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Iowa ASCD Unveils New Web Site
Be sure to check out Iowa ASCD's newest website. Many, many thanks to Iowa ASCD Director Chris Welch, who led this charge of providing our members with a meaningful resources.
He reminds us to "touch the green" and you have access to the following:
Iowa ASCD seeks to provide multiple resources for you. These include the following.
We all want to advocate for students and their learning. Use this site for access to your legislators as well as talking points that will help you advocate in a responsible and focused format.
You are the experts! Share with us the web sites that are important to your content area. We have started with five in each content area - now let us know the ones we should add so this is your connection to learning in your content area. We have even added some special pages to support the content. Check out the "extra page" of resource; for example, gifted and talented. Approaches to Learning This area addresses how educators assure the learning - through various pedagogy approaches and/or supports. Take a look - and, again, you are the experts. Please let us know other areas important to you and your work and connections that help you do the work in that area.
All of us have different and often multiple roles in supporting the learning of Iowa students. Access resources here especially for your roles in learning and education. Whether you are a principal, a teacher, or work in the district office, there are resources for you.
We want you to be current on the research and discussion in education. In addition to these resources, here are a few other "connections" for you: - Blogs: Share your comments on the blogs provided. If interested in being a guest blogger, contact Chris Welch or Lou Howell.
- Calendar of Events: Do you have conferences that need to be added to our calendar. Just let Chris or Lou know.
- Past Editions of The Source Looking for your back issues of The Source or a summary of the Governor's Summit. They are all here.
And you can even renew your membership with Iowa ASCD online. Enjoy! And let us know "your take" with the new web site. |
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Attention Teachers of Second and Third Graders: Register Now for A Conference for and by You!
Register now for a special conference, Impacting Learning in My Classroom, just for you! ISEA and Iowa ASCD are collaborating to offer a hands-on day of learning for, and by, second- and third-grade teachers.
Grade 2
- April 26 - Impacting Learning in My Second-Grade Classroom
- Focus - See First Hand Best Practices in Iowa Core Literacy, Iowa Core Math, Technology with My Students, and RTI with My Students; time for networking as well.
- 8:00 a.m. - 4:15 p.m. (continental breakfast and lunch served)
- Stoney Creek Inn, Johnston, IA
- $90 if ISEA or Iowa ASCD member; $150 for non-members
- Includes opportunities for follow-up webinars and twitter chats as well as Grade 2 web site resources
Grade 3
- April 27 - Impacting Learning in My Third-Grade Classroom
- Focus - See First Hand Best Practices in Iowa Core Literacy, Iowa Core Math, Technology with My Students, and RTI with My Students; time for networking as well.
- 8:00 a.m. - 4:15 p.m. (continental breakfast and lunch served)
- Stoney Creek Inn, Johnston, IA
- $90 if ISEA or Iowa ASCD member; $150 for non-members
- Includes opportunities for follow-up webinars and twitter chats as well as Grade 3 web site resources
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ASCD Reveals Major Changes in Constitution and Organization - Be Sure to Vote in May regarding Your Beliefs
At the 2012 Leadership Council Meeting of the ASCD Conference in Philadelphis this past week, President Healey revealed the following changes to the ASCD constitution that will be "put to a vote" in May. - Election Process for President of ASCD: In the past the election of President-Elect has been made by the members of ASCD. The recommendation is that the annual selection of the President and the Vice President would be made by the Board of Directors, instead of by the members. The ASCD Board of Directors would also be able to extend the term of the President to two years.
- ASCD Board Size and Terms: In the past, the board of directors have served 3-year terms and the board has had 20 members. The recommended change to the constitution is that there will be 8-11 directors, each serving 4-year terms. Two members would be elected each year for a 4-year term with an additional 3 members appointed by the ASCD Board based on diversity.
- Leadership Council: Presently each affiliate has at least 2 representatives with additional representation based upon number of ASCD from a state. In addition, several members are elected "at large." There are presently 130 members. The recommendation of the ASCD Board of Directors is to disband the Leadership Council and create an ASCD Forum with opportunity for any and every ASCD member to participate in providing input that came originally from the leadership council members representing the affiliates.
