San Juan Read180 Implementation Notes

Documents are collected in google docs
sjusd read 180@gmail.com
san juan rti

hgarner@san juan.edu
wlane@sanjuan.edu

Central desktop scholastic.centraldesktop.com

Classroom 2.0 - Featured Teacher Series

First of the new ”Featured Teacher” series featuring classroom teachers who are using technology and web tools innovatively to impact instruction. TEDx speaker, Zoe Branigan-Pipe, will be the first teacher featured. Zoe will give an overview of "life as a networked teacher - in and out of the 6th grade classroom". Join us to learn more about how this dynamic 6th grade teacher uses web tools in the classroom with her students. "Dip your toes in" the conversations until you feel comfortable enough to "jump into the conversations with both feet"! More information and session details are at http://live.classroom20.com/.

"LiveScribe pens are a great way to work with ELL or ESL learners"

pipe-dreams.edublogs.org

Use of Skype between classrooms around the world

Creative Commons Collaboration discussion on The Clever Sheep

Use of Twitter in elementary setting

Archive of session http://fcinternet.hwdsb.on.ca/~zoe.branigan-pipe OR
http://live.classroom20.com/archive-and-resources.html

"My SmartBoard is our window to the world"

Podcasting
A walk down memory lane with google street view

using student blogs for critical thinking, reflecting, and learning
classblogmeister by David Warlick has lots of safeguards
i was really moved by the postings on this young man's blog http://www.andyshospital.blogspot.com/
glogster  voicethreads

have studetns make a powerpoint into a video and embed on own student blog
Teaching embed codes Moderator (Kim Caise): http://gl.am/82Ycb
jackiegerstein: ask McTeach to share her blog about teaching kids to blog using paper and stickey notes
Moderator (Peggy George): http://gl.am/82Ycb All of Zoe's links are here
 
storybird
 
blogging with paper activity: http://www.notesfrommcteach.com/2010/09/learning-to-blog-using-paper.html
permission forms for blogging... one teacher also gives over moderation rights to parents? use rss feed to monitor student blog posts
 
: http://space213.wikispaces.com/ (Space213 Wikispace: Culminating Activities Examples-Glogster
 
What does she use every day?
First thing she taught her pre-service teachers was about delicious
Evernote
youtube
 
Don't forget about print!
 
81 educator participants on a Saturday morning!
 
"vidstrips" ?
http://livewithlivescribe.edublogs.org/
 
livescribe lots of incredible features

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Ning

Flickr

Twitter

Elluminate

Skype

Texts, email

Virtual environments (second life)

Wikispaces

Blogs, music groups

Youtube

Voicethreads            g-docs, maps, surveys, rss feeds

Prezi

One step at a time

Participate, encourage and involve other

You don’t have to be ON all the time

Always engage your students and make it fun and real

Learn from others and share your learning blog

Always be willing to change           

 

21st Century Tools, 20th Century Schools: Headware not hardware for digital learners

Presented by: Ian Jukes, InfoSavvy Group and Frank S. Kelly FAIA, SHW Group

Changing the TTWWADI mindset (That's the way we've always done it)

"The golden rule: Those who have the gold, rule."
"Insanity is doing the same over and over again and expecting different results."

Schools were designed in an era where 3/4 of the workforce was in agricultural and manufacturing jobs.  Today those jobs account for less than 1/2 of the workforce and their numbers continue to dwindle. Knowledge or creative workers (creating solutions, solving problems, inventing new tools and methods) now account for 25% and their numbers are increasing.

Reference to The Flat World by Thomas Friedman

Example of a school modeled on The Big Picture:
Minneapolis School of Environmental Studies www.edutopia.org/its-all-happening-zoo-school

"It's not about technology, it's about learning."

The Committed Sardine www.committedsardine.com
Great resources and news aggregator.

Student Empowerment

"If your goal is empowerment, your demon is entitlement."

Video Assessment Tool

Allows for the detailed analysis and annotation of video. Allows user to tie comments to specific points within a video. Multiple reviewers of same video allows for the side by side comparison of reviews.

www.videoanalysistool.com

Beyond Catch Phrases - Digital Age Best Practicies for Real Classroom Teachers

Presented by Dr. Chris Moersch www.loticonnection.com

Digital age best practices:

• Promoting shared expertise through networked collaboration
• strategies: problem-solving, investigation, experimental inquiry
• tools: Edit Grid www.editgrid.com, Monster Exchange www.monsterexchange.org, Gaggle www.gaggle.net 
• Bolstering purposeful inquiry through student questions
• strategies: surveys, discrepant events, staged scenarios, 
• tools: wordle www.wordle.net, survey monkey www.surveymonkey.com, YouTube
• Personalizing and globalizing content by making authentic connections
• strategies: 21st century themes, current events, consumerism
• tools: 270toWin www.270towin.com, Google Earth, Scholastic News Online 
• Accelerating individual growth through vertical/horizontal differentiation
• strategies: anchor activities, centers/stations, tiered assignments
• tools: wikispaces www.wikispaces.com, ReadWriteThink www.readwritethink.org, Thinkfinity www.thinkfinity.org
• Anchoring student learning with digital-age tools in the classroom 
• strategies: challenging, collaborating, analyzing
• tools: Interactivate www.shodor.org/interactivate, Blogger www.blogger.com, Audacity http://audacity.sourceforge.net
• Clarifying student understanding with formative assessments
• strategies: discussion forums, online quizzes, open-ended problems
• tools: Moodle www.moodle.org, Rubistar rubistar.4teachers.org, Wikispaces www.wikispaces.com

Ways to insure academic rigor in your "Digital Age" teaching. Levels of Teaching Innovation LoTI. Useful research-based tools available on his website.

• H.E.A.T.  checklist is a succinct way for teachers to assess their own lessons for rigor and engagement. 
• LoTI implementation model is a checklist for building capacity

Ambiance for Learning

Presented by Lynell Burmark at ISTE 2010 www.educatebetter.org

Synopsis: A fabulous presentation ranging from the physical plant: "You can't learn in ugly" to visual literacy.

Day-to-Day Classroom Stuff

Sources of copyright free images:

• www.pics4learning.com/
• www.morguefile.com

Activities Modeled:

• Pre-session slideshow with positive images and music  
• Multiple intelligences - posters describing Gardner's Multiple Intelligences were placed around the room. Participants were given four colored stickers and asked to apply the stickers to the posters that matched their learning styles/intelligences. As a presenter, this helps determine how you should present.
• Progressive story - groups of three. Person with the shortest hair starts a story with the first slide, then tosses the ball to a second person to continue the story when the slide changes, etc. Koosh balls available at www.orientaltrading.com
• Wordle - helping students process both words and pictures www.wordle.net
  Feed in text of your choice. Resulting graphic will be based either on word frequency or weights you assign to words. Free article with lots more detail at www.educatebetter.org 
• Compare/contrast - Marzano's #1 strategy from What Works in Schools. Use images. e.g. toilet paper over or under.

Projectors 101 - beware the cheap deals:

• Old standard was XGA: 1024x768 or 4:3 aspect ratio
• Current standard is widescreen or WXGA: 1280x800 or 16:10 aspect ratio
• DLP vs. LCD: have a projector shoot-out by comparing identical images projected side by side.  choose a range of images such as lemons, outdoor lighting, skin tones.

Improving presentation quality:

• Ideas from graphic designer Nancy Duarte "slide:ology"  http://blog.duarte.com/
• Four step process for making slides with high impact:
• start with original slide (one with lots of text)
• find a key word in each bullet point
• delete everything else
• add a picture

Improving the Physical Plant

• Windows and natural light wherever possible
• Don Callejon School, Santa Clara, CA www.doncallejon.org 
• Hip Hop High www.hsra.org 
• Denver School of Science and Technology  www.scienceandtech.org
  is an example of a school designed for learning.  Video tour:

Prepping students for real life?

Heard in an HP Solutions pitch on the ISTE exhibit floor.

Are we prepping our students for real life? Answer: Search Monster.com based on specific skills to see the number of jobs posted requiring that skill. Not particularly scientific,  but interesting.

Where's the Beef? Assessing Digital Products for Rigor, Relevance, and Craftmanship

ISTE 2010 Session
Presenter: Bernajean Porter
www.bjpconsulting.com
http://www.digitales.us/

Used http://www.polleverywhere.com/ as an audience response system.

Digital products refers to student work products. She encourages the use of rubrics but doesn't think it's effective when individual teachers create them on the fly. Free scoring guides are available on her website.

Is the work useful and beneficial to others? Don't use technology for technology's sake. Do the images and sound effects illustrate or extend meaning? Showing not telling. Distinguish between reading, reciting, and performing. Good media grabs you. It's memorable.

Example: Used www.voicethread.com to set up a formal debate with middle school teams across seven countries.

Questioning leads to higher order thinking!
Check out

• http://fno.org/ 
• http://questioning.org/

Dissecting the 21st Century Teacher

ISTE 2010 Session
Panel discussion
www.selenaward.com
www.daringlibrarian.com

Used Qwizdom responders during the presentation. Responders were cryptic as to when response was submitted or whether a response could be changed. Screen display good: clear, easy to read questions; response graph could be displayed side by side with question or seen only by the presenter.

