Friday, December 16, 2016

Happy Holidays!

We hope you have a safe and happy holiday break. Don't forget your Three R's...
Rest....

Relax....
and Read, read read!


Monday, December 5, 2016

Parent needed for JCP School Equity Committee

Hello!

As a district, we are taking steps to be more intentional about providing an equitable education for all students, regardless of race, heritage, socio-economic status, learning abilities, etc. 

For this purpose we are creating a JCP Equity Committee, designed to analyze equity of opportunity, access, services, programs, and resources to ensure every JCP student reaches his/her full potential. 

Role of JCP Equity Committee: 
  • Promote inclusion, justice and equity at JCP
  • Analyze student data (achievement, behavior, attendance) in order to identify potential gaps
  • Make recommendations for JCP as it relates to equal educational opportunities.  
  • Suggest processes, protocols and procedures to highlight, recognize and honor the cultural, racial, socio-economic, ability and linguistic diversity at JCP​
Who we need:
  • 1 administrator (minimum)
  • 4-6 staff members
  • 4-6 parents who represent the diversity of our school
We will establish our own schedule and will meet 4-5 times this year. 

If you have a passion for all students and want to work to help create an equitable John Campbell Primary, please let me know by Dec. 12. Committee work will begin in January.

Dec. 5 weekly announcement

Movie on 12-2-16 at 11.40 AM from Rob Darling on Vimeo.

Monday, November 14, 2016

Gradual release of instruction (turned upside down) changing how we teach math


We are in the thick of a math adoption K-12 in our district. In the primary grades, we've been piloting this curriculum for the last two years, more or less, so much of the content is familiar for us. But one thing our district has been doing a good job of is not teaching teachers how to deliver the curriculum, but rather teaching teachers how to think like mathematicians. This is especially challenging in our K-2 building where teachers are required to be experts in all content areas, not just math.

One learning really stuck with me from Dr. Kris Childs (prof. at Texas Tech, with MathDNA and a consultant for Solution Tree). He was working with our district admin team before school this summer and challenged our thinking around the gradual release of instruction, commonly stated as "I do, we do, you do."

He showed us that by flipping this model, and throwing students right into the independent phase, we can allow them to productively struggle (which makes Charlotte Danielson happy) then they can engage their neighbors by sharing and comparing the different strategies they tried (making me and Doug Fisher happy, because we LOVE student discourse, especially in math.)

We brought back Dr. Childs, Dr. Farshid Safi (one of the authors of Making Sense of Mathematics for Teaching High School) and crew for a district-wide PD day with teachers in Oct. Dr. Safi echoed with staff what Dr. Childs told our admin team and I saw several of my teachers begin to change their math instruction. It's a simple transformation that is really paying large dividends in how much students are sharing and growing their math talk. 

Like Doug Fisher says, the primary purpose for collaborative learning is to build academic language with students. Like I always say, he who talks the most learns the most.


Nov. 14th weekly announcements

Nov. 14 announcement video from Rob Darling on Vimeo.

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Math Intervention, Reading Intervention....Behavior Intervention?

https://educatorscare.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/shutterstock_173113406.jpg


When a student struggles with math, we rush to identify why they are struggling and how to fix it. Same thing with reading, we can give assessments and dissect their reading deficiencies down to the specific long vowel pattern or inflected endings they're struggling with. 

But when a student does not follow school rules, doesn't keep hands to self, gets frustrated and hits or flees or yells, the traditional response is: "Stop." "Go sit at your desk and put your head down." "I've given you 5 warnings, you just lost some of your recess."

Most of our students are not able to self-diagnose their academic struggles. It has to be taught, modeled, and retaught....all year long. Do we have the same intervention system for our students who need behavioral interventions or do we talk at them, take something away as a consequence, and hope they will magically learn a skill that they have probably never learned, and maybe never even seen modeled correctly outside of school?

