Hope you’re planning to attend your state association’s annual conference. I realize for some of you that was much earlier in the year and if that is your case, I hope you went. This year the Michigan Association of Middle School Educators Annual Conference will be in Saginaw, MI.
Links:
Association: www.mamse.org
Site: http://www.stcs.org/education/components/scrapbook/default.php?sectionid=2
_______________
Shawn and Troy
I’ve spent some time in 5-8, 6-8 and K-8 school environments. Sometimes 5th graders were self-contained while older students moved from teacher to teacher. In other circumstances, 5th grade was used as a transition with single-teacher classrooms and locker access during passing time. I’m currently in a New Jersey K-8 school with no passing time, no lockers and 6-8th graders changing classes.
Knowing all too well the challenges of adolescent behavior and academic performance, I wonder what thoughts you had on the appropriate breakdown of grade levels for elementary vs. middle school. At what grade level should middle school begin (beside the legal requirements for teacher certifications)? Can a single administrator effectively manage a staff who work with students from kindergarten age to their teens, or should different principals handle different grade ranges? What impact does the proximity of 7th and 8th graders to elementary aged students have on academics and/or behavior? How about 5th and 6th graders? In my search for answers on this topic, I found a study done by Duke University in 2007 entitled “Should Sixth Grade be in Elementary or Middle School? An Analysis of Grade Configuration and Student Behavior.”
Is there such a thing as either an elementary or middle school mentality? Can a teacher have both? Can a principal?
What are your thoughts on this topic?
NMSA Teacher Preparation Standards.
In another “Freakonomics”-style study that turns conventional wisdom about public- versus private-school education on its head, a team of University of Illinois education professors has found that public-school students outperform their private-school classmates on standardized math tests, thanks to two key factors: certified math teachers, and a modern, reform-oriented math curriculum.“According to our results, schools that hired more certified teachers and had a curriculum that de-emphasized learning by rote tended to do better on standardized math tests,” Lubienski said. “And public schools had more of both.”
Of the five factors, school size and parental involvement “didn’t seem to matter all that much,” Lubienski said, citing a weak correlation between the two factors as “mixed or marginally significant predictors” of student achievement.
They also discovered that smaller class sizes, which are more prevalent in private schools than in public schools, significantly correlate with achievement.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090226093423.htm
Throughout his now-famous “Last Lecture,” the late Carnegie Mellon University professor of computer science Randy Pausch talked about what he called the “head fake.” It is the idea that learning and education work best when they work on the personal and general levels simultaneously.
We miss one of the most important aspects of character education, the cognitive head fake, when our obsession with advanced coursework becomes myopic and overshadows the strength both areas could have if working to complement each other in high schools.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/02/26/23sutton-com.h28.html?tmp=804479676
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/02/26/23sutton-com.h28.html?tmp=804479676
As James Traub, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, has noted: “[T]he issue is not whether we will have character education, but instead, what kind we will have and what relationship it will bear to the ongoing campaign to improve children’s academic skills.” Indeed, character education’s very survival depends on its quantifiably improving students’ academic skills.
A new character education model should be developed around principles that encourage college-level critical thinking and service to community. It should include the following elements:
1. We should teach dialogue and deliberation through Socratic seminars and consensus-building, so that students learn how to communicate with each other in a democratic setting and the ability to judge ideas on the strength of evidentiary support, not misinformed opinion.
2. We should teach core values and beliefs, so that students identify universal truths they are willing to speak for and work from that will guide the decisions they make as leaders and citizens of their communities.
3. We should teach historical models of leadership, so that students will understand that all great leaders are merely standing on the shoulders of others, and that the values of integrity and compassion don’t come easily. Figures taught could range from Gandhi and Lincoln, to the Bible’s King David, to the explorer Ernest Shackleton.
4. We should provide thoughtful teaching of inequity and inequality as they relate to race, gender, and class, so that students can learn how to speak to one another about diversity in a way that creates progress and does not reinforce stereotypes or systems of power and privilege. Students should be introduced to the writings of authors such as Peggy McIntosh, Cornel West, and James A. Banks.
5. We should teach democratic citizenship and leadership, so that students can learn how to use democratic systems to empower and give voice to all participants in a society to make communities more equal and just. Students should be introduced to scholars such as Walter Parker and historical documents such as the Federalist Papers and Washington’s Newburgh Address.
