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939 Search Results for "2012"

  • Nike Lunar Eclipse whatever th Nike Lunar Eclipse whatever that should make money, in addition to at this point some

    • From: Yangyijia00_Yutyu
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      Ferguson earned it has the 1st Highest regarded League Private coach from the 12 months merit inside 1992-93 period, that something in addition to shot that 11th connected with his / her profession, gained your merit. His / her 26 a long time on the Outdated Trafford, Ferguson directed Manchester united to get 38 official game titles, thirteen include gained your Highest regarded League Nike Free Trainer 5.0 bill that saturday and sunday, this individual will certainly usher directed Manchester united crew enjoyed inside 1500 video game. Tottenham superstar Bell participate in this specific months is usually quite very good, this individual scored 19 pursuits within 29 Highest regarded League mmorpgs, gained one of the best player from the Highest regarded League total public background for the reason that very first superstar regarding Tottenham along with Wales superstar. Before to the present, Bell possesses expert competitors marriage (PFA) along with He uk Media Organization (FWA) picked both the greatest person ribbons inside case along with, this specific becoming that public Highest regarded League player from the 12 months, so that will this individual finished within a months swept some ribbons feat.

      Following your announcements retired Donald Beckham released the finish regarding the season, several soccer heavyweights, which includes FA chairman Bernstein, that existing private coach from the Several Lions Hodgson depicted dismiss. Since to the approach out and about once retirement, "glamorous" could think about inside FA company. Will become retiring that summer months FA chairman Jesse : Bernstein accessory to providing dismiss Beckham departed, this individual in the near future produced attractive for the reason that FA ambassador. "Obviously, Donald possesses iconic physique within soccer, when this individual want to do Nike Lunar Eclipse whatever that should make money, in addition to at this point some of our country's soccer inside important want on the determine that over the top for the reason that FA ambassador, Post will not consider any one is capable of doing better in comparison with your ex. "Prior to the present, Beckham possesses clearly depicted minor affinity for supervision, this individual thought which immediately after old age may be involved yourself inside perform from the youngsters discipline., Offers put on your plate for the reason that encounter from the 2016 Globe Mug as well as the 2012 Birmingham Olympic Online games Ambassador, this individual will be certainly one of the best choice FA photo speak, for instance in advance of Beckenbauer grew to be that spokesperson connected with The german language soccer.

       

      Also, that The united kingdom supervisor Roy Hodgson believes that Donald Beckham to hang up his / her shoes with regard to soccer to remain to want to do something: "David was in several Nike LunarEclipse 2 tactics quite accomplished, nonetheless we hope to enjoy his / her encounter from the soccer discipline. " Some Lions discipline generously compliment with regard to Beckham, this individual believes that which soccer cannot pay for to reduce Beckham, original English striker will be certainly one of the greatest players inside universe soccer. Since to the future, this individual considered forward in order to Donald Beckham will remain within the soccer discipline. Original The united kingdom private coach Steve McClaren connected with Beckham's profession "incredibly well": "I ended up being fortunate to promote offers worked with a group of excellent players, Beckham will be certainly one of them about your courtroom, this individual shown talent is really a substantial magnitude due to challenging function, his / her 6-pack abs in addition to responsibility acceptable style with regard to youthful players. "Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney advantage regarding an old teammate: " My spouse and i listened to Jesse retiring, despite which kind of career they are so very good, I hope one's destiny, this individual can certainly almost all runs good. "Premier League official released one of the best coaches as well as the greatest player from the 2012-13 period ribbons, titles along with seized your retired original Manchester united supervisor Sir Alex Ferguson along with Tottenham superstar Bell, regarding which usually Bell will be finished contain expert person marriage Most effective Player Merit, England's most effective player from the 12 months merit, also for the reason that greatest player from the Highest regarded League's public several awards Grand Slam.

       

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  • Nike Free TR Twist footballing Nike Free TR Twist footballing, in the event that he or she might like to do anything

    • From: Yangyijia00_Yutyu
    • Description:

      Ferguson gained their very first Recognized Little league Train in the Calendar year award from the 1992-93 months, the actual blog titles as well as seized the actual 11th regarding their occupation, claimed that award. Their twenty six several years in the Previous Trafford, Ferguson encouraged Man utd to help acquire 38 standard games, tough luck own claimed that Recognized Little league subject this specific weekend break, he or she may usher encouraged Man utd company trialled from the 1500 activity. Tottenham movie star Bell perform this particular time of year is additionally fairly excellent, he or she have scored nineteen targets with twenty nine Recognized Little league adventures, claimed the most beneficial battler in the Recognized Little league twelve-monthly endorsed track record because the primary movie star of Tottenham in addition to Wales movie star. Prior Cheap Nike Free Run 3 to that, Bell offers specialist online players union (PFA) in addition to The uk Touch Connection (FWA) selected the 2 main finest participant honours from the carrier in addition to, this particular currently being the actual endorsed Recognized Little league battler in the calendar year, thus which he or she accomplished in the time of year swept several honours task.

      Following on from the messages out of production David Beckham declared the final of the growing season, countless footballing heavyweights, including FA chairman Bernstein, the actual present train in the 3 Lions Hodgson spoken to rue. While for any manner out there following pension, "glamorous" may perhaps look at from the FA workplace. Will probably end up being heading off this specific summer FA chairman Donald - Bernstein inclusion to help making rue Beckham left, he or she rapidly built gorgeous because the FA ambassador. "Obviously, David offers iconic determine with Nike Free TR Twist footballing, in the event that he or she might like to do anything that may realize success, as well as right now your nation's football within vital have of your figure this specific banner because the FA ambassador, My partner and i usually do not assume any person are capable of doing superior compared to him or her. "Prior to that, Beckham offers plainly spoken to little fascination with administration, he or she expected in which once pension might be hired from the work in the childhood private coach., Features served because the experience in the 2016 Universe Pot and also the 2012 Newcastle Olympic Mmorpgs Ambassador, he or she is actually without a doubt the most beneficial preference FA graphic connect, just like previous to Beckenbauer turned the actual spokesperson regarding A language like german footballing.

       

      In a similar fashion, the actual He uk office manager Roy Hodgson feels David Beckham to help belief their boot styles regarding football to stay to help find something to help: "David is due to countless techniques fairly gifted, nevertheless hopefully to help profit by their experience in the football industry. " Several Lions private coach generously honor regarding Beckham, he or she feels in which football are unable to afford to shed Beckham, former Uk striker is actually definitely one of the big participants within planet footballing. While for any long term, he or she appeared send to be able to David Beckham will stay with any football industry. Former He uk train Steve McClaren regarding Beckham's occupation "incredibly well": "I appeared to be fortuitous to cooperate with features caused loads of good participants, Beckham is Nike Free TR Fit 2 actually definitely one too at that judge, he or she confirmed skill is often a big scope as a consequence of tricky perform, their working hard as well as commitment deserving design regarding fresh participants. "Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney benefit of original teammate: " Post observed Donald heading off, irrespective of what type of work he or she is thus excellent, Related to your immediate future, he or she may just about all should go well. "Premier Little league standard declared the most beneficial mentors and also the finest battler in the 2012-13 months honours, game titles in addition to taken that out of production former Man utd office manager Mister Alex Ferguson in addition to Tottenham movie star Bell, of which often Bell is actually accomplished incorporate specialist participant union Greatest Battler Honor, England's greatest battler in the calendar year honor, too because the finest battler in the Recognized League's endorsed 3 honours Great Bust.

       

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  • Cheap Nike Free Run 2 the prac Cheap Nike Free Run 2 the practical knowledge of the

    • From: Yangyijia00_Yutyu
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      Ferguson won it's first Leading League Trainer of the Year or so honor in the 1992-93 season, the particular titles plus captured the particular 11th of the career, received the honor. The 26 ages at the Good old Trafford, Ferguson brought about Manchester united that will win 38 recognized gaming applications, 13 have received the Leading League 7steps this day, he / she will usher brought about Manchester united staff performed in the 1500 game. Tottenham star Bell play this kind of time is also very good, he / she obtained 19 goals in 29 Leading League game titles, received the best gamer of the Leading League annual official story as the initial star involving Tottenham and Wales Nike Free 5.0 V4 star. Preceding to this, Bell has professional players partnership (PFA) and Great britain Press Connections (FWA) chosen the two ideal player prizes in the travelling bag and, this kind of being the particular official Leading League gamer of the year or so, consequently that he / she completed in a time swept three prizes accomplishment.