The following was an actual conversation with one of my kinder teachers and one of her 5 year olds. This is not a reflection what the teacher did wrong, but an example of a student behavior:

Teacher: Tommy told me you were in the bathroom swearing, is that true?
Student: Yes, I said h_ll.
T: We have talked about using this kind of language. Let's stay in for a few minutes and practice more appropriate behavior.
S: Ah, d_mmit. 
T: That's another word we aren't supposed to say, we have talked about that one as well.

5 minutes go by. Student was sitting and reading, working with the teacher on appropriate language and behavior. (Behavior intervention, good.)

T: Ok, do you remember why we needed to stay in and practice?
S: Yes, because I was talking to someone in the sh _tter. (-think Cousin Eddie empting his RV's septic into the gutter)
Teacher: *speechless*  (she actually had to turn away to avoid being seen laughing)

Do you intervene or dish out a consequence? 

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

A Mistakes Party



We have some teachers who take the last 10 minutes of each day and have a "Mistakes Party." This is where students identify and celebrated the mistakes they made that day, or rather, the mistakes they learned from that day. 

Parents: This is a great way for you to help your students recognize the importance of "grit." Ask them about mistakes they made and what they learned from it. Be sure to point out that it was because of their courage to try that they overcame something challenging.

If anything, spend a few minutes each day discussing the following two questions:
What was your biggest challenge today?
What made you happy today?

Don't criticize or offer advice, just listen. We can gain valuable insight to their lives, and can understand what it means to struggle in the life of a Kinder, first and/or second grader.

Friday, September 30, 2016

Oct. 3 weekly announcement video


Oct. 3 weekly announcements from Rob Darling on Vimeo.

Our outstanding custodian, Mr. Gonzales helping out with the morning announcement video. He has some great moves! 

Monday, September 19, 2016

Homecoming week/Spirit week


Show your Viking PRIDE by dressing up this week. Local businesses have week-long deals for JCP students who show up dressed up. 



Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Please help former JCP student with Eagle Scout Project

Talon Smith, a former student here at John Campbell Primary, has come up with an Eagle Scout project that will directly impact every one of our students. He has designed signage to be permanently mounted on pillars in our walkway to pe and outside that display our Viking PRIDE motto, in both English and Spanish.

Please show Talon  your Viking PRIDE by helping him with this fantastic endeavour!

Click below for more details and to donate for his fundraising efforts.

https://www.gofundme.com/224bvnyk

Go Vikings!

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Establishing our focus at John Campbell Primary

https://altoncosta.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/keeping-focus2.jpg
Education is one of those professions where you can get completely lost in all that there is to do, and by trying to do it all you end up accomplishing nothing.

Our primary goals for this year go back to the roots of what we know works and what we know we need to become experts at. This year's focus hasn't change much from last year, it's just a matter of getting better and better.

1. We need to work as a team. Teachers who work in isolation will never be able to provide their students with the expertise necessary to help meet the vast array of needs in that classroom. But their teams can. The biggest expert in the room is the room. When teachers see the team's students as "our" students, then we start to see tremendous student growth.

2. We need to teach the whole child. Content can only take hold after a students is prepared to learn. We will continue to focus on the social/emotional needs of students (and staff). We know we have students who come from very challenging home lives, from profound levels of poverty, and having experiences very traumatic life events. At JCP, we teach the student, not the class. We teach to their needs, not to the text.

3. We must remain grounded in what works. There is decades of research that shows what works for students: teachers working together, reading programs that focus on comprehension, scaffolded at each grade level. We will continue increasing the efficacy of our classroom teachers. We will monitor our achievement gaps, use the data to assess our effectiveness of our intervention programs, and change as needed. We have built in 90-minute reading/literacy blocks, push in reading support from our intervention programs during that time, and also create other times during the day to provide 2nd and 3rd rounds of intensive intervention for our struggling students. Even our specialists are pushing in to support reading blocks 4 days a week. We will strengthen our Spanish instruction in the Dual Language classrooms so those students can thrive as well. We need to provide students with timely, specific feedback that they can use to learn from their mistakes. Students need to know what success looks like so they can assess their own growth on their way to mastery.

