328 Search Results for "chapters"

• Sarah_Duncan

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• Daphnir_Cesar

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• Using Foreign Films to Engage Using Foreign Films to Engage Reluctant Readers

  • From: Ryan_Thomas1
  • Description:

    In her book Engaging Reluctant Readers Through Foreign Films, Kerry P. Holmes recounts a Saturday evening, one where she intended to put all thoughts of school aside and relax with her husband. It was decided that they would finally watch East/West, a French film with English subtitles. At first, she found herself grumbling over the subtitles, but as the film progressed, she became swept up in the plot—so much so in fact, that she forgot she was even reading the subtitles. This experience sparked an epiphany: What if she started using foreign films to engage reluctant readers?
    
    

    As many of us know, finding creative ways to focus reluctant readers on books, the very thing that evokes feelings of frustration, inadequacy and failure, is challenging. But there are several reasons that foreign films can capture students’ interest and stimulate their imagination in ways that books can’t.
    
    

    Films are sensory
    Psychologists have long known that the brain is a “novelty seeker.” We are attracted to movement and stimulated by unexpected events. Films are brimming with moving images and sounds; these create a context for the text in ways that print simply can’t. Let’s explain.
    
    

    In foreign films, sight and sound are used simultaneously. A man shouts; we see it, hear it and read it. In fact, every action is accompanied by sound, movement and text, which means that your reluctant readers are hearing and seeing the emotion of the words they are reading.
    
    

    Subtitles come in short bursts, not long pages
    Long paragraphs and twenty-page chapters can be paralyzing for reluctant readers. The text in subtitles, however, appears in short bursts that are never more than one or two sentences at a time. There’s something else to consider: The text we find in a typical book is limited to small black words on a page. Sure, there may be accompanying pictures or graphics, but they don’t move, speak, or make sound. Films do all three.
    
    

    Foreign films come in a variety of genres
    How often do your reluctant readers complain that there aren’t any books that suit their interests? By adding foreign films to your classroom library, students will have even less of a reason to say they can’t find “books” that they like. Like books, foreign films come in a variety of genres; there’s bound to be one that will resonate with them.  
    
    

    Foreign films expose students to cultural differences
    As with books, foreign films allow students to transcend their own lives for a short time and enter the lives of those from another culture. In films, cultural differences (which are often abstract) can be seen, heard and read, making them much more real and digestible.
    
    

    If you are looking for a few more ways to engage your reluctant readers, check out two of our recent blogs, Text-Based Games: A cure for the common book?  and Engaging reluctant readers with a multi-media reading experience.
    
    

     

    

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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

    • Attend today’s Whole Child Virtual Conference Session “Grit: Multiple Intelligences and Instructional Technology in the Classroom” at 4:00 p.m. eastern with Walter McKenzie and Professional Interest Community Facilitator Tom Hoerr. Register now.
      View and register for the other Whole Child Virtual Conference sessions.
      
      
    • Apply for the 2013–14 Nominations Committee. ASCD is seeking ASCD leaders who are interested in serving on the 2013–14 ASCD Nominations Committee. More information, including the committee’s charge, qualifications for service, and time commitment, is available at www.ascd.org/nominations. ASCD will accept applications until May 31.
       
    •  Submit a proposal for ASCD’s 2014 Annual Conference. ASCD is accepting proposals for 2014 Annual Conference presentations until May 15.

     

    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

    • Outstanding Young Educator Award (OYEA) cadre members PJ Caposey and Brian Nichols were featured in EdWeek’s Classroom Q&A series with Larry Ferlazzo. Read their thoughts about ways to observe teachers without demoralizing them.
      
      
    • Read ASCD Emerging Leader Ember Conley’sWhole Child Blog post about “Promising Whole Child Practices in Arizona”
       
    • Read ASCD Emerging Leader Daniel Smith’sWhole Child Blog post, “Who is Today’s Principal?”
       
    • Check out OYEA winner and ASCD Board Member Marc Cohen’s Whole Child Blog post, “Our Expectations Are (and Should Be) High”
       
    • 2013 OYEA Winner Joshua Garcia has a blog series on ASCD EDge called WILL (What I Learned Lately). Read his #2, #3, #4, #5, and #6 posts.
       
    • ASCDEmerging Leader Kevin Goddard, also known as “the Goddblogger,” has written great posts over the last few weeks on ASCD EDge: “Complicated vs. Complex,” “Systems Theory,” “Reductionism,” “Chaos vs. Complexity, ” and“Capacity Building.”
    • Read ASCD Emerging Leader Nicole Zuerblis’ ASCD EDge blog post: “Everything But the Kitchen Sink?”

     

    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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• 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

    •  Submit a proposal for ASCD’s 2014 Annual Conference. ASCD is accepting proposals for 2014 Annual Conference presentations until May 15.

     

    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!

    • ASCD Emerging Leader Jessica Bohn wrote an article for this month’s Educational Leadership issue on The Principalship. Read her article “First-Year Hurdles” on ascd.org.
      
      
    • ASCD Emerging Leader Craig Martin is featured in the Spring 2013 issue of Teachers of Color Magazine.Read the article (PDF).
      
      
    • Niles West High School Dean and ASCD Emerging Leader Alum Antwan Babakhani has been promoted to be the school’s new assistant principal effective July 1. Read more about Antwan.
      
      
    • ASCD Emerging Leader Torian White was featured in a blog post for the points he made during the ASCD Forum discussion. Read the post about Torian.

     

    Other News

    • ASCD Emerging Leaders Curtis Pelham,Amy Murphy, and Armentress Robinson were recently featured in the ASCDInservice blog “8 Questions” series.
       
    • Check out Fred Ende’sWhole Child Blog post, “Exceeding Needs Through a Partnership Perspective.”
      
      
    • Minnesota ASCD’sSpring Conference, “Creating a Highly Engaged Classroom,” takes place on April 25.
       
    • South Carolina ASCD’s Spring Conference was a huge success! Read more at scascd.org.
      
      
    • Check out Illinois ASCD’s revised website.
      
      
    • Five new members joined the ASCD Board of Directors at ASCD Annual Conference. Read the press release.

     

    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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• To My Last Group Of Students.. To My Last Group Of Students...

  • From: Michael_Fisher
  • Description:

    One of my former student's parents contacted me recently to share my memories of him for a graduation scrapbook. I wanted to share with you what I wrote, as this was the last group of students I had before I left the classroom to do Professional Development full time (in 2008). I still get to interact with students, but I call it "Grandparent Teaching." I come in and do what I do and then I leave--it's not the same as having your own group of kids for the year and I miss being in the classroom full time.

    The student to whom I am writing this is Matt--but the message is to all of my former students. I value every one of you and wish you the best that life has to offer!

     

    My letter to Matt:

    ___________________________________

    When you’re a teacher, you are tasked with not only teaching children something important, but also with developing a relationship that can be sustained for a year or sometimes, if you’re lucky, longer.

     

    I’ve had the pleasure, over the course of my years in education, to teach a couple thousand kids. I remember every single one. Some stick out more than others, but all of them are locked in my brain and for at least a year—they were my children. I remember their interactions, their values, their humor, and their personalities. I remember their interests, their abilities, and their collective awesomeness.

     

    In this age of social media, I’ve enjoyed my extension of interaction beyond the year I was granted as a teacher and being able to watch my students grow, and think, and react, and interact.

     

    The year that I met Matt, and Libby, and Paige, and Maria, and more—was a year to be remembered. I remember trying to prepare a lesson, but always considering the 8 or 10 different ways it could potentially shift and trying to be ready for whatever happened. I had a group of thinkers that I had yet to encounter and they were all wired the same way—to question ANYTHING I came up with. I was in heaven as a teacher. I loved a challenge and I loved the multiple directions our classes always took. Sometimes, I knew the kids were just rolling with my ideas, and other times, I knew that they were really exploring new territory – learning beyond anything I could have really conceived but in the moment seemed absolutely perfect.

     

    So, that said, my main memory of Matt specifically involves a teacher observation. Our assistant principal at the time really wanted to observe my teaching of the 6^th grade students, which included Matt. They had been working on a project that involved their deconstruction and depiction of song lyrics and their visual representation in a digital presentation. The parameters of the project asked that students “teach” my class for ten minutes, but every single student taught an entire class period. Yes, each.