Investigate:

• http://edu.glogster.com/ 
• twitter for teachers http://twitter4teachers.pbworks.com/ 

Innovative Leadership: 21st Century Innovations That Matter

ISTE 2010 Session
Presenter: Cheryl Lemke,  Metiri Group
Supporting Research

• Williamson, J. & Redish, T. (2009). ISTE's Technology Facilitation and Leadership Standards. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education. ISBN.
• Rooke, D. & Torbert, W. R. (2005). Seven transformations of leadership. harvard business review, 83(4), 66-76.
• Bondi, G. (2009). The Influence of Teacher Leaders. Learning, 66(5), 85-86.
• Spillane, J. P., Halverson, R., & Diamond, J. B. (2001). Investigating school leadership practice: a distributed perspective. Educational Researcher, 30(3), 23-28.
• Ancona, D., Malone, T. W., Orlikowski, W. J., & Senge, P. M. (2007). In praise of the incomplete leader. Harvard business review, 85(2), 92.

Globalization is creating change at warp speeds with an order of magnitude of error.
There are multiple nodes of learning besides just school. The majority of learning occurs in informal learning environments. Check out the research going on at Stanford's LIFE (Learning in Informal and Formal Environments) Center an NSF supported initiative. http://www.life-slc.org/

School leaders must develop a deep understanding of and affinity for working effectively in teams.

1. Leaders need to own the innovation not delegate it. 
2. Drive change through creativity and knowledge. An innovator's DNA includes lots of associating outside of own area of expertise, lots of questioning (question the unquestionable, imagine opposites, embrace constraints, wonder, encourage backchannel)
3. Consider failure an opportunity for learning
4. Shift from rules to shared principles
5. Shape culture of openness, collegiality, honesty, adaptability. Look for "positive deviance" What's working well? Change the rules! See notschool.net http://www.stevehargadon.com/2009/11/notschoolnet-proven-successful.html

Effectiveness of teachers has an enormous impact on student outcomes. Research shows that the most effective teachers share "a recurring positive relationship between student learning and teacher's flexibility, creativity, and adaptibility.

What really motivates workers?  The ability to see progress is the top motivator.

Look at best practices:

• Check out working models such as High Tech High 
• Look at high performing countries. They have fewer student contact hours than we do! They establish a professional learning system where there is less student contact time and more lesson study, classroom observations. Singapore Teacher's Network
• The Flat World and Education - Linda Darling-Hammond 
• Research shows that 49 hours of substantial, focused professional development can increase student test scores by as much as 21 percentiles. PD can be virtual, blended, just-in-time, mentoring, coaching, collaborative ed. network. Elements of effective PD: sustained over time, content-based, concrete modeling

10 Leadership Components - Presenter: Chris O'Neal

ISTE 2010 Session
chris.wikispaces.com
Supporting research: http://sws.wikispaces.com/Change+%26+Leadership
Sponsored by www.skoodat.com

• Assure equity of access for both teachers and students.  For example, assure every student has access to technology during school hours. Technology access should not just be a reward for good behavior.
• Understanding and using data. Spend a day with your test scores looking for trends. Dig beneath the surface. Structure PD to address a need shown in the trend data. For example, if fluency were an area of weakness, teachers could learn how to have students use podcasting to practice their oral fluency.
• Effective PD is customized and narrowly focused to a particular need. 
• Encouraging adoption of new technology/practice:
• Find your "rock star" teachers
• Figure out the top 10 people who would be needed to help move a tech initiative forward.
• Walk the talk. Model the use of whatever you're trying to get adopted. Don't just talk about it. 
• Offer to co-teach or provide support in creating a lesson.
• Have teachers create a whole group podcast on a particular topic.
• He modeled a technology visioning session at a faculty meeting by having session participants respond to a survey on-line.
  
  
  
  
  What area should be top priority for this coming school year?  

  What area should be 2nd priority for this coming school year?
  
  From there he used www.wordle.net to create a mashup highlighting the most common terms from teachers. Specifically, he used google docs to create a spreadsheet which he then turned into a form that he embedded in a web page. Then he used tinyurl (http://tiny.cc/) to create a short, memorable url for participants to access. We could do this!
• Use google forms for tech observations.
• Reward growth.
• Recognize each and every small step accomplished
• Find rewards that are meaningful to teachers. For example, the reward for attending an after school workshop could be an early release on Friday. 
• Encourage genuine reflection.
• How can I use what I learned? 
• What will be viable? 
• What's the one chunk I can actually use?
• Student-driven technology
• Minimize hand holding.
• For example, if synching of a device is required, teach them to do it.
•  Personal Learning Networks
• Use Twitter, Blogs, Wikis, Nings to create your own PLN
• Tip: www.tweetdeck.com allows filtering of tweets based on specific words or phrases

Cartooning Project

Please visit the cartooning project page to see more student created vocabulary cartoons like the one below.

