[Live Blogged]
Kelly King, Principal
Dawn Ryan, Teacher
Boulder Valley Schools
Doing personal intros. Just got a tease of brain research. I'm feeling a little excited.
Showing a cartoon, "I need you to line up by attention span."
Telling a story by grown men to illustrate differences between boys and girls. I'm engaged. Boys throwing darts at each other in the dark.
Using cooperative learning to share brain research. My fact, "Boys get bored more easily than girls, requiring more varied stimulation to keep them attentive."
Just talked about the use of music as a buffer between conversations.
Stress hormones "coritzol(sp?)" go up when you're low on the pecking order.
"PET scans show the resting female brain is as active as the male brain working on a problem."
This creates different tendancies in motivational patterns between male and female brains.
Going to talk about male and female brains definitively for the purpose of making points.
"There are actual physical structural differences between the male and female brains."
Obj:
1. "at-riskness" among boys
2. understand chem. and struc. differences between male and female brains.
3. learn about effective inst. practice for addressing brain needs of both boys and girls.
Girls are outperforming boys in all industrialized countries in reading literacies.
(me - exam Phoenix's writing scores by gender)
Showing data on improvement of boys' scores since the school began focusing on boys.
They were in the Newsweek article "The Boy Crisis."
"With Boys and Girls in Mind" Education Leadership, Nov. 2004. - great stats. on boy achievement.
Collaborative investigation of a fact that we find interesting. Partner is "take the answers down 5 'whys'." (me - I want this slideshow)
For every 100 girls...
...suspended from school, there are 250 boys.
...expelled from school, there are 335 boys.
...who earn a masters degree, there are 62 males.
"Just the Facts" cards?
Sit and Get is tolerated by the neurological make-up of girls.
Biology is for cavemen. Sociology is advanced.
Key Brain Differences Impacting Learning:
New Yorker cover with "make-up" of teen brain.
Verbal-Spatial Difference: females have more coritcal areas in brain for verbal thinking. More resources for putting emotions into words.
Males more spatial thinking cortical areas. Males may need to prime pump before jumping in to descriptive writing. Females may need to hold model to get to thinking about concepts like rotating things in space.
Memory and Sensory Difference: Girls sing in tunes 6x more often. More boys are prone to color-blindness. Females see sharper more vivid color, more sensitive touch and acute sense of taste. This goes back to survival. Male better are depth perception, tracking objects through space, better at navigating through spatial areas. You recall an event using the senses you collected it with. Prime the pump differently to get more detail.
Frontal Lobe Development: develops in mid-20s for females, early 30s for males. Suppresses impulsive behavior. This is part of writing and risk-taking behaviors.
Cross-Talk Between the Hemispheres: Females have 20% more thickening between corpus colosum than males. More nerves, more communication between hemispheres. Male brain compartmentalizes and lateralizes brain activity. Female brain disperses activity around the brain to solve the same problem. When there's a learning problem, it's more difficult for the male brain to delegate problems. This points to stroke recovery and females regaining speech function better. Males tend to operate more in the left hemisphere, females in right hemisphere. Right side thinks more about problems and anxieties. 75% of divorces are initiated by females. Male brain is more learning fragile (disabilities). Female brain more emotionally fragile (anxiety, eating disorders, depression). Compartmentalization can lead to boys focusing on one thing and blocking other input out.
Natural Aggression: Testosterone (males), Oxytosin (bonding hormone) (females), oxytosin spikes in males during sex then goes back down again. Oxytosin inspires girls to want to be liked, fit in, belong. Boys have less oxytosin which creates a disconnect between boy investment in school.
Neural Rest States: Boys are gone when they go there. Girls can still be intaking a little bit. Might as well be talking to a wall at this point with boys.
Need natural light for good brain chemistry.
Book Suggestions:
Action-Packed Classrooms, Summerford (K-5)
Learning with the Body in Mind, Jensen
Action Strategies..., Wilhelm
Asked fourth grade writing students to act out the differences between "editing" and "revising" without speaking. Leader was responsible for interpreting movements.
