167 Search Results for "behavior"

• 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.

  • Blog post
  • 6 days ago
  • Views: 38

• 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).

  • Blog post
  • 6 days ago
  • Views: 32

• 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).

  • Blog post
  • 1 week ago
  • Views: 46
  • Not yet rated

• Spring Fever, High-Stakes Test Spring Fever, High-Stakes Testing and the Importance of SEL for Teachers

  • From: Kevin_Parr
  • Description:

    In a recent meeting about student behavior the discussion turned to spring fever and the stress students take on as state testing approaches.  A colleague shared an experience that reminds us all that it’s not just students that feel the stress of state testing or the anticipation of summer.  The teacher was working with her students on writing conclusions, a skill they had been honing throughout the school year.  With the state test approaching, it was time to review and practice.  When asked to write a conclusion, students acted like it was a foreign concept.  The teacher’s reaction, however, was anything but foreign to those of us in similar positions:  she lost it.  The usually calm and considerate teacher ripped into the class, “What do you mean you don’t know how to write a conclusion?  We have been working on conclusions all year!  You have to be able to write a conclusion!”

    Listening to her regret her uncharacteristic outburst it reminded me of similar scenes in my classroom recently.  Her call for all of us to be aware of how the stress and excitement of the season affects our behavior drove me to think about how social and emotional skills are equally important for us as adults as well as students.  Here are a few ways teachers can benefit from CASEL’s five SEL competencies: 

    Self-awareness:  As teachers we must maintain our awareness of how we are feeling.  As the above story highlighted, this time of year is ripe with emotion:  the stress of state testing (especially in an age of increasing accountability based on test scores), the excitement of summer vacation and general exhaustion from a long, hard-fought year. 

    Self-management:  Once we identify our emotions we can begin to manage them effectively. For example, in stressful times perhaps a lunchtime walk in the fresh air might be a better use of time than grading that lingering stack of papers. If we are aware of our emotions we can also anticipate situations in which they could lead us to uncharacteristic and undesirable behavior. During moments of extreme frustration in the classroom we need to regulate ourselves so students are not the target of our unleashed emotions.  

    Social awareness:  We also need to be cognizant of what our students are feeling.  They also feel the stress of state testing and, depending on a student’s homelife, the anticipation of summer brings uncertainty and anxiety rather than excitement.  We simply must be able to walk a mile in our students' shoes.

    Relationship skills:  During these strenuous times we must maintain positive relationships with our students.  More than ever (even though they would probably never tell us) they need us.  They need us to listen, they need us to connect with them and they need us to be there when they need help.  

    Responsible decision-making:  By paying attention to all the above we will be in a position to analyze the probable outcomes of our actions and make decisions that truly respect our students.       

     As the pull of summer and anxiety brought on by state testing increase, let’s remember that social and emotional skills are critical, not just for our students, but for us as teachers as well.  By practicing and modeling positive social and emotional skills we can all end the year on an upbeat note without losing our cool.

    

  • Blog post
  • 4 weeks ago
  • Views: 418

• SEL: McDonald's is Not Lovin' SEL: McDonald's is Not Lovin' It

  • From: Kevin_Parr
  • Description:

    As educators we have a firm belief that the small efforts we make today will have big payoffs down the road.  It would seem then, that the opposite must be true:  That missed opportunities will have large penalties in the future.  These notions hold no more true than in the area of social and emotional learning (SEL) and were illustrated recently, interesting enough, by fast-food giant McDonald’s recent webcast company executives had with franchise owners.  Apparently McDonald’s hasn’t been lovin’ it when it comes to customer satisfaction.  According to a Wall Street Journal article, “1 in 5 customer complaints are related to friendliness issues.”  The article goes on to explain, “ the top complaint (was) rude or unprofessional employees.”

     Whereas I understand that a fast-food establishment would receive lower customer service ratings than its table service counterparts, it did surprise me that McDonald’s employees were downright “rude or unprofessional.”  In fact, as a teacher I was disheartened by it.  Certainly, these employees—all products of our education system—had been taught to “be nice” and “be respectful,” so what went wrong?     

    Over and above any attempts to justify these employees’ actions and vilify McDonald’s, let’s acknowledge their personal responsibility for their actions.  In doing so, it is clear that our small efforts in teaching kindness and respect did not result in big payoffs.  Instead, perhaps, the situation McDonald’s finds itself in is a result of our missed educational opportunities.  Thinking about it this way, it might be easier to think about what could have gone right for these employees while they were in school.  Or, similarly, what small efforts could their schools have made that would have had big payoffs in terms of social and emotional skills when they got jobs at McDonald’s?

    Let’s think about the outcomes of a comprehensive SEL curriculum.  According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) five SEL competencies exist:  self-awareness, self-management, social-awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making.  It is easy to envision how well-developed skills in these areas would have prevented any issues with “rude or unprofessional” behavior from these McDonald’s employees.  Instead, these employees would have been aware of their emotions, managed them, and in reflecting on ethically and socially accepted behavior for the workplace, would have made better decisions.  

    This issue with McDonald’s seems to be just one in an increasing number of similar instances which call attention to a growing deficiency in social and emotional skills.  Can we as educators, regardless of our students’ academic accomplishments, deem our efforts successful when increasing numbers of our past students are “unprofessional and rude”?  Is it simply coincidence that this trend is growing along with our schools’ sole focus on academics?

     

    

  • Blog post
  • 1 month ago
  • Views: 138

• Effective Teachers Need 21st C Effective Teachers Need 21st Century Teaching Skills

  • From: Mike_Anderson
  • Description:

    This post is a part of the ASCD Forum conversation “how do we define and measure teacher and principal effectiveness?” To learn more about the ASCD Forum, go to www.ascd.org/ascdforum.

    As we face rapid technological, environmental, economic, political, and social changes in this new world, the need for dedicated, skilled teachers has never been greater. We need teachers who can teach children not only how to solve problems, but how to use higher-order thinking skills to discern what problems need solving—teachers who can inspire students to do their best work and thrive as contributing citizens in an increasingly complex world.

    We need, in short, teachers who move beyond good teaching to great teaching—transformative teaching. Just as students need a specific set of skills to equip them to succeed in the 21st century, teachers need a specific set of tools to be effective teachers of 21st century learners.

    Responsive Classroom professional development focuses on building 21st century teacher skills in three crucial, interrelated domains:
    
    

    • Engaging Academics: Effective teaching requires that teachers know how to offer academic lessons, assignments, and activities that are active and interactive, appropriately challenging, purposeful, and connected to students’ interests. This kind of teaching leads children to a higher level of motivation, skill mastery, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving.
    • Effective Management: Effective teaching is possible only in well-managed classrooms and schools. In such classrooms, teachers establish and teach behavior expectations, manage the schedule, and organize physical spaces in ways that enable students to work with autonomy and focus. When children make behavior mistakes in these settings, teachers respond in non-punitive ways that quickly and respectfully help them resume their learning.
    • Positive Community: Effective teaching requires a classroom and school where every child feels safe, valued, and fully included in the learning community; where teacher and students share a common purpose along with regular routines and traditions that form a comforting underpinning for their days; and where a sense of joy envelopes hard work. Only when such a positive climate prevails can children take the risks necessary to learning.

