|
|
|
|
Volume 15, Number 10 The Source
| May 15, 2015
|
|
|
|
|
Dr. Robert Marzano Headlines the Iowa ASCD Summer Institute on June 22-23 - Ensuring Learning for Each and All: Building Our Expertise
Make plans now for you and your team to attend the Iowa ASCD Summer Institute on June 22-23 at the Iowa Events Center. Dr. Bob Marzano is the headline speaker and will also provide several breakout sessions. 
In addition to Marzano, other national speakers include Jim Rickabaugh, Rose Colby, Tim Westerberg, Ron Mirr, Sandra Alberti, Bobb Darnall, Consuelo Castillo Kickbush, and Grace Dearborn as well as state-wide presenters.
Presenters will be addressing ways that you and your team can ensure learning for each and all by:
- Creating conditions for learning - a culture for achievement
- Implementing the Iowa Core - optimizing learning for all students
- Assuring effective teaching - recognizing instructional knowledge and skill as the most powerful instruments to enhance student learning
- Grading for learning - reporting students' progress on learning goals
- Empowering students to develop mastery of academic content - implementing competency-based education
The early-bird fee until June 1 will be $250 for Iowa ASCD members and $295 for non-members, who will receive a complimentary membership for one year. The regular fee in June will be $295 for members and $340 for non-members. Purchase orders with a list of the names and email addresses may be sent to Bridget Arrasmith, Iowa ASCD, Drake University, Room 123, School of Education, Drake University, 3206 University, Des Moines, IA 50311 or FAXED to Attention of Bridget Arrasmith at 515.271.2233.
|
|
Iowa ASCD Director Veta Thode Named SAI's Central Office Administrator of the Year
Veta Thode, Director of Curriculum in the Washington Community School District and Iowa ASCD member and director, has been selected as SAI's Central Office Administrator of the Year.
"If you want to go quickly, go alone; if you want to go far, go together." This African Proverb describes Veta and her work both in Washington and on the Iowa ASCD Board of Directors. A collaborative approach is the avenue she always takes as she challenges each of us as leaders of learning to build our expertise as we embrace our passions. Four leadership behaviors that she has learned from her mentors and shares with all of us are these:
- Be like a duck; stay calm on the surface, but paddle hard under the water.
- Demonstrate mettle, courage, and fortitude with a positive temperament.
- You cannot over communicate.
- Keep your sense of humor.
Congratulations, Veta - you are a role model and mentor for all of us as we strive to be leaders of learning! |
|
Iowa ASCD Summer Institute: A Few More Highlights
Iowa ASCD is hosting the Summer Institute on June 22-23 - "Ensuring Learning for Each and All: Building Our Expertise." There will be high-powered presentations from both national and state presenters, including the keynote by Dr. Bob Marzano. Here are just a few of the 70 presentations. National Presenters: - Bobb Darnell has taught and has been a professional developer for over 30 years. He is an author, international speaker, and consults with schools, professional organizations, and corporations. Bobb's high-energy workshops are filled with "edutainment" and practical ideas that have resulted from blending research and tested practice. He is truly committed to helping teac
 hers build high-performance classrooms and building strong parental support for schools and learning.
-
"Listen! Students Are Talking to Us in Their Assessments!" Student achievement data is packed with valuable information. To improve both learning and teaching, start using assessment to listen what students are saying about their learning strengths, challenges, and needs. Bobb shares five powerful practices for helping teachers understand classroom achievement data and match it to high-yield, research-based strategies and instructional designs. (One of three presentations)
- Grace Dearborn taught for many years in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to teaching for nearly 15 years, Grace also worked as a BTSA (Beginning Teacher Support and Assessment) Coordinator, Professional Development Coordinator, Literacy Coach, Curriculum Specialist, and Mentor Teacher.
Grace has written powerful curriculum for elementary and secondary schools that has gained major notoriety. She authored a  year-long literacy intervention social studies course in an Oakland, CA high school that resulted in a dramatic increase in CST scores, raising the school's API by 70 points over two years. She also wrote and taught integrated 10th and 11th grade Humanities curriculums that were highlighted as models in her school's accreditation review report. Most recently, Grace collaborated on the 5th grade curriculum for a charter school in Richmond, CA.
