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John Evans

Lisa Nielsen: The Innovative Educator: 5 Components Necessary for A Successful School E... - 2 views

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    "The Managing Complex Change model puts language to that which makes some schools successful while others struggle. The model looks at five components necessary to create a desired environment. These include vision, skills, incentives, resources, action plan. If any one piece is missing the model indicates results schools will experience including change, confusion, anxiety, gradual change, frustration, and a false start. When thinking of successful schools such as Science Leadership Academy, The MET, The Island School, The iSchool, you will find they have all those components in place. On the other hand, when I hear teachers lamenting about their school failures, the model brings clarity to the fact that one or more of these components are missing. Below is the chart that lays this out. Following the chart, I'll take a look at what each missing component might look like in a school environment. As you read, consider which, if any are components, are missing at your school. save image Lack of Vision = Confusion When I hear exasperated teachers spinning their wheels, working so hard to get ready for all the various mandates and requirements, but never feeling a sense of accomplishment, it is clear there is not a tangible school vision that has been communicated. In some cases this is because what is being imposed does or can not reconcile with what the school wanted for their vision. Skill Deficit = Anxiety My heart goes out to those with a skill deficit. They are required to implement a curriculum they are not trained in using or being evaluated via measures with which they are not familiar. Or…they are put into a position they were not trained for or prepared to embrace. Social media provides a great medium for helping these teachers get up to speed, but when the outreach occurs, the anxiety is abundantly clear. Lack of Incentives = Gradual Change It is not unusual for innovative educators to feel like and be perceived as misfits. Islands onto their own
John Evans

3 Reasons Why Faculty Meetings Are a Waste of Time - Finding Common Ground - Education ... - 2 views

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    "3 Reasons Why Faculty Meetings Are a Waste of Time By Peter DeWitt on April 10, 2015 6:50 AM Faculty Meeting.png Many school leaders walk into a faculty meeting with a single idea of how they want to move forward and walk out with the same idea. That's telling... John Hattie talks a great deal about the Politics of Distraction, which means we focus on adult issues, and not enough time...if ever...on learning. That is happening around the U.S. for sure. Recently the Assembly of NY State only furthered those distractions, which you can read about here, which means that school leaders and teachers have to work harder to maintain a focus on learning. Quite frankly, well before mandates and accountability, school leaders focused on the politics of distraction and not on learning. Compliance is not new in schools. Faculty meetings were seen as a venue to get through and something that teachers were contractually obligated to attend. During these days of endless measures of compliance, principals can do a great deal to make sure they don't model the same harmful messages to staff that politicians are sending to teachers. Jim Knight calls that "Freedom within form." In Talk Like Ted, Carmine Gallo quotes Marissa Mayer (CEO of Yahoo) when he writes, "Creativity is often misunderstood. People often think of it in terms of artistic work - unbridled, unguided effort that leads to beautiful effect. If you look deeper, however, you'll find that some of the most inspiring art forms - haikus, sonatas, religious paintings- are fraught with constraints. (p. 190)" Clearly, constraints have a wide definition. There is a clear difference between the constraints of compliance and the stupidity of the legislation just passed by the assembly in NY. As we move forward, principals still are charged...or at least should be...with the job of making sure they offer part...inspiration, part...teacher voice...and a great deal of focus on learning. There is never a more important tim
John Evans

5 Questions That Promote Student Success in High-Poverty Schools | Edutopia - 1 views

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    "Leaders in high-performing, high-poverty (HP/HP) schools know that success requires more than just high-quality teaching and learning. The entire school, as a system, should work together to develop a common instructional framework that provides a vision of what success looks like. When a ship loses its compass, getting to port becomes a game of chance. It's no different for a school. When a school, particularly one characterized by high poverty and low performance, lacks an instructional plan or framework, progress will be anything but systematic, and more than likely patterns of low performance will continue. Through the collaborative efforts of the leaders and staff, HP/HP schools focus on three kinds of learning: student, professional, and system. These learning agendas influence each other, and leaders in HP/HP schools make the most of this connection to facilitate sustainable improvements in teaching and learning. Professional learning is the adult learning that takes place within a school, while system learning conveys how the school as a whole learns to be more effective. In other words, as people within the school learn, the system learns."
John Evans

