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.

What about this online stuff?

Mixed feelings. I like the classroom because I learn so much more. The time in there is like common planning. We discuss problems, solutions and I gain so much from everyone's stories. But the online gives me information in a different way. I am very visual so I love the method but I miss the discussion that would follow. I can cook dinner, do wash and help my kids with homework during the online time. One downfall, I have a very old computer (son in college...no chance of buying a new one) and don't have the capacity or programs to do the fun things out there. I don't mind coming in or online. I think the mix of both is a perfect combination. I would not want it totally on line though. I really would miss the class discussions.

UbD Lesson in school

I am currently in the middle of this unit described. The only part that I changed with my students was that I wrote the questions on the board before they came in. When they sat down (all 4 of them) I read the "students will know, understand etc and the questions. The essential question is brought up at the beginning of the unit and referred to many times. It started the students in conversation immediately. We are at the point where we are researching the kings and queens and the students started to discuss their findings. So I actually had to stop them and go back to the lesson where they would give their mini lesson educating us on the people. At the end of their mini lessons we discussed the questions on the board and how my plan for them that day was laid out for them to see. They liked the idea of the questions and students will be able to...because they knew what the hour was going to be about. I feel they also knew what to look for in the lesson that day. Gifted kids tend to not like the unknown as much as we think!

It didn't take long to create this lesson in this format. My gifted team uses this idea when we design our units. Since we meet at the end of the units with our 6 schools we start with the essential questions and then the variety of products. We leave the lesson up to the individual teacher and even the product/assessment is usually student decided. I didn't use a template and would love to find it and use it. My computer is not working well and I cant open many windows at the same time or the whole thing freezes so I used the video and print out as my guide (hope it is right). The only difficulty would be that I would have to buy a binder to put my lesson plans in or that I would need to figure out a layout that would make it easy for me to glance over my plans for the day or week. Management of paper would be the only downfall.

UbD Lesson Plan

5Th Grade Gifted 8 week Pull-out Egyptian Theme (8 meetings)


Stage One

Essential Questions: How does one's behavior define their self?

How do we define good? What is good?
Why and how do others define the concepts that determine what type of person you are?
How are past cultures remembered and why?
How do we define ourselves?


Students will understand how Egyptians defined their life on Earth and the afterlife.
Students will know how to reflect for deeper meaning.
Students will be able to reflect, define, inquire and listen in a group setting.
Students will be able to write reflectively.





Stage Two (Assessment)



Students will create a tomb with objects and pictures of what they would be needing in the afterlife, if we were still following Egyptian funerary, burial and afterlife rituals. Students will write a reflective piece explaining why they would deserve a good afterlife if we still believed in the Egyptian rituals. Writing piece will show how student reflected and defined concepts, answered how their behavior now determines the type of person they are and what items are important to them (items in tomb) and why.



Stage Three



Using artifacts,(plastic Egyptian artifact toys) research the purpose of the artifacts and share them in the group as to the meaning of the item. Then discuss our artifacts and their meanings.

Begin reading the book "The Golden Goblet". Use first half of 3 classes to discuss what the characters are like, the life of the times and their rituals.

Do research on a prince or princess, king or queen of Ancient Egypt. Have each student give a mini lesson to educate us on this person.

Using philosophical inquiry define what good meant for the Egyptians. Define what good means for each of us. Did we learn "good"? Were we born or raised "good" ? Can you turn good? Is good a way of thought or a unconscious behavior?

Students will bring in a shoe box and create a tomb like the Egyptians. It will contain items necessary for their own version of an afterlife.
Students will write a reflective writing piece that will explain the items and their importance, their definition of "good", how they came to that definition and the reason they would deserve a good afterlife.

Schmoker

I enjoyed this article for it's clear cut objectives. I also was thrilled to see that so much of what my school does is in good practice according to this article. I actually shared the article with my principal today and he agreed that our lessons need a better strategy in their delivery. I didnt have the nerve to ask him how he was planning on doing that!

I started teaching again, after an 11 year break, and found myself in an old school. Old in it's teaching style, it's curriculum, and it's management. I was a part of a gifted team that served 6 schools. We, as a team, were innovative and shared every week our curriculum ideas. Luckily, after two years of teaching and never being observed....our principal retired. In walked my savior. He moved all the teachers to new grades and began his schedule changes to accomodate 2-5 periods a week of common planning. He has weekly meetings with grade level teachers and is contantly present in the classrooms and hallways. We follow our curriculum guides to make sure we cover what is expected but we are given freedom to cover them how we see fit.