     

    During the observation, the assistant principal was able to see the high caliber of the students’ projects as well as the questioning that followed, much of which was directed by the students. During the course of questioning and discussion, Matt raised his hand.

     

    He asked, “Why do other teachers have us answer questions at the end of the chapters we read? Why can’t we do stuff like this all the time? It’s way more interesting.”

     

    I was thrilled for a couple of reasons. He said this in front of an administrator during an observation and made me look awesome. But, deeper than that, he showed me that he had a keen interest in deep learning and sought to understand his world at a level beyond the prescribed zone. For a teacher, that is nirvana.

     

    Later in the year, I tasked the students with creating their own “museum.” I asked them to create exhibits around areas of interest and wanted them to explore something that they were really interested in, that they may not otherwise have the opportunity to explore in school. Matt created an exhibit around astronomy and shared pictures that he and his dad took using their telescope. I was really impressed, as I shared an interest in Astronomy and was just in awe of their pictures.

     

    That class of 2013, including Matt, is my last class to graduate from Starpoint Schools before I left the classroom. While I know I am doing good work now with teachers (and ultimately their students!) all over the country, I have VERY fond memories of my time with these specific kids. I love this opportunity to celebrate their passage into adulthood and feel so very lucky to have been part of their journeys.

     

    To all of these students, these fabulous humans, especially Matt—I wish Godspeed. Go and grow and conquer—the world is yours! Be thinkers! Be givers! Be kind!

     

    Be the change you wish to see in the world! Be the initiators and the trendsetters; be the caregivers and the change agents. Be friendly and be loving. Be questioners and be humble.

     

    But beyond anything that you will eventually be, continue to be YOU.

     

    You matter. Your contributions matter. You matter to others and every relationship and every interaction you have from now on will be predicated on the fact that you have gifts to offer others that they’ve never seen before.

     

    So, be YOU.  Be awesome.

     

    And know that everyone whose life you’ve touched is cheering for you to succeed.

     

    I’m grateful that I had my opportunity to have any sort of impact, Matt. I am grateful to you and your peers for having an impact on me.

     

    Congratulations, Class of 2013.

     

    I couldn’t be more proud.

     

    -Mike Fisher

  • Blog post
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• L2L News: March 2013 L2L News: March 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

    • We are seeking blog post writers for the ASCD Forum. How do you think teacher and principal effectiveness should be defined and measured? Constituent Services is seeking ASCD leaders who are interested in writing blog posts aligned with a series of themes on the topic of educator effectiveness. To learn more, e-mail Meg Simpson at constituentservices@ascd.org.
       
    • Submit a proposal for ASCD’s 2014 Annual Conference. ASCD is accepting proposals for 2014 Annual Conference presentations until May 15.
       
    • Nominate a colleague for the ASCD Emerging Leaders program. ASCD is accepting nominations and applications for the Emerging Leaders program until April 1. For more information, go to www.ascd.org/emergingleaders 

    Attending ASCD Annual Conference?

    We hope to see you in Chicago this weekend at ASCD’s 2013 Annual Conference: Our Story, Our Time, Our Future. Here are a few tips as you head out for St. Patrick’s Day weekend:

    • Download the ASCD Conference app. Search “ASCD” in your mobile app store or go to www.ascd.org/ascd13app. Plan your sessions, access social media activity, get up-to-the-minute news on ASCD Annual Conference, and more.
       
    • If applicable, read the First Timer’s Guide on ASCD Inservice.
       
    • Read Getting Your Game Plan Together for #ASCD13 on ASCD Inservice.
       
    • Follow the #ASCD13 hashtag on Twitter to connect with other attendees. Consider attending the Tweetup on March 16 as well.

     

    Can’t make it to Chicago? Attend the ASCD Virtual Conference instead!

     

    Join the ASCD Forum Conversation

    For the first time, ASCD is hosting a forum to focus on a topic of importance to educators across the globe. Nations, states, and provinces all around the world are grappling with the issue of educator effectiveness. ASCD invites all educators to make their voices heard in an ongoing discussion of the question, “How do we define and measure teacher and principal effectiveness?” The current discussion theme (March 3-16) is:

    Educator Evaluation Systems: What research and evidence support the validity of existing evaluation systems?

    Upcoming themes include:

    • Multiple Measures (March 17 – 30): What measures do we use and how do we weight them to measure educator effectiveness?
    • Conclusion:How do we define and measure teacher effectiveness? (March 31 – April 6)
    • Conclusion: How do we define and measure principal effectiveness? (April 7 – 12)

          The ASCD Forum concludes April 12. We invite educators to join the conversation by blogging on the ASCD EDge®social network, commenting on other blog posts, taking a survey, and attending a live session at ASCD Annual Conference. Results from the ASCD Forum conversations will inform the ASCD Board of Directors’ position development process. To learn more about the ASCD Forum, join the ASCD Forum group on ASCD EDge or contact constituentservices@ascd.org.

     

    Newest Policy Points Highlights Teacher Evaluation

    ASCD’s newest issue of Policy Points (PDF) spotlights the association’s original 50-state analysis of educator evaluation systems as outlined in states’ NCLB waiver applications and other resources; it features a series of maps for easy comparison of key evaluation system components across the states. The resource provides graphic depictions of the frequency of state teacher evaluations, the rating levels used by states to rate teacher performance, and the extent to which states use student learning data in teacher evaluations.  

     

    Save the Date! ASCD Whole Child Virtual Conference: Moving from Implementation to Sustainability to Culture

    May 2–10, 2013

    How can schools implement and sustain a whole child approach to education? ASCD invites you to participate in the free, online Whole Child Virtual Conference from May 2–10, 2013.

    You will

    ·         Hear from renowned speakers, including Pasi Sahlberg, Michael Fullan, and Andy Hargreaves.

    ·         Learn from educators, authors, and experts who have successfully implemented a whole child approach in schools around the world.

    ·         Discover the steps taken by ASCD’s Vision in Action award-winning schools and Whole Child Network schools to implement comprehensive, sustainable school improvement and provide for long-term student success.

    ·         Discuss how you can bring a whole child approach into your schools.

    Twenty sessions will be broadcast live over five days, May 6–10, between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Eastern time, with additional sessions on May 2 and 3 for Australasian and European audiences.

    No matter where your school falls on the whole child continuum, be it the early implementation stage or well beyond, the Whole Child Virtual Conference provides a forum and tools for school sites and districts that are working toward sustainability and changing school cultures to serve the whole child.

    Register Now! Go to www.ascd.org/wcvirtualconference

     

    Throughout March at wholechildeducation.org: Reducing Barriers and Expanding Opportunities

    Addressing students' needs levels the playing field. Or rather, addressing students' needs is only leveling the playing field. If a child is hungry, then schools can address the need by providing breakfast, lunch, and assistance as needed. The same applies if the child is unwell. Many schools have made great strides in addressing students' needs, but some schools have gone further. They have taken an issue that was initially a need and used it to enhance and improve what the school offers.

    Join us throughout March as we look at schools that have taken a deficit and turned it into an asset. Some schools have used connections formed into and across the community to enhance and build on what they first envisaged. Other schools are forming alliances to improve a specific situation and have then used those same alliances to improve the entire school. How has your school or community taken a challenge and turned it into a win?

    Check out 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.

    We are taping this month’s Whole Child Podcast in front of a live audience at ASCD’s 2013 Annual Conference and Exhibit Show, on Saturday, March 16, in Chicago, Ill. Joining hosts Sean Slade and Donna Snyder of ASCD’s Whole Child Programs team will be representatives from the winning school of the 2013 Vision in Action: The ASCD Whole Child Award as they discuss this month's topic and what works in today's schools. The podcast will be available for download on Monday, March 18.

     

    ASCD Leaders in Action: News from the ASCD Leader Community

     

    New Jersey ASCD Featured in ASCD Inservice Blog Series

    ASCD asked 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 fifth post of the series, New Jersey ASCD Executive Director Marie Adair writes about the challenges and successes that New Jersey has had with CCSS implementation.

