I just got the February newsletter from Oakland Teaching Fellows and they had a ton of resources listed (thanks Jessica!). See below:
Win a Student-Run Bookstore Grant from Schoolwide, Inc.
Schoolwide, Inc. will be donating up to 200 Student-Run Bookstores across the country qualified entries. Their package includes:
• Gift certificate for $50 in books
• Working cash register and paid stamp
• Eight book displays
• Sales signs and sign holders
• Children's work aprons
• Posters
• Thank you bags
• Instruction manual with reproducible materials
To apply, visit http://www.schoolwide.com
Geography knowledge website
National Geographic is on a campaign to improve the geography literacy of American students and their My Wonderful World website has online maps and games, an atlas, a global I.Q. test, a geography career guide, a newsletter, and links to global organizations like the Peace Corps.
Hot Math
Hot Math’s award-winning website has free services, including training for using graphic calculators, “hint-step” explanations of odd-numbered homework problems in more than 200 math textbooks used in middle and high schools, and ways for students to instant-message with each other while working through teacher-prepared problem explanations together. Note: there are charges for parts of this website but there is a ton of free stuff too.
Attention Science Teachers: Summer Institute on Environmental Education
This summer, Headlands Institute offers educators the unique opportunity to spend 5 days in the beautiful Marin Headlands learning and exploring new ways to make California Science Standards come alive. For more information email Jessica at jadler@oaklandteachingfellows.org for the opportunity flyer.
All About Adolescent Literacy
This website supports grade four through twelve literacy instruction with free instructional materials, articles, classroom strategies, book lists with guided discussion questions, and author interviews.
Money Management for Middle Schoolers
The Center for Entrepreneurship and Economic Education at the University of Missouri, St. Louis has developed Money Math: Lessons for Life, a teacher’s guide for helping middle-school students manage their money, stay out of debt, and think about saving for retirement. Quite timely in these economic times!
Attention High School Teachers: Climate science program offered at no cost to your school! Alliance for Climate Education offers high school students around the Bay Area fun, inspiring, and meaningful ways to engage in the fight against the global climate crisis. They present current climate science to students through brief, age-appropriate, and interactive presentations. The program imparts a deep understanding of climate change and explains the powerful tools young people have to help create a cleaner, cooler future for our country and the world. Email Jessica for more information.
Math teaching videos
This website has six fifteen-minute films from Annenberg Media of middle-school math teachers modeling effective classroom strategies, with lesson extensions and resources. This is a must-see for all secondary math teachers.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
Resources for Math Teachers . . . Oakland/East Bay Math Circle
Tina Garcia, math teacher in Oakland shared some great information for math teachers that I wanted to share . . .
Mathematical Sciences Research Institute sponsors Circle for Teachers: A Mathematical Problem Solving and Professional Development Program for Secondary Mathematics Teachers in the Bay Area. There is a summer workshop between June 28 and July 2, 2009 and follow up Math Circle meetings to "equip educators with an effective problem-solving approach to teaching mathematics . . . Participants will come away with a variety of resources, lesson modules, and a renewed sense of appreciation for the fascinating world of mathematics."
The Oakland/East Bay Math Circle meets on Thursdays from 4:15-5:30 at Laney College (Bldg G) in Oakland. Teachers can attend with their students (grades 6-12). These are weekly enrichment programs "centered on intriguing and challenging mathematical problems."
Mathematical Sciences Research Institute sponsors Circle for Teachers: A Mathematical Problem Solving and Professional Development Program for Secondary Mathematics Teachers in the Bay Area. There is a summer workshop between June 28 and July 2, 2009 and follow up Math Circle meetings to "equip educators with an effective problem-solving approach to teaching mathematics . . . Participants will come away with a variety of resources, lesson modules, and a renewed sense of appreciation for the fascinating world of mathematics."
The Oakland/East Bay Math Circle meets on Thursdays from 4:15-5:30 at Laney College (Bldg G) in Oakland. Teachers can attend with their students (grades 6-12). These are weekly enrichment programs "centered on intriguing and challenging mathematical problems."