Our school has retired in the last 3 years seven teachers. We are now filled with vibrant, creative educators. But I feel this is where we are lacking. Our lessons are all over the place. I see that our lessons dont have a clear cut objective ( I started to revert back to my Madeline Hunter after this article). My principal said he felt we dont close our lessons well enough and I feel as though we need to incorporate time for children to work together.

The biggest down fall of my school is that we have all the components in place but we are at the point of staying quiet. My administration needs to work on it's role as leader. As Schmoker said "No one can lead effectively where constructive feedback is regarded as an invasion of privacy, an affront to professionalism". When we start giving feedback, accepting the feedback as a learning tool, I believe my school will become the best school in New Jersey.

Did You Know

The video hit me hardest when they said that a college freshman will not need the info he learns by his junior year. I am sending my first child to school and he is a freshman. Please don't tell me that check I wrote out and sweating saving for is a bust? I hope they are teaching him how to keep up more than anything!

One question I wanted to respond to was the question about what skills do we need to strive and thrive. First, how will I strive and thrive? I believe technology is a huge component to our teaching and learning. I know that I use it to give my students information that is exciting and organized. I recently started a unit for my 4th graders on The Great Depression and used a phenomenal YouTube clip. My students were mesmerized by the photos used and the information that was given. I could never have gotten all of that together as nicely. We also use it to search and creatively write. I also have a brilliant CP student that manipulates interactive sites so I usually teach a lesson where he can interact with us using his computer. I think I have so much more to experiment with but I do use it. As for our students I believe that there are two major components to striving and thriving. One is staying up to date with technology. It is the future and it is changing so quickly they will have to stay on top of it in a successful business world. The other is critical thinking. That cannot be done with a computer. To teach critical thinking and problem solving to be used with peers is an asset for our children's future. Students need to know the process of brainstorming problems and creatively solving those challenges. This is done in a classroom that gives time for students to work through multi-faceted, multi-level problems in groups. Even with technology we will need to solve problems together.

Is it possible to be an excellent teacher with out using technology? No. That is like saying "Did the Beatles put out a new album?" We need to move with the times. I didn't say be comfortable with the times, but move with them. Technology offers us so much to add to our curriculum in the way of up to date information, colorful informative video presentations, and stimulating means of presenting projects. I feel it is impossible to teach without technology.

FLOW

Isn't flow our dream? Didn't we all go to college and dream of our first teaching job, our first classroom being a big room full of flow? I know I did. And even through a job in a catholic school, and job in East Orange, (a stint while having kids) teaching Montessori, my goal was to create flow. We can bring flow into our rooms if we believe in the concept and are truly, truly driven. In the article "Reading dont fix no Chevys", the kids talk about what a great experience it is to be totally engaged. The children at the Key School have flow down. Kids saying it should be proof alone we need to step away from the chalkboard. I am not that naive, I know that we must stand up in the room sometimes and give a lesson but if we take a serious amount of time and determination to change our teaching style to have the children be responsible for the learning by putting the activities in their hands, we will create much flow. A skill is a skill.......it is the way we teach it that can bring boredom or flow.

Dear Congressman......

Dear Bill Pascrell,
I am writing to voice my concern over the continuation of the No Child Left Behind Act. This act has served so few and so little in the areas of critical thinking. All of our students are being ignored in favor of skill drill lessons and proficiency exams, with the most damage to the gifted students.

First the matter of proficiency. The focus of the NCLB is to drill grade level skills into children so that they can pass grade level tests and become proficient in their grade. What happened to the child who already is proficient? We are neglecting our advanced proficient.

Our curriculum is lacking in creativity because teachers fear working in student's interest. Blooms taxonomy states that the higher level thinking comes with analysis, synthesis and evaluation. These areas are never touched in the NCLB curriculum. There is lack of original and creative thinking for students because preparing for bubble filling is more important. All students deserve stimulation and challenging work. But the gifted child is receiving nothing in advanced work instead it is bored with work that this child already knows. We leave little time for the teachers to differentiate for all students when we mandate a program for one purpose.....test taking and passing.

Our goal should not be to make all students one passing clump. It should be to individualize the students to make them reach their maximum potential. Their individual maximum potential. When we work with each student toward their goal we will not leave any child behind.....they all will move forward on their own path not one narrow boring path the government has established.