What a complete sentence is: Took sentence strips, color coded nouns, verbs and finishers. Gave each of 5 groups a bunch of possibilities with a "Bank of Punctuation." Gave kids 5 minutes to build complete, perfectly-punctuated sentences. Had to explain, "why they needed a comma or an exclamation point instead of a period."
(me - audience is entirely engaged!)
Boys have less access to sensory details. This makes it more difficult for them to integrate those details into their writing.
Inverse relationship between quality of illustration and volume (quality?) of writing.
Bring in music to create a mood, think of colors that would create a mood and THEN put that mood into words. Need to do more priming of the pump for boys.
Putting vocab. words to music. Spelling words with elbows and then backsides. (hilarious!)
Too many words make the ideas too difficult. 8 purposes of writing simplifies things. Give them right visual-spatial tools to kids for the job you're trying to get them to do. Visual construct must match intended verbal output.
Video games give things a better safety for pecking order movement.
Throw gender grouping into small grouping every once in a while. Expand topics that appeal to boys. Stop censoring boys interests.
"A good book for a boy is one he wants to read." (Moloney, 2002)
In writing classroom, use "crappy prompts" to get kids to make writing their own.
"If the bum is numb, the brain is the same."
I'm Glad I'm a Boy, I'm Glad I'm a Girl (1970)
"Me Read? No Way!" - Ontario Provincial Government
Showing posts with label staff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label staff. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Monday, July 16, 2007
NSDC Concurrent Session 1: Breaking Barriers to Learning
Live Blogging: Norwalk Community School District in Iowa
Starting off the presentation by showing Karl Fisch's "Did you Know? 1.0" I wonder how many people in the room have seen this before.
I wonder how many presenters will be using this. I wonder how many presenters will be making their own. Why not?
Just got through the "Name this country..." I always want to shout out the answer.
In under a year, how much of this information is outdated? Not to mention how many schools and districts will be presenting it at back-to-school events this year as though it's new?
Presentation Beginning:
How am I going to prepare students for a world that's not in existence now?
Quoting Pink's A Whole New Mind and three essential questions.
1. Can someone overseas do it more cheaply?
2. Can a computer do it faster?
3. Am I offering something that satisfies the monmaterial transcendent...
Prereq. Friedman quote: There are no more "American Jobs." There are only jobs.
Only 1/3 of school districts in Iowa are growing.
Not sure our mission statement is different from many others. What's different is how we act on them.
They have 7 student learning goals.
1. Communication Skills
2. Thinking and reasoning skills
3. interpersonal skills
4. personal and social responsibility
5. learning to learn (warlick happy?)
6. Technology
7. Expanding and integrating knowledge
Goals drafted after community input and search for a theme.
Referencing: Indicators of schools of quality.
We, as a district, were starting to form what's important to us. Modified indicators to align with parents, community and staff. Printed NSCC as their own.
Complete survey every 2-3 years.
Ask where students are and where they want to go next.
Referencing PLCs and Rick DeFour. Mission statements look alike. Vision statements look alike. Belief statements are special to schools/districts. (me- does SRQ have belief statements?)
Guided by values in decision making.
SLCs are very important. Have looping and traditional. Full-inclusion model.
Belief 5: Common knowledge base for students. (me - who decides knowledge base?)
Speaking on teachers saying they didn't think they did anything special.
Systemic issue.
Parent approached one of them and said they didn't live up to belief statement.
Talking about Iowa Professional Development Model and how it is a collaborative effort including ALL stakeholders. Even high ed.
IPDM:
Focus on curric., instruction and assessment.
Shared decision-making
leadership
Simultaneity.
Constant Cycle of PD.
Simultaneity is a growing requirement in education (me - are our kids there already?)
6-year curric. assessment evaluation cycle.
Curriculum will provide success with 80% of students.