Finland's school reforms won't scrap subjects altogether - 1 views

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    "Finland's plans to replace the teaching of classic school subjects such as history or English with broader, cross-cutting "topics" as part of a major education reform have been getting global attention, thanks to an article in The Independent, one of the UK's trusted newspapers. Stay calm: despite the reforms, Finnish schools will continue to teach mathematics, history, arts, music and other subjects in the future. But with the new basic school reform all children will also learn via periods looking at broader topics, such as the European Union, community and climate change, or 100 years of Finland's independence, which would bring in multi-disciplinary modules on languages, geography, sciences and economics. It is important to underline two fundamental peculiarities of the Finnish education system in order to see the real picture. First, education governance is highly decentralised, giving Finland's 320 municipalities significant amount of freedom to arrange schooling according to the local circumstances. Central government issues legislation, tops up local funding of schools, and provides a guiding framework for what schools should teach and how. Second, Finland's National Curriculum Framework is a loose common standard that steers curriculum planning at the level of the municipalities and their schools. It leaves educators freedom to find the best ways to offer good teaching and learning to all children. Therefore, practices vary from school to school and are often customised to local needs and situations."
John Evans

Please, No More Professional Development! - Finding Common Ground - Education Week - 4 views

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    "Please, No More Professional Development! By Peter DeWitt on April 17, 2015 8:10 AM Today's guest blog is written by Kristine Fox (Ed.D), Senior Field Specialist/Research Associate at Quaglia Institute for Student Aspirations (QISA). She is a former teacher and administrator who has passion for teacher learning and student voice. Kris works directly with teachers and leaders across the country to help all learners reach their fullest potential. Peter DeWitt recently outlined why "faculty meetings are a waste of time." Furthering on his idea, most professional development opportunities don't offer optimal learning experiences and the rare teacher is sitting in her classroom thinking "I can't wait until my district's next PD day." When I inform a fellow educator that I am a PD provider, I can read her thoughts - boring, painful, waste of time, useless, irrelevant - one would think my job is equal to going to the dentist (sorry to my dentist friends). According to the Quaglia Institute and Teacher Voice and Aspirations International Center's National Teacher Voice Report only 54% percent of teachers agree "Meaningful staff development exists in my school." I can't imagine any other profession being satisfied with that number when it comes to employee learning and growth. What sense does it make for the science teacher to spend a day learning about upcoming English assessments? Or, for the veteran teacher to learn for the hundredth time how to use conceptual conflict as a hook. Why does education insist everyone attend the same type of training regardless of specialization, experience, or need? As a nod to the upcoming political campaigns and the inevitable introduction of plans with lots of points, here is my 5 Point Plan for revamping professional development. 5 Point Plan Point I - Change the Term: Semantics Matter We cannot reclaim the term Professional Development for teachers. It has a long, baggage-laden history of conformity that does not
John Evans

4 Tips for Discussing School Violence With Your Kids - GeekDad - 1 views

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    "On the morning of Wednesday, February 22, 2017, my cell phone rang at 5:30 a.m. The caller ID told me that the call was from our school district. Even before I swiped to answer, the pop-up notification on my phone told me the nature of the call. School had been canceled for the day. That's not such an odd occurrence in February in southwest Missouri. Snow and ice have canceled school as late in the year as early May. However, we'd been enjoying a stretch of record high temperatures, and while I wasn't really awake enough for my rational mind to rule that out, I knew something was off. There has been a lot of construction to and around a few of the school buildings in our district. In December 2016, I happened to be privy to a conversation regarding low water pressure at one of the schools due to a water main issue at a construction site near that particular school. So, non-functioning utilities was certainly a possibility for canceling school that zipped through my not-yet-awake mind. I was not prepared for what the recorded voice of our district superintendent told me. School had been canceled because of the threat of violence."
John Evans

How A Later School Start Time Pays Off For Teens | MindShift | KQED News - 0 views

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    "Many American teenagers try to put in a full day of school, homework, after-school activities, sports and college prep on too little sleep. As evidence grows that chronic sleep deprivation puts teens at risk for physical and mental health problems, there is increasing pressure on school districts around the country to consider a later start time. In Seattle, school and city officials recently made the shift. Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, the district moved the official start times for middle and high schools nearly an hour later, from 7:50 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. This was no easy feat; it meant rescheduling extracurricular activities and bus routes. But the bottom line goal was met: Teenagers used the extra time to sleep in. Researchers at the University of Washington studied the high school students both before and after the start-time change. Their findings appear in a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. They found students got 34 minutes more sleep on average with the later school start time. This boosted their total nightly sleep from 6 hours and 50 minutes to 7 hours and 24 minutes."
John Evans

