Train the trainer April 19th

Trained on everything:



Agenda April 19th--

• Digital Storytelling
• lunch
• Podcasting and RSS feeds
• Creating an Audio Podcast

adult ed hand out--in calendar pocket

Chiyaki Thurston Digital Storytelling Module I and II

Storyboard software freware from ALVIN (??????)

Photostory 3

ISTY (national technology website) NETS (???????)

Inspriation software is a good storyboarding tool.

google digital storytelling, or storyboard

This take in digital sotrytelling is a reaction to literature and exploration of theme and such kind of stuff. check out <>

making a connection to the content in a personal way--buliding bridges between individual experience and content areas. EX: for geometric images of everyday objects to illustrate the learners conception and understanding of the content being taught. Can be done with any content area.

check out the new york times question of the day (SAT questions)can we have a Promethean or a smartboard for the training dates? (ask Denise)

So, Module I is the basic building blocks of digital storytelling--storyboarding, digital imaging, file management.

narration is prime and storyboard is secondary.

The art of Digital Storytelling November 2005 Discovery

#1 set up student folders and name on either student drive or on a flash drive and teach them how to lock their information --right click on the folder and set as read only--talk to Cherri to find out how to lock folders or documents.

Required to have scanned images and digital camera images. have images for the students in the class to scan.

http://www.freeplaymusic.com/

http://movies.atomiclearning.com/k12/home

digital story telling modlue I=6 hours-building the template via storyboarding and digital image manipulation plus file management.

Digital story telling modlue II=6 hours--using MS photostory to create a digital story focusing on image imports, text on image, and audio overlays. only good for still images--not video.

podcasting & RSS feeds=3 hours-locating content for subject areas

XML and RSS--what's the difference?

creating an audio podcast=3 hours-creating content for subject areasRSS=a method to distribute information on the WWW. Podcasts are audio and video-anyone can subscribe.

Office 2007 has a reader in Outlook only. itunes also has a feed list reader.

Teacher tube and itunes will both have great content for subject areas. on Teacher tube there are student produced

We will all have SharpSchool web sites this fall--research!

Podcasts are MP3 files--not Apple specific.

http://www.gcast.com/u/BHoxie/main

I set up a podcast!!!!! I feel really cool!

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ audio editor--way cool

What works in schools day II--afternoon

So--the basis of the discussion is this. as educators we want to insprire kids to learn--to create self actualized learners who desire to know more. The reality is this: we are defined as a failing school because our test scores are not on par with the goals set by the state and the interventions we feel we must take to raise those test scores seem to kill our students desire to learn. these two ideas are islands separated by a vast channel named "how is success measured." The bridge has yet to be built, at WRHS, that will marry these two ideas together. Sure, we can expect success, be visionary, and yadda yadda yadda. But to define a school's success, and therefore students' success on a single day assessment that only measures the bar set by people who are not members of those communities is farcical. We are not allowed to use data to show how much our students have gained since they have entered our doors. We are not allowed to show in our state reports that for our students a gain of .05% in attendance is a huge success. To realistically set forth the ideals of NCLB--which is not a bad idea, it's implemtation is hugely flawed--every student needs to be evaluated where they begin and where they finish. Then, true success can be measured.

What works in schools day 2 cont....

Response To Intervention --A.K.A. PBS.
IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act)
RTI is a systematic assessment to monitor and determine modifications to services provided by public schools.
Assumtions for low-performing students: ineffectivene instruction and disability. RTI will assess students to detertime IDEA status

• This will take those at-risk students who are low-performing and provide a framework to assess and determine whether or not the student qualifies for Special Education evaluation.
• Universal screeners are used to target students that need intervention

Tiered interventions--the framework of RTI

• Tier 1--low intensity and supplemental ed opportunities on the general classroom
• Tier 2--medium intiesity smal group or individualy oreinted and in the general classroom
• Tier 3--high intensity targeted intervention, individually oreinted, monotored daily by a SpEd teacher.

THE TRIANGLE!!!

use data to target and solve problems

The rest is based on the PBS model in terms of serving special needs students in that a team of professionals need to ID and serve students, and that formal structures must be in place to allow early identification of at-risk students so that the school can provide services to students who need them, and we can improve test scores for all children--I'll rant aobut the basic flaw in testing to evaluate school/student performance later! GRRRRRRRRRRR--now I'm frustrated.