    
    Too often in schools, community, management, and academics are seen as three separate domains. Responsive Classroom approaches the challenge of increasing teacher effectiveness for the 21st century by helping educators develop teaching skills that simultaneously apply across all three of these crucial, interrelated domains.

    Teachers who have these tools at their command have the ability to immediately impact student learning in powerful, positive, and lasting ways. Few teachers begin their careers with highly developed skills in all three domains, which is where professional development comes in. We work with teachers, schools, and districts to develop the skills that today’s teachers need to realize our shared vision of a high-quality education for every child, every day.

  • Blog post
  • 1 month ago
  • Views: 801

• Complexity: Reductionism Complexity: Reductionism

  • From: Kevin_Goddard
  • Description:

    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).

  • Blog post
  • 1 month ago
  • Views: 111

• Complexity: Chaos versus Compl Complexity: Chaos versus Complexity

  • From: Kevin_Goddard
  • Description:

    Many confuse chaos theory with complexity theory. Chaos theory is defined by nonlinear, chaotic systems, homogeneous in nature, moving toward strange attractors which may very well describe dysfunctional organizational units within a complex system. Complexity theory seeks to understand heterogeneous complex adaptive systems moving toward one or more attractor patterns with the ability for “strong emergence” with radically novel results which describes the institution of education as a whole (Gilstrap, 2005).

    Theory is meant to explain in order to gain understanding to the point of accurate predictability whereas the science of complexity serves as a “conceptual framework” or paradigm to analyze complex adaptive systems (Semetsky, 2006). Bloch (2005) says, “It is in the nature of each [complex adaptive entity] to adapt to its environment and internal state to maintain its life” (p. 195). Levin (2002) defines the properties of complex adaptive systems as diversity and individuality of components, localized interactions among those components, and an autonomous process that uses the outcomes of those interactions to select a subset of those components for replication or enhancement. Schools can only be complex if they are more than their ‘complicated’ parts. Structure is not enough since those components have to be in competition and cooperation with each other to have enough tension for the system to become emergent as appropriate components within the school are replicated and enhanced. Schools are just now beginning to embrace complexity since the past has been an effort to revolve and replicate the entire institution of education around a point attractor and wait for the next cycle to occur.

    In Waldrop’s (1992) masterpiece, he defines complexity as:

    A class of behaviors in which the components of the system never quite lock into place, yet never quite dissolve into turbulence, either. These are the systems that are both stable enough to store information, and yet evanescent enough to transmit it. These are the systems that can be organized to perform complex computations, to react to the world, to be spontaneous, adaptive, and alive (p. 293).

    While Stacey’s (1996) following piece examining complexity in human organizations speculates

    what the peculiarly human features do seem to add is potential complexity; they make the operation of human systems more complex and unpredictable rather than less so…the rate of information flow, the level of diversity in schemas, and the richness of connectivity among agents all remain as control parameters [with] further control parameters added…of power differentials and levels of anxiety containment (p. 114)

     which move the organization along the complexity continuum and/or edge of chaos.

    “Complexity arises because you have a great many of these simple components interacting simultaneously” (Waldrop, 1992, p. 86). Since broad features of complex adaptive systems are knowable (Levin, 2002), “the challenge for theorists…is to formulate universal laws that describe when and how such complexities emerge in nature” (Waldrop, 1992, p. 86). Understandings of complex organizations coalesce around relationships, especially in schools where the density of network connections determines the level of complexity (Bloch, 2005; Gilstrap, 2005).

    A supersystem such as education has “a holographic or fractal aspect in which the parts interact continually to recreate the whole and the whole affects how the parts interact” (Stacey, 1996, p. 21). As smaller organizational units or fractals, which look similar to the overall organization, paradoxically enable and constrain each other through the layers of the organization, leaders have the opportunity to understand, through complexity science, the “dynamic, co-implicated…integrated levels—including the neurological, the experiential, the contextual/material, the social, the symbolic, the cultural, and the ecological—” of the school “rather than isolated phenomena” (Davis & Simmt, 2006, p. 296). Levin (2002, p. 16-17) asks “seductive” questions surrounding the study of complex adaptive systems that make their study relevant to educational leaders facing diminishing resources, increasing accountability, a hostile political environment, rigid school structures protected by reluctant staff and unions, growing concerns of equity and social justice, and absent family involvement:

    • How does cooperation arise and become sustained?
    • How do social norms arise in human societies and become sustained against external influences?
    • Can this understanding help us to sustain patterns of behavior that serve the common good…
    • And to change antiquated frameworks that are resistant to progress simply because they have become frozen accidents of a cultural evolutionary process?

    The dominant metaparadigm currently views organizations predominantly in equilibrium with members acting rationally and cooperating. Outcomes are predictable in the long run within a regular and uniform world. A metaparadigm based on the science of complexity would understand effective organizations as far from equilibrium operating at the edge of chaos, but not quite falling into chaos. The organization could embrace the paradox of competition and self-organizing cooperation in the behavior of its agents. Actions into outcomes would be unpredictable except in the extremely short-term as “the links between actions and their long-term outcomes are lost in the complex interactions between various components of the system” (Stacey, 1996, p. 248).

    An educational complexity metaparadigm would serve as a framework for understanding how school systems act as complex adaptive systems within local, national, and global ecosystems (Waldrop, 1992).  Because complex adaptive systems have many parts cooperating and competing, interaction is too overwhelming to reflect on at once, so, paradoxically, educators use many lenses to focus on one or two aspects of a system while keeping in mind that all the systems and agents working together actually account for what is happing on local and global scales (Stacey, 1996). Educational complexity is the matrix of cultural, social, environmental, political, symbolic, economic, historical, and directional interactions and contexts of which any given school is comprised. A school would not exist in as richly a manner and be able to provide the degree of cognitive stimulation necessary for the development of future citizenry without the complexity existent in the public school system. If we were all white, middle-class males from the same geographic location of the U. S. and would never work outside the local school community, then maybe complexity would not be as big an issue; regardless, the brain is a complex learning system that grows by being challenged and making connections through complex problem-solving situations (Nasir & Hand, 2006).

    Education is constantly barraged by new programs and new practices (Marzano et al., 2005). The recent trend of comprehensive school reform recognizes the complexity of the school system and attempts “to address all aspects of school effectiveness” (U.S. Department of Education, 1998, p. 21); however, through a lens of complexity, leadership recognizes resources “not as discrete items…but as inter-related variables that are a part of a comprehensive plan to impact student achievement in high-poverty schools. This is an important step beyond one-shot remedies or magic bullets” (Machtinger, 2007, p. 7). Marzano and colleagues(2005) agree with Fritz (1984) and Fullan (2001) that education is too complex for absolute truths or “once-and-for-all answers” (p. 67). DuFour and Eaker (1998) reiterate, “The interconnectedness of the elements affecting teaching and learning makes it impossible to attribute either improvements or problems to a single area” (p. 268). Leaders prepare for structural and pedagogical changes in school function as complex, difficult, and dependent on context while gauging multiple cores of successful practice within unstable environments (Marzano et al., 2005; Schechter & Tischler, 2007; Chenoweth, 2007).

