February 2009 Blog Posts (23)

Stories of Excellence Collection

NAIS released their booklet Stories of Excellence at the annual convention in Chicago. The stories contain 20 examples of innovative teaching. A PDF version is available from this page:

http://www.nais.org/resources/index.cfm?ItemNumber=151611

I think they offer concrete examples of some of the theories swirling around teaching, learning, and innovation. I'd love to know your thoughts, please… Continue

Added by Jamie Britto on February 28, 2009 at 11:51am — No Comments

Brilliant People Who Care; Reflections of NAIS '09

Just about a year ago today I was returning from one of my all-time favorite cities, The Big Apple, after attending NAIS’ 2008 Annual Conference. For those that know me well NAIS ‘08 was a life changing event for me professionally. The speakers, the sessions, the ideas and the connections I made have served me well this past year and have dramatically changed how I view that which I do.

Today, as I reflect on the past year and consider how NAIS 2009 has impacted me, I am reminded of… Continue

Added by Jason Ramsden on February 28, 2009 at 10:00am — No Comments

Live Blogging NAIS 09

I'm going to live blog back to my school (Greensboro Day School) during the NAIS Sessions. I'd welcome questions and comments!

If you're interested in experimenting with live blogging come on by!

If you'll be there and would like to join in as a panelist, just let me know and I'll add you.

Sarah

Added by Sarah Hanawald on February 24, 2009 at 9:03pm — 5 Comments

Looking Back... and Forward (from the SBMS Newsletter)

While in college, the great football player Alex Karras was once given the summer job of repainting the stadium's seats. George Plimpton describes him as walking into the 70,000+ seat stadium, looking around, and wondering, "Where do I start?" I felt much the same when I was first asked to put together a list of Purposes and Objectives for the Middle School, then still a dream. There was so much we wanted to do, so much we could do well, that figuring out how best to organize and prioritize… Continue

Added by Bill Ivey on February 24, 2009 at 12:43pm — No Comments

"Excellence Without AP" becomes Independent Curriculum Group; see website

This is to announce that the Independent Curriculum Group's website, http://www.independentcurriculum.org/ has now gone live. The ICG is the new and better iteration of the informal group of schools oragnized some years back by Bruce Hammond (then of Sandia Prep in New Mexico) under the "Excellence without AP" banner. Bruce is now the executive director of the ICG and the brains behind the outfit in all ways.

The new site features… Continue

Added by Peter Gow on February 16, 2009 at 11:30am — 1 Comment

Ning-ing

I think that Ninging will help me clarify vital concepts in my life: adverbs, adjectives, my professionally social integrity, and being transparently present. As if...

Added by Anne Becker Schwartzberg on February 13, 2009 at 12:56pm — 1 Comment

refleccionando

Particular strengths:

mm hmmm....at this point, i'm thinking long and hard about this question. at the moment, i need to work on EVERYTHING.

however, i feel i have the best grasp on the integrity, adaptability, and responsibility. i often ask my colleagues, in and out of my department, for advice on various aspects of my teaching: from how to deal with discipline issues to how to best present the differences between the imperfect and preterit. i believe that openness in dialog… Continue

Added by Ricardo Arocha on February 13, 2009 at 12:54pm — 1 Comment

Rubrically Speaking

With regard to the rubric,

I'm incredibly excited about the page (page 6) that asks us to bring our most polished, professional work to our classroom. I'm going to work on this.

It is important to me to work on my writing. For this reason, I will focus on the following in My PDP...

My PDP

"The teacher. . . Takes particular pride in producing high-

quality professional work;" -- MKA Lifelong Learners' Rubric page… Continue

Added by Ellen on February 13, 2009 at 12:51pm — 1 Comment

Reflections

New criteria definately better than often worthless goals which were never really relevant to our service here.

Added by J.C. Svec on February 13, 2009 at 12:40pm — No Comments

Reflections

My first blog. I must admit that I'm pretty proud of myself. I might be the smartest man alive.

Added by Nathan Burroughs on February 13, 2009 at 12:39pm — No Comments

Professional Growth Process

Lucky Friday the 13th, 2009 (Tee Hee)

I decided to look through the MKA's Lifelong Learner's Rubric and assign myself a value between 1 and 12 in each category. Here are my results:

Taking Initiative for Learning: 6

Teaching/Advisory: 8.5

Curriculum Development: 8.5

Assessment: 4

Responsible Team Player: 9

Effective Professional: 6

Based on this, I decided to put my primary focus on Assessment and my secondary focus on becoming a more… Continue

Added by Helena Wullert on February 13, 2009 at 12:36pm — 1 Comment

Friday the 13th

The MKA faculty are some of the funniest people I know!

Added by Kristen on February 13, 2009 at 12:21pm — 1 Comment

Assessment and Evaluation

Is there a difference? Branches on the same tree? Two distinct organisms feed by feedback? Thoughts?

Added by Tony Jones on February 13, 2009 at 12:19pm — 1 Comment

1st reflection

As a first-year teacher, I am looking forward to learning from the veteran teachers that surround me. I think this initiative is a great way to encourage and facilitate teacher-development. As it's been made clear, all of the supporting documents (ie: rubric) and the process are a work in progress. That is, as far as MKA goes, this new PDP is hypothetical in that it has not yet been fully applied. I am interested in seeing how it all unfolds. I think it will be fruitful and positive.

Added by Ricardo Arocha on February 13, 2009 at 12:13pm — 2 Comments

Professional Dev. Plan ideas #1

How can I use the MKA ning to facilitate the development of a professional development plan?

12:00-1:00 p.m.

Ask participants to compose a reflection that they will post in a blog on their profile—the first step in the professional growth process and a foundation for their professional development planning. They should use their notes from the earlier morning session as a jumping off point to expand their answers to following questions (which are related to the questions… Continue

Added by Brian on February 13, 2009 at 12:12pm — No Comments

On Clarity

Clarifying Questions

Well, I feel…

What aspects are still unclear?

I would like to make sure that stopping to reflect feels like a positive moment of refreshment, rather than yet another task...

What do you foresee as most helpful?

I believe that this will be helpful to me if it will help me to present a more lucid, singular plan to myself and to… Continue

Added by Ellen on February 13, 2009 at 12:00pm — 1 Comment

PDP Ideas #1

How can I use the MKA ning to facilitate the development of a professional development plan?

The best part of the ning is the ability to discuss curriculum for middle school art classes with other teachers from around the world. The major problem I face at the middle school is that I am the only visual arts instructor. In order to develop professionally, this type of idea sharing is crucial.

What areas on the rubric do you identify as your particular… Continue

Added by Jason on February 13, 2009 at 12:00pm — 1 Comment

Observer/partner

Would it be relevant to have one “mentor” partner to observe throughout days/months etc to make the rubric, and it’s progressive nature relevant to the whole teacher?

Do we really have to be finished with observation processes by end of Nov. 09? Can it extend that date?

Added by Anne Becker Schwartzberg on February 13, 2009 at 12:00pm — 1 Comment

Here I am World

Just to make everyone aware- people that don't know me actually read my "official" blog and liked it!

Look if you like, and feel free to follow. <3

Added by CherylAnne Amendola on February 13, 2009 at 10:38am — No Comments

books

here is a list of "school" books that i wish to read sometime in the near future...

Here Comes Everybody - Clay Shirky
Don't Think of an Elephant - Lakoff
It's Hard Being Your Friend
The Students are Watching - Sizer
A Mind at a Time - Levine
The Art of School Leadership - Hoerr
Disrupting Class - Clayton Christensen

Added by Deborah on February 12, 2009 at 8:30am — 2 Comments