SDOC student artwork is on display at BRAC…

The Blue Ridge Arts Center (click here) has some impressive artwork from students in Oconee County on display.  The gallery opened Friday evening and the artwork will continue to be on display until April 11.

I attended the opening Friday night to peruse the artwork.  I’m always amazed at the talent on display.

The exhibit is varied in styles and mediums (pottery, paintings and drawings, weaving, sculpture, etc.).  A few pieces jumped out at me.  For instance, everyone knows about the game Angry Birds.  Well, you’ll even see some “angry birds” as recycled art.  There are a few pieces of art composed of script writing to form self-portraits.  Of course I love artwork with animals, and you will not be disappointed with a wide variety (domestic animals to prehistoric). 

If you get a chance, please check out the imaginative artwork.  I’m not sure of the hours when BRAC is open so you’ll need to call the number on the link above to find out.  

Thanks to our teachers and students for a job well done and to BRAC for hosting this annual exhibit!

Visiting Northside Elementary: It’s all about the details!

I spent some time visiting in classrooms at Northside yesterday.  It was awesome.

I taught middle and high school students for twelve years, and I’m always in awe of teachers who work with students who are very young or have some unique learning challenges.

During my visit yesterday, I spent a little time in special education and first grade classrooms.  It’s all about the details at Northside.

My first visit was a resource classroom.  Four young men were finishing up an activity when I walked in the door.  They sat in front of the SmartBoard.  They were busy writing descriptive sentences from two drawings that were slightly different (a circus scene with clowns and a tightrope).  As they composed the paragraph, the teacher posed the question:  “How can we distinguish between the two drawings in our writing?”  They responded verbally and quickly returned to completing the sentences in their paragraphs.  They had great classroom routines because two students immediately joined the teacher at a table.  The other two students went to the computers for some reading work.  I was able to see the teacher work with both groups with Reading Mastery lessons.  Reading Mastery is a program that is often used with students having difficulties in reading (decoding words and reading comprehension is a focus).  The students went through the vocabulary, and the words had slight variations in spelling; however, the use of one letter greatly changed the meaning and pronunciation of the word.  The class was all about detail, and the students did a great job of demonstrating mastery of the reading and writing skills.

My next stop was first grade.  The teacher was using a new document camera, and she was experimenting with getting the right light source to make student work visible on her SmartBoard.  The work that was being displayed was that of a young first grader in the class.  Students in the class had written and illustrated stories about leprechauns.  As a class they read the work of the student orally.  The teacher praised the content of the work, but the job was to look at the writing conventions (spelling, punctuation, and grammar).  The class examined the work and suggested needed corrections.  It was now time for each student to edit his/her work.  I had a great time of having the students read and describe their own story.   Again, it was all about details.  I left a very excited class with some wonderful stories. 

My final stop was a self-contained special education classroom.  The children were all at stations.  As I entered I was greeted by one of the students.  He took my hand and led me to one of the assistants in the classroom.  The teacher worked with a student who was non-verbal.  With the assistance of the teacher, this young man was learning to make gestures as he read from a book.  Another student quickly told me about her math lesson and how she employed a strategy to help her focus on the addition problems (she said her mind wandered around the page so she covered problems to concentrate on one at a time).  Students were working on fine motor skills by cutting out numbers and placing them in the correct location with some glue. Several students were working with large puzzles.  The teacher and assistants were doing an awesome job of making sure the students were fulfilling individual skill needs.  Again, they were focused on the details of specific learning needs.

 

Northside Elementary is a wonderful school.  As I exited the building, I was excited that teachers were all about the details of learning.  

Future Chefs Cooking Contest…

Middle school students from across the School District of Oconee County participated in a cook off as part of Sodexo’s Annual Future Chefs Competition.  Students were invited to submit healthy breakfast recipes, and a competition was held yesterday for the finalists at West-Oak Middle School.  

Sodexo is in its first year of managing food service operations in SDOC, and this is one of the programs the company sponsors to encourage kids to develop healthy eating habits.

Candidates in yesterday’s competition were judged based on originality, kid-friendly style, ease of preparation, best use of the featured ingredients, healthiness of the dish, and presentation.  

Winning recipes included (with some of the major ingredients) ...

• 1st Place - Dynamite Dairy (yogurt, fresh fruit, toasted cereal)
• 2nd Place - Super Healthy Breakfast Burrito (scrambled eggs, peppers, low-fat cheese, flour tortillas)
• 3rd Place - N-R-G Balls (oatmeal, peanut butter, shredded wheat, flax seed)

The kids did a great job, and you can see a video of photos from the competition by clicking here or using the player below.  