      After the email retired Brian Beckham introduced the end involving the season, several football heavyweights, like FA chairman Bernstein, the particular current trainer of the A few Lions Hodgson expressed repent. When for the technique out right after pensionable, "glamorous" may take into account in the FA office. Could be settlement this the summer months FA chairman David -- Bernstein addition that will expressing repent Beckham departed, he / she soon created glamorous as the FA ambassador. "Obviously, Brian has iconic figure in football, in case he / she wish to accomplish something that will be successful, plus now each of our place's footballing in critical need of a find this advertising as the FA ambassador, I do not think anyone can do greater than the pup. "Prior to this, Beckham has evidently expressed small interest in software, he / she hoped that after pensionable can be involved in the job of the junior coach., Has dished up as Cheap Nike Free Run 2 the practical knowledge of the 2016 World Goblet and the 2012 London Olympic Games Ambassador, he / she is in truth the best option FA image communicate, like before Beckenbauer became the particular spokesperson of German born football.

       

      Likewise, Cheap Nike Free Run the particular England manager Roy Hodgson believes Brian Beckham that will psychological block the boots pertaining to footballing to continue that will do something: "David is in several ways very talented, however we hope that will benefit from the practical knowledge of the footballing field. " Three Lions coach generously praise pertaining to Beckham, he / she believes that footballing can not purchase to lose Beckham, past British striker is undoubtedly one of the biggest people in earth football. When for the upcoming, he / she looked ahead to Brian Beckham will remain in a footballing field. Past England trainer Steve McClaren of Beckham's career "incredibly well": "I was fortunate enough to work with has worked with several great people, Beckham is undoubtedly one in the the courtroom, he / she demonstrated ability is a huge amount thanks to difficult work, the hard work plus dedication valuable model pertaining to young people. "Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney blessing involving former teammate: " I heard David settlement, regardless of what kind of job he is consequently good, With regards to the future, he / she can all goes very well. "Premier League recognized introduced the best instructors and the ideal gamer of the 2012-13 season prizes, games and grabbed the retired past Manchester united manager Sir Alex Ferguson and Tottenham star Bell, involving which Bell is completed include professional player partnership Best Gamer Award, England's best gamer of the year or so award, in the process as the ideal gamer of the Leading League's official a few prizes Huge Fly.

       

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  • Nike Free 3.0 V4 work. Can alw Nike Free 3.0 V4 work. Can always be going this kind of summer time FA chairman

    • From: Yangyijia00_Yutyu
    • Description:

      Ferguson received the initial Premier Little league Coach belonging to the Yr give while in the 1992-93 time, this games and also grabbed this 11th with his or her vocation, won the particular give. His or her twenty six years for the Old Trafford, Ferguson led Man utd for you to gain 38 established video games, thirteen possess won the particular Premier Little league concept this kind of quick, he could usher led Man utd team gamed while in the 1500 adventure. Tottenham celebrity Bell have fun with this year can be pretty beneficial, he scored nineteen ambitions throughout twenty nine Premier Little league games, won the most effective gambler belonging to the Premier Little league 12-monthly recognized record since the earliest celebrity with Tottenham plus Wales celebrity. Previous for this, Bell includes skilled people marriage (PFA) plus Britain Hit Acquaintance (FWA) preferred the 2 best gamer awards while in the handbag plus, this appearing this recognized Premier Little league gambler belonging to the yr, hence this he concluded in a Nike Free 3.0 V3 very year swept a few awards feat.

      Following the emails out of production Chris are friends . Beckham proclaimed the conclusion with the growing season, some basketball heavyweights, which include FA chairman Bernstein, this latest coach belonging to the About three Lions Hodgson indicated regret. Seeing that with the way released soon after old age, "glamorous" may well think of while in the FA place of Nike Free 3.0 V4 work. Can always be going this kind of summer time FA chairman Chris are friends . : Bernstein add-on for you to indicating regret Beckham left, he before long made thrilling since the FA ambassador. "Obviously, Chris are friends . includes iconic amount throughout basketball, in the event he can do nearly anything that can succeed, and also today our country's basketball throughout imperative will need of any amount this kind of hysterical since the FA ambassador, When i tend not to feel any individual is able to do improved as compared with him. "Prior for this, Beckham includes obviously indicated bit of involvement in management, he longed this right after retirement is often employed while in the operate belonging to the young ones trainer., Includes offered since the practical experience belonging to the 2016 Earth Glass plus the 2012 Liverpool Olympic Game titles Ambassador, he can be in fact the most effective alternative FA picture talk, including prior to Beckenbauer evolved into this spokesperson with Languages like german basketball.

       

      In the same manner, this Great britain director Roy Hodgson is convinced Chris are friends . Beckham for you to hang up his or her footwear for basketball to carry on for you to an issue: "David is within some methods pretty as good, although hopefully for you to make use of his or her practical experience belonging to the basketball area. " A few Lions trainer generously compliments for Beckham, he is convinced this basketball can't have the funds for to get rid of Beckham, ex - British isles striker can be without doubt one of the greatest gamers throughout world basketball. Seeing that with the long run, he seemed forwards that will Chris are friends . Beckham will stay throughout your basketball area. Ex - Great britain coach Steve McClaren with Beckham's vocation "incredibly well": "I seemed to be lucky enough to utilize includes caused some superb gamers, Beckham can be without doubt one of these with the particular court, he exhibited expertise is usually a large extent because of hard operate, his or her effort and also determination worthy type for small gamers. "Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney boon with ex - teammate: " When i over heard Chris are friends . going, in spite of types of position they're hence beneficial, Lets hope the near future, he might most of will go properly. "Premier Little league established proclaimed the most effective professional poker coaches plus the best gambler belonging to the Nike Free 4.0 V2 2012-13 time awards, championships plus harnessed the particular out of production ex - Man utd director Mister Alex Ferguson plus Tottenham celebrity Bell, with which in turn Bell can be concluded include things like skilled gamer marriage Ideal Gambler Give, England's ideal gambler belonging to the yr give, as well since the best gambler belonging to the Premier League's recognized about three ribbons Fantastic Slam.

       

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  • Nike Free Mens produced glamor Nike Free Mens produced glamorous as the FA ambassador. "Obviously

    • From: Yangyijia00_Yutyu
    • Description:

      Ferguson won it has the first Highest regarded League Private coach of the 12 months honor in the 1992-93 season, that titles in addition to captured that 11th of his / her career, gained the honor. His / her 26 a long time at the Outdated Trafford, Ferguson directed Manchester united to win 38 official game titles, thirteen have gained the Highest regarded League bill this saturday and sunday, this individual will usher directed Manchester united crew enjoyed in the 1500 game. Tottenham star Bell play this specific months is also quite good, this Nike Free 3.0 V2 individual scored 19 goals within 29 Highest regarded League mmorpgs, gained the best player of the Highest regarded League total official background as the very first star regarding Tottenham and Wales star. Before to this, Bell has expert players marriage (PFA) and He uk Press Organization (FWA) picked the two greatest player ribbons in the case and, this specific being that official Highest regarded League player of the 12 months, so that this individual finished in a months swept three ribbons feat.

      After the announcements retired Donald Beckham released the end regarding the season, a good number of football heavyweights, which includes FA chairman Bernstein, that current private coach of the Several Lions Hodgson expressed dismiss. Since for the approach out once retirement, "glamorous" may think about in the FA office. Will be retiring this summer months FA chairman David : Bernstein addition to expressing dismiss Beckham departed, this individual soon Nike Free Mens produced glamorous as the FA ambassador. "Obviously, Donald has iconic figure within football, when this individual want to do whatever that will make money, in addition to now some of our country's footballing in important want of a determine this over the top as the FA ambassador, Post do not consider any one can do better than your ex. "Prior to this, Beckham has clearly expressed minor interest in supervision, this individual hoped which after old age can be involved in the perform of the youngsters coach., Offers put on your plate as the encounter of the 2016 World Mug and the 2012 London Olympic Games Ambassador, this individual is certainly the best choice FA image speak, for instance before Beckenbauer became that spokesperson of German born football.

       

      Also, that England supervisor Roy Hodgson believes Donald Beckham to hang up his / her boots with regard to footballing to continue to do something: "David is in a good number of ways quite talented, nonetheless we hope to benefit from his / her encounter of the footballing field. " Three Lions coach generously praise with regard to Beckham, this individual believes which footballing can not pay for to lose Beckham, original British striker is certainly one of the greatest players in universe football. Since for the future, this individual looked forward to Donald Beckham will remain within a footballing field. Original England private coach Steve McClaren of Beckham's career "incredibly well": "I was fortunate to work with offers worked with a good number of great players, Beckham is certainly one of them about the the courtroom, this individual demonstrated talent is a substantial magnitude thanks to challenging work, his / her hard work in addition to dedication acceptable model with regard to young players. "Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney blessing regarding former teammate: " I listened to David retiring, despite what kind of career he is so good, I Cheap Nike Blazers hope the future, this individual can almost all goes good. "Premier League official released the best coaches and the greatest player of the 2012-13 season ribbons, titles and seized the retired original Manchester united supervisor Sir Alex Ferguson and Tottenham star Bell, regarding which Bell is finished include expert player marriage Best Player Award, England's best player of the 12 months award, also as the greatest player of the Highest regarded League's official several awards Grand Slam.