  • Blog post
  • 1 month ago
  • Views: 119
  • Not yet rated

• Share And Share Alike! Share And Share Alike!

  • From: Tom_Whitby
  • Description:

    I recently bumped into a friend at an education Conference. This friend is what I consider a thought leader in education. He is a well-known speaker and author and a person who many educators deservingly look up to for both guidance and wisdom. I thought that I would take advantage of the encounter by asking for a guest post for SmartBlog on Education, an education blog with which I am associated. He must have been having a bad day based on his response.

    “I am tired of teaching everyone”, he said.

    Knowing how much this person always offers to all who listen, this reaction was out of character and a clear indication of a frustrating day. Sharing is a learned behavior. It is not a behavior common to everyone. It can be easily abused and discouraged. If a person shares and gets the feeling that his or her sharing is not appreciated or under-valued, that spigot of sharing may quickly be turned off.

    My teaching career started about two days after the last Dinosaur died in the eyes of many. Back in the day there was not a great deal of sharing. People would share advice very quickly, but lessons were kept under lock and key of the filing cabinet. It was at the end of the year if one was lucky enough to know a retiring teacher that the sharing took place. If someone from your department were retiring, on the last day of their service there would be a gathering in their room. The File cabinet would be opened and the sharing would begin. Files, annotated books, tests, lessons, worksheets, overheads, and dittoes would all be bestowed onto the junior members of the department. The senior members actually got the empty file cabinets. The senior members of the department always had the largest collection of file cabinets.

    That was then and this is now! Sharing has become part of the culture of teaching. It is the currency of social media. We can’t be just takers. If we are using social media to gain information, we should have an obligation to provide information as well. It does not have to be original. It can be something that we learned from others. In Twitter terms that would be a ReTweet or an RT. Never assume people know what you know. Always share information at all levels of expertise. Social Media has people from all levels participating in the exchange of ideas.

    Every person has a different level of understanding and participation in social media. Some folks read more blog posts than others. Not everyone reads the same Blogs. If you find a good post share it. There are hundreds of thousands of educators on social media. Most Blogs do not have those numbers reading their posts each day. A good post needs to be shared. “A rising tide raises all boats.” The more we share, the better off our profession will be.

    Also keep in mind that everyone has a different Personal Learning Network. No two people are following the exact same list of people on Twitter or LinkedIn or Facebook. If you see something of value, share it. Others may not have seen it. Even if they did, your emphasis on it may cause them to view it differently. Never underestimate your influence on others.

    Education is about the free exchange of ideas. The exchange part is where the sharing comes in. Without sharing, there is no exchange. At one time content was a commodity that was doled out for a price by institutions that housed the texts that contained the content. That is no longer the case. A combination of content on the Internet as well as the advance of social media and it is a whole new paradigm. Of course this only works if exchanges of information takes place.

    If we are to benefit from the Internet as a profession or a society we need to feel an obligation to be more than takers. We need to be makers and exchangers as well. We need to keep the exchange alive by not counting on the few, but by involving the many. We need to believe in the premise of Share and Share alike.

    I am still waiting for that guest post that I requested.

  • Blog post
  • 1 month ago
  • Views: 202

• Complexity: Capacity Building Complexity: Capacity Building

  • From: Kevin_Goddard
  • Description:

    Capacity building is one of the buzz phrases in education due to the complex nature of how society defines student success: “academic achievement; engagement in educationally purposeful activities; satisfaction; acquisition of desired knowledge, skills, and competencies; persistence; and attainment of educational objectives” (Kuh et al., 2007, p. 10). Capacity building within schools could not focus on only one aspect of development within the school because a single group within the school community could not possess all of the capacity necessary to fuel student success. Research indicates that capacity building increases student achievement (Cooter, 2003). All educators in effective schools take responsibility for improvement and professional capacity (Eaker, DuFour & DuFour, 2002; Chu Clewell & Campbell, 2007). Capacity builds as schools focus on learning and getting resources into classrooms to directly benefit students (Machtinger, 2007; U.S. Department of Education, 1998).

    Many authors have tried to articulate a definition of capacity. Ervin, Schaughency, Goodman, McGlinchy, and Matthews (2006) simply define capacity as skills, know-how, and available resources. Gewertz (2007) describes capacity as “building the school’s and community partners’ skills to improve, securing the resources to do it” (no page #). Fullan (2006) focuses on marginalized students when he articulates that

    capacity building involves any policy, strategy, or other action undertaken that enhances the gap of student learning for all students. Usually it consists of the development of three components in concert: new knowledge and competencies, new and enhanced resources, and new and deeper motivation and commitment to improve things…all played out collectively (p. 28).

    Knowledgeable education leaders understand that capacity building relies on the mission and vision of the local context which probably does not include academic achievement as primary to the futures of marginalized students (Schutz, 2006). Low performing schools do not have the capacity to turn themselves around in academic achievement when principals and communities are simply trying to survive concentrated poverty, low expectations, weak courses, burnt out teachers, run down facilities, overcrowding, and poor student behavior (U.S. Department of Education, 1998).

    Narrowly focusing expectations of schools in the form of AYP for all students as measured by one unattainable and not always relevant standard, when schools were on the brink of realizing the importance of participation by marginalized populations and opening up the possibility of class mobility of these populations, deflected attention away from what should be the true purposes of education (Noddings, 2006). By focusing attention on education’s inability to teach 100% of children to read and calculate on grade level in grade three through eight and the resulting distrust and dissatisfaction of the school community, schools have an even harder time building the capacity necessary to reach a critical mass in affecting true educational reform to create a truly powerful school-community coalition that could realize greater economic support for low SES schools, more democratic decision-making within low SES communities, and ultimately, better informed and equipped citizens of the future from all classes that might disrupt the status quo of the dominant class (Noguera, 2004). Low SES schools that were led by forward thinking and steadfast administrators continued this course of building the capacity of the school community to ensure truly unlimited opportunity for their student populations where the resources were available to students to be successful academically, socially, and culturally (Nesbit, 2006).

    The problem for meaningful and sustainable school reform is not attributable to a lack of energy, ideas, or a willingness to change in education. Fads, competing priorities, and unreasonable mandates deluge leaders immobilizing efforts to sustain and expand promising initiatives (Henig et al., 1999). As funding resources shrink, efficiency and capacity building become more and more important (Kezar, 2006). Teaching specific practices to families over making the effort to build capacity may result in advantages in certain times and places, but a “right way” approach causes action to lose its distinctive character providing the advantage (Lareau, 2000). “We need to reframe our entire reform strategy so that it focuses relentlessly and deeply on capacity building and accountability—a difficult but…doable high-yield strategy” (Fullan, 2006, p. 28).

