This week was very crazy! Barely a moment to take a breath and remember what I'm doing. However, I did get to complete some great interventions with a 5th grade student. He's not a great reader and we used You tube to research a topic and he was able to get some great supporting details for his paper from videos.
Another bright spot, our school received some good kudos for RTi. I think the auditor liked how we focused on Tier I instruction with tier 1 and then intervened with interventions for students not meeting those benchmarks. We even did training to support the teachers on the Tier I instruction over five years. We still need to get better how we analysis student problems and how to do classroom interventions.
I was able to sneak out for a short Professional learning seminar at our county about teaching common core math. Power point of meeting. The discussion was about the mathematical practice and not the standards. A big part of the change to the common core is stressing how our teachers are teaching. This was a great presentation to help make sure we are emphasizes the process before we ever start worry about the new PARCC or Common Core assessments.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Sunday, October 21, 2012
The ART and SCIENCE of teaching
Ted talk above only 14 minutes - Good listen to start you thinking about the art and science of teaching.
RTI - response to intervention
Next week our RTI process will be audited by an outside agency. I don't like be audited because I know that everything we do at school is never documented on paper. What educator has time to document everything we do. Yes, I try most days to document interventions and strategy discussions about students; however, no general protocol is followed or process really in place. We have one rule, treat every student like they were your own. That rule has teachers intervening with all students. You could say that our classrooms are already Tier 2, so it's very hard to implement something new for tier 3 because they are already doing everything they can possibly do for that student.
I become frustrated because I know that we should be making the next move toward understanding the science part of education, but we do not. Collecting data with 24 8 year olds in a classroom can be challenging when you are learning new content to teach. Teachers need more time to practice stop and listen to feedback like a sports team practices or a broadway production prepares for a performance.
Last year we used Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov to add some new techniques to their tool box. I could walk the building last year and see teachers trying the techniques, I talked with them to see if they thought they were helpful. I did everything an administrator could do to support them. Well this year two new programs have been thrown at them Daily Five and the new Common Core standards have made them forget to work on those techniques.
With those ideas in mind, now through in a behavior problem on top of someone trying to understand how to design their classroom with educational science. My analogy is what happens at the World series if someone runs on the field, that person is surrounded by security and removed from the field. However, in the classroom, we have to learn how to differentiate or create a new behavior plan for that student. Don't think of this as a compliant, because I love it. The public and the people creating a lot of policy, my opinion, do not understand how challenging teaching is today.
Our best teacher by the art method has trouble filling our a tier 2 strategy sheet and our best teacher by the science method makes parents mad monthly. Then I spend my time correcting those things instead of pushing forward new ideas. It's like asking the University of Alabama to not have a football team next year because they have such a great team. If you're very successful at what you do, but you want me to do something differently with less time and money.
I'm trying to start a dialogue that isn't about complaining but balancing science and art to make teaching work today. That involves using technology, creating rti - researched based tool boxes, classroom mgt techniques, and discussing the fine points of the art of teaching.
Next week our RTI process will be audited by an outside agency. I don't like be audited because I know that everything we do at school is never documented on paper. What educator has time to document everything we do. Yes, I try most days to document interventions and strategy discussions about students; however, no general protocol is followed or process really in place. We have one rule, treat every student like they were your own. That rule has teachers intervening with all students. You could say that our classrooms are already Tier 2, so it's very hard to implement something new for tier 3 because they are already doing everything they can possibly do for that student.
I become frustrated because I know that we should be making the next move toward understanding the science part of education, but we do not. Collecting data with 24 8 year olds in a classroom can be challenging when you are learning new content to teach. Teachers need more time to practice stop and listen to feedback like a sports team practices or a broadway production prepares for a performance.
Last year we used Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov to add some new techniques to their tool box. I could walk the building last year and see teachers trying the techniques, I talked with them to see if they thought they were helpful. I did everything an administrator could do to support them. Well this year two new programs have been thrown at them Daily Five and the new Common Core standards have made them forget to work on those techniques.
With those ideas in mind, now through in a behavior problem on top of someone trying to understand how to design their classroom with educational science. My analogy is what happens at the World series if someone runs on the field, that person is surrounded by security and removed from the field. However, in the classroom, we have to learn how to differentiate or create a new behavior plan for that student. Don't think of this as a compliant, because I love it. The public and the people creating a lot of policy, my opinion, do not understand how challenging teaching is today.
Our best teacher by the art method has trouble filling our a tier 2 strategy sheet and our best teacher by the science method makes parents mad monthly. Then I spend my time correcting those things instead of pushing forward new ideas. It's like asking the University of Alabama to not have a football team next year because they have such a great team. If you're very successful at what you do, but you want me to do something differently with less time and money.
I'm trying to start a dialogue that isn't about complaining but balancing science and art to make teaching work today. That involves using technology, creating rti - researched based tool boxes, classroom mgt techniques, and discussing the fine points of the art of teaching.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Tonight
Leadership 2.0 with Eric Sheninger and Joe Mazza
I really enjoyed listening to fellow educators that are making social media work for them. I believe starting and getting the engine going is the hardest part. I'm going to work on a plan tomorrow to set up a school twitter account, work on google forms for collecting lunch counts, and get back to work on my RTI google site.
I have to be the role model and leader to get teachers involved with social media and one more to do is get the BYOD classrooms ready to start after Thanksgiving.
Leadership 2.0 with Eric Sheninger and Joe Mazza
I really enjoyed listening to fellow educators that are making social media work for them. I believe starting and getting the engine going is the hardest part. I'm going to work on a plan tomorrow to set up a school twitter account, work on google forms for collecting lunch counts, and get back to work on my RTI google site.
I have to be the role model and leader to get teachers involved with social media and one more to do is get the BYOD classrooms ready to start after Thanksgiving.
Balance - Friday in the cafeteria I taught a kindergartener how to balance his spork (spoon and fork together) on his finger. I explained that you had to find the fulcrum. I showed him and he keep repeating the word fulcrum over and over. I loved it and he did too! He had learned something new and he immediately had to share with everyone he could at the table or adults walking through the cafeteria. On the flip side, I get so excited reading twitter feeds and blogs that my mind started to spin. Just like the kid in the cafeteria, I want to share, but share what? Who has time for another idea? Another task? Another program to learn? Everyone seems to just be keeping their heads above water daily, when are we supposed to learn something new? I tried Voicethread, which didn't open on most computers in the building. Our google docs stall and the message trying to reach google comes up. I've decided not to scream and throw all computers in the lake. Instead I've decided to write a blog. Why? Because the new connected world is about sharing and it's time to start. My goal is to create focus and balance in my professional life. If someone once walked between the twin towers, I can at least give the tools of our new connected world a try.
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