       

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  • Fun TraveLearning Fun TraveLearning

    • From: Jan_Michael_Vincent_Abril
    • Description:

       

      The continuously shrinking world and the bout towards a knowledge-based economy impacted every aspect of human life in diverse ways. Even education could not escape this. Educators have sought various ways to make learning more relevant, real-life, and responsive to the changing needs of time.

      Inspired by all of this, LIFECOLLEGE, the school where I am working, came up with a unique program that is an eclectic mix of educational and international exposure and travel for 4th year high school students between 15-16 years old. The travel program commenced in 2006 where students first traveled to Australia. The following year, the school traveled to Singapore and Malaysia. Indonesia was included in the succeeding year. And by 2012, students have been traveling to Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand.

      As the school envisioned to become a cutting-edge learning hub for global champions, it seeks learning opportunities anchored on 21st century skills that to prepare its students to gain a global perspective without losing their heart for local community development.

      This travel program called Global Competence Class include fun and exciting activities such as visit to museums, landmarks, cultural centers, historic places, science centers, theme parks and the most important of all, one-day immersion in various partner schools.

      Each activity is linked to a learning competency in various learning areas including developing skills in communication, collaboration, and respect for cultural diversity.

      Through this program, the students also learn how to budget their time and money, how to commute in buses, trains, and ferries, how to read maps and follow directions, how to observe keenly and write about what they have observed, and how to understand our identity as Filipinos vis a vis our Asian neighbors.

      All learnings are documented on a travel journal produced by the schools. This is a collection of mindmaps, observation notes, reflections, photos, collectible items, and daily devotions to make the educational travel a memory escapade to remember for life. To prepare for this kind of trip isn't very difficult.

      The following steps would be of help.

      1. Secure passports and DSWD travel clearance. By The beginning of the school year, parents must be aware of the trip's requirements, expenses and itinerary. Legal documents such as passports must be secured from DFA while Travel Clearance is secured from DSWD. These are the necessary papers needed for minors to travel.

      2. Finalize itinerary. The next step is to scout for educational places to visit according to the learning goals? send proposals. Once the itinerary is finalized, search for affordable airline ticket prices and book immediately. Then look for hotels. The group would normally stay in the hotel during daytime. 

      3. Prepare travel logs. Since the itinerary is already set, a journal will help to document what the students learned. This is the most important part of the travel and a source of grade for those who participated. Included in this log are the worksheets for each place to visit, the checklists for the itinerary, contact persons in case of emergency, things to bring, and the evaluation sheet.

      4. Predeparture and Travel briefing. Orient the students with the guidelines on proper behavior in various places such as airports, trains, ferries, and places to visit. It would be best if they know what to do, where to go, and how to behave in places where cultural diversity is the norm.

      Educators who wanted to make a difference in the lives of their students must learn how to venture out and take bolder steps to innovate. Travel, at the least, is just one of the many options. In this country, where travel is now made available for every one, edu-tours is an exciting way to expose, prepare, and push our students to the real world.

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  • Complexity: Edge of Chaos Complexity: Edge of Chaos

    • From: Kevin_Goddard
    • Description:

      A common saying about schools is that schools are a reflection of the communities they serve, but communities are complex. Schools by nature are a complex interplay of social, cultural, economic, political, and symbolic capital unable to be bound or directed by simple directives such as legislative mandates. Schools should try to use the complexity of the community to envision an even better community than the one that exists. The edge of the community, the unsure boundary, the frothy-foamy conversation between organic fractals of human existence gives complex systems the capacity for innovation and organizational learning (Fels, 2006; Stacey, 1996).

      Equilibrium-oriented systems want to control disorder to move toward stability which limits energy crossing into the system so they act as ‘closed systems’ to keep energy from escaping. These systems apply negative feedback and other controls for order resulting in “strict policies, rigid hierarchies, resistance to change, and maintenance of the status quo” (Gilstrap, 2005, p. 58). In contrast, self-organized behavior reaches a steady state on its own while still remaining ‘critical’ in that it is barely stable (Waldrop, 1992). This is a fine point created by tension along the continuum.

      Stuart Kauffman believes human organizations that are too structured or specialized do not allow agents to learn beyond the traditional processes for performing a job. On the one hand, if no one has clearly defined roles, the organization is chaotic without progress. The organization wants a balance of agents having a common purpose with the ability to adapt to the behavior of other agents in the organization. Complex problems can be solved at the edge of chaos because of the redundancy, loose couplings, blurry but present hierarchical roles, etc. Organizations that can evolve processes to bring in an increasing flow of energy move to the edge of chaos where they can solve complex problems and gain a competitive advantage to anticipate the future in order to survive (Waldrop, 1992).

      Chaos by itself doesn’t explain the structure, the coherence, the self-organizing cohesiveness of complex systems…complex systems have somehow acquired the ability to bring order and chaos into a special kind of balance…called the edge of chaos where life has enough stability to sustain itself and enough creativity to deserve the name of life…The edge of chaos is the constantly shifting battle zone between stagnation and anarchy, the one place where a complex system can be spontaneous, adaptive, and alive….learning and evolution move agents along the edge of chaos in the direction of greater and greater complexity (Waldrop, 1992, p. 12, 296).

      These zones along the edge are similar to boundary conversations discussed by Bruffee (1999) where constant struggle determines what will shift to center and what will be marginalized. This gives new meaning to the phrase “on the cutting edge” of education. With no room to move in either direction, or you will no longer be on the edge, all you can do is move along the edge to stay on. “Systems function best when they are at the ‘edge of chaos’, poised between too much rigidity in the face of change and too much change in the face of achieved progress” (Levin, 2002, p. 12). Education needs emergent boundaries to allow work to be done and to keep systems from freezing up or flying into chaos (Church, 2005).

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    • 2 days ago
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  • You Don't Really Know Until Yo You Don't Really Know Until You Go

    • From: Robert_Zywicki
    • Description:

      Majdanek.jpg

       Majdanek.jpg

       

      I recently returned from Hunterdon Central’s Holocaust Overseas Study Tour.  Our group of twenty students and four educators traveled to Czech Republic and Poland to visit Terezin, Lidice, the Warsaw Ghetto, Treblinka, Majdanek, and Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was a transformative experience for me as an educator, parent, and citizen.

       

      I thought I would be prepared, at least intellectually, for what I would see on our trip. I grew up in a city with large Jewish and Polish populations.  From my earliest years I heard the stories of neighbors and close family friends who had survived Nazi camps.  Beginning in the first grade I was exposed to annual Holocaust education programs. As a social studies teacher I taught about the Holocaust for over a decade. Each camp is a visceral confrontation with the worst depravity known to humanity.  All I can say is that you don’t really know the enormity of the Holocaust until you go and visit the sites. 

       

      I hope more educators launch programs like Central’s Holocaust Overseas Study Tour.  Holocaust education is citizenship education.  The benefits are not just historical knowledge of the Holocaust. It is an opportunity to reflect upon what it means to have rights as a citizen and a reminder that we must be eternally vigilant to protect human rights.

       

      The inscription on the mausoleum at Majdanek in Lublin, Poland reads “let our fate be a warning to you.” The twenty students on the trip who come from a variety of religious and cultural backgrounds were in a word – inspiring. Their desire to study the Holocaust and return to present to their peers and the community about their experience is at the heart of everything we aspire to instill in students.   Tonight, our students will share their experiences from our trip and bear witness at the Flemington Jewish Community Center.

       

       

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    • 2 days ago
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  • How will your child suffer? How will your child suffer?