    Capacity building is closely related to organizational learning. Knowledge and understanding moves from tacit to explicit back to tacit. “Teacher change, like most human change, must emanate from within” (Bonner, 2006, p. 41). Education becomes more than parents deferring to teacher professional judgment and only being involved to the extent that teachers value (Henig et al., 1999). By understanding capacity, the “lonely teacher… reaches out to and joins the community and family [as] school is a network with permeable boundaries connecting it to the other institutions comprising society” (Musial, 1999, p. 120), instead of “erect[ing] barriers with one hand while reaching out with the other” (Schutz, 2006, p. 726). Often, in unsuccessful schools, agents simply “do not know how to improve it, or they do not believe it can be improved” (Fullan, 2006, p. 60) when collective efficacy holds the potential for a better future (DuFour & Eaker, 1998). Authoritative leadership is not sustainable; but collective, collaborative, distributed leadership can build capacity and commitment to changing school culture in marginalized communities successfully through cooperating and competition, boundary conversations, dialogue, and productive conflict (Barr & Parrett, 2007; Copland, 2003; Patterson & Rolheiser, 2004; Stacey, 1996).

    As part of capacity building, principals actively build leadership capacity in others by “broad-based, skillful participation; a shared vision; established norms of inquiry and collaboration; reflective practice; and improving student achievement” (Lambert, 2003, Chapter 1, p. 1; Copland, 2003) and by developing learning communities where staff growth expands their capacity to provide for students (Eaker, et al., 2002). School reform rooted in the efforts of individuals and dependent on individual academic success cannot be sustained and will fail; working class learning is determined by the cultural context in systems dependent on sociocultural capital as opposed to individual capacity (Livingstone & Sawchuk, 2005; Musial, 1999). If capacity relies only on relationships or only on structure, capacity will be too soft or too rigid. Capacity is essential. “Because social systems are uncertain by their very nature, schools are fragile places (Lambert, 2003, Chapter 10, p. 1).

                Many factors interact to determine educational capacity (O’Day et al., 1995). Yet, education experts agree, capacity building “must become a core feature of all improvement strategies” (Fullan, 2006, p. 104). Education has progressed to the point where discussion about capacity involves lists whose discussion centers around lines of responsibility versus lines of authority. These discussions describe capacity as built through clear accountability, relevant data available for analysis and application, and high expectations for staff with support of professional development (Walk, 1998). O’Day and colleagues (1995) feel “interdependence of organization and individual capacity” contributes to an understanding of instructional capacity (no page #). These authors list the five dimensions of organizational capacity as vision and leadership, collective commitment and cultural norms, knowledge or access to knowledge, organizational structures and management, and resources.

                McREL (Dean et al., 2005, p. 5) defines capacity in three ways:

    • Leadership capacity: knowledge and skills to fulfill or support leadership responsibilities associated with high levels of student achievement, manage implications of change, establish and maintain a purposeful community, and determine a focus for improvement efforts
    • School capacity: collective ability to address the school-level, teacher-level, and student-level factors that are associated with high levels of student achievement and the ability to maintain a purposeful community
    • Teacher capacity: individual teacher’s ability to help all students succeed, contribute to school-level efforts, and address the teacher-level and student-level factors that are associated with high levels of student achievement

    Complex descriptions alluding to practices evident in High-Performing High-Poverty Schools (HP2S) get past the tendency to create lists and begin to open the door to envisioning improving instructional capacity in schools as an interaction of multiple elements to “produce worthwhile and substantial learning” (Cohen & Ball, 1999). Capacity building efforts result in “adoption, sustainability, and evolution of innovation” to allow HP2S to emerge (Schaughency & Ervin, 2006, p. 162).

     

  • Blog post
  • 1 month ago
  • Views: 221

• Neurodiversity in New York Sta Neurodiversity in New York State

  • From: Thomas_Armstrong
  • Description:

    I just completed two one-day workshops on “Neurodiversity in the Classroom: A Revolutionary Concept in Special Education,” for educators in the Albany, New York area, March 13-14, 2013. The March 13th workshop was comprised of 200 educators who were part of Capital District Beginnings, a service agency that provides a wide array of special education and therapy services to children in their homes or in one of over 70 different child care centers, preschools and schools including Universal Pre-Kindergartens and Head Start programs. During the workshop, teachers shared many great experiences about working with the strengths of kids with special needs. One teacher, for example, talked about a child who had an emotional/behavioral disorder but loved to draw, so after an emotional meltdown, the teacher would sit and draw with him the events leading up to the disturbance. This helped him gain insight and distance from the experience, and learn better ways of handling the situation in the future.

    On March 14th, I worked with 40 educators at a workshop sponsored by the Tinsley Institute (which also co-sponsored the March 13th workshop), a group that engages in professional development, research, program evaluation, and curriculum development in the greater Albany area. They also co-sponsored this event in conjunction with the Capital Area School Development Association (CASDA), which is the school improvement center at the University of Albany. There were also wonderful anecdotes told by teachers at this event. One teacher, for example, talked about a boy with autism who knew absolutely everything there was to know about vacuums. He was fascinated with them, and even served as a consultant to the teacher when she needed a good vacuum for cleaning up dog hair in her home. He found the perfect model for her! As a reward for good work and behavior, he was allowed to help vacuum classrooms with the school custodian!

    In both workshops, we talked about the difficulties that students with special needs face in New York state due to the increased emphasis on standardized testing, and the fact that these students will no longer be allowed to graduate with an IEP diploma (i.e. one tailored to their needs), but will have to take the same pencil and paper tests as typically developing students in order to graduate (with minimal accommodations allowed). For kids who need alternative ways of meeting standards (through assistive technologies and Universal Design for Learning tools, alternative texts, hands-on learning, one-to-one attention, and other strength-based approaches), there are few options for them in this scenario, and many of these kids are facing the prospect of not graduating with a diploma, thus hampering their future school and career ambitions.

    This is disheartening, considering all of wonderful things that kids with special needs can offer the world if their unique ways of learning and knowing are simply honored and valued. We can still have the same high standards for these students as for typically developing kids, but we need to provide alternative means of learning and demonstrating mastery of the Core Common Standards. I promised that I would write an email to Governor Cuomo to advocate for the needs of these students. Here is the message I sent to him:

    Dear Governor Cuomo, I am disheartened on learning that students with special needs will no longer be able to graduate in New York state with an IEP diploma, but must meet the same paper and pencil standardized testing requirements as typically developing students in order to graduate from high school. This is going to be very difficult for most of these kids to achieve. They certainly must be held to the same high academic standards as other students, but because of their diverse ways of learning, they need to be provided with opportunities to express their competencies in core subjects through alternative methods, including assistive technologies, Universal Design for Learning, alternative texts, hands-on demonstrations, project-based learning opportunities, and the use of a portfolio with materials that document their competencies in state standards. I implore you to work toward creating a fair and equitable set of alternative strategies through which students with special needs (e.g. autism, learning disabilities, ADHD, intellectual disabilities etc.) can be allowed to show what they know in terms of their strengths and abilities, rather than having their disabilities and difficulties make it so that the route to graduation and further school and career advancement is closed to them. These kids have many strengths that our culture needs in order to stay vibrant, and we must give them every opportunity to have the same chances for post-secondary education and career advancement as typically developing students who are simply better able to cope with pencil and paper standardized tests.