Years 4-6 work to find out what curric. did do for other 20%.
No state standards in Iowa (me - !?!?!?!)
8 Iowa Teaching standards made up of 42 criterion: build teacher portfolio (NGT?)
Their content areas rotate to ensure constant curricular reform. There's a systemic cycle built in. (me - replicable on a larger scale?)
Data is imperative. (me - are we measuring what's going to matter?)
One word to describe Norwalk - collaboration.
They have 26 School Improvement Advisory Committees.
Quoting Gardner on Transformational Leadership.
Quoting Marzano's School Leadership that Works.
Assessing administrators not just teachers. Marzano's 21 administrative characteristics. Did a time audit in 15-minute increments.
Pausing for reflection. Back to work.
(me - we've been sitting for over an hour, I'm sitting and getting.)
Discussion State Accreditation process
"MetaAnalysis" is a smart-sounding word that engenders much unquestioning reverence.
(me - is this good teaching?)
NSSE - Survey of Goals for Student Learning.
End-of-Year report required for each SIAC for website and newspaper.
Out-of-School programs effective for lower elementary and high school according to McREL.
Acknowledging errors in last year's summer program and addressing how they are corrected.
Teacher talking now about moving back to Norwalk because of collaboration. Saying the program didn't make sense at first, but now has a better understanding of the big picture.
Also referencing Gardner's Five Minds for the Future.
Starting off the presentation by showing Karl Fisch's "Did you Know? 1.0" I wonder how many people in the room have seen this before.
I wonder how many presenters will be using this. I wonder how many presenters will be making their own. Why not?
Just got through the "Name this country..." I always want to shout out the answer.
In under a year, how much of this information is outdated? Not to mention how many schools and districts will be presenting it at back-to-school events this year as though it's new?
Presentation Beginning:
How am I going to prepare students for a world that's not in existence now?
Quoting Pink's A Whole New Mind and three essential questions.
1. Can someone overseas do it more cheaply?
2. Can a computer do it faster?
3. Am I offering something that satisfies the monmaterial transcendent...
Prereq. Friedman quote: There are no more "American Jobs." There are only jobs.
Only 1/3 of school districts in Iowa are growing.
Not sure our mission statement is different from many others. What's different is how we act on them.
They have 7 student learning goals.
1. Communication Skills
2. Thinking and reasoning skills
3. interpersonal skills
4. personal and social responsibility
5. learning to learn (warlick happy?)
6. Technology
7. Expanding and integrating knowledge
Goals drafted after community input and search for a theme.
Referencing: Indicators of schools of quality.
We, as a district, were starting to form what's important to us. Modified indicators to align with parents, community and staff. Printed NSCC as their own.
Complete survey every 2-3 years.
Ask where students are and where they want to go next.
Referencing PLCs and Rick DeFour. Mission statements look alike. Vision statements look alike. Belief statements are special to schools/districts. (me- does SRQ have belief statements?)
Guided by values in decision making.
SLCs are very important. Have looping and traditional. Full-inclusion model.
Belief 5: Common knowledge base for students. (me - who decides knowledge base?)
Speaking on teachers saying they didn't think they did anything special.
Systemic issue.
Parent approached one of them and said they didn't live up to belief statement.
Talking about Iowa Professional Development Model and how it is a collaborative effort including ALL stakeholders. Even high ed.
IPDM:
Focus on curric., instruction and assessment.
Shared decision-making
leadership
Simultaneity.
Constant Cycle of PD.
Simultaneity is a growing requirement in education (me - are our kids there already?)
6-year curric. assessment evaluation cycle.
Curriculum will provide success with 80% of students.
Years 4-6 work to find out what curric. did do for other 20%.
No state standards in Iowa (me - !?!?!?!)
8 Iowa Teaching standards made up of 42 criterion: build teacher portfolio (NGT?)
Their content areas rotate to ensure constant curricular reform. There's a systemic cycle built in. (me - replicable on a larger scale?)