    • From: Jessica_Bohn
    • Description:

      Normally, I am not one to write on controversial issues, but there is freedom in the provocative, and the time is now (or yesterday) for action in education.  Although this speaks to one state's journey through the massive budget cuts and the looming additional injustices, I think that most educators in the nation have experienced a degree of this.  I humbly share my thoughts with legislators considering budgets for next school year and the community of ASCD advocates: 

      How will your child suffer?  We must stop this ridiculous abomination of a proposed budget now.  The incessant and continuous hit that education has taken in the last 5 years has been beyond reason.  However, this year's proposals fall just shy of criminal.  As a voter, a parent of children in the school system and a school principal, I have many perspectives to offer.  First, as a voter:  We elect officials into office who we believe will stand for the things that we hold close to heart.  Public schools are the birthplace of some of the best minds in America.  What does it mean to be American?  Please ask yourself this, as our elected representative.  Americans value critical opinions and diversity but stand united when someone attacks our home or our community.  To my esteemed elected officials, I say: We are under attack.  Make no mistake... this is a war of interests.  We must not let the future of our children and ultimately our country falter to other priorities.  We know that you are under pressure to invest in the political interests that got you into office, but we beg you not to sacrifice our children, your children or the future of our great nation in doing so.  As a parent:   We cannot provide quality schools without adequate funding to do so.  Should we settle for mediocrity?  Would you settle for mediocrity for your own child?  Absolutely not.  I want my children to get access to teachers with skills that will challenge their minds and inspire their hearts. Teachers deserve pay worthy of the countless hours they spend planning. Let Principals hold them accountable to that. I want my children to have adequate support in their classes as they are acclimated to the rigor of public schools. Teacher Assistants provide this support.  They are educators, advocates and probably teach your child in a center or reading group. I want my child to have access to the equipment, books and materials needed for 21st century learning. As a school principal:   Is the public aware that kids in most counties are still using outdated books, so teachers have to develop their own curriculum materials to match the new standards?  And what justice do we pay teachers when they do this with a smile on their face and protect our children from the perils of society?  We cut their support (TAs), cut their pay (furlough), cut their money for supplies (instructional money), increase their class size (class size waiver elimination), increase their insurance premiums and cut their access to resources and support (district funding going to charter/private schools).   Teacher Assistants are not just secretaries for the teacher, and I wonder if the public realizes that.  They are instructional assistants... they help your children and grandchildren learn.  Also, as a school administrator, one of the ways in which we can provide a duty-free lunch for teachers (which is a state requirement) is through the use of teacher assistants.  Similarly, I wonder if the public understands the correlation between effective instruction and the number of students in a class.  There is an inverse relationship between time for critical learning and the number of students in a class.  This state and this nation is in a dire place of certain demise, if we cannot commit to providing safe, quality schools for our children today, so they can solve nationwide and worldwide problems tomorrow. With the proposed legislation about class size, harsh cuts to public schools (again), elimination of Assistants, sequestration at the federal level, and funneling the leftover pocket change to charter/private schools rather than public schools... I must ask the question... how will your child suffer?

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    • 4 days ago
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  • Is Common Core Evil? Is Common Core Evil?

    • From: Kevin_Goddard
    • Description:

      I have seen a blaze of anti-Common Core sentiment sweep through certain states. These groups that are protesting the Common Core are counting on you not doing your own research and thinking about the Common Core in-depth. There are several FALSE claims you will hear in relation to Common Core that you need to think about. You can verify this at www.corestandards.org.

      First, the Common Core is not a national curriculum. The full name of Common Core is “Common Core State Standards” (aka CCSS) meaning they are benchmarks we want our children to achieve, but how to achieve them is left up to individual states and local communities. Many, many companies are competing for schools’ dollars by offering diverse and varied curricula if schools don’t want to write their own. The feds are not driving Common Core for implementation or for assessment.

      Second, the Common Core does not dumb down the curriculum (the same people claiming we are dumbing down the curriculum also gripe that we are introducing difficult concepts too early—which is it?). On average, we see rigorous standards applied 1 year earlier than we were applying them under the Missouri Grade Level Expectations. Missouri has consistently had the 2nd and 3rd most rigorous state achievement test (MAP) in the nation and now we see an even more rigorous test coming next year. In fact, we just piloted the Common Core assessment in the district and students and teacher alike commented on how much harder the test was than the MAP. One question I saw was substantially different than the MAP test. On MAP, a kid would be asked a math problem and then given a set of choices: A, B, C, or D. On the Common Core test, I saw a 5th grader answering questions that went something like this, “Suzy was given the following math problem.” A word problem followed. “Suzy read the problem, formed a plan to answer the problem with six steps.” A numbered list of 6 steps followed. “Suzy got the following answer which was wrong. Find which step in Suzy’s method was wrong, explain why, and correct her answer.” Folks, a kid has to think a lot deeper to answer that type of questions than a multiple-guess test.

      Third, there is a lot of other mumbo-jumbo being tossed around, but opponents keep piling up argument after argument against it until you aren’t even sure what they are referring to anymore. The argument expands to gripe about socialism, anti-Christian movements, abortion, tracking, cost, and I don’t know what else. But those things are other policy and legislative concerns that activists are lumping in with Common Core because they don’t understand it.

      In a nutshell, here is a Common Core kindergarten standard:

      RF.K.2(a): Recognize and produce rhyming words. The standard then recommends “Halfway Down” by A. A. Milne and “Singing Time” by Rose Fyleman although districts can use “Mary had a Little Lamb”, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”, or any other district approved literature. The concept can be further developed through artwork, song, science, math, and vocabulary. The curriculum is developed at the local level while the assessment will be used to determine if a student can indeed recognize and produce a rhyming word.

      Let’s try another one in 3rd grade:

      RI.3.9: Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic. The standard recommends “Sarah, Plain and Tall” and “The Storm” although districts can choose any literature they want to have students compare and contrast. By the way, this is something we were trained heavily in during my doctoral program in order to conduct academic research…and here it is in 3rd grade Common Core!

      5th grade:

      L.5.5. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. Exemplar texts include “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “The Little Prince.” Informational texts include, “Who is Neil Armstrong?” and “Women Explorers of North and South America.”  If we don’t like any of those, we can choose any literature we want.

      Can you feel Obama’s fingertips reaching for your children’s minds yet?  If you are confused where the socialist agenda is, I’m with you. But then again, no one has shown you what the real standards look like. Any standard can be written to reflect local control, with local lessons, local activities, and local formative assessments. The board will approve any curriculum that is generated by our own local teachers and reviewed by our own local administrators, myself included.

      Finally, there are some real nice components of Common Core that I want to point out:

      Reading is broken down into Literature, Informational Texts, and Foundational Skills. Writing, Speaking, Listening, and Language are strands of the standards. Reading and writing aren’t just isolated to classic works, but standards are given for reading to be taught in Social Studies classes, science, and other technical subjects.

      Here is an example of the “Integration of Knowledge and Ideas” in grades 9 and 10. Standard RI.9-10.9: Analyze seminal U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (Washington’s Farewell Address, the Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms speech, King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”), including how they address related themes and concepts. These are four powerful, patriotic, truly American pieces of history that our kids should be grappling with. The teacher moves from the “sage on the stage” lecturing about what these pieces mean to the “guide on the side” helping students hold democratic readings and discussions about what these authors may have intended and what they were dealing with from a historical context. Students must “delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, assessing whether the reasoning is valid and the evidence is relevant and sufficient; identify false statements and fallacious reasoning.”

      The Common Core State Standards are designed to provide a framework of standards that are Internationally Benchmarked, rigorous, and broad enough to allow states and local boards of education create a locally controlled curriculum designed to meet the needs of local children. Go to www.corestandards.org and read through the standards to see for yourself. Nothing is perfect. Education is a practice. Common Core is another step forward in that practice. It isn’t evil, destructive, or anti-American. It is an opportunity for people with an axe to grind to use it as political smoke and mirrors to advance their own agenda. Don’t let the smoke get in your eyes.

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  • The Kid Business: 2013 8th Gra The Kid Business: 2013 8th Grade Promotion

    • From: Kevin_Goddard
    • Description:

      I would like to share my words of wisdom to the 8th grade. Every year, I speak to them briefly, but my own daughter, Savannah, was being promoted. She is a strong personality who marches to a different drum. I never know if I am going to see her come down the stairs to go to school in a pink tutu, leather leggings, and a zebra striped shirt; or athletic shorts, dressy blouse, and flip-flops carrying her flute and her archery bow. She inspired this short speech.

       “Welcome to 8th Grade Promotion. I would like to read you a poem by Robert Frost called The Road Not Taken.”

       Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

      And sorry I could not travel both

      And be one traveler, long I stood

      And looked down one as far as I could

      To where it bent in the undergrowth;

       

      Then took the other, as just as fair,

      And having perhaps the better claim,

      Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

      Though as for that the passing there

      Had worn them really about the same,

       

      And both that morning equally lay

      In leaves no step had trodden black.

      Oh, I kept the first for another day!

      Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

      I doubted if I should ever come back.

       

      I shall be telling this with a sigh

      Somewhere ages and ages hence:

      Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

      I took the one less traveled by,

      And that has made all the difference.

       “Today, you face a choice. You can take the road taken by most. Well-worn, easy, and clear. Life may be safe, but not very exciting.

