The counseling office is one of the departments I have the honor of overseeing. I am willing to admin that, when I was in the classroom as a teach, I did not really understand what the counselors did. I did not utilize my guidance counselor much when I was in high school, so I did not realize the resource that was available to me. Counselors are educators who go through extensive training to do exactly what their name says: counsel. Whether it is about the courses to take for the next school year, where to apply to college, dealing with difficult emotional issues, bullying, troubles at home, teen pregnancy, eating disorders...pretty much anything there has been an after school special about, counselors are on the front line. They are a wonderful resource and connecting point to a multitude of additional resources. That is one thing I wish I had know when I was in high school, or as a teacher.
We have had college nights in the past, but typically it was in January and for seniors in high school. By that point, college applications and financial aid forms should have already been completed and it makes the usefulness of the evening moot for most parents and students. The counselors came to me with an idea...have a college night much earlier in the year...and invite parents of juniors to attend as well. I told them to run with it. They came up with the sessions, the speakers, the plan, and the logistics for the entire evening. In fact, I am writing this post as the parents and students are in one of the sessions. To improve things, we have an evaluation form for the parents and students to complete so we can make sure that future nights will be designed to better fit the needs and desires of the our families.
I thought it was fantastic that the counselors wanted to get families involved earlier in the process and not wait until the student was in 12th grade to begin thinking about college. I want to take it a step further.When is the time that students should being thinking about their post-high school plans? As a parent, I think that it should begin before the child is conceived, but if we start them thinking about specifics when they are freshman, that can be very useful. There is a slogan being kicked around the have a College 101 night. I say make it College and Career 101and let's go with it.
College and Career 101 can be for the 9th grade students and parents. Further events in the year can be named College and Career 102, 103, etc. For our 10th grade students and parents, we advance to College and Career 201; 11th graders will get College and Career 301; 12th graders get College and Career 401. Which brings me to the title of the post...What do I wish that I had known?
This is the question I want to pose to our parents and our students who have gone through this series of events this year. Their wishes for information will help us design the 9-12 College and Career preparation curriculum. I want to include the student voices to help guide our underclassmen through this high school process to help them be the best prepared for whatever their post-secondary plans may hold.
What do you wish you had known?
Showing posts with label community. Show all posts
Showing posts with label community. Show all posts
Thursday, November 07, 2013
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Where is the line?
I am a big proponent of educators utilizing a variety of social media outlets to participate in professional development, engage students in the learning, and maintain open communication lines with stakeholders concerning important events. Having said that, I have had an occurrence that has got me asking the question of where is the line?
My 2 boys (4 1/2 and 2 1/2) both go to school/daycare. It is a WONDERFUL facility with an amazing staff who genuinely care about the social, emotional, and cognitive growth of all of the children who attend. My youngest son is in the 2-3 year old room and, with any child who is exploring the world but can not fully express himself, there are instances where two children will get into a scuffle. Sometimes it is a little hitting or pushing, sometimes biting, but these are isolated incidents and parents are informed of when they occur. All of the rooms are under video surveillance and in order to protect all parties involved, a parent is notified that their child was involved in an incident but is not informed of who the other child is.
I pick my boys up from school in the afternoon and notice that my youngest son has a scrape on his nose and by his eye. I ask the teacher in the room what happened and she did not know. This is not necessarily uncommon because of the shifts that the teachers have during the work day. She went to go check in the office to see if there was a notification and came back to tell me that there was not one. At this point, I go to the office and speak with the directors asking them to check the video to see what had happened because there is one child in the class who has been having some issues in respecting the personal space and belongings of other children. (The only reason why I know this child is because my son tells me who did it when something happens.) The directors apologized that there was no incident report and said that they would look at the video and get back to me.
Here is where my dilemma started...through Facebook, I am connected to many of the teachers' personal pages that my kids had at the school. As I said, they are wonderful people there and like keeping up with the goings on of the school's families, even after they have left a particular class. My quandary was do I contact the teacher directly through Facebook to see what happened.
