May 2015

Transcription

May 2015

Our focus is on serving you!
The
A Message from Dr. Bell
Connector
May 2015
Seventeen ESU 10 staff members and I recently finished visits with all of the public
school districts that we serve in this almost 10,000 square mile area in central Nebraska.
That process now needs to expand to the 10 parochial schools served within the ESU
10 territory, but they are off the hook until 2016. The information we receive is shared
among ESU 10 staff members and the ESU 10 Board of Directors as we continue to
better focus the ESU 10 Program of Services on school district needs. We appreciate
the valuable time given to us and the frank conversation so that we can better “partner
with our customers to meet changing needs through professional expertise, training, and
support.” I also appreciate the time given to me by staff to help with this process. As we
find everywhere, there is always much to accomplish and too little time so we hope not
to waste this precious commodity.
It is always good to collaborate with our peers out in the field. Sometimes the term
“field” would be literal and sometimes figurative! Every circumstance is different and
it makes this job rich and meaningful when we can somehow meet the demands of
the people who we serve. Everything we do is definitely not an instant success, but serious thought, collaboration, and
dedicated effort can accomplish monumental goals.
The April showers have been very welcomed and now we hope to see the May flowers springing out of the ground. At
ESU 10 we hope to plant some seeds of progress to see what can grow and flourish in our area. The information gained
over the past few months will now be used to develop a budget for the year that can hopefully help us to help you so we
have an ample harvest of student success. This will all tie into the new Nebraska Department of Education accountability
system titled Accountability for a Quality Education System Today and Tomorrow. We will all join together this year as
we pursue AQuESTT. Hopefully NDE Commissioner, Matthew L. Blomstedt, will find the need to come to the ESU 10
territory to praise all of our combined efforts and accomplishments.
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Congratulations on another exemplary year that you have provided the patrons of your school districts. You should be
proud of your accomplishments. For those who have the summer off – recharge and enjoy your hiatus. For those of us
fortunate enough to work through the summer just remember that those who laugh, lasts!
76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org
ESU 10 Workshops
May
13 PowerSchool End of Year Process
27 NSSRS Workday
27 Regional Consortium Language Arts Curriculum Training (2 days)
29 Increasing Target Language Use in the World Language Classroom
June
08 ILCD Targeted Improvement Plan
Work Day
09 Strategic Leadership Conference
(3 days)
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15 Reading Instruction that Makes a Difference (5 days)
16 An Introduction to Verbal
Behavior and the ABLLS-R
(2 days)
18 Engage with Schoology
22 Vocabulary Comes Alive with Tony Vincent
23 NSSRS Workday
23 Powerful Projects with Tony Vincent
29 Flipped Learning
July
07 PowerSchool Users Conference
(2 days)
11 A Google Breakout
May is Better Hearing
and Speech Month
by Judy Lauby MS, CCC-SLP
Each year the American Speech Hearing Association designates May as Better Hearing and Speech Month. SpeechLanguage Pathologists (SLP) must earn a master’s degree
from an accredited program. In order to graduate, and to
obtain a certificate of clinical competence (CCC-SLP), they
are required to complete a requisite number of hours gaining experience in a variety of areas. About 50% of SLPs are
employed or contracted by schools. Although most people
think of speech pathologists as teachers who help others
articulate letter sounds and speak smoothly (fluency), there
are many processes and tasks that fall within the realm of
speech pathology.
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Articulation involves how the letter sounds of language are formed by the mouth. Planning the motor movements of sounds and words takes practice. The more times a
word is said correctly, the more quickly the new movement
is learned. Sounds are acquired in a developmental sequence so if a four year old doesn’t say the /r/ sound parents
don’t need to worry. However, if the four year old isn’t using the /k/ sound, that is of more concern.
• Language involves the meaning of what is said. Language intervention may begin before words or “pre-linguistically”. It also changes with different situations and demands. Human beings are very social and infants communicate a desire for interaction well before being mature enough to use the mouth to communicate. Connections
with eye contact and imitation of sounds and expressions are how infants communicate. Initially children learn to
say words because of the responses adults give as they play with sounds. The sounds “m”, “p”, “b”, and “h” are
the easiest sounds to produce. It is likely that the words chosen for parents and motor actions (“mama”, “puppy”,
“daddy”, “bye” and “hi”) received their labels because meaning was attributed to these early sounds.
• Fluency involves the smoothness in which a person is able to express thoughts and ideas. Children may go
through a period of stuttering in early pre-school years as language demands change, and their mouths struggle
to “keep up” with their thoughts. This stage is called “normal disfluency” and typically passes relatively quickly.