       “Or, you can take the one less traveled by—sometimes rough, sometimes muddy with uneven footing and roots to trip over. But it can be exciting, challenging, and rewarding.

       “I hope for the next four years, you will help me take Sarcoxie down the road less traveled by. And when we come to your Graduation Day, you will say, ‘That has made all the difference.’”

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  • Complexity: The Structure of C Complexity: The Structure of Complex Systems

    • From: Kevin_Goddard
    • Description:

      Five aspects of complex systems help define internal structure. Internal diversity keeps the system flexible. Redundancy keeps small fluctuations from rippling into chaotic, destructive change. Decentralized control allows innovation and creativity to emerge from the complex interactions between diverse agents. Organized randomness keeps the system moving along cohesively without limiting where it will go. Neighbor interactions keep the system in check in relation to the environment and local fitness peaks (Davis et al., 2006).

      Structure is important to complexity because “a hierarchical, building-block structure utterly transforms a system’s ability to learn, evolve, and adapt” (Waldrop, 1992, p. 169) by giving systems an opportunity to move subsystems around to increase complexity and creativity without having to try out every possible combination of agents and schema. Order is a byproduct of structure through routines and clear structures, rules, and procedures (Marzano et al., 2005). The structure itself is “influenced by social, economic, and political factors; created and socially constructed; learned; and dialectical” (Church, 2005, p. 48). Practices are determined by structures as well as construct structures (Swartz, 1997). Reflective practice gives individuals and groups the iterative vehicles to change complex organizational structures.

      Despite the structures present in complex systems, “it is not possible to separate complex adaptive systems into neat categories based on whether and where selection is operating. In most systems, selection is manifest on multiple interacting scales” (Levin, 2002, p. 4). Structure cannot be permanent because agents reorganize themselves in response to internal and external stimuli so that renewal is continual (Fels, 2006). Complex systems can move along a continuum ranging from order to chaos with complexity sitting at the edge of both simultaneously (Waldrop, 1992).

      “Since the boundaries of complex systems are difficult to determine, it is impossible to draw tidy lines between these organizational layers” (Davis & Simmt, 2006, p. 296). Fuzzy boundaries in the school as a complex system are especially evident when talking about differences in social class, the curriculum of a school, and the schemas used in the school community (Barr & Parrett, 2007; Lareau, 2000; Weiner, 2006). The unique sociocultural capital of diverse social classes determines alignment of groups of agents with the capital present in a school. “School practices and assumptions emerging from the deficit paradigm often hide student and teacher abilities” (Weiner, 2006, p. 1). Deficit thinking comes from either the recessive schema of the marginalized system or the dominant schema of the legitimate system depending on the context the school currently finds itself. The curriculum itself emerges from and as part of the emerging, iterative structures of the school community with “formal, informal, and even ‘hidden’” aspects (Barr & Parrett, 2007, p. 141).

      The subsystems of complex adaptive systems are the legitimate and recessive systems with agents interacting according to schema with dominant and marginalized parts respectively. Paradox exists multi-dimensionally as well at the system, agent, and schema levels. Ordinary management techniques drive legitimate processes while the recessive system requires extraordinary management. Stacey (1996) claims that the boundaries of the legitimate system are “clear-cut” while the recessive system’s boundaries are “fuzzy”; however, the fact that the legitimate system is aware of and ignores much of the activity of the recessive system makes the legitimate system’s boundaries fuzzy even if they are less permeable than the recessive system.

      The legitimate network in an organization plans enculturation and avoids surprises by using the dominant schema to control interactions keeping them linear (uniform, conformed, repetitive) resulting in proportional response to stimuli, balanced input/output, and in the end, the system equals the sum of its parts. The recessive system, a subsystem of the legitimate system, can also stop renewal and maintaining stability by resisting change; however, changes to the legitimate system are actualized through processes in the recessive system. Efficient legitimate systems are stable with the equilibrium to actualize the mission of the organization. The recessive subsystem’s schemas lead to diversity in the system which is an integral part of complexity and “comprises all social and political interactions that are outside the rules strictly prescribed by the legitimate system” (Stacey, 1996, p. 290). Conversely, power is relative and can exist in either the dominant or marginal ideology. Social change can be brought about by activating power and negotiating interests in the margins (Watkins & Tisdell, 2006).

      In complex systems, team-based units allow for structure without being overly so through redundancy in the form of organic fractals. Teams exhibit characteristics of open systems with permeability and high information flow; nonlinear responsibilities and interests; self-referencing knowledge and redundancy; organic in the self-selection of members; and share vision, culture, and meaning as possible strange attractors (Gilstrap, 2005). Creativity also resides in the redundancy that teams allow “for the repetition of different ideas and experiments in slightly different ways, and…means that the organization will be more resilient in the face of inevitable failures” (Stacey, 1996, p. 280).

      The principal acts as the recognized leader of the legitimate system; however, leaders operate as participants in the recessive system helping contain anxiety in the face of change through urgency and assurance at the boundary while observing processes in the organization. Leadership shifts from ordinary management in structured times to extraordinary management in phase transitions as the school moves along the continuum between order and chaos (Stacey, 1996).

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  • Complexity: Long-term vs Short Complexity: Long-term vs Short-term Predictability

    • From: Kevin_Goddard
    • Description:

      Long-term predictability. In non-linear systems, a lack of understanding, the smallest miscalculation, or the smallest bit of information missing magnifies throughout the system until predictions are useless (Waldrop, 1992). Unpredictability is key to creativity which emerges from complex interactions and “cannot be intended in any comprehensive way….we are agents in systems that are coevolving into an open-ended evolutionary space” (Stacey, 1996, p. 71, 217). We are not in control of what happens in long-term outcomes.

      The system moves toward a strange attractor like the mission and vision of a school, but never reaches the mission and vision. The system continues to move toward the mission and vision from the given point of the school generated by the sociocultural and environmental contexts driven by the specific interactions of the multitude of agents residing in the school community or any networked systems resulting in the school “orbiting” shakily around this strange attractor as those negotiations are made (Gilstrap, 2005). Long-term outcomes based on these uncertain, complex movements are unpredictable at best (U.S. Department of Education, 1998).

      Short-term predictability. In complex systems, themes and archetypes are recognizable (Stacey, 1996; Waldrop, 1992). In fact, understanding the history of a complex system to look for patterns allows educators to plan within a short-term time frame, sometimes simply the next move to be made. This almost total lack of control causes the behavior of the system to emerge. Short term, general predictions are possible since tiny fluctuations take time to build and the momentum of the system is rooted in the past (Kieren, 2005; Stacey, 1996). “Patterns emerge at higher levels as a result of adaptive dynamics at lower levels of integration…prediction is limited, and…we must develop statistical mechanical methods to extract the knowable from the unknown” (Levin, 2002, p. 15).

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  • Complexity: Unpredictability Complexity: Unpredictability

    • From: Kevin_Goddard
    • Description:

      When analyzing their school’s organizational context, principals cannot underestimate the unpredictability of the long-term future of the system. Marginalized populations within the school act as a recessive system undermining the efforts of the dominant, legitimate system. The future of the school emerges from interactions within and between the recessive and the dominant systems. A new paradigm that recognizes and makes meaning of the dynamic, nonlinear versus linear nature of the processes and interactions of these two subsystems would help protect principals from unreasonable long-term planning, unproductive and unmanaged conflict, innovative but misguided agents, and wasted time due to superficial work and restructuring efforts not based on emergence (Bower, 2006; Stacey, 1996).

      The dominant paradigm rosily sees success in stability, predictability, and carefully strategic plans (Stacey, 1996). “Predictions are nice, if you can make them. But the essence of science lies in explanation, laying bare the fundamental mechanisms of nature” (Waldrop, 1992, p. 39). Educational complexity is not different. Researchers have to look at explaining how education works with the knowledge that it may not result in predictability since education is emergent based on too many factors to mathematically analyze.

      History and past pedagogy is important to creating effective high-performing, high-poverty schools (HP2S), but vast changes in the sociocultural capital available to students in this decade make research of previous decades null or irrelevant. Even within the same time period, findings in one context will not be generalizable to another setting. Failing schools that are trying to transform cannot hope to perfectly implement what other successful schools have accomplished because of the unpredictability of complex systems (Barr & Parrett, 2007; Berliner, 2002; Brady, retrieved October 22, 2007; Church, 2005).

      Strategic planning in complex environments results in rigid processes such as goal setting and action plans that restrict emergence. Educational institutions should allow for a more flexible process that takes into account causal relationships (Gilstrap, 2005). Small fluctuations would have a harder time permeating multiple boundaries within similar structures across a flattened hierarchy. This redundancy provides stability, robustness, and resilience against small environmental fluctuations (Stacey, 1996).

