academic expectations of the Iowa Core Curriculum and Iowa’s core content standards — or “what” students should know. It also provides performance standards — or “how well” students should perform in certain areas.
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ADHD Students and Fidgeting: Should Teachers Control Classroom Fidgets or Encourage The... - 0 views
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I am sharing this because I think it is important for teachers outside of special education to recognize. Sometimes kids need a little extra something to keep them busy. To often teachers see it as a toy and take it away, but these kids need something in their hands to keep them from getting so much built up energy.
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The Case for the New Kindergarten: Challenging and Playful - 0 views
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Commentary Kindergarten in the United States is not what it used to be. For one thing, it's longer. In 1998, only about 56 percent of children attended full-day kindergarten. Today, that figure is 80 percent, according to our research. Kindergarten classrooms are also far more academically oriented.
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Iowa - 21st century curricula | Dangerously Irrelevant - 7 views
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The ICC is definitely working hard to get us where we need to go. We need to get our staff, school board, and community to understand that doing nothing is not an option. -
We also need to be very supportive of each other during this process. It will definitely be a change for many (most?) teachers. We need to celebrate our successes and build upon them. We also need to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it when things do not turn out how we hoped/planned. -
The change can be the toughest part, sometimes it is just a different way of doing things can make the biggest impact. -
I know I should be more positive, but I am still not sold on it. I don't have the answer,and agree we need to do something, but I don't know if this is it. Time will tell.
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The Core 21st century standards are imperative skills that students need to experience and practice. Every teacher is responsible for making the changes necessary so that we can meet the needs of workers/society/families/businesses currently in place and in the future.
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With the research that shows the importance of building student creativity, it is concerning to see so many districts eliminating or de-funding arts programs. -
While watching the video, I had kind of an a-ha moment (many of you have probably reached this point years ago). I imagined the schools of long ago -- think one room prairie school houses. For many kids this was the only place they would see books or be exposed to anything beyond merely existing. At some point, school and home began switching places. As stated in the video, without allowing the new available technology into the classroom and teaching them how to manage it, school will become a one room schoolhouse and home will be the place they can explore the world and expand their intellect. What we need to work for is a seamless meshing of the two. They come to school to get inspired and motivated to continue learning on their own time.
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Iowa Core Curriculum - Home - 1 views
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Are these standards just "good to know" or will schools be asked to merge their current standards with those of the ICC? -
From what I've learned...schools will be asked to document how they are meeting each standard. Sort of like quasi-state standards, if you will. Not sure if it is to *replace* local standards though. This is where I'm unsure. -
Districts will need to do an alignment of their curriculum with the core. They must cover everything in the core. My understanding is the core is supposed to be a core, and you should have time to add more than the core for the "local control" component. How they will be assessed is anyone's guess at this time. -
The Iowa Core Content Standards are Iowa's state standards. This was put into code in Senate File 588 from the 2007 legislative session. So, every district is responsible for implementing all of the Iowa Core Content Standards. As for how this relates to the Iowa Core Curriculum, the statements I've heard coming out of the DOE are that by implementing the Iowa Core Curriculum, districts will be implementing the Iowa Core Content Standards, and going beyond them. Districts are not expected to do any merging or additional alignment work between these two documents. The idea is that if you implement the ICC, you won't have to engage in separate or additional work to implement the Iowa Core Content Standards.
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Grade spans allow classroom teachers to reinforce and build upon previously mastered concepts and skills, and provide the most appropriate learning experiences for students to successfully progress through grade levels
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I like that "grade spans" pushes teachers in the span toward collaboration. I see that collaboration in the reinforecement and building aspects.
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success in postsecondary education
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How would you define success in post-secondary education? Thinking back to the near-decade I spent in college, I would say it's a mix of interpersonal skills, finding and pursuing goals and passions, and realizing the importance multiple literacies.
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good description, Russ. The more I teach high school students, the more I think about what it means to "prepare them for postsecondary success." Does it mean lecturing for 60 minutes so that they're used to it when they take Bio 101? Does it mean assigning them 15 page essays in preparation for College Composition? Or does it mean preparing them with the essential content so that they have the appropriate pre-requisite knowledge their freshmen year of college? Or is it a combination of all of the above? I think if we can help them see the "life long learning" thing...AND somehow develop a relentless pursuit for excellence. I think it'd be cool if a student was so fixated on learning that he/she studied every single problem/concept/idea (wouldn't leave me or the computer or whatever other resource alone) until he/she was confident that it was understood. TOTALLY idealistic, but cultivating this type of passion towards learning seems to be a sure-fire ingredient for success at the post-secondary level.
