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Jill Bergeron

The Marshall Memo Admin - Issues - 0 views

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evaluation teaching reading technology leadership PE coaching discipline classroom management population growth immigration math

shared by Jill Bergeron on 24 May 16 - No Cached
  • In 2009, TNTP reported that teacher evaluation systems didn’t accurately distinguish among teachers with varying levels of proficiency, failed to identify most of the teachers with serious performance problems, and were unhelpful in guiding professional development.
  • The Widget Effect study concluded that “school districts must begin to distinguish great from good, good from fair, and fair from poor.”
  • On average, only 2.7 percent of teachers were rated below Proficient/Exemplary on a 4- or 5-point scale.
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  • The percent of teachers given the top rating ranged from 73 percent in Tennessee to 8 percent in Massachusetts and 3 percent in Georgia.
  • Many districts are drawing important distinctions between good and excellent teaching, but there is less differentiation among good, fair, and poor performance.
  • Why do so few teachers receive below-proficient ratings, despite the fact that school administrators estimate that more than a quarter of their teachers aren’t up to par?
  • The daunting workload involved in giving low ratings
  • Being merciful – Some principals said they were hesitant to give low ratings to rookie teachers out of kindness and a desire not to discourage (or lose) a teacher who had potential for growth.
  • Personal discomfort
  • Principals knew that teachers could lose their jobs as a result of a low rating, and were upset when teachers cried.
  • Her policy: use e-mail for non-urgent questions and texts when time is an issue.
  • 2013 Gates-funded Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) study, which asserted that it’s possible to accurately evaluate teachers by triangulating data from student surveys, value-added scores, and classroom observations.
  • Google, General Electric, and other corporations shifted from rating and ranking employees to providing real-time supervisor and peer feedback and coaching aimed at fostering professional growth to meet stretch goals. This rethinking was inspired by three findings from educational research: -   Performance ratings tend to foster a “fixed” versus a “growth” mindset. -   Numerical grades or ratings lead recipients to ignore detailed feedback. -   Extrinsic rewards can discourage the behaviors they aim to improve.
  • A 2012 initiative in Cincinnati suggests a different approach. Mid-career teachers who were observed four times by peers and given detailed feedback showed marked improvements in performance and student results. The key elements were frequency, credible observers, formative feedback, and a simple, low-stakes process with no direct ties to promotion and retention decisions.
  • Studies point to the following levers for continuous improvement:             • Peer collaboration – Veteran teachers continue to improve their skills if structures are in place that get them working with colleagues in focused, results-oriented instructional teams.             • Teacher evaluation – The key is detailed, valid feedback on classroom practices and support for improvement from knowledgeable and well-trained administrators or peers.             • Tailored on-the-job training – Most PD is ineffective, but intensive coaching focused on the specific needs of individual teachers and sustained over time can make a positive difference.             • Organizational supports – These include an orderly, disciplined school environment, services available to address students’ social and emotional needs, and positive parent engagement. • Leadership – “Hiring principals who have the talent to identify organizational weaknesses, establish schoolwide systems to support teachers and students, and galvanize collective buy-in from teachers is a central lever for improving the teaching and learning environment,” conclude Papay and Kraft.
  • Not having access to books in June, July, and August results in a two-month loss each summer for poor children compared to a one-month gain for more-advantaged children, and that accumulates over the years into a crushing achievement gap. Getting low-SES children reading over the summer is the most effective way to change that dynamic, but what works?
  • a home library is as important as parental education and twice as important as the father’s occupation in predicting educational outcomes;
  • Establish virtual office hours. Tucker tells students at the beginning of the year the dates and times when she’ll be available for a Google chat or Google Hangouts screen-sharing session. She has colleagues who tell students they can e-mail between 4:00 and 6:00 p.m. and any e-mails received after that will be answered the next day.