Create your own Toon

iPad, print, Kindle, oh my

This marketing piece from Penguin books gives a great view of where eBooks are headed. I wonder if Amazon has a new, improved Kindle in the works to go toe to toe with the iPad.

Classroom Response Systems

Here is a list of popular SRS (student response systems - AKA "clickers").

If you're interested, please feel free to surf to the vendors' websites shown below, and or share personal/collegial experiences with SRS by responding to this blog post.


Qwizdom
TurningPoint
CPS

Cartooning & Animation

http://goanimate.com/

Improving teacher preparation programs

It's about time. NCATE (National Council on Accreditation of Teacher Education) is recommending that teacher preparation programs move towards a clinical practice model that parallels medical and nursing education and training programs. More at http://www.ncate.org/public/010510_BRP2.asp

Digital Storytelling

Resources for teachers to learn more about the art of digital storytelling courtesy of a newly published book called Digital Storytelling - A Guide for Educators p. 14 http://www.iste.org/source/Orders/isteProductDetail.cfm?product_code=digsto

• http://www.digitales.us/  examples and lesson ideas
• http://www.storycenter.org/ examples
• http://www.technosavvy.org/  look at the podcast page:
• Joe Lambert: Digital Storytelling Part 1 for a general history of the emergence of digital storytelling
• Bernajean Porter: Digital Storytelling Part 2 and Part 3. Where to start; assessment; connections to content standards
• http://www.speedofcreativity.org/  look at the podcast page:
• Podcast 184: Online digital storytelling curriculum
• Podcast 188: The Oklahoma Digital Centennial project.

Education Week: Majoring in Math Not Always a Classroom Plus

Education Week: Majoring in Math Not Always a Classroom Plus

Teachers and Interactive White Boards

It's a lot of money. Is it worth it? Professional development is a key component.

Beyond Teacher Chalk Talk from Education Week on Vimeo.

WordAhead Vocabulary Videos

Check out this cool site where teachers AND students can make vocabulary videos.

http://wordahead.com/EngageStudents/tabid/125/Default.aspx

ISTE Digital Storytelling

Check out this great digital storytelling site.
http://www.istevision.org/index.php

Reflections on Pink Friday

Yesterday afternoon I attended a rally here in Newark in support of teachers and schools. With the state of California budget still hemorraghing, the state education budget has been slashed by $4 billion... no, make tht $5billion... oops, $11 billion... Clearly, no one knows where the bottom is yet.

It was hard to muster the energy to go to it because it all seems so futile. If there's no money, there's no money. And yet, I needed to do something. As I mulled it over last night, I realized that doing nothing is, for me, a form of hubris. Who am I to know what the net effect of each of our small actions could be?

The ominous "Pink Friday" (the date by which teachers under contract must be notified of possible RIF) has come and gone. In Newark, it proved to be as draconian as predicted. With a $5 million budget shortfall in this fiscal year, we'll use up our entire spendable budget reserve leaving us with only the legally mandated budget reserve for next year. Needless to say, our school board has cast a very wide net so that they have room to maneuver as they decide which organ or appendage isn't actually necessary.


All of our elective teachers (vocal and instrumental music, dance and movement, computer tech), received notices. "Academic" departments like English and Science didn't fare much better. Administrators and counselors district-wide all received notices.

Special education was spared the ax this time because of several factors. First of all, it's a legal requirement to provide a free and appropriate public education to all students including those with disabilities. Because of NCLB (No Child Left Behind), teachers must be credentialed in the subject area they teach. Second, districts are required to show "maintenance of effort" for their special ed programs. In other words, a district can't spend less on special ed year over year unless there is a legitimate reason (state budget crisis is not a legitimate reason). Last and best: the federal government actually kicked in some funding.

At this moment, I am humble and grateful to be a special educator. I've probably also got a low-grade case of "survivor's guilt." I'm also aware that the ax hasn't finished swinging yet. Between the global economic crisis and California's constantly screwed up state budget, there are probably more "executions" to come.

BARC Meeting 4/29/08

Bay Area Regional CTAP (California Technology Assistance Project)

http://www.ctap4.org/

Check out their website for CTAP Summer Institute offerings in instructional technology for Math, Social Studies, and Language Arts, and general Instructional Technology (because IT can enhance learning in every subject).

edZone
http://www.k12hsn.org/edzone/
Offers FREE tools to support teaching and learning. Currently includes blogging, videoconference scheduling and a file sharing system where educators can upload videos, podcasts, images and documents. Coming soon: IM, wikis, and Moodle (an on-line course management system). Flyer posted in G1.

