Welcome to Podcast #18.

We discuss the education systems of China, the States, and India. Our conversation centers around a new video called, Two Million Minutes: A Global Examination. The video spotlights six high school students, two each from China, the United States and India. The video makes the case that students in China and India work harder, spend more time working on school work and take school much more seriously than their American counterparts.

The video “sounds an alarm” about the educational system in America according to its producers.  The video has its critics and supporters.

We agree that American education can improve. We believe that we need to continually work hard at improving the education that all of students receive. However, we also think that some of the things that are happening are positive. We also found some data that questions some of the generalizations that are brought up. Let’s start with an article from Business Week:

About That Engineering Gap…

One would expect that the numbers used in such debate would be defensible and grounded. Yet researchers at Duke University have determined that some of the most cited statistics on engineering graduates are inaccurate. Statistics that say the U.S. is producing 70,000 engineers a year vs. 350,000 from India and 600,000 from China aren’t valid, the Duke team says. We’re actually graduating more engineers than India, and the Chinese numbers aren’t quite what they seem. In short, America is far ahead by almost any measure, and we’re a long way from losing our edge.

Unfortunately, the message students are getting is that many engineering jobs will be outsourced and U.S. engineers have a bleak future of higher unemployment and lower remuneration. This could result in a self-fulfilling prophecy, as fearful young scholars stick to supposedly “outsourcing-proof” professions. In other words, we have more to fear from fear itself.

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/dec2005/sb20051212_623922.htm

Another topic is the movement about ten years ago to model our educational system after the Japanese model. Instead of just pilfering the best of the system, some wanted us to adopt everything from the Japanese model. Now, the Japanese are looking to the Indian system for ideas:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/business/worldbusiness/02japan.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ei=5087&em&en=b9192c2e9589de75&ex=1199595600

Some additional Observations:
1.  Mathematical/Logical intelligence types made a movie espousing their mathematical/logicalness.
2.  Powers not expressed in the Constitution are reserved to the States.  This, as a technicality, lies outside the purview of the Federal Government.
– Inter-State Commerce Clause:  Senator Levin (D-MI) has stated at a Michigan Civics Association meeting that he would the clause to regulate &
Federalize education.
– Block Grants
3.  The power of choice (Adam Smith). Increased demand for engineers in China and India decreased need in the U.S.
– The motivation to change:  “Their parents also seem less intimately involved in their schooling.”  It will only happen when parents feel an economic
need for future change.
– Planned economies vs. Free Market economies.
4.  Nice use of the “glittering generalities” tool.  Yea, there’s only 30 seconds to influence, but it paints with a broad brush.  Does not account for
individual change.
5.  1980’s Europe set the “international standard” for education and the huge push was “foreign language” education.  Gotta know a European language.
6.  Differences in the definition of engineering between U.S., China, and India.
7.  Planned vs. Free Market Economy
8.  Transactional vs. Dynamic Engineers:  “In contrast, transactional engineers possess solid technical training, but not the experience or expertise to apply this knowledge to larger domains.  These individuals are typically responsible for routing tasks in the workplace.  In the United States, transactional engineers often receive associate, technician or diploma awards, although they may also have a bachelor’s degree.  In other countries, these engineers are produced by lower-tier universities, with thinner curricula and a weaker emphasis on research, group work, applied engineering, and interdisciplinary thinking.”  (SSRN-id10819223 p. 9)

Finally,  a call for  presenters:

Michigan Joint Education Conference is looking for speakers to talk about their interdisciplinary units/lessons in June.

The National Middle School Association’s Annual Conference will be in Denver next year and the deadline for presenting is January 31, 2008.  You can also make nominations to the Board of Trustees on the website.

The Michigan Association of Middle School Educators will be holding their Annual Conference on March 13 & 14 at Saline Middle School in Saline, MI.  Visit the website for conference registration information and put it on your calendar (or iPhone) and make plans to attend!  Links have been included here, but you can always check up on the website by clicking the MAMSE direct link here on the website.

This is a little late to post, but some might still be able to swing it. The Ohio Middle School Association is doing a workshop on Scheduling for a Middle Grades School in Columbus, Ohio on January 14th. The cost is $95.00 and lunch is included. Bring a copy of your school’s schedule and look at the schedules from featured schools.

The OMSA’s Annual Conference will be on February 21 & 22 at the Hilton Columbus at Easton in Columbus, OH. Kathy Hunt Ullock, Cynthia Johnson, and Monte Selby are the featured speakers this year. If you can’t make the session on scheduling this is a very good place to get some middle school ideas and be around people that love people that you love: your students.