School Offices Must Serve as Sanctuaries - Passion…Purpose…Pride - 3 views

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    "As Abby walked into the school building she had a sinking feeling in her stomach. It was November and she had just moved into a new community. She was nervous about starting a new school midway through the school year. This was her first day of school and she kept her eyes down, nervous, not knowing what to expect as she walked into the main office. Suddenly, the office secretary called out to her in a tone that made her skip a breath, "Where are you supposed to be?  Do you have a pass?  Move on now before the tardy bell rings and the vice principal gives you a detention for being late." Each day in school offices across the country this scenario is playing out with regularity.  Although it may come across as somewhat exaggerated, those of you who have spent any amount of time in school have probably at one time or another been witness to such an interaction in the main office area.  It is these defined interactions that has led to us to ponder this question.  Have we reached the point where we are willing to allow negative interactions to drive the level of success of our students, staff and our school? What if we were to pause, step back and view our office culture through the eyes of students, parents, guests or even staff who visit the main office? What would they say?  If we manage our interactions appropriately they will leave feeling valued and cared for and look forward to their next return trip."
John Evans

Why so many schools fail to get impact from iPad - LearnMaker - 2 views

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    "70% of UK schools are now using mobile devices in the classroom, according to Tablets for Schools. The vast majority of those devices are likely to be iPads, yet how many schools can you name who are standout users of the device? That is to say, how many schools are using the device to deliver true 21st century transformational lessons? The answer, disappointingly, is very, very few. In the past two years, I've worked with over 200 schools across the spectrum of the UK education system. Only a handful remain memorable from what I watched them use iPad for. But what about the likes of ESSA Academy and Cedars School of Excellence, I hear you say! Both have transformed their schools and results through the use of iPad. The answer is far simpler than you'd probably guess. It's all about the training of staff."
John Evans

Making the Most of Back-to-School Communications | Edutopia - 1 views

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    "We all know that the back-to-school season is exciting -- not just for students and educators, but for parents, businesses, and the media as well. It's a time when the greater community is primed to pay attention to its schools. As Nora Carr, Chief of Staff for Guilford County (NC) Schools and former president of the National School Public Relations Association (NSPRA) has written, "In terms of PR heaven, it doesn't get any better than this." So it's important that educators consider back-to-school communications a key part of their work, taking advantage of this once-a-year opportunity to spread the word about what's happening in their school (or district) and set the tone for the engagement of families and other stakeholders for the rest of the school year."
John Evans

Alternative to School Suspension Explored Through Restorative Justice | MindShift - 0 views

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    "One by one, in a room just off the gym floor at Edna Brewer Middle School in Oakland, Calif., seventh graders go on the interview hot seat. Kyle McClerkins grills them on aspects of adolescent life: "What is the biggest challenge for middle school girls?" he asks. "What has changed about you from sixth grade to now?" Some 80 students have applied to be "peer leaders" in this school's new, alternative discipline program. Called "restorative justice" this school and the Oakland Unified School District are at the forefront of a new approach to school misconduct and discipline. Instead of suspending or expelling students who get into fights or act out, restorative justice seeks to resolve conflicts and build school community through talking and group dialogue. Its proponents say it could be an answer to the cycle of disruption and suspension, especially in minority communities where expulsion rates are higher than in predominantly white schools."
John Evans

Private school success due to better students, not better schools, StatsCan says - Cana... - 0 views

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    "Students at Canadian private schools have more educational success than their public school peers because of their backgrounds and classmates, not the schools themselves, Statistics Canada says in a new report. The study followed 7,142 Grade 10 students, focusing on standardized test scores in reading, math and science at age 15, as well as the educational qualifications they had earned by age 23. Private school students had better test scores (about nine per cent higher on average) and more educational success after high school. None of the differences, however, could be attributed to school resources and practices, Statistics Canada says."
John Evans

Anxiety About Starting School: How to Help Young Children - 1 views

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    "Starting school can be exciting for young kids. It can also be scary. That's true whether this is their first time going to school or they're starting a new grade. And the change in routine can be especially tough for kids with learning and attention issues. How can you help your young child feel less anxious about going to school? Here, four experts weigh in on why young kids may feel anxious about school, and how to help."
John Evans