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

     

    Join the ASCD Forum Conversation

    The ASCD Forum has begun, and you’re invited to be a part of it! Check out these ASCD EDge posts on teacher and principal effectiveness:

    Be Prepared: The ASCD Forum Discusses Educator Preparation Programs

    Use Emotional Intelligence as an Effectiveness Tool and Both Sides of the Scale by Professional Interest Community Facilitator Mamzelle Adolphine

    The Road to Principalship and Beyond by 2012 Emerging Leader Dawn Imada Chan

    Making Teacher Observation Matter by Virginia ASCD Executive Director Laurie McCullough

    Conversation is also taking place in the ASCD Forum group on ASCD EDge, and the #ASCDForum hashtag on Twitter. You are also invited to join us for a live face-to-face session at Annual Conference that will also stream live via Virtual Conference. For more information, go to www.ascd.org/ascdforum.

     

    ASCD Leaders to Ignite ASCD Annual Conference

    With the tagline “Enlighten us, but make it quick,” Ignite presentations are a fast-paced, breathtaking, and inspiring way to share stories. Each presentation is 20 slides long, and each slide automatically advances every 15 seconds; this format keeps the presentations moving quickly. The following ASCD leaders will present their Whole Child stories in Ignite session format at ASCD Conference on Saturday, March 16:

    • 2011 Emerging Leader Kimberly White Glenn
    • 2010 Emerging Leader and Maryland ASCD President-Elect David Stovenour
    • Western Kentucky University Student Chapter Leaders Rachel Glass and Kateiri Kintz with Student Chapter Faculty Advisor Rebecca Stobaugh
    • 2011 Emerging Leader Doug Paulson
    • 2012 Emerging Leader Jessica Bohn
    • Assessment for Learning Professional Interest Community Facilitator Michael Rulon
    • ASCD Board of Directors Member Gabriel Rshaid
    • OYEA Honoree and 2010 Emerging Leader Dallas Dance
    • 2012 Emerging Leader Ember Conley
    • 2010 Emerging Leader and Florida ASCD Board Member Jason Flom

    Please join us for an exciting Saturday afternoon session from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m.!

     

    Welcome to the new Common Core Professional Interest Community

    We are pleased to announce the newest ASCD Professional Interest Community: Common Core in the Classroom facilitated by Suzy Brooks of Massachusetts ASCD! The group will share ideas and resources for implementing the Common Core State Standards in instruction. Please join the group on ASCD EDge.

    Congratulations to Matthew Cotton

    2012 ASCD Emerging Leader Matthew Cotton has been selected to serve as a reviewer for the music standards by the National Association for Music Education (NAfME). Matthew was identified from among hundreds of applicants and nominees nationwide as an expert in an area of music education who can contribute to this process. Congratulations to Matthew on this exciting achievement!

     

    Check Out These Great Pieces by ASCD Leaders

    • ASCD Express: Three Strategies for Encouraging and Developing Student Voice by ASCD Leader Dawn Imada Chan, and cross-posted to the Whole Child Blog.
       
    • Whole Child Blog: Our Children Are Counting On Us by ASCD Board of Directors Member and former OYEA Winner Marc Cohen
       
    • ASCD Inservice: Eight Questions for Emerging Leader Kim Glenn
       
    • Get to the Core Webinar Series:Implementing the Common Core: Transform Principals into Instructional Leaders with 2012 Emerging Leader Michael DeCaprio(this webinar was recorded March 6, and will be archived soon)
       
    • Whole Child Blog: Safer, Not Safe by 2012 Emerging Leader Jason Ellingson
       
    • Lab Out Loud: STEM in Primary Classrooms by 2011 Emerging Leader Doug Paulson
       
    • Washington ASCD’s Spring issue of Curriculum in Context: A Systematic Approach to Implementing Innovation (p. 25) by 2011 Emerging Leader Hannah Gbenro

     

    Something to Talk About

    Most recent blog posts on ASCD EDge®

    Mostclicked stories from ASCD SmartBrief

     

    Association News

    • ASCD Continues Expansion of Award-Winning Professional Development Offering with New PD In Focus Videos and PD Online Courses—ASCD announces the release of two new PD In Focus® videos and three new PD Online® courses. These new resources address a variety of topics important to educators today, including instructional leadership, formative assessment, and Common Core State Standards implementation. Read the full press release.
      
      
    • ASCD Makes Professional Development E-books Available Through International Retailer Kobo—ASCD is pleased to announce that its e-books are now available through Kobo, a global leader in e-reading. More than 80 of ASCD’s professional development e-books are now available at www.kobo.com to educators in 200 countries, and counting. Read the full press release.
      
      
    • ASCD Introduces New Conference App, Offers Support for First-Time Attendees—Attendees at ASCD's 2013 Annual Conference and Exhibit Show, held March 16–18, at McCormick Place in Chicago, Ill., will be able to improve their conference and professional development experience by downloading a new ASCD app that puts important conference information at their fingertips. Read the full press release.

     

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• Amber_Higby

  • ASCD EDge Member
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• Learning to Teach, Learning to Learning to Teach, Learning to Lead: ASCD Student Chapters in Action

  • From: Melissa_Dube
  • Description:

    The ASCD Student Chapter program is designed to accelerate preservice educators and student teachers’ professional development and their self-identification as education professionals and leaders. ASCD student membership establishes the link between the classroom and chapter member’s first jobs as they transition into a career in education. Learn more about the benefits of Student Chapter membership from this video. Highlights from a few of our Student Chapters are featured below.

     

    The Montclair State University ASCD Student Chapter held four recruitment sessions to introduce new members to the organization, provide background information, and survey students on their needs and interests. Their chapter membership has grown to 67 students! In the future, the chapter anticipates that general meetings will be used to provide information about upcoming professional development opportunities and review ASCD Smart Briefs to keep abreast of new advances in educational research and practice. Coming up on March 23, the Montclair State University ASCD chapter will co-host their first professional development workshop with New Jersey ASCD title, “Acing your interview: How to plan and execute a demo lesson.” To get in touch with the Montclair State University Student Chapter Faculty Advisor, please contact Nicole DiDonato.

     

    The Ohio Northern University ASCD Student Chapter helped put together an event to revamp the university’s Child Development Center (CDC) this past fall. Many education students, professors, and other volunteers devoted a Saturday to helping repaint the facilities. Student Chapter President Jessica Liska describes that the CDC is to the Education Department like a science lab is to a chemist. All Early Education majors spend significant amounts of time in the CDC and wanted to help create a space they could be proud of. Throughout the spring semester, the chapter will focus on increasing membership and collaborating more effectively with other education groups on campus to host events. For more information about Ohio Northern University’s Student Chapter, please contact the Faculty Advisor, John Gillham.

     

    The Southern New Hampshire University ASCD Student Chapter started out the fall by hosting a welcome back BBQ for education students and professors. During the fall, student members worked to increase communication with other education majors on campus. As a result of an increased presence on campus, student membership has increased by fifty percent! The chapter also participated in Hunger and Homeless Awareness week on campus. In order to raise awareness of the amount of homeless families in the Manchester community, students slept outside the Dining Hall from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Although it was only one night, the experience was an eye opener for club members. This spring the chapter is hoping to create a resource drive to benefit homeless children in the Manchester, New Hampshire area. For more information about the Southern New Hampshire University Student Chapter, please contact their Faculty Advisor, Audrey Rogers.

     

    Two professional development events were hosted by Western Kentucky University’s Student Chapter: “Common Mistakes Made by First Year Teachers” and “Diversity in the Classroom.” At the first event local teachers and principals provided information to future educators about the mistakes that first year teachers tend to make. They offered advice for these future teachers and answered questions. The second event, “Diversity in the Classroom”, featured elementary, middle, and high school teachers sharing strategies to accommodate diversity in the classroom and reach individual student needs. Four Western Kentucky University students presented at the Future Educators Association (FEA) regional and state conferences this past fall. Two students led a presentation introducing the education program and the benefits of becoming a teacher. The presenters also explained the essentials of lesson planning. For more information about Western Kentucky University’s Student Chapter, please contact the Faculty Advisor, Rebecca Stobaugh.

     

    ASCD Student Chapters may form on the campuses of community college, colleges, and universities with accredited education programs. To learn more about starting a chapter, complete this request form to receive a Student Chapter Start-Up kit.