4. We must set high goals and be willing to be held accountable. By the year 2018-19, we will have 90% of our students performing at or above grade level in math and reading. The remaining 10% will make at least 1.5 years' of growth each year, that way they will grow more than a year's growth each year, getting them caught up over the 3 years we have them. When we obtain this goal, we will be one of the highest performing schools in the state. We know this is a lofty goal, but if we don't raise the bar, who will? We have set grade-level goals for the next two years to help us make the necessary strides to meet this 3-year goal. We know it will take every person in the building to help us reach this goal and I truly believe we have all of the right people on the bus to do so.

This is the most excited I've even been about the start of a school year. We have created a mindset and a support system designed to challenge every student, as well as every staff member. We have created the type of village I am proud of, and proud to send my own children to.


Friday, August 19, 2016

Welcome back!

We are so excited for this school year and for all of the growth and learning that awaits.

Here are some important dates:

Aug. 19: Class rosters will be posted outside the district office by 4pm
Aug. 25: Back to School Night and PTO Ice Cream Social 5-6pm
Aug. 29: first day of school for 1st and 2nd grade. Kinder parents and students will have their individual meeting times with teachers during the 29th and 30th. 
Aug. 31: First day of Kinder for Kinder Group A. This is a full-day school day. 
Sept. 1: First day of kinder for Kinder Group B. This is a full-day school day as well.
Sept. 2-5: No school
Sept. 6th: All students back to school and ready to work. :)

Reminders
-The school day begins at 8:35am, and students are released at 3:05pm. Students are tardy after 8:35.
-Once the 8:35 bell rings, all perimeter gates are locked. Parents and students will need to use main office entrance and check in.
-We have very limited parking. There is no short-term solution. Please be prepared and be patient. :)
Note: CARS MAY BE TOWED if they are parked illegally. 
-There is no parking in the bus loading zone during the times posted on the signs. Cars may be towed during those times.
-Please complete your background checks so we can have you volunteer in classrooms and with PTO events. 

I can't wait to meet all of our new students and see all of those returning. Please stop by and introduce yourself if you don't see me out and about!

Monday, June 13, 2016

Friday, May 13, 2016

Please read with your children

http://study.com/cimages/multimages/16/mother-son-reading.jpg
There were countless times this year when I sat with a teacher and we talked about their most struggling readers. Now that we're nearing the end, some of these readers who were struggling at the beginning of the year have shown incredible growth in not only their ability to read, but more importantly their desire to read.

Do you want to know the secret?

These teachers showed parents the data, expressed their concerns to the parents, and the parents started reading with the students at home. 

Not rocket science. Not a tutor or after-school program. Not a shiny new fancy reading intervention program. Just you.

Parents, you are your students' first teachers. Please read with them. Their future depends on it.

If you don't have any books, please find me. We will get you some books. :) 

Friday, May 6, 2016

Feeling appreciated....and blessed

I received an email today that made me verklempt. A mom of a former student (now in 5th) sent me pictures of what some of my former students wrote as their most unforgettable memory in elementary school was. Boy, do I miss these knuckleheads. What a great teacher appreciation gift! You guys are going to change the world! And Jamison is going to do it at the top of her lungs, full steam ahead. :)







Monday, April 25, 2016

We are in the age of no excuses.

http://www.newschools.org/news/teachers-reformers-and-the-real-fight/


We have faced many challenges this year with having such huge teaching teams. Collaboration is designed for discussion and agreement and action but with a team of 15, just sharing an opinion or thought can eat up half of the meeting time.

So I reached to the two experts, asking for ideas and resources. Within a matter of hours, I heard back from Mike Mattos and Ken Williams. They provided me with immediate ideas, as others to contact. All I had to do was ask.

In education, or any field, for that matter, there is no reason why we should be providing a service that is not supported by the research. And we should know what that research is because we should be reading and searching ourselves.

If is has been ten years since your doctor attended a workshop or training, or read scholarly research related to his practice, you probably wouldn't receive the best care available. Why would we allow it from any other profession?