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Must a meaningful curriculum prepare all students for success in postsecondary education? I hope more of the public buys into the idea of a Core Curriculum to address the increasingly competitive nature of a global economy. We are sending far too-many students to college who lack the necessary skills. values, and attitudes to shape our world.
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meaningful curriculum
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Come back often to experience review new content and learn about Iowa’s world-class education.
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This poorly constructed sentence needs revision. I'm not sure about the author's intent, but I would suggest something more like this: Come back often to experience new content and to learn about Iowa's world-class education. Moving from comments about style to comments about content, will this website actually help people realize we offer a "world-class education" in our state? Will it be updated frequently so that people will find new content?
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Formative and Summative Assessment in the Classroom - 0 views
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When teachers use sound instructional practice for the purpose of gathering information on student learning, they are applying this information in a formative way. In this sense, formative assessment is pedagogy and clearly cannot be separated from instruction. It is what good teachers do. The distinction lies in what teachers actually do with the information they gather. How is it being used to inform instruction? How is it being shared with and engaging students? It's not teachers just collecting information/data on student learning; it's what they do with the information they collect.
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well said. I think that putting this into practice will be a challenge. Convincing others that this mentality is where we should be going might be even more of a challenge though. Wow.
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another great write-up on formative assessment; this one comes from a secondary (middle school) source. The driver's license analogy is worth sharing with colleagues, in my opinion.
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Simple Math | Education | Change.org - 1 views
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Another time, a student asked me out of the blue—not in class, just in the course of a normal day—what I knew about counting in base 2 (a.k.a. binary numbers, the basis for digital computers). A spontaneous quasi-class ensued, as she and I looked things up, using a chalkboard to piece together the mysteries, treating it like a puzzle or a grand game: When do you add another digit? When is a 1 replaced with a 0? and so forth.
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this is an inspiring example. how can we create/foster/encourage more of this type of conversation in our classrooms?
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"A Mathematician's Lament"
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an outstanding read for any and all math educators; agree or disagree, it's a nice conversation starter.
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We learn things because they interest us now, not because they might be useful later. But this is exactly what we are asking children to do with math...Of course it can be done, but I think it ultimately does more harm than good. Much better to wait until their own natural curiosity about numbers kicks in.
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I appreciate this point, but it seems to go against so much of the daily grind of public education, i.e. curriculum mapping, assessments, instructional decision making, etc. I wonder how/if we can make this big shift? Have other countries already done so?
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I think a big part of this is how the system was created and its goals. Much of learning does not fit well in an "efficiency" driven model with common standards for all.
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It is not remembered because it is not used. Math is a literacy and about 20+ years behing reading - Reading across the "content areas" - around a long time. "Math across the content areas" - a long way off. In math applied is weak; abstract is king. I recall the quote "Why do I need to learn this math stuff? Oh, you need it for your next math class!" Relevent only for the next math class.
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The only chance we have is to hammer away at the stuff bit by bit every day for years. Even then it does not work...Give me a kid who wants to learn the stuff—well, twenty hours or so makes sense."
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It is true that when our students have intrinsic motivation, it is so easy to teach! But can our passion for our subject area engage and inspire students who might not otherwise even think that they could find something to interest them in that area?
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Introductions! - 26 views
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Best content in Iowa Core Discussion | Diigo - Groups - 11 views
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Give students a list of the learning targets they are responsible for mastering, written in student-friendly language.Show students anonymous strong and weak examples of the kind of product or performance they are expected to create and have them use a scoring guide to determine which one is better and why.Administer a nongraded quiz part-way through the learning, to help both teacher and students understand who needs to work on what.Highlight phrases on a scoring guide reflecting specific strengths and areas for improvement and staple it to student work.Have students identify their own strengths and areas for improvement using a scoring guide.Have students keep a list of learning targets for the course and periodically check off the ones they have mastered.Give students feedback and have them use it to set goals.Have students graph or describe their progress on specific learning targets.Ask students to comment on their progress: What changes have they noticed? What is easy that used to be hard? What insights into themselves as learners have they discovered?
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I agree that identifying their owns strengths and areas of improvement can be a useful tool -
Student self assessment is becoming both more important and more difficult in classrooms. It seems as though students sometimes aren't ready to admit their faults or concerns when it may help the teacher conduct formative assessment tasks. Sadly, teachers often rely heavily on that very self-assessment, which may or may not be entirely accurate. -
I have actually found that those students who take their education seriously (and there are more than I think) are almost fault finding rather than confidence building. That is when I take the opportunity to build them up and point out their successes. -
I agree with Kevin's comment that students do not want to admit fault. They are also timid about asking for help. We recently had a student who did not hand in an assignment that was a substantial part of his grade for the term. We asked several times if he wanted/needed help. His response was always no. Finally, after about 3 weeks the teacher made him come into her room during study hall and work on the assignment. He failed to understand one of the key steps and after it was explained, he finished the essay. It was a failure on both our parts. The student should have asked for help, but if we had a better system in place to check for understanding at key points, it would have been less stressful for both parties. We need to consider doing more of these things at my school.