Currently Grace facilitates workshops for Conscious Teaching on classroom management and brain compatible motivation and engagement. She also teaches workshops on adolescent literacy intervention for the Strategic Literacy Institute. In addition, she continues to work as a mentor teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area and just co-authored her first book for teachers, Picture This!
State-wide Presenters - Sandra Dop, Consultant at the Iowa Department of Education and Director of the Iowa CBE Collaboration and
 Andrea Stewart, Consultant with Mississippi Bend AEA
-
"Writing Competencies: The Work behind the Iowa Model Competencies"
-
Although the principles of CBE are similar across the nation, the Iowa Task Force and the Iowa CBE Collaborative have taken a bold step in defining the actual competencies as  something more than standards. Come learn about this bold move and how to write competencies that are based on enduring understandings and promote development of the Universal Constructs.
-
Jeff Kirby, Elementary Principal; Justin White, Special Education Teacher; and Lori Elliott, 4th Grade T eacher of Davis Elementary, Grinnell-Newburg Community School District
- "Breaking Barriers - Davis Elementary School's Five-Year Journey"
- Come here about Davis Elementary School's five-year journey. You will learn about the challenges and the decision-making process that lead Davis Elementary to become a 2014-2015 "Breaking Barrier" School. Find out about the implementation of special education inclusion; math, reading, and writing curriculum adoptions; schedule changes; standards-based report cards and supporting documents; data review process; intervention process; building leadership; and PLC's.
Register now! This is THE conference for all of us - higher ed, superintendents, teachers, principals, central office, AEA staff, DE staff, teacher leaders, building and district teams, TLC teams. Early-bird price (until June 1) is $250 for Iowa ASCD members and $295 for nonmembers, who will receive a complimentary membership in Iowa ASCD. Check out the flyer that was sent last week as well as published on our Iowa ASCD website in lower left-hand corner. Join us as we all develop our expertise! |
Fostering Grit: How Do I Prepare My Students for the Real World by Thomas R Hoerr
One of 30 Books Available to YOU in the 24/7 Digital Online Books from Iowa ASCD and Reviewed by Sandy Merritt
A special thank you to Iowa ASCD Member Sandy Merritt who shared this review.
The title of this book caught my eye and I decided to take a closer look. Questions that came to my mind were: With the multitude of things on teachers' plates these days, is this book suggesting that teachers also teach grit? Isn't our job to teach students to be successful in school and life? Why should we focus on their failures? My questions were readily answered as I continued to read. The author says that "we must also teach the virtues of grit-tenacity, perseverance, and the ability to never give up." Teaching grit means helping students prepare for frustration and failure, teaching them  how to respond positively to these experiences. This is critical in the real world because, as we all know, everyone experiences times when things go wrong and there are setbacks at some point in everyone's life. Being able to respond positively and turn failure into something good builds resilience and is the key to success in life. Carol Dweck, in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2007), states "even though mistakes may not be pleasant or make things easy, they help us learn... knowing that the harder they work and the longer they try, the likelier they are to succeed."
Teachers must differentiate as they teach grit. Just like anything else, students are at different places in their maturity level as they deal with frustration. Teachers must first identify the amount of frustration that each student can currently handle and build from there. In teaching grit, teachers occasionally give students well thought out obstacles for them to overcome. The goal is for students to feel frustration and deal with it in a positive manner. Teachers differentiate teaching grit in the same three ways they do in academic areas - through process, content, and product:
- Process: Having students learn in a way that does not come easily to them (using multiple intelligences model).
- Content: Presenting students content that is at a harder level of complexity.
- Product: Having students create a product to demonstrate learning, incorporating obstacles that students need to overcome in order to complete their product.