Why 3D Printing Needs to Take Off in Schools Around the World - 3DPrint.com - 4 views

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    "Where 3D printing has yet to really make a huge impact, but provides an ample amount of opportunity, is within educational institutions. These range from elementary schools to high schools, universities, and maker spaces around the globe. One reason that 3D printing has been quite slow in making its impact in these institutions is simply because of the lack of knowledge of the technology by the decision makers in charge. Because the technology is so relatively new, the greatest impact may come via the introduction of 3D printing into public and private grade schools. The younger a person is, the easier it usually is to introduce new ideas and methodologies. This is why young children are so quick to learn new languages, when compared to their older adult counterparts. This is what makes elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools the perfect place to begin really introducing a curriculum based around 3D printing. Just about every subject within a school curriculum could benefit from 3D printing technology. We will outline a few of these below:"
John Evans

A Principal's Reflections: The Philosophy Behind Maker Success - 1 views

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    "These courses represented a lifeline and a glimmer of hope in what has become a day fraught with relentless preparation for college and careers.  However, the powers that be found that they consumed precious time from the school day that could have been spent on more important curricular endeavors.  In the end, students, especially those most at-risk based on learning needs, have immensely suffered.  They desperately need an outlet during the long school day.  If not, their motivation to learn in all their other classes will wane resulting in either a lack of effort or desire to even attend school.  The bottom line is that many schools have deprived students of real-world learning experiences that are needed now more than ever.  This might seem like a bleak scenario that I describe above and it should.  Our students deserve activities that will not only prepare them for vital trade careers, but also allow them to openly explore the solving of problems that are relevant to them.  During my tenure as New Milford High School Principal our district cut wood and metal shop.  Over the years I have also seen recess time dwindle for my own kids and others who attend the New York City Public School System.  All hope is not lost though for any school looking to create a better learning environment that works for kids.  The solution for all schools comes in the form of makerspaces. "
John Evans

The Struggles and Realities of Student-Driven Learning and BYOD | MindShift - 1 views

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    "If the promise of mobile technology in classrooms has been to equalize opportunities for all students through access to the internet, that potential has yet to be realized. National surveys consistently show that students in low-income schools are getting short-changed when it comes to using technology in school. A 2013 Pew study revealed that only 35 percent of teachers at the lowest income schools allow their students to look up information on their mobile devices, as compared to 52 percent of teachers at wealthier schools. And while 70 percent of teachers working in high income areas say their schools do a good job providing resources and support to effectively integrate technology into the classroom, only 50 percent of teachers in low-income areas agree. The reality is that while some teachers have found powerful ways to use mobile devices - both those owned by students and those purchased by the school - teachers at schools in very low-income areas are often battling a persistent student culture of disengagement. Many students have learning gaps that make it hard for them to stay interested in grade level materials and little desire to be in school at all."
John Evans

All kids should have a computer science education - Baltimore Sun - 0 views

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    "Like most students at the time, I did not have access to computer science classes when I attended Wilde Lake High School in Columbia during the 1980s. I only stumbled upon the field when my high school math teacher recommended that I take a FORTRAN programming course at Howard Community College. I quickly learned that programming was like nothing I had experienced in school before. Whenever I finally solved a problem, there was a deeply satisfying "aha!" moment. As a result, I studied computer science at Harvard and received my Ph.D. in the field from the University of California, Berkeley. Nearly four decades after I took that first FORTRAN class, I'm a professor of computer science and associate dean at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. I was fortunate to have found my passion, even though computer science was not taught at my school. The unfortunate fact is that most K-12 schools still do not teach computer science, and most of today's high school and college students - particularly women - have still had little or no exposure to computational thinking, coding or computer science. There are certainly many students who would make great computer scientists, or who could leverage computing skills to achieve success in any number of other fields, who never take a single related class. Even in Maryland, one of the most technologically advanced states in the nation, only 14 percent of students take a computer science class in high school, and nearly half of the public high schools do not offer any AP computer science classes."
John Evans

Comprehensive Middle School Curriculum Practice App - iTooch Middle School - iGameMom - 0 views

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    "A while ago I reviewed iTooch Elementary School app by EduPad. I was very excited to see such a comprehensive app matching school curriculum. Today I am sharing iTooch Middle School. Similar to iTooch Elementary School, this is a very comprehensive learning app for Grades 6 to 8. For each grade, there are Math and Language Art, plus Health for Grade 6. The iTooch Middle School App serves as a shell app, hosting the 7 titles. It is helpful to know that each of the 7 titles can act as an app by itself without the shell app. "
John Evans

