Elementary Teachers Learning About New Materials

So many choices!
Elementary teachers gathered at the Lewes School to learn about American Reading Company's Program or K-12.

Mindfulness for Helping Stress in Middle Schoolers

     A recent article on Reuters Health reports....

"Middle-school students in urban areas may benefit from in-school mindfulness programs, a new study suggests.

Students taking a mindfulness-based stress reduction program during the school day ended up with less symptoms of stress and trauma than children attending classes on health topics, researchers found.

"High-quality structured mindfulness programs have the potential to really improve students' lives in ways that I think can be really meaningful over the life course," said lead author Dr. Erica Sibinga of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Children in many U.S. cities are at an increased risk of stresses and traumas due to the effects of community drug use, violence, multigenerational poverty, limited education and economic opportunities, Sibinga and her colleagues write in the journal Pediatrics.

The new study involved 300 students in grades five through eight at two Baltimore public schools. The researchers randomly assigned them to either a 12-week mindfulness-based stress reduction program or health classes to take during the school day.

Nearly all of the participants were black and almost all were eligible for the free school lunch program, which is offered to students with financially need.

The mindfulness program had three components: material about meditation, yoga and the mind-body connection; practice of those techniques; and group discussion.

In general, mindfulness training is geared toward a person "tuning in" - instead of "tuning out" like other meditation practices.

"It allows them to not only know what is happening, but to stop and take three breaths and figure out how they want to respond to what is happening the present moment," Sibinga told Reuters Health.

At the end of the program, compared to those who took health classes for the 12 weeks, the students in the mindfulness program had lower levels of general health problems, depression, recurrent thoughts about negative experiences and other symptoms of stress and trauma.

Sibinga said the differences would be enough for the students to notice in their day-to-day lives.

The researchers acknowledge some limitations to the research, like children missing some classes and possibly being exposed to mindfulness practices outside the sessions.

Sibinga also said it would be difficult to say how the programs would work in other schools with different student populations, but she suspects there would be benefits.

The next step is to look at how to spread the program to other schools, and look at how the program may work, she said.

"It doesn’t get us off the hook of trying to reduce the sources of trauma in our urban life," she said. But the study suggests adding structured mindfulness programs in urban settings would be beneficial, she added."

SOURCE: bit.ly/1k78lj3 Pediatrics, online December 18, 2015.

Literate Cape
Newsletter

Read. Think. Write. That's life at Cape! Read all about it in my newsletter! 

CSET - Writing An Organized Argument Graphic

Oh SNAP! Resource Materials from Diane Albanese

Cape Henlopen Literacy Specialist

Source: Self

Graphic Organizer EXAMPLE with suggestions

Writing An Organized Argument - CSET

CSET	Example
Make a Claim (overall thesis statement, opinion, stance)	Businesses can be more successful when they use good marketing tools such as a market plan and an information about what the customer wants.
Set-Up (the source, where your information comes from)	In the article entitled “Great Ice Cream Companies” the author states that ...
Evidence #1 (data to support the claim)	(continued from above)...his best profits have been a result of offering many different flavors and in avertising those to the right customers.  He knows his demographic and ages of his cutomers and uses clever colors in his ads to get their attention.
Tie In: explain your ideas about #1	Children like bright colors and they remember them when they decide on what ice cream to buy.
Evidence (data to support the claim)	The website stated that “Many customers come into his ice cream stores because they know that they can get service quickly and efficiently.”
Tie In: explain your ideas about #2	People don’t really want to wait to get an ice cream treat so they appreciate fast service.
Evidence (data to support the claim)	The author of the article suggests that if a customer is satisfied, he will return for repeat business.
Tie In: explain your ideas about #3	Because of a good, quick service, many people will have a favorite ice cream store that they return to again and again.
Conclusion	That’s really good for business profits!

PLC Workshop on Text Based Evidence

CHHS – Special for Social Studies on Monday, Dec 14, 2015

AGENDA

1.     Define Text Based Evidence Cartoon Link

2.     Non-fiction Resources linked to my blog 

3.     CSET - Writing: Organizing an Argument

4.     Textual Evidence: Implicit or Explicit? plus a reading strategy. 

5.     Respect to Depth of Knowledge + Bloom's Taxonomy + Oh Snap! DOK Deeper

6.     CSET- Cornell Notes example from Beacon Middle School teachers

7.     Guide to Creating Text-Dependent Questions. Read. Discuss. Collaborate. How to make a lesson better/deeper?

8.     Sample Lesson: “Renaissance Bad Boys”

9.     Teachers bring and share a relevant piece of text/article from their current curriculum. Create deep, evidential questions to use with the text. Learning Template

10.  Exit Evaluation – Feedback to leave with me please!

What Students Remember Most About Teachers

Veteran

teachers know it. And we need to share this with our colleagues! 