I am asking that we do not renew the No Child Left Behind Act. Let's move forward in rewarding schools for innovative, creative, child centered programs that push children towards their potential. We must stop punishing the schools, teachers and mostly the children with this Act. Let's think of the child that we keep leaving out.

Traci Thiele
Glen Ridge

Teacher of the Gifted Fair Lawn Schools

180 Video

This was a fun video. A lot of facts (are they?) that I didn't know. But I have to say that what comes out of my mouth is not always the only teaching that goes on in the school. For example:

Testing.....teaches patience, resposibility, time on task
PepRallies, Assemblies....give new information, enlighten us to our peers endeavours
Substitute Teachers....teach children to love their teacher (the sub is bad) or hate their teacher (the sub was better) and the limits of what they can get away with.

Honestly, all experiences are a place to learn. They aren't written in the NJCCCS but we as humans do learn from this. The sad thing is the realization that I only have 65 days to teach all I want to teach. How that video has changed me is that I will now take time to really work with the kids to help them understand what we are covering. The idea of "busy work" needs to be revisited and classwork with true value to the students now needs to be put in it's place.

NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards

This was my first time on the website. We use the standards contantly in our common planning and in our planbooks. We are aware of what we teach in Fair Lawn that relates to the required standards but luckily we are given the creativity to incorporate those standards.

I sent the site to my friend. I asked her to read it and tell me what she thought as a parent. She said it was easy to understand and navigate. Some of the educational vocabulary was confusing at times but she could figure them out as she read.

I think the state wrote very clear standards but dropped the ball on areas that needed to be revisited in grades. For instance, phonics should never be "demonstrated" as it says in the 3rd grade Reading. Demonstrate suggests that it was taught and should now be mastered. It should be a constant spiral like math. This would be confusing for a first year teacher who would think that students are done learning and revisiting vowel patterns. The seasoned teacher can see this and know that is must be continuously taught.

The website gives some ideas to help the new teacher if a program does not exist, but leaves them in the dark for lessons on most of the site. For the seasoned teacher, it is wonderful because it gives a basic objective to cover in the school year and leaves them with the power of creating the lessons.

As far as student interest, there are ways to plug the standards into lessons that are students generated. Through careful planning of student interest classes, a teacher can cover the standards with creative thinking. That's if we were so lucky to have that time and creativity.

Response to Change

This response is on the MSU discussion board.

Sabertooth

This was so funny. It was like reading "Who Moved My Cheese?" by Spencer Johnson M.D. all about resistance to change. Whether it be cavemen or mice, the fear of change was portrayed very lighthearted so as to make us realize that change is not as devastating as it is made out to be.

The very interesting part of the article was that the major component of testing was not in the story. I believe all of us would love to change based on the changing world but if the state is going to test you and your students at the end of the year on "catching fish" you better be teaching "catching fish". The people that don't teach (state ed. depts) are telling us that "catching fish" is important. We know it is not important.

I dont think the article portays teachers as much as it portrays the NJ Dept of Education. We are in the profession of change and movement, they are in the profession of testing and money.

Perensky Challenge

As a teacher, this is such a great article. As a mother who has to get 3 kids into college, it would be my nightmare. I believe that we are not innovative and confident enough as classroom teachers to let every child out into this type of school. These programs are usually offered to my students- the gifted student. The student that has compacted out of all grade level skills and can take his thinking into higher order Blooms. That way when they take the NJASK they will still score in advanced profiecient. I would think that the child with learning disabilities or the slower, concrete thinker would not be able to partake in an education where they moved in abstract areas. It would take a very advanced school/district that didnt care about test scores to take this and try it.

Prensky's Article

At first the article seemed as if it was a spoof but as I read, I realized they meant it. I can see how many of the habits of success come from the individual gamer skills. Being proactive, thinking of the end product as a way to solve a problem and analyzing by putting things in order of importance are great skills learned through gaming. The group skills also are understandably gained through gaming. But my biggest problem in this article is "sharpen the saw". Covey states that gamers continuously improve their skills better than anyone else. What about our athletes or military? They are physically challenged daily and continue to work on their skills through drill, videos and practices. I believe that the split second decisions an athlete or military person has to make can never be compared to the gamer who can push the "pause" button when it going gets too tough.