Taking Center Stage – Act II (TCSII) http://pubs.cde.ca.gov/tcsii/
Focused on ensuring success and closing the achievement gap (between white students and student of color, ELLs, students with disabilities) for all of California’s middle grades students.

Of particular note on this site:

1. TCSII Electronic Mailing List. As a TCSII mailing list subscriber, you will receive year-round e-alerts on fresh features such as newly published research, innovative best practices, upcoming professional learning events, and much more.

School ProfilesCalifornia middle schools featured in TCSII video vignettes.

Thinkfinity training
http://www.thinkfinity.org/ lesson plans, interactive activities and other online resources. All of Thinkfinity.org's 55,000 standards-based K-12 lesson plans, student materials, interactive tools and reference materials are reviewed by the nation's leading education organizations to ensure that content is accurate, up-to-date, unbiased and appropriate for students. Includes primary source materials, interactive student resources and grade-specific research lists. (Thinkfinity is the new Marco Polo)

Two summer institutes for middle school math
Middle school math project on the CTAP Region IV site http://www.ctap4.org/math/

ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) http://www.iste.org/
Worthy of a read:
In a new report, Maximizing the Impact: "The Pivotal Role of Technology in a 21st Century Education System", the State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Partnership for 21st Century Skills urged renewed emphasis on technology in education.

Grants update – Check out the most recent funding update at http://www.ctap4.org/grants/funding_alert.htm

Mouse Squad
Student tech grants $500 - $1000 www.ca.mousesquad.org
I have more information if you’re interested.

Digital History Project
Use of iPod Touch connected to TV as an example of an inexpensive presentation solution.
6c’s for primary source analysis
all material is on CTAPIV website http://www.ctap4.org/calisphere/
It’s about visual literacy, teaching reading on-line, critical thinking-looking-analyzing.

Teaching Digital Natives in a Global World
Keynote presenter Sara Armstrong (stand-in for Marco Torres)
Check out her blog at http://my-ecoach.com/blogs.php?blog=2075 for a quick tour of classroom implementations of web tools.

San Fernando High - SFETT (Marco Torres)
AWESOME work by high school students in a low SES school. http://www.sfett.com/

For further exploration:

1. California School Library Association does FREE on-line Web 2.0 tools tutorials for teachers.
   Classroom Learning 2.0 http://classroomlearning2.blogspot.com/ the 23 things you need to know about Web 2.0
2. Animoto – easily create music video like slideshows from your own pictures. http://animoto.com/
3. Flickr http://www.flickr.com/
4. Voice Thread http://voicethread.com/
   
   
   

English Language Arts Articulation Collaboration NJHS-NMHS

Professional Development Day at NMHS 3/10/08

• ELA Instruction as seen from CSU perspective
• In 2005 45.2% of all students entering CSU needed remediation in English.
• Only 24% of students who took remediation earned a degree
• Entrance assessment has no literary analysis – purely expository focus
• Analysis/synthesis skills nearly non-existent

How can we (HS/JS) help each other address this problem?

Inter-segmental Committee of Academic Senates (ICAS) statement of competencies compares what K12 teachers emphasize with what colleges are looking for.

Two courses from RIAP:
Reading Institute for Academic Preparation
Expository Reading and Writing

reading.institute@csun.edu
www.csun.edu/~rinstitute
(818)677-2534
RIAP
Department of Secondary Education
California State University, Northridge
18111 Nordhoff StreetNorthridge, CA 91330-8265

Academic Vocabulary for English & History/Social Science Educators

Presented as Professional Development at NMHS - 3/10/08
Ardas Wachter-Grene
akgrene@aol.com

Recommended Resources (Books, websites)

• Bringing Words To Life – Robust Vocabulary Instruction - Isabel Beck
• Building Academic Vocabulary – Teacher’s Manual - Robert Marzano
• Dictionaries written in student-friendly language:
  Collins Cobuild Student’s Dictionary http://www.elearnaid.com/collinscobuild.html
  Heinle Newbury House Dictionary of American English http://nhd.heinle.com/home.aspx
  Longman Dictionary of American English http://www.idoceonline.com/
• These websites have free vocabulary materials that support these practices:
  Kevin Feldman www.scoe.org/content.php?pageID=164
  Kate Kinsella http://www.cascd.org/resources.shtml

Handouts:

• Academic Vocabulary presentation
• Narrowing the Language Gap - Kinsella, Feldman
• Academic word list – alphabetical
• Preparing for Effective Vocabulary Instruction – Kinsella

Some high points:

High incidence academic word list – grouped by frequency of usage (list 1 = most frequent; list 10 = least frequent)

Reciprocal relationship between vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension
Vocabulary knowledge is the single best predictor of academic success

Six step instructional routine for vocabulary

Attribution theory or effort-based theory – intelligence is not fixed. It is limitless and expansive. These are the factors that can impact overall “intelligence.” (Paula's note: the work of Martin Seligman at Penn State is a good read).