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• Kayla_Gagnon

  • ASCD EDge Member
  • Points:250
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• Sneak Preview: Upgrade Your Cu Sneak Preview: Upgrade Your Curriculum

  • From: Michael_Fisher
  • Description:

    

     

    Janet Hale and I got the Preview PDF of the new book today from ASCD. You can DOWNLOAD IT HERE. It will be publish in its entirety on March 5th and will be available at the Annual Conference in Chicago. Janet and I will be doing several sessions at the conference to support the major elements in the book.

    
    Additionally, if you’d like to join the Upgrade Your Curriculum group on ASCD Edge, JUST CLICK HERE and then click JOIN.
    
    All of the chapters (including the preview chapter!) include discussion questions that we will be discussing on ASCD Edge in the Discussion Forum. (Coming soon!) In the group, we will have conversations about bringing the major points in the book down to the classroom level and helping teachers create and share their own curriculum upgrades.
    
    We are so looking forward to sharing all that Upgrade Your Curriculum means and can’t wait to start a global conversation and collaboration in collectively upgrading each other!
    

     

    -Mike and Janet

  • Blog post
  • 3 months ago
  • Views: 296

• Resources for Access and Equit Resources for Access and Equity

  • From: Meg_Simpson
  • 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, or join the ASCD Forum group on ASCD EDge.

     

    ASCD Resources for Access and Equity:

    ·         Teach Up for Excellence: Seven principles for creating classrooms that give students equal access to excellence, Educational Leadership, February 2012 (please note, this article is only available to ASCD members)

     

    ·         Four Takes on Tough Times (see Efficiency and Equity section), Educational Leadership, December 2011

     

    ·         Creating Excellent and Equitable Schools: Five schools show how to beat the odds for low-income students, Educational Leadership, May 2008.

     

    Other Resources Regarding Access and Equity:

     

    ·         Education and Urban Society, 2012: Varying Teacher Expectations and Standards: Curriculum Differentiation in the Age of Standards-Based Reform (abstract/summary)

     “The development of academic standards in each state creates the context where common educational experiences and academic outcomes exist for all students regardless of the school they attend, the teacher they have, or the learning group placed. However, while the standards-based reform has the potential to ensure more equitable educational experiences for students, its impact can be compromised by the deficit beliefs that exist about low-income students and students of color and their families.”

     

    ·         Journal of Urban Learning, Teaching, and Research, 2012: “Everything that's Challenging in My School Makes Me a Better Teacher”: Negotiating Tensions in Learning to Teach for Equity (PDF)

    “This paper responds to the call for further inquiry into the experiences of graduates of urban focused teacher education programs. I present and analyze the experience of Mia, a White, monolingual English female who earned licensure in secondary social studies through a graduate-level, equity-focused teacher preparation program before accepting a position at a large, traditional diverse, underperforming, urban middle school. The paper explores how negotiating tensions in curriculum and intersections with colleagues in her school context contributes to her identity development with respect to culturally responsive, equity-oriented pedagogy.”

     

    ·         Alliance for Excellent Education, 2011: Teacher and School Leader Effectiveness: Lessons Learned from High-Performing Systems. (PDF)

    “For its examination of teacher effectiveness policies, the Alliance and SCOPE looked to Finland, Ontario, and Singapore. These jurisdictions have attracted a great deal of attention in United States education policy circles recently, and with good reason. Most significantly, they get good results: they are among the highest-performing jurisdictions in international tests of student achievement, and their results are among the most equitable in the world. The gaps between the lowest-performing and the highest-performing students in Finland, Ontario, and Singapore are much smaller than in the United States, and the average performance is quite high.”

     

    ·         National Center for Educational Evaluation and Regional Assistance, 2011: Do Low-Income Students Have Equal Access to the Highest-Performing Teachers? NCEE Evaluation Brief. NCEE 2011-4016 (PDF)

    “This brief describes the prevalence of highest-performing teachers in ten purposely selected districts across seven states. The overall patterns indicate that low-income students have unequal access, on average, to the district's highest-performing teachers at the middle school level but not at the elementary level. However, there is evidence of variation in the distribution of highest-performing teachers within and among the ten districts studied. Some have an under-representation of the highest-performing teachers in high-poverty elementary and middle schools. Others have such under-representation only at the middle school level, and one district has a disproportionate share of the district's highest-performing teachers in its high-poverty elementary schools.”

     

    ·         Pursuing Equity in and through Teacher Education Program Admissions, Education Policy Analysis Archives, v19 n24 Aug 2011

    “This case study investigated equity in teacher education admissions. Through document analysis and structured interviews with ten past or current members of the admissions committee in a large initial teacher education program in Ontario, we developed an understanding of equity in teacher education admissions as encompassing two foci: equity in admissions--that is, equity of access for applicants to the program--and equity through admissions--that is, equity of educational opportunity and outcomes for the children in the schools where the teachers trained by the programs will eventually teach. Our analysis illustrates the importance of recognizing both foci and the tensions between them.”

     

    ·         National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, 2010: Ensuring the Equitable Distribution of Teachers: Strategies for School, District, and State Leaders. (PDF)

    “The brief contains the following information: (1) An explanation of the problem of inequitable teacher distribution; (2) An overview of school policies and practices that appear to contribute to equitable teacher distribution; (3) Strategies for school leaders to enhance teacher recruitment, hiring, and placement practices as well as improve working conditions; (4) Strategies for district leaders to enhance teacher recruitment, hiring, and placement practices as well as improve teacher compensation policies; (5) Strategies for state and federal leaders to facilitate district policymaking and build district capacity to support the equitable distribution of teachers; and (6) Resources to support leaders in promoting the equitable distribution of teachers.”

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• ASCD Forum: Take the Access an ASCD Forum: Take the Access and Equity Survey

  • From: Meg_Simpson
  • Description:

    In thinking about access and equity, teacher effectiveness is at the core. How do we know that students have equitable access if we are not sure what constitutes an effective educator?

    Many organizations strive to address this issue through the development of standards that define an effective teacher or principal:

     

    Teacher Standards:

    • Council of Chief School State Officers (CCSSO) – Model Core Teaching Standards: A Resource for State Dialogue (PDF)
      
      
    •  National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) – The Five Core Propositions
      
      
    • Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership – National Professional Standards for Teachers (PDF)

    Principal Standards:

    • E-Lead – Standards for School Leadership Practice: What a Leader Needs to Know and Be Able to Do
      
      
    • New Leaders for New Schools – Principal Effectiveness Paper
      
      
    • National Association for Elementary School Principals (NAESP): Leading Learning Communities: Standards for What Principals Should Know and Be Able to Do

     

    Do these standards describe teacher and principal effectiveness?

     Let us know what you think in this survey.

     

    These are only a handful of the organizations that have made an effort to define quality through a set of standards, and while there are similarities is common ground, they are far from identical. Can there be only one definition of effectiveness? Perhaps there are several: tell us what you think in the survey, and in the comments below!

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• ASCD Forum: How Do We Give Stu ASCD Forum: How Do We Give Students Equitable Access to Effective Teachers and Principals?

  • From: Meg_Simpson
  • 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.

     

    With a topic as complex and challenging as educator effectiveness, where do you start? ASCD has decided to start the conversation on the theme of access and equity, for as Jason Flom wrote in his ASCD EDge blog post “Learned (In)Humanity:”

     “If we endeavor for anything in our schools and learning communities, it seems imperative that we first and foremost strive for equity, equality, and justice for all.”

     

    But what does that look like?

     

    And how do we go about it?

     

    That’s where ASCD needs your help. We need educator thoughts, perspectives, and insights to begin answering this question for students all over the world. The intersection of those educator views is the ASCD Forum,and we want you to be a part of it.

     

    Educators are already sharing their thoughts on this topic, on ASCD EDge and on the #ASCDForum Twitter hashtag:

    • Jason Flom shared his thoughts in the ASCD EDge post Mosaic of Effectiveness. He asserts on Twitter: “Too often we mistake rigor for relevance, achievement for well-being, accountability for quality. IMHO.”
      