6. Since moral reasoning is integral to these pursuits, students should be taught to think their way through ethical and moral dilemmas and how to make choices that benefit all and that foster the strength of character to persevere through failures. Lawrence Kohlberg’s “stages of moral development” is a great place to start.
7. We should teach ethical and collaborative decision making and problem-solving, to empower students to change dysfunctional systems and communities. This should teach them that problem-solving is not the sole responsibility of one leader or group, but of a whole community working together.
8. We should give students opportunities for practical application of these precepts and practices, so they can test their new knowledge within the community and attempt to make positive improvements. These opportunities could be through schoolwide community-service projects, school philanthropy projects, and various other school improvement projects that encourage all students to participate.
Items, Events, and Other:
“Robert Balfanz is a research scientist at the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University and associate director of the Talent Development Middle and High School Project, which is currently working with more than fifty high-poverty secondary schools to develop, implement, and evaluate comprehensive whole-school reforms. His work focuses on translating research findings into effective reforms for high-poverty secondary schools.
Balfanz has published widely on secondary school reform, high school dropouts, and instructional interventions in high-poverty schools. Recent work includes Locating the Dropout Crisis, with co-author Nettie Legters, in which the numbers and locations of high schools with high dropout rates are identified. He is currently the lead investigator on a middle school-dropout-prevention project in collaboration with the Philadelphia Education Fund, which is supported by the William Penn Foundation.
Balfanz received his PhD in education from the University of Chicago.”
“Dear NMSA Member,
One-third of all students and half of minority youth—a startling 1.2 million kids—fail to graduate high school each year. Many of those who do graduate lack the basic skills needed to succeed in college, work, and life. With this many children at risk, our nation is at risk. We need your help to stem this tide.
As part of America’s Promise Alliance, National Middle School Association is pleased to present you with Grad Nation, an evidence-based guidebook to help you increase the high school graduation rate in your community.
We invite you to use this first-of-its-kind “road map” that has the latest data, best practices, and tools for meeting your specific high school dropout challenges. In addition to the research-based guidance for addressing the crisis, Grad Nation also includes ready-to-print tools and links to additional online resources. Available to all free of charge, this online resource can be found at: www.americaspromise.org/gradnation.
Authored by Robert Balfanz, Ph.D. and Joanna Honig Fox from the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University, and John M. Bridgeland and Mary McNaught of Civic Enterprises, Grad Nation presents a compelling case for a broad cross-section of all organizations and individuals to get involved.
Although there is no silver bullet for reducing the dropout rate, we know which approaches work, and this guidebook is the first ‘one stop shop’ for anyone who wants to assemble the best set of approaches that will impact the problem, including information on public policies proven to help reduce the dropout rate.
As leaders of middle grades education, we must continue to set an example and inspire others to take action to strengthen our schools and keep our young people on the path to success. The Alliance formally unveiled this tool on February 10, 2009. Please join me in supporting Grad Nation as a valuable new resource.
Sincerely,
Betty Edwards, Ed.D.
Executive Director
National Middle School Association”
“I have just started listening to the MSM Podcasts. I download them from iTunes U and listen to them on the way to work. Today I am home with a sick child and I am listening to a marathon of MSM, spending my day with Shawn and Troy. lol.
I am a special education teacher at the secondary level and have shared the MSM link and iTunes U info on the podcast with the tech department for my school to distribute to the school, because MSM highlights and covers content that isn’t limited soley to the middle school level.
MSM is an incredible resource for newbies to the tech world. . . like me. . . because Troy and Shawn provide a thorough and comprehensive review of current education, technology, pedagogy and its practice information available from a variety of sources.
Listening to Shawn and Troy at MSM has “elevated the level of my game” so to speak. They are thoughtful and thought provoking in their content and coverage of material. . . all provided with a good dose of . . . humor!”
Thanks Jenny! We appreciate your spreading the word!
History Before and After Humans
Shows an overview of the development of Homosapiens and the potential future of humans.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7348103/
It is a guidebook that provides a road map to help communities tackle the dropout crisis. It is designed to help communities develop tailored plans for keeping students on track to graduate from high school, prepared for college, work and life. Grad Nation is a natural outgrowth of our local summit work to ensure that solutions are developed to put our youth on a path to success.
