June 2009 Blog Posts (16)

Introducing the Online School for Girls

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT BRAD RATHGEBER AT BRAD.RATHGEBER@ONLINESCHOOLFORGIRLS.ORG OR 301.365.6114

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: June 22, 2009

ONLINE SCHOOL FOR GIRLS LAUNCHING THIS FALL

Nationwide Consortium of independent all-girls’ schools to launch first online school for girls

June 22, 2009… A nationwide consortium of independent, all-girls’ schools announced the creation of the first ever online school dedicated to secondary… Continue

Added by Brad on June 22, 2009 at 3:39pm — 6 Comments

Centralisation of Education - Threat to Independence in the UK

The Law relating to elective home education is currently under Reivew in England, claiming that the lack of State registration is a legal "loophole" which allows child abuse to go undetected. Despite finding no evidence to support this claim, the recommendations made by the Review's leader, Mr. Graham Badman, include powers hitherto unthinkable, such as the right of the Local educational Authority to decide whether or not to allow parents to home educate, based on their stated educational… Continue

Added by Shoshana on June 20, 2009 at 9:45am — No Comments

Tech Institute Day 1

Tools for making students' thinking "visible"

myWebspiration- cool online mind mapping app like in/kinspiration. Collaborative through email invites similar to google docs and with cool history feature that saves each incarnation of a map to track student progress- useful for student reflection and teacher assessment.

Microblogging in class to get instant visual brief feedback from students about their progress to gauge how to proceed with pacing and… Continue

Added by Meghan Murray on June 11, 2009 at 2:30pm — 2 Comments

Professional Development Plan

Developing effective collaboration through vocal grade level chorus work & handbell choirs requires children to acquire the skills of respect in sharing equipment, and responsibility in rehearsal and performances. The capacity to listen critically to music encourages children to experience empathy and a deeper understanding of the world around them. My professional development plan is to expand on my opportunities to exemplify integrity, adaptability & responsibility to the community,… Continue

Added by Jane D. Smith on June 10, 2009 at 11:47am — 1 Comment

...and the results are in.

I gave my questionnaire a couple of weeks ago and sat biting my nails as students responded. It really drove home the idea that we are all so dependent on feedback. Whereas the kids are used to getting it routinely from us(through grades, coaching, hallway behavior), I think that most of us as professionals are out of practice in getting it from them. I now understand how even if I say ten positive things to a student, he or she may focus only on that one negative comment. I got more… Continue

Added by Laura Demaria on June 10, 2009 at 11:30am — 2 Comments

addition to my PDP--June 2009

June 10, 2009

I am adding to my PDP. Basically, in addition to what I posted in May, I am also focusing in on the category of the rubric below. My main emphasis will be upon helping students to learn and then demonstrate critical thinking skills. I am most interested in this because I feel like I want to equip students to approach ANY piece of literature, not simply the literature I teach in my class. Also, I want to see students entering into writing a paper through the engaging in a… Continue

Added by Cynthia Darling on June 10, 2009 at 10:43am — No Comments

# 4

I chose this strand of the rubric because my PDP deals with using writing samples in order to assess the writing ability of students. Both process and product will be assessed. After examining writing samples instruction to target specific areas of need will be designed.

Added by Regina Elberg on June 9, 2009 at 1:56pm — No Comments

PDP Next Step

My next step is to analyze the student work I have collected during May and June from my lessons in the library. Also, thinking about planning for the fall.

Summer plans:

NECC- web 2.0 tools for primary students, and primary source workshop @ Library of Congress. A la carte workshop offerings tbd upon arrival.

MKA Tech Institute

Apple Certified Tech Training

Summer library work w/ Head Librarian- weeding, evaluating, processing new… Continue

Added by Meghan Murray on June 9, 2009 at 1:30pm — No Comments

My 2009-2010 Personal Development Plan - Onging development of curriculum instruction to meet students' needs

To my teaching colleagues and to myself...Reflections on the Classroom in Civilization, grade 9

The second year of the new Upper School schedule has been completed. Working with blocks of 75 minutes has become familiar to all of us and for the most part works well. At times, meeting every other day can be cumbersome as there is a day for students to set aside history class and concentrate on other disciplines, However, the homework assignments that I give, hopefully, will create a… Continue

Added by Carol Spencer on June 9, 2009 at 11:30am — No Comments

Options For More Individual Activities In The PE Classroom

At my school we have three PE teachers. 2 male and one female. We have a wide range of traditional and non traditional sports that we teach throughout the year. We work very well with the amount of students we have and the space we have. For me, obtaining new material or techniques is important for a middle school kid. I'm wondering what other schools are doing now with PE and hoping to hear some feedback as to what new activities are out there and how to go about obtaining new things to teach.… Continue

Added by Leon Shade on June 8, 2009 at 11:55am — No Comments

Where I am now and Where I want to be according to the three strands of my goal- rather confessional

Communication- intermittent communication- want to be timely with monthly contacts as advisor

Quality professional work and deadlines- developed some time management strategies and I meet deadlines sometimes. I would like to demonstrate consistent time management and deadline meeting.

Pursue professional development in variety of ways for growth: generally understand some important current research and use it to improve pedagogical practice. I would like… Continue

Added by Anne Becker Schwartzberg on June 8, 2009 at 11:51am — No Comments

Performing Arts Educators in Independent Schools

I wanted to reach out to performing arts educators to find out some creative ways to recruit and retain male students in my Middle School dance program?

I also wanted to get advice on curriculum development and how to go about implementing new dance genres to my performing arts curriculum?

Added by Monica Lynne Elmore on June 8, 2009 at 11:48am — No Comments

Survey Analysis

Did anyone get back exactly what they thought they would on their surveys? I did, and the results were good. I only had one outlier in my data.

The only thing that my students wish is that they had to read less- but in humanities I find reading to be a "necessary evil".

So I guess my second question is... now what?

Added by CherylAnne Amendola on June 8, 2009 at 11:39am — No Comments

2 PDP Categories

In a conversation today with Marsha, she discovered that my professional development plan (PDP) actually falls between 2 categories on MKA's PDP rubric:

1. Engaging in the ongoing development of curriculum and instruction to meet students' needs.

2. Equipping students to take initiative for their learning in both familiar and novel situations.

My PDP is tied directly to my Blauvelt project, along with another goal. My Blauvelt project is to implement a social action… Continue

Added by CherylAnne Amendola on June 8, 2009 at 11:31am — No Comments

My timeline/brainstorm/ and journal for PDP

Create reflection sheet for each student in each section- one for me one for student and have them reflect every four weeks (schedule this out) so that you and the student understands their progress- use this to comment to parents.

Create a schedule for doing parent contacts the same time every four weeks- map this out on the calendar at the beginning of the school year.

Get schedules for all reading/writing professional development classes/workshops-… Continue

Added by Anne Becker Schwartzberg on June 8, 2009 at 11:30am — No Comments

Summer Plan

My plan for summer to work on my PDP:

1. Tech institute @ MKA
2. Ethics institute @ MKA
3. Project Citizen Summer Institute @ Salve Regina University
4. Write Blauvelt project
5. Work on revising Williamsburg project

Quite a bit to do, good thing we have about 10 weeks!

Added by CherylAnne Amendola on June 8, 2009 at 11:30am — No Comments