Human Civil Rights Contest

Human and Civil Rights Contest

DSEA and the Human and Civil Rights Task Force is sponsoring a contest for Delaware students in writing, technology and art who honor the importance of diversity and its impact on society. 

Click here for the brochure 
 Contest is open to Delaware public school students in grades K-12

Simply, Calmly Read and Talk

This is what you already know! You must read it to affirm your greatest goals for this school year! 

Unite for Literacy

by Mark Condon

"These two simple acts—reading and talking—build two parallel and essential foundations in children’s lives."

About Mark Condon

Vice President at Unite for Literacy. Father of three. A teacher and teacher educator for over 40 years, supporting professionals and volunteers to teach anyone to read and write and (as importantly) to choose to read and create throughout their lives.

New York Times Learning Network: 

Our Third Annual Student Editorial Contest: Write About an Issue That Matters to You

Editorial Writing Contest NY Times

(Taken from the website)

An Overview

• Does Technology Make Us More Alone?
• Do Violent Video Games Make People More Violent in Real Life?
• Is There Too Much Pressure on Girls to Have ‘Perfect’ Bodies?

Every day during the school year we invite teenagers to share their opinions about questions like these — on topics from cheerleading to police tactics — and hundreds do, posting arguments, reflections and anecdotes to our Student Opinion feature.

And for the third year in a row, we’re inviting you to channel that enthusiasm into something a little more formal: short, evidence-based persuasive essays like the editorials The New York Times publishes every day.

The challenge is pretty straightforward. Choose a topic you care about, gather evidence from both New York Times and non-New York Times sources, and write a concise editorial (450 words or fewer) to convince readers of your point of view.

Because editorial writing at newspapers is a collaborative process, you can write your entry as a team effort, or by yourself. When you’re done, post it in the contest form below by March 29, 2016, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.

With our judges, we will then use this rubric (PDF) to select winners to publish on The Learning Network.

As teachers know, the persuasive essay has long been a staple of high school education, but the Common Core standards seem to have put evidence-based argumentative writing on everybody’s agenda. You couldn’t ask for a more real-world example of the genre than the classic newspaper editorial — and The Times publishes, on average, four of them a day.

So what issue do you care about? Climate change? Sexism?Government surveillance? You decide. Then use the facts to convince us that you’re right.

Text Based Evidence Round-Up! Social Studies PLC at CHHS

PLC Workshop  for CTE at CHHS

Text Based Evidence Round-Up

Wednesday, March 9

Agenda

Objective: to review the use of Text Based Writing in CTE classrooms, to share strategies and discuss further implementation using the new DE writing rubrics. 

1. Teachers Report: Best and Worst Chart - General comments about using Text Based Evidence in CTE classes 
2. The DE Writing Standard #1 Progression
3. Sharing students' work 
4. New DE Writing Rubrics
5. Window Pane Response

Text Based Evidence Window Pane Response

Key Ideas What information would be important to know about the implementation of text based evidence?	Connections In what ways would you be able to use Text Based Evidence in your classroom to further understanding/performance?
Student Response In what ways did students approach the task and how could the lesson be changed to make it more effective or engaging?	What’s Next? What about the Text Based Evidence will be useful to you in the future?

Evaluating Professional Development: the "Gusky Levels"

Does It Make a Difference? Evaluating Professional Development

Thomas R. Guskey

Using five critical levels of evaluation, you can improve your school's professional development program. But be sure to start with the desired result—improved student outcomes.

Educators have long considered professional development to be their right—something they deserve as dedicated and hardworking individuals. But legislators and policymakers have recently begun to question that right. As education budgets grow tight, they look at what schools spend on professional development and want to know, Does the investment yield tangible payoffs or could that money be spent in better ways? Such questions make effective evaluation of professional development programs more important than ever.

Traditionally, educators haven't paid much attention to evaluating their professional development efforts. Many consider evaluation a costly, time-consuming process that diverts attention from more important activities such as planning, implementation, and follow-up. Others feel they lack the skill and expertise to become involved in rigorous evaluations; as a result, they either neglect evaluation issues completely or leave them to “evaluation experts.”

Good evaluations don't have to be complicated. They simply require thoughtful planning, the ability to ask good questions, and a basic understanding of how to find valid answers. What's more, they can provide meaningful information that you can use to make thoughtful, responsible decisions about professional development processes and effects.

What Is Evaluation?