It is our responsibility to know how to increase the academic and socio-emotional growth of our students. And if we are struggling to find the answers, the experts are available to ask directly. Powerful learning happens with students ask questions. Powerful learning happens with teachers do as well.

Parents: please ask your teachers what books or blogs they're reading to inform and guide their instruction, what professional development they've recently attended and how it impacted their classroom, or who's reading instruction philosophy they agree with more, Allington or Shanahan.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

It's crunch time!

The first day back from Spring Break is always a wake-up call for me. In the back of my mind I know that the end of the year is coming, but Spring Break always seems to block it from my view. Now that the break is over, it's a sprint to the finish line. The urgency to get our students to read and math at their necessary level is really a matter of life or death by the end of 2nd grade. 

According to the American Educational Research Association, "A student who can't read on grade
level by 3rd grade is four times less likely to graduate by age 19 than a child who does read proficiently by that time. Add poverty to the mix, and a student is 13 times less likely to graduate on time than his or her proficient, wealthier peer."

Here are some facts about "Dropping out" of school. 
  1. More than 1.3 million students drop out of high school every year in the US.
  2. More than 20% of dropouts are foreign born. Another 17% are Hispanic students.
  3. A high-school dropout is ineligible for 90% of jobs in America.
  4. In 2009, the Northeast had a lower status dropout rate (7.1%) than the South and the West (8.4% and 8.6%, respectively
  5. After World War II, the United States had the #1 high school graduation rate in the world. Today, we have dropped to #22 among 27 industrialized nations. 
  6. 16- to 24-year-old boys made up nearly 60% of dropouts in 2010. That’s more than 1.8 million students
  7. The percentage of students enrolling in college in the fall immediately following high school completion was 68.2% in 2011. Females enrolled at a higher rate (72.2%) than males (64.7%).
  8. Roughly 80% of white and Asian students complete high school, compared to 55% African-American and Hispanic students.
  9. A high-school graduate’s lifetime income is 50 to 100% higher than a non-graduate’s.

There needs to be a sense of urgency. It is not an issue of students "dropping out." It's an issue of us letting them down. We say that Viking PRIDE starts at JCP. In reality, their opportunities for a successful life start here. 

Sources:
  • 1 
    PBS. "Who Isn’t Graduating From High School?." PBS. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/education/dropout-nation/who-isnt-graduating-from-high-school/ (accessed July 22, 2014).
  • 2 
    "High School Dropout Statistics." Statistic Brain RSS. http://www.statisticbrain.com/high-school-dropout-statistics/ (accessed July 21, 2014).
  • 3 
    "High School Dropout Statistics." Statistic Brain RSS. http://www.statisticbrain.com/high-school-dropout-statistics/ (accessed July 21, 2014).
  • 4 
    Cullinan, Bernice E. "Independent Reading and School Achievement", American Association of School Librarians. Accessed February 2014. .
  • 5 
    "Fast Facts." National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372 (accessed July 22, 2014).
  • 6 
    "Fast Facts." National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372 (accessed July 22, 2014).
  • 7 
    "The Broad Foundation - Education." The Broad Foundation - Education. http://www.broadeducation.org/about/crisis_stats.html (accessed July 22, 2014).
  • 8 
    Hanson, Jack. "Why Children are Left Behind." Bloomington: AuthorHouse, 2014. Print.
  • 9 
    "Higher Education: Gaps in Access and Persistence Study." National Center for Education Statistics. http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012046.pdf (accessed July 22, 2014).
  • 10 
    The New York Times. "The True Cost Of High School Dropouts." The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/opinion/the-true-cost-of-high-school-dropouts.html (accessed July 22, 2014)
  • 11 
    The New York Times. "The True Cost Of High School Dropouts." The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/26/opinion/the-true-cost-of-high-school-dropouts.html (accessed July 22, 2014).

Thursday, March 24, 2016

What if every one of your students believed you felt this way about them...