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  • L2L News: May 2013 L2L News: May 2013

    • From: Meg_Simpson
    • Description:

      ASCD Leader to Leader (L2L) News is a monthly e-mail newsletter for ASCD constituent group leaders that builds capacity to better serve members, provides opportunities to promote and advocate for ASCD’s Whole Child Initiative, and engages groups through sharing and learning about best practices. To submit a news item for the L2L newsletter, send an e-mail to constituentservices@ascd.org.

       

      Your To-Do List: Action Items for ASCD Leaders

       

      Newest Policy Points Revisits A Nation at Risk

      ASCD’s newest Policy Points (PDF) takes a closer look at A Nation at Risk, the 1983 report on the state of U.S. education that launched a spirited and ongoing debate about the quality of our public schools. This issue of Policy Points examines the specific recommendations of the report, the accuracy of its dire prediction about “a rising tide of mediocrity” undermining the nation’s well-being, and the evolving school reform debate the report kick-started three decades ago.

       

      Throughout May on www.wholechildeducation.org: The New Poverty

      In today’s global economic state, many families and children face reduced circumstances. These “poor kids” don’t fit the traditional stereotypes—two-thirds live in families in which at least one adult works and the percentage of poor students in many rural districts equals that in inner-city districts. In the United States, the economic downturn has dramatically changed the landscape, and districts that were previously vibrant are now dealing with unemployment, underemployment, and more transient families.

      Join us as we share what new—and old—solutions we are using to support learning and ensure that each child, whatever her circumstances, is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

      Download the Whole Child Podcast for a discussion on the current economic downturn; its result that many families and children face reduced circumstances; and implications for schools, many of which have seen drastic changes in the populations they serve and their communities. Guests include Deborah Wortham, superintendent of the School District of the City of York, Pa., and former assistant superintendent for high schools and director of professional development for Baltimore City (Md.) Public Schools; Felicia DeHaney, president and CEO of the National Black Child Development Institute; William Parrett, director of the Center for School Improvement and Policy Studies and professor of education at Boise State University;  and Kathleen Budge, coordinator of the Leadership Development Program  and associate professor in the Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Department at Boise State University. Parrett and Budge are also coauthors of the 2012 ASCD book Turning High-Poverty Schools into High-Performing Schools.

      Throughout the month, read the Whole Child Blog and tell us what has worked in your school and with your students. E-mail us and share resources, research, and examples.

       

      ASCD Leader Voices

       

      Arkansas Governor Signs Whole Child Legislation

      Arkansas Governor Michael Beebe signed a new bill into law that promotes a whole child approach to educating the state’s children. The legislation (PDF) establishes a Whole Child Whole Community recognition program and aims to measure the comprehensive well-being of children and how well stakeholders are meeting their needs according to the five whole child tenets and their indicators as identified by ASCD.

      The recognition program will acknowledge and highlight the work of Arkansas educators, parents, community members, and policymakers who support the whole child. The legislation also indicates that one purpose of the recognition program is to help spur systemic collaboration and coordination within and beyond schoolhouse doors and to promote a shift from narrowly defined student achievement and traditional education reform to broader, more comprehensive efforts that recognize the crucial out-of-school factors that influence teaching and learning. A diverse state working group will work over the course of a year to recommend a framework and process for recognizing exemplary whole child and whole community successes.

      Congratulations to Arkansas ASCD, which played a crucial role in supporting the bill’s development and introduction!

       

      Rhode Island Passes Whole Child Resolution

      The Rhode Island General Assembly passed a joint resolution (PDF) supporting a whole child approach to education that ensures each child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

      The resolution affirms that to educate Rhode Island’s children effectively, the state must pay attention to factors within and beyond its school buildings as well as integrate efforts among schools, families, and communities. In addition, the resolution expresses the assembly’s intent to model whole child concepts in its own work and to join with other stakeholders who support the whole child.

      Congratulations to Rhode Island ASCD(RIASCD), which worked hard to have this joint resolution introduced into the Rhode Island legislature!

      To help the state fulfill its commitment to whole child education, ASCD and RIASCD offered some initial steps (PDF)—organized by the five whole child tenets—for educators, parents and community members, and policymakers to take. RIASCD also highlighted some of ASCD’s free resources to help the state put its whole child vision into action. 

       

      South Carolina ASCD Featured in ASCD Inservice Blog Series

      Weasked some of our affiliate leaders to tell us how the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) has been going in their home states.In the seventh post of the series, South Carolina ASCD leader Josh Patterson writes about the challenges and successes that South Carolina has had with CCSS implementation.

      Previous Posts:Tennessee ASCD, New Jersey ASCD,Alabama ASCD, Arkansas ASCD, New Hampshire ASCD, and Florida ASCD

       

      The Effective Principal

      What we see through our research, reading, and conversations with principals and school staff is that to see what an effective principal is, don’t look at the person; look at the effects of her leadership on student achievement, school culture and climate, teacher effectiveness and satisfaction, and community relationships. As the wearers of many hats, principals are crucial to implementing meaningful and lasting school change. Read more on the Whole Child Blog.

      In April, we looked at what qualities principals in today’s (and tomorrow’s) schools need to fulfill their roles as visionary, instructional, influential, and learning leaders. Listen to the Whole Child Podcast with guests Donna Snyder, manager of Whole Child Programs at ASCD; Kevin Enerson, principal of Le Sueur-Henderson High School in Minnesota (an ASCD Whole Child Network school); and Jessica Bohn, an ASCD Emerging Leader and principal of Gibsonville Elementary School in North Carolina.

      Also this month on the Whole Child Podcast, we talked with educators from Oregon’s Milwaukie High School (winner of the 2013 Vision in Action: The ASCD Whole Child Award) about how they meet student and staff needs, taking challenges and turning them into opportunities for all. Guests include principal Mark Pinder, assistant principal for curriculum Michael Ralls, assistant principal for student management Tim Taylor, dean of students Donnie Siel, and teacher leader David Adams.

      Have you signed up to receive the Whole Child Newsletter? Read the latest newsletter and visit the archive for more strategies, resources, and tools you can use to help ensure that each child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

        

      Something to Talk About

      ·         Most recent blog posts on ASCD EDge®

      ·         Mostclicked stories from ASCD SmartBrief

       

      Association News

      Killeen Independent School District Deepens Professional Development Partnership with ASCD—Killeen Independent School District (ISD)—whose more than 6,100 staff members serve approximately 42,000 students—is deepening its relationship with ASCD to meet its professional development goals. Read the full press release.

      ASCD Publishes Leadership Guide on Transforming Any Teacher into a Master—ASCD is pleased to announce the release of Never Underestimate Your Teachers: Instructional Leadership for Excellence in Every Classroom by best-selling education author, renowned educator, and professional development expert Robyn R. Jackson.
      Never Underestimate Your Teachers offers school leaders a new model for understanding great teaching as a combination of skill and will, and it's the first book of its kind to support leaders as they facilitate teacher growth in both areas through differentiated leadership. Jackson shows readers how to design and deliver targeted professional development to help each teacher realize his or her potential and achieve great results for the benefit of every student. Read the full press release.

      New ASCD Common Core Academy Supports School Leadership Teams Across the United States—ASCD is bringing its inaugural ASCD Common Core Leadership Team Academy to Chicago August 5–8, 2013. This intensive four-day professional leadership experience offers groups of administrators, teacher leaders, and nonprofit and higher education partners an accelerated plan for putting the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) into routine practice. Read the full press release.

      ASCD Summer Reading List Identifies 10 Books That Can Transform Teaching and Learning—In the spirit of promoting year-round professional development, ASCD has assembled a diverse list of books essential to educators who seek to improve their practice over the summer months. These books—organized by how they help educators transform teaching and learning—offer readers the opportunity to dive deep into the hottest topics in education, including using data to focus improvement, project-based learning, child development, and neurodiversity. All books are currently available in paperback and e-book formats. Read the full press release.

      Arkansas Governor Beebe Signs Education Reform Law Supporting the Whole Child—Arkansas Governor Michael Beebe has signed a new bill into law that promotes a well-rounded whole child approach to educating the state’s children.“An Act to Establish the Whole Child– Whole Community Recognition Program; and for Other Purposes” (Senate Bill 1051[PDF]) outlines a plan for the Arkansas education system that ensures Arkansas students receive a whole child education. Read the full press release.