• motivation
• perseverance (how do I teach my students to have stamina)
  effort
• IQ (not the overriding or determining factor)
  

Resiliency
This is about teaching students these resilient “habits of mind.”
What are the factors that create resilient individuals? An adult mentor makes a great difference for students.

Brain Compatible Learning
The brain constantly performs CPR (Classifies & Categorizes – Pattern - Relationship)

BCL - Brainstorm, Classify, Label
Sorting is the classifying and labeling

Have Fun
The brain learns best when it's at play.

PowerPoint Jeopardy

Assembly Member Alberto Torrico’s Town Hall Meeting

2/27/08 – Fremont Main Library

Speakers

• Assemblymember Torrico - http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a20/
• Jean Ross – Executive Director, California Budget Project http://www.cbp.org/
  This is an information packed website and well worth the read. Her presentation is at http://www.cbp.org/pdfs/2008/080207_chartbookmasterbullets.pdf
• Trisha Tahmasbi – Trustee, Ohlone College Board http://www.ohlone.edu/org/board/members.html
• Rick Pratt – Assistant Executive Director California School Boards Association His presentation is at http://www.csba.org/TrainingAndEvents/Events/2007/Forecast.aspx

Newark was well-represented by Superintendent Dr. John Bernard and Board Members Ray Rodriguez, Jan Crocker, and Nancy Thomas. Newark City Council was represented by Ana Apodaca.

Fremont Unified was represented by Fremont Unified District Teacher’s Association President Jeff Poe.

There were a number of teachers present including myself, Joanne Hong, and Leslie Turner from NMHS.

I also picked up some extra copies of the handouts if anyone is interested.

Disclaimer: these are my notes and have not been checked for accuracy. For the most accurate information, visit the speakers' websites.

Here are the high points of Torrico's remarks. More details follow the high points.

What will Torrico do?

What is at the beginning and end of our problems in public education? Prop. 13. Torrico is introducing a bill that will require periodic reassessment of commercial property. He will also introduce a bill that will insure that money spent on K-12 and higher education keeps pace with inflation.

What can we do?

1. Make your voice heard. Write letters. Make phone calls. Jan Crocker, Nancy Thomas, and Ray Rodriguez are going to Sacramento next Monday to hand deliver letters from Newark teachers and parents.
2. Send the message to Sacramento that if the legislature decides not to fund COLA they must also take the steps necessary to protect school districts from being on the hook to fund it. If they don’t, the fiscal ramifications are immediate and dire for most districts.

Torrico’s opening remarks

Torrico opened with a quick and simple overview of California’s budget and debt situation. Next he listed California’s assets:

California’s Pluses

1. Economic superpower
2. 37.5 million people. Incredible diversity. Our people are our greatest strength.
3. Silicon Valley leading edge innovation.

Then he told us that our representatives in Sacramento are not hearing from people that things in California are not right. Last year’s budget was 57 days late and people did not complain. Republicans on the budget committee refused to vote even after their demands for a balanced budget had been met until teacher tax credits (for classroom supplies) were eliminated, and tax breaks for yacht purchases and for oil companies were added. These were agreed to in order to solve the budget impasse.

He distilled the issues down to this. Do we want a state that says that we can’t afford the problems of seniors, disabled, and students? Or do we want to be the state that makes sure that everyone has the opportunity to live up to their potential.

Community College and Higher Education update – Trisha Tahmasbi, Trustee, Ohlone College Board http://www.ohlone.edu/org/board/members.html

Most quality jobs that pay well require advanced degrees. 2/3 of CSU grads and 1/3 of UC grads begin their college career at the community college level. The Community College system has 72 districts and 109 campuses. Students who access use the community college system save about $40,000 on their education. Community colleges train over 70% of nurses in California.

She described the deep budget cuts faced by the Community College, CSU, and UC systems. System fees will increase by 7% tuition (UC) 10% (CSU). They have faced fee hikes every year since 2002. Undergraduate tuition has climbed 92% since 2000. Before 1984 Community Colleges did not charge any fees at all. In California’s 1960 master plan we said education would be our number one priority. Things have changed. What is it that we value as a state? By 2013 dept. of corrections budget is forecasted to surpass the higher education budge. In the past 13 years we’ve built 21 new prisons and one new UC campus.

