What is Right With Our Schools?

My blog title is just the opposite to the article title, "What is Wrong With Our Schools."  Yet the content of the article stresses how we should focus on what we are doing well, and we are doing well, raising achievement for so many low performing students.  Yes, we have a segment of students who do not perform well and believe school is not that important to them. So the bottom line is to focus on what we do well to increase student achievement and replicate the process for our other kids.

What is Wrong With Our Schools?  Jull Berkowicz and Ann Myers. 9.26.13.  Education Week - Leadership
https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6806707884730346906#editor/target=post;postID=6361350268327854149

A Good Idea? Intellectually Disabled Students with Other Students

Rhode Island, by court order, is now required to include intellectual disabled students in "some" classes with regular students to raise their level of academic achievement.  Examples in the article seem that the intellectually disabled students have disabilities more serious than those we see in our Title I classes.  However, this is an age-old question.  Is this a good idea or not?  Mainstreaming was the term used in the past.  How do you feel about this practice?  Do you think other states besides Rhode Island will follow suit?

Share your comments below.

R.I. Redoubles Efforts for Intellectually Disabled.  Christine A. Samuels.  9.25.13.  Education Week Premium Article. 
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/09/25/05sheltered_ep.h33.html?tkn=RNOFXieCKRkPVzCBRjZl0hDBmyZpAdPohLM1&cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS2

Drawing Pictures Helps Comprehension

We Title I teachers know that many students learn through visual imput, whether it be illustrations, videos, games, or TV viewing.  What we probably don't do enough is visual output - asking kids to draw pictures about what they are learning in vocabulary and understanding content.  The author of this article was an illustrator herself in class and often used it as a technique to learn.  She has translated "drawing" into a study strategy, one that I am sure would help many of our struggling learners. Be sure to look at the example illustrations.  (Another term for this practice is sketchnoting.)

Read and share your ideas with colleagues.

Visual Notetaking in the Classroom.  Wendi Pillars. 9.24.13. Education Week Teacher
http://www.edweek.org/tm/collections/ctq-collaboratory/2013/09/23/ctq_pillars.html

Student Resilience to overcome their disfunctional life -YOU can help!

This short article is part of the current September 2013 ASCD issue of Educational Leadership.  There are many similiar articles in this issue which will become available online in another month or so.  The point is....we as teachers can have a powerful impact in changing the direction of many students' lives who live in poverty, have disfunctional familiies, and live in crime-filled neighborhoods.

You've Got the Power.  Nan Henderson.  8.29.13.  ASCD Inservice.  8.29.13
http://inservice.ascd.org/educational-leadership/youve-got-the-power/

Resilience reseach is rather a new field of study and much needed to help educators teaching in many schools.  Foir more further information about Nan Henderson, please check her website.
Resiliency in Action. http://www.resiliency.com/

Please share your thoughts in the comments section.  (New readers - Click blog title, not article title and the comments section will show up below.)

Transforming Ourselves - the Teacher!

This article may describe many teachers; however it is clear that teachers described at the beginning of this article to not fit any of our LEX teachers.  The second part of the article is certainly worth reading and examining our oen adjustments to new ways of teaching to get better results from our students, both cognitively and subjectively.

Changing Our 'Stuff" is Not Enough.  Becky Bair. 8.29.13.  Powerful Learning Practice - Professional learning for connected educators.
http://plpnetwork.com/2013/08/29/changing-stuff/

After reading this article, what speaks to you as being important?  How have you changed recently in your teaching practice?  Share your comments with othe LEX colleagues in the Comments section below. 
(For new blog readers, click on the blog title - Transforming Ourselves - the Teacher!, and the comments section will appear.)

Sample Questions for the New Math & Reading Tests

Want to see what the new test questions might look like?  The sample questions published here are from PARCC, an oirganization working with a 19 state consortium to create next generation asessments. Wisconsin is not one of the PARCC states.  A review of sample questions from PARCC could let us know the kind of questions we might be having in the next update here in our state.
Be sure to check out the embedded links, sample math items and sample literacy items.
If you read the comments at the end of the article, there are criticisms on using standard English.

Testing Consortium Previews Test With Sample Items.  Catherine Gewertz. 8.20,13. Education Week - Curriculum Matters.
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2013/08/testing_consortium_releases_ne.html?cmp=ENL-TU-NEWS2

"Reading" Maps is "Close" Reading

Common Core requires us to teach close reading, but don't think for a minute that entails only text.  Maps, charts, diagrams, photos, videos and other visual aids are often present for the student to use to better understand the concepts of the text.  Read this amazing article and find out why1492 was chosen as the year Columbus started his expedition across the Atlantic.  (Question:  Did you know the full answer?  I know I didn't)
Close reading of these aids is important to teach our students; they are not just simply factual storehouses.

After reading this article will you be doing something differently in your Title I class?

What Do We Mean my Reading Maps?  Phil Gersmehl.  7.22.13.  Education Week.  Premium article.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/07/22/37gersmehl.h32.html?tkn=QQCCsffrjN4HEqzMV3cLjguGQJrBmKGwK2mF&cmp=clp-sb-ascd