Social Bookmarking

Today we're working on social bookmarking - organizing your stuff on the internet. It also creates a networking opportunity to help you locate resources. Oh, make that organize, share, collect and link information either publically or privately.

We'll use delicious.com (but check out the "common craft" site for fun, simple presentations).

This will allow you to consolidate all your favorite sites and then access them from any computer! This could be way cool! Here are some interesting top sites links:

http://bluesearchmarketing.com/social-bookmarking-sites-list/   lists top 100 bookmarking sites

http://www.ebizmba.com/articles/social-bookmarking-websites   lists top 15 bookmarking sites

• The more popular the site, the greater the potential for networking. 
• I'm going with www.delicious.com. My user ID is Jodee_Steffensen.  
• Once in, you'll be prompted to "create stacks."
• Settings are located in the top right hand corner. It's a drop down from your name (put curser over your name).
• Next, start adding friends, which is easy if you know what their usernames are. Once you get some in, you can "follow" them...the beginning of your network! Just click "follow."
• To tag websites, click on "save on delicious" and complete the description box.
• To "stack" related information, click on the stack button (you can run the tutorial on the delicious site).
• Yes, you can save video clips!

NOW, to attach OVERLY LONG WEBSITE ADDRESSES! The following services can rename an overlong URL address to something more easily remembered. They're all cut and past, then rename.

• Bit.ly
• CanURL
• Diigo
• MooURL – web’s cutest URL shortening service
• Tinyurl
  The next group of really interesting websites:
  http://www.43things.com/   Create and share goals
  http://www.wefeelfine.org/   Explore emotions expressed on the web
  http://pinterest.com/  Gather and create all those images you get sent through email
  http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0/short  Share ranked categories of information
  
  
  All in all - an excellent class. I think this is really going to help me organize. Also - apologies to any readers out there. I'm not sure how to make the note taking more personal and engaging. It's selfish really - I think this information is primarily for me right now...
  
  
  
  

Reading Academy Pt. 2

The district continues to support three basic reading programs:

• Six Minute Solution (which increases fluency). They are now recommending students A read twice then B takes his turn for two reads. Other ideas:
• Summary of passage at day 1
• Preview of challenge words (students list words over 8 letters long) day 1 also
• Continued recommendation the Six Minute be used as starter three days per week
• Rewards (Decoding for 1st 12 lessons, Fluency and Comprehension Lesson 13-20)
• They recommend this be broken down to two twenty minute lessons.
• There is also a Rewards Science and a Rewards Social Studies *need to order!
• Sticky notes - let the kids use them to make notes (partner/group work). Lets you see that they're on task.
• Signature Reading
• Consider adjusting the results graph to two columns: 1st column for personal score, 2nd column for Vocabulary, Strategy and Comprehension scores ***
• Can I create a presentation project from these articles?
• Barnes & Noble has classics that are lexiled at 4th grade level
• Try to include a writing prompt with each activity 

Aims Web -

• User name first.last (password was emailed within the past 24 hours)
• Individual progress monitoring schedules included on site (district testing team will complete benchmark testing)
• Choose your students, list, and you'll be able to access all scores for that student
• Choose monitoring schedule (weekly, monthly, quarterly)
• SLA - Survey Level Assessment
• Recommended Instructional level is based on 25% to 50% level
• Reports 
• If students leave, please transfer data to either new school or District pool *
• Piper is available for F2F instruction on how to use Aimsweb
• Wait until after testing team has been to your school

NEXT DEVELOPMENT - PEER COACHING

• Hoping to use "flip" cameras to record classroom presentations
• Peer coach will be assigned to provide feedback
• Observation should happen at least once per quarter
• Stipend available!!!
• My choices: Katrina Tuckfield (she's already a member of my new date team and will be using Corrective Reading) and Eva Bellistan (eva.bellistan@canyonsdistrict.org) who is developing relay games.
• Evaluation form needs to be submitted. 
• Observations need to go at least 15 to 20 minutes.
• Because of the short observation period, recommended pre-conference be very specific for goals of observation
• Video tapes are available if F2F observations are not possible

Reading Academy

TED 9-2009 - "WHY" (Puget Sound)  Why do some succeed when other don't? www.ted.com

" The Golden Circle" Why? How? What?

