tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5157905589354798432024-02-18T19:00:04.846-08:00Chris's Educational ThoughtsChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06272354361576339699noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-515790558935479843.post-71516972560734692212013-09-02T09:46:00.000-07:002013-09-02T09:46:47.076-07:00Education and MediaDear Readers,<br />
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I was participating in #oklaed chat last night, since #iaedchat was on a break. I saw a tweet from <a href="https://twitter.com/d_mulder">@d_mulder</a> mentioning that #oklaed chat was discussing the <a href="http://www.corestandards.org/">Come Core State Standards</a>. I decided to drop by the conversation and question six from <a href="https://twitter.com/BenAllenKOSU">@BenAllenKOSU</a> asked Q6: What do you wish the media did better in covering #CCSS/ed issues? I first responded with A6 Actually understood what <a href="http://www.corestandards.org/">CCSS</a> is all about and not just reading a brochure. It would be great if they attended PDs w Ts. #oklaed. I really thought this was a great idea if the media went to professional development with teachers covering the new <a href="http://www.corestandards.org/">Common Core State Standards</a>. The opportunity to be part of the discussion and help promote how the Common Core is changing the instruction in the schools. The conversation slowly turned to how the media is always covering the not so positive things in education. I was watching the stream go by and a thought occurred and I replied with A6 Problem is negativity sells. We need society itself to ask for more on the positive things happening in education. #oklaed This thread made me think deep and hard about why I read the paper. Anytime I look at the front page I am drawn to the horrible things happening in society. Why is it that negativity sells? I know we all strive to stay positive and I always personally work towards that goal, but negativity is what grabs the headlines and society is the one purchasing the material. I really feel that we need to make a shift as a society. It is not the media, the schools, private businesses and all the others that need to shift, but we as a whole need to shift. We need to promote the positive and if positives sells than the media will publish the positive. I wish I had the answer to make it happen by tomorrow, but I will continue my best to promote the positives of society and the great things that our staff and students do. Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06272354361576339699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-515790558935479843.post-84220752371868339842013-08-25T13:00:00.000-07:002013-08-28T15:27:04.966-07:00Black Hawk has H.E.A.R.T.The Black Hawk Elementary staff introduced Positive Behavior Intervention Support, commonly known as P.B.I.S. I previously had been part of PBiS at another institution and gladly brought the program to Black Hawk Elementary. We created a team at the end of last year and attended several trainings thanks to the AEA. We created the saying Black Hawk has H.E.A.R.T. which is Helpful, Effort 100%, Accountable, Respectful, and Trustworthy. We feel these five components will help a student with citizenship. I was concerned with the process since we rushed it in such a short amount of time. I want to report that the students and staff are responding wonderfully to the program. I can not tell you how many times during the first week students let me know they received a H.E.A.R.T. ticket. The joy which they expressed in receiving the acknowledgement let me know we are on the right path. I have told the staff several times that the process will take time to implement and that reteaching will occur throughout the year and next year. I see the biggest difference with the kindergarten students because they are new to the schooling idea and are quick studies. My daughter attends Black Hawk and is always excited to tell me about her tickets. She did think that she was getting a reward at the drawing, but I had to tell her it was the acknowledgement that is the reward.
I did learn a lesson the first two days of school. The team and I created a round robin schedule to teach the students expectations throughout the building. We set it up to last two hours with five sessions each day. After the first day, the team realized we need to do a max of two sessions a day. We are planning the school trainings again after winter break to reiterate the expectations at Black Hawk Elementary.