I remember when I was a second year teacher and a parent called me a home to yell at me about their child's progress (or lack thereof) and to challenge what I was teaching in class. I remained calm, answered all of her concerns, and then politely told her that if she has further questions or concerns that she should contact me at school via phone or email and do not call me at home again. When I received that phone class at my home, I felt attacked and felt that this parent had broken a line of decency, for lack of a better term, because she had made no attempt to contact me at school.
As I was trying to decide if I should send her a private message about the incident, I received one from the director of the daycare indicating that he saw my son fall down (with no one around him) and that seemed to be the only event that could have caused this incident. He further explained in the message that he would speak with the teachers in the room and remind them of reporting policies and procedures.
Since I had a resolution to this incident and it was cause by my son's inherited grace and balance, I did not contact the teacher via Facebook. When I dropped the kids off the next day, the teacher came directly to me and told me what she knew about the incident and showed me the report that was completed, but had not been filed yet.
Should I have contacted the teacher via her personal page? If she had a work email or classroom page, I would have no issue in initiating the contact. When I thought of my own experience, I felt that contacting her via her personal page would be akin to the phone call that I received at home. But what of the director contacting me?
I viewed this as a contact from the school to a parent in which, as a teacher, I would call the home or business number or email an available address to discuss any issue. I did question why he did it via his personal Facebook account, but did not push the matter.
It just raised some questions. Where is the line of appropriate contact? As an educator, I would not want people posting items to my personal page nor calling me at home uninvited. How much training do we provide for our staffs about issues like this? Connecting with parents and students through personal pages? Are mandates and policies needed? Guidelines?
Regardless, education of all is needed in appropriate ways to establish lines of communication in the hyper connected world.
My 2 boys (4 1/2 and 2 1/2) both go to school/daycare. It is a WONDERFUL facility with an amazing staff who genuinely care about the social, emotional, and cognitive growth of all of the children who attend. My youngest son is in the 2-3 year old room and, with any child who is exploring the world but can not fully express himself, there are instances where two children will get into a scuffle. Sometimes it is a little hitting or pushing, sometimes biting, but these are isolated incidents and parents are informed of when they occur. All of the rooms are under video surveillance and in order to protect all parties involved, a parent is notified that their child was involved in an incident but is not informed of who the other child is.
I pick my boys up from school in the afternoon and notice that my youngest son has a scrape on his nose and by his eye. I ask the teacher in the room what happened and she did not know. This is not necessarily uncommon because of the shifts that the teachers have during the work day. She went to go check in the office to see if there was a notification and came back to tell me that there was not one. At this point, I go to the office and speak with the directors asking them to check the video to see what had happened because there is one child in the class who has been having some issues in respecting the personal space and belongings of other children. (The only reason why I know this child is because my son tells me who did it when something happens.) The directors apologized that there was no incident report and said that they would look at the video and get back to me.
Here is where my dilemma started...through Facebook, I am connected to many of the teachers' personal pages that my kids had at the school. As I said, they are wonderful people there and like keeping up with the goings on of the school's families, even after they have left a particular class. My quandary was do I contact the teacher directly through Facebook to see what happened.
I remember when I was a second year teacher and a parent called me a home to yell at me about their child's progress (or lack thereof) and to challenge what I was teaching in class. I remained calm, answered all of her concerns, and then politely told her that if she has further questions or concerns that she should contact me at school via phone or email and do not call me at home again. When I received that phone class at my home, I felt attacked and felt that this parent had broken a line of decency, for lack of a better term, because she had made no attempt to contact me at school.
As I was trying to decide if I should send her a private message about the incident, I received one from the director of the daycare indicating that he saw my son fall down (with no one around him) and that seemed to be the only event that could have caused this incident. He further explained in the message that he would speak with the teachers in the room and remind them of reporting policies and procedures.