  • Limit communication channels.
  • Other reasons – These included racial concerns (for example, if a disproportionate number of minority teachers might receive low ratings); burdensome dismissal procedures; principals making deals in which teachers agreed to leave the school in exchange for a higher rating; and concern about ineffective replacement teachers.
  • Make information available online.
  • Set up a space where students can connect online. Tucker has a private Google+ community where students can share information, ask questions, and support one another.
  • Protect unplugged time at home.
  • Not every disagreement is a call to arms.
  • How and when I use my voice matters. “As I see it,” says Gannon, “my job requires that I advocate for both faculty members and students, and for both teaching and learning. Sometimes that means speaking truth to power; other times it means speaking truth to colleagues.” This is especially important with issues of gender, race, and bullying.
  • Don’t be afraid to ask for help
  • “It’s all too easy to let the minutiae detract from the larger goal… I’m not useful to anyone I serve if I’m overcommitted.”
  • Support, affirmation, and collegiality are more important. For me, leadership has become a matter of knowing and respecting my colleagues all over the campus, appreciating the work they do, and letting them know it… There’s no daily quota on thank you’s.”
  • At their best, they promote academic achievement, stronger student connections to education, and improved initiative, teamwork, and social skills.
  • Has a well-thought-out coaching philosophy aligned with the school’s educational, athletic, and programmatic goals – Winning isn’t the main goal, says Gould. Rather, “coaches work hard to help student-athletes learn important life lessons from their sport experiences.”
  • Shares decision-making with students and provides rationales for coaching actions
  • effective coaches meet their athletes’ need for autonomy, competence, and relatedness in an atmosphere where students feel they belong.
  • Builds strong coach-athlete relationships in a caring, supportive climate – Each athlete is known as an individual, made to feel welcome, and knows that bullying and belittling others isn’t tolerated on or off the field.
  • Is a knowledgeable and effective teacher – “Research reveals that coaches who give positive versus degrading and punitive feedback or no feedback at all have athletes who are more motivated, feel better about themselves, and achieve more positive developmental outcomes from sports participation,” says Gould.
  • Is intentional in fostering positive youth development – This includes attention to leadership, teamwork, and a work ethic.
  • What these parents didn’t understand, says Jones, is that “You are either consistent, or you are inconsistent. There is nothing in between.”
  • “The irony of consistency,” says Jones, “is that the closer you come to being consistent before you fail, the worse off you are. If the parent cracks easily, the child does not need to be a world-class yammerer in order to succeed. But, if the parent does not crack easily, the child must learn to play hardball.”
  • How does this apply to classrooms? Teachers must set clear, reasonable expectations, says Jones, and then be absolutely consistent in enforcing them.
  • Never make a rule that you are not willing to enforce every time.
  • If you are consistent, you can use smaller and smaller consequences to govern misbehavior. But if you are inconsistent, you must use larger and larger consequences to govern misbehavior.
  • “it’s extremely unlikely you can greatly improve your reading speed without missing out on a lot of meaning…
  • “If you want to improve your reading speed, your best bet – as old-fashioned as it sounds – is to read a wide variety of written material and expand your vocabulary.”
  • you can’t take in words you don’t see, and you have a set-point for processing language that can be changed only by long-term improvements in vocabulary and knowledge.
  • when it comes to reading for deep comprehension or enjoyment, there are no shortcuts.
  •   1. Why is it so difficult to improve the teacher-evaluation process?   2. Another look at the Measures of Effective Teaching study   3. Conditions for the continuous improvement of teaching   4. Counteracting summer reading loss   5. Using Reading Recovery techniques in guided reading groups   6. Keeping our technology use under control   7. Advice for leaders   8. The qualities of an effective high-school athletic coach   9. Consistency with classroom discipline 10. Are speed reading courses effective? 11. Short items: (a) World population growth animated; (b) Two centuries of U.S. immigration animated; (c) Common Core math sequence; (d) Survey on teacher evaluation
Jill Bergeron