From Legos to Maker Labs: Fun and Learning After School | graphite Blog - 1 views

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    "For more than six hours each day, we aim to seize every teachable moment. Our schedules, carefully crafted and refined, often resemble a flight schedule at a busy airport: whole-class math lessons here, reading groups there, and one-on-one conferencing/counseling/cheerleading sessions squeezed in everywhere else. But we all know learning isn't confined to the school day. Extracurricular activities, from soccer to chess club, have been around as long as school itself. When I was young, few after-school activities appealed to me, so hosting an after-school club as a teacher didn't occur to me until a few years ago when I began to look at after-school learning through a new lens. Having started two after-school clubs in the past three years, I now realize I can create rich learning opportunities that would have appealed to me when I was a student, and simultaneously appeal to the teacher I am now."
John Evans

Education Week: Research Shows Evolving Picture of E-Education - 0 views

  • Online classes may be a relatively young instructional practice for K-12 schools, but experts already generally agree on one point: Research shows that virtual schooling can be as good as, or better than, classes taught in person in brick-and-mortar schools.
  • Studies of state-run virtual schools show, for instance, that the courses tend to draw students at the extremes of the academic spectrum—advanced, highly motivated students looking for academic acceleration, and students who are struggling in regular classrooms
  • Not surprisingly, the students with the best academic records in online classes tend to be in that high-ability group, according to experts in the field. But some new research also finds that online courses are beginning to score more successes with the lowest achievers­—possibly because many are high school students who see the online courses as a last chance to earn enough credits to graduate.
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  • Ferdig says the large numbers of academic go-getters taking online classes could account for some of the rosy findings in the first wave of studies of online coursetaking, since highly motivated students are likely to fare well in any academic environment. But later studies controlled more carefully for students’ academic differences at the starting gate and continued to find learning gains.
    • John Evans
       
      Interesting findings.
  • “It isn’t something that’s only for bright kids or only for kids who are well below grade level, because it may not work for many of them, either,” says Saul Rockman, the president and chief executive officer of Rockman et al., a San Francisco research group.
  • Rockman says his research suggests that succeeding in an online course is “more a matter of learning style.” Is the student an independent learner, for instance? Does he or she struggle with reading and writing?
  • Building in student-support mechanisms helps keep less academically motivated students from failing or dropping out of online classes, according to researchers.
    • John Evans
       
      This sounds like the key aspect for success. Teachers who are already building this into their classes either by responding to emails, online chats or setting up an atmosphere that encourages chatting within the context of their course, often late at night amongst students only, are seeing this success. Ex. Darren Kuropatwa's SH Math class blogs
  • “Whether that’s 24-hour technical support, tutorial support, parental vigilance, or face-to-face site coordinators or mentors,” Cavanaugh says. Mentors and site coordinators seem to be especially linked to marked improvements in student results in large high schools, she adds.
  • “The mentor plays an important role in making sure Johnny or Susie logs in to the course on a regular basis and provides a point of contact for the instructor,” says Jamey Fitzpatrick, the president and chief executive officer of Michigan Virtual University, which currently enrolls 15,000 students, mostly in middle and high school
  • Some of the early studies emerging from the database helped dispel some concerns about potential detrimental effects of online coursetaking on students’ social development, according to Ferdig. Very few online students, those studies showed, took electronic classes full time. Rather, they combined virtual schooling with traditional courses. The studies also showed that students communicated regularly online with teachers and classmates.
  • Cavanaugh, of the University of Florida, says there is also a “general consensus”—if not air-tight research findings—that the more interactive the courses can be, the higher their success rates.
  • Ongoing studies are also beginning to look at whether so-called “hybrid” or “blended” courses—classes in which only 30 to 70 percent of the instruction takes place online and the rest is in person—are any more successful than all-electronic versions
    • John Evans
       
      ala Dean Shareski (@shareski) and Alec Couros (@courosa) courses
  • “In general,” Russell says, “I don’t think this body of research [on online education] is totally developed at this stage.”
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    Online classes may be a relatively young instructional practice for K-12 schools, but experts already generally agree on one point: Research shows that virtual schooling can be as good as, or better than, classes taught in person in brick-and-mortar schools.
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