Teaching grit is addressed in the Common Core standards through the words "rigorous content and skills." While teaching about grit, it is essential that the teacher remains positive, encouraging and supportive, celebrates effort, and praises tenacity. The author is clear that he is not saying that teachers should present students with these challenges all the time, it should be done occasionally and with thought. As the author states: "we need to become comfortable with occasionally putting students in a position where they have to struggle, show tenacity, and exhibit resilience."
There are six steps for teaching grit discussed:
- Establish the environment: Students must feel respected and cared for, even when they do poorly.
- Set the expectations: Students need to understand that there is value in struggling, that mistakes are a means to learning. The author suggests having students record on a grit chart times they have stuck to a task and not given up.
- Teach the vocabulary: Students need to include "grit" in their vocabulary and use it throughout the day. Other vocabulary terms to include are: failure, frustration, tenacity, perseverance, resilience, self-confidence, self-image, comfort zone.
- Create the frustration: The author gives a few suggestions, including these. a) Knowingly give an assignment that is beyond a student's comfort zone; b) Require a student to revise and revise again until his or her work is perfect; c) Tell a student to give it a try even if the directions are not clear; d) Let families know that you will have a Grit Day when students are given difficult projects. At the end of the day, reflect on what they have learned about themselves and how they might use that in life. Students should believe that it is better to try and fail than to not try at all.
- Monitor the experience: Teachers need to watch students carefully to monitor individual levels of frustration. Because there is no formula for teaching grit, we need to be very aware of our students' individual frustration levels and how they respond to them. "Sometimes, instead of putting down their pencils and declaring "I'm done," students may seem to still be working on a task when in fact they've quit emotionally; ...it's essential to monitor students' efforts, keep them focused on the task, and prevent them from moving on to a different activity." Asking "How are you feeling? What are you learning about yourself? Is this a good failure?" help students understand where they are and what you, the teacher, can do to help them.
- Reflect and learn: Students should think about why they didn't give up, what they learned that will help them when they get frustrated in the future, and that a positive attitude is important.
The author believes it takes a village to help students develop grit. This includes teachers, parents, and administrators. He suggests that teachers read and discuss books such as Paul Tough's How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character (2012); Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand (2010); The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks by Jeanne Theoharis (2013); Howard Gardner's Frames Of Mind (1983); and Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence (1995). Children's books that focus on grit include: Giraffes Can't Dance and Mirette on the High Wire. School walls and halls need to applaud students' effort, determination, and grit. One suggestion was to create a poster with the heading "I showed grit when I..." and have students complete the sentence and include drawings or photos to accompany their words. He suggests educating other teachers, administrators, and parents about grit and what you are doing in the classroom. He has included a lesson plan, a sample letter to parents, related resources, and a "Grit Alphabet."
Preparing students for success in life involves more than academics. Students must also know how to deal with failure and frustration in school and life in a positive way. This book presents the case for providing learning opportunities in which students will develop the ability to persevere and have grit. It is an easy read and has a few classroom examples.
**************************************
And remember this book is available to all Iowa ASCD members via the 30 titles available 24/7 for 2015. In addition, these are the other books available 24/7 during 2015 to all Iowa ASCD members that will increase your effectiveness as a leader of learning. (If you have forgotten your password to these resources, please contact Lou Howell at LouHowell@mediacombb.net.) 
|
|
|
Fall Institute Features Lester Laminack! Writers ARE Readers: Using Reading Structures and Strategies to Nurture More Powerful Writers - September 22
Struggling to meet all the literacy demands of the Iowa Core K-6? Not sure if your students are always applying their new skills in their independent reading? Asking yourself, "What about writing?" Join us to learn with Lester Laminack how we can use what we know about reading to develop powerful writers.
About this Workshop: To be a good writer you must first be able to read deeply and understand author's intent. In this workshop, Lester Laminack will show you that the key to successful writing is harnessing the power of close reading. You will learn how your students can transfer what they know about reading structures and strategies into practices that will hone their writing skills and help them become more focused writers. A more focused writer is also a successful reader. Reading and writing are natural reciprocal relationships that you can use tomorrow in your classroom.