Data is imperative. (me - are we measuring what's going to matter?)
One word to describe Norwalk - collaboration.
They have 26 School Improvement Advisory Committees.
Quoting Gardner on Transformational Leadership.
Quoting Marzano's School Leadership that Works.
Assessing administrators not just teachers. Marzano's 21 administrative characteristics. Did a time audit in 15-minute increments.
Pausing for reflection. Back to work.
(me - we've been sitting for over an hour, I'm sitting and getting.)
Discussion State Accreditation process
"MetaAnalysis" is a smart-sounding word that engenders much unquestioning reverence.
(me - is this good teaching?)
NSSE - Survey of Goals for Student Learning.
End-of-Year report required for each SIAC for website and newspaper.
Out-of-School programs effective for lower elementary and high school according to McREL.
Acknowledging errors in last year's summer program and addressing how they are corrected.
Teacher talking now about moving back to Norwalk because of collaboration. Saying the program didn't make sense at first, but now has a better understanding of the big picture.
Also referencing Gardner's Five Minds for the Future.
NSDC Summer Conference Opening Keynote
[live blogging the session]
Encouraging us to take every minute to learn from others.
Make a committment to actions. Every teacher needs to stand up to the plate of teacher leadership.
Sue McAdamis - NSDC Board PRes.
Mentioning sponsors.
Recognizing organizers.
There were 19 organizers on the stage, all educators - one man.
Sharing meals, networking and engaging in reflective conversations.
Encouraging us to be risk-takers. Sit with people we don't know and take reflective thoughts.
Avoid side conversations, turn off noisy stuff and give full attention.
Today's take-away is a bookmark made by 4th-grade students.
Another take away at lunch to inspire conversation at lunch.
The practice of deep reflection leads to knowledge and ultimately increases student achievement.
Denver public schools innovative teacher compensation program.
Welcome Phil Gonrey (sp) of the Rose Foundation
me - I wonder if "Rocky Mountain High" is played at every Colorado convention.
Denver first to make cheeseburger.
2nd producer of lamb
1st producer of millet (small seed grain grown in a difficult environment - sounds a lot like a school)
Introducing - Joellen Killion and Stephanie "Nikki" Rivera
It's not about choice, structural changes or market reform.
We understand that education is a human capitol issue.
Smart, dedicated well-trained people with the right incentives and the right support can do amazing things with kids.
Our grant-making has been focused on the simple fact that there si a tremendous genius in teachers and given the resources teachers can do amazing things.
Killion - Deputy Exec. Dir. of NSDC "taking the lead: new roles for teacher leaders..."
Rivera - clinical prof. in Adams 12 district, master teacher who assumes a leadership role in the dev. of pre-service and novice teachers.
Killion/Rivera:
Importance of aligning actions with beliefs. Beliefs are what we stand for. Beliefs challenge and facilitate work. Give courage and direction. Help take a stand. Re-assessment of beliefs increases integrity. beliefs Riv. now holds are not the same ones she held when she started as a coach. Started by giving resources. Stopped doing that because it created dependence.
Talking about the importance of not creating dependence as a coach. Haven't integrated beliefs until we experience them in a real-world setting.
Each experience provides us an opportunity to discover beliefs.
Admitting difference between what they believe/say they believe and what they actually do.
Two kinds of beliefs: beliefs in action and espoused beliefs.
"Reading my life as a textbook is a good way to discover if my life reflects my beliefs."
focus on student assessment that are true to accomplishment.
Fundamental beliefs of teacher leaders and coaches:
1. Let Go
2. believe in possibilities.
3. keep promises
4. do you best always
5. check perceptions
1. Let Go: Talking about difference between espoused/action in reference to imposing answers or letting community find solutions. Did not act on espoused belief. "What do you want?" "To be right." What did you get? Frustration and resistence. What did you learn? Being right didn't matter...they mattered. Let go of the need to fic and heal and rescue and repair others. Work rather on yourself. - Scot Peck "A different Drum."
