June 3 morning

June 3 - Morning

In the News
It's All in the Family: http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2005/11/01/03kidsbooks.h17.html
"As they learn more about themselves, older elementary-age kids find out the meaning of family—those they were born into as well as those they make. This spirit of self-explorationis reflected in several new novels for 8- to 12-year-olds."

Websites and Blogs created by teachers
Malahini in Greece: http://jfriesen.edublogs.org/
Mrs. Gray's eMINTs Classroom: http://65.173.79.58/akin/?outVOU=1005&height=
Our Future in San Diego: http://www.muirlibraryk12.net/index.html

Helpful Sites
Abiator's Online Learning Styles Inventory: http://www.berghuis.co.nz/abiator/lsi/lsiframe.html
There are four assessment tests at this site to determine learning styles. Strengths, strategies for learners and teachers, activities and learner traits are also available.

Eigen's Political & Historical Quotations: http://www.politicalquotes.org/
"Eigen's Political & Historical Quotations is the world's largest collection of memorable quotes about and by historians, politicians and other public figures."

Learning Styles: http://www.chaminade.org/inspire/learnstl.htm
This is a chart that helps determine a person's learning style.

Literary Map of Manhattan: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/books/20050605_BOOKMAP_GRAPHIC/
"Here's where imaginary New Yorkers lived, worked, played, drank, walked and looked at ducks."

Mayhem In The Middle: New Report Argues for High Standards and Accountability for Student Achievement in Middle Grades, Seeks to Eliminate "Middle Schoolism": http://www.edexcellence.net/doc/2960_MayhemFINAL.pdf
The middle grades too often focus on "social adjustment, individual growth, coping with early adolescence, and looking out for the needs of the 'whole child,' " according to Mayhem in the Middle, a new report from the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation. As an alternative to this practice, which it dubs "middle schoolism," the report calls for a thorough reform of middle-grade education that would include a new focus on high standards, discipline, and accountability for student achievement.
During the middle school years, American students' performance drops dramatically in relation to their international peers, and forms the basis of an ever-widening gulf that is difficult to overcome when students reach high school. According to international comparisons such as the Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the 2003 Program of International Student Assessment (PISA), American students typically do well in grades K-4, begin to falter in grades 5-8, and perform dismally in high school.
According to the Fordham report, middle schools are too often viewed as an "environment where little is expected of students either academically or behaviorally, on the assumption that self-discipline and high academic expectations must be placed on hold until the storms of adolescence have passed." Unfortunately, waiting for "storms" to pass often leaves many students too far behind to "pick up the pace and meet current state academic requirements, much less the challenging expectations of federal laws such as No Child Left Behind." As a result, far too many students arrive in ninth grade without the skills they need to succeed. "Abundant evidence indicates that the seeds that produce high school failure are sown in grades 5-8," the report reads.
It does not have to be this way, says Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Fordham Foundation. "Though youngsters between the ages of ten and fifteen can be ornery and exasperating, they can also learn lots of math and history, plenty of literature and science, and an abundance of art and music," he wrote in the report's foreword.
As examples of schools that are successfully serving their students, the report offers three K-8 models in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Milwaukee. In Philadelphia, students from K-8 schools were 11 percent more likely to be accepted into the most challenging high schools than their middle school counterparts. Baltimore K-8 school students were more likely to pass the state tests in math and scored significantly higher than their middle school counterparts in reading, language arts, and math. In Milwaukee, students in K-8 schools had higher academic achievement and were less likely to be victimized than students in a separate middle school setting.
The report acknowledges that middle school grade configurations where separate buildings house students in some combination of fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade can work, but stresses that expectations must be high and accountability for academic performance must exist for students and teachers.
James A. Beane, a professor of education at the National Louis University in Milwaukee and an expert on middle schools, said that the middle school movement has been successful, but most schools haven't fully used the techniques. "It's fair to criticize the incomplete implementation of the middle school movement, but it's not fair to criticize its ideals or goals," he said at the press event at which the report was released.
Ultimately, Mayhem in the Middle concludes that the "essential problem with middle schoolism is not grade configuration but educational ideology. However a school is structured, in the era of standards and accountability, it must focus first and foremost on students' acquisition of essential academic skills and knowledge."
The report also traces the roots of middle school reform and offers several suggestions for planning and implementing the transition to a K-8 model and then for sustaining success.