Grad Nation also includes ready-to-print tools and links to additional online resources, in addition to research-based guidance. It provides information and tools for developing and implementing a customized program that’s right for individual communities.
http://www.americaspromise.org/APAPage.aspx?id=11796
Like other teachers spearheading ambitious collaborative units, Smith’s two-pronged approach to managing the Monster Project — developing his students into self-directed learners while also harnessing technology tools to help keep things on track — has allowed him to smoothly complete complex projects while maximizing student learning opportunities. “Teachers are only successful if they understand how to manage the project cycle,” notes Bernie Trilling, global director for education strategy and partnerships for the Oracle Education Foundation, which emphasizes project learning.
It started back in third grade with polite letters from the school principal to the East San Jose couple: Your daughter has had a series of unexcused absences; please contact us. Back then, Carol Reynoso and Jayvee Geronimo’s youngest attended school about 80 percent of the time. Now, Vanessa said she’s willing to do anything if only the court would spare her mother from jail, including face her worst fear — school. “I’m willing to really try this time, to go to school,” said Vanessa, whose family says she was mercilessly teased about her weight. “I know I’ve said that before, but I mean it.”
Patrick says that public education has struggled to incorporate technology into schools and just adding computers piecemeal is not enough to engage students. Educators properly trained to use the Internet and digital tools can teach in a traditional manner and have unlimited resources at their fingertips. Online learning can also help create more personalized learning plans for each student.
http://ascd.typepad.com/blog/2009/02/patrick-speaker-spotlight.html
Lion Taming 101 by Dr. Debbie Silver
Selected notes from Drumming to the Beat of Different Marchers
Lion Taming 101 by Dr. Debbie Silver
The Teacher
“Concerning a teacher’s influence, I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates and climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to mae a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can e a tool of torture or an instrumnt of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or deescalated, and a child humanized or dehumanized.” – Haim Ginott
Dress Code – Music by Monte Selby
Lion Taming 101
Be Proactive!
Seating charts
We want teaching to be seamless. No child or teacher should stop the learning process.
Decide what battles you’re going to fight.
Things that are nitpick level, shouldn’t be at the “rule” level.
Practice procedures and routines.
Establish non-negotiables
Lee Cantor’s method can escalate this to an impossible situation.
Don’t get into it with a child in front of the other students.
Stay on your feet and move around the room.
Find your own “rhythm for management”
RESPECT the students.
Taking Inventory
Please answer the question. There are no right or wrong answers. What you write will be held in confidence.
1. What is your full name? What do you like to be called? Why?
2. List 5 words that describe you.
3. List the people that live in your home(s) and put 2 describing words after each name.
4. What is your favorite thing to do at school?
7. Do you like to read? Why or why not?
10. Write your own question and answer it.
Tips for Successful Communication With Students
Do not begin instruction until all students are focused and attentive.
Be sure your voice and body language are consistent with your words.
Use direct eye contact and simple hand gestures to redirect off-task or inappropriate behavior.
Use clos proximity and a quiet voice to make reminders and censures personal and private
Be warm and friendly, and be firm.
Idea: Hall Moms & Pops: Folks in the hall during passing that talk to the students. Some have erasers, pencils, etc.
Offer choices of behavior so that you control the direction they go. It also helps them because they can’t come up with choices on their own.
Write notes or emails to students to let them know how much you appreciate them.
Why Students Misbehave
To gain power.
To get attention.
To seek revenge.
To avoid failure
Adapted from Catherine Neale Watson, Middle Ground
They are bored.
You as the teacher are obligated to be engaging, not necessarily to be entertaining.
Things to consider before you react to a disruptive student
Does the student feel the he is not being respected or losing face?
Is it possible that this student really ..
Could this be about your own need to win?
Could have you misinterpreted the situation?
Have you confronted the one who wasn’t the primary instigator?
Behavioral Journal Sheet
Student’s Name ___________________
Class/Period ____________________
I violated our class code by :
I chose to do this because:
A more appropriate choice would have been:
This is how I feel about whathappened:
This is what I plant o do in the future to prevent a recurrence of y actions
This is how my teacher can help me implement my plan:
Student signature and teacher comments:
Individual Behavior plan
Student name, etc.
long-Range goals for the student:
Short-Range goal for the student:
What student will do to meet target goal:
What teacher will do to help student meet that goal:
What Parent ill do to hel reach that goal
What are the consequences?