You do realize that you have 100% control of whether your students 
believe this or not, don't you?

Can you imagine how hard they'll work for you?

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Sir Ken Robinson and I had a meeting of the minds yesterday

He has been talking about creativity in education long before this TedTalk but it's the most watched TedTalk in history. 

I had the privilege of listening to Sir Ken Robinson present at a Creative Learning Institute yesterday. He was witty and a little rambly (like rambling -- pretty sure that's a British word) and said some things that hit me right between the eyes. 

Here are a few that I can't get out of my head:

  • What you monitor you prioritize. So in America, (and in most countries in the world) we prioritize reading, writing and math, with some science. Based on what we assess and test, we do not care much about music, art, dance, history.... Sir Robinson says Art and Dance and Music should be equally as important as reading, writing, and math. 
  • “Dropout” implies that the kid failed the system. But it's really the system that failed them. We dropped them.
  • In 2013 the NFL made $9 billion. The movie box offices made $11 billion. Companies that create tests for education (not PD or support, just testing) made $16 billion!
  • There are two worlds: 
    • The one that existed before you were born and will be there after you leave
    • And the world that began when you arrived and will end when you leave
    • Our goal: get students to understand how to be successful in both worlds and how to work within both of these worlds.
  • There are a lot of things that are legally required of schools (NCLB, CCSS, etc.). But most things that happen in school are done out of habit. It is what your school does that are not required by law (habits, school culture, priorities, etc.) that will have the biggest impact (positive or negative) in the education and future of your children.

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Every child deserves...



"Every child deserves an education from someone who believes in them, who truly believes that this child is capable of becoming 
whatever they dream. 

This adult refuses to hear labels. This adult does not want to know how previous adults underestimated this child. When a child has an adult who believes in them in this way, that adult will authentically treat that child as something precious, possibly for the very first time in that child's life."             -Rob Darling  :) 

Friday, March 4, 2016

The consequences of Education

http://rw.runnersworld.com/images/raveruns/june_2014_raverun_1920x1200.jpg

The impact of education is possibly the most significant and consequential endeavor that will ever exist. 

However, the children being impacted by education are the least likely to fully comprehend it’s value. Their ability to see long-term is limited.  

That is why you (parent, teacher, paraprofessional, custodian, volunteer, neighbor, principal, relative, ROLE MODELS) are so important. 

I used to run. (Don't judge my current physical condition, there's an athlete under all of this still, somewhere....) From 2005 - 2012 I ran 13+ marathons (and hundreds of 1/2 marathon if you count all the long runs. I just could never get myself to pay for a half, since I ran them weekly for free. Sorry Halfers, but it's still only half. :P )

I ran with a guy who ran XC and the steeple chase in college. Brilliant guy, one of my most prized friends. He pushed me and challenged me and made me faster and puke, which I did not enjoy. But his most lasting advice was: 
               
"When things get tough, some runners look down. They focus on the next step. But not only does it make it more discouraging, it physically takes a toll. Your chest closes, your shoulders tense, your neck strains. Look up. Always look up. Focus on a location down the trail and work towards that. Once you reach it, pick another. Then another. Good runners focus on where they're going, not where they are."

We need to help our students see the end, not just each step that it takes to get there. 

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Completing my Doctoral Dissertation, GRRRRRRR

http://successyeti.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/TSBB_Frustration-440x293.jpg

I've been working on this stupid thing for years, literally. It's been two years since I've completed all of the required coursework and passed my comprehensive exams for my doctorate in educational leadership. The only thing between me and wearing the goofy looking robe is my dissertation. There are 5 chapters for a dissertation. Chapter 1 is an introduction, 2 is a literature review, 3 is my research methodology, 4 is the results section and Chapter 5 is where I discuss the findings.