Since I had a resolution to this incident and it was cause by my son's inherited grace and balance, I did not contact the teacher via Facebook. When I dropped the kids off the next day, the teacher came directly to me and told me what she knew about the incident and showed me the report that was completed, but had not been filed yet.
Should I have contacted the teacher via her personal page? If she had a work email or classroom page, I would have no issue in initiating the contact. When I thought of my own experience, I felt that contacting her via her personal page would be akin to the phone call that I received at home. But what of the director contacting me?
I viewed this as a contact from the school to a parent in which, as a teacher, I would call the home or business number or email an available address to discuss any issue. I did question why he did it via his personal Facebook account, but did not push the matter.
It just raised some questions. Where is the line of appropriate contact? As an educator, I would not want people posting items to my personal page nor calling me at home uninvited. How much training do we provide for our staffs about issues like this? Connecting with parents and students through personal pages? Are mandates and policies needed? Guidelines?
Regardless, education of all is needed in appropriate ways to establish lines of communication in the hyper connected world.
Monday, February 04, 2013
Fun from Springfield
Once again, I made the trek down Interstate 55 to beautiful Springfield, IL for a Race to the Top meeting. At the meeting, we were able to interact and connect with other school districts who are participating in the program. There were breakout sessions on the Common Core, Performance Evaluation Reform Act (PERA), the 5 Essentials Survey of Learning Conditions, and the Illinois Shared Learning Environment (ISLE). Because we had a team attending the meeting, I went to the common core session, just to see if there was anything that we were missing. My notes can be found here.
Some interesting things from the session included the idea of presenting your community members, BOE, local business leaders, and parents with examples of the work that the students will be doing on the state assessments. It can lead to a great discussion of what work at home needs to be done to support learning, what work is being done at school and the connections that can be made/reinforced between the home and school, and clearly demonstrate the work that teachers are doing with students every day.
The math examples provided are definitely challenging for students, especially under timed conditions. Take a look:
Conceptual understanding
1. Write four fractions that are all equal to 5.
2. Write a number that is greater that 1/5 and less than 1/4.
3. What are two different equations with the same solution as 3(y-1)=8?
Fluency
Mark each of the following as True or False
8*9=80-8
54/8=24/6
7*5=25
8*3=4*6
49/7=56/8
Application
A plate of cookies:
Given an unlimited amount of time, the above tasks are solvable. Under a timed testing condition, these tasks become more challenging.
A nice resource provided by ISBE is their professional development series that is available on their website. http://www.isbe.net/common_core/pls/default.htm There are differentiated resources available, depending on your foundational knowledge and level of implementation.
Another resource shared is the monthly Common Core News Letter. The series is called Capture the Core and is differentiated by grade level. http://www.isbe.net/common_core/htmls/news.htm
The activity that we did during the session was a modified role playing activity where we were divided into different constituent groups and asked to look at some framing questions through that group's lens. The groups were District Level, School Level, Classroom Level, and Community Level. Below are the main shared points from each group:
Overall, I feel very comfortable with how we have been implementing common core. There are some big changes that some districts will have to make. We are also awaiting guidance from the state to determine what sequence of math and science courses will become the official recommendation (i.e. Traditional vs Integrated).
Some interesting things from the session included the idea of presenting your community members, BOE, local business leaders, and parents with examples of the work that the students will be doing on the state assessments. It can lead to a great discussion of what work at home needs to be done to support learning, what work is being done at school and the connections that can be made/reinforced between the home and school, and clearly demonstrate the work that teachers are doing with students every day.
The math examples provided are definitely challenging for students, especially under timed conditions. Take a look:
Conceptual understanding
1. Write four fractions that are all equal to 5.
2. Write a number that is greater that 1/5 and less than 1/4.
3. What are two different equations with the same solution as 3(y-1)=8?
Fluency
Mark each of the following as True or False
8*9=80-8
54/8=24/6
7*5=25
8*3=4*6
49/7=56/8
Application
A plate of cookies:
- There were 28 cookies on a plate
- Five children each at one cookie
- Two children each at 3 cookies
- One child ate 5 cookies
- The rest of the children each ate 2 cookies
- Then the plate was empty,
Given an unlimited amount of time, the above tasks are solvable. Under a timed testing condition, these tasks become more challenging.