Most know what they do. Some know how. But few know why they do something. Why do you exist. Why should you care?

Successful leaders act from the inside out - from the why. In marketing, always start with why. People will do business with people who believe what they believe. People respond most strongly to feelings. Feelings control behavior.
The law of diffusion of emanation.  Innovators (ready to by anything new just because it's new 2.5% of the market) - adopters (people who love to try new things they've heard about and are 13.5%) - !early majority (who won't try something until someone else tries it - but represent the 30% part of the market) - cynical majority (won't buy anything until it's proven and represent another 30%) -laggers (those who won't buy 16%).

APPLICATION TO MY READING CLASSES (Worksheet)
WHY? I teach reading to empower students. Good readers can access any and all information the world has to offer. They can learn anything. If they can also write (the other side), then can control the world.
HOW? Using researched based (proven) reading methods.
WHAT? Right now it's Rewards, 6 Minutes, Signatures (recommended by district) and AIMS. I also add text structure study through Scholastic and National Geographic Magazines, reader's theatre. I try to incorporate debates, question/answer activities, presentations and research projects to help them learn to manipulate information. I'm focusing on informational text this year because of the new core.
I NEED time and consistency.
I WILL let my students know the why.

APPLICATION of our district programs:

1. Add summary component to 6 Minutes Solution.
2. Check out "Reading Reasons" which addresses the why. They take about ten minutes at the beginning of class (starters?). Demonstrator gave students a driver's license test? ***
3. "The Book Whisperer" Change reading requirement to number of books instead of minutes?
4. Relay games: Prefix: begin with roots and add affixes; Power Generation? - could I use comprehension strategies with this? Maybe completing graphic organizers? **** Also, sentence completion?
5. Yoga balls? (one teacher had five) and Magnetic Letters (three packages?)

Explicit Vocabulary Instruction - including Promethean Instruction

Requirements for a strong school-wise vocabulary development program:

1. Wide reading across all subject areas.
2. Researched based instruction across all subject areas.
3. Balance instruction in content area classes.
4. Balanced Instruction in English L.A.
5. Narrow reading of informational text. 
6. Development of word knowledge using affixes and meaning in context.
7. Develop context analytic skills, including rereading sections if the word seems important to understand.

Which words?

1. High incidence word using Latin prefixes and suffixes
2. High Incidence acadmeic word families

How?

1. Structured opportunities to use new words in speaking and writing (used throughout several classes)
2. Meaningful frequent assessments
3. Productive study systems
4. Appropriate dictionaries
5. Accountability for explicit instruction
6. Work Rich Environment
• Word walls
• Encourage word usage
• Homework
• Word Wizard Competitions
• Word Detectives
• Word Collections
• Free Rice (computerized vocabulary game)
• Vacab Journal Entries

Homework:

1. Make a list of five high incidence words in your content area
2. Introduce words in TA - have students record them in their planners
3. Teachers explicitly teach those words in class
4. Have a Vocabulary Bee at the end of the year

PROMETHEAN BOARD (pulled off of Promethean Planet)

• Hidden word game (hidden by color of text, background color, or object).

VOCABULARY ASSESSMENT

Vocabulary gurus - Feldman and Archer

Always teach the format of the test to the students before testing.

• Assessment that uses beginning of sentences and student completes the sentence in a way that shows he know the meaning of the word.
• Provide an example sentence using the vocabulary word and have the students identify whether or not it is correct and if incorrect, how to correct it.
• Cloze or Maze assessment where vocabulary words are missing (fill in the blank).

EBL (Evidenced Based Grading) or Skills Testing

So far Eastmont has achieved the following "Fixes:" These are established in "15 Fixes for Standard Based Grading" though the numbers assigned do not correlate to those used in the book.