- Position Advisory Committee (PAC): This would be a new group composed of 16 members, appointed by the ASCD Board with individuals serving from 1-3 years, at the will of the Board. These individuals would represent various groups (e.g., Emerging Leaders) and include one ASCD Board member. There purpose would be to identify key issues and recommend positions to the ASCD Board of Directors.
If you are a member of ASCD, be sure you review the recommendations and vote in May regarding them. Results will be released in June. Dr. Dick Hanzelka, former Executive Director of Iowa ASCD and Past-President of ASCD, served on the Constitution Review Committee.
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Every Child, Every Day!
In this important Educational Leadership article, Richard Allington (University of Tennessee/Knoxville) and Rachael Gabriel (University of Connecticut/Storrs) present six high-quality experiences they believe all children should have every day if they are to become successful, engaged readers. These experiences are especially important for struggling readers - but tragically, they're least likely to have these experiences.
* Every child reads something he or she chooses. "The research base on student-selected reading is robust and conclusive," say Allington and Gabriel. "Students read more, understand more, and are more likely to continue reading when they have the opportunity to choose what they read."
* Every child reads accurately. This means reading material at the "just right" level of difficulty. Spending more time reading doesn't help unless students are reading at 98 percent or higher accuracy. "When students read accurately, they solidify their word-recognition, decoding, and word-analysis skills," say Allington and Gabriel. "Perhaps more important, they are likely to understand what they read - and, as a result, to enjoy reading."
*Every child reads something he or she understands. Comprehension is the goal of reading instruction, say the authors. "But too often, struggling readers get interventions that focus on basic skills in isolation, rather than on reading connected text for meaning. This common misuse of intervention time often arises from a grave misinterpretation of what we know about reading difficulties." Struggling readers aren't "wired differently", as some brain research implies. Their brains benefit from high-quality reading instruction with engaging and comprehensible content. The bottom line: more authentic reading develops better readers.
* Every child writes about something personally meaningful. "The opportunity to compose continuous text about something meaningful is not just something nice to have when there's free time after a test or at the end of the school year," say Allington and Gabriel. "Writing provides a different modality within which to practice the skills and strategies of reading for an authentic purpose."
* Every child talks with peers about reading and writing. Research shows that conversations with classmates improve comprehension and engagement with texts - students analyze, comment, and compare, thinking about what they read. "Time for students to talk about their reading and writing is perhaps one of the most underused, yet easy-to-implement, elements of instruction," say the authors.
* Every child listens to a fluent adult read aloud. Listening to a competent adult modeling good reading helps students with vocabulary, background knowledge, sense of the story, awareness of genre and text structure, and comprehension - and yet few teachers above first grade regularly read aloud to their students.
"Most of the classroom instruction we have observed lacks these six research-based elements," conclude Allington and Gabriel. Here are their two suggestions:
- Eliminate virtually all worksheets and workbooks and use the money to expand classroom libraries.
- Ban test-prep activities and materials from the school day. There's no evidence that they improve reading or test scores.
"Every Child Every Day" by Richard Allington and Rachael Gabriel in Educational Leadership, March 2012 (Vol. 69, #6, p. 10-15), http://www.ascd.org; the authors can be reached at richardallington@aol.com and Rachael.gabriel@uconn.edu.
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Treating Boys Differently
Iowa ASCD Director Elaine Smith-Bright recently attended the ASDC Conference in Philadelphia and shares this summary of her favorite session, "Leave No Boy Behind: What's a Teacher to Do?" by Dr. Gail Choice from Stetson University.
I think it appealed to me because I only had a daughter and now have a young grandson. At times I am just mystified by his behavior and learning style. It started me thinking about how I worked with boys in my classroom when I first started out in my career. I certainly would have appreciated knowing the statistics Dr. Choice shared and tapping into the tips she offered on engaging boys in learning.
First a few of those statistics:
- Of the 5000 students expelled each year from preschool 90% are male.
- 70% of remedial reading students are male.
- 66% of the students suspended are male.
- In 2002, females outperformed males on average by 17 points at grade 4, 21 points at grade 8, and 25 points at grade 12. The decline in the average score for male twelfth-graders between 1998 and 2002 resulted in an increase in the gap between male and female students.