Once I was able to get approval from my dissertation chair, I submitted chapters 1-3 and was approved to move forward. I then received approval from the Institutional Review Board my first submission, and could start my research. The research itself consisted of a series of interviews with principals and teachers and only took me about 2-3 weeks to complete. I really liked that part. I really enjoyed sifting through all the data. That was May of 2015. Since then I've been writing and rewriting and rewriting and rewriting chapters 4 and 5. Once my chair and I get to a place where we think it's right, we submit to my two dissertation reviewers. Their jobs are to provide me with feedback. They're apparently experts at that.

I am SO sick of feedback!! We're not even talking about grammar and such yet. I'm still not to that fine of a level. We're still talking about about organization and flow and presenting qualitative data in a way that doesn't look or sound quantitative, which I thought did in revision #4, but then it sounded TOO qualitative and there wasn't enough narrative or synsthesis.....

I know, I'm boring you. But I do have a point.

I know the content of this topic and research inside and out now. The purpose of doing the doctoral research is to become the foremost expert on a topic or leadership problem that is relevant, unique and useful. All of the editing and revising and yelling at my computer that I've been doing over the last year has given me a level of understanding that will last forever.

Yes, I'm sure my dissertation chair could fix this for me. Yes, I've been to that point where I would have paid someone else to write it just to be done. But her perseverance and gentle pressure, applied relentlessly has forced me to productively struggle, or as James Nottingham calls it, "cognitively wobble." (click his name to watch a great video!) And it's because of this productive struggle that I'm earning and owning knowledge.

And that's my point. 
Knowledge must be earned for it to be lasting, to become synthesized and embedded. 

Do you want to know what my dissertation chair asked me to do tonight? Write a flippin' outline for chapter 4.  Can you believe that?!?! My dissertation is currently over 140 pages, all my own work and research and she wants me to stop and write an outline?!?!

But I did it. And in doing something as simple as an outline, I could clearly see how disjointed the chapter was, the portions that were redundant, and the portions that altogether didn't belong.

It is such a pain in the butt having a teacher who sees your full potential 
and knows that the learning is the true reward, and makes you struggle. (written in sarcasm font

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Laser-like focus or a broad-strokes approach?



As we've been working with Dr. Ray Smith from Visible Learning he has said some things that have really resonated with me.

Today he said, "80% of your impact comes from 20% of your practice. You need to be sharply focused not well-rounded." He followed this comment up with, "Sharply focused means you must be very selfish as to where and how you use your time. Practices have disproportionate impact!"

This last week or so, we've been looking at our mid-year reading data for our students. We haven't made the growth that we had hoped for and began doing research into why not. There are many things we do well but the research provided some ways we can be doing better:

  1. If we want to see measurable gains in reading, our master schedule needs to reflect reading as a priority. It didn't. But it will next week. We have revamped it to identify 90-minute reading blocks for 1st and 2nd and 90-minute literacy blocks for K. This will provide teachers with more time to intervene with their lowest students. We can coordinate better with our reading support program to make better use of their time pushing into these classes. 
  2. Our afternoon intervention time will be focused on our most struggling readers. Yes, we'll still provide enrichment opportunities for those students who are already at or above grade level, but our job is not finished until we get all students above that line. 
  3. The most effective reading intervention is good teaching. If we want our students to become better readers, we must become better at teaching reading. Starting this month we will have a full-time reading support coach. This position will not be to work directly with the students, per se, but more focused on helping teachers who want to become better. We have several new teachers this year and this will be a resource for them on how to allocate time, how to group students for small groups, and how to teach more effectively in small groups. The same also applies to our veteran teachers. Research is clear on how to most effectively deliver reading instruction and our reading coach is hands-down the most up-to-date person in our building, probably even the district, on reading research.
Change is uncomfortable. Change in the middle of the year is even tougher. But change, based on best practice, centered around improving student reading is a no brainer. :)


Wednesday, January 27, 2016

What Struggling Readers Need


http://blogs.longwood.edu/cdelgiorno/page/2/

"Why can't some kids read? It's because they have teachers who 
are not effective reading teachers."
                                   -Dick Allington

I was at the Struggling Readers summit in Portland this last weekend and had the privilege of hearing Dick Allington speak. This was not my first time, and certainly won't be my last. There's something very refreshing about sitting in an audience of educational professionals and having Allington tell you you're an idiot. It's strangely motivating. 