1. Accept Late work without penalty.
2. No Extra Credit
3. No academic dishonesty
4. No attendance
5. No Group Scores
6. Grades organized by Categories as stated in standard
7. Appropriate and clear performance expectations (rubrics, "I Can... Statements")
8. Grades assigned based on preset standards rather than comparing students to each other

Goals for this year:

• Don't include student behaviors in the academic grade.
• Attendance/tardies are addressed in the citizenship grade. 
• Teachers have little control over attendance. Parents often excuse excessive absences. But we can control tardies, so is it wise to put attendance into the citizenship grade mix?
• Also, attendance is the number one indicator of how students will achieve in school.
• Excessive absences are also relative to a student - to a point. Some students can recover from a week of absences where another may suffer from a day or two throughout the quarter.
• There's a recommended rubric that grades behaviors which includes organization, Assignments, Participation, and attendance. This is recommended for "grading" these items in the citizenship grade.
• Students should complete the behavior rubric throughout the year for purposes of responsibility and understanding how such behaviors affect grades.
• I'd like to include these rubrics in their portfolios that would be presented to parents at parent/teachers conference.
• Group recommended marking rubrics twice - once at midterms and once at the end of the quarter.
• The question that needs to be answered, though, is should we include 16 point rubric as participation on grades so parents can see results.
• This year's experiment: use different methods based on grade level teams, see how each method works, and then chose one method for next year.
• Rely on evidence gathered from quality and differentiated assessments. How do we address Bias and distortion.
• Barriers students bring with them:
• Language, emotions, health, handicaps, peers, motivation, anxiety, testing ability, etc.
• These are very difficult for teacher to compensate for.
• Barriers that the act of assessment brings:
• Noise, lighting, comfort (too hot/cold), lack of rapport with teacher, cultural insensitivity, lack of proper equipment (no pencils, computer, etc.)
• We can compensate for these.
• Barriers that the assessment alone brings:
• Bad questions, missing information, poor directions, confusing format, technology issues.
• These teachers should be able to compensate for.
• These are especially aided with teacher collaboration, where peer can identify test problems in advance.
• Stages in Assessment Development:
• Plan: use, targets and method.
• Develop: sample and size, select tasks and scoring method
• Critique: 
• Does assessment meet targets previously set?
• Is the weight appropriate?
• Administer
• Revise
• Did you get sufficient information?
• Was it weighted properly?
• Were there errors that needed correcting?
• Types of Assessments

• Short Answer, multiple choice, True/False, Matching, Short answer & Fill in the blank.
• Pros: Easy to score, efficient
• Cons: Information may be limited
• Extended Writing
• Essay
• Pros: More information
• Cons: Hard to grade
• Performance - portfolios, recitals, etc.
• Pros: Authentic, gives good information
• Cons: Individualized and can be hard to deliver, may also not be cost effective.
• Personal Communication - interacting with individuals or small groups
• Pros: Good for oral responders and those who have difficult time responding to larger assessments.
• Cons: Very difficult to give to a group, requires huge organization (may be impossible with larger groups
• Don't summarize evidence accumulated over time when learning is developmental. Emphasize recent achievement
• Allow students to retake tests and take the final grade
• Provide students with the best assessment that gives student information on mastery
• Does that mean we allow students to chose assessment methods?
• Can I use concept mastery time to do this?

AYP - Faculty Meeting

Today's blog will probably be written in three chunks. We're having a faculty meeting looking at our school stats for AYP. In Utah, CRT scores form the basis for AYP progress. For the uninitiated - AYP stands for Annual Yearly Progress - and determines whether our school is considered successful.

• Our demographics have taken a hit over all the last few years, with a slight increase this year. Our Hispanic group, which represents just under 5%, has pulled our stats down. So there's been a determined effort to work with these students to get their scores up. Our "free school lunch" numbers have also increased dramatically to just over 26%. Increased poverty means increased stress in the home. Meaning we have to work even harder to make sure the kids feel safe and productive here in school.

