Thought the piece posted on the ASCD Brief website was worth taking a look at. As teachers we are always looking for ways to connect our past history to our current history and making it relevant for students. Below is a snippet from the website and the link which provides information on making connections to important periods of history. Notice there are lessons posted, along with resources to make it worthwhile to view. Through discussion  high level questions have been included to prompt students to be critical thinkers.

Three of this year’s Oscar contenders — “Lincoln,” “Argo” and “Zero Dark Thirty” — invite viewers to look at history, either through the lens of the distant past (as in the case of “Lincoln”) or through recent events (like “Zero Dark Thirty”), and to question the degree of truth and fiction at work in the retelling of these events.

These same three movies have also prompted some serious debate and reflection on American politics, and the direction the nation should be headed.

learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/22/teaching-history-with-film-lincoln-argo-and-zero-dark-thirty/

I had the opportunity today to lead a curriculum discussion with students in Rob McFall’s Environmental Science Class to assist them in developing Energy Conservation units for each campus in White Oak ISD.

I want to brag on the students in this class, as they were eager, took notes, ask questions, while knowing the tasks they have before them. There will be a huge support system along the way, but the responsibility of the work, and the end product, is on them.

We talked about developing curriculum, looking at and evaluating the state standards, writing lesson objectives, and correlating the appropriate age-level activities and instructional pieces for each campus and grade levels. They were provided with numerous resources, technology support, websites, state standards and student expectations, along with a timeline for completing the project and presenting it to district administrators and officials.

I was very excited to have the opportunity to work with this class, and salute Coach McFall and his students on moving to the next level with project-based learning. Our goal is to unveil the project (and the end product) is set for week of February 18, 2013.

Here is the link to the keynote presentation for Environmental Science.

Having attended the State Assessment Conference last week I wanted to share a short piece of what I walked away with. For the most part, the sessions were worthy of attending and packed full of information to share with principals and teachers.

There were lots of conversations within each of the core sessions that provided information from the previous spring, 2012 tests, and what to look for as we teach and prepare kids for the next series of 2013 tests. It was made very clear that the tests are rigorous and we must consistently look at context and cognition.

One of the sessions I attended was a presentation by Clear Creek ISD (they are one of the Texas High Performance Consortium Schools). I attended on purpose because it’s always a good idea to see what best practices others are using. They made it very clear that students ought to be tested in various forms that are best for them; that’s the philosophy of the THPSC, but as reality has it, we must continue to move forward with the state’s plan for testing.

With that said, here are a few of the tips shared throughout the conference, specifically targeting the creation of local assessments:

1. Keep the vocabulary consistent with the student level of understanding.

2. Make sure there is only one correct answer choice.

3. Word the stem positively and avoid negative phrasing.

4. Take note and read/compare the Bloom’s chart as we know it and the revised version. (I’ll have copies for you at our STAAR Core meetings in January, 2013)

5. When planning instruction remember that discussion and collaboration are at the top of the revised Bloom’s chart.

6.  Assessment and instruction should mirror one another.

7. Good writing always starts with good thinking! WE SHOULD BE WRITING AT EVERY GRADE LEVEL REGARDLESS OF ASSESSMENTS.

Beginning in January, 2013, I will be meeting with teachers (core subjects 3-10) to review information that will be helpful as we move forward with planning instruction and engaging students.  We have incredible teachers at every level and we will continue to do what is best for all students.

I attended the Tech Forum Conference in Austin yesterday and  participated in several worthy sessions. The Keynote Speaker, Diana Laufenberg , presented on ‘Realizing the Potential of the Classroom and the Teaching and Learning Tools that Make it Happen.’ While I’ve been following Diana on Twitter for a couple of months, I had the opportunity to meet her in person and hear her story.  She is a 15-year teaching veteran, who most recently completed a four-year stint at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadephia, and is currently enjoying a sabbatical. During her travels she continues to work with teachers and students throughout the country, sharing her vision for today’s learners.

I want to share a few of the points made during the presentation:

•  Our schools hold immense potential for authentic and experience-based learning.
• Technology offers the means by which to elevate the quality, relevance and creativity of student work.
• Educators and administrators have tremendous opportunities to think creatively about their practice and play an integral role in visioning that new approach.

Several things she spoke on support our efforts here at White Oak ISD.

• We are a caring institution–we teach kids, not subjects.
• Create a student-centered classroom.
• Be Flexible – if you truly value student voice, they must know that their ideas can direct the path of learning.
• Foster inquiry by scaffolding curiosity.
• Be the architect of participation; Social Media is accessible–encourage your students and colleagues to use it.
• Be less helpful–you want your students to research, investigate, interview, write, and create. So Let Them! In other words, get out of their way.
• Reflect – you reflect on the lesson/unit; two or three days after an assignment or project is turned in, have the students reflect. Reflection is good for the soul, and it helps us see what we could have been different.
• Embrace failure – Never send them on that they haven’t encountered some type of failure; learn from it and go again.
• And finally–foster joy in your students through the learning that goes on in your classroom.

We have some incredible learning experiences going on in this district. Teachers across the grade levels are using Project-Based Learning to engage students, challenge them, encourage creativity and problem-solving skills, while collaborating with classmates. What’s even more encouraging is the number of students working with PBL and excited about the lessons, the intrigue of the driving question and the field-based inquiry needed to navigate through the components.