He and other experts provided us with great research. Here are some of the items that most stood out to me:


Dr. Anne Cunningham
What helps children (0-5 years) develop the skills and abilities that are linked to the children's later reading, writing and spelling? What do we need kinders to be able to do?

  1. knowing the names of printed letters; being able to label them correctly and connect to letter sound
  2. Being able to manipulate the sounds
  3. Being able to rapidly name a sequence of letters, numbers, objects or colors
  4. Being able to write one's own name or even isolated letters
  5. Being able to remember the content of spoken language for a short time: simple multi-step instructions; working memory
  6. Phonological STM (short term memory)
Early readers need Dialogic reading. Student who received a shared-reading intervention scored almost a 0.7 of a standard deviation higher than children who did not.



Dr. Janet Mort 
"The most important things of all for students is for them to believe that they can read."


Vulnerable readers need: 
Explicit literacy instruction in kindergarten and before, interventions immediately to close the experiential gap 

Dr. Richard Allington

Much evidence indicates that some teachers literally teach every child to read while others are less successful.

It's not the school that's effective, it's the teachers. Some teachers can get all their students to meet grade level. Some can't. Effective Teachers are the most powerful reading intervention strategy.

Minutes spent on literate conversations with other students is 3x's more powerful than minutes spent on reading comprehension programs. 

Core and Title programs should not look different. Often times we put our most vulnerable students in an incoherent intervention program. 

The average 3rd grader only reads 12-18 minutes a day.


The kids who spend the most time actually reading in school are the kids who 
become readers.
**there was a lot more and if you'd like a copy of my notes, they're HERE They're messy, you've been warned. 

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Productive struggle and the exponential growth of human knowledge



According to Toffler (2002), it took approximately fifty thousand years to accumulate the knowledge of mankind that existed in the year 1 AD. It then took 1500 years to double that knowledge. But by the early 70's, we (mankind) were doubling our knowledge every 6 years. Scientists have determined that in our current day, human knowledge doubles EVERY YEAR. (Collier and Thomas, 2014)

Teachers no longer have the luxury of being the only one doing the teaching. When the knowledge-growth rate was slower, the traditional model of students seated in rows and a teacher delivering the exact same level of knowledge the exact same way to all students was adequate. Today, teachers must become facilitators of student directed classrooms, "preparing students to become information processors, analysts, and self-motivated learners." (Collier and Thomas, 2014).

Do you want to know what my most favorite parent complaint is? "He is so frustrated in class! He says his teacher won't just tell him the answer!" 

"Perfect!" says I. 

"A great teacher doesn't teach as much as possible. A great teacher teachers as LITTLE as possible, while modeling the behaviors of how to figure something out." (Maats & O'brien, 2015).

As parents, this is a huge shift for some of us and the way we learned. And we figured that because we learned that way, and we turned out fine and we understand it and are comfortable with it, our children should learn the same way.

But our instruction and learning environment needs to evolve and adapt to the amount and needs of human knowledge. This means we need to focus less on specific content (all of our favorite dinosaur or circus-themes lessons) and more on teaching students how to learn, how to reflect, how to productively struggle.

Monday, January 4, 2016

New year. What else is new?

http://georgecouros.ca/blog/archives/5901

                        If you want to do something new, you must let go of something old. 

I've never been big on doing New Year's resolutions. A few years ago I made a resolution to see how much weight I could gain. After a month it became clear that I was AWESOME at this goal and my wife helped redirect my efforts towards other slightly less life-threatening endeavors.

For us to get better and expand our abilities, we are required to let go of that which is holding us back. Sometimes we are able to recognize it for ourselves. Sometimes it takes another's perspective to help us see what is not working.

Being "good" means doing what you were told. 
Being "better" means doing what's right, for the right reasons. 
Being "the best" requires you to change and never go back to the old way.