About This Author: Lester Laminack consults with schools all around the country. He is Professor Emeritus at Western Carolina University, where he has won both the Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching  Award, and the Botner Superior Teaching Award. Lester is an active member of the National Council of Teachers of English. He's the author of several notable books, including The Writing Teacher's Troubleshooting Guide, Bullying Hurts (both with Reba Wadsworth) and Kid-Tested Writing Lessons for Grades 3-6, with Leslie Bauman and Harvey "Smokey" Daniels.
Overview and Learning Objectives:
Writers approach a text with an eye for more than "what's the story here?" Writers look for structure and craft, intention and execution, voice, tone and mood. Writers notice bias and hyperbole, and honesty in content. Writers ARE readers.
Reading and writing are mutually supportive processes, though much of our instruction misses the bonus of that relationship. Efficient readers can be shown how to flip their insights about structure and strategies into more powerful writing. Learning to write using your reader knowledge has important implications for growing more informed and efficient writers and allowing students to grow as both readers and writers.
Across this day we will:
- Explore our accepted reader knowledge and dig in to the flip side of those insights in the work of a writer.
- Tap into a set of selected texts and examine the role of close reading in the development of a focused writer.
- Write a bit ourselves and play with structures and craft.
- Develop a list of text resources and practice using them DURING the workshop.
- Examine some of the typical plateaus/developmental pauses faced by a developing writer and think through the source of those plateaus and ways to nudge them forward.
Participants will receive a copy of:
 Writers ARE Readers: Use Reading Structures and Strategies to Nurture More Powerful Writers
Participants are asked to bring a favorite Read Aloud they use in their classroom: narrative, poetry, informational, opinion or persuasive for use during the workshop.
Who Should Attend: Classroom teachers of Grades K-6, administrators, curriculum coordinators, literacy specialists/coaches
Fee: Early bird special - Before September 10 the fee is $150 for Iowa ASCD members and $195 for nonmembers. After September 10, the fee is $195 for Iowa ASCD members and $240 for nonmembers. Participants may register on line at http://iowaascd.org/index.php/events/event-registration/ or contact Bridget Arrasmith with purchase order with list of participants and their e-mail addresses: 123 Drake University School of Education, 3206 University, Des Moines, IA 503011; bridget.arrasmith@drake.edu; or FAX 515.271.2233.
|
|
"Common Sense for the Common Core" by Regie Routman
REGIE ROUTMAN is an internationally respected educator and author with more than 40 years of experience teaching, coaching, and leading in diverse schools across the United States and Canada.  Regie's teaching experience includes being a classroom teacher (for most of the elementary grades), a reading specialist, a learning disabilities tutor, a Reading Recovery teacher, a language arts resource and mentor teacher, a staff developer, and a literacy coach. In her article, "Common Sense for the Common Core," Routman shares, "Administrators need to take the lead in providing the guidance, coaching, and expert professional development teachers need to successfully implement and sustain any set of literacy standards or learning outcomes." She shares four recommendations for actions to put the literacy emphasis on increasing student learning.
- Become discerning readers and writers. We cannot teach what we do not know or value. Apply what you do as a strategic reader and writer to teaching readers and writers. Let students know how and why you read and write for real-world audiences and purposes that go beyond the classroom-and this may include blogs, social media, opinion pieces, and more.
- Do more read-alouds of excellent literature. In the course of reading, think aloud to show students how readers figure out vocabulary, question the author, make inferences, reread when confused, notice the author's craft, and so on. Your read-alouds should include more emphasis on nonfiction.
-
Embed shared experiences in your teaching. Before asking students to read complex text, read complex text with them. Demonstrate "close reading" and reason through how to find, use, and analyze evidence from the text to make meaning and support a point of view.
-
Organize curriculum through emphasizing big ideas and important concepts. The best place to start is with the K-12 Common Core anchor standards for reading. These include key ideas and details, craft and structure, integration of knowledge and ideas, and range of reading and level of text complexity. Beware starting with small pieces of the standards; teachers and students can get stuck in the details and never get to the highest levels of understanding.