Oakway Intermediate School…

I spent some time at Oakway Intermediate School yesterday.  Oakway has fourth and fifth graders, and I started off my visit observing the school-wide wax museum.  I saw historical figures.  I heard from some remarkable athletes.  I listened as authors talked about their books.  I met many famous (and one infamous) figures.

Students had researched and read about historical figures of their choosing.  Most of the individuals were from America’s past.  The students did a great job of distilling down the key events from the life of the figure.  As each student stood in front of a poster he/she had created with a timeline chronology, he/she took on the persona of the individual.  It was great, and it was the first wax museum I attended with Harry Houdini performing a magic trick.  Great job OIS students!

I spent a few minutes with the principal as students returned to class after the museum activity, and I soon made my way down the halls to see some classroom action.

My first visit was fifth grade mathematics.  Students were busy solving fraction problems.  Each student was dividing fractions on a worksheet (1/2 of 1/2 is ?).  The teacher was soon calling on students to come to the front to solve them on the SmartBoard. I complimented the students on their wax museum performance, and I was off to the next class.

My second stop was a self-contained classroom.  These students were writing about the wax museum experience.  They let me know which character they liked the best as they recorded their thoughts in a journal.  It was time for “Rocket Math.”  The students quickly solved math fact problems as they were timed by the teacher.  As time was up, the students exchanged papers and checked their classmate’s paper for any errors.  I rocketed out of the classroom.

I visited a social studies class next.  Students had watched a “Brain Pop” video, and a student pulled a popsicle stick with a name on it out of a canister.  The selected student was called on student was to answer the review question on the SmartBoard.  All of these activities were to preview the unit of study on the Great Depression.  The next activity was to create a flipbook on the causes of the Great Depression. 

My final visit was PE.  These students were involved in a game of hockey.  Students ran as they completed a quarter, and the whistle meant a quick change in players.  I didn’t see any scoring during my visit, but the students were running and getting lots of physical activity.  They enjoyed the game, and the physical activity was a perfect way to burn off some of that post wax museum energy.

Well, I enjoyed my time at Oakway Intermediate School.  These students were engaged with the learning and they could easily demonstrate their expertise.  I had a great visit and learned about a few new folks in history!

Update:  A teacher sent me a few photos, and I've included them below.

Having to learn a few new tricks…

I’ve reached that age.  You know, the age where you constantly get requests to join the AARP in the mail.  The folks in this organization are determined to get me to join, and they constantly send those notices along with temporary membership cards.  I have resisted joining despite offers of product and travel discounts. 

However, I did come to a realization that I’m older.  That realization happened when I changed computers this past weekend.  I didn’t just change brands of PC, but moved from one environment (Windows) to another (Apple). 

My new personal laptop was purchased from one of those big box stores (it was cheaper than the educator discount from the original manufacturer).  The purchase was preceded by months of looking at models, watching for sales, perusing weights and sizes, and reading reviews of CPUs. 

I finally made the purchase.  Hey, the new machine does have classy and impressive packaging.  I plugged in the laptop and hit the power button.  It booted up quickly.  It did its routine, but I discovered something real quick:  The machine doesn’t function in quite the same way as my other computers. 

What is a “command” key?  How do you close a program?  What about the shortcuts (i.e., control-C and control-V) I always use without thinking?  How does this touchpad work?  Click or double click? 

I have become accustomed to using a computer intuitively, but that didn’t work with this new machine.  My first reaction was to purchase a book for people who have migrated from one computer environment to another.  This quick resource book purchase was probably “old school” thinking, but I did download the new book on my e-reader. 

I didn’t write my blog entry this morning on the new laptop.  I’m still a little intimidated, and this old dog has a few new tricks to learn.  If I’m successful with this migration I think I will reward myself by continuing to resist membership in that retirement-age group for a little while longer.  

MetLife Annual Teacher Survey …

MetLife has conducted an annual survey of America’s teachers since 1984.  The MetLife Foundation has been a supporter of education, and one of its goals is to share the voice of those who teach.

Last week the report for 2011 was released.  I have perused the document, and you can read the lengthy report by clicking here. 

A couple of the remarks jumped out at me:

Teachers are widely acknowledged as the most important school-related factor influencing student achievement. In large numbers, teachers today emphasize the importance and the challenge of preparing all students to meet higher standards for college and career readiness, including diverse learners with the highest needs.