What Students Remember Most About Teachers 

A great article from Edutopia that will remind you why you went into teaching! 

Every Student Succeeds Act Signed!

President Obama signs the ESSA, Every Student Succeeds Act, a major change for education in America! 

The Most Read Books by Seniors List

Most Read Books by Seniors by State
Click here to see a larger version.

Scaffolding vs differentiation

Scaffolding is an instructional technique, associated with the zone of proximal development, in which a teacher provides individualized support by incrementally improving a learner’s ability to build on prior knowledge. Scaffolding can be used in a variety of content areas and across age and grade levels.

Formative Classroom Walkthroughs by Moss and Brookhart

Hot Topic!
A favorite for 2015 from the ASCD, the Formative Classroom Walkthroughs: How Principals and Teachers Collaborate to Raise Student Achievement book was the source of a day long workshop from the Delaware Literacy Institute. Here's the gist. 

About This Book

Revolutionize the walkthrough to focus on the endgame of teaching: student learning.

Authors Connie M. Moss and Susan M. Brookhart present the proven practice of formative walkthroughs that ask and answer questions that are specific to what the student is learning and doing.

Learn the value of having the observer examine the lesson from the student’s point of view and seek evidence of seven key learning components:

• a worthwhile lesson
• a learning target
• a performance of understanding
• look-fors, or success criteria
• formative feedback
• student self-assessment
• effective questioning

Drawing upon their research and extensive work with K–12 teachers and administrators, Moss and Brookhart delve into the learning target theory of action that debuted in Learning Targets: Helping Students Aim for Understanding in Today's Lesson and show you how to develop a schoolwide collaborative culture that enhances the learning of teachers, administrators, coaches, and students. 

They present detailed examples of how formative walkthroughs work across grade levels and subject areas, and provide useful templates that administrators and coaches can use to get started—now.

Grounded in the beliefs that schools improve when educators improve and that the best evidence of improvement comes from what we see students doing to learn in every lesson, every day,Formative Classroom Walkthroughs offers a path to improvement that makes sense—and makes a difference.

The DOE English Language Arts Standards

The Department of Education ELA Standards for Writing 

Hot off the press! 

Here they are - well some of them!

The opinion/argument writing rubrics. See for yourself!

American Education Week Comments

This week has been dedicated to people who work with children in schools but my most memorable moment centers around something that I saw on the way to school. I was waiting opposite a bus that was stopped to pick up a student. 

Something on the bus must have rolled to the floor and a student came forward to pick it up from the front of the bus. Just then, the driver reached over and gave the child a big hug.  How good that must have felt for that child! Sometimes a hug is all you need to see you through!

Here's to all my colleagues who support children every day! 

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Learning Look Fors

The Delaware Literacy Fall Conference featured Connie M. Moss and Susan M. Brookhart, authors of Formative Classroom Walkthroughs.  As I listened and participated in the workshop on Tuesday, I kept thinking, this is what I've seen in classrooms across the Cape Henlopen School District. Talking to other teachers, we agreed that this work fits well into what we already use from our LFS training.  

Here's my short list of what we as teachers need to know:

1. Good lesson plans with objectives including "what they will learn..."
2. Students' essential knowledge, skills, reasoning through the lessons
3. A strong performance understanding that links to a formative assessment
4. Learning Targets - what it is? and how will I know?
5. Look-Fors - the learning the students are asked to demonstrate

Nov 16-20 Let's Celebrate!

American Education Week
THANKS TO ALL TEACHERS AND EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT!

Click here to learn what good things are planned across the country and in your backyard!