6 ways to bolster STEM education for the future | eSchool News - 0 views

www.eschoolnews.com/...2

stem STEAM

shared by Jill Bergeron on 20 Sep 16 - No Cached
  • analysts predict that over the next five years, major American companies will need to add to their workforce a total of nearly 1.6 million employees versed in STEM: 945,000 who possess basic STEM literacy and 635,000 who demonstrate advanced STEM knowledge. Other data suggest that at least 20 percent of U.S. jobs require a high level of knowledge in at least one STEM field, according to the report.
  • Accessible learning activities that invite intentional play and risk.
  • Flexible and inclusive learning spaces. Teachers and students need flexibility in structures, equipment and access to materials in both the classroom and the natural world, as well as environments augmented by virtual and technology-based platforms.
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  • Educational experiences that include interdisciplinary approaches to solving “grand challenges.”
  • Innovative and accessible measures of learning.
  • Societal and cultural images and environments that promote diversity and opportunity in STEM.
  • Jill Bergeron on 20 Sep 16
     
    This article summarizes a report that stipulates there will be an increased demand for STEM professionals over the next 10 years. It offers six broad ideas about how to bolster STEM education.
Jill Bergeron

The Marshall Memo Admin - Issues - 0 views

www.marshallmemo.com/issue.php

marshall mindset curriculum planning work-life balance pd professional development ability grouping differentiation grouping math PLC

shared by Jill Bergeron on 10 Jan 17 - No Cached
  • “It’s not just effort, but strategy. Students need to know that if they’re stuck, they don’t need just effort. You don’t want them redoubling their efforts with the same ineffective strategies. You want them to know when to ask for help and when to use resources that are available.”
  • the key to schools succeeding with all students is prioritizing – isolating and focusing on “only the most vital, game-changing actions that ensure significant improvement in teaching and learning” and then sustaining a disciplined, laser-like focus for a significant amount of time.
  • Teachers should have clear, specific direction on which skills and concepts to teach – the what and when – with discretion on the how to and some room each week for teachable moments and personal passions.
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  • Of paramount importance is ongoing checking for student understanding (minute by minute, day by day, week by week) and adjusting instruction based on assessment insights. This is especially important for project- and problem-based learning.
  • “To succeed, students simply need vastly more time to purposefully read, discuss, and write about worthy, substantive literature and nonfiction across the curriculum (as often as possible, in the interpretive and argumentative mode)
  • “this should occur in a climate that emphasizes helpfulness and growth, rather than evaluation.”
  • “Nobody has a growth mindset in everything all the time,” says Dweck. “Everyone is a mixture of fixed and growth mindsets.
  • When students fail, teachers and parents should say things like, “Okay, what is this teaching us? Where should we go next?”
  • With praise, focus on the process that led to success – hard work, good strategies, effective use of resources. “Be matter-of-fact,” advises Dweck, “with not too strong or too passive a reaction… Effective teachers who actually have classrooms full of children with a growth mindset are always supporting children’s learning strategies and showing how strategies created that success.”
  • U.S. elementary teachers spend an average of about 32 hours a week with their students, secondary teachers about 30 hours, out of a 38-hour contractual week. Daily planning time ranges from 12 to 80 minutes for elementary teachers, from 30 to 96 minutes at the secondary level. The paucity of contractual planning time in most schools pushes a lot of teachers’ work into late afternoons, evenings, and weekends; including that time, the typical teacher’s work week is about 52 hours.
  • Teachers need two types of planning time, Merritt believes: (a) Individual time every day to prepare materials for upcoming lessons, assess student work, and communicate with specialists and parents about their students; and (b) common planning time once or twice a week with same-grade/same-subject colleagues to plan, implement, reflect on, and modify instruction.
  • The 30-32 hours U.S. teachers spend with their students each week compares to about 20-21 hours in other countries.
  • Shorter days for students
  • No-student days embedded within the school year
  • The number of such days ranges from two to 18 per school year.
  • Increased staffing – Core subject teachers can be given more planning time within the school day if their students go out to additional physical education, art, music, science, environmental education, and other specialty subjects – and also by increasing supervised recess and using instructional assistants and parent volunteers.
  • “we should trust teachers who are asking for more time, and make planning time a high priority in budgeting decisions. Instead of implementing costly interventions that yield minimal results in schools, we should pay more attention to the repeated requests from teachers about how to support them in their daily work… They need more time to identify problems they see in their schools or classrooms and work individually and collectively on solutions.”
  • Using inquiry protocols, they asked each other What do we want students to get out of the curriculum? and How can we get them there? -   They collaboratively developed model curriculum units and adapted them as needed; -   They used a fishbowl approach to observe colleagues teaching new curriculum materials; -   They watched outside curriculum experts modeling appropriate classroom strategies. -   They looked together at student work as students grappled with the new expectations and thought about the implications for unit and lesson planning; -   They jointly figured out ways to support students in material that at first seemed too hard.
  • Meaningful data – Static assessment results from benchmark assessments are not enough. To have truly high-quality discussions about their work, teachers need (a) open-ended assessment items from their ongoing instruction to identify student strategies and uncover their mathematical reasoning; (b) feedback from classroom observations; and (c) video clips of their own instruction and that of colleagues.             • Supportive tools – These include classroom observations and videos and having a facilitator with deep pedagogical content knowledge. It’s also crucial that the PLC sinks its teeth into one or two substantive and actionable math concepts or strategies.
  • • Supportive colleagues – Dissonance is not enough, say the authors. To truly improve instruction, teachers also need a collegial group that will hold their hands as they deal with their students’ struggles and criticism from observers:
  • “It is likely,” say the authors, “that repeated video recording and written feedback motivated Ms. Walker and other teachers to try out new instructional strategies and continuously  assess and refine them so that they could demonstrate improvement in subsequent observed lessons.”
  • -   Within-class grouping (teachers differentiating instruction among several small groups) had moderately positive effects.
  • -   Cross-grade grouping (students from different grade levels brought together to learn a particular subject or unit – e.g., the Joplin Plan for reading) had small-to-moderate benefits.
  • -   These two forms of grouping benefited students with high, medium, and low achievement.
  • -   Special grouping for gifted students (pullout or honors programs) was very helpful for those students.
  • -   Acceleration (students skipping a grade or taking courses at a younger age than their peers) was the most beneficial of all.
  • Jill Bergeron on 10 Jan 17
     