      
    • @Iowa ASCD asserts:
      “Coaching and feedback earns commitment from educators; evaluations often get you at most the compliance.”
      “At school, the only thing more important than an effective teacher for student success is an effective principal.”
      
      
    • @CompassLearning invites us to check out NAESP’s principal evaluation initiative.
      
      
    • @Betavt : “This (the ASCD Forum) is great. For too long we have been defined by others. We do a lousy job defining ourselves. We let it happen.”
      
      
    • @Jeffmccoach: “‘Teacher’ and ‘Administrator’ covers a wide range of skills – standardizing a single approach to evaluation on effectiveness is inappropriate.”
      
      
    • @CatFlippen : “This is REAL enrichment…great to see large organizations take up smart forums and Twitter chats!”
       
    • @Jessicacmumm: “Teacher effectiveness should be measured against the Characteristics of Effective Instruction.”
       
    • @FredEnde: "‘master learner’ doesn’t necessarily equal ‘effective teacher.’"

     

    What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below or read this post for guidelines on other ways to participate in the ASCD Forum.

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• Welcome to the ASCD Forum Welcome to the ASCD Forum

  • From: Meg_Simpson
  • Description:

     

    Across the globe, nations, districts, schools, and individuals face a timely and complex issue: How do we define and measure teacher and principal effectiveness?

     

    Is there a definitive answer to this challenging question? We’re not sure, but we would like to find out. ASCD is convening the inaugural ASCD Forum from January 22 to April 12, 2013, to focus educator conversation and insight on this important topic.

     

    How it Works

    All educators are encouraged to join in the ASCD Forum, which will focus on a series of themes to help guide discussion:

     

    ·         Equity and Access (January 22–February 2): How do we give students across the globe equitable access to effective teachers and principals?

    ·         Educator Preparation (February 3–16): What is the role and responsibility of educator preparation programs to foster and sustain effectiveness?

    ·         Educator Evaluation Purpose (February 17–March 2): What is the purpose of educator evaluation systems?

    ·         Educator Evaluation Systems (March 3–16): What research and evidence supports the validity of existing evaluation systems?

    ·         Multiple Measures (March 17–30): What measures do we use and how do we weight them to measure educator effectiveness?

    ·         Conclusion: How do we define and measure teacher effectiveness? (March 31–April 6)

    ·         Conclusion: How do we define and measure principal effectiveness? (April 7–12)

     

    You have several ways to join the themed discussions:

    ·         ASCD EDge® social networking platform: ASCD invites you to join the ASCD Forum group on ASCD EDge and write one or more blog posts on educator effectiveness, which may or may not be aligned with the themes that will structure the ongoing conversation. We ask that blog posts adhere to the following guidelines:

    o   Tags: We ask that all ASCD Forum posts be written through your free profile on ASCD EDge and tagged to the ASCD Forum group. In order to tag your post to the group, you need to join the ASCD Forum group. When writing your blog post draft, the bottom of the page has an option called “Add blog post to groups.” Select “ASCD Forum” before selecting “add blog post” to publish your post.

    o   Structure: Feel free to structure your blog post any way you like; it can be a personal story, research, tips, an opinion piece, resources, and so forth. If your piece is more than 500 words, we recommend breaking it up into a series of several posts over the course of a week.

    o   Format: We ask that you include the following header in your blog post:

    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.

    o   Number of posts: You can contribute any number of posts to the ASCD Forum. We are looking for a rich, diverse online conversation with as much participation from as many educators as possible.

    o   Review: ASCD Forum posts do not need to be approved or reviewed before you post them. If you would like feedback on a blog post draft, please send it to constituentservices@ascd.org, and ASCD staff will give you feedback within two business days.

    o   Post responses: We invite you to comment on other ASCD Forum posts to help us cultivate a deep and comprehensive conversation on educator effectiveness.

    ·         Twitter: All tweets relating to the ASCD Forum should include the #ASCDForum hashtag. If you would like to share a resource on educator effectiveness or promote your ASCD EDge blog post, please add the hashtag. We are also holding an ASCD Forum kickoff Twitter chat on Tuesday, January 22, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. eastern time with ASCD Policy Director David Griffith.

    ·         Annual Conference: A face-to-face session of the ASCD Forum will take place at the 2013 ASCD Annual Conference from 8:30 to 9:45 a.m. on Sunday, March 17, which will also stream live through the ASCD Virtual Conference. This session, moderated by ASCD President Debra Hill, will use both live and virtual participation from the audience to continue the conversation about educator effectiveness.

    ·         Complete a short survey: In an effort to gather quantitative as well as qualitative feedback from educators on the topic of teacher and principal effectiveness, ASCD has developed a series of individual surveys aligned with the ASCD Forum themes. We invite all educators to take a few minutes to complete each survey and help give us a more comprehensive picture of how educators view teacher and principal effectiveness. Surveys will be posted in the ASCD Forum group and to the ASCD Forum homepage at www.ascd.org/ascdforum.

    We hope you will join us for this conversation, which is the first of its kind for ASCD. The ASCD Forum was created to give educators a voice on education issues of worldwide significance. We are excited for this unique challenge and we hope you are too.

    Questions? E-mail constituentservices@ascd.org or find me on Twitter @msimps01.

  • Blog post
  • 4 months ago
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• L2L News: January 2013 L2L News: January 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

    • üWe are seeking blog post writers for the ASCD Forum. How do you think teacher and principal effectiveness should be defined and measured? Constituent Services is seeking ASCD leaders who are interested in writing blog posts aligned with a series of themes on the topic of educator effectiveness. To learn more, e-mail Meg Simpson at constituentservices@ascd.org.
    • üRegister now for ASCD’s Annual Conference.ASCD President Debra Hill invites you to the 2013 Annual Conference & Exhibit Show in her hometown of Chicago, Ill., March 16–18.
    • üSubmit a proposal for ASCD’s 2014 Annual Conference. ASCD is now accepting proposals for 2014 ASCD Annual Conference presentations until May 15.

     

    The ASCD Forum Kicks Off Next Week

    For the first time, ASCD is hosting a forum to focus on a topic of importance to educators across the globe. Nations, states, and provinces all around the world are grappling with the issue of educator effectiveness. ASCD invites all educators to make their voices heard in an ongoing discussion of the question, “How do we define and measure teacher and principal effectiveness?” Discussion themes will include

    • Equity and Access (January 22 – February 2): How do we give students across the globe equitable access to effective teachers and principals?
    • Educator Preparation (February 3-16): What is the role and responsibility of educator preparation programs to foster and sustain effectiveness?
    • Educator Evaluation Purpose (February 17 – March 2): What is the purpose of educator evaluation systems?
    • Educator Evaluation Systems (March 3 – 16):  What research and evidence support the validity of existing evaluation systems?
    • Multiple Measures (March 17 – 30): What measures do we use and how do we weight them to measure educator effectiveness?
    • Conclusion:How do we define and measure teacher effectiveness? (March 31 – April 6)
    •  Conclusion: How do we define and measure principal effectiveness? (April 7 – 12)

          The ASCD Forum starts January 22 and concludes April 12. To join the conversation, educators are invited to blog on ASCD EDge, comment on other blog posts, take a survey, and attend a live session at ASCD Annual Conference. Results from the ASCD Forum conversation will inform the ASCD Board of Directors position development process. To learn more about the ASCD Forum, join the ASCD Forum group on ASCD EDge or contact constituentservices@ascd.org.

      

    Emerging Leaders Featured in ASCD Inservice Blog Series

    In an effort to highlight more educator voices on the ASCD blog, we recently initiated a series of Q&A sessions featuring ASCD Emerging Leaders. Learn more about 2011 Emerging Leader Victoria Ayam, 2012 Emerging Leader Robert Zywicki, and 2011 Emerging Leader Krista Rundell.

     

    Affiliate Presidents’ Posts Featured on ASCD Inservice Blog

    ASCD asked 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 second post of the series, Arkansas ASCD President Joe Fisher writes about the challenges and successes that Arkansas has had with CCSS implementation. New Hampshire ASCD President Bill Carozza offers his perspective in the third post of the series. Revisitthe first post focused on CCSS implementation in Florida by Florida ASCD President Alina Davis.

     

    Please Welcome the ASCD Instructional Technology Professional Interest Community!

