Written on 9:57 AM by Unknown
Today is the day before Thanksgiving and our staff and students are not in attendance. Everyone is beginning whatever preparations they have for tomorrow's holiday and this is a good chance for me to share some of the things for which I am thankful.
I am thankful for the joyful faces and unique personalities of each student who attends Owen. The high fives, the hugs and the smiles I receive make me look forward to every single day. No matter how chilly it is during bus duty, having a kindergarten student smile as they say hello or give me a hug as they pass makes it feel just a little warmer.
I'm thankful for the support the parents give their children and our school. Every day, we have volunteers in classrooms or the LMC and I get to see not only their additional support for the school but also the joy they have in seeing their child or friends of their child in a context different than home.
I'm also thankful for the consistent effort and positive culture each staff member brings to our work. I know teaching is not an easy job and I am thankful for the effort every staff member puts forth every day.
I'm thankful for our District community. Just last week, Mr. Folley and Mrs. Handy received a grant from the Indian Prairie Education Foundation. I appreciate the support the community gives and I'm very thankful that Owen Wavrinek is our liaison to the IPEF. I am always thankful for his energy and devotion on behalf of not just Owen students, but all students.
I hope everyone has a great, family Thanksgiving and takes a moment to share who matters to them. It's not enough to just keep that in our hearts, we and they need to say it aloud.
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Written on 9:38 AM by Unknown
from MNPS2010 wiki
As promised at last night's PTA meeting, I'm posting links to a few places parents interested in learning more about the new Illinois State Standards Incorporating the Common Core can go to get that information. I'd also like to share some of the key points I mentioned.
- In 2006, ACT, Inc released a report called Reading Between the Lines that included an analysis showing that of the students reaching the benchmark achievement score in Reading on the ACT, which only 51% of all test takers achieved, had a 75% probability of a C or better in an introductory college class in US History or Psychology and had only a 50% probability of a B or better in that course.
- The clearest differentiator of what separated the benchmark achievers from those who did not make it was the students' ability to answer questions associated with complex texts. Text complexity is a very important part of the new English/Language Arts standards.
- This led to my sharing Figure 3 from Appendix A of the Common Core standards showing that for students in grades 2-3 the old Lexile ranges were 450-725. The new Lexile ranges alinged to the College and Career Readiness standards is 450-790.
- That's not a huge bump at grades 2-3, but carried forward to grades 11-CCR the old range of 1070-1220 becomes 1215-1355. Please note the old high end is now the new low end of the range.
- We can't make this a situation only high school has to address and that's why the more rigorous standards start in Kindergarten.
Our District has committees currently working with revising curricula to support these new standards. They have been working since spring and will continue to work through the coming year to prepare for our K-8 Math curricular roll out in the fall 2012 and the ELA curricular roll out in the fall 2013. Our building is currently working to understand and wrap our heads around the new standards. We're working on this to make sure we know the targets for our students' learning. The curricula that become the resources we use to reach those targets will come later. Here are those links.
Common Core Standards
Resources for PTA and Parents at Illinois State Board of Education
Though this is just the beginning, I hope it gives parents some ideas about how we are moving forward and towards what we are moving.
Posted in
Common Core,
professional development
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Written on 7:20 PM by Unknown
Julian Treasure's TED Talk: 5 ways to listen better
A few days ago, I watched this TED Talk with Julian Treasure about listening. Visit
TED if you are interested in viewing other ideas. I think listening is an important skill for every person to master for it is more than simply hearing what someone says. As our Curriculum Night began and the surge of parents moving to classrooms and through the LMC started, I thought of his discussion of all the noise in our world. I made a conscious effort to be a good listener for all the parents with whom I talked tonight. I think this is a very important skill for everyone and it grows harder and harder as our world moves at an increasingly fast pace. I hope that everyone who views his video above can find one thing that helps them be a better listener, for as he says, we are losing our listening and that has the potential to make us feel more disconnected. I am committed to being a more purposeful listener and think we all should make an attempt to be that.
Posted in
Communication
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Written on 5:26 PM by Unknown
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CC licensed photo shared by Flickr user jamiejohndavies |
So the faucet in one of the bathrooms in my house has been dripping and I used the extra time of Labor Day Weekend to take on the project of stopping the leak. Even with my limited plumbing knowledge, I knew I could make this repair myself. What I didn't expect was that it took me stops at three separate hardware stores to acquire the materials I needed to address the drip. Driving from store to store, I felt like I was losing my enthusiasm for a small project. Why was it so difficult to find a few small parts for a faucet? As is often the case, my thoughts never stray too far from school and I almost immediately had thoughts about how this connected to education.
Of course, the problem with the drip is watching all that water go wastefully down the drain. It's not just water that is wasted when a system doesn't operate as intended. I know lots of teachers who have vast professional knowledge. I know they each have great ideas to use for their individual classes. Throughout my entire career, I have watched drips go down the drain as teachers with valuable knowledge were not asked to share or validated in other ways. Just as I addressed the drip in my bathroom, I am trying to address the dripping in my school. I'm trying to create PD opportunities to be led by any interested teacher. We're trying to use the "unconference" model to engage and encourage every teacher in sharing their collective knowledge. When we stop the drips, every teacher will feel solid and know the value he or she adds not only to a grade level team but also to the entire building. I won't let any teacher feel like one of those drips; I will make every teacher feel like an important part of our learning system.
Posted in
professional development
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Written on 1:19 PM by Unknown
Yesterday was our first day of classes for students in grades 1-5. It was a beautiful morning and we had lots of parents accompany their students and snap pictures of the 1st day activities. As I worked to write route numbers of bus riders' hands and make it possible for everyone to find their teacher, I forced myself to also look at the expressions on parents' faces. Nearly every face told me of their hopes for the coming year. I'm going to try to remember that image every day as we work through the year. Despite today's almost constant rain, I am buoyed by the enthusiasm I saw yesterday and hope we can carry that enthusiasm throughout the year.
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