Contrary to policy initiatives that emphasize assessing the effectiveness of teachers individually, teachers themselves have expressed a sense of shared responsibility and see greater collaboration as particularly important for increasing student achievement, and for addressing the diverse needs of each and every student.

Successful implementation of more ambitious standards to prepare all students for college and careers, particularly when resources for education are shrinking, will require listening to teachers in ways that can make essential opportunities for professional learning both more efficient and effective.

The recent survey, unfortunately, reveals that teachers are less satisfied given the current economic climate:

Teacher job satisfaction has fallen by 15 percentage points since 2009, the last time the MetLife survey queried teachers on this topic, from 59 percent to 44 percent responding they are very satisfied. This rapid decline in job satisfaction is coupled with a large increase in the number of teachers reporting that they are likely to leave teaching for another occupation (17 percent in 2009 vs. 29 percent today). Teachers are also more than four times as likely now than they were five years ago to say that they do not feel their job is secure (34 percent today vs. 8 percent in 2006, the last time this question was asked). In addition, 53 percent of parents and 65 percent of teachers today say that teachers’ salaries are not fair for the work they do.

However, some teachers are more likely to be satisfied. 

Teachers with high job satisfaction are more likely to feel their jobs are secure and say they are treated as a professional by the community. They are also more likely to have adequate opportunities for professional development, time to collaborate with other teachers, more preparation and supports to engage parents effectively, and greater involvement of parents and their schools in coming together to improve the learning and success of students.

The role of the teacher is so important.  Excluding the family unit, "teachers may have the greatest influence on young lives and aspirations. Our society depends on teachers, expects much from them, and has a responsibility to support their important work."

School visits this week: Walhalla High and Seneca High

I was able to visit in classrooms at both Walhalla High and Seneca High this week. 

Walhalla High School

I spent some time in in three classrooms at Walhalla High on Wednesday of this week.

My first stop was the concert band class.  There was good conversation as I entered. Students were getting ready.  The teacher inquired about a student who had been sick, but returned with some special needs for the day (she could play as long as she didn’t cough).  They warmed up, and they sounded great.  The most important part was the teacher having the students spend time to critique musical work.  They critiqued the warm up, they critiqued a selection of new music being played on a CD, and then they critiqued their own performance of work they just heard on the CD.  The teacher inquired: How can we make this musical selection sound better? Are we covering up the flutes?  How can we demonstrate more power in the music without just playing louder?  These students were thinking and being creative. Kudos is extended for the musical talent in the room.  

My next stop was a US Government class.  The students were discussing the major compromises at the Constitutional Convention.  Groups reenacted the arguments between northern and southern states, large and small population states, and those who imported and exported goods.  The students clearly understood that in 1787 the term “compromise” seemed like a reasonable solution (kind of contrary to today’s world of government).  The teacher prompted and cajoled students as they made their arguments.  It all culminated in a final compromise in which the Bill of Rights would be added as they the first amendments to the document. I applaud the thinking and persuasive arguments.  

My final stop was chemistry.  Students were studying changes in the state of matter.  They had a neat project that will be due next week. The project is related to stoichiometry (I think it has something to do with the math behind the science).  The class reviewed changes in state of matter, and they prepared for the upcoming test by engaging in a review game:  Groups were to answer questions (no talking allowed) by passing an answer sheet.  I hope they did well on the test, and I’m glad I didn’t have to take this honors level assessment. 

It was a great Wednesday at Walhalla High.

Seneca High School

Yesterday I visited classrooms at Seneca High School.  I arrived a little early and made my way to the classrooms.

I started off in an English 3 classroom.  The students were finishing up their bell work of analyzing a passage for evidence of character, diction, detail, figurative language and imagery.  The class read a poem by Langston Hughes (Harlem), and then they counted off by fives to work comparing the poem with their current novel (Autobiography of My Dead Brother).  The students were working hard and being assisted by the teacher as I exited. On a side note, I kind of interrupted with a bit of coughing and I apologize for the distraction; however, the teacher came to the rescue with a mint (great teachers always save the day).  

I moved upstairs to see a biology class.  The students were reviewing Standard 4 (the molecular basis for heredity) as they prepared for a benchmark test to be given this week.  The teacher was helping the students understand testing protocols and strategies that may be employed on this upcoming test (and, more importantly, on the End of Course Assessment that will determine 20% of their final grade).  It seemed like every question provided extraneous or distractor information and the students had to navigate around this information to answer the questions correctly.  I heard things about mutations, DNA, RNA, etc.  I’m so glad that I don’t have to repeat biology.  However, these kids were doing a good job of answering and getting the questions correct. I appreciate the teacher helping the students understand the protocols and strategies for taking a standardized test.  