The most common normal disfluency in children younger than age 3 is the repetition of one-syllable words
or parts of words, especially at the beginning of sentences (“I-I want that”). After age 3, children with normal
disfluencies most often repeat whole words (“You-you-you”) or phrases (“I see—I see—I see”). Children with
normal disfluencies do not usually have physical symptoms, such as eye-blinking or obvious frustration. They do
not try to avoid speaking or seem bothered by their speech. They may not even appear to notice. If there is a family history of stuttering, if the child is frustrated, or if it continues longer than 6 months, evaluation can be sought
through the family’s district of residence.
• Phonological awareness skills make learning to read, write, and spell a lot easier. Children and adults who
are strong readers and good spellers also tend to be strong in phonological awareness. It is possible to develop
literacy without strong phonological awareness; deaf people, for example, are often able to read and write quite
effectively in English, even though they cannot hear the sounds of the language. Children with a phonological
awareness deficit may be able to pronounce all sounds correctly, but have trouble analyzing what sounds are part
of a word, and in what order they occur. For example, the child may say mat clearly, but be unable to tell you
what the beginning sound is, or where the /t/ sound comes in the word. Their difficulties are not a result of difficulty hearing speech, but a lack of awareness about the sound structures of words. A hearing loss or chronic ear
infections can certainly contribute to difficulties with phonological awareness, and make treatment more difficult,
but many children with this disorder have hearing in the average normal range. A child with a phonemic awareness disorder may be misdiagnosed as having an articulation disorder. Like children with articulation disorders,
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Continued on next page
May is Better Hearing
and Speech Month (cont.)
children with poor phonological awareness mispronounce many words, especially in the early stages of speech
development. However, a deficit in phonological awareness is not an articulation disorder. A child with an articulation disorder mispronounces certain sounds due to lack of oral motor coordination or bad habits formed when
learning to speak.
• Pragmatic language involves interpersonal interactions, turn-taking, appropriate comments for specific situations,
and making or maintaining conversation. These language skills are the basis of making and maintaining friendships, making personal connections, and having productive work interactions. With the increase in autism spectrum
disorders (ASD), more focus is being placed on social thinking and social communication skills. Although pragmatic language is difficult to explain, it is clearly apparent to a listener when there are deficits.
• Hearing impairment may create speech deficits as well. Auditory verbal therapy is one specific type of treatment
for hearing impairment, which follows specific protocols for teaching the brain to recognize and give meaning to
the sounds being received by the ear. Children and adults may both benefit from amplification (hearing aids), but
still need assistance in making sense of the information their ear is relaying to the brain.
• For children or adults who have significant impairments to spoken communication Augmentative Alternative
Communication (AAC) may be needed. AAC involves specialized devices to provide a way for people to
communicate with those around them, including simple low-tech devices, such as spelling boards or pictures,
or more complex electronic devices, such as computer-based systems. Because the usefulness of these devices
is dependent upon how usable it is to the child and family, it should be chosen after a careful assessment of
abilities and limitations.
If you have concerns about the development of a child that is younger than age three, go to the Nebraska Early Development Network website http://edn.ne.gov/cms/ to find the Planning Region Team that serves your area. For children
older than three, contact your local school district.
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Resources
• The web site for the American Speech Language Hearing Association http://www.asha.org/ provides further information
and resources in all of these areas.
• For developmental milestones for hearing, speech, language and cognition (birth through eight), go to http://firstyears.org/miles/chart.pdf
• http://www.webmd.com/parenting/tc/speech-problems-normal-disfluency-topic-overview
• http://www.kidsenabled.org/articles/intervention/may-better-speech-and-hearing-month-according-americanspeech-language-hearing-association-asha
Middle School Academic Quiz Bowl
Congratulations to the winners of the 26th Annual Quiz Bowl sponsored by ESU 10. The competition was held on
Wednesday, April 29, 2015 at the University of Nebraska Kearney where 34 area schools competed. The purpose of the
quiz bowl competition is to encourage higher order thinking, recognize outstanding achievement, and promote academic
excellence among participating middle school students.
1st Place - Kearney Sunrise
3rd Place - Grand Island Northwest
2nd Place - Grand Island Barr
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4th Place - Callaway
Nebraska Association for the Gifted
Spring Conference
by Jami Schaffnitt, Teaching & Learning Coordinator
On February 26th & 27th the Nebraska Association for the Gifted (NAG)
Conference convened in Omaha with over 300 participants for it’s 57th annual event serving Nebraska educators, students and community. Conference
presentations were designed to motivate educators and community members
with ideas and classroom experiences to engage, challenge and motivate gifted
students. There was an emphasis on STEAM topics, social/emotional issues,
Gifted and Talented 101 procedures, technology driven creativity, authentic
assessment and best practices working with high ability students. Two national
presenters were brought in to provide innovative, proven, creative professional learning experiences that can be transferred and replicated by NAG’s
conference attendees. The presenters this year were Dr. Del Siegle Department
Head of Educational Psychology Neag School of Education at the University
of Connecticut as well as Dr. Jann Leppien, Associate Professor at Whitworth
University in Spokane, Washington. It was a great conference to be around
those who have the common goal of improving teaching and learning for
students who are considered high ability.