Podcast #17 – Telling Tales

How much “truth” do we tell kids?
Are “myths, fables, and other good story constructs important?    Horodotus vs. Thucydides  Just the facts or don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story?

How do we teach kids to be good critical thinkers whilst still keeping up good stories?

With the advent of YouTube, and other web pages, how do we teach kids to think critically and still keep alive “fables”?
– The use of allagory in teaching? General Guidelines for Teaching with Folk Tales:  http://www.ferrum.edu/applit/studyg/studygfolk.htm  

Authority- how does this fit in to the picture?

Allegory
– J.R.R. Tolkein & The Lord Of The Rings series

– C.S. Lewis & The Chronicles of Narnia series

– Aesop and “Fables”

– Bill Bennett and his series on American Tales

– Davy Crocket Folk Tale
– Dr. Jan Brunvand:  Urban Legends

Media Literacy:

http://www.medialit.org/

     TRY YAHOO FOR TEACHERS (BETA)

http://beta.teachers.yahoo.com

We mentioned Yahoo’s upcoming social network for teachers in

September – and we’ve been checking back from time to time to see

what progress, if any, might have been made. We were intrigued,

frankly, by the idea of a professionally supported social network by

and for teachers. Yahoo has now posted its “beta” version (meaning

“we haven’t worked out all the kinks but would love for you to try it

out”). So try it! One cool feature – any posted lesson plans or

teaching ideas can be rated by users and you can see the items with

the highest ratings (and the most downloads) easily. There’s no cost.

To get into the beta edition, you’ll need this info: username –

yhallpass / password – g0bbler (that’s a zero, not the letter “oh).

Check out all the features and tell them what you think. – Source:  John Norton MiddleWeb  email newsletter.

Note:  This is a beta project.  Many areas are under development and navigating is still a little clunky.  There are a lack of people on the site yet and so the social networking side of things hasn’t quite taken off yet, it appears.

Shawn and I wrap up our NMSA07 Conference Experience. Today we tackle a couple of topics- Scheduling and Survival Camp for 6th graders (Transitioning)
First up, we take a look at scheduling:

Need to involve stakeholders for input:

• Administrators
• Counselors
• Teachers
• Students

Some questions to ponder:

• Should each course receive equal time?
• Do core subjects (especially those tested) receive more time?
• Is literacy something different?
• How many subjects should students deal with?
• Block Schedule vs Daily schedule
• How long can kids attend?
• Are staff trained in different time use strategies?
• What about “disruptions”? (Assemblies, testing, special presentations).

There are two things which drive all schedules:

1. Lunch
2. Buses

Don’t forget about them but work around them.

Remember the systematic structure:

• Provide Common planning
• Promote Professional Learning Communities
• Promote Flexibility for teams
• Special needs students (ELL, RR)

Understand that there are options:

• Rotating schedules
• Alternate Day schedules
• Mixed schedules

Additional Resource:  Ohio Middle School Association Pre-Conference session on scheduling:  http://www.ohiomsa.org/Documents/Annual%20State%20Conference/2008_Scheduling_Workshop_Registration_Form.pdf  Contact Information:  Charlie Beard cbeard@lourdes.edu and 1 (419) 824-3718 

Planning 6th Grade Survivor Camp

1.  Create Schedule/Rotation

2.  Create Student/Parent Group Session

3.  Create Student Session Topics

4.  Handouts!!!!

5.  6th Grade Handbook

6.  Sign-in Sheets for Students & Parents

7.  Advertise!  Advertise!  Advertise!

8.  Acquire Sponsors:  $100 for a slot on the shirt.

9.  Prepare Snacks

10.  Prepare Receipt books for sale of Items!

11.  Parent Resource Center

Supporting Reasons for Middle School Transitional Programs

1.  Meets Title I requirements for providing plans for transitions.

2.  Meets Title I requirements for parent involvement.

3.  Fulfills several indicators for accreditation standards.

4.  Provides for healthy, safe, and supportive school climate.

5.  Supports middle school philosophy.

6.  Contributes to cohesive staff.

7.  Makes first day of school easier.

8.  Eases fear of unknown/anxiety for parents and students.

9.  Diminishes locker anxiety for parents and students.

10.  Informs and explains rules and procedures.

11.  Provides information about tutoring opportunities.

12.  Produces fewer discipline referrals.

13.  Provides opportunity to identify possible “issues.”

14.  Provides positive first impressions and dispel rumors.

15.  Trains pupils to implement rules/procedures on the first day.

16.  Diminishes first day fears and “ailments” for students.

17.  Provides relaxed, first meeting atmosphere for stakeholders.

18.  Curtails “hovering” parents on the first morning of school.

Conference Information:

Michigan Association of Middle School Educators 38th Annual Conference: March 13 & 14, 2008 at Saline Middle School in Saline, Michigan!

