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.

Read180 Summer Institute - Day 1

Look at the Institute website

Keynote speakers - Kate Kinsella, Kevin Feldman, Ted Hasselbring

50% of African-Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans do not graduate from high school. 25% of all h.s. students do not graduate.

only 43% of college students are prepared for college.

Reminder: check out Kevin Feldman's listserv
(It turns out Kevin has a cool web presence )

Focus for next year....

Blogger...

This could be used for all types of writing, collaboration and research projects.


For example, modify the rotation schedule to allow 5 minutes for blogging about what's been learned.

Use the blog to create on-line class community... introduce yourself, share likes and dislikes, book discussion groups.

look into the on-line educator community to find best practices and ideas.

Grants...

my classroom needs resources!

audio listening station
individual cd players
increasing the library and quiz library
projection and screen

Family history assignment

Video on Italian-American Immigration

On my father's side, I am a second generation Californian. He was born in L.A. in 1914, the first of 7 children. His parents had come from Italy via Ellis Island and the Colorado coal mines of John D. Rockefeller (or so the story is told). My grandmother, then Maria G. , arrived in 1909. I have never been told the story firsthand but this is what I have pieced together from the family lore so there are significant gaps in the story.

The family took up residence in a two story Victorian era house a few miles from downtown Los Angeles in a placed they referred to as Happy Valley. As the story goes, dad was born in the room above the living room. Dad took me to the old neighborhood when I was an adult. It was an off the beaten path little valley in a hilly section overlooking downtown L.A. The alleys were still unpaved and the streets without curbs. The family had a garden plot next door and dad loved to regale us with tales of wine making during prohibition.

Dad and Mom bought their first house on 101st street in south central L.A. At the time, the great post-war northern migration of African-Americans had not yet occurred and so it was a white working class enclave. By 1950, the demographics of the area had changed dramatically and my parents chose to relocate to another all-white enclave. This time it was suburban, middle class Glendale. They bought the home for $13,000 which very nearly broke the family budget for many years to follow. I was born in Glendale in 1956 at Glendale Sanitarium (now a huge medical complex called Glendale Adventist Hospital).

We lived in a neighborhood just down the hill from Brand Park which had been willed to the city by Leslie C. Brand, an early developer. He turned his orange groves into the suburban dream. His home and grave site are still in the park.

Google IT Session Notes from 6/19

Writing assignment including video production.

One way of differentiating... recognize those who know and give them explicit permission to go ahead and ignore instruction while those who need to learn should listen.

Cool idea about editing/revising. Have an editing day. Have each student read another's essay for a particular aspect: grammar, spelling, style, etc. Create a cover sheet which has a rubric section for each aspect. Each reviewer completes and signs off the aspect they reviewed.

Embedding Media

apophenia www.zephonia.org

Session Notes Google IT Day 2

Examples:

• Put a blog post up and that's your homework assignment. Students can respond in the blog. It gets time and date stamped.
• Calculus class blog. All students are contributors to the blog. A different student is assigned as class scribe for each day of the month. Scribe posts class notes, diagrams, etc. for the whole class.
• Peer review within google docs. if you have collaborator access then you can see the number of times it's been accessed (was it really revised...)
• Professional portfolio
• Students can have interactive electronic journals. Teacher subscribes so she is notified as soon a student updates his/her journal.

My ideas:

• Could I put the wrl up on the blog? What about access issues? Students who do not have internet access at home?
• What about book discussion groups?

Google Reader:

• tool to keep track of RSS feeds
  
• del.icio.us - web based storehouse for bookmarks and other things