    Yours Truly, Dr. Thomas Armstrong

  • Blog post
  • 2 months ago
  • Views: 208

• Give Those Bullies a Bath! Give Those Bullies a Bath!

  • From: Doug_Elmendorf
  • Description:

    “The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it” (Albert Einstein).

    Friday, March 1^st is Anti-Bullying Day in Baltimore County Public Schools.  It was coordinated by BCPS students.  While many schools, including the one at which I am a principal, do not have a pervasive bullying problem, it is still an issue of which we need to be aware and take action to prevent.  Perhaps the most disturbing thing about bullying behavior is the long-term effects it can have both on the bully and the victim of bullying.  Students who are bullied are much more likely to consider suicide than non-victims.   This is certainly scary considering that about 30% of our students are reported to be bullies or are victims of bullying (www.bullyingstatistics.org). 

    My vision for the school I am fortunate enough to work in every day is that the climate, especially among our children, is so disgustingly positive that bullying behavior sticks out like a disappointed student on a snow day!  I encourage teachers to exalt the positive in their classrooms, and to find the good in every student with whom they have contact.  One of our recent professional development sessions facilitated by the Kennedy Krieger Institute revealed that negative stress causes the hippocampus to get smaller, which makes learning less likely.  The presenter also showed us that serotonin, which is produced by positive experiences, gets the hippocampus back to normal size and opens the door for extensive new learning.  While giving consequences will necessarily be a part of any effective behavior management program, let’s give the brains of our potential bullies a serotonin bath!

  • Blog post
  • 3 months ago
  • Views: 355

• 7 Great Strength-Based Univers 7 Great Strength-Based Universal Design for Learning Apps for Students with Special Needs

  • From: Thomas_Armstrong
  • Description:

     

    Posted on February 18, 2013 by Thomas Armstrong

    The rapid pace of new educational technologies has made it so that students with special needs can accomplish many things in the classroom that were difficult or even impossible for them only a few years ago. The following list contains some of the best apps I’ve seen for kids with neurodiversities in communication, reading, sociability, attention, and behavior.

    1. Dragon Naturally Speaking - A speech-to-text application that enables students who have problems putting their ideas down via pen and pencil or keyboard, to nevertheless develop their writing abilities. Students speak into the microphone of the computer and this software then translates the spoken word into printed text. This app is great for students who have strong oral language abilities but problems with written expression.
    2. Proloquo2Go - An alternative and augmentative communication app that allows students who have difficulty speaking or cannot speak at all, to nevertheless communicate with others. Used with a tablet (e.g. iPad etc.), students press individual buttons on the screen that trigger a synthesized speaker to say a particular word, phrase, or sentence. So, for example, one button may say ”I’m hungry!” (and include a visual symbol representing hunger). When the student is hungry, she can push that button and have that need directly expressed. Buttons can be individually customized to specific needs, commands, or wishes. For autistic students with severe communication difficulties or intellectual disabled students with articulation problems, who nevertheless may be interested in and efficient users of tablets, this application can make a world of difference in connecting to the people around them.
    3. iStudiez – A great application for high school students who have trouble with organization, focus, and other traits of a student diagnosed with ADD/ADHD. Among other things it helps students schedule their school day, get reminders on assignments and homework, keep track of grades and test scores, and manage course work requirements and related details. For the student who loves computers but can’t remember homework assignments, this is a good match!
    4. Kurzweil 3000 – A speech to text application that can scan printed materials and translate those visual images into speech sounds. For students who have significant difficulties reading (e.g. dyslexic students), this can give them access to texts they might otherwise have problems accessing, and help them with their reading load.
    5. Stories About Me - Allows teachers to create their own social stories for their students who have difficulty with basic social skills like turn-taking, sharing , playing a game, interpreting gestures, recounting field trips, understanding directions, and other important interpersonal activities. By putting together photos, text, and voice recordings into a talking picture book, students with autism, emotional and behavioral disorders, or other neurodiversities can play back rich media stories of their own personal experiences.
    6. iCommunicate – Lets teachers design visual schedules, storyboards, communication boards, routines, flash cards, choice boards, speech cards, and other materials for kids who have learning and communication difficulties. It is customizable to specific classroom needs. Helps students prepare for transitions, anticipate routines, reinforce turn-taking, express their needs, and address other classroom management, behavior, and communication issues.
    7. Tiblo – This one is not actually an app, but a UDL manipulative tool that I just couldn’t resist adding to the list; these are individual interlocking blocks that can be assembled into two- or three-dimensional structures. What makes this manipulative tool so amazing, however, is that each individual block can be programmed to record sounds (e.g. phonemes, words, sentences etc.), as well as hold visuals (e.g. pictures, written letters, sounds etc.). So, for example, a student or teacher might take four blocks, and record the sound ”buh” for one, ”ah” for the second one, ”lll…” for the third one, and ”ball” for the fourth, thus teaching combining of phonemes (and by changing blocks around, the student can blend sounds in different ways). On top of each block, the student can place ”post-its” with the written letters and words or pictures. This is a terrific tool for kids with reading disabilities who have hands-on visual spatial strengths.

    For a summary of websites that describe other applications for students with special needs, see this New York Times article.

    For additional strategies, tools, and resources to help students with special needs use their strengths to become more successful in school, see my book Neurodiversity in the Classroom: Strength-Based Strategies to Help Students with Special Needs Succeed in School and Life published by ASCD. Also, for information about my other books for teachers of students with special needs, visit my website: www.institute4learning.com

  • Blog post
  • 3 months ago
  • Views: 2072

• What Do Real Leaders Do? What Do Real Leaders Do?

  • From: Carol_Hunter
  • Description:

    Leaders do everything. Their "To Do" list is infinite and additions to the list never stop. The expectations placed on school leaders are impossible to achieve - without a solid base of vision, mission, values and beliefs. Real Leaders take control of their "To Do" list by doing the following:

    • earn and give trust and respect

    • inspire, engage and empower others

    • see the Big Picture and share this to enact change

    • lead by example

    • act decisively and confidently

    • drive sustained improvement in teaching and learning

    • provide differentiated/ customizedsupport to staff and students

    • challenge long-cherished practices when facts show they are ineffective

    • build relationships

    • give your heart to what needs to be done

    • believe in continuous improvement

    • share leadership through engagement and empowerment

    • help others access their own inner wisdom

    • learn and grow through and with other people

    • broaden your thinking and integrate perspectives

    • create synergy through building connections among people and ideas

    • make acute, wise observations of human behavior and patterns

    • focus energy so that inaction is impossible

    • articulate your beliefs and values

    • communicate and celebrate

    • have high expectations

    • plan and budget strategically

    • use wisdom and common sense

    • instill a sense of efficacy

    • build a collaborative, trust-based culture

    • align organizational design with purpose

    • infuse a sense of humor in interactions

    • ensure that students feel comfortable and safe

    • model and create a sense of balance between school life and home life

    • practice what you preach

    With this action framework in place, each new "Action Item" can be assessed as to how it fits and how much time will or will not be alllocated to it. I used this for almost 30 years as a principal and was never stressed by the unrealistic demands placed on principals by the system or other stakeholders. With this solid foundation guiding my actions, I was always comfortable with the way my time was used and with the demands I placed on my teachers. More importantly, I was always proud of the impact of my focused actions.