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV3MEHRSAZ9EHK72EGuFqGSSLudOCjET-vGbPvgsoypX0D0lqWk_r5Kh-6KqtW22GRzOj_OfeZhBctjMZdH7MXtEtLRlIyC91zQuOWNqklBVE-8SeCirdtkmLjSaW4dAGq9Tl-nq0kgcfC/s1600/Blackhawk+heart+banner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV3MEHRSAZ9EHK72EGuFqGSSLudOCjET-vGbPvgsoypX0D0lqWk_r5Kh-6KqtW22GRzOj_OfeZhBctjMZdH7MXtEtLRlIyC91zQuOWNqklBVE-8SeCirdtkmLjSaW4dAGq9Tl-nq0kgcfC/s320/Blackhawk+heart+banner.jpg" /></a></div>Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06272354361576339699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-515790558935479843.post-18071191063670349162013-04-28T08:09:00.000-07:002013-04-28T08:09:44.872-07:00Reteach/Enrich Idea<iframe src="http://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/20086613" width="427" height="356" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" style="border:1px solid #CCC;border-width:1px 1px 0;margin-bottom:5px" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen> </iframe> <div style="margin-bottom:5px"> <strong> <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/Chards74/reteach-enrich" title="Reteach enrich" target="_blank">Reteach enrich</a> </strong> from <strong><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/Chards74" target="_blank">Chards74</a></strong> </div>
The Black Hawk Staff is considering the idea of creating a reteach/enrich Wednesday. The idea came from our data team process. As posted previously, we have had the data team process for a year with success. We continue to tweak ideas, but the overall outcome has been positive. I shared a power point with the staff about reteach/enrich, which the building data team created. We are looking for the solution of concentrating our efforts for RtI(response to intervention) and accelerating learning for others. The staff has been working on differentiation, but thought putting time aside to reteach to our struggling learners would be a great idea. The time also allows the opportunity to enrich learning for other students. We are not quite there, but want to share our potential plan to see if anyone else had ideas to help.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06272354361576339699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-515790558935479843.post-3299961701022009422013-04-11T16:16:00.000-07:002013-04-11T16:16:06.183-07:00Professional Development Dear Readers,<br />
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I am still working on this blogging idea. For some reason I struggle with getting my ideas down on a blog. I feel like some of the students when trying to figure out what to say. A topic I am comfortable writing about would be data teams.<br />
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Black Hawk has had data teams for professional development for almost a year. The staff has been tremendous at adapting to the idea, and that goes to the former principal Shawn. He had been working with teachers and data for awhile, so the transition to data teams went fairly smooth. I did a flipped faculty meeting by creating a power point of the data team process. The staff went through the slides the day before and when we met as a group we could focus clearly on questions. I worked with the building data team and we continued to tinker with how notes would be conveyed. Daniel from the AEA helped us create a google spread sheet to collect data, which acts as a data wall. The process itself has helped us in creating an environment solely focused on helping students achieve. We are still beginners with growing pains and I don't always have an answer to all questions. The power of twitter has helped with answering some questions, a simple google search with other questions, and reading books with other questions. <br />
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I am writing the blog to say thank you to the School Board and District Administration for allowing us to follow this path. The majority of the staff continues to say "thank you" for allowing the time to collaborate with colleagues and try to do what is best for students. I hope to be able to continue using professional development to support the initiative and give staff the ability to almost individualize instruction for our students. <br />
<br />Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06272354361576339699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-515790558935479843.post-43346056610612121592013-04-11T16:14:00.001-07:002013-04-11T16:14:28.191-07:00Iowa #i11i ConferenceDear Readers,<br />
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I had the opportunity to attend the Iowa 1 to 1 conference. This is my third year attending the event and still marvel at what it has become. I am impressed with how much the conference has grown over the four year period. It was a great opportunity to meet people that I follow via twitter. I also feel inspired after attending an event and want to come back and change everything right away. However, we need to proceed slowly. Here are the major points I took away from the conference and what I hope to bring back to my district and school site:<br />
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1.) @MR_EHN Have an infrastructure to support your initiatives. I spoke with the BCSD tech director and found out we are getting Enterprise installed in our school. We already have the internet speed, but we need to update our machines.<br />
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2.) Also from @MR_EHN A tid-bit he received go slow to move fast. This relates back to number 1. I agree with the philosophy and will stick to the guide line.<br />