      New ASCD Staff Expand Association’s Ability to Design, Deliver, and Evaluate Professional Development Resources—ASCD welcomes three new staff members to the association’s Program Development Work Group. Dr. Andrea Muse has accepted the position of director of research and program evaluation, Jen Thompson will serve as director of program management and process improvement, and Elizabeth Thurman has joined ASCD as director of customer engagement and product support. The additions of Muse, Thompson, and Thurman expand ASCD’s capability to design, deliver, and evaluate the crucial professional development resources today’s educators need to learn, teach, and lead. Read the full press release.

       

       

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  • Complexity: Complicated versus Complexity: Complicated versus Complex

    • From: Kevin_Goddard
    • Description:

      The traditional structure of and approach to education in the U. S. treats education as complicated versus complex. Educational scholars seem confused about the differences between complicated, complex, and chaotic. Complicated systems consist of many static, connected, dependent parts more mechanical in nature to perform a specific function such as “teaching”. Many parts of the school day are mechanical and require ordinary management skills to maintain. Complex systems include layers of shifting, changing, overlapping agents and systems more organic in nature dedicated to learning and surviving in a specific environment. Instruction, curriculum, public relations, etc. interact in a complex, holistic manner and require emergent leadership to sustain (Barr & Parrett, 2007).

      Metaparadigms, macropatterns, and archetypes allow school leaders to focus on the emergence of success from HP2S instead of reductionist practices by homogonous affluent schools in a sort of “backwards design of leadership” reminiscent of the classic by Wiggins and McTighe (Church, 2005). Complexity does not have a list or recipe, but acts as a framework or archetype of what happens during an educational cycle around a strange attractor (Stacey, 1996). “Any given moment the novelty of experience and the multiplicity of alternatives will be organising(sic) themselves thereby making learning not a rationally deduced abstraction but a meaningful encounter expressed in terms of students’ literally making sense out of their own experiences” (Semetsky, 2006, p. 33).

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  • Complexity: Systems Theory Complexity: Systems Theory

    • From: Kevin_Goddard
    • Description:

      Systems theory posits that a change in one component of a system affects some or all of the other components. Currently, such theories reflect the stable equilibrium paradigm and reduce network subsystems to their most basic components with the intent of finding a way to control the system (Bonner, 2006; Stacey, 1996). A systemic thinker trying to act as a non-biased observer looking for better ways to accomplish system tasks cannot predict how the environment will change over time due to human inability to detect and measure all of the tiny changes occurring in a system. As more systems try to use systemic thinking, the rapidity of the shifting of the environment increases; however, “systemic thinking and leadership are human strategies that make it more possible for us to survive at the edge of chaos than other species” (Stacey, 1996, p. 114).

      Schools act as open systems in which adaptation to public, organizational, and legislative demands are essential to health and survival. Open systems theory examines the ability of the school to maintain a steady state while learning to learn, taking in more energy than it expends, collecting resources, and transforming resources into products while recognizing that there are multiple means to fulfill school goals (Donaldson, 1998; Morgan, 1997). By replicating the overall design of the district into subsystems such as buildings, teams, committees, and departments, the school has the capability to learn through its nested layers and redundant parts mirroring both the internal school environment and external community environment (Morgan, 1997).

      Principals need to develop and implement a method of evaluating the effectiveness of school teams and their ability to identify, analyze, and solve problems against operating norms. By viewing from multiple theories-in-use and questioning operating norms through double-loop learning, the team gets a diverse or complicated view of the problem to arrive at a fuller, richer, and deeper understanding. Adaptation to the environment is dependent upon being attuned to the environment, engaging in productive conflict, making sense, socially justifying knowledge, and coordinating use of data in working toward school goals (Bolman & Deal, 1997; Bruffee, 1999; Donaldson, 1998; Morgan, 1997).

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  • L2L News: April 2013 L2L News: April 2013

    • From: Meg_Simpson
    • Description:

       

      Thanks for a fantastic 2013 ASCD Annual Conference in Chicago, Illinois!

      Read ASCD Executive Director Dr. Gene Carter’s annual conference reflections here.

      Your To-Do List: Action Items for ASCD Leaders

       

      Register for the Whole Child Virtual Conference: May 6–10, 2013

      Join ASCD for its third annual Whole Child Virtual Conference. This free online event offers thought leadership discussions; presentations from leading authors and experts; and an exploration of the steps outstanding schools, communities, and individual countries take as they move along the continuum of a whole child approach—from implementation to sustainability to culture. No matter where you are on this continuum, you’ll find lessons you can learn and questions you can ask to improve and grow your schools.

      This year the conference will include 24 sessions over 7 days between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. eastern time, with sessions on May 2 and 3 specifically for Australasian and European audiences. This year’s conference speakers include authors and experts Thomas Armstrong, Michael Fullan, Andy Hargreaves, Eric Jensen, Wendy Ostroff, William Parrett and Kathleen M. Budge, Pasi Sahlberg, and Yong Zhao.

      Sessions will also feature presentations from ASCD Emerging Leaders, ASCD’s Outstanding Young Educators Award winner, the recipient of Vision in Action: The ASCD Whole Child Award, and members of ASCD’s Whole Child Network of Schools.

      Registration is now open. Go to www.ascd.org/wcvirtualconference to sign up.

       

      ASCD Nominations Committee Applications Open in May

      ASCD is seeking ASCD leaders who are interested in serving on the 2013–14 ASCD Nominations Committee. More information—the committee’s charge, qualifications for service, and time commitment—will be available starting May 1 on www.ascd.org. ASCD will be accepting applications May 1–31. We invite ASCD leaders to consider their interest in this opportunity over the next few weeks before the application becomes available.

        

       ASCD Leaders in Action: News from the ASCD Leader Community

       

      ASCD Student Chapters Help Chicago’s Hungry During ASCD Annual Conference

      On March 15, 46 ASCD Student Chapter members volunteered to make a difference in the fight against hunger in Chicago. Working together the Friday morning before ASCD’s Annual Conference, the students packaged more than 15,000 pounds of food to help feed the nearly 678,000 people who rely on emergency and supplemental food from the Greater Chicago Food Depository. Thank you and congratulations to our ASCD Student Chapter volunteers! Read the full Conference Daily article.


      ASCD Forum Session at ASCD Annual Conference Gives Educators a Voice on Teacher and Principal Effectiveness

      On March 17, ASCD Past President Debra Hill facilitated a discussion of the ASCD Forum topic “how do we define and measure teacher and principal effectiveness?” Ten ASCD leaders stepped forward to help lead the discussion:

      ·         Jason Flom, ASCD Emerging Leader

      ·         Ben Shuldiner, Position Advisory Committee Member

      ·         Amy Vanden Boogart, ASCD Emerging Leader

      ·         Jeffrey Lofthus, Alaska ASCD Executive Director

      ·         Daina Lieberman, ASCD Emerging Leader

      ·         Mamzelle Adolphine, Professional Interest Community Facilitator

      ·         Laurie McCullough, Virginia ASCD Executive Director

      ·         Alice Wells, Arizona ASCD Executive Director

      ·         Matthew Cotton, ASCD Emerging Leader

      ·         Torian White, ASCD Emerging Leader

       

      Session attendees stepped up to the front of the room to share their thoughts and also posted tweets to the #ASCDForum hashtag. Many thanks to the ASCD leaders who participated to make this session a success!

       

      Congratulations to ASCD Affiliate Recognition Award Winners

      Please join ASCD in congratulating the ASCD Affiliate Recognition Award Recipients:

      Two affiliates were recognized for the 2013 Overall Excellence Award: Iowa ASCD, for its increased focus on integrating technology into professional learning opportunities and their influence and advocacy work with ASCD, and New Hampshire ASCD, for its work to increase membership and provide increased professional learning opportunities, such as Common Core workshops.

      In addition, New Jersey ASCD received the Area Excellence Award for Programs, Products, and Services for their leadership in their state as a trusted source for professional learning. Texas ASCD received an Exceptional Progress Award in Influence and Policy, and Alberta ASCD, Ohio ASCD, and Vermont ASCD were all recipients of the Exceptional Progress Award in Programs, Products, and Services.

      Read the Conference Daily article.

       

      Welcome to the “Educating Beyond Disabilities” Professional Interest Community

      Please join ASCD in welcoming our newest Professional Interest Community, facilitated by 2011 ASCD Emerging Leader Christina Yuknis. Please join her group on ASCD EDge.

       

      Tennessee ASCD Featured in ASCD Inservice Blog Series

      Weasked some of our affiliate leaders to tell us how the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) has been going in their home states. In the sixth post of the series, Tennessee ASCD President-Elect John Combs writes about the challenges and successes that Tennessee has had with CCSS implementation.

      Previous Posts:New Jersey ASCD,Alabama ASCD, Arkansas ASCD, New Hampshire ASCD, and Florida ASCD


      Congratulations!

       

      Other News

       

      Meet ASCD President Becky Berg

      Becky J. Berg is from a family of educators. "My dad was a school board president; my mom was a career educator; and my sister, my grandmother, and my great-grandfather were educators," she says. Despite the genetic pull, Berg wasn't completely convinced she would follow in the family's footsteps until her experience as a summer camp counselor while she was in college. It was then that she realized how much she loved working with kids. Read the full Conference Daily article.

       

      Congratulations to the 2013 Outstanding Young Educator Award Winners!

      ASCD salutes a new generation’s passion for education excellence through this year’s selection of two Outstanding Young Educator Award winners: Joshua Garcia, deputy superintendent of Tacoma Public Schools (Wash.), and Parkville High School  (Parkville, Md.) teacher Ryan Twentey. Twentey teaches art, photography, and interactive media production and also serves as the school’s technology liaison. Read the full Conference Daily article.

       

      Interactive ASCD 2012 Annual Report Features ASCD Leaders

      Check out the ASCD 2012 Annual Report, entitled “Creating Solutions: The ASCD Revolution in Motion.” This interactive report features videos footage of ASCD leaders, including ASCD Emerging Leader Steven Anderson, Florida ASCD President Alina Davis, Alabama ASCD Executive Director Jane Cobia, ASCD Board Member Harriet Arnold, and Connecticut ASCD President David Cormier.


      Throughout April at wholechildeducation.org: Principal Leadership

      Principals are the key players in developing the climate, culture, and processes in their schools. They are critical to implementing meaningful and lasting school change and in the ongoing school-improvement process. Principals who have a clear vision; inspire and engage others in embracing change for improvement; drive, facilitate, and monitor the teaching and learning process; and foster a cohesive culture of learning are the collaborative leaders our schools need to fully commit to ensuring each student—and school staff member—is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

      What qualities do principals in today’s (and tomorrow’s) schools need to fulfill their roles as visionary, instructional, influential, and learning leaders?

      There are two episodes of the Whole Child Podcast in April for you to download and share. The first episode, “Leveling and Raising the Playing Field,” features school staff from Oregon’s Milwaukie High School, winner of the 2013 Vision in Action: The ASCD Whole Child Award, and is available now. On April 11, the second episode will be available. It will focus on principal leadership and include guests Kevin Enerson, principal of Whole Child Network school Le Sueur-Henderson High School in Minnesota, and Jessica Bohn, ASCD Emerging Leader and principal of  Gibsonville Elementary School in North Carolina.

      Throughout the month, read the Whole Child Blog and tell us what has worked in your school and with your students. E-mail us and share resources, research, and examples.

       

      The Best-Case Scenario

      As we review and reinforce our schools’ safety measures, we aren’t planning for the worst-case scenario that might happen; we are working to make sure the best-case scenario—where schools are learning environments that are physically, socially, and emotionally safe for students and adults—is an everyday occurrence that does happen. Read more on the Whole Child Blog.

      In February and March, we looked at what we, as educators, believe is crucial to making our schools safe—not just physically safe, but also safe places to teach and learn. Listen to the Whole Child Podcast with guests Joseph Bergant II, superintendent of Chardon Schools in Ohio; Howard Adelman, professor of psychology at UCLA and codirector of the School Mental Health Project and the Center for Mental Health in Schools (a whole child partner); and Jonathan Cohen, adjunct professor in psychology and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and president and cofounder of whole child partner National School Climate Center.

      Have you signed up to receive the Whole Child Newsletter? Read the latest newsletter and visit the archive for more strategies, resources, and tools you can use to help ensure that each child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

        

      Something to Talk About

      Most recent blog posts on ASCD EDge®

      Mostclicked stories from ASCD SmartBrief

       

      Association News

      • ASCD Announces 2013 Conference on Teaching Excellence in National Harbor, Md.—ASCD will host its Conference on Teaching Excellence June 28–30, 2013, in National Harbor, Md. The conference—which will take place over two and a half days—will focus on the topic of teaching excellence and will have more than 150 sessions tailored for educators of all levels, including teachers, teacher leaders, principals, and district supervisors. Read the full press release.

      • ASCD Announces New Spring and Summer Professional Development Institutes Supporting Common Core Implementation—ASCD announces new one- and two-day Professional Development Institutes supporting educators nationwide as they implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Read the full press release.

      • The Third Annual ASCD Whole Child Virtual Conference Launches May 6, 2013—ASCD’s third annual Whole Child Virtual Conference, entitled “Moving from Implementation to Sustainability to Culture,” will run May 6–10, 2013. The free and exclusively online event—which attracted more than 900 participants last year—offers educators around the globe 24 sessions to support their work to implement and sustain a whole child approach to education. Read the full press release.

      • ASCD Names 2013 Elected Leaders and Affiliate Awards Recipients—ASCD announced Becky J. Berg—superintendent of the Deer Park School District in Deer Park, Wash. —as the association’s new President. Berg took office at the conclusion of ASCD’s 68th Annual Conference and Exhibit Show in Chicago, Ill., on March 18. Read the full press release.

      • ASCD Launches Interactive 2012 Annual Report—ASCD is pleased to announce the release of the association’s 2012 Annual Report, entitled “Creating Solutions: The ASCD Revolution in Motion.” This report showcases the association’s achievements and serves as a resource discovery tool for educators who seek programs, products, and services that empower them to support the success of each learner. Read the full press release.

      • Florida Association of District School Superintendents Launches Professional Development Partnership with ASCD—At ASCD’s 68th Annual Conference and Exhibit Show, ASCD and the Florida Association of District School Superintendents (FADSS) announced a new partnership to provide FADSS members statewide with customized professional development that will build participants’ capacity for successfully leading, supporting, and monitoring the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in their districts. Read the full press release.

      • ASCD Selects Washington State Deputy Superintendent and Maryland Teacher as 2013 Outstanding Young Educators—At ASCD’s 68th Annual Conference and Exhibit Show in Chicago, Ill., Joshua Garcia, deputy superintendent of Tacoma Public Schools in Tacoma, Wash., and Ryan Twentey, a photography teacher at Parkville High School in Parkville, Md., were announced as winners of the association’s prestigious 2013 Outstanding Young Educator Award (OYEA). Read the full press release.

      • Oregon's Milwaukie High School Named 2013 Vision in Action: The ASCD Whole Child Award Winner—ASCD announced that Milwaukie High School, located in Milwaukie, Ore., is the 2013 winner of the association’s Vision in Action: The ASCD Whole Child Award. Principal Mark Pinder accepted the award on behalf of Milwaukie High School from ASCD Executive Director and CEO Dr. Gene R. Carter at ASCD's 68th Annual Conference and Exhibit Show in Chicago, Ill., on Sunday, March 17. Read the full press release.
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  • Complexity: Reductionism Complexity: Reductionism

    • From: Kevin_Goddard
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      Reductionist approaches try to isolate parts of a phenomenon or organism to explain the sum of those parts as a way to predict or replicate viable interventions. Education is not reductionistic in nature. The individual components of education do not add up to learning. Buildings+classrooms+agents+policy+curriculum≠learning. Yet, somehow, learning emerges from the complex interactions of all of these components (Bloch, 2005; Waldrop, 1992). Educational research attempts to explain the interaction of teaching or other behavior in school with specific student or school community characteristics, but scientific research and findings are contextually embedded in human networks and social interactions (Berliner, 2002). The reductionistic approaches have attempted to explain each separate factor in education and made great strides; but those theories need to be viewed through a lens of complexity and weighed against the system as a whole in order to be understood and applied.

      Existing within a certain milieu, schools are comprised of various-sized knowledge communities nested in and among each other giving the school the internal complexity to match the surrounding community. The traditional view of organizational analysis relies on this challenge of accounting for the parts within the whole of school to adapt and change as the community changes to maintain homeostasis while learning to learn as the principal seeks to understand the school in order to facilitate planning, change, and problem solving. In order to view the complex school environment, multiple perspectives or lenses must be used to view and filter school contexts (Beck, 1996; Bolman & Deal, 1997; Bruffee, 1999; Donaldson, 1998; Morgan, 1997).

      A principal can begin analysis by viewing the school system one lens at a time. As principals begin to understand the complex, ambiguous, paradoxical school within its specific context, the principal can strategically plan programs to fulfill the needs of the school. The lenses through which the principal chooses and/or combines to view a school will determine how they view the school’s nature and role over time. Because of this complexity, principals need to be able to analyze and understand their school in breadth and depth (Donaldson, 1998).

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  • The GoddBlogger The GoddBlogger

    • From: Kevin_Goddard
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