    ASCD is pleased to announce that the Instructional Technology group is the latest addition to ASCD’s Professional Interest Communities. Stefanie Rosenberg Wager (Cortes) is the group’s founder and a 2011 ASCD Emerging Leader. Please join her group on ASCD EDge.

     

    ASCD Leaders on ASCD EDge

    Check out these great posts from ASCD leaders on the ASCD EDge community site. Please read, comment, and share.

    • College and Career Ready Clearly Isn’t Enoughby 2012 Emerging Leader Fred Ende
    • 3 Steps to Getting a Grant for Your School by 2012 Emerging Leader Jessica Bohn
    • What Vision is Pulling You?, Obstacles or Opportunities by 2012 Emerging Leader Jason Ellingson
    • School Violence When Will It Endby 2011 Emerging Leader Patricia Dickenson

     

    2013-14 Educational Leadership Themes

    The selected themes for the upcoming publishing year are as follows:

    • September 2013: Resilience and Learning
    • October 2013: Leveraging Teacher Leadership
    • November 2013: Tackling Informational Text
    • December 2013/January 2014: Getting Students to Mastery
    • February 2014: Building School Morale
    • March 2014: Using Assessments Thoughtfully
    • April 2014: Writing: A Core Skill
    • May 2014: The New Face of Professional Development

    Write for Educational Leadership magazine.

     

    Something to Talk About

    ·         Most recent blog posts on ASCD EDge®

    ·         Most clicked stories from ASCD SmartBrief

     

    Association News

    • Targeted ASCD Books, Institutes Released to Strengthen Common Core Implementation Nationwide—ASCD is pleased to announce the release of four new grade-level and subject-specific books in the Understanding the Common Core Standards series. Written by the experts at McREL and edited by a leading authority in standards implementation, John Kendall, these quick-start guides are now available in paperback and e-book formats. Read the full press release.
      
      
    • ASCD Expands Professional Development Team by Appointing Valda Valbrun New Director of Professional Development—ASCD has expanded its professional development team by appointing Valda Valbrun as the association’s new Director of Professional Development. In this role, Valbrun will help lead the development and implementation of ASCD’s capacity-building solutions. Read the full press release.
      
      
    • ASCD’s 2013 Annual Conference and Exhibit Show Sessions Feature Cutting-Edge Solutions to Current Issues in Education—ASCD’s 2013 Annual Conference and Exhibit Show features new sessions on some of the most important topics in education. Built on the theme, “Learning: Our Story. Our Time. Our Future.,” the Annual Conference and Exhibit Show will be held March 16–18 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Ill., and will inform, engage, help, and challenge educators from across the globe to better support student success. Read the full press release.
      
      
    • ASCD Announces Complete Schedule for 2013 Virtual Conference—ASCD announces the complete schedule for the association’s 2013 Virtual Conference. The 2013 Virtual Conference will run concurrent with ASCD’s 68th Annual Conference and Exhibit Show March 16–18, in Chicago, Ill. Read the full press release.
      
      
    • ASCD's 2013 Annual Conference and Exhibit Show Sessions Feature Cutting-Edge Solutions to Current Issues in Education—ASCD’s 2013 Annual Conference and Exhibit Show features new sessions on some of the most important topics in education. Built on the theme, “Learning: Our Story. Our Time. Our Future.,” the Annual Conference and Exhibit Show will be held March 16–18 at McCormick Place in Chicago, Ill., and will inform, engage, help, and challenge educators from across the globe to better support student success. Read the full press release.

     

     

  • Blog post
  • 4 months ago
  • Views: 415

• 5 Tips to Make Your Collaborat 5 Tips to Make Your Collaborative Learning Plans Effective

  • From: Ryan_Thomas1
  • Description:

    As psychologists and behavioral experts discover more about the various learning modalities and "how students learn," more and more schools are starting to use collaborative learning platforms as a part of their day-to-day classroom routine.
    
    

    A well-organized collaborative learning process allows students to work together, using each other’s' strengths to overcome collective weaknesses. Ideally, students are then able to take ownership of their learning experience and being teaching one another. But there’s a fine line between successful learning groups and classroom-wide chaos. We believe that creating an effective, collaborative learning environment takes planning, so here are 5 tips to help you keep the chaos at bay!
    
    

    5 Tips to Make Your Collaborative Learning Plans Effective
    
    

    1. Classroom Setup. Students learn best when their environment is comfortable, but still structured and organized. If you have a traditional classroom set up with rows of desks, any attempt at group work will end up in a mess of student clusters on the floor, on top of desks, and excessive wandering.
    
    

    Ideally, desks should be set up in clusters so students have a "real" place to sit, are facing each other, and can easily communicate. You will also be able to tell which groups are on track and which aren't. If you can get your hand on round or oval tables, those work too.
    
    

    2. Process-oriented learning. Try to create assignments where the group learning process is the primary focus and the “right” answers are either secondary or possibly even irrelevant.Students are less apt to contribute or share if they feel at risk for looking incompetent.
    
    

    Use these opportunities for students to work on discussion, analysis, process, and/or correlation skills—activities where they learn to develop deeper thinking/learning skills without attachment to the outcome.
    
    

    3. Everybody is accountable. One reason students learn to loathe group learning assignments is because one student always feels like s/he does all the work. And then there’s the classic case of the one student who didn't do anything at all but still gets credit. Effective collaborative learning happens when everyone is accountable somehow. You can create group tests which are harder than traditional tests so students are forced to work together to achieve a collective finished product. Circulating around the room will allow you to pay attention to who isn't participating and then encourage him/her to begin contributing.  Allowing the group to grade each otheris another way to suss out who is working and who isn't.
    
    4. Peer teaching. We all know that teaching is the best way to thoroughly learn something, so create opportunities which allow students to teach each other. Pair higher-level students with lower-level students, create harder problems or discussions that require group engagement to work through the solutions, or assign chapters to groups of twos or threes and make them teach their lesson on a scheduled date. This allows everyone to be a part of the give-and-take process involved in teaching and learning.
    
    5. Group selection. You should control the groups and pairs that work together at all times. They don't have to be the same all the time, but in order for students to work well together, there needs to be the right balance of varying skill levels and personalitytypes. By assigning the groups, and potentially assigning particular jobs to each member, you will see a marked improvement in the overall collaborative learning process. It can be a good idea to check in with students before class to assess their mood, allow them to vent a little, and get the class into a more settled mindset before beginning the group work. You may want to come up with general rules and guidelines for how groups should communicate/behave.
    
    

    Once you get your collaborative learning groups off and running, they will become a regularly requested element of your classroom design.
    
    

     

    

  • Blog post
  • 4 months ago
  • Views: 549

• L2L News: December 2012 L2L News: December 2012

  • 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.

    Action Items for ASCD Leaders

    • Submit your Ignite Session Proposal by January 9. Embodied in the tagline, “enlighten us, but make it quick,” Ignite presenters have 5 minutes to present on any topic of interest using 20 PowerPoint slides that automatically advance every 15 seconds. (Learn more about Ignite.) The theme of this Ignite session is “Your Whole Child Story.” We have found in general that the best presentations are on topics that personally inspire or motivate the presenter. We’re looking for fun, creative, out-of-the-box ideas, so please keep that in mind when completing your presentation proposal. Please note that the Ignite session proposals are only open to L2L ASCD leaders.
    • Save the date for the 2013 Leader to Leader Conference. The 2013 L2L Conference will take place July 18–20, 2013 at the Hyatt Dulles in Herndon, Va. Stay tuned for more details and information in the spring.
    • Register now for the Leadership Institute for Legislative Advocacy (LILA). This institute is an outstanding opportunity to network with fellow educators, share your expertise with your federal lawmakers on Capitol Hill, and hear from national education leaders about the latest education policy developments.
    • Speak out on sequestration. An education crisis is looming with the potential to disrupt services to 7.5 million U.S. students and threaten 90,000 U.S. educator jobs. Read more and take action on www.ascd.org.
    •  Register now for ASCD’s Annual Conference. ASCD President Debra Hill invites you to the 2013 Annual Conference & Exhibit Show in her hometown of Chicago, Ill., March 16–18.