Ohio Middle School Association:  February 21 & 22

In Podcast #15 (PD on the Cheap), we continue our discussion of NMSA07 Conference sessions. Shawn takes a look at Project LEAD which is centered around Pre-service and service teachers. However, the ideas can be used in a variety of settings. We also discuss some of strategies to improve literacy skills. As usual, there are some good links included.

(Note: due to some personal time constraints, this podcast is available only as an mp3).

Project LEAD: Developing Middle Level Teacher Candidates.

Goals: Make a difference in the classroom

Teacher retention

Support network

Method: In-Service and Pre-Service Teacher Book Club

Book selected and chapters assigned to participants.

In-Service teachers receive a stipend and pre-service were grant supported.

Books Selected:

The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell

Turning Points by Jackson & Davis

This We Believe in Action by NMSA

55 Teaching Dilemmas: Ten Powerful Solutions to Almost Any Classroom Challenge by Patterson (2005)

Other ideas:

Differentiated Instruction: http://www.nmsa.org/Publications/OnTarget/DifferentiatedInstruction/tabid/298/Default.aspx

Articles from NMSA collected together for your Instructional Enjoyment …

Learning by Doing, DuFour

NMSA ’07 Session Experiences (not suitable for all situations)

Writing for Real, Burkhardt

Empowering Students Through Technology, Alan November

Book Club as Professional Development

Discussion seen as scholarly, yet personal and connecting.

Increases personal and practical knowledge.

PD isn’t something done to someone it becomes an active process.

— See Scott Endres’ PD Bingo Game: http://www.paperwadideas.com/files/pd_bingo.pdf

Results for Teacher Leaders

Advocates for teacher leadership in a building

Meets a need for continuing growth

Focuses on “Real World” teaching and needs in the classroom

Builds relationships between In-service and Pre-service teachers.

Facilitates a Mentor relationship

Tips for Creating a Book Club as PD:

Create a sense of ownership through shared goals and shared responsibilities

Allow a choice of books: Show 3 or 4 titles in a book talk and then choose as a group.

Allow a choice of focus topics/chapters as participants lead the discussions.

Establish a relaxed, positive environment. (This means FOOD!)

Small groups increase engagement.

Draw in the less talkative members to the conversation

Value personal experiences

Promote asking questions even for those which no one or the facilitator doesn’t know the answers.

Use a writing journal for a before/after reflection of ideas.

Involve administrators who are interested in participating.

References cited:

Clark, C.M. Talking shop: Authentic conversation and teacher learning.

Flores, B., Miller, M., & Selfe, C., “Teachers as readers: Forming book groups as professionals.” http://www.ncte.org/about/over/positions/category/read/109613.htm.

Books used:

Erb, T.O. This We Believe in Action: Implementing successful middle level schools, NMSA

Gladwell, M., The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference.

Jackson, A. & Davis, G. A., Turning Points 2000: Educating Adolescents in the 21st Century.

Patterson, K. 55 Teaching Dilemmas: Ten Powerful Solutions to Almost Any Classroom Challenge. Pembroke Publishers

NMSA ’08! It’s Coming!

Location: Colorado Convention Center

When: October 30 to November 1, 2008

Keynote: Jim Collins, author of Good to Great
Leadership and Effective Learning in Reading/Writing, Math and Science
Presented by Dr. Sharon Faber

• More than 8 million students in grades 4-12 are struggling readers
• 70% of students entering 9th grade read below grade level
• The bulk of older struggling readers and writers can read but cannot understand what they read
• Many excellent third grade readers will falter or fail in later grade academic tasks if the teaching of reading is neglected.

Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read. (www.nifl.gov)
The Big Five:

1. Phonemic Awarness- the ability to hear, identify individual sounds
2. Phonics- Understanding predictable patterns to recognize words or decode unfamiliar words.
3. Comprehension- understanding, remembering, and communicating what is read.
4. Vocabulary Development- Stored information about meaning and pronunciation of words.
5. Fluency – Ability to read text accurately and quickly.