We need to make a commitment to engage in a battle that reshapes our state’s priorities to invest in our future.

Remarks by Jean Ross Executive Director of California Budget Project
http://www.cbp.org/pdfs/2008/080207_chartbookmasterbullets.pdf
The good news is that there is an outpouring of interest from around the state about this budget. The rest of the news is gloomy. Her hardcopy presentation does a great job of explaining how we got into this mess and shows some of the options and their impact.

In absolute numbers, this isn’t the largest crisis in our history either in dollars or percentage. However, we have had too many bad years in a row. State is now paying about 3 billion (check this number) a year to repay debt. The “dot com” collapse affected primarily the state budget. This time the downturn in the housing market impacts both state and local govt. About half of property tax revenue goes to schools. Sales tax revenue is also impacted because people have less money to spend. Next year doesn’t look better. This downturn will affect people across the economic spectrum.

In January, there was an estimated $14.5 billion deficit on an overall budget of $100 billion. Last week the Legislative Analyst updated the deficit to $16 billion.

As bad as the proposed cuts are they only close 2/3 of the budget gap. What are the reductions that the governor will use? She covers the big ticket items including K14 education, Medi-Cal, SSI/SSD, early release and parole of prisoners. Medi-Cal plans a particularly Dickensian method of cost reduction: increase the complexity of the paperwork so that fewer claims are filed. Just the K-12 system translates to $786 per student. Every dollar cut from Medi-Cal will cost the state one dollar in federal funds. This in turn will cut dollars paid to health care providers by 10%. Early release of 20,000 prisoners without any access to job training, drug treatment, and housing assistance.

What about the governor’s assertion that California has a spending problem not a budget problem. His Vehicle Licensing Fee (VLF) tax cut equals nearly half of the current deficit.

What’s the role for public and private investment? What do we want for California?

Rick Pratt, Assistant Director, California School Boards Association
http://www.csba.org/TrainingAndEvents/Events/2007/Forecast.aspx

We’re almost $2,000 per student below the national average or about 43~46 out of 50 states. Our class sizes are largest in the nation. Previous budget reductions have not been restored. “low hanging fruit” is gone. Librarians, school nurses, and other “non-essential” programs have already been cut. The next move is to increase class size.

Dr. Bernard
Extemporaneous remarks. Acknowledged the teachers present from the tri-city area. Impact on classrooms is unavoidable. Whatever the governor says in January is what school boards must plan for until the May revise. We have to identify potential cuts and give notification by March 15. we will not know next steps until may revise. Write a letter to the governor. Ray Rodriguez, Jan Crocker and Nancy Thomas will be going to Sacramento next Monday to hand deliver letters written by Newark teachers and parents to the governor. The current budget crisis will be even more devastating if the state eliminates COLA funding but does not freeze COLA. This will leave school districts with another very large unfunded and required budget expense.

Jeff Poe From FUDTA
No COLA! It causes a double jeopardy for school districts. FUSD estimates it would create a shortfall of $9.5million to a fiscally conservative with a healthy budget reserve. Fremont already has a highly transient teaching force because it is too expensive for beginning teachers to live here. If the district were required to fund the entire cost of COLA, it would result in: school transportation eliminated, 180 teachers not hired, 10 students added to every K-3 classroom, increased enrollment in all Special Education classroom. Enrollment in all classes will creep towards 40 students/class. 39 counselors will be let go and FUSD will still be $3M short! They’re putting a 4.5% COLA on us without funding it. It is critical that they don’t do this!

Torrico’s closing remarks

He rejects the premise that cuts must be made. All republicans who come to Sacramento sign a pledge that they won’t raise taxes. This doesn’t jive with the Republican analogies about government being run like a business or family budget. In either of those two scenarios, you not only control spending you also find new revenue! He won’t sign a budget that is balanced on the backs of kids. For every legislator there are ten registered lobbyists. Don’t ever underestimate the power that you have going to Sacramento and having your voice heard. Some of history’s most heroic change agents started with small, “simple” acts: Rosa Parks… Nelson Mandela… Cesar Chavez… Most of us are not heroes of this stature, but collectively if we make our voices heard, if we say that this is not right, if we say that this is improper and immoral, then things will change. Things won’t change unless we do.

NTA-Sponsored Presentation on Special Ed Issues

Presenter: Craig Nelson – cnelson@cta.org
Attendees: The junior high was well-represented by our union reps, special educators and the science department. There were several elementary educators, at least one service provider, and one teacher from NMHS.