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3.) Prepare the staff for the tool. Computers/devices are not here to replace teachers, only here to help students expand their horizons. The computer/device is a tool to help with efficiency or collaboration or investigation or whatever you need it to be. The teacher needs to know how to harness that device and create the environment for learning to occur.<br />
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4.) Encourage risk taking and support risk taking. I heard that from just about every presenter at the event and also from participates at the event. <br />
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5.) Be the change. This is from @casas_jimmy and completely agree. I want to support the reform that needs to take place and hopefully the staff feels the same way. We all feel like the system needs an overhaul. If we all accept the idea of "Be the change" it will occur. <br />
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These five points are only a handful of the ideas I received at the conference. I have to keep the focus small for the change to occur. I am fortunate to have a wonderful staff and appreciate the hours they instill into their jobs. I rarely here a compliant and seem to hear ideas how we can become better. Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06272354361576339699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-515790558935479843.post-42134925816520448992013-01-11T12:13:00.001-08:002013-01-11T12:13:18.733-08:00Risk Taking, why should we do it?During a professional development early out I set time aside to work with teachers on twitter. I could tell from some of the expression why should we learn Twitter. I tried to explain to the staff how twitter is a 24/7 PD, connections to others, an idea gathering place, and much more. I have enjoyed learning from @Aaron_Becker32, @markliddell, @bcurrie5, @casas_jimmy and many, many more. I ventured into #IAedchat and #Satchat to gain even more knowledge. I have been using twitter to ask questions and gain answers. If I had not taken the risk and started using this resource where would I be now?<br /><br />Now to the point of the post. We ask students to take a risk in class, raise your hand, speak out, give it a try, do not be afraid to get the wrong answer and so on and so forth. Now if, we want to be role models we need to take risks ourselves. We need to try new things and see the results. We need to have the initiative to give it a whirl. I will role model risk taking for staff and students. If I am not willing to make a mistake, learn from it and correct it than why should the students or staff. The biggest part of learning is to learn from your mistakes.<br /><br />
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Image from Presenter MediaChrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06272354361576339699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-515790558935479843.post-59579290615939706032012-12-20T07:39:00.002-08:002012-12-20T07:39:34.551-08:00The Support StaffI was thinking about all the wonderful things support staff do for the school. It really dawned on me when a custodian was digging through the trash to find a pair of glasses. The student realized that he placed his glasses on his breakfast tray after the trash was in the dumpster. Brad put on his rubber gloves and went dumpster diving. He did not complain or say how could you do a stupid thing, he just went to work finding the glasses.<br />
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I think about all the disrespect given to the associates for handling problems on the playground, hallways, or cafeteria. The associates here do a great job of not getting overly upset or yelling at students who are not following instructions right away. Associates take time to help students memorize spelling words, listen to them read, or practice flashcards. I forget to let them know how much I appreciate their effort in making a school function.<br />
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And of course the school secretaries, these are the brains of the school. I find myself always turning to Teresa for an answer or even a better idea. The secretaries are always the first to field a phone call and try to remedy the situation. They work tirelessly to keep the school business moving forward and offering words of encouragement for students and staff. We all know when a problem occurs at school the secretaries are the first in line to deal with the issue. <br />
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I truly appreciate all the work that the secretaries, associates, and custodians do for the school. They are valuable members and often go unnoticed or thanked for their efforts. Please remember to give kind words to these individuals and let them know how much they are appreciated. I will work harder on making sure I do that for my support staff because they also need words of encouragement. Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06272354361576339699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-515790558935479843.post-57432090820172002432012-10-06T05:54:00.001-07:002012-10-06T05:54:11.682-07:00TechnologyI have been spending quite a bit of time thinking about technology. The Burlington Community School District in Iowa has started the talks about upgrading technology and previous to Burlington I worked in rural community where I helped implement a 1 to 1 laptop initiative. Technology brings to mind efficiency, speed, connected, collaboration, and other thoughts. I view these things and see the positive attributes technology can bring to the classroom.<br />