"This widening gap," says Margaret Spellings, former U.S. Secretary of Education, has profound implications for the economy, society, families and democracy." Of course some say it is structural and some say developmental. There are differences in boy and girl's brains, but neuroscientists' caution equating structural differences with behavior. They do, however, recognize the need to tailor teaching to personality and temperament (M.Gurin). Basically:
- Girls Draw Nouns, Boys Draw Verbs
- Boys like movement
- Girls are more collaborative; Boys are move competitive
- Boys have difficulty expressing their feelings, sitting still, listening, tonality, mental cross talk, and the complexities of reading and writing
So what can we do as teachers, principals and parents? Remember the male brain secretes less serotonin so encourage movement with boys. Let them ask as many questions as they want so they feel like active participants in the reading process. Co-teach them or structure smaller classes. Give them flexible work surfaces and tall tables for standing work areas. Provide lessons with movement and social interaction. They love to hand out papers, sharpen pencils, or just play with something silently (like a Nerf ball.) Most importantly, for all kids, but especially for boys, structure in some brain breaks (do a review with a ball toss or movement strikeouts.)
One question posed to the participants at the conference session was, "Should we change the boys or change the system?" I know which side I'm on - that grandson has my heart and my willingness to see him as unique. If you would like to read more about boys and girls and their learning styles check out Why Gender Matters by Leonard Sax. Two other great resources by Leonard Sax are Boys Adrift and Why Gender Matters: What Parents and Teachers Need to Know about Emerging Science of Sex Differences
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Pedro Noguera and A. Wade Boykin Share Insights in Closing the Achievement Gap
In their ASCD presentation in Philadelphia, "Creating the Opportunity to Learning: Moving from Research to Practice to Close the Achievement Gap," Drs. Pedro Noguera and A. Wade Boykin shared several key points:
- Good intention is not enough! We need to consider evidence-based research.
- Schools must focus on cultivating talent in each and every child.
- Too many teachers continue to think that "these" kids will not and cannot success, that the problem is with the child, the parents, the community, not the schools nor the teachers.
- Our kids do not get smarter by testing - unless we are using that information to inform our instruction!
- Homework is an equity issue! Many kids do not have educated parents to help them, nor resources (e.g., computers) to support their learning at home.
- No Child Left Behind recognized the kids were not the problem; it begged "what are we doing to help them."
- Discipline's real purpose is to teach kids what to do when we are not looking; yet, many use it just for punishment or to "get them out of our hair." Are you using disciple to change behavior?
- Special education is often used to remove students from the classroom because of teachers' inability to meet their needs within the classroom. Check to see if your students in special education are falling even more behind. If they are not catching up, get them out of special education. And ask yourselves, "Do we have qualified teachers to help our kids?"
Nogurera emphasized the need to "Create the conditions for our kids' success!" The biggest obstacles, he advocates, are the beliefs and the structures we have put in place to support those beliefs. He identified these factors in the "normalization of failure" in many schools:
- Staff has become accustomed to predictability of academic outcome of kids - often based on race and social economic status.
- Teachers and administrators rationalize low achievement by points fingers at parents, students, and community, rarely at themselves.
- Staff members belief that culture and biology determine intelligence, instead of access to educational opportunity and resources.
- There is no sense of urgency abut addressing the achievement.
Boykin and Noguera advocated for a "Focus on Conditions for Learning"!
- Good teaching that meets the needs of each student in the classroom, addressing both individual and social aspects, with an emphasis on relevance, prior knowledge, personal connections, world connections, and subject connections. (See work/studies of Stipek)
- Peer support for teachers (not evaluation of teachers)
- Motivation and excitement in learning.
We know we are succeeding in closing the gap when the backgrounds of students (e.g., race, class) cease to be predictors of achievement.
Both presenters encouraged us to address two gaps:
- The Preparation Gap: Work on literacy and vocabulary; intervene in the early years (See presentation summary of Canaday and Rittig)
- The Opportunity Gap: Our students need access to rigorous courses and highly skills teachers. As districts we should be looking at our tracking/labeling as well as level of expectations. Do not limit opportunities.