Reading Next: A vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy (www.all4ed.org)

Reading Next is a cutting-edge report that combines the best research currently available with well-crafted strategies for turning that research into practice. Informed by five of the nation’s leading researchers, Reading Next charts an immediate route to improving adolescent literacy. The authors outline 15 key elements of an effective literacy intervention, and call on public and private stakeholders to invest in the literacy of middle and high school students today, while simultaneously building the knowledge base.

The Fifteen Elements of Effective Adolescent Literacy Programs
This report delineates fifteen elements aimed at improving middle and high school literacy
achievement right now.
1. Direct, explicit comprehension instruction, which is instruction in the strategies and
processes that proficient readers use to understand what they read,including summarizing,
keeping track of one’s own understanding, and a host of other practices.
2. Effective instructional principles embedded in content, including language arts teachers
using content-area texts and content-area teachers providing instruction and practice in
reading and writing skills specific to their subject area.
3. Motivation and self-directed learning, which includes building motivation to read and learn
and providing students with the instruction and supports needed for independent learning
tasks they will face after graduation.
4. Text-based collaborative learning, which involves students interacting with one another
around a variety of texts.
5. Strategic tutoring, which provides students with intense individualized reading, writing, and
content instruction as needed.
6. Diverse texts, which are texts at a variety of difficulty levels and on a variety of topics
7. Intensive writing, including instruction connected to the kinds of writing tasks students
will have to perform well in high school and beyond.
8. A technology component, which includes technology as a tool for and a topic of literacy
instruction and practice that takes place in language arts and regular classes.
9. Ongoing formative assessment of students, which is informal, often daily assessment of
how students are progressing under current instructional practices.
10. Extended time for literacy, which includes approximately two to four hours of literacy
instruction and practice that takes place in language arts and content-area classes.
11. Professional development that is both long term and ongoing.
12. Ongoing summative assessment of students and programs, which is more formal and
provides data that are reported for accountability and research purposes.
13. Teacher teams, which are interdisciplinary teams that meet regularly to discuss students and
align instruction.
14. Leadership, which can come from principals and teachers who have a solid understanding of
how to teach reading and writing to the full array of students present in schools.
15. A comprehensive and coordinated literacy program, which is interdisciplinary and
interdepartmental and may even coordinate with out-of-school organizations and the
local community.

Also available from the Alliance Excellence for Education:
Literacy Instruction in the Content Areas: Getting to the Core of Middle and High School Improvement

Today, more than six million of the nation’s secondary school students fall well short of grade-level expectations in reading and writing. Recognizing the urgency of this literacy crisis among middle and high school students, policymakers in all parts of the country have begun to implement a wide range of new programs and services designed to help struggling adolescent readers catch up in essential literacy skills, particularly reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. However—and as this report argues—if students are to be truly prepared for the sophisticated intellectual demands of college, work, and citizenship, then these reforms will not be enough. Even as their schools help them to catch up in the basics, students also must be taught the advanced literacy skills that will enable them to succeed in the academic content areas—particularly the core content areas of math, science, English, and history.

The Real World uses Technology…Do You?
The issue of digital natives vs digital immigrants.
Dedra Stafford (wizardworkshops@cox.net)

Digital Natives:
Those who are growing up knowing and using technology. They haven’t known anything else.

Digital  Immigrants:
Those who are learning the technology but have learned a different process.

Do kids really learn differently? How do we adults view technology vs kids?

What are we preparing kids for? What jobs will exist? What skills will be needed?

If You’re Going to TEACH them, you have to REACH them!
Podcasting
Blogging
Web 2.0

Some places to help teachers:
Youtube comparable:
Teacher Tube – Kind of like Youtube but focused on education. Has a variety of teacher generated videos. Has a lot of videos done by educators. These can be imbedded on a blog or a web site.

Youth Created Media – Video created by youths. Good for examples of what kids can do.
Video Lessons from around the web. Not directly educational. Rather this site promotes learning.
United Streaming: This is a for pay site. Includes a lot of videos that are short and tied to standards. Many school districts have an account with them.

Web offerings:

• Teacher Resources:  – Teacher Resources and Professional Development (This is a great site with lots of useful videos. Also check out their free newsletter.)
  • Interactives: www.learner.org/interactives/
  • Art: http://www.learner.org/resources/browse.html?discipline=1
• 4 teachers:  – Wide variety of sites for teachers:
  • QuizStar (pay) – allows you to make quizes
  • RubiStar (free) – allows you to make and save rubrics. Has some guides to start you out.
• Quizlets: – Vocubulary learning help.
• Kerpoof: This site looks like it has a lot of potential. Kids can network and create stuff here.
• Virtual Field Trips: Just what it says. Some science field trips as well.
• Discovery Educators Network of teachers ()
• Math  Videos  Online:  A bunch of videos that can help explain of re-enforce math concepts.
• Geography  that’s Juicy.
• Grammar
• Science

We didn’t get a chance to talk about all of them. However, there are some sites here. I would really recommend starting with the Teacher Resources link above.