A nice resource provided by ISBE is their professional development series that is available on their website. http://www.isbe.net/common_core/pls/default.htm There are differentiated resources available, depending on your foundational knowledge and level of implementation.
Another resource shared is the monthly Common Core News Letter. The series is called Capture the Core and is differentiated by grade level. http://www.isbe.net/common_core/htmls/news.htm
The activity that we did during the session was a modified role playing activity where we were divided into different constituent groups and asked to look at some framing questions through that group's lens. The groups were District Level, School Level, Classroom Level, and Community Level. Below are the main shared points from each group:
- District Level: Communication is key with all stakeholders. Discuss planning and implementation, what the changes will look like, and demonstrate how instruction will be different for teachers, students, and parents.
- School Level: Ensure that there is horizontal and vertical alignment within a school and between districts (feeder schools).
- Classroom Level: Provide immediate feedback to students on their learning. (Was in reference to different diagnostic and assessment tools)
- Community Level: Design specific times to involve parents (i.e. Open House, P/T conferences). Other suggestions included doing home visits to discuss curriculum changes at key transitions (5th to 6th, 8th to 9th grade) and provide an informative video about the necessary shifts. (e.g. from Bensenville http://vimeo.com/51718107)
Overall, I feel very comfortable with how we have been implementing common core. There are some big changes that some districts will have to make. We are also awaiting guidance from the state to determine what sequence of math and science courses will become the official recommendation (i.e. Traditional vs Integrated).
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Me vs. We
As I (and many others) have said before, Words Matter!
A relayed conversation got me thinking about Me vs. We. I think it would be an interesting study to interview Superintendents and Principals of comparable schools and districts that are considered successful and unsuccessful (it would take a long time to define that right now) and ask them questions using indefinite articles concerning the schools, students, academic programs, etc. under their charge.
What got me thinking was a conversation told to me of a Superintendent from a school district that is not considered successful through the lens of percentage of students who meet and/or exceed expectations on the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE). [Note: The PSAE is the NCLB mandated 2 day test which consists of the ACT for Day 1 and the Work Keys and a state developed assessment of science content.] When this Superintendent was talking about the schools, students, and academic programs, they continually said "my schools", "my students", etc., but when posing questions to the building principals, this superintendent used "you" and "your". (i.e. What is your building doing for the School Improvement Day?). The superintendent would then respond to the principals, again using "me" and "my".
In my humble opinion, there seems to be an inherent disconnect. Almost an implication that the superintendent could claim credit for any successes found within the schools or district, but then use the distance created between me and you in order to be shielded from an problems or failures. Wouldn't this also feed into an "us vs. them" mentality, if one existed?
I would be curious, in this proposed study, to see if the more successful schools and districts have building and district leaders that continually used "we" and "us", creating that sense of community and the thought that everyone is in it together.
What happens in your school/district? Is it a ME or a WE?
A relayed conversation got me thinking about Me vs. We. I think it would be an interesting study to interview Superintendents and Principals of comparable schools and districts that are considered successful and unsuccessful (it would take a long time to define that right now) and ask them questions using indefinite articles concerning the schools, students, academic programs, etc. under their charge.
What got me thinking was a conversation told to me of a Superintendent from a school district that is not considered successful through the lens of percentage of students who meet and/or exceed expectations on the Prairie State Achievement Exam (PSAE). [Note: The PSAE is the NCLB mandated 2 day test which consists of the ACT for Day 1 and the Work Keys and a state developed assessment of science content.] When this Superintendent was talking about the schools, students, and academic programs, they continually said "my schools", "my students", etc., but when posing questions to the building principals, this superintendent used "you" and "your". (i.e. What is your building doing for the School Improvement Day?). The superintendent would then respond to the principals, again using "me" and "my".