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I also see the important need for the guidance of teachers in classrooms. Technology can do a lot of things, but it can not tell you to dust yourself off when you fail and try again. Technology can not say what you are doing wrong and give you advice on how to do it better. Technology only does what the user tells it to do. <br />
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A positive teacher can help you make the correction and encourage you to retry the idea. A teacher gives you advice on different methods and encourages you to try again. A teacher helps students determine what technology can be effective for completing the project. The great teacher lets the student know that they matter in the world and how the student can have an impact on society. <br />
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My final thought on the subject is technology is needed in every classroom and positive educators are needed to help the child dust themselves off and try again.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06272354361576339699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-515790558935479843.post-91492888631522053212012-08-19T07:39:00.001-07:002012-08-19T07:40:17.337-07:00Is there focus?I had the opportunity to continue my growth in <a href="http://www.thewritetools.net/" style="background-color: yellow;" target="_blank">Write Tools</a> with a training on active reading. During the development we read the article <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:QNUgefsC1FQJ:www.leadandlearn.com/sites/all/modules/pubdlcnt/pubdlcnt.php%3Ffile%3D/sites/default/files/articles/09-fall-the-trillium-focus-the-forgotten-21st-century-skill.pdf%26nid%3D260+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESidb7v2qq7485vmZpBLNPdIIfFYRufTMJMbWFZYJIJji0zJNEkt910xjlMMRi5XT90_ohFp9RQrU2k7V9kmuKpj5lSVaKJQ7VsFzug3tO54ZLkWxjrj64Lr7AF4QHsCLzL-PEMS&sig=AHIEtbQ52ue4fV2c06ELzYIk1ZK1a5klOw" style="background-color: yellow;" target="_blank"><u>Focus: The Forgotten 21st Century Skil</u>l</a> by Douglas. R. Reeves. During my tenure in administration, I have read a few items put forth by Dr. Reeves. I had not read this article and it spoke volumes to me. We do seem to lack focus on where we are during a meeting, in the classroom, at home with the family, or during professional development. While reading the article I thought back to all the meetings and other times I was suppose to be paying attention to the speaker, but was busy watching twitter feed or checking my phone. I also began to realize how many times I watched others doing the same thing in meetings. We are suppose to be the role models for our students, but we have also started to lack in focus. As districts are trying to find new ways to improve achievement, we keep putting more and more initiatives in front of our staffs. As leaders we are lacking focus on sticking to one or two ideas and becoming the best we can at those ideas. I am fascinated by the article and plan to share with the rest of the staff. I have moved in the new direction of having one grand initiative and that would be collecting data, pre and post test to measure our students growth. I plan to in the future focus on that one person who is speaking to me. Be a better active listener to my wife and child. Make sure to give my focus to whatever is needed and role model how important focus is for education and life in general.<br />
<br />Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06272354361576339699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-515790558935479843.post-68286136748882623572012-06-20T05:28:00.001-07:002012-06-20T05:28:51.209-07:00Collaboration?Do you ever wonder how teachers communicated with each in the 80's, 90's and early 2000's? I was thinking today, while participating in #edchat discussion about faculty meetings, that teachers during my education how did they collaborate. Did they have to wait for state convention or county wide professional development? I wonder if my fourth grade teacher ever spoke to another teacher in a different community about teaching strategies. Did she ever reach out to find a strategy that could be more affective with teaching reading rather than whole language approach? Did my principal communicate with other educational leaders about research based strategies that were sweeping the nation? It is kind of amazing to think I can get ideas from people in other states or even countries by simply asking a question on <a href="https://twitter.com/" style="color: red;" target="_blank">twitter</a>. I am able to create a document that I can share with others through <a href="https://www.google.com/" style="color: red;" target="_blank">google</a>. I can take notes at meeting with <a href="http://evernote.com/" style="color: red;" target="_blank">evernote</a> and share with those not there. We can use <a href="https://www.dropbox.com/" style="color: red;" target="_blank">dropbox </a>to exchange materials with one another. These are a few of the items that are now at our disposal and they do not cost a thing. <br />
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How
is that we as a nation are falling behind, when we as a nation are so
much more connected? Why do we seem to be slipping down the ranking