My final stop was an Algebra 1 class.  The teacher had the students factoring problems with perfect square trinomials.  I asked a student sitting in a desk behind me to explain what he was doing.  He was able to do so perfectly (a very good sign of effective instruction).  As students factored a problem, they brought it to the teacher.  Lots of positive reinforcement was being doled out to the students at a high energy level.  The students, with the assistance of the teacher, looked at some of the logic related to the parts of the equation.  They seemed to get it (I can’t say that I got it). These students also have to take a end-of-course test in this subject area.  

I enjoyed my time at Seneca High on Thursday.  However, please don’t ask me anything about RNA or factoring perfect square trinomials.  The instruction was effective for the students, but I think I would need a little more tutoring to get it.  

WOMS student artwork on display in NYC ...

A seventh grade student, Amber, from West-Oak Middle School recently had her artwork on display as part of the Big Screen Plaza Event in New York City.  This event is part of the 2012 National Art Education Association Convention.  My congratulations to Amber and her art teacher at West-Oak Middle!

About this Artwork:

by Amber (Grade 7)
West Oak Middle School
Westminster, SC
taught by Avis Ellis

Artist Statement:

Amber's piece is Dinner With Van Gogh. Amber's was inspired by Vincent van Gogh's painting, The Irises. Amber's painting is done in the style of Judy Chicago by painting on dinner ware covered with canvas. Amber's medium is acrylic paints.

You can click here to see the online view of the artwork and the display.

This collection of artwork was generated by students nationwide whose teachers attendied the NAEA National Convention in NYC.

Tread carefully when using “value added” data …

Linda Darling-Hammond, a Stanford University professor, had a great commentary this week on value added education.

New York City recently released a rating of its teachers based on test scores.  Soon the “worst teacher” in the city was singled out and labeled. 

According to Darling-Hammond, “reporters chased down teacher Pascale Mauclair, the subject of the ‘worst teacher’ slam, bombarding her with questions about her lack of skill and commitment. They even went to her father’s home and told him his daughter was among the worst teachers in the city.”

However, “Mauclair is an experienced and much-admired English-as-a-second-language teacher. She works with new immigrant students who do not yet speak English at one of the city’s strongest elementary schools. Her school, PS 11, received an A from the city’s rating system and is led by one of the city’s most respected principals, Anna Efkarpides, who declares Mauclair an excellent teacher. She adds: ‘I would put my own children in her class.’”

Using test score data requires caution and deliberate care.  There have been experiments in Tennessee and New York  that illustrate that “value added models” did not improve student achievement when they were used for incentive pay models.

Also, “in the District of Columbia, contrary to expectations, reading scores on national tests dropped and achievement gaps grew after a new test-based teacher-evaluation system was installed.”

The same can be seen in other areas of the world.  For instance, in Portugal “a study of test-based merit pay attributed score declines to the negative effects of teacher competition, leading to less collaboration and sharing of knowledge.”

The waiver being requested by the SC Department of Education is paving the way for changing teacher evaluation.  It is also setting up the structure to use “value added” measures as a component of pay. 

I agree with Darling-Hammond, such a system has the potential to harm teaching and learning. We need to tread cautiously when using value added data.  There's always the potential to abuse such data. Just ask Ms. Mauclair at PS 11 in New York City about her experience.

Click here to read Darling-Hammond’s commentary in Education Week.  

We can take things for granted …

I’ve been a little frustrated.  Two weeks ago I had a cold.  It became bronchitis.  The resulting cough irritated my vocal chords.  As a result, I ended up with almost no voice.

Well, it is almost three weeks later and I still don’t have much of a voice.

The current problem goes back to a couple of surgical procedures I had while serving as an elementary principal.  Procedures required for anesthesia can sometimes damage your vocal chords.  That’s what happened to me.  So, I spent about a year with a very hoarse, raspy voice.  Then came Teflon.  The doctor fattened up one of my damaged vocal chords with an injection of Teflon so that I could speak more easily.  It worked.

You kind of take your voice for granted.  I keep trying to talk and nothing seems to come out.  I know I need to keep quiet, but that can be hard to do in my line of work. 

So, if you see me and I don’t speak you’ll now know why.  I hope a week or so of limited vocal communication will do the trick.