We Need You More Than Ever, W. Edwards Deming

Image: FDA

W. Edwards Deming was an engineer and management expert who’s writing and speaking formed the basis of the Quality or Total Quality Management movement. He worked with Japan after World War II and he acknowledged being one of the key people who led the transformation in the Japanese economy which led to their reputation for quality rather than cheap and inferior products. Many of his approaches to statistical process control, market research, the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle, and organizational management are in use today throughout the world. He brought a systems approach to the study of processes and organizations that was later explored by Peter Senge and others.

Fostering Social-Emotional Development in Elementary School Children … Not just in the counselor’s office!

I am going to go out on a limb and make an assumption that most educators know there are many research studies suggesting the strong connection between social emotional competence and the ability to adjust to the academic demands of school. So, how can the general education classroom teacher help boost these skills? Read below for tips on how

Teaching Social Studies = Overcoming Barriers

Not surprisingly, the BIG emphasis this year in social studies is on inquiry using primary sources with students which involves teaching them skills and practices to analyze and evaluate those sources and use them as evidence in creating claims and arguments. The Social Studies Framework is based on the Inquiry Arc of the C3 Framework which is all about this process. The Frameworks themselves promote a balance of content and skill and the Toolkit Inquires are built on investigating sets of primary sources related to a compelling question. It’s the rainbow, folks!

Childhood Food Insecurity and Hunger….. in the Land of Plenty

My hope for all is that next Thursday you are fortunate enough to be seated around a table with family and/or friends, have a full belly and a grateful heart. Despite our own personal challenges and daily hassles that make life, well, “life,” when it comes down to it, we are an extremely fortunate country and have so much for which to be grateful. We take for granted daily luxuries that others in third world countries cannot even begin to fathom. And yet, despite our vast collective wealth and capacity for opportunity, millions of our fellow Americans will not be able to afford that turkey dinner next week, nor can they consistently count on being able to feed their children on a regular basis, as they live in households that are food insecure.

Indulge in Instructional Rounds!

As we enter this season of indulgence (for some of us, at least), I’d like to share my new favorite form of professional development: Instructional Rounds is a collaborative approach utilized for the sole purpose of improving individual practice.  This past summer, at New Tech Network’s 2015 conference, I had the opportunity to attend a session around the what, why and the how of “Rounds”. The session was offered by educators from Katherine Smith School in San Jose, California. Much of their research and practice is based on the book, Instructional Rounds in Education, by Elizabeth City and Richard Elmore. So, I read the book and it has changed the way I engage in professional development!

The Foundation for Fair and Meaningful Grading for Struggling Students

Earlier this month, over 1200 educators gathered at SRC Arena to learn more about grading and reporting student learning. Presenters Tom Guskey and Lee Ann Jung

spoke about standards-based policies and practices that are best for ALL students. My greatest leap of learning was in understanding how to grade exceptional students in a fair and meaningful way using standards-based practices. As a former high school science teacher, with students of all abilities in my Regents classes, I always wondered if I was doing justice by my struggling students with the grading policies I was using. Do I change the mastery bar for students with IEPs and 504s? Do I keep the bar the same and provide more scaffolding support to raise them to those levels?

Two-Ingredient Literacy Success

Image: recipeforsuccessroc.org

• Prep Time 15 MIN
• Total Time 30 MIN
• Servings Daily, reading and writing opportunities for 15-20 weeks of quality instruction

Ingredients:
Two ingredients help promote an actively engage struggling reader succeed like an average reader.

1. 5 books within the student’s literacy reach
2. 1 teacher facilitating successful active learning as needed

Crosscutting Concepts: The Unifying, Pervasive, and Powerful Concepts in Science

There exists unifying, pervasive, and powerful concepts that provide coherence as well as deep conceptual understanding across all disciplines of science. These concepts are not new; they have always existed and been fundamental aspects of science. From time to time these concepts have also been present in K-12 science learning experience. A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (NRC, 2012) names these crosscutting concepts and identifies their importance in K-12 education. Thus, crosscutting concepts are one of the three dimensions of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) (Lead States, 2013). This explicit identification and inclusion of crosscutting concepts is one of the many aspects that make the NGSS substantially different from our current standards. Cross cutting concepts will also be one of the three dimensions in the New York State Science Learning Standards (NYSSLS) that are expected to be released in draft form in the near future.

Acronyms and Correct Terminology: Welcome to the Field of English Language Learners!

So the other day, I was chatting with someone who was not from the field of English Language Learners, and they pointed out that we seem to use soooo many acronyms that it was hard to follow. Here’s an excerpt of the conversation:

“During my participation in a school’s recent DTSDE, it was brought up that the MLL/ELL student was correctly placed in the integrated ENL program, but because of his IEP he needed to attend additional AIS and perhaps RTI. His ESOL teacher (who has been trained extensively during the PLC’s in CCLS, PBIS, and SIOP, among other things) was not notified. As pointed out by OBEWL, recent publications show there is typically confusion on ENL services-SIFEs in particular. NO worries. The RBERNS can clarify!”