system of comparing us to other countries? We are able to share our
ideas and strategies that are affective, but we seem hesitant to take
the steps necessary to be affective in our jobs. I will continue to use
these resources and continue to reach out to others when I need
information. I will continue to do whatever is in my control to help
improve the education of students under my watch. <br />Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06272354361576339699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-515790558935479843.post-39680408309411368252012-06-13T09:12:00.001-07:002012-06-13T09:12:34.451-07:00Do you miss the kids?I find summer a hard time to deal with. I truly miss having the student involvement that occurs from August to May. It is nice to have the time, I admit, to actually look at the school wide assessments, take the class that was put off, or plan the professional development for next year; however I miss the voices and shouts in the hallways and classrooms. I also dread the first several days of school because it is the retraining process of how we operate when in the building and outside for leisure time. It is just my ranting right now missing the activity from the classrooms and hallways.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06272354361576339699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-515790558935479843.post-29928431493948920732012-06-11T05:22:00.001-07:002012-06-11T05:22:18.404-07:00Why Data?I have been some type of school administrator for six years and now beginning my seventh. During that time I have made changes in policy and academics because we had meetings and felt it was the right thing to do. I use the word felt because I do not remember ever collecting data to help make that decision. I am starting a new position at Black Hawk Elementary where the previous principal was very involved with data and the importance it played in affecting the school environment and I also had the opportunity with the Burlington Community School District to receive data training and how to create data teams. This has been a wonderful experience and now makes me wonder why I ever made any decision affecting academics without the use of data. I have been reading <a href="http://www.leadandlearn.com/books-dvds/data-teams-experience-guide-effective-meetings" target="_blank"><u>The Data Teams Experience</u></a> a great book written by Dr. Angela Perry. The book is extremely well written and very easy to follow. The process of what should happen at a data team meeting is well laid out and easy to understand. I can not for the life of me think of a better way to make decisions about a school or business without looking at data. I feel very fortunate that the previous administrator did a great job of building a data team for the school now I am going to take the next step and create three data teams for grade levels. I also know that I need to provide time by investing our staff meetings and building professional development to the process. I figure all the other tasks completed during staff meetings can be handled via social media and that other professional development would be given based upon what data tells us we need to do. If you have been thinking about getting involved with using data, but not sure where to begin read <a href="http://www.leadandlearn.com/books-dvds/data-teams-experience-guide-effective-meetings" target="_blank"><u>The Data Team Experience</u></a> and the process will be made that much simpler. In fact I am creating a power point that the staff members will be able to view even before we have our first meeting to discuss the change. This way the staff will have data before we even talk about the different grade level teams.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06272354361576339699noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-515790558935479843.post-90100270712409507312012-04-22T19:03:00.002-07:002012-04-22T19:17:39.637-07:00EngagingMy <a href="http://zite.com/">zite </a>app brought a great article to my ipad. The article was written by Tralee Pearce <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/the-hot-button/are-millennials-the-worst-generation-yet/article2370887/">Generation Disengaged?</a> This article really made me begin to think about the situation we always find our self in education; trying to engage a student in their education seems to be getting tougher and tougher each year. I contact parents, have meetings, and even discuss possible retention with the student. I have had multiple conversation with parents and students trying to engage them with their education. I point out how education is a means to an end. I try to point how at the end of high school would you rather have a choice in what you do or be told this is what you have to do by society? I try and show that an education can get you choices in life and not be forced into something you do not want not having an education. However I feel that my words sometimes fall on deaf ears. After meeting with parents, staff, and student and to still see that student not getting involved with their education I am left speechless. I try to offer the student extrinsic value of something they want and to give them the help they need, but they still show no intrinsic effort. The article mention that these millennials value wealth and status, doesn't education help lead to these things? If you have any insight or help in addressing this issue please let me know.Chrishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06272354361576339699noreply@blogger.com0