     

    Why You Should Attend the Leadership Institute for Legislative Advocacy

    ASCD’s Leadership Institute for Legislative Advocacy (LILA), one of the association’s most unique experiences for educators, provides participants with the opportunity to learn from some of the nation’s leading education thinkers and policymakers in a much more personal setting than the usual conference. Register for LILA now to take advantage of the conference’s hands-on format so that you can gain the skills and knowledge to make a difference.

     

    LILA takes place January 27–29, 2013, in Washington, D.C. Read on for some of the features that set this conference apart.

     

     

    • Up Close and Personal: Ample opportunity to hear from and ask influential speakers like Diane Ravitch and National Teacher of the Year RebeccaMieliwocki about their unfiltered insights on the latest education developments.
    • Inside Scoop: Information from Capitol Hill and U.S. Department of Education influencers, including their firsthand perspectives on current education policy debates and priorities and what those mean for the status of No Child Left Behind and other federal education legislation.
    • Sneak Peek: A first look at ASCD’s 2013 Legislative Agenda, which is developed by educators for educators and drives the organization’s policy priorities for the coming year.
    • Advocate Extraordinaire: Tailored advocacy training and customizable resources to help you advocate for better education policy at the federal, state, and local levels now and throughout the year.
    • Make a Difference: Personal meetings with members of Congress and their education aides where you can share your expertise and discuss the education issues that matter the most to you.

     

     

    Space is limited and the registration deadline is fast approaching! Register for this premier legislative conference today and check out the conference agenda as well as the registration and travel information. Questions? Contact ASCD’s policy team at policy@ascd.org.

     

    New ASCD Policy Points on Sequestration and Education Now Available

    Learn all you need to know about sequestration and its consequences for educators and schools in the latest issue of Policy Points, ASCD’s newest policy publication.

    Sequestration, the 8.2 percent deep, across-the-board cuts to nearly all federal spending, will happen in January 2013 unless Congress acts to stop it. For education programs, this means a loss of more than $4 billion in federal funding. Unless lawmakers act soon, the potential loss of educator jobs, programs, transportation, and key school services could have a devastating effect in every state.

    Policy Points explains how we got to this point, outlines what sequestration means for education, and shares action steps that educators like you can take to help stop sequestration. Take one of these steps today, and urge your federal lawmakers to stop sequestration before time runs out and our nation’s students are forced to pay the price for Congress’s inaction.

    Check out the new Whole Child Tenets document

    The Whole Child Programs Unit within Constituent Services has released a new copy of the whole child tenets document (PDF).  In addition to having an updated design, the new layout allows users to see connections between the indicators that describe a tenet, and their correlating components, which were also identified for the ASCD School Improvement Tool. We hope users will find the new format more user-friendly as you work with schools, districts and states to support a whole child approach to education. We believe it to be the most comprehensive way to help educators in the field understand the real scope of a whole child approach.

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Emerging Leaders Featured inASCD Inservice Blog Series

    In an effort to highlight more educator voices on the ASCD blog, we recently initiated a series of Q&A sessions featuring ASCD Emerging Leaders. Learn more about 2012 Emerging Leader Daina Lieberman and  2011 Emerging Leader Doug Paulson.

     

     

    Florida ASCD Leader Post Featured in ASCD Inserviceand Core Connection

    ASCD asked 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 first post of the series,Florida ASCD President and Emerging Leader alum Alina Davis writes about the challenges and successes that Florida has had with CCSS implementation. This post was also featured in the December 5 issue of ASCD’s Common Core e-newsletter, Core Connection.

    
    

     

    Please Welcome Montclair State University to the ASCD Student Chapter Program

    ASCD is pleased to announce that Montclair State University has been accepted into our ASCD Student Chapter Program. The student leaders are enthusiastically planning recruitment events and other activities for the coming semester. To learn more about ASCD Student Chapters, go to www.ascd.org/chapters.

     

     

    Congratulations!

    • New Mexico ASCD Secretary Toni Hull is a 2012 Teaching Ambassador Fellow for the U.S. Department of Education.
    • 2011 Emerging Leader Torian White was recently appointed as interim principal in his school district, and after this school year, the position will become permanent. White is also featured in the Annual Conference video series: listen to his story about an educator who made a difference in his life.
    • 2009 OYEA Winner Bijal Damani was recently selected to become a Google Certified Teacher, and last month she received the DerozioAward for Education and Human Enrichment from the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (ICSE).

    Other News

    • 2012 Emerging Leader Erica Ringelspaugh is currently blogging for Wisconsin ASCD. Check out her blog, “What Erica Knows.”
    • Check out Iowa ASCD’s blog!

     

     

     

    ASCD Leaders on ASCD EDge

    Check out these great posts from ASCD leaders on the ASCD EDgecommunity site. Please read, comment, and share!

    • Solving the “Play” Problem, Disconnected Doesn’t Mean “Not Connected,” 2012 Emerging Leader Fred Ende
    •  Cogito Ergo Sum, Should Students Live Someone Else’s Education?, Comprehensive Planning, Improvise, 2012 Emerging Leader Jason Ellingson
    • We Need More Poetry in Social Studies, Build and Sustain a Successful AP Economics Program, SMART Goal for the Common Core, Tackling the Common Core, 2012 Emerging Leader Robert Zywicki
    • Supporting New Principals (survey link included), Professional Interest Community Facilitator Amelia Hicks
    •  Think Globally, Act Locally, 2012 Emerging Leader Steven Anderson
    • An Introduction to the Concept of Complexity, 2012 Emerging Leader Kevin Goddard 

     

    ASCD Can Help Support Your Common Core Efforts

    Are you interested in having a session presenter or keynote speaker on Common Core implementation at your next event? ASCD has resources and assistance available to state affiliates that will help to inform your members and educators  about implementing the Common Core standards. ASCD’s recent reportFulfilling the Promise of the Common Core State Standards: Moving from Adoption to Implementation to Sustainability illuminates activities educators at all levels can undertake to successfully implement the Common Core State Standards across the nation. The report and its implementation recommendations have already been successfully presented at events held by Utah ASCD, Ohio ASCD, and North Carolina ASCD. If you are interested in learning more about these opportunities, e-mail  Efrain Mercado, lead strategist for the Common Core State Standards, at both efrain.mercado@ascd.org andConstituentServices@ascd.org.

    
    

    A Progress Report on Teacher Evaluation

    Teacher quality is the most important in-school factor influencing student learning and achievement. Research shows that students with high-performing teachers can progress three times as fast as students with low-performing teachers and each student deserves access to highly effective teachers in every subject. In turn, all teachers deserve a fair and accurate assessment of their skills, how they perform in the classroom, and how they can improve. Teacher effectiveness is dependent on accurate and fair evaluations, based on multiple measures, including—but not solely based around—their students’ performance in the subjects they teach.

    If the ultimate goal of teacher evaluation is to improve student performance, what should evaluators look for? Read more on the Whole Child Blog.

    In November, we looked at the current teacher evaluation landscape. Listen to the Whole Child Podcast with guests Mike Blakeslee, deputy executive director and chief operating officer of the National Association for Music Education, a whole child partner organization and member of ASCD's College, Career, and Citizenship Readiness Coalition; Bryan Goodwin, vice president of communications at McREL, based in Denver, Colo.; and Cindy Weber, superintendent of Durand Area Schools in Durand, Mich. Have you signed up to receive the Whole Child Newsletter? Read this month's 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.

    ASCD’s Educational Leadership also focused on fair and effective teacher evaluation in its November issue, featuring articles by Robert J. Marzano, Charlotte Danielson, Tony Frontier, Thomas R. Hoerr, Carol Ann Tomlinson, and other experts and practitioners. Topics, research, and commentary include peer review, classroom observation, value-added measures, school district examples from across the United States, and lessons from South Korea.

     

    Something to Talk About

    ·         Most recent blog posts on ASCD EDge®

    ·         Most clicked stories from ASCD SmartBrief

     

    Association News

    ·         New Professional Development Resources from ASCD Support Problem-Based Learning, Differentiated Instruction, and Common Core Implementation—ASCD announces the release of a series of new PD In Focus^® videos, as well as two PD Online^® courses. These new resources focus on supporting educators in implementing problem-based learning, differentiated instruction, and the Common Core State Standards. Read the full press release.