Positive recognition will be made with _____ of successful behavior.
Rose poem:
When we plant a rose seed in the earth … -Timothy Gallaway.
Secret Password: iamateacher www.debbiesilver.com
CEU: FB3
Selected notes from Drumming to the Beat of Different Marchers
Cooperative Learning
Businesses are moving to this model because together they remember more and can do more than alone.
Students can utilize their own strengths
“I have just started listening to the MSM Podcasts. I download them from iTunes U and listen to them on the way to work. Today I am home with a sick child and I am listening to a marathon of MSM, spending my day with Shawn and Troy. lol.
I am a special education teacher at the secondary level and have shared the MSM link and iTunes U info on the podcast with the tech department for my school to distribute to the school, because MSM highlights and covers content that isn’t limited soley to the middle school level.
MSM is an incredible resource for newbies to the tech world. . . like me. . . because Troy and Shawn provide a thorough and comprehensive review of current education, technology, pedagogy and its practice information available from a variety of sources.
Listening to Shawn and Troy at MSM matters has “elevated the level of my game” so to speak. They are thoughtful and thought provoking in their content and coverage of material. . . all provided with a good dose of . . . humor!”
Thanks Jenny! We appreciate your spreading the word!
Want to hear what it sounds like when sattelites, meteors, or space debris passes over an observatory in Texas? Try this.
Items, Events, Calendar, Eclectic Stuff (truc et chose)
“Robert Balfanz is a research scientist at the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University and associate director of the Talent Development Middle and High School Project, which is currently working with more than fifty high-poverty secondary schools to develop, implement, and evaluate comprehensive whole-school reforms. His work focuses on translating research findings into effective reforms for high-poverty secondary schools.
Balfanz has published widely on secondary school reform, high school dropouts, and instructional interventions in high-poverty schools. Recent work includes Locating the Dropout Crisis, with co-author Nettie Legters, in which the numbers and locations of high schools with high dropout rates are identified. He is currently the lead investigator on a middle school-dropout-prevention project in collaboration with the Philadelphia Education Fund, which is supported by the William Penn Foundation.
Balfanz received his PhD in education from the University of Chicago.”
Shout outs:
10 Bad Signs for Good Teachers…
Teachers are trained to watch for signs: signs that the students are learning something, that the students aren’t learning anything, that the students are onto something, that the students are up to something. There are some signs that teachers have not been taught to watch for: signs that could spell disaster. Here is a list of 10 such bad signs – if you happen to see one of them, beware!
1. The principal smiles at you. This is a very bad sign. It means the principal is up to something, and that something somehow involves you. It could mean the principal is about to ask you to volunteer to be the new coach for the girls’ soccer team, or to write his two-hour speech for the Mothers’ Club, or to accept three new students from the local home for delinquent children. If the principal not only smiles but asks, “How are you doing?” that’s even worse. And if he or she then adds, “Could I please see you in my office for a minute at your convenience?” – run for your life!
2. Things are going well for you in the classroom. Many inexperienced teachers take this for a good sign, but more seasoned educators know it means things are going to go bad for you-very bad and very soon. Maybe you are about to change to another class, or smitten by a rare tropical disease, or your classroom is about to be invaded by a herd of wild plastic-eating termites. I know several teachers who believe in this bad omen so firmly that they have peace only when things are going horribly in the classroom.
3. Your classroom is completely equipped with audio-visual aids. If you walk into your room and see a record player, an overhead projector, a tape recorder, and a movie projector-that’s bad. It’s a sure sign that none work-because if they did, they would have been “borrowed” long before this. Just in case you test the equipment and discover that everything does work (you realize, of course, that the chances of this happening are one in a million), that’s still a bad sign. It means that you have just been put in charge of maintaining all the audio-visual equipment for the entire school.
4. Your students tell you that you’re their favorite teacher. If this happens, brace yourself. It means the kids want something. That something could be something relatively small: “Let’s not talk about colons and semicolons today. Let’s talk about football.” Or your students could be bargaining for something bigger: “Let’s not have any homework this year, okay?”
5. You are prepared for all your classes for the coming week. Any teacher who does this is only asking for trouble. You cannot tempt Fate so blatantly without expecting dire consequences. And what could some of those consequences be? Maybe you will be struck with the five-day flu on Sunday evening, or there will be a battery of psychological tests this entire week.