RTI is a culmination of quality education for all students

It's PBS.

What works in schools--day 2

Writing across the curriculum
Cathy Douglass

Writing is a tool that non-English teachers can use to calrify, think deeply, communicate, explore,extend, record, evaluate, explain, apply, organize, make connections, and build confidence about any subject area--not just English.

Teachers who do not traditionally teach wrtiting can do the following to build opportunities for writing in ther classes such as: Provide time for writing in class, let students choose own topic, monitor student work, model own writing, provide framework, provide a variety of audiences, share student work, enourage students to use personal insights.

In writing across the curriculum, especially for ELL students, content is the most valuable thing to be assessed. Writing is simply an assessment of what the student has learnd. The ideas are the most important thing--organization, diction, grammar--all that English stuff--just determins the level to which the student is able to communicate his or her ideas to the evaluator.

Teachers need to allow students to use their own voice and acknowledge the different purposes of writing and forms of writing.
Sample of Creating a metaphor:
Parts of a cell compared to a factory ie: the nucleus=executive offices, cytoplasm=factor floor, mitochondrion=furnace rooms, etc...
OR
Taking a que from nature
ex: how is space exploration like a plant? a form of water? an animal? weather? a form o light? Season? If kids make metaphors and similes, they are more likely to recognize metaphors and similes on standardized exams--IT'S ABOUT THINKING! I want to do this with a character from literature, or a poetic form, or an author, or a story/novel, or a
OR
Write a technical manual for math ie. 2 column notes--column 1 solving the problem, and column 2 is explaining the soultion.
OR
Pass around--a communal piece of paper is passed around to help focus topics and gather feedback from the class.--it's really cool--try it with poetry essay to help students determine thier individual topics--the overarching idea is poetry, the rest is up to the groups.
--

What works in schools, afternoon session

Objectives:

• look @ what we know
• ID specific improvment issues
• Draw on our collective knowledge and experiencces to suggest reoponses to those issues and challenges
• share and celebdrate successes

CES--coallition of essential schools--jill davisdon

"We are what happens next"

NCLB discussion--Has NCLB caused more harm that good? It is a federal mandate and is a state issue. The problem lies in this paradox. if education is to be a state issue, how can feds mandate standards that deem what is sucessful and what is failure. Additionally, the TASS was the model for NCLB and now Texas students are not the top of the game according to the rules of NCLB. Too often we focus on the product in education, not the process and it is this product driven attitude that has Oklahoma focused on single snapshot of a few key items to determine a school's performance. Standards do have a place, need a place, but too often the end of education, from the federal point of view, is the test score--and in the process the student-the whole reason for the school to exist- is lost.

Scenarios for reform

9%=nonreform--like Small Learning Communities

2%=momentary reform--quickly fades but doesn't last and is quickly replaced.

13%=nominal reform--we have some posters....

22%=resident reform--reform is a way of life

7%=transient reform--we are going to reform

12%=temporary reform--what we do until we are really going to do something

9%=Sustained implementation--actually doing the work

26%=substantial reform=reform works and is a constant work in progress (think Baldridge)

--

The myth of linearity--the idea that if we implement greater we will have greater achievment, but it's done a little bit at a time. HOWEVER; to see significant school improvment, extensive implementation will show academic results. THEREFORE, "Deep implementaiton of a few things beats superficial implementation of many things. THUS more that one goal = no goal at all. Depth is better than breadth. Knowing "how" is very different from knowing "that" THEREFORE havinga goal without a plan to implement that goal is just silly and a big waste of time. the HOW is essential to the doing. PLANS, ORGANIZATION, AND MEASUREMENT MUST BE PLANNED FOR GOALS TO BE ACHIEVED. Backwards planning is the only way to success (If I want to see X happen, the I must allow A,B, and C to happen; thus X is supoported by process and procedure.) It's all about systems of support to lead/teach a new point of view that make the achievement of the goal possible.

--

In most school improvement initiatives, things seem to get worse. Implemantation dip is part and parcel of the process. Some theorist feel that implementation needs to go far enough and fast enough to reach the point of no return so the implementaiton process will not be abandoned. It's all in the spin--it isa hard to sell implementaiton with mere statistics--data is hollow. We need to attach faces, testimonials, real people to sell implementation of reform--to get to that area of substantial implementation. We need to appraoch our faculty with not only logos (data), but also ethos and pathos to cocnvince teachers to get through the implementation dip (which I think is where we as a school are)

--

Internalize Best Practices

make expectations clear, provided practies, feedback, coaching, accountability, Whatever else is needed? Essentially build a culture of trust and cammeraderie. not a culture of distrust and fear of retribution.