You will know the paradigm in your school has shifted in the right direction when . . .
- Intelligence and ability are influenced by opportunity, not innate qualities).
- We recognize job of school is to cultivate and draw out the talent and ability in each students.
- Resources are allocated based on student need!
- Discipline is used to reinforce school values and norms, not to "weed out the bad kids."
In summary, they recognized these specific conditions to raise student achievement:
- Systems
- Diagnostic assessments used to inform instruction
- Early intervention procedures
- Evaluation to ensure quality control
- Ongoing professional development
- Shared leadership
- Cultural Changes
- Supportive relationships between teachers and students
- Willingness among teachers to share ideas, curricula, materials
- Peer culture where it is "cool to be smart."
- Partnerships among school, community, and parents
Read A. Wade Boykin and Pedro Noguera's book, Creating the Opportunity to Learn: Moving from Research to Practice to Close the Achievement Gap
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High School Principal Baruti Kafele Shares Guidance to Become Highly Proficient School
High School Principal Baruti Kafele has led his "90-90-90 school" to 98% proficient in math and 99% proficient in Language Arts/Literacy.
He advocates that "climate and culture in my classroom" are the framework for closing the attitude gap!
- Compassion for Students: Do I care about each and every one of them?
- Attitude of Teacher: Do I believe in each and every one of them?
- Relationship with Students: Do I really know each and every one of them?
- Environment for Learning: Do I provide an environment of excellence and for excellence?
- Empowerment for Success: Do I teach each every one of my students how to fly?
- Relevance in Instruction: Do I realize who they are? what they need? Do I bring a structure where a student sees himself/herself - in learning and in life? Am I making that learning real, relevant, and current?
See Motivating Black Males to Achieve in School & in Life by Baruti K. Kafele (Aug 2009)
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Iowa ASCD Curriculum Leadership Academy - Focus on RTI - Event Is Just around the Corner - April 11 and 12
The 11th Annual Iowa ASCD Curriculum Academy is on April 11 and 12 at the Hilton Garden Inn in Johnston, IA.
Iowa ASCD, in collaboration with the Iowa Department of Education, is featuring Connie Maxson, Dave Tilly, and the State's RTI team throughout the Curriculum Academy. Jason Glass, Director of Education at the Iowa Department of Education, will present an afternoon keynote on the relationship of Iowa's Blueprint and RTI. The Cedar Rapids, Mason City, and North Polk School Districts will provide information about their use of data teams and professional learning communities in managing RTI. Lynnville-Sully Elementary will present their RTI program which includes programs for advanced learners. East Sac School District will report on their continued progress in the implementation of RTI.
The Academy presently has a waiting list for those wanting to attend. Watch for tweets and web site information on April 11 and 12.
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Iowa ASCD - Twitter!
Stay current with learning! Follow Iowa ASCD on Twitter! http://twitter.com/#!/IowaASCD |
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Webinars: Opportunities for Professional Learning
- Title: What Makes the Adolescent and the Teen Brain So Different?
Presenter: Dr. Judy Willis
Provider: ASCD
Date: April 5, 2012 (2:00 P.M. CST) (Originally scheduled for April 11)
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Iowa ASCD is the source for developing instructional leadership. Serving more than 790 educators - teachers, principals, superintendents, directors of curriculum, technology specialists, college professors, AEA staff - Iowa ASCD strives to develop the collaborative capacity to impact the learning of each and every student in Iowa.
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Iowa ASCD Contacts President Leslie Moore President-Elect Jason Ellingson Past President Julie Davies Membership Information Bridget Arrasmith Secretary Marcia Tweeten Treasurer Julie Davies Members-at-Large Julie Grotewold Bart Mason Cindy Swanson Kevin Vidergar DE Liaison Eric Neessen Higher Education Jan Beatty-Westerman Elaine Smith-Bright Communications Editor This position is now open. Leadership Council (ASCD) Pam Armstrong-Vogel Susan Pecinovsky Curriculum Leadership Academy Sue Wood Fall Institute Kelly Adams Summer Institutes & Planning Chair Cindy Swanson Technology Chris Welch Membership Relations and E-Learning Amy Wichman Executive Director Lou Howell |
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