• Mobility rates are estimated to be over 27%. Those account for students that move during the year. This means that over a quarter of our test scores are based on students who haven't been here the whole year. These students are especially at risk for failure, having missed instruction. Attendance, we have discovered, is the greatest determiner of successful students. 

• The next factor we cover is the school permit report. These are students who are attending students outside of their boundaries. That means students that have deliberately transferred here, and those whom we've lost to other schools. Our numbers are in general moving up. We've become quite popular, which I consider to be the results of our efforts over the last several years to improve service. Jan just said that about 20% of our students are here on permit. This is remarkable, considering we can offer transportation.
• Grades - After extensive programs to help students complete assignments (ZAP, Concept Mastery, Enrichment, ASD, Friday School, etc.), our scores are improving and we now have just over 2% "F's." We have almost 50% of our students earning "A's." The bad news is that our grades indicate greater success in our students than CRT scores indicate. We speculate that CRT factors are very narrow in what they measure, and that we want to develop a broader range of skills. The CRT is also "college ready," and the skills measured should prepare them for the SAT. *Side note - my research last night on evolving education indicates that emphasis on SAT scores for college entrance is being gradually replaced with digital portfolios. I hope this is true. That would eliminate the problem with narrow academic expectations. Unfortunately, this school will continue to find ways to help students increase their CRT scores. But without "teaching to the test." Ha ha...   ** Another side note for SPED students. My scores are partly based on IEP goals, which are adjusted to the reality of student ability. 
• AYP - where do we stand. First, AYP measures L.A. and Math only. Results can be modified based on participation (attendance) and are measured by 10 different demographic groups (minorities, ESL, SPED, and economically disadvantaged). Our school has a particularly high SPED populations. We have four clusters (severe SPED) and a good resource department, so parents are bring students to us with permits. Schools with a high ESL population will likely fail because they can't understand the language well enough to test well. Remember, we're supposed to make ALL students college ready by 2014. We've increased nearly every year, but there are simply some factors we can't affect. Add to the confusion, the new core is now changing what we're told to teach and what is being tested. The only schools that will be able to pull off the objective are those that can select their students (skim the top scorers of the top and exclude the rest). Also, the state statistics take in grade levels 9-12, and by the time you have students in the 12th grade taking easier classes you know you're working with strugglers. On the other hand, if you offer those same classes in 9th grade and pull in the higher functioning students, you'll get higher scores.
• We did well last year. We'll see what we can pull of this year.
• Summary of my frustration over AYP:

• Limited skills tested
• Little or No adjustment made for struggling students (ESL, SPED, "free lunch")
• No adjustment made for school willing to take struggling students
• No adjustments made for teaching required new core
• Broad stats that may result from factors that aren't recognized (change of core, shift is population tested, economic and familiar issues).

Teaching SPED

This is my 7th year as a SPED teacher. Through the years I've experienced the huge emotional swings that come from teaching these students. Sometimes I wonder if my swings are more extreme, given the sometimes exaggerated behaviors I encounter each day. But honestly, I know that all teachers face this in the classroom. As a teacher, you're typically already the type that invests heavily in relationships. That makes you vulnerable. And children are especially good at recognizing vulnerability.

Does that mean I don't like teaching? Or that I don't like SPED teaching?

On the contrary. I have found this to be one of the most challenging, interesting, engaging, and rewarding experience anyone can have in a chosen career. Sure, sometimes I have students that drive me crazy or make me wonder why I ever became a teacher. But I have to say, as the years pass, some of these students come back to visit. They grow up. I run into them as adults. And I see what amazing adults they have become. 

They validate me. It's taken time, but I no longer question my investment of time and anguish. 

They are worth it.

If you are considering becoming a SPED teacher, know that you will need patience, endurance, an ability to outwit and out think surprising nimble students. Expect they to reach into your chest and seize your heart, and then some will rip it out and laugh. But many more will enlarge your understanding of the world, and of our role in it. 

If you can survive the first three years, if you can make it to that point where you feel almost competent, and if you can learn to laugh and let go - you will love your job.

