not sure how to solve this scheduling issue.
    • Jori Lizer
       
      Allysen is right! key is time for teachers to work together and learn the technology available
  • Because of teachers' busy schedules, it is important for administrators to allot specific time for teachers to meet as groups. "It's absolutely immoral to tell teachers they need to collaborate and not give them the time to collaborate," says Mike Mattos, principal at Pioneer Middle School in Tustin, Calif. His school implemented the Late Start Wednesday program, in which students come to school late on Wednesdays (the other days are longer to make up classroom time), allowing teachers time for collaboration.
    • Judy Boerm
       
      I think it's great that this article points out the importance to allot time for collaboration! We have implemented an early out once a month this year for basically this reason. We are using the time to work on AIW, Authentic Intellectual Work, with co-workers. This focuses on working together to improve tasks, student work and instruction.
    • Julie Taylor
       
      It is important to provide time to collaborate. In some schools the teachers only see each other at lunch, in the hallway, or at an already structured meeting. There should be an opportunity for teachers of all subjects to get together to talk about what they have been doing, what has worked, and what has not worked.
  •  
    an easy-to-read article describing the professional learning community philosophy
  • ...6 more comments...
  •  
    Here is a great article I found during a PLN class I am taking and it talks on how to use twitter. Our class on Personal Learning Networks fits right with PLC's. Our school in Grundy Center, Iowa just finished it's second year. Here is the sight for the twitter info. http://cooper-taylor.com/2008/08/50-ideas-on-using-twitter-for-education/
  •  
    http://www.allthingsplc.info/wordpress/?p=2105 Here is an article to see if your school is doing a good job with PLC's. Our school thought it had a great first year and the second year we didn't. We followed the steps the second year and didn't personalize it as much and we regretted it later. While assessing PLC's don't ever forget to make it your own.
  •  
    I am taking a class bout this concept of PLN's and we have been investigating multiple social media outlets in order to help contribute to the students' learning environment. Below is a link to the 2006 Time magazine "person of the Year" article. It's a good read and offers great perspective and it would be a great resource to explain to kids and other teachers (PD) as to what direction "learning" is heading and why is it important to continue to evolve our methods. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1569514,00.html
  •  
    Good article
  •  
    The PLC team I was on this year really felt like we were successful at helping our first graders. We were able to focus on what we wanted to do to help our students and have the time to discuss if it was working. We were also able to have the time to discuss what we can all do to make things better.
  •  
    There is no question that a collaborative culture encourages improved student achievement. When we all work together, it's always better for the students and for us.
  •  
    I look forward to creating that collaborative culture in our district. I feel we have it, but turning the focus on to the student's actual learning will be very powerful and beneficial to all of our students. Providing the time for our teachers will be critical, and getting everyone to buy into the change in thinking.
  •  
    Perhaps because I am taking a class on and learning the power of PLNs, I am really impressed by the potential of this. And beneficial to teachers AND students.
‹ Previous 21 - 34 of 34
Showing 20 items per page