(me- this is a basic tennet of improv)
2. Possibilities: (me, using narrative to show points) Lesson Study Protocol. Rolled out LSP with one team with no new teachers. Debriefing went well. Three years ago, school still using LSP. By believing in poss. these students and teachers are growing. Support and scaffolding gave every chance for success.
3. Keeping your Promises: Promised to send protocol when she got home. Did not send as she promised. Didn't remember. Got call Tuesday of the next week. Disappointment that the protocol didn't show up. Horrified. Made promise and didn't follow through. Sometimes not conscious of the promises we make. "See you later. Meeting starts at 3:30. Meet you in the library. I'll send that when I get home." (me - Four Agreements: Be impeccable in your word.) Loss of integrity leads to loss of trust leads to inability to engage with others. no objection can be read as a promise. Failure to keep promises is a choice that endangers the relationship.
4. Do your best, always: (me - Another Four Agreements: Always do your best.) Using story to explain points. She's a biking enthusiast. Went on trip to France. Promises of travel company's website didn't come through. People on buses were acting horrible. Coordinators listened to clients and wrote down complaints. Explained circumstances but didn't make excuses. On the last day, asked coord. how he was doing with near mutiny. On the bus. sitting in front of her, turned and said, "Life, is 10% what happens to you. 90% how you react to it." What a beautiful example of doing your best, always. Guiding belief was getting him through difficult situation. Often faced with visible and invisible mutinies.
5. Check your perceptions: Sometimes I make up explanations of things that I don't understand. Assumptions from wonderings. Andrea (teaching 3 years, tapped to be a coach). Doing observation of teacher. Andrea was conscious of butterflies. More severe than normal. Teacher she was observing had been her teacher. Facing a severe case of role reversal. How was she going to be able to give feedback to this teacher? Anxiety grew as lesson continued. Assumed feedback session would be horrible. Teacher sat, put hands on top of Andrea's. "Andrea, many years ago, I had the pleasure of being your teacher. I look forward now to you being my teacher." Andrea dissolved into tears. (me - etymological difference between "perception" and "assumption"?) "If I don't know something, it's best to check, clarify or hold curiosity about it." Withhold the drive to make up stories to explain what we don't know. (me - this is Covey "Seek first to understand and then to be understood.")
When we stand for what we believe, we are more authentic. When we take a stand for our beliefs, we make a difference for teachers and their students.
NSDC's new purpose statement - Every educator participates in effective professional development everyday so that every student learns.
Encouraging us to take every minute to learn from others.
Make a committment to actions. Every teacher needs to stand up to the plate of teacher leadership.
Sue McAdamis - NSDC Board PRes.
Mentioning sponsors.
Recognizing organizers.
There were 19 organizers on the stage, all educators - one man.
Sharing meals, networking and engaging in reflective conversations.
Encouraging us to be risk-takers. Sit with people we don't know and take reflective thoughts.
Avoid side conversations, turn off noisy stuff and give full attention.
Today's take-away is a bookmark made by 4th-grade students.
Another take away at lunch to inspire conversation at lunch.
The practice of deep reflection leads to knowledge and ultimately increases student achievement.
Denver public schools innovative teacher compensation program.
Welcome Phil Gonrey (sp) of the Rose Foundation
me - I wonder if "Rocky Mountain High" is played at every Colorado convention.
Denver first to make cheeseburger.
2nd producer of lamb
1st producer of millet (small seed grain grown in a difficult environment - sounds a lot like a school)
Introducing - Joellen Killion and Stephanie "Nikki" Rivera
It's not about choice, structural changes or market reform.
We understand that education is a human capitol issue.
Smart, dedicated well-trained people with the right incentives and the right support can do amazing things with kids.
Our grant-making has been focused on the simple fact that there si a tremendous genius in teachers and given the resources teachers can do amazing things.