  • Blog post
  • 3 months ago
  • Views: 647
  • Not yet rated

• 50 Practical Strategies for Tr 50 Practical Strategies for Treating ADHD without Drugs

  • From: Thomas_Armstrong
  • Description:

    There’s a news feature in the New York Times today (“Drowned in a Stream of Prescriptions”) that focuses on the problem of addiction to ADHD medications. While the article deals mainly with college students and young adults who deceive mental health professionals into thinking they have ADHD so that they can receive these highly addictive drugs, this story underscores the fact that drugs like Ritalin, Adderall, and other psychostimulants, are highly addictive for ALL age levels (including young children) and should be prescribed only as a last resort after other non-drug alternativeshave been tried. The article suggests that these drugs are often given out by physicians without appropriate screening and monitoring.

    The fact is that there are quite a number of non-drug alternatives out there that should be considered before going into the risky world of addictive psychostimulants. In my book The Myth of the ADD Child, I’ve outlined 50 practical non-drug alternatives to ADD/ADHD. They include the following:

    • Provide a balanced breakfast.
    • Consider the Feingold diet
    • Limit television and video games
    • Teach self-talk skills.
    • Find out what interests your child.
    • Promote a strong physical education program in your child’s school.
    • Enroll your child in a martial arts program.
    • Discover your child’s multiple intelligences
    • Use background music to focus and calm.
    • Use color to highlight information.
    • Teach your child to visualize.
    • Remove allergens from the diet.
    • Provide opportunities for physical movement.
    • Enhance your child’s self-esteem.
    • Find your child’s best times of alertness.
    • Give instructions in attention-grabbing ways.
    • Provide a variety of stimulating learning activities.
    • Consider biofeedback training.
    • Activate positive career aspirations.
    • Teach your child physical-relaxation techniques.
    • Use incidental learning to teach.
    • Support full inclusion of your child in a regular classroom.
    • Provide positive role models.
    • Consider alternative schooling options.
    • Channel creative energy into the arts.
    • Provide hands-on activities
    • Spend positive times together.
    • Provide appropriate spaces for learning.
    • Consider individual psychotherapy.
    • Use touch to soothe and calm.
    • Help your child with organizational skills.
    • Help your child appreciate the value of personal effort.
    • Take care of yourself.
    • Teach your child focusing techniques.
    • Provide immediate feedback.
    • Provide your child with access to a computer.
    • Consider family therapy.
    • Teach problem-solving skills.
    • Offer your child real-life tasks to do.
    • Use “time-out” in a positive way.
    • Help your child develop social skills.
    • Contract with your child.
    • Use effective communication skills.
    • Give your child choices.
    • Discover and treat the four types of misbehavior.
    • Establish consistent rules, routines, and transitions.
    • Hold family meetings.
    • Have your child teach a younger child.
    • Use natural and logical consequences.
    • Hold a positive image of your child.

    For details on using each of these strategies, see my book The Myth of the ADD Child: 50 Ways to Improve Your Child’s Behavior and Attention Span without Drugs, Labels, or Coercion. Most of these strategies can also be adapted for use with adolescents and young adults. For applications of non-drug strategies in school, read my ASCD book ADD/ADHD Alternatives in the Classroom.

    For more information on the strengths of students diagnosed with ADHD, and strategies to use with them based on those strengths, see my latest book Neurodiversity in the Classroom:  Strength-Based Strategies to Help Students with Special Needs Succeed in School and Life (ASCD), or visit my website:  www.institute4learning.com

  • Blog post
  • 3 months ago
  • Views: 5326

• Disciplining with Dignity: 5 C Disciplining with Dignity: 5 Classroom Management Tips

  • From: Ryan_Thomas1
  • Description:

    In one of her recent articles published in Education Weekly, Tracey Garrett describes a hypothetical interview scenario between a recent graduate pursuing a 4^th grade teaching position and the principal. Inevitably, classroom management came up. “How will you manage your classroom?” the principal asked. The teacher’s response: “I’ve developed a point system that rewards good behavior with tickets. At the end of the week, these tickets are placed into a raffle for a chance to win prizes.” This is a common response and a common classroom management system, but it is one that Garrett, not to mention a slew of other well-respected behavior-management experts like Richard L. Curwin and Allen and Brian Mendler, take issue with.
    
    

    In his book, Discipline with Dignity, Curwin refers to a study conducted by Tyre, Scelfo and Kantrowitz who found that children expect to nag their parents nine times before getting what they want. “If you do such and such, I’ll give you such and such” has become something of a cultural attitude—one that many teachers unintentionally reinforce “through the proliferation of reward and bribe systems in which stickers, stars, and points become substitutes for doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do,” argues Curwin.
    
    

    This is not to say that extrinsic or reward-based systems should be blacklisted entirely, but we echo Curvin’s belief that “they should not be the foundation of a teacher’s classroom management plan.” If not rewards, then what should be the crux of a teacher’s classroom management system?
    
    

    Disciplining with Dignity: 5 Classroom Management Tips

    
    Engage Students in a How-Can-I-Help-You? Approach
    When your students aren’t focusing on what they are reading or when they submit careless work it is bothersome—but many of us are bothered for the wrong reasons. We’re bothered because we’ve taken it personally; we’re bothered because WE wouldn’t have done it that way.
    
    

    When you engage your students in a how-can-I-help-you approach, your frustration manifests through care and respect. Next time your student disrupts class or fails to turn in assignments, catch the student on the way to lunch and say, “Hey, I’m worried about X. Am I seeing this correctly? I want to do everything I can to help you. Do you have any ideas?”
    
    

    Ask Your Students What They Expect of You
    Generally speaking, we spend a lot of time telling our students what we expect of them and very little asking them what they expect of us. What if that changed?
    
    

    Here’s an idea we borrowed from Angela Bunyi, a teacher who, as she puts it, “puts herself into the mix.” If you take a look at the picture to the left, you’ll notice a list of expectations she has for her students. But on the right column, she has asked students to make a list of their expectations for her. It bothers her students that she has a habit of checking her email and talking loudly to other teachers, so they’ve asked her to change her behavior—and she gladly obliges.
    
    

    Try Using Incident Reports
    This is another idea we snagged from Mrs. Bunyi. Do your students love telling you about how student X is bothering student Y? Do they do this during transition times or when you are in the middle of something important? Because you care about your students (and their safety), more than likely it’s your instinct to drop everything and investigate what’s really going on.

     

    So that you can give each “incident” the attention it deserves, have your students fill out an incident report where they provide dates, witnesses, the location of the incident, what they did, and how they believe the situation should be handled.
    