Why Try? I’m Going to Fail anyway! The Effects of Teacher Expectations on Student Achievement.

By Debbie Silver

This was a fascinating presentation. Debbie Silver is a very dynamic presenter who grabs the audience. She is one of those rare speakers from whom you get a natural “high”.
She focused on the little things that teachers can do that make a big difference for kids. She was one of the presenters that pointed out how much of an influence that teachers have on children. Many of the things that she pointed out are subconscious things – little things that we just don’t teach as educators. However, lots of these things have subtle effects which can lead to a “tipping point” to change student achievement.

Here’s just a little bit about her presentation:

Why kids don’t try:

• Entitlement
• Easier: It’s hard work, no control or choice over their lives.
• Fear: Easier not to take a risk, a cover for the fear of failure.
• 99% of students would rather be seen as a discipline problem rather than having a learning problem.
  • Many things we look for are not skills, but compliance.

We must change the mindset of the kids.
Our mindset:

• Too often we are looking for not for knowledge but for convergence.
• Every student deserves a reasonable level of success.

She discussed Albert Bandura, who popularized the term of Self-efficacy. This is the ability of
people to perceive what one is capable of doing. Teachers may “fire up” students temporarily, but that enthusiasm will be short lived if the test is completely beyond their ability. Rather, teachers can help by consistently stretching students a little bit at a time. People with high perceived self-efficacy will try more things, accomplish more and persist at a task longer.

Which ties in with Lev Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The ZPD is defined as the student’s range of ability with or without assistance from the teacher (or more capable peer). One end of the range would be the student doing without any assistance at all. The other range is with very supportive assistance.

Thus, the teacher should:

• know were student’s abilities are.
• act as a scaffold, providing the minimum support necessary.
• challenge the student to reach just beyond current ability level.
• Understand that if instruction falls outside of the zone, either above or below, no growth will occur.
• Be aware of the different roles students and teachers assume throughout the collaborative process.
  • teacher modeling behavior for the student
  • student imitating the teacher’s behavior
  • teacher fading out instruction
  • student practicing reciprocal teaching (scaffolding others) until the skill is master by all students in the classroom.

http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/step/ep301/Spr2000/Jenna-B/zpd.html

Think-Time vs Wait-Time

Recommended Book: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Dweck, C.S. (2006)

Attribution Theory:

• Task difficulty
• Luck
• Innate Ability or Talent
• Effort

External

• Task Difficulty
• Luck
• Innate Ability or Talent

Internal

• Effort

Join us as we get specific about the NMSA 2007 Conference. It’s amazing how much excellent material we picked up there. In this episode, we discuss a couple of the presentations that we attended. Rick DuFour’s presentation was fantastic. I really do hope that NMSA will be able to broadcast it at some point.

I then discuss Walt Grebring’s Presentation “Effective Leadership Equals Successful Schools”

His presentation is based off of Todd Whittaker’s work – What Great Principals Do Differently.

I started with a poem that Mr. Grebring distributed on Leadership.

Principals Role in a Role in Positive School Climate by Walt Grebring:

1. Have a vision for a school
2. Role model for teaching a class and walk throughs
3. Be a great listener – do NOT try to solve everyone’s problem
4. Be a facilitator and empower your staff
5. Enjoy watching others grow
6. Remove the fear of failure
7. “Better to ask forgiveness than ask permission”
8. Willing to consistent examine the climate and take steps to improve.

Seven Cardinal Skills:

1. Demonstrate compassionate understanding of the characteristics and needs of developing adolescents.
2. Ability to develop and communicate a vital school philosophy based upon the needs of the students.
3. Use shared decision making, involving stakeholders to direct the school toward the vision
4. Develop interdisciplinary team organization
5. Continuous school improvement
6. Leader is an instructional leader.
7. Hire/Assemble an effective staff

This was just a quick overview. However, it is a great thought provoker.

Shawn also discusses one of the sessions that he went to on RTI (Response to Intervention).

Response to Intervention Through Middle School Electives  www.eps.n-cook.k12.il.us

1.  Learning Navigation Map

2.  Guided Notes

3.  Podcasting student lessons (ProfCast).

4.  Diagramming spelling words etymologically.

5.  Work Log