Killion - Deputy Exec. Dir. of NSDC "taking the lead: new roles for teacher leaders..."
Rivera - clinical prof. in Adams 12 district, master teacher who assumes a leadership role in the dev. of pre-service and novice teachers.
Killion/Rivera:
Importance of aligning actions with beliefs. Beliefs are what we stand for. Beliefs challenge and facilitate work. Give courage and direction. Help take a stand. Re-assessment of beliefs increases integrity. beliefs Riv. now holds are not the same ones she held when she started as a coach. Started by giving resources. Stopped doing that because it created dependence.
Talking about the importance of not creating dependence as a coach. Haven't integrated beliefs until we experience them in a real-world setting.
Each experience provides us an opportunity to discover beliefs.
Admitting difference between what they believe/say they believe and what they actually do.
Two kinds of beliefs: beliefs in action and espoused beliefs.
"Reading my life as a textbook is a good way to discover if my life reflects my beliefs."
focus on student assessment that are true to accomplishment.
Fundamental beliefs of teacher leaders and coaches:
1. Let Go
2. believe in possibilities.
3. keep promises
4. do you best always
5. check perceptions
1. Let Go: Talking about difference between espoused/action in reference to imposing answers or letting community find solutions. Did not act on espoused belief. "What do you want?" "To be right." What did you get? Frustration and resistence. What did you learn? Being right didn't matter...they mattered. Let go of the need to fic and heal and rescue and repair others. Work rather on yourself. - Scot Peck "A different Drum."
(me- this is a basic tennet of improv)
2. Possibilities: (me, using narrative to show points) Lesson Study Protocol. Rolled out LSP with one team with no new teachers. Debriefing went well. Three years ago, school still using LSP. By believing in poss. these students and teachers are growing. Support and scaffolding gave every chance for success.
3. Keeping your Promises: Promised to send protocol when she got home. Did not send as she promised. Didn't remember. Got call Tuesday of the next week. Disappointment that the protocol didn't show up. Horrified. Made promise and didn't follow through. Sometimes not conscious of the promises we make. "See you later. Meeting starts at 3:30. Meet you in the library. I'll send that when I get home." (me - Four Agreements: Be impeccable in your word.) Loss of integrity leads to loss of trust leads to inability to engage with others. no objection can be read as a promise. Failure to keep promises is a choice that endangers the relationship.
4. Do your best, always: (me - Another Four Agreements: Always do your best.) Using story to explain points. She's a biking enthusiast. Went on trip to France. Promises of travel company's website didn't come through. People on buses were acting horrible. Coordinators listened to clients and wrote down complaints. Explained circumstances but didn't make excuses. On the last day, asked coord. how he was doing with near mutiny. On the bus. sitting in front of her, turned and said, "Life, is 10% what happens to you. 90% how you react to it." What a beautiful example of doing your best, always. Guiding belief was getting him through difficult situation. Often faced with visible and invisible mutinies.
5. Check your perceptions: Sometimes I make up explanations of things that I don't understand. Assumptions from wonderings. Andrea (teaching 3 years, tapped to be a coach). Doing observation of teacher. Andrea was conscious of butterflies. More severe than normal. Teacher she was observing had been her teacher. Facing a severe case of role reversal. How was she going to be able to give feedback to this teacher? Anxiety grew as lesson continued. Assumed feedback session would be horrible. Teacher sat, put hands on top of Andrea's. "Andrea, many years ago, I had the pleasure of being your teacher. I look forward now to you being my teacher." Andrea dissolved into tears. (me - etymological difference between "perception" and "assumption"?) "If I don't know something, it's best to check, clarify or hold curiosity about it." Withhold the drive to make up stories to explain what we don't know. (me - this is Covey "Seek first to understand and then to be understood.")
When we stand for what we believe, we are more authentic. When we take a stand for our beliefs, we make a difference for teachers and their students.
NSDC's new purpose statement - Every educator participates in effective professional development everyday so that every student learns.
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