    

    Playtime Isn’t Just for Kids
    When it's your turn for recess duty, consider participating in a game rather than standing on the sidelines. If you're teaching at the secondary level, try running to grab a ball that has been thrown out of bounds on the lunchtime basketball courts, or visit a colleague's P.E. class during your prep. Playing with students is a great way to honor them and nurture relationships with them.
    
    

    The playground is also a perfect location to have a conversation with that student you read about in Jane’s incident report. Don’t take recess away from students who have misbehaved; use the change of scenery to your advantage. It’s much easier to talk to a student about what was going on inside the classroom when you are outside of it. 
    
    

    Create Partnerships with Parents
    Often the first time we speak to a parent is when we are at our wits end with their son or daughter. Not the best way to initiate a relationship, is it? If you’ve developed a relationship with parents and shown them that you truly care about their child, chances are that you’re going to have more buy-in when you need their help.
    
    

    Why not give them a call when their child does something well, just to let them know? Or why not move your classroom parties to the evening hour, but keep the time brief to honor parents’ schedules? Or here’s another idea: Send home regular invitations for parents to come in as “guest readers” or classroom assistants.
    
    

     

                              

  • Blog post
  • 3 months ago
  • Views: 4604
  • Not yet rated

• 5 More Indispensable Classroom 5 More Indispensable Classroom Management Apps

  • From: Ryan_Thomas1
  • Description:

    Last week, we shared 5 of our favorite classroom management apps, but like you, we’re always looking to find the best possible tools we can—and why wouldn’t we, especially when there are so many free resources at our fingertips? If you’re looking to reduce your paper trail, keep parents in the loop and find more efficient ways to manage your students’ behavior, we’ve got 5 more apps you might want to add to your classroom management arsenal.
    
    

    5 More Indispensable Classroom Management Apps
    
    

    Three Ring
    Want to ditch the notebooks and archaic filing system once and for all? Want to capture Jimmy’s first presentation or Greg’s behavioral, ahem, challenges so you can better articulate yourself during parent-teacher conferences? Now you can.
    
    

    Simply snap a photo or record a video or audio clip and file away.  And if you are so inclined, email your “classroom artifact” to students and parents so that they can stay up to date and even comment on their file.
    
    

    Smart Seat
    This app’s simple drag-and-drop feature allows you to create random or customizable seating charts. But there’s more: Smart Seat gives you the ability to record and export attendance, choose random students for class participation, jot down student notes, and store student photos all in one place.
    
    

    Taking a day off? Generate a PDF version or email your seating charts (with photos) to the substitute teacher. If that wasn’t enough, Smart Seat even has a built-in "flashcard" feature that allows you to upload pictures of your students so that you can quickly learn their names.
    
    

    Remind 101
    We know how important it is to nurture relationships with parents and keep them involved, but how do we do it? Remind 101 is a website that provides teachers with a secure way to text or email students and parents with updates and reminders. Here’s how it works:
    
    

    Teachers set up classes on the Remind 101 site which generates a unique code they can share with students and parents. Once students or parents send a text message with the code, they become “subscribers.” If you have concerns about sharing your personal phone number, rest easy. Teachers will never be able to see their students’ phone numbers and students will never be able to see theirs’ either. 
    
    

    Stick PickIf you’ve ever had a student protest that you’ve called on him or her too many times or favor so and so, take yourself out of the equation and blame it on Stick Pick. Shake your phone or tap the screen to pick a student.
    
    
    That’s not all. Stick Pick even offers a variety of question starters (based on Bloom’s taxonomy)and records how well students respond during classroom discussions. Let’s say that Jenny consistently scores high on the questions; simply change the difficulty of the questions to ensure that she stays challenged and engaged.
    
    

    Teacher Kit
    It’s no stretch to say that teachers are a lot like Macgyver: They’ve got to work with what they’ve got and often improvise on the fly. But what would Macgyver be without his trusty Swiss Army knife? Teacher Kit is the self-proclaimed “Swiss Army knife” of apps that will help you organize, monitor your students’ behavior, and keep track of grades. Here’s a video tutorial that will walk you through every nook and cranny of the app. (Mullet not included).
    
    

     

    If you're like us, you're constantly on the lookout for new ways to enhance your curriculum and better manage your classroom. That's why we're suggesting that you check out one of our recent blogs, 5 Classroom Management Apps Every Teachers Needs to Know About or download our FREE guide, Surfing for Substance: 50 No-Nonsense, No-Fluff Websites and Apps for Educators.

     

                                                                

  • Blog post
  • 4 months ago
  • Views: 465

• Professional Development Days Professional Development Days or Professional Learning Communities for Teachers

  • From: Asha_Singh
  • Description:

     Professional Development Days or Professional Learning Communities for Teachers

    As a practicing teacher for many years, I have attended numerous professional development days. After sitting through many workshops on professional development, I am of the opinion that there is room for improvement and necessary changes that will be focused on teacher learning and improvement that will be beneficial to both the student and the teacher.

    Beginning a day of professional development, much valuable time is wasted in registering and getting to know you games. After a long and formal introduction, a speaker presents a topic that as a teacher has no relevance to you in your current situation. Beginning teachers as well as older teachers have to listen to the same speaker. You endure the torture with your mind wandering on what you need to get done in your class and how best to reach all your students with varying abilities as the presentation does not meet your interest. Additionally, teachers’ professional growth remains the same and the students lose critical instructional time with their teacher. Many of the topics presented have no relevance to teachers’ situation as most times they do not have an input in the organization of activities nor the topics for presentation.

    Professional development is paramount to the long term effectiveness of a teacher.  Students as well as responsibilities change, more scrupulous standards are adopted and new researches and teaching methods are incorporated into teaching. As teachers, who need to meet the demands of this 21^st century it is necessary to find means that will benefit both students and teachers. Hence, there is need for new and improved methods to reach the growing needs of students.

    Professional learning communities are educators working together towards a shared purpose to enhance students’ learning. Teachers realize that the purpose of schools is for students to learn and the most important aspect in whether students’ learn is teaching quality. Teaching quality is therefore improved through professional and continuous learning. Here staff members understand the connection between learning with students in the classroom and learning with colleagues.

     Teachers in professional learning communities interact socially and introduce multiple perspectives through reflection, collaboration, negotiation and shared ideas. They bring unique prior knowledge to the learning situation as they work together to create an ideal environment. Teachers prioritize students learning needs. They carefully look at students’ data and where they are performing well they celebrate students’ success. Conversely, particular attention is given to areas where students are not as successful. The teachers collectively take responsibility to learn new content, strategies, or approaches to increase their effectiveness in these problem areas.

    Teachers who are members of professional learning communities benefit much more than teachers who attend professional development days. They accomplish more, they are more informed, they discover new and better methods to reach students and in the end both teachers and students benefit.

     January 26,2013

    Based on my personal experience of professional development days as compared to  my knowledge of  professional  learning communities, I am of the opinion that PLC would be more beneficial to students. PLCs main objective is not to ensure that students are taught, but to ensure that they learn. The shift is from focusing on teaching to focusing on learning. This paradigm shift has thoughtful suggestions for schools. PLC encourages teachers to work collaboratively, for the benefit of students. They share ideas and suggestions with each other for the benefit of students.