In simplest terms, evaluation is “the systematic investigation of merit or worth”(Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation, 1994, p. 3). Systematicimplies a focused, thoughtful, and intentional process. We conduct evaluations for clear reasons and with explicit intent. Investigation refers to the collection and analysis of pertinent information through appropriate methods and techniques.Merit or worth denotes appraisal and judgment. We use evaluations to determine the value of something—to help answer such questions as, Is this program or activity achieving its intended results? Is it better than what was done in the past? Is it better than another, competing activity? Is it worth the costs?

Some educators understand the importance of evaluation for event-driven professional development activities, such as workshops and seminars, but forget the wide range of less formal, ongoing, job-embedded professional development activities—study groups, action research, collaborative planning, curriculum development, structured observations, peer coaching, mentoring, and so on. But regardless of its form, professional development should be a purposeful endeavor. Through evaluation, you can determine whether these activities are achieving their purposes.

Critical Levels of Professional Development Evaluation

Effective professional development evaluations require the collection and analysis of the five critical levels of information shown in Figure 1 (Guskey, 2000a). With each succeeding level, the process of gathering evaluation information gets a bit more complex. And because each level builds on those that come before, success at one level is usually necessary for success at higher levels.

Figure 1. Five Levels of Professional Development Evaluation

Evaluation Level	What Questions Are Addressed?	How Will Information Be Gathered?	What Is Measured or Assessed?	How Will Information Be Used?
1. Participants' Reactions	Did they like it? Was their time well spent? Did the material make sense? Will it be useful? Was the leader knowledgeable and helpful? Were the refreshments fresh and tasty? Was the room the right temperature? Were the chairs comfortable?	Questionnaires administered at the end of the session	Initial satisfaction with the experience	To improve program design and delivery
2. Participants' Learning	Did participants acquire the intended knowledge and skills?	Paper-and-pencil instruments Simulations Demonstrations Participant reflections (oral and/or written) Participant portfolios	New knowledge and skills of participants	To improve program content, format, and organization
3. Organization Support & Change	Was implementation advocated, facilitated, and supported? Was the support public and overt? Were problems addressed quickly and efficiently? Were sufficient resources made available? Were successes recognized and shared? What was the impact on the organization? Did it affect the organization's climate and procedures?	District and school records Minutes from follow-up meetings Questionnaires Structured interviews with participants and district or school administrators Participant portfolios	The organization's advocacy, support, accommodation, facilitation, and recognition	To document and improve organization support To inform future change efforts
4. Participants' Use of New Knowledge and Skills	Did participants effectively apply the new knowledge and skills?	Questionnaires Structured interviews with participants and their supervisors Participant reflections (oral and/or written) Participant portfolios Direct observations Video or audio tapes	Degree and quality of implementation	To document and improve the implementation of program content
5. Student Learning Outcomes	What was the impact on students? Did it affect student performance or achievement? Did it influence students' physical or emotional well-being? Are students more confident as learners? Is student attendance improving? Are dropouts decreasing?	Student records School records Questionnaires Structured interviews with students, parents, teachers, and/or administrators Participant portfolios	Student learning outcomes: Cognitive (Performance & Achievement) Affective (Attitudes & Dispositions) Psychomotor (Skills & Behaviors)	To focus and improve all aspects of program design, implementation, and follow-up To demonstrate the overall impact of professional development

CHHS Science PLC February 23, 2016

PLC Workshop on Text Based Evidence

CHHS – Science on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016

AGENDA

1. What is Text Based Evidence (Cartoon LINK)?
2. CSET - Writing: Organizing an Argument + Graphic organizer with examples
3. Textual Evidence: Implicit or Explicit? plus a reading strategy  
4. Depth of Knowledge + Bloom's Taxonomy
5. CSET- Cornell Notes example from Beacon Middle School teachers
6. Guide to Creating Text-Dependent Questions.
7. LDC Task Templates and  LDC Task Template Explanation 6-12
8. Practice Task: “Slow Moving Nurse Sharks”.  Write a TB question.
9. TASK: Teachers, please plan to create and use a relevant task from the template with your class and your content.  Bring your student results to share at the next PLC. Request to visit classrooms in March. Next PLC in April.
10. Exit Evaluation – Feedback to leave with me please!

CHAT February 12 Cape In Service for Teachers

Incredible energy and willingness to learn filled the CHHS when teachers presented and attended workshops that centered on Cape CHAT goals.  

Schoology was center stage, being used to facilitate all aspects of the workshop.