What I learned

First, I was definitely challenged in the technology department. Our home computer is old and my classroom computer is not that much better. But I did speak up and get some programs going on my computer and when students come in to work on projects, I actually have gotten them to do the movie maker. (mine would not work it)

Second, being a classroom teacher and not pursuing supervision, I was able to delve into topics that I would not be reading in my daily classroom. I usually have stayed focused on teaching, helping my building with gifted students needs and reading scores for the building. Now I am going to push myself into becoming more "worldly" in my educational readings.

Thirdly, I am going to use my knowledge gained here and what I promise to gain, on working with my community of teachers at my school. We have a great community atmosphere and I am going to share more with the grade level teachers during their common planning time.

I think the biggest lesson learned was that we have to be a community to be a strong school.

Orange Middle

The word that hit me the hardest was Mrs. Russo saying "invigorated". It appears that the teachers and administrators are engaged in the new learning communities. The smaller groups will give teams of teachers focus on "their bunch" versus a large amount of children that do not have the same teachers, making common planning impossible. This excitement can only bring good.

What I would love to see is the state rewarding improvement, like Doug Ryan said. Even with my gifted children that I teach and my dyslexic daughter, improvement and advancement in their areas are what is most important. We can't compare the gifted, the dyslexic and the child without food or heat together.

Based on the National Middle School Associations "This We Believe" the school is incorporating many of their 14 points. They are showing preparedness by common planning, shared vision and high expectations for these children. The hardest for this community will be home involvement and an adult advocate. These families have a much harder daily life and the children carry that burden. Maybe parents coming in to help in the classroom or offering after school tutoring for free with the parents support with bring that needed sense of community.

I applaud Orange Middle for their vibrant new program and most importantly their outlook for the children they teach.

Curriculum Mapping

The purpose of curriculum mapping is alignment. It should be called a curriculum ladder because the rungs builds upon each other. The main reason we map is to provide a written document for teachers so they can see what is to be taught and assessed in the classroom for that year. It's other main purpose is to show the district's goals and direction in a document. It provides the picture of the education that district is engaged in. The curriculum map also serves as a plan book. It prevents overlapping of content in varying grades and fills in the holes (skills) that teachers assume are being taught. It is also a great method for teachers to view when a skill is taught for the first time and when the skill should be reintroduced or mastered. For the teacher who differentiates ( all should) it would be a great indicator when to assess a student to compact out of that lesson and create something new.

I am one of a team of six in the district gifted and talented department. We have a curriculum map for the grades we teach......1st through 5Th. The mapping took us many months of meetings to create and we use it diligently to move through the program. Our over arching goal is that the students are engaged in higher order thinking. We formed our map to spiral from 1st to 5Th grade. The curriculum map contains the skills for each grade level with various assessment options and gives several creative ways to carry out the lessons. Every June, we go over our curriculum map with a fine tooth comb. We change our skills if we feel we are not meeting the needs of the entire five grade levels by making it a spiral curriculum. We adjust our skills taught and our assessments to meet the needs of gifted students, NJASK tests and our districts goals. I think it is a time consuming process to create but it puts the district goals in a neat package.....but the neat package is one that can be changed (or tweaked) to meet the needs of our changing world.