What works in Schools continued

Essentials of leadership
Assistant Super of El Reno schools--
we listed @ our tables 10 qualities of leadership:
Modivated, vocal, organized, educated, aware/ focused, goal oriented, PR skills, Knowledge of organization, ability to share and inspire vision, ability to share and insprie vison, with-it-ness, not afraid to do the hard things/ able to face a challenge.
Then we ranked them then in the whole group.
--
Building academic vocabulary (handout!)
Defined leadership in group--colloboration and teamwork in action--qualities of leadership in action.--it is interesting how we all said the same thing, genarally, but with different emphasis based on our respective schools perspective.

Leadership is what a leader does: motivate, inspire, guide, teach, reach, coach, admonish, praise, and communicate to set and achieve goals.
HOWEVER--Leaders cannot be managers (managers provide structure and procedures to get the job done)
Leadership is to finesse as Managemnet is to essentials.
Leadership is to coaching as Management is to playing.
Leadership is to designing as management is to picking a color.

Movies that teach leadership:
Stand and Deliver
Braveheart
Apollo 13
Lord of the Rings--any of them
Star Wars--any of them
The Great Debators
Facing the Giants
REally, though, most movies embody some form of leadership. A leader is simply a hero who inspires people to follow him or her to do something that an individual might not have considered doing or might not have been capable of/ known how to do/before. it was the leader who lead the followers to do what had not been done before.

What works in schools conference notes

Differentiated Instructions Made Easy
Catherine Dunn and Cathy Douglass.
Teach students--not content--everyday. How are we addressing the needs of students who are higher than grade level. Too often we focus on the students that are not performing at grade level. G& T students are Special Ed too.
Trademarks of G&T SpEd:
Chronologically advanced
Curious
CAtches on quickly
Sees connections
Intense
Has many interests
Sophisticated sense of humor
Advanced sense of justice
Prefers to work alone
Aware of Global issues
Higher level of thinking
Older students
Bossy
Give opportunity to all

--
The goal is to apply these strategies to all students to meet the differentiated needs for all students regardless of grade level achievement

IT'S ALL ABOUT RESPECTING THE STUDENT AND HIS OR HER NEEDS
--
Groping strategies:
Readiness--groups acan change and will change; oral discussion, journaling, questioning.
Learning Profile--quiet/noisy, kinesthetic/ auditory/ visual, attention span, nonreader/ readers, etc...
Student Interest
surveys, student choice
cubes activity
--
Differentiation strategies
Content--learn same skills and dconceps but match a starting point with the child's readiness level. Groups can be grouped to learn a skill (like fractions or equivalency) based on readiness level--like abilities grouped together. It has to be based on skill, not content. Make sure that all groups have equity in terms of how the skill is taught (like things that can be manipulated for all groups, not just a select group)
Process--Tiered lesson plan (it's a handout!)
I can see how the groups could be multi-leveld with students in assigned roles (like a foundation builder, a researcher, and a reporter who synthesizes the information. All students will present the data in a visual format and collaborate. It meets the needs of all levels of instruction, fufills the objectives being taught, and also provides a framework for teamwork.)
Product--learn the same lesson, but each assignment varies based on ability. (different group have different assignments (assessment of skill) ie. Art: one group produces a flip book, another gorup makes a pop-up page, and the third group makes a pop-up book with two artists {compare/contrasts}) or cube the assignments (cubes leveld by ability level for questions or such)
--
Most difficult first
Allow students to do the "5 star" problems/questions firts. If students make a 100% the first time, then allow free time, or provide an enrichment packet. Free time needs to have rules
suggestions for individual projects
Assigned each 9 weeks
cannot be taken home
Students and teachers decide together

Strategy:
Have students that are working on individual project write question in a journal. questions are written and the teacher answers whilst monitoring therest of the class by writing in journal or notebook.

The compactor
Give students an opportunity to show what he or she knows. Students can "throw away" (not have to sit through) what they already know. Allows students to work on an alternative activity--not graded

Alternate spelling activities--see Bri's handout

Teach Bloom's and have students track frequency. Chart results, find percentages, and make it a competition.

Stump the teacher--a Mark Forget strategy.