    "1. Mike Schmoker on three focus areas 2. Carol Dweck on fine-tuning the growth mindset 3. Maximizing high-quality teacher planning time 4. Effective and ineffective teacher teamwork in the Common Core 5. What gets professional learning communities working well? 6. Research findings on ability grouping and acceleration"
Gayle Cole

Google Drive versus Dropbox and the rest: cloud storage compared | Technology | guardia... - 0 views

www.guardian.co.uk/...e-drive-cloud-storage-compared

cloud storage Google Drive DropBox

shared by Gayle Cole on 31 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • Why has Dropbox been winning in this space? Fantastic convenience
  • It has attracted huge numbers of free users though, raising questions about its business model, and its security record is not the best.
  • many will never pay to upgrade.
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  • Documents in Google Apps appear there, with extensions like .gdoc and .gsheet, and if you double-click them they open in your web browser. Offline editing is not supported. Still, you do not have to use Google Apps with Google Drive. Another issue is that Google may trawl your data to personalise your advertising and so on, which is uncomfortable – though when it comes to paid-for or educational services, Google says:Note that there is no ad-related scanning or processing in Google Apps for Education or Business with ads disabledGoogle Drive can be upgraded to 16TB, which is a factor if you want huge capacity online; but by this stage you should be looking at specialist services such as Amazon S3 and others as well.
Jill Bergeron

Treating Failure Like a Scientist | UKEdChat.com - Supporting the #UKEdChat Education C... - 0 views

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failure learning

shared by Jill Bergeron on 14 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Labelling ourselves as failures at particular aspect in our life can be self-disparaging, stopping us from reaching more successful goals in life.
  • Scientists view failures within experiments as just another data point, learning from one experiment; changing an element; then try again until a conclusion has been established.
  • “failure feels like an indication of who we are as a person.
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  • But for the scientist, a negative result is not an indication that they are a bad scientist. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Proving a hypothesis wrong is often just as useful as proving it right because you learned something along the way.”
Jill Bergeron

Teacher's Visual Guide to Creating Infographics Using Piktochart ~ Educational Technolo... - 1 views

www.educatorstechnology.com/...-visual-guide-to-creating.html

infographics data visualization piktochart

shared by Jill Bergeron on 26 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Jill Bergeron on 26 Mar 14
     