Read the entire article by Regi Routman here.
|
|
The European Take on "Competency-Based Education: Learning at a Time of Change" by Neil O'Sullivan and Dr. Alan Bruce
In 2013, an advanced European think tank on education chaired by former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, produced the Report of the High Level Group on the Modernization of Higher Education. The changed landscape as the think tank saw it was summarized with these words: "That which is known is no longer stable. The shelf-life of knowledge can be very short. In many disciplines what is taught  and how it is taught are both stalked by the threat of obsolescence. In a changing world, Europe's graduates need the kind of education that enables them to engage articulately as committed, active, thinking, global citizens as well as economic actors in the ethical, sustainable development of our societies."
The authors of this article summarize the findings supporting the questions of the think tank, including the following:
- What is competency-based education? Competencies are seen to have three interrelated ingredients - 1) a knowledge component (the understanding part), 2) a behavioral component (the overt behavior to be exhibited), and 3) a value component (including values, beliefs, and attitudes).
Learning to learn is fundamental for today's youth and tomorrow's citizens of the world.
- What is included in the teaching and effective facilitation of competency development? Competency-based education builds from the idea that it is more importance to focus on outcomes (what a student knows and can do) than on inputs (how students learn, where they learn, or how long they take.) It is important as teachers and facilitators of learning to match the strategies to the domains of learning: psychomotor, affective, and cognitive.
Each of the strategies used must be "aimed at helping learners develop new ways of thinking about what they are learning, encouraging them in their discovery of new knowledge and skills using critical thinking, and supporting their efforts to integrate this new learning into their practice."
This article provides concrete ideas and food for thought to move forward with competency-based education, including the writing of competencies and pedagogical considerations for a competency-based education - meaningful contexts, multidisciplinary approaches, constructive learning, cooperative/interactive learning with teachers and peers, discovery learning, reflective learning, and personal learning.
To read the entire article, click here. |
|
Check It Out!
Check out the following:- Are you expecting new curriculum leads in your district next year? If so, be sure to contact us as we want to honor and support them at a breakfast at the Summer Institute as well as learn how we can support them in your district. Contact Lou Howell with names when available.
- Be sure to check out TeachIowa.Gov if looking for a job in education or seeking candidates for positions in your district.
- Registration is under way for a two-day literacy summit sponsored by the Iowa Department of Education July 29-30 in Des Moines.
|
|
Get Iowa ASCD App
Iowa ASCD works every day to be the source for educational leadership in the state of Iowa. With over 1500 members and 2000 Twitter followers, we work to make a strong, positive impact on the learning of all students in Iowa. Join us in this network of passionate  professionals through our new mobile app. It shows events from 20+ educational organizations, allows you to view our website content, has content from our conferences and allows you to receive action alerts - such as when to contact legislators on an important bill. The app is downloadable from Apple iTunes, Google Play or the Windows Store. |
|
Webinars for Your Learning
Iowa ASCD seeks to keep you informed about webinars for your learning and the learning of those with whom you work. Check out the following; many of these support the work in your collaborative time and definitely help with implementation of The Core!
- Title: Teach Reflect Learn - Building Your Capacity for Success in the Classroom
- Presenter: Pete Hall and Alisa Simeral
- Provider: ASCD
- Date: May 21, 2015 at 2:00 P.M. CDT
- Register Here
- Title: Archived Webinars of the Marzano Research Laboratory - Assessment and Grading, Common Core, Instructional Strategies, School Leadership, Educational Technology and Vocabulary
- Presenter: Staff Members of Marzano Research Laboratory
- Provider: Marzano Research Laboratory
- Access Here
|
 Stay current with learning! Follow Iowa ASCD on Twitter! We would like to follow you on Twitter as well. If you are willing to share your "Twitter Handle" with us, please leave your information on this site. |
 Iowa ASCD is the source for developing instructional leadership and translating research into daily practice. Serving more than 1500 educators - teachers, principals, superintendents, directors of curriculum, technology specialists, teacher leaders, college professors, AEA staff, pre-service students - Iowa ASCD strives to develop the collaborative capacity to impact the learning of each and every student in Iowa. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
gives your school more curriculum options