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I really like the last question, especially with students I work with. It is most important that the student see their progress, for the sole reason they don't believe anyone. Also, the fact they are to see themselves as learners and what they have discovered. Love it!!! -
I think if students are given their expectations a head of time, you will see progress in their work. Their are special cases where this is untrue, but we all like expectations that are obtainable. -
I agree with Chrisine. Students are quite honest and critical of themselves and it gives them the oportunity to see growth within themselves. -
I agree that if we let the students know from the beginning what the expectaions for the class are, they can follow their progress in the class and see their improvment. Also, giving a norgraded quiz is also a good idea but I'm wondering if they would do their best knowing it isn't graded at the beginning. -
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These are all excellent components to learning and helping students move forward with learning. Could there also be a parent component which would allow for more communication opportunities? -
I use non-graded quizzes regularly -- the word "quiz" helps them take it seriously -- to assess where students are. I think I will try adding the self assessment of where they are on the learning targets to the end of the quiz. Rather than collecting and going through myself, I will let them assess what they know and what still needs to be worked on. When I collect them, we will both be on track to fill the gaps.
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I like having students identify their own strengths and goals...gives them ownership and accountability. -
I like the idea of "student-friendly" language and for students to look at their own progress would be very helpful. Using rubrics would be similar but adding it into technology would make it more engaging for students plus it would be paperless. -
A big part of DuFour (Solution Tree, PLC) is non-graded formative assessment. The claim is that, once a student sees a grade, the learning stops. No matter what amount of feedback you give, all they are concerned about is the grade. -
As a high school teacher, I have found that students generally don't take seriously non-graded assessment. I do though strongly agree that incremental formative assessment is key to developing desirable levels of skill and understanding. Over the years I've developed two different schemes for addressing the need for incremental formative assessment, while avoiding the barriers that "grades" can impose. For Junior and Senior students, it has been useful for the students to allow them retakes, so they may retake any incremental formative assessment whose score is not what they would like it to be. I take the most recent score for better or worse. If they wish to retake a third, forth, or umpteenth time then they may do so (with the same better or worse consequence). Though this scheme is helpful for them, allowing them to see how the prep work leads to assessment items, and thus focusing their instruction to make them more efficient test-takers, it is somewhat burdensome in paperwork (as every incremental formative assessment has multiple versions -- many tailor-made to suit specific learning preferences). As the Freshmen student class sizes are so much greater and as Freshmen are less mature in the ways of the grades, the aforementioned retake scheme has not proven useful with them. Many Freshman consider that a nongraded assignment is "busy work" and don't give it their best effort. More importantly, the results of such nongraded assignments are considered to be unimportant primarily because the students knew they didn't utilize their best effort. The scheme that has proven to be most successful with them is "risk ratcheting". Students are given prep work which is designed to help them with note-taking skills. the answer to all the prep-work material is reviewed in class with the understanding that if the prep work was done poorly, then it is a sign that your notes need to be fixed (corrected, culled, or added to). The next assessment item is small and each ind
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I agree with Todd here. We have done it both ways and we went to teach another school about PLC's where they would be assigning groups. I do not think they would find as much joy and success that way as DuFour says in his book having a choice is key! -
Van Meter has given teacher flexibility when doing PLC. Meeting at Early but allowed to leave early of whatever the group works out. -
Gladbrook-Reinbeck Elem teachers have been having their PLC's on Wednesday mornings before school. Unfortunately, we didn't have much focus or direction. Some of our teachers are going to a training this summer, so hopefully next year will be better.
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In the article, one district had late starts on Mondays. Our district is having teachers meet for 30 minutes once a month. I'd like to hear how other schools are setting up planning time for their PLCs. -
At Charles CIty we are have late starts on MOnday. Teachers will have 80-85 minutes to work in PLC's that are being 'dictated' this year with the idea that they will 'breakout' next year.
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Educating using social network is important both for the teachers and the students. However there is a lot to learn.
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Teaching Paperless sounds like a good idea and I can see it having appeal to quite a few students. I am wondering though if there are students out there like me that are tactile and if they respond as well to learning by technology which I do not find as engaging as paper and pen.
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Discussion and ideas contributed by the group members as to activities, use of technoogy and curriculum changes adn modifications are all great to hear from others, especially when I am a 1 person curricular area teacher in our small school -
Charles City has set a late start on Wednesday for PLC. This is are first year and groups were asigned. I think being able to choose you own team would make descussion and topics more useful.
