Friday, January 23, 2009

Underestimating the Impact of Poverty

A coach sent this to me and I thought this was interesting food for thought.

The red is Krashen and Yvonne Siu-Runyan’s response to the article about school reconstitution in Columbine.

I suggest reading the article first and then the response.

Subject: Underestimating the impact of poverty



Sent to the Daily Camera, Dec 16, 2008

Underestimating the Impact of Poverty

The Colorado Department of Education and Boulder Valley School
Officials think that re-organizing Columbine Elementary Schools is going solve the problem
of low test-scores. It won't.

A large proportion of students who attend Columbine Elementary come
from financially needy families-88.1% of the children are on free or
reduced price lunch.

There isn't a single convincing case in educational research of this
kind of reform producing significant effects when poverty is that high. We have
underestimated the impact of poverty: Children of poverty suffer from
malnutrition, stressful home situations, toxic environments, and have
far less access to books at home, in their communities and in school.
They don't need their teachers fired and re-hired. They need more and
better food, cleaner air and water, more encouragement and nurturing,
and more access to books through improved libraries.

Re-organizing the school is like re-organizing the deck chairs on the
Titantic: It neglects the major cause of the low test scores.

Yvonne Siu-Runyan and Stephen Krashen

Yvonne Siu-Runyan is the Vice-President of the National Council of
Teachers of English.



Columbine Elementary School teachers must reapply for jobs

Daily Camera, Boulder, CO
By Laura Snider

The faculty members at Columbine Elementary School in Boulder went to
a staff meeting this week to greet their new principal. They left not
sure if they still had jobs.

The Boulder Valley School District has decided on a virtual do-over
for Columbine — which has been consistently under-performing on
standardized tests — giving the school a new building, a new
curriculum, a new principal and, now, a new staff.

Teachers were told this week that they will have to reapply for their
jobs if they want to continue working at the school in the fall.

“We really are saying that we want Columbine to be a new school,”
said district spokesman Briggs Gamblin. “The challenges to academic
achievement at Columbine are well-known and are of great concern to
the existing faculty as well as everyone else in the district.”

The district was notified by the Colorado Department of Education
this year that it had to take “corrective action” against Columbine because the school
had failed to meet “adequate yearly progress” — a metric based
on the state-mandated standardized tests — for the third year in a row.

Corrective action, which meets requirements set by the federal No
Child Left Behind program, must include one of the following: creating
an entirely new curriculum, decreasing management authority at the
school level, appointing an outside expert to advise the school,
extending the school day, or replacing the staff who are relevant to
the school’s failure.

“We would not have been required to take this far-reaching of an
action, but this was the right action for this school,” Gamblin said. “We know some people
won’t agree with that, but it is not meant to be negative toward the
current staff in terms of their passion for the kids and their passion for the program.”

But it’s hard for some not to see it that way.

“This is a slap in the face to the dedicated, highly trained and
talented teachers who go the extra mile in a difficult environment,”
parent David Heath wrote in a letter to the Camera. “... They deal
day in and day out with immigrant children that can barely speak English.”

More than 50 percent of the students who are assigned Columbine as
their neighborhood school choose to open-enroll at a different school,
leaving a population of students that is not representative of the
neighborhood demographics. More than 80 percent of the students who
attend Columbine qualify for free and reduced-price lunches, and the majority speak Spanish as their
first language.

The teachers are well-trained, with 100 percent meeting the state’s
guidelines for “highly qualified.” Teachers at Columbine have an average of nine years of
teaching experience, and 23 of the 43 full- and part-time teachers at the school have
master’s or doctoral degrees, according to state data.

“Please explain to our son, who has thrived at Columbine in his
first two years there, why his teacher might not be there when he
returns to school in the fall,” Bryan and Kori Jew asked in an open
letter to the superintendent.

The visioning process for Columbine, which had to be restructured
after racially charged comments marred the process earlier this fall, is meant to engage the
entire community, according to district officials, including people who chose not to
put their children at Columbine.

At Boulder Valley schools, teachers who have taught for more than
three years have a sort of tenure, called non-probationary status. If
the 30 teachers who are tenured at Columbine now do not get re-hired,
the school district “owes them a job,” according to Superintendent
Chris King, and officials will find a place for those teachers
elsewhere.

King sees the re-application process as a chance to have teachers
recommit themselves to a new school and a new curriculum.

Lynn Widger, the current principal, announced her retirement last
week, and she is being replaced by Cindy Kaier, now Kohl Elementary
School’s principal in Broomfield.

“I’ve watched the school for a lot of years,” King said. “And
I don’t think the current model is serving kids. Doing nothing is
not an option, so we’re choosing to do the hard thing because we
think it’s right for the kids.”

2008-12-12

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/dec/12/columbine-teachers-must-reapply/

Saturday, January 17, 2009

2008-2009 Classroom Management Professional Development

You can NEVER have too much classroom management professional development . . . which is why we are offering you an incredible menu of courses for the new year.

New Teacher Support and Development
Classroom Management Professional Development
2008-2009 Course Series
Building Positive Relationships with Students


Phone: 510-879-8911 Email: Margaret.Dunlap@ousd.k12.ca.us

Purpose for Classroom Management Professional Development: This series of classes is designed to help new teachers learn specific strategies and techniques to build relationships with students. Specifically, concentration will be placed upon increasing knowledge of the urban classroom setting, the diversity of student population in Oakland, and principles of classroom teaching and management. Through numerous activities, readings, discussions, and guest speakers, participants will learn how to create positive, supportive and respectful learning environments, and deal with a range of challenges in the K-12 classroom.