Some of our classes are in the beginning stages, while others have been working with PBL for over a year. When planning significant lessons there should be equal emphasis on significant content and 21st century skills. We must promote critical thinking, collaboration, communication and creativity. The Buck Institute has provided a resource titled, ‘Exploring the 8 Essential Elements of PBL.’ While the article is full of details and noteworthy examples on how to create meaningful PBL units, our own White Oak Middle School students are showcased in this piece with a project they participated in, titled, ‘Code: Maroon.’ I was part of the panel when these students gave their presentations, and the students were ready to take the stage at City Hall to promote the work they had put together for the entire community of White Oak. While there was some nervousness and anxiousness, they didn’t let fear get in the way of showing off the collaborative work and resources they had prepared.

Many of you have been crafting lessons that are changing the classroom and curriculum focus from teacher driven to student driven. It takes guts, time, resources, more time, and the ability to look beyond what you’ve been doing in the classroom and look forward to what you and your students need to be doing in the classroom. You have the support of your administrators at the campus and district levels to make the changes that impact your students and their learning. Take the challenge and have no fear–step out there with a desire to embrace the future, even when we don’t always know what the future holds.

Just something to think about………………….

When you read the rest of today’s blog I want you to know it spoke volumes to me about the transformation we are going through with  our teaching and  our classrooms,  and the good work that we are doing in this district with regard to 21st Century Skills. A colleague I follow on Twitter, Shelly S. Terrell, wrote an article about Transforming your teaching this school year, and I feel it bears repeating.

” I want to give you permission. I want to tell you that yes, you have the freedom and power to inspire incredible learning this year. You are the instrument in your classroom that determines whether your students will love learning or hate learning. So how do you begin to implement that power and ensure your students learn effectively? Try a few of these ideas in your class this year. They are meant to be accomplished in only one class period in one semester. This way you can take baby steps and reflect on the outcomes in the coming months. If these ideas don’t work, you can always go back to your regular way of teaching.”

Several tips to encourage transformation in your classroom and with students: (more tips can be found in the link I’ve included on my blog)

• Ask a question that has many answers or no answer at all.
• Give your students the reins for one class period. Give them the topic or learning objective, then ask how they would like to learn about that topic. They might suggest a game, project or exploration with technology.
• Allow your students to choose how they will be assessed for one topic. They might suggest a project, game or another method.
• Ask your students what they really are interested in learning and for the day, allow them to interview an expert in that field online. Your students can search for the e-mail address, blog address, Facebook account or Twitter handle of that person. For example, a student might be interested in skateboarding. Have that student connect with Tony Hawk on Twitter or another famous skateboarder.
• Tell your students everyday for a week that you are glad to be their teacher. Do this by greeting them at the door with a smile, handshake or high five.
• Conduct a class in a different environment, such as outdoors or in another part of the building.

In my daily visits and walkthroughs to campuses I continue to see student-centered classrooms filled with creativity, spontaneous conversations about the learning, and the encouragement and confidence from students who understand the concepts they are learning about. Reach deep within you to continue the transformation that includes authentic learning, sound instructional pedagogy, and the evidence of learning you see as a result. You will be amazed.

Today kicked off the meeting of the 23 districts involved in the THPSC. Approxiately 95 forward thinking administrators and leadership teams met with TASA to create a plan for a new assessment and accountability system for Texas students. Meaningful discussions took place about the what needs to be done with accountability and who we should be accountable to. Looking forward to day 2 tomorrow and continuing the work with people who have a passion for kids.

White Oak ISD was selected by TEA as the Texas district featured in a skype with the State Educational Technology Directors Association (Leadership Summit) in Washington D.C. yesterday. We were featured in the new learning models portion of the meeting and showcased Mrs. Tricia Cook and her Algebra I class using the Flipped Classroom Model. Mrs. Cook, along with four of her students talked about the model, the impact it had on student learning, student collaboration, and the support offered by the district and campus to make this change.

The students did a great job of accurately describing their experiences and how this model had helped them be successful, despite struggling with math  in previous years. Please take a look at Mrs. Cook’s Algebra I blog for resources, videos, and curriculum connections.

Great things going on in White Oak ISD.

Great training occurred today for teachers in WOISD during the second professional learning collaborative.  There were a variety of sessions offered for teachers to be connected and collaborate with colleagues from across the district.

Below are just a few of the comments shared by more than 105 teachers about the training opportunities offered today.

• Evaluate past practices and make adjustments to instruction that will address the four big questions.
• Work with kids to higher level thinking from a cognitive point of view. Force kids to evaluate themselves as well as their surroundings and how to make them better.
• I will be more deliberate in designing big questions to guide instruction and study inquiry. I like the idea of the students crafting more questions and questioning each other, even permitting them to help design quizzes or test question banks.
• I will take ideas from the guided reading strategies such as authentic conversations to allow students to talk through word problems in math and to use powerful prompts and praises for specific tasks by students.
• We are well on our way with using project-based learning as an effective inquiry driven method of instruction.
• Impressed with teacher ideas and creativity and their desire to move to the next level.