Craig provided lots of handouts:

• Issues in Special Education: Readings and Resources
• Special Education Update – Craig’s presentation
• Procedures for Serious Behavior Problems
• NEA Summary of “IDEA Report Cards” showing that only 9 states got a grade of “satisfactory” on their IDEA report cards issued by the U.S. Dept. of Ed. Last June
• RTI Strategies and Issues from Council for Exceptional Children
• The Puzzle of Autism
• A CD called the Accessible Classroom Primer

Craig's recommended websites:

• Intervention Central http://www.interventioncentral.org/
• National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality http://www.ncctq.org/
  Wrights Law – http://www.wrightslaw.org/Wrights Law does an annual parent boot camp for parents of Sp Ed students
• California Special Education http://www.lrp.com/
• NEA http://www.nea.org/
• CDE http://www.cde.ca.gov/
• Council for Exceptional Children http://www.cec.org/

18% of SpEd students statewide test at proficient or above for ELA on CST
13% of SpEd students statewide test at proficient or above for Math

Statewide about 10% of students are identified as special needs

Response to Intervention is a general education initiative. Research shows the number of students identified as SLD can be reduced as much as 75% through RTI in K-3.

On 11th day of out of school suspension, that is considered a change in placement and a Manifestation Determination is required. A BIP is also required.

Ed. Code 44014: specifies that whenever a school employee is attacked, assaulted, or physically threatened, it is the duty of the employee and supervisor to report the matter. Failure to report is an infraction. (Report to police).

Discussion of obligations of teachers to attend meetings after hours and compensation. No particular resolution.

IDEA 2007. Interim alternative placements for 45 days for weapons, drug use, drug sale, inflicting serious bodily harm. This is different from expulsion. Ed. Code 48900.

RtI
Rti is the practice of providing high quality instruction and intervention matched to student need, monitoring progress frequently to make decisions about change in instruction or goals and applying child response data to important educational decisions (NASDSE, 2005). IDEA 2004 provides for use of RtI. Three tier model of school supports. See handout.

RtI could be perceived by some as a way to stem the Special Education encroachment on the general fund. With the state budget cuts, this could become a real problem.

Some discussion of inclusion and the research that shows that special education students do better when they are included in the general education classroom.

Read 180 Summer Institute - First Impressions Count! Move Beyond Rules and Procedures

Presenters: Cathleen Mattia, Agatha Taylor

Used the "Numbered Heads" routine as an opener. Demonstrated it as a way to hold all students accountable for discussion.

Agatha used a pyramid model to structure her presentation: Community building; positive tone; motivation; buy-in; teaching and learning

Community building used a theme to create a classroom community structure:

• Theme tells a story
• The students are active participants in developing the theme.

Theme example: a ship

1. Students are given a ticket and welcomed aboard as they enter the room the first time
2. The ship becomes the symbol of the environment and the community
3. A passenger analogy is used to establish relationship and create motivation
4. The destination represents the goals and successes

Setting a positive tone

1. Environment must be warm and inviting (She plays soothing music as students enter the room on the very first day.
2. Safe environment. Make it clear that no put-downs are ever allowed. The students feel that they can take risks with learning.
3. She used a lifeguard metapho
   

Read 180 Summer Institute - Day 2 Opening Session

Keynote – Scholastic VP asked audience to think of a student whose life they had helped changed through R180.

I choose AQ, an 8^th grader. Her initial SRI showed a Lexile in the low 200’s. She was failing other academic subjects and particularly pre-Algebra. AQ ended the year on the Principal’s honor roll with a Lexile in the high 600’s. She discovered S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders through Read180 Audiobooks. She went home and talked about what she was reading only to discover that S.E. Hinton had been one of her mother’s favorite authors as a teenager. AQ went on to read two more of Hinton’s novels before the year was out.

“Brain research tells us that practice makes permanent.” Patrick Daley

Audiobooks contain a Reading Coach voice that provides metacognitive think-alouds at various points in the reading.

Brian Chernow – California Director for Scholastic Education gave a sneak preview of a new Scholastic product called System 44 which is designed to address the needs of students who need help with decoding and phonics. The program is targeted at grades 4-12. It uses an adaptive technology similar to that in Read180 (adapts to each reader’s needs). It features the Decoding Proficiency Assessment or DPA which provides data to determine the appropriate intervention for each student.

“I don’t mind reading now because the computer doesn’t embarrass me.”

Idea! Use the on-line fluency recording as a student portfolio item to demonstrate progress over time to parents and others.

Idea! The reading area can be formed using inexpensive lawn furniture.