The National Forum - To Accelerate Middle Grades Reform: http://www.mgforum.org/

Respecting Differences: http://www.asbj.com/current/research.html
Diverse Learners Can Blossom in Culturally Responsive Classrooms

Pre-Assessment: http://www.saskschools.ca/curr_content/constructivism/how/preassessment.html
This page at a Saskatchewan website describes several pre-assessment techniques, noting that: "Pre-assessment allows the
teacher and student to discover what is already known in a specific topic or subject. It is critical to recognize prior knowledge so
students can engage in questioning, formulating, thinking and theorizing in order to construct new knowledge appropriate to their
level. Ongoing assessment throughout the learning process is also critical as it directs the teacher and student as to where to go
next." Other steps in the "Building Blocks of Constructivism" -- Connections, Exhibits, Evaluation and Reflection -- process can be
accessed by clicking from this page.

Standards For Middle And High School Literacy Coaches: http://www.reading.org/downloads/resources/597coaching_standards.pdf
The literacy crisis among students in America's middle and high schools is well documented. Based on the most recent reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), more than one in four (29 percent) American eighth graders in public schools read "below basic," indicating that they have no literal understanding of what they read, and putting them at great risk of dropping out of high school. To combat the reading difficulties their students often face, many middle and high schools around the country have turned to literacy coaches for help. These coaches work with content area teachers to help them infuse literacy instruction into their teaching and help them recognize students with reading difficulties.
While examples of what good literacy coaches do exist in secondary schools around the country, coming up with a common definition of what qualities literacy coaches has been more difficult. In May 2004, representatives from five national organizations-the International Reading Association, the National Council of Teachers of English, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the National Science Teachers Association, and the National Council for the Social Studies-came together to fill that void. Earlier this month, they issued a report that details the "must have" competencies of good middle school and high school literacy coaches.
The report, Standards for Middle and High School Literacy Coaches, breaks down key elements of literacy coaching into two categories: leadership standards and content area standards. While leadership standards apply to literacy coaches regardless of the content area in which they are working, content area standards are more specific to the course being taught by the teacher the coach is assisting (such as, English/language arts, math, science, or social studies).
In its leadership standards, the report calls for individuals who are "skillful collaborators," "skillful job-embedded coaches," and "skillful evaluators of literacy needs," meaning that they can recognize literacy needs within various subject areas and interpret and use assessment data to inform instruction. In its content area standards, the report notes that literacy coaches need to be "accomplished middle and high school teachers who are skilled in developing and implementing instructional strategies to improve academic literacy in the specific content area."
The report cautions that while successful literacy coaches may have many of the skills and abilities presented in the report, few will meet all of the standards-at least initially. It calls for patience and notes that most expert teachers typically need 2 to 3 years to develop the full complement of coaching skills. Unlike literacy coaches in elementary schools, additional time may be needed as secondary coaches "assume the additional responsibility of working with colleagues across content areas." The report also calls for coaches to have access to rigorous professional development throughout their employment that will help them sharpen their skills. "In hiring," the report reads, "employers may not be able to find individuals who meet all the standards. In those cases, the goal should be for literacy coaches to meet these standards over a reasonable period of time."
In its conclusion, the report acknowledges that a great deal is known about the literacy needs of middle and high school students. However, it adds that "finding ways to put that knowledge immediately to work to improve the culture and conditions of secondary schools in the United States is an imperative. Equipping middle and high schools with trained literacy coaches is at least one line of attack to combat 'the quiet resignation that seems to pervade education circles ... that little if anything can be done.' "

This site began in March 1998 and was created by Janet Luch. It was last updated on June 16, 2006 .
Email to studyplans@yahoo.com.