    Teachers working as peers collaboratively fashion an ideal environment for a constructivist learning approach. This approach benefits students and teachers. Additionally as teachers work together to benfit students, they develop camaraderie, professional behavior and consistently increase their effectiveness through continous learning that would benefit both themselves and the students.

     

     

     

  • Blog post
  • 4 months ago
  • Views: 1869

• ADHD Diagnoses up 25% in 10 Ye ADHD Diagnoses up 25% in 10 Years

  • From: Thomas_Armstrong
  • Description:

    A study conducted by Kaiser Permanente Southern California Medical Group in Pasadena, reveals that ADHD diagnoses have jumped 25% in the past 10 years. This study is being reported by news outlets around the country today. What is missing from these reports, however, it a critical analysis of the ADHD diagnosis itself. The phenomena of ADHD, in fact, represents a fascinating window into a wide range of cultural and social issues that have emerged over the past quarter century, but that typically get swept under the rug in reports such as this one. Here are just a few of these issues: 1) the increasing pressure on children to succeed academically at earlier and earlier ages has made the normal developmental behaviors of young children ”stick out like a sore thumb” and be perceived as ADHD behaviors; 2) the increase in mass media involvement (video games, TV, internet, software etc.) has created a culture of ”short attention span kids” who in fact display ADHD behaviors as a response to sitting in front of high stimulation screens that activate and ultimate exhaust dopaminergic pathways in the brain leading to an increase in the prevalence of ADHD diagnoses; 3) the concomitant decrease in the amount of rough-and-tumble play experiences (particularly among boys) as a result of mass media involvement has resulted in the frontal lobes failing to be properly stimulated through these play experiences, thus resulting in frontal lobe dysfunction said to be a major feature of the ADHD diagnosis; 4) high stress families have created negative environmentals impacts upon the brains of stress-sensitive kids creating adversity-factors believed to be correlated to ADHD diagnoses.

    These are just a few of the issues that fail to be mentioned, let alone thoroughly explored, in news stories such as this one. That ADHD remains a ”medical” issue, unfortunately, makes it even more difficult for there to be a thoughtful dialogue about the deeper reasons that make children hyperactive, impulsive, and/or distractible. This, in turn, makes the potential solutions to the ADHD phenomenon more elusive. For a list of 50 non-drug alternatives to ADHD, click here. For a discussion of the above issues, and a more thorough discussion of non-drug alternatives to ADHD, see my books The Myth of the ADD Child: 50 Ways to Improve Your Child’s Behavior and Attention Span without Drugs, Labels, or Coercion, and ADD/ADHD Alternatives in the Classroom.

  • Blog post
  • 4 months ago
  • Views: 422

• Preschool Pedagogy: What Toddl Preschool Pedagogy: What Toddlers Can Teach Us About Leadership

  • From: Fred_Ende
  • Description:

    I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of real-life lessons for educational leaders, unfortunately many times separate from what we receive in methodology courses or workshops.  As I was dropping my daughter off at preschool last week, I started reflecting on how just much of what is experienced during a normal day of life for toddlers is extraordinarily relevant for the work we do as adults.  With that in mind, here are four lessons that we should readily learn from our youngest leaders:

     

    • Share.  Regularly and Often.  Just because we’re in leadership positions, doesn’t mean we’re actually leaders.  We might be seen as enforces, pushovers, or simply figureheads.  To truly lead, we need to build collaborative ownership, where all stakeholders feel that their voices can help chart a course  This ownership can only come from sharing; whether it be of decision-making, responsibilities, or ideas.  Toddlers learn early on that a directive approach will only go so far, and that there are only so many times that they can say, “No, it’s my ball!” before nobody wants to play with them.  The same goes for leaders.  It can’t always be our ball, all the time.  By building an invested community we can keep the ball up longer than if we were simply tossing it around ourselves.

     

    • Stay in Your Seat during Lunchtime.  Rules and expectations play an important role in society, and sometimes different scenarios call for different responses.  Toddlers learn that they should sit during lunchtime and interact with their peers in appropriate ways (saying “please” and “thank you,” not making a mess, etc.).  The big idea here is that our behavior must fit the role and situation we find ourselves in.  So, when in a leadership role, we must always act as a leader.  This goes above and beyond the walls of our school or boundaries of our district.  Why?  Simply because we never know who will be listening and learning.  Of course, that doesn’t mean we can’t keep our personalities intact.  In fact, if we’ve learned anything, it is that we shouldn’t have to sacrifice who we are to be who we want to be.  Toddlers understand that their behavior during lunch doesn’t mean they can’t be the silly 3 year old they want to be later.  It isn’t a conflict of interest to be a leader while still being you.

     

    • Be Curious.  Toddlers are naturally curious, and that desire to learn more is cultivated in daycare and nursery school.  Ample opportunities to explore, exposure to new materials, books, toys, etc. all help to build a love for learning.  In fact, while I don’t have the data to back this up, I would be willing to confidently state that almost all students leave preschool with a love of learning.  Yet, as we have all seen, that changes for some as they get older. While there are many reasons for this, sometimes it is due solely to the environment of the school or district they attend.  As leaders, we must make sure that curiosity is a trait that is cherished in our buildings.  We must make the desire to learn more a pillar of our vision and show we are positive risk-takers.  When we hire, curiosity should be at the top of our “needed traits” list.  Evaluations for our staff should factor in curiosity and a desire to encourage students to seek just as many questions as answers.  What our society-at-large needs most is a constant influx of people who don’t just want to be receivers of information.  We can help cultivate the next generation of doers by emphasizing learning as a life-long experience.

     

    • Nap.  Or at Least Rest.  Preschools know that their charges need time to rest.  So, naps, or rest periods for older children, are not only encouraged, but required.  Even those who don’t want to nap are taught that they must at least lay down on their cots.  Why?  So their minds can reflect on recent activities, and their bodies can recharge for new explorations.  As we age, that rest time seems to disappear.  Even some five and six year olds are so hyper-scheduled that they don’t even have time to think.  We know this is wrong both scientifically and philosophically.  The greatest ideas often come when people have the chance to ponder.  We must make sure that we embrace reflective time as important to our work with students and teachers.  While mandates may make it hard to incorporate this thinking time, there is no reason why twenty to thirty minutes a day can’t be devoted to refreshing the mind.  Whether this means silently contemplating, doodling, writing a reflection, or taking a walk outside, nothing works to recharge the batteries like a change of pace.  Regardless of what this looks like, as leaders, we must make sure that we find time for peace as well.  Spending quality time with family, pursuing hobbies, getting a good night’s sleep, and exercising and eating right all can help us feel better both in mind and in body.

     

    We can’t learn everything from nursery school, but we can learn quite a bit.  We must remember that for most of our students, they are closer in age to these toddlers than in many times, to ourselves.  It stands to reason that what prepares our students for the microcosm of schooling can just as easily prepare them for the great big world out there.

  • Blog post
  • 4 months ago
  • Views: 1009