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I'm in my first year in a district that uses PLCs for professional development. I find it to be a great way to share ideas and learn from colleagues from a variety of curricular areas; very worthwhile professional development.
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With the research that shows the importance of building student creativity, it is concerning to see so many districts eliminating or de-funding arts programs.
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This is an interesting read - ebook is Titles - Becoming a Core Ninja
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The author uses the word CORE as an acronym - C. - Current, O. - Obtainable, R - Rigorous, E. - Exemplar-based. Interesting.
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I agree with using student-friendly language. Many of the standards are even hard for teacher to understand the exact meaning and expectation.
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The author makes a valid argument: It is great that persuasive writing is being required across the board (all areas) -- take a stance and justify it. And yes, this will lend authenticity to the students' work, which is what we want anyway. Good for Common Core and writing and persuasion. Susie P
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I commend Jenna in recognizing that a student's failing to complete an assignment was a failure on both parts. I see too many teachers put it all on the student and don't see that they, as educators, as responsibilities too. I hope that student seeks help the next time before it gets so late.
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Ning's Official Blog on Social Networking Sites » Ning in the education depa... - 0 views
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Posted by Jason Rand on August 26, 2011 - 2:15 pm As educators and students head back to school, we wanted to highlight a few ways Ning is used in the classroom as an e-learning tool.
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Recommended Word Lists for Vocabulary Instruction | Scholastic.com - 0 views
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Here are the top five word lists recommended by Francie Alexander, Chief Academic Officer and publisher of primary programs for Scholastic Education. Use them for vocabulary instruction in your own classroom!
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Education Update:Taking the Fear Out of the First Year:Professional Learning Communitie... - 4 views
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What do we want each student to learn? How will we know when each student has learned it? How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning?
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My school system has been doing PLC groups for 2 years but I think we need to think about these questions while decided what we want to do in them. I think we jump from one thing to the next and do not think about the students. -
I believe that thiese are important questions you must think about when deciding what you are going to discuss. My PLC group really tried to think about what we wanted the students to learn and how we were going to help them! -
My school is also in the second year. Getting better at working together rather then just complaining. Will take commitment from everyone.
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We are in the first year of our PLC groups, and these are the questions that our groups are focusing on. Our goal is to help every student, no matter if they are in our class or not. I think these are great questions to help us help all of our students! -
PLC groups (as defined by DuFour) seem to be easier to implement in a larger school with more than one teacher teaching a specific class. Developing a true PLC will not be an immediate process. After hearing speakers at the PLC conference in St. Louis, it is amazing what some districts have done with these.
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These are questions that our administrator has had us ask ourselves for two years now. It keeps us focused on our students and what we need to do for each of them.
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I'm hoping that my school will consider a real PLC within the next year or two. These questions would be a good jump point.
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So what is the true definition of a PLC? On its Web site, the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory explains that the term describes "a collegial group of administrators and staff who are united in their commitment to student learning." Administrators and staff work collaboratively to create shared goals, assess student understanding and learning, and improve their own teaching practices.
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These PLC groups will become ever more important as the dynamic of a teacher's responsibility continues to change. As in, not only are we teaching these children together, but in some cases playing father, mother, role model, confidant, etc. -
Julie Crotty from AEA267 explained that there are essentially two terms we are confusing. There are plc's (lower case) that are the more informal learning communities where the community can explore any goals. Then there is the PLC (upper case) which represents the definition you describe. As I understand it, in a PLC, a group of educators would be analyzing student data, determining goals, and deciding how to attain measurable student achievement.
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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,"
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I think one of the most valuable ways we spend in-service time is by teachers bouncing ideas off each other. I know each time we go this I come away with a good idea or two of what I can do in my own classroom.
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This is so important. I agree with Mike Mattos comment about being immoral, but more importantly, it does nothing but bring down staff morale.
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Very important point - additionally this must be a priority for all teachers in the district. Too often non-required classes (music, PE, vocational, special education) are skipped or seen as a low priority for collaboration time.
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when teachers participate in a learning community, students benefit as well, as indicated by improved achievement scores over time
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Learning as a group with interactive members has been proven to be beneficial. I haven't been involved with a PLC, but I know when I start teaching, I will want that support group. I think a lot depends on what is set as an objective for the lesson and if it is easily measurable.
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Education Update:Taking the Fear Out of the First Year:Professional Learning Communitie... - 13 views
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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.
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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. -
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. -
Allysen is right! key is time for teachers to work together and learn the technology available
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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.
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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. -
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.
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an easy-to-read article describing the professional learning community philosophy
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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.
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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 -
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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.
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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.
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