Here's a general video from Utah State explaining some of the SPED career options. I'm a resource teacher, meaning I teach academics. I have friends and great respect for those who work in clusters. Because I'm resource, I get to work closely with both my mainstream teacher buddies and my cluster teachers. Most of my students are competent and even excelled in lots of areas. I help them work on developing specific skills and strategies. College is a realistic goal. I get them ready. It's a great place to be.

Blogs Part II

So, Thursday night (9/20/11) and back in class. Today we hope to learn how to add the bells and whistles to blogs. I'm fortunate in that I seem able to access my account immediately. My poor neighbors can get through their front door.
1. The Stats setting will allow you to track visitors.
2. I've already learned I can change the color of my fish by clicking on the icon in the lower right hand corner. That was fun!
3. I also learned about labels. So hopefully future enthusiasts will navigate my blog notes more easily.
4. Personality in font. Hmmm... Sometimes I find that very irritating. So I may use that occasionally.
5. Links. Click on links, then enter the web address - pretty user friendly. www.brainpop.com (beware, this site charges).
6. We're also practicing editing posts.

www.homeworkwarriors.com

7. Upload images, use picture icon next to link. Here's a picture from my website, www.homeworkwarriors.com. Fun, huh?
8. Images can be adjusted by simply clicking on the picture and a row of icons appear that allows you to size, justify, and add captions. 

9. Here's a cute youtube.  So that came from the movie icon, which allowed me to go straight into  youtube.

10. You can also add numbers and bullets - just like Word allows.
11. The icon " will automatically indent quotes. Handy if you're in essay format.
12. The page break will just add lines that can separate text or pictures into separate section.
13. Labels. MssBluntBlog.blogspot.com - great blog on technology. I want to remember this one. Helps me aspire.BTW, if you use commas, you can separate the labels and archive the same blog to plural archived subjects.
14. New feature would be to add your location.
15. Post options will let you allow or not allow comments.
16. Also note that posting options will allow you to preset blogging dates. Very handy if you're trying to go on vacation and don't really want to post every day.

Comic Life

Today marks the first day of what I hope will be a productive series of blogs. I'm taking classroom technology classes and it was recommended we use a blog to keep notes.
What a concept!
Today we're studying Comic Life. I know nothing, at this point, of what that is.
Canyons has only Comic Life 1
First go to Google, search Comic Life from Plasq. We worked with the deluxe version
Canyons has licenses on every computer in the district - so it should be on all the student computers.
Basic Steps:
1. Drag template onto the workspace. iPhoto will open automatically and can be found at the bottom of the workspace.
2. You will need pictures, which can be uploaded from any source or captured through iPhoto. For my notes, there is also a list of "safe" picture sources on the Professional Development website.
3. Once you have pictures placed into the frames, you can begin to add balloon elements (found at the bottom of the workspace) by clicking and dragging to the element.
4. You can also add text, and when you highlight a text box, you'll see the usual text choices (fonts, size, etc.)
5. Style (at the top of the workspace) allows you to add colors. Caution here - considering printing and ink costs of lots of intense color. Be aware that options include shapes, including circles, which can be template pictures (i.e. snowman, turkey, wreath, etc.)
6. While you're up at the top, notice font choices, along with bigger and smaller font.
7. More information can be found at www.canyonsdistrict.org; link to departments; link to professional development; link to Technology Tools and Applications and then link to Comic Life.
8. You can "lock" templates by pulling up the information on the template, look for "more information" and then checking the "locked" option.
*We were lucky in that they gave us a file of templates to use.
9. Samples of uses showed autobiograhical graphic novels, cause and effect illustrations, science projects, and class projects.  You can also create cards and announcements.
10. Not also a "front" "back" option at the top of the workspace. that will allow you to layer your images.
11. If you want your students to access the photo, choose "stationary page" instead of locked. Otherwise, only one student can use it at a time.
So - first time blogging notes - reflection. I'm going to have to work on organization. Seemed the delivery was a little random, so I'll have to experiment with formatting. But all in all - I'm intrigued.