    ·         Thomas Armstrong Presents Strength-Based Model for Teaching Learners with Special Needs in New Book—ASCD is pleased to announce the release ofNeurodiversity in the Classroom: Strength-Based Strategies to Help Students with Special Needs Succeed in School and Life by seasoned educator and best-selling author Thomas Armstrong. This new professional development book is available in paperback and e-book formats. Read the full press release.

    ·         ASCD Authors Headline 2013 Annual Conference Pre-Conference Institutes— ASCD announced the pre-conference session lineup for the 2013 ASCD Annual Conference and Exhibit Show, being held at McCormick Place in Chicago, Ill. The three-, two-, and one-day Pre-Conference Institutes will be held March 13–15 and offer intensive learning experiences on curriculum, instruction, assessment, and more. Read the full press release.

    ·         Atlanta Public Schools Select Digital Solutions from ASCD to Support Professional Development Goals—Atlanta Public Schools (APS), serving more than 51,000 students in the greater Atlanta, Ga., metro area, has become the latest school system to select digital solutions from ASCD to meet theirdistrictwide professional development goals. Read the full press release.

     

  • Blog post
  • 5 months ago
  • Views: 243
  • Not yet rated

• The Unfairness of "A" The Unfairness of "A"

  • From: Mindy_Keller-Kyriakides
  • Description:

    As I sit here, waiting on my essay to be returned from the online writing lab before submitting my final project, I'm struck by the unfairness of my grade in my higher-ed course. Oh, I've got an A coming, but that grade is solely due to the fact that I have a great deal of a precious resource at my disposal:  time.
    
    It's why I decided to return to grad school, actually--because I have the time. Thus, my papers and discussion posts and comments and replies are all spiffy nifty sharp and on-topic. I have fun with my assignments. I relish the reading. And, as I discovered of an online course, time = A. Time = better work, better learning, more creativity, stronger connections to the material.
    
    My classmates, who are desperately submitting things at all hours of the night, do what they have to do simply to get it done. They meet the goals, sometimes barely under the wire, sometimes late. I can imagine they have to skim the multiple chapters from the multiple texts we've had to read each week. I came to the conclusion that my A isn't fair.
    
    Is it fair that we will all be assessed with the same criteria, when we don't have the same amount of time at our disposal?
    
    For that matter, is it fair that we assess our students on the same criteria, given that they are coming at any given assignment with a host of individual needs? Now, I'm not talking about the kid who doesn't have a job (although I don't know too many high schoolers without one) or the kid who has all the latest gizmo gadgets.
    
    I'm talking about that one kid, who, if he didn't have to go to school all day and work part-time so as not to be a financial drain on his family, would be submitting creative, powerful work. Or those who lack other resources, such as family support or access to a computer. This student is submitting the bare minimum to get by. What about him?
    
    Is it fair to assess him by the same criteria, if he doesn't have the same resources?
    
    We could argue of my classmates that they should know what they're getting into. These classmates are full-time teachers, and how they'll ever get the time to complete our huge final project, I'll never know. It has taken me upwards of thirty hours or so, on top of the regular classwork.
    
    Putting myself in their shoes, I see my work as ostentatious overkill and hyper-organized. I color-coded a fifteen page template, not because I was required to, but because it looked more visually pleasing to me. (I went right-brained nuts with it is what I did.) It's feverishly detailed, but compared to those individuals who are straining simply to input the required information, I'm either setting a bar or I'm showing off. Either way, it's got to be frustrating and annoying to look at.
    
    How does that student feel who knows that if he had the time and/or resources, he'd be doing higher-level work?
    
    "They just need time-management," some may say. "We give them enough time to complete their work."
    
    Do we?
    
    Do you have thirty some-odd hours free over the course of two weeks, plus your eight-ten hour days at school, plus your regular reading and outside work to do the project you've assigned to your students?
    
    I know we want students to be creative. I know we want them to experience success. So, how can we allot them the resources they need to level the playing field?  Or, how can we better address the inequity of resources with the assignment criteria?
    
    I admire those who put forth effort in the midst of their maelstrom.

    Mirror Site: Joyful Collapse

  • Blog post
  • 5 months ago
  • Views: 315

• 4 reading strategies to help y 4 reading strategies to help your students read with purpose

  • From: Ryan_Thomas1
  • Description:

    A few months ago when I was “cleaning” (or at least going through the motions of it), I took a break to look through a few random literary collections. One was Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, a book I hadn’t read since my sophomore year of high school. As I flipped through the novel nearly fifteen years later, I chuckled at the randomness of the faded neon highlighter. On some pages, nearly every sentence was highlighted—then there was nothing for another fifty pages. I remember reading and enjoying the book, but years later, it was clear that I certainly wasn’t versed in critical reading as a sophomore lad.
    
    

    Like critical thinking, critical reading is something many teachers take for granted because we know how to do it. But we need to remember that critical reading is a learned reading strategy, one that we must teach our students. Here are 5 ways to help you do just that:
    
    

    4 reading strategies to help your students read with purpose
    
    

    1. Reflect on your own reading strategies
    Unless we can get into our students’ heads and squeeze into their shoes, we’re going to struggle to appreciate what they go through. Here’s a simple exercise that will help you not only see reading from a student’s perspective, but it will also help you observe your own reading strategies.
    
    

    • Find a book that is unfamiliar, slightly out of your comfort zone and not particularly interesting to you
    • Flip to a random section and start reading
    • As you read, take note of what’s happening to you: Is your mind wandering? Do you have to reread sections to comprehend them? What sections are you underlining or circling?
    • How would you find your footing? Would you flip to the previous chapter? Would you read the introduction and conclusion paragraphs first? Would you take a look at the table of contents or read the author’s biography?
      
      

    More than likely, you’re feeling a little lost, aren’t you? The same thing happens to our students when we send them off on a mission to tackle seemingly random passages or chapters without giving them a clear sense of purpose or clues as to how they’re going to be using the text once they’ve read it.
    
    
    2. Give students a clear sense of purpose
    Many of us worry that telling our students what to look for means that we’re doing all of the legwork for them. But reflect on your own reading strategies. If you were reading a novel for pleasure, you’d use a very different reading strategy than you would if you were reading the same novel for critical analysis, a presentation or a response paper.
    
    

    When you read for pleasure, you’re probably reading somewhat “superficially,” right? In other words, you’re probably not laboring over paragraphs. More than likely, you’re simply enjoying the plot and taking in the scenery. But when you are given a specific task, when you know why you are reading something, you’re going to dig into the text in a much deeper way.
    
    

    When you think of it this way, giving your students hints as to what they should be looking for isn’t “cheating” or “babying” them at all.
    
    

    3. Allow your students to invent their own purpose
    If you’d like your students to find their own way, at least equip them with a few reading strategies that will help them find a sense of purpose. Here are two such strategies:
    
    

    • The Selfish Reader: It’s important, not to mention fun, to be a “selfish reader”—that is, a reader who says, “So what? Why should I care about this? How does it impact me? How does it impact my world?” Asking these questions will not only force your students to interrogate the author, it will also force them to keep their own presuppositions and biases in check.
    • The Connecting Reader: There are certainly exceptions, but ideally, texts shouldn’t be read in isolation. Whatever students read should transcend the classroom, spill over into their other classes and into their own personal lives. Students learn to make connections between seemingly unrelated books and classroom activities not on their own, but when it is modeled for them.
      
      

    4. Show them how to look for key words and signal phrases
    Most writers use certain signal or transitional phrases that, if you know how to look for them, draw attention to essential information. Experienced and critical readers know, for example, that when an author says, “thus” or “therefore,” they should pay close attention. The same goes for “however,” “moreover,” etc. Words like “First,” suggest to us that it is likely that there will be a “Second” and “Third” point the author is going to make—which, again, means that we know to pay close attention. Instead of having our student learn the hard way, why not simply show them the tricks we’ve picked up over the years?
    
    

    If you’re looking for more reading strategies, check out one of our recent articles, 5 Ways to Help Your Students with Critical Reading and Reading Critically. We would also like to give credit to Cris Tovani’s article, The Power of Purposeful Reading, for many of the strategies we’ve included here.

     

    

    

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  • 6 months ago
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