In my humble opinion, there seems to be an inherent disconnect. Almost an implication that the superintendent could claim credit for any successes found within the schools or district, but then use the distance created between me and you in order to be shielded from an problems or failures. Wouldn't this also feed into an "us vs. them" mentality, if one existed?
I would be curious, in this proposed study, to see if the more successful schools and districts have building and district leaders that continually used "we" and "us", creating that sense of community and the thought that everyone is in it together.
What happens in your school/district? Is it a ME or a WE?
Thursday, January 03, 2013
You want the buck to stop? Stop passing it then!
This post is a commentary on the shifts that are needed in schools in order to make the role of a data coach more effective.
The shift that I will comment on is this:
As I read through Kris's accounting of the influences on modern education (Common Core, Textbook companies, Foundations (i.e. Gates, Wal-Mart), and politicians) and how it is trying to make everyone fit a cookie cutter mold and that schools will become the factories of which their design was based, I could not help but shudder at the thought of this bleary educational future.
I will respectfully disagree that the Common Core is one of the signs of an impending apocalypse. Working in Illinois, where the previous set of standards were a mile wide and inch deep, the Common Core has a lot of positive potential effects to education, if teachers and administrators only had to worry about implementing the new standards instead of making sure that every student does well on the ACT (Day 1 of the 2 day test mandated by NCLB for Illinois). Unfortunately, the latter is more the case than the former, so I can see what Kris's point is getting at.
Having, personally, eagerly awaited the release of the Next Generation Science Standards, I have a good understanding of the effort of educators who wrote these standards in an effort to directly improve instruction by narrowing the focus to the skills needed perform science at all levels--not merely focusing on a content area, but its connection to other concepts, how science and engineering work together, and a development of critical thinking skills. The Common Core for mathematics and English/Language Arts had many of the same goals.
How does all of this relate back to the needed shift? My other posts related to the shifts that are needed to make an instructional coach effective have been directed at the activities of the coaches, teachers, and administrators. I have discussed the removal of teacher isolation and that will assist with a sense of collective responsibility. Kris makes a very valid point about how all of these outside influences are pushing and pulling on education to squeeze it through a play dough mold. What made me connect his blog post with this shift if who is the individual responsible?
With all of those outside influences, the amazing (scary) thing is that the individual that the outside influences, parents, general community always talk about is the classroom teacher. I agree with what Marzano says about the teacher being one of the largest influences on the learning that the student will do in the classroom, but again, the shearing forces of those outside influences might rip that apart.
With all of the politicians, foundations, and corporations (who must have attended school therefore they know how a school should work) exerting direct influence into the classroom, I think that those people should shift from the individual responsibility of the teacher to a collective responsibility that if we want the entire nation to improve, then we are ALL in this together! It seems like politicians all want to quote Truman and have the buck stop right on the teacher's desk. I say that they need to stop passing the buck.
The shift that I will comment on is this:
- Individual accountability needs to shift to collective responsibility
As I read through Kris's accounting of the influences on modern education (Common Core, Textbook companies, Foundations (i.e. Gates, Wal-Mart), and politicians) and how it is trying to make everyone fit a cookie cutter mold and that schools will become the factories of which their design was based, I could not help but shudder at the thought of this bleary educational future.
I will respectfully disagree that the Common Core is one of the signs of an impending apocalypse. Working in Illinois, where the previous set of standards were a mile wide and inch deep, the Common Core has a lot of positive potential effects to education, if teachers and administrators only had to worry about implementing the new standards instead of making sure that every student does well on the ACT (Day 1 of the 2 day test mandated by NCLB for Illinois). Unfortunately, the latter is more the case than the former, so I can see what Kris's point is getting at.
Having, personally, eagerly awaited the release of the Next Generation Science Standards, I have a good understanding of the effort of educators who wrote these standards in an effort to directly improve instruction by narrowing the focus to the skills needed perform science at all levels--not merely focusing on a content area, but its connection to other concepts, how science and engineering work together, and a development of critical thinking skills. The Common Core for mathematics and English/Language Arts had many of the same goals.
