Week 4

Questions to Reflect on for Week 4 (Chapter 10 and 11)

Within the speaking and listening section of Chapter 10, the role of multimedia in the standards is raised. More specifically, how students should be accustomed not just to using technology, but using it for clear purposes, as described on page 167. How do most teachers currently teach students to use technology to present information in your school (or district)? Are there any teachers or other staff that others could study and plan alongside to maximize best practices?

I have been an advocate of using technology in the classroom for many years. Currently, I have a one-on-one classroom that allows me opportunities many other classrooms do not have. Many use powerpoint to present projects, some use Prezi. My students use google sites to save and present projects along with collaborate with the other students.  Blogger is great way to share and present opinions. Some of the teachers have used Penzu to write daily and present their creative writing to class. Storybird is another way my students have presented their writing. Jing is a great program to have kids do HOW To videos for computer activities. We do this and share our how tos with the staff. 

Just using a camera to create a picture show that may follow a poem or project is an easy way to incorporate technology.  Most of the teachers in my school have received document cameras through donorschoose. These document cameras allow students to present ideas in a three dimensional way.  

We were lucky to get a class set of iPads last year at my school and we have downloaded the iMovie app. This is an engaging way for students to create book reviews or act out a scene to chapter in a book they are reading. We are looking for other iPad programs to use with presenting. Haiku Deck, Keynote, ScreenChomp and Snapguide are some of the recommendations I have found online. I am hoping to discuss this further in class and see what others are using so I can recommend an app to our Principal. 

The language standards stress that students should learn to use grammar and conventions over needing to define them, and that students should learn to choose flexibly from a range of strategies for determining the meaning of unknown words over memorizing vocabulary lists. This is a shift for many schools. How is the teaching of language enacted in your school (or district)?

As a grade level team, we have stopped weekly spelling. Instead, to support vocabulary, specifically in the area of prefixes and suffixes, we have developed a root word program. We introduce 8 root words a week, do activities to support the root words and then test their knowledge weekly.  We continue to do vocabulary reviews with the common core math along with introducing vocabulary in all other areas of the curriculum.  

We will need to look Standard 3 more as a school/district. We will need to share and review speeches and documents use conventions and word choice to reach their audience. Share these with our students and discuss how this impacts our view on what was stated. 

Unfortunately, we have not adapted a program but can still use Scott Foresman as a base. This program emphasizes defining the skill  and not interpreting the skill and then using it in their language.  We will need to change this way of teaching and without a program or roll out for each, many teachers will stick with their way until that happens. 

Chapter 11 discusses missteps from historical reform efforts and provides various research views on potential causes as well as solutions. In what ways has your school (or district) fallen into similar reform missteps in the past? In what ways has your school (or district) successfully implemented reforms in the past?

In the past, the district seems to look at reform as a yearly progression. An example of this, a few years back the district looked at ways to reform writing. Programs to support this were not fully implemented in our school specifically. Our school was asked to implement the Collins Program. Our school was only taught Type 1 and we never received any other training for the other 6 types of writing. At the same time some teachers could take professional development classes to implement the Six Traits of Writing, some did, many did not.  The idea that our students should perform better in writing from the beginning of the year until the end based on the Cornerstone Writing, yet receive no formal training in how to implement a writing program or use the CCSS arcoss the curriculum, means students are not showing progress. Teachers put writing to the side because they were/are not confident  implementing a writing workshop, what to expect from grade levels, how to grade it, when to find the time to read writing and so much more. Professional Development, grade level facilitators that are trained and rollouts to team or school wide programs need to be looked at in order for us to have the knowledge to make a difference. 

Nashua School District implemented the Everday Math Program many years ago. All the teachers in the district used the same program, were given professional development and all teachers were expected to use it. More professional development was given that year and to new teachers starting the following year. We had math facilitators in our building who were up to date on what was expected from us and gave suggestions to support our teaching during faculty meetings. Because we were all using this program, our team of teachers were able to discuss strategies to implement and actually teach each other on methods that were foreign to us.

What have we learned from these experiences that we should keep in mind when implementing the CCSS?

We need time and professional development to understand the CCSS in order to implement them effectively. 

Teachers need time to discuss and analyze the standards as a team and to look at what is expected at their grade level, one above and one below. We need to look at the NH Standards and compare them to the CCSS, looking at what we need to teach now. We need time to see where the gaps are. 

Common Core Standards require educators to teach new material in new ways.  But before teachers start developing lesson plans from scratch, we need time to pool our knowledge, materials and resources. Therefore, time needs to be included into the implementation. For example, our grade level team asked for a professional day to meet for one day to look at the standards/rollouts for math and reading. Making sure we are all implementing them effectively using best teaching strategies.  This needs to be done regularly in all areas of the curriculum. 

Read two articles that I post on Twitter using the #ed540 hashtag (or that you post/find yourself). Respond to them in the blog- did they provide you with any new strategies or information? Remember you do not need to create a Twitter account to find the articles if you don't want to.

 "Ten Most Popular Free Technology Sites" http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2013/09/this-months-ten-most-popular-posts-on.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+freetech4teachers%2FcGEY+%28Free+Technology+for+Teachers%29#.UlH5CNKsiSo

This site included many interesting sites that I will be using.
-I added the Geography site to my Social Studies livebinder for my students to practice for the Geography Bee.
-Class Charts mentioned Dojo. This site is an awesome behavior management program. Students get their own pin and pick their own avatar. The teacher can give points for whatever their plan is for the classroom and can do this singularly as a whole group. Kids love the graphics.
-History of Design mentioned Design Squad site which is very teacher friendly. It has hands on Engineer activities students can do. I would like to use this as an incentive for my class behavior program. They would be learning but having so much fun!
- The 90 page guide to using Blogger in the classroom was great! I would like to do use blogger effectively and this site had many ideas on how to do this.

Stella's Stunners - collection of over 600 "non-routine"
http://www.ohiorc.org/for/math/stella/
The Stella problems are not typical textbook exercises. They are considered "non-routine" problems because the methods of attacking them are not immediately obvious. What a great way to engage the students to start a lesson or end the lesson with problem solving techniques!