    How to make an infographic.
Jill Bergeron

The Art of Facilitating Teacher Teams | Edutopia - 0 views

www.edutopia.org/...ng-teacher-teams-elena-aguilar

facilitation meetings edutopia

shared by Jill Bergeron on 24 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • Note that I'm using the term "facilitator" to mean the person who plans and designs agendas as well as who guides a team through processes outlined on an agenda
  • a variety of structures or protocols to meet the desired outcomes.
  • The purpose of the meeting and desired outcomes are articulated and connected to the school's vision, mission, and big goals
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  • we know that great attention must be paid to how a meeting is designed.
  • Frame the purpose and desired outcomes for the meeting and review agenda.
  • planning reflects an awareness of how power dynamics and systemic oppression may manifest in this group and seeks to interrupt these dynamics
  • We want to ensure that all will voices will be heard and will have equal access to decision-making and input.
  • Use a variety of questioning strategies to probe thinking and elicit new ideas
  • Articulate the role participants will play in the meeting
  • Name any decision-making points and processes that will be used Identify the structures or activities that will be used in this meeting and how they'll connect to the desired outcomes
  • Articulate expectations for behavior or procedures
  • anticipates the emotional, cognitive and energy needs of the participants
  • Use a variety of listening strategies including paraphrasing and active listening
  • Determine structures to hold members accountable (self-monitoring and reflection, use of process observer, use of a team process rubric)
  • encourage conflict about ideas verses interpersonal or inter-team conflict)
  • Use data gathered in the moment to modify and inform facilitation
  • Protect time for reflection and feedback within the established time
  • use various strategies to help a group a recover from a breakdown
  • Hold team members accountable to agreements, goals, structures, and protocols
  • Read the group's emotional and energetic state and adjust accordingly
  • Hold the expectation that members will learn, think creatively, and push each others' thinking
  • Show up as a grounded, calm presence that believes in the capacity of team members
  • Jill Bergeron on 24 Nov 14
     
    Three domains mentioned about how to facilitate teacher team meetings.
Jill Bergeron

Tips for Parent-Teacher Conferencing | Edutopia - 0 views

www.edutopia.org/...-conference-tips-elena-aguilar

conferences parent-teacher

shared by Jill Bergeron on 21 Oct 14 - No Cached
  • Whatever support you ask from a parent needs to be something that is within her sphere of influence.
  • Always convey a growth mindset. All behaviors can change given the right conditions. If you want to see changes and have concerns about a student, be prepared to offer specific, actionable solutions
  • If this is the first time you're sitting down with parents, it's a great opportunity to hear their perspective on their child's school experience so far, on what their child likes to do outside of school, on the questions and concerns they have about their child, and so on.
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  • Don't underestimate the power of the positive, and lead with it.
  • Be specific in the positive data you share -- tell an anecdote or show a piece of work.
Jill Bergeron

Beyond Parent-Teacher Conferences - 1 views

www.teachingchannel.org/...ond-parent-teacher-conferences

parent-teacher conferences

shared by Jill Bergeron on 05 Oct 16 - No Cached
  • 1. Value Parent Voice During the Conference: Start conferences by having parents share their impressions of how school is going for their child. Ask them to share what is working well for their child, what they see their child struggling with, and whether they have any specific questions they’d like answered during the conference. To save time, you can have parents answer these questions in writing before the conference. Showing parents that you value their expertise sets the stage for true collaboration. Hearing parents talk about their observations and concerns allows you an opportunity to assess the most productive direction for the conference. Beyond: Draw upon parents’ expertise throughout the year. If you’re struggling with a student, talk to his parents and don’t be afraid to ask for advice by asking questions such as, “Does this ever happen at home? What helps the situation?” True collaboration means learning from each other; building relationships with parents can help students receive better support at home and school. 2. Set Goals During the Conference: After having parents share their impressions of how school is going for their student, I shared my observations, student work, and assessment data. After looking at the information gathered from both home and school, I found success using this sheet to assess students’ progress and set goals. Sometimes I didn’t have enough time to fill in the sheet as I talked with families, so I jotted down quick notes during the conference and added more details later. Sharing the written record of the conference with parents helped to summarize our discussion and held us accountable for following through with action steps. Beyond: Revisit the action steps that were mutually agreed upon at the conference. Before winter break, consider sending home a copy of the action steps and having students work with their families to self-assess their progress towards their goals.
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