Saturday, February 14, 2009
The Greatest Black History Month Ever . . .
This is the greatest Black History Month ever!! If you know anything about me you know that I love Jet magazine. I read it every week and I read every page. I love the section on "This week in Black History" . . . I love the "love and happiness" section with pictures of newlyweds and the couple married for 50+ years . . . I love the "week's best photos." I even love the Jet beauty of the week. In what other publication can you find out where black entertainers will be on television that week? And now . . . drumroll please . . . Jet and its sister magazine Ebony are online! We can now read everything from the May 1968 Ebony after Martin Luther King's murder to the July 3, 1975 cover with little Janet Jackson. What an incredible resource for the classroom!
Johnson Publishing Company has partnered with Google to digitize its magazine archives.
Ebony
Jet
Black World/Negro Digest
Ebony
Jet
Black World/Negro Digest
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Pipeline to Prison?
"Many of the young men and women in the juvenile justice system never were in the pipeline to college. They were not derailed from the right track; they never got on it." --Children's Defense Fund
How can we firmly place our children in the pipeline to college and far away from the pipeline to prison?
How can we firmly place our children in the pipeline to college and far away from the pipeline to prison?
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Is Education a Right or a Privilege??
Interesting question . . . What do you think?
What: A FREE, fun-filled, information-packed conference by and for high school students and their teachers/mentors on issues related to educational equity and racial justice in schools
When: Thursday, March 19th, 2009. Check-in begins at 8:30am and the conference is slated to wrap up at 2:30pm
Where: San Francisco State University in San Francisco
Who: We expect great interest and have limited space this year so we are asking teachers to help us encourage the attendance of students of color, LGBTQQI students, low-income students, students with disabilities, and students who dont generally have access to this kind of opportunity.
How: To pre-register contact Perla Pasayes at ppasayes@aclunc.org or 415.621.2493 X333
For more information on the Friedman Education Project, see www.aclunc.org/youth
The Friedman Education Project of the ACLU-NC presents the 2009 Youth Rights Conference--
Is Education a Right or a Privilege? Exploring Educational Equity and Racial Justice
Is Education a Right or a Privilege? Exploring Educational Equity and Racial Justice
What: A FREE, fun-filled, information-packed conference by and for high school students and their teachers/mentors on issues related to educational equity and racial justice in schools
When: Thursday, March 19th, 2009. Check-in begins at 8:30am and the conference is slated to wrap up at 2:30pm
Where: San Francisco State University in San Francisco
Who: We expect great interest and have limited space this year so we are asking teachers to help us encourage the attendance of students of color, LGBTQQI students, low-income students, students with disabilities, and students who dont generally have access to this kind of opportunity.
How: To pre-register contact Perla Pasayes at ppasayes@aclunc.org or 415.621.2493 X333
For more information on the Friedman Education Project, see www.aclunc.org/youth
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Mindfulness as an educator
New Teacher Support and Development Presents:
MINDFULNESS
MINDFULNESS
Tuesdays:
February 24, March 3, March 10, and March 24, 2009
4:15-6:30 PM
Light refreshments will be provided.
Park Day School
370 43rd Street
Oakland, CA 04609
Presenter: Megan Cowan
This 4 week workshop will provide teachers with the tools and knowledge to successfully introduce mindfulness into the classroom. Mindfulness teaches children to pay attention, to learn how to calm and settle themselves, and to be more self aware.
Specifically, mindfulness teaches students to:
- Listen and focus their attention – stay present.
- Be aware of their feelings.
- Have better impulse control so they can choose how to react to a particular situation.
- Bring mindfulness to their everyday activities.
- Cultivate a sense of caring and kindness toward themselves and others.
Join fellow OUSD teachers to 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.
To Register: Email margaret.dunlap@ousd.k12.ca.us with name and school site. A confirmation email will be sent.
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/
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/
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