How does all of this relate back to the needed shift? My other posts related to the shifts that are needed to make an instructional coach effective have been directed at the activities of the coaches, teachers, and administrators. I have discussed the removal of teacher isolation and that will assist with a sense of collective responsibility. Kris makes a very valid point about how all of these outside influences are pushing and pulling on education to squeeze it through a play dough mold. What made me connect his blog post with this shift if who is the individual responsible?
With all of those outside influences, the amazing (scary) thing is that the individual that the outside influences, parents, general community always talk about is the classroom teacher. I agree with what Marzano says about the teacher being one of the largest influences on the learning that the student will do in the classroom, but again, the shearing forces of those outside influences might rip that apart.
With all of the politicians, foundations, and corporations (who must have attended school therefore they know how a school should work) exerting direct influence into the classroom, I think that those people should shift from the individual responsibility of the teacher to a collective responsibility that if we want the entire nation to improve, then we are ALL in this together! It seems like politicians all want to quote Truman and have the buck stop right on the teacher's desk. I say that they need to stop passing the buck.
Wednesday, January 02, 2013
Get connected to other educators
This post is a commentary on the shifts that are needed in schools in order to make the role of a data coach more effective.
The shift that I will comment on is this:
Happy New Year!!!
We are now well into the 21st century in case you were not aware...because of this, here are some resources of which you should be aware:
All of these resources can help alter the instruction and learning for students and educators. Strangely enough, all of these resources emphasize, in one way or another, the necessity and (dare I say it) mandate, that teachers need to remove the barriers of communication between themselves and the best practices of their colleagues. Moreover, teachers need to be connected to not only other educators within their school and district, but across their county, state, country and the entire world! I feel like I am preaching to the choir right now...if you are reading this, chances are that you got to this link from a post on a social network (Twitter, Plurk, etc).
There have been many discussions about education in the ivory tower and staying isolated from the real world. Connected educators can bring that real world directly into their schools and classrooms in order to make the learning that occurs more meaningful for the participants of that learning. I feel like I am repeating myself from --> this blog post
Whenteachers ALL educators get connected, coaching can be more effective. It cannot just be teachers, the instructional coaches, administrators, psychologists, social workers, deans, counselors, need to be connected to each other and other professionals within their field. Everyone needs to demonstrate to students what continuous learning looks and feels like. Just as teachers encourage students to ask questions, the best coaching conversations get the coach and the person being coached asking questions and seeking answers to learn together!
Let's make 2013 be the year of learning together!
Leave your Twitter handle in comments, I would love to connect with you and learn together! And, other readers can connect with you to increase their learning potential!
The shift that I will comment on is this:
- Teaching in isolation NEEDS to shift to collaborating with colleagues
Happy New Year!!!
We are now well into the 21st century in case you were not aware...because of this, here are some resources of which you should be aware:
- A Framework for 21st Century Skills
- Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge (and the intersection thereof)
- Learning Forward (formerly the National Staff Development Council)
- Professional Learning Communities
All of these resources can help alter the instruction and learning for students and educators. Strangely enough, all of these resources emphasize, in one way or another, the necessity and (dare I say it) mandate, that teachers need to remove the barriers of communication between themselves and the best practices of their colleagues. Moreover, teachers need to be connected to not only other educators within their school and district, but across their county, state, country and the entire world! I feel like I am preaching to the choir right now...if you are reading this, chances are that you got to this link from a post on a social network (Twitter, Plurk, etc).
There have been many discussions about education in the ivory tower and staying isolated from the real world. Connected educators can bring that real world directly into their schools and classrooms in order to make the learning that occurs more meaningful for the participants of that learning. I feel like I am repeating myself from --> this blog post
When
Let's make 2013 be the year of learning together!
Leave your Twitter handle in comments, I would love to connect with you and learn together! And, other readers can connect with you to increase their learning potential!
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