High Ability Learners (HAL) have also been the topic of discussion among legislators. The Nebraska Lottery Fund has
been used for the last several years to provide $2.3 million dollars per year to Nebraska schools to support high ability students. The NE Lottery Funds will be available for HAL students for one more year. The Education Committee is
recommending that future funds come from the general fund. The Appropriations Committee has recently provided the
preliminary budget report. The report provides $0.00 in the general fund for HAL. This means, no funding to support
high ability students. The Nebraska Association For the Gifted testified “neutral” on this recommendation on March
2, 2015 and strongly urged Senators to talk with the Appropriations Committee to recommend that they include HAL
in the budget. On March 9, 2015 NAG and the Nebraska Department of Education testified in support of the including
HAL funding in the appropriations budget. It is believed that the Appropriation Committee will include HAL funding in
the proposed budget. How it moves from the proposal to a passed budget is not known at this time. The NAG board will
continue to work closely with lawmakers to follow this very important matter so that students in HAL programs across
the state will continue to receive the support they deserve.
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Science Workshop
Invention Convention Winners
Breanna Pihal - Shelton
The Crumb Catcher with Trivet
Gracey Smith - Lexington
Perfect Pillow
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Bryce Schmidt, Anselmo-Merna
Double Corn Double Crop Coating
Seth Chandler & Kade Safranek
Anselmo-Merna
Pivot Puller
Danielle Corona & Marlene Avina Gibbon Lipanical
Elizabeth Bauer - Spalding Academy
Cuddly Clock
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Feedback that Feeds Forward
by Denise O’Brien, Teaching and Learning Director
Project workshop series. At that training, he coined
a phrase that I have connected with, “Feedback that
Feeds Forward”. My interpretation of this message is
that administrators, teachers, and ESU 10 Teaching
and Learning Staff need to give specific feedback to
our colleagues that help them take action to improve
their teaching practices. We can no longer be satisfied with comments like “good job” or “you need to
improve”. These vague comments do not communicate
what specific action was quality or needs to change.
Throughout the year, I have had the opportunity to facilitate Adolescent Literacy Project Learning Walks in three
ESU 10 School Districts: Broken Bow, Loup City, and
Northwest. I have spent 25 days in these school districts
observing teachers implementing strategies they have
learned from our training series. I want to commend these
administrators and teachers for attending our trainings but
more importantly for implementing new strategies into
their classrooms.
I am completing my eighth year at ESU 10 this July which
means I have been out of the classroom for a while now.
The learning walk process allows me to stay up-to-date on
what instructional strategies are working and which ones
teachers find more challenging to implement with their
students. I enjoy watching how the students react to their
teachers trying various engagement, vocabulary, comprehension, and text discussion strategies. Growth has been
occurring in each of these school districts and engaged
classrooms have been the result.
One of the areas in which I am most proud of the
teachers and administrators in the Adolescent Literacy
Project is that they are learning to give better feedback.
I have observed teachers shifting their comments from
ones of general praise and guidance to specific, timely,
and relevant suggestions for improving teacher practice.
In two of the three districts, video-taping the learning
walk lesson is now an expectation. Teachers are asked
to review their learning walk tools they receive from
colleagues and watch their lesson video to self-reflect
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on their strengths and areas to grow. To me effective
schools are focused on: collaboration, feedback, and
growth. I feel fortunate that these ESU 10 districts have
invited me in to witness their administrator, teacher, and
student growth.
ESU 10 Teaching and Learning Coordinators are in the
process of meeting with school administrators in the
Adolescent Literacy Project to discuss how we can assist them in sustaining the project in their school district.
We are committed to this initiative and providing school
districts feedback so they can feed forward.
Feldman, K. (Director) (2015, January 27). Extended Discussion, Text Meaning, and Comprehension Strategies. Adolescent Literacy Project Year 1 Day 3. Lecture conducted from
Educational Service Unit 10, Kearney.
The most powerful element of the learning walk process
is the feedback that teachers give and receive. Dr. Kevin
Feldman facilitated a training focused on comprehension
strategies on January 27th for our Adolescent Literacy
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EdCamp: Participant Driven
Professional Development
by Peg Coover, T&L EdTech Coordinator
An early morning drive. Starbucks. Sunshine and a breeze
in Omaha. Beautiful new building at UNO. Registration
and donuts. 160 eager educators gathered together for a
day of professional development....on a Saturday?