Goals:
• To gain an understanding of key concepts associated with school culture and classroom management, and the relationship of these concepts to students’ basic personal and psychological needs.

• To understand the importance of fostering interpersonal relationships in the classroom, and on the interaction between teacher and student as key factors influencing student achievement and behavior.

• To become familiar with research-supported practical strategies for improving classroom climate, organization and management.

• To gain knowledge with regard to creating a positive, nurturing classroom and school environment for students from all ability levels; socioeconomic classes; ethnic groups; and with varied personal, social, developmental and intellectual backgrounds.

Professional Growth/Equivalency Units:
Option 1: A teacher may earn OUSD Professional Growth Units for attending these courses. These units may be applied towards the OUSD salary through Human Resources. Paperwork will be available at all workshops.
Option 2: A teacher may earn Graduate Units from the University of the Pacific (UOP). The teacher attends the workshops, accrues the hours (15 hours = 1 unit) and is responsible for paying the cost of a semester unit. (1 unit costs $50).
For additional information please email pat.attri@ousd.k12.ca.us or call 510-879-8905.


Classroom Management Course List
Location: Sankofa Elementary School
581 61st Street, Oakland, CA 94606

Social Foundations
Grades 3-12 – Wednesdays, January 21, February 4, February 11, 2009, 4:00-6:00
Develop an understanding of the relationship between school and society. Issues discussed include: history of urban schools, relationship between wealth and test scores, tracking, social foundations of early childhood education, impact of immigration on California students, and political and cultural factors affecting second language acquisition.
Presenter: Dr. Kitty Epstein

Tribes TLC Middle School Overview
Grades 6-8 – Saturday, February 28, 2009, 9:00-3:00 PM
Using the new Tribes manual, “Developing Gifts in Middle School,” learn to create classroom norms and group collaboration strategies aligned with adolescent development that engage students in academics and promote resiliency.
Presenter: Jackie Shonerd

Positive Discipline
Grades K-12 – Date To Be Determined
Learn concrete strategies for building community in the classroom and gaining student cooperation based on creating mutually respectful relationships. Participants will practice how to set boundaries and expectations in a caring environment, and learn problem solving processes that involve students and colleagues in solutions.
Presenter: Kate Ortolano

Challenging Assumptions: Considering Children’s Behavior with Learning Differences in Mind
K-5 – February 2009
Explore how learning differences present in children and play out in classroom behaviors. Participate in a learning differences simulation to begin to understand the experience of children with learning differences. Examine ways to address learning differences and create a classroom community in which children with learning differences and their families feel supported.
Presenter: Ilya Pratt

Creating A Successful K-1 Learning Community: Systems and Materials that Work for Students and Teachers
K/1 only – March 2009
Learn how to develop a class community in K and 1st grade. Turn classroom space into an effective learning environment. Select and organize materials so that students can find them, use them, and clean them up. Learn how to initiate and keep good connections with parents.
Presenter: Harriet Cohen, Park Day School, Founder

Mindfulness
K-8 – Dates to be determined
Learn the practice of mindfulness and how to teach it to children in challenging situations. Presenters will provide information on the importance of embodying mindfulness, the science behind mindfulness and how to utilize mindfulness in the classroom. The workshop will include lecture, practice and interactive exercises.
Presenters: Megan Cowan and Laurie Grossman

Multicultural Education is for All Students
Grades K-6 –Dates to be determined
Help students develop an understanding and empathy for people different from themselves. Equip students with the ability and desire to positively interact with each other. Practice fun exercises and lessons to expand students’ knowledge of others and their worlds.
Presenter: Michelle McAfee

Teacher Resource Zone in Oakland

Every cool teacher in the district knows about the East Bay Depot for Creative ReUse. I call it the "teacher store" because only teachers would find a box of old manila folders and think of it as a gold mine!

Now East Bay Depot has a new Teacher Resource Zone
  • Join monthly re-use art demonstrations
  • Work with staff for teachers, Mondays 3-5PM
  • Discover new ways to use salvaged materials
  • Explore curriculum & resources
  • Obtain activity handouts
  • See examples of easy projects
  • Educators enjoy these services for FREE
The East Bay Depot is located at 4695 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA. Visit them online at http://www.creativereuse.org

Observe Veteran Teachers in Your Pajamas!

Here’s a great link. Can’t get out of your classroom enough to observe veteran teachers? Here’s where you can view Videos of exemplary teaching: http://gallery.carnegiefoundation.org/insideteaching/

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Free Spanish Resource

A FREE sixty-three page resource to answer all of those pesky questions about the Spanish alphabet, spelling, accent rules and use of capitalization and punctuation. It is a free pdf download from the www.rae.es website. It would be an invaluable reference to students of Spanish linguistics as well. The text is filled with interesting "observaciones históricas" which give interesting tidbits on why things are the way they are in modern Spanish.


It is found at:
http://www.rae.es/rae/gestores/gespub000018.nsf/voTodosporId/651DD2E435FC3039C12571F8003AAE85?OpenDocument

Click on the left hand side "Ortografía de la lengua española" and the pdf file will download.

If the lengthy click above doesn't work, try:

http://www.rae.es/RAE/Noticias.nsf/Home?ReadForm

Click on the left on "Consultas linguísticas"

Then, you will have the page on which appears the .pdf file on the left hand side.

How to watch youtube (when it's blocked)

I'm not saying that you should try to circumvent the security blocks that prevent students (and teachers) from going to sites such as youtube, myspace, facebook or any other site deemed inappropriate by OUSD . . . I'm just saying that there are mamy great resources on youtube that are not only appropriate for the classroom but assets to aid in engaging students . . .

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/1410038141.html?nid=3714