Literacy Standards for History/SS in Grades 9-10

Taken from the Delaware Department of Education website
Common Core State Standard Initiative

Today’s students are preparing to enter a world in which colleges and businesses are demanding more than ever before. To ensure all students are ready for success after high school, the Common Core State Standards establish clear, consistent guidelines for what every student should know and be able to do. The Common Core focuses on developing the critical-thinking, problem-solving, and analytical skills students will need to be successful. The standards establish guidelines for literacy in history and social studies. Because students must learn to read, write, speak, listen, and use language effectively in a variety of content areas, the standards promote the literacy skills and concepts required for college and career readiness in multiple disciplines. Beginning in grade 6, the literacy standards allow teachers of ELA, history/social studies, science, and technical subjects to use their content area expertise to help students meet the particular challenges of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language in their respective fields. It is important to note that the grade 6–12 literacy standards in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects are meant to supplement content standards in those areas, not replace them.


Key Ideas and Details:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.3 Analyze in detail a series of events described in a text; determine whether earlier events caused later ones or simply preceded them.

Craft and Structure: 
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science. CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.5 Analyze how a text uses structure to emphasize key points or advance an explanation or analysis.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.6 Compare the point of view of two or more authors for how they treat the same or similar topics, including which details they include and emphasize in their respective accounts.

Literacy Standards for History/Social Studies in grades 9-10 

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.7 Integrate quantitative or technical analysis (e.g., charts, research data) with qualitative analysis in print or digital text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.8 Assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence in a text support the author's claims.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.9 Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.10 By the end of grade 10, read and comprehend history/social studies texts in the grades 9-10 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

The Great Thanksgiving Listen

This Thanksgiving weekend, StoryCorps will work with teachers and high school students across the country to preserve the voices and stories of an entire generation of Americans over a single holiday weekend.

Open to everyone, The Great Thanksgiving Listen is a national assignment to engage people of all ages in the act of listening. The pilot project is specially designed for students ages 13 and over and as part of a social studies, history, civics, government, journalism, or political science class, or as an extracurricular activity. All that is needed to participate is a smartphone and the StoryCorps mobile app.

Not a teacher or a school? You can still participate! Click here to learn more.

Talk with Dr. Wayne Hartschuh, Technology King for Delaware!

I recently had a small chat with Dr. Wayne Hartschuh, the Executive Director of the Delaware Center for Educational Technology that is housed under the Delaware Department of Education's umbrella. 

Me: So what will be the next big trend in education Wayne?
Wayne: Two things, personalized learning which our technology will make possible and also blended learning which is also known as hybrid learning. 
Me: What are the perils here?
Wayne: Getting it all to work correctly.
Me: Yes, but we've come a long way!

CHHS Workshop on Text Based Evidenence

PLC Workshop on Text Based Evidence

CHHS on Wednesday, Nov 4, 2015

AGENDA

1.     Define Text Based Evidence (Cartoon LINK)

2.     CSET - Writing: Organizing an Argument

3.     Textual Evidence: Implicit or Explicit? plus a reading strategy.  Oh SNAP! Text evidence sentence starters.

4.     Respect to Depth of Knowledge + Bloom's Taxonomy + Oh Snap! DOK Deeper

5.     CSET- Cornell Notes example from Beacon Middle School teachers

6.     Guide to Creating Text-Dependent Questions. Read. Discuss. Collaborate. How to make a lesson better/deeper?

7.     Sample Lesson: "Two Days with No Phone" from Scholastic article. What’s wrong here? Creating Questions for Close Analytic Reading Exemplars: A Brief Guide

8.     Teachers bring and share a relevant piece of text/article from their current curriculum. Create deep, evidential questions to use with the text.

9.     Exit Evaluation – Feedback to leave with me please!

Creating Questions for Close Analytic Reading Exemplars: A Brief Guide

1. Think about what you think is the most important learning to be drawn from the text. Note this as raw material for the culminating assignment and the focus point for other activities to build toward.

2. Determine the key ideas of the text.  Create a series of questions structured to bring the reader to an understanding of these.

3. Locate the most powerful academic words in the text and integrate questions and discussions that explore their role into the set of questions above.

  

4. Take stock of what standards are being addressed in the series of questions above. Then decide if any other standards are suited to being a focus for this text. If so, form questions that exercise those standards.   

5.  Consider if there are any other academic words that students would profit from focusing on. Build discussion planning or additional questions to focus attention on them.  

6.  Find the sections of the text that will present the greatest difficulty and craft questions that support students in mastering these sections. These could be sections with difficult syntax, particularly dense information, and tricky transitions or places that offer a variety of possible inferences.

7. Develop a culminating activity around the idea or learning identified in #1. A good task should reflect mastery of one or more of the standards, involve writing, and be structured to be done by students independently.