6. You have all your report cards finished a day ahead of schedule. This sign, closely related to #5, simply means that the administration has just introduced a new kind of report card, and the old kind (127 of which you have just finished filling out) is now obsolete.
7. Your students do poorly on your test. This is a bad sign- or at least the administration interprets it as a bad sign-which makes it so for you. It means you are an incompetent teacher who ought to be booted out of the classroom as soon as possible. If your students do poorly on a test sh-h-h!-don’t tell anyone, not even your students. Destroy the tests, give a retest, and hope and pray that the kids do better-but not too much better. (See the next sign.)
8. Your students do very well on your test. This too is a bad sign. in fact, it’s a worse sign than #7. It can only mean one of three things: 1) the test was too easy; 2) you are a stupid teacher; or 3) the kids cheated.
9. You have a few free minutes to yourself after school. If this happens, one of the following events is bound to occur: 1) another teacher will report you to the principal for not having enough to do; 2) some kid will come in and ask if he or she could talk to you for a minute and stay 2 hours; or 3) the principal will ask if you could give the janitor a hand with cleaning the bathrooms after school.
10. You receive positive feedback from a parent. Although this sign rarely occurs, it portends trouble. You can be sure that if one parent is praising you, another one is already initiating legal proceedings to have you removed from the classroom. When all is said and done, it’s a better sign to receive no parental feedback than any kind at all.
WebSpotlight:
http://www.nmsa.org/Advocacy/AdvocacyToolstoUse/FundamentalsPresentation/tabid/793/Default.aspx
After decades of grooming a handful of high school students in an exclusive research class to succeed in the elite national Intel Science Talent Search, school administrators this year, for the first time, required every seventh grader to do original research. With similar goals in mind, the district has added honor societies in English, art and music — for a total of seven — to recognize students whose overall grades may keep them out of the National Honor Society. Since 2003, it has expanded its menu of Advanced Placement courses to 25 subjects and opened them to students who previously would not have qualified. And it instituted a policy prohibiting students from being cut from the orchestra, band and most sports, adding “junior varsity 2” teams to accommodate extra players. The district’s unusual focus on these average students in recent years has pleased many but has also drawn criticism that A.P. classes have become less rigorous, students have been coddled, and music groups and sports teams saddled with marginal players.
Students in A.P. classes say that some teachers, now required to accept students who did not pass a qualifying exam or get a teacher’s recommendation, have been known to weed out the weak with heavy reading loads, daily pop quizzes, and zeros on biology labs.
Joe Barrett, 17, a senior, said his United States history teacher went to the opposite extreme in the 2007-8 school year, presenting “elaborate PowerPoints with music videos to keep people interested.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/06/nyregion/06middle.html?_r=1
When it comes to closing the achievement gap, Palo Alto schools Superintendent Kevin Skelly says educators are deluding themselves. And he dares to say what’s become almost unspeakable publicly:
“It’s just not possible for the average kid who comes to this country in seventh or eighth grade, or even third grade, without a word of English and parents with little formal education, to match the achievement levels of kids whose mom has a Ph.D. in English from Stanford and can afford to stay home and spend time supplementing the education of her kids.”
Yet totally eliminating the gap would be “the triumph of hope over experience,” said Skelly, who came from San Diego 19 months ago to take the helm of Palo Alto’s 17 schools. When educators set that lofty goal, “we’re not being honest, and it’s to our detriment,” he said.
http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_11613034?source=rss
by Beth Loechler | The Grand Rapids Press
Bobbie Fletcher, a science teacher at Chandler Woods Charter Academy in Belmont, is part of a growing trend at area districts where teachers and other school staff put an emphasis on “Capturing Kids’ Hearts.”
Fletcher believes that even the greatest teachers won’t get through to students unless they establish a personal connection with each and every one.
“It’s not just what we teach, it’s how we teach,” she said.
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2009/02/bobbie_fletcher_a_science_teac.html
http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/3601/on-twitter-academic-debates-fall-short
Remember how we were always told that the three things to remember in Real Estate were location, location, location? Well evidently in the Twitterverse its more about timing than anything when it comes to having an academic discussion on a topic.
That’s right. Now you can follow us on twitter. Let us know what you think. Ask questions. Learn the answer to life’s greatest mysteries (like why does a middle schooler stick THAT up his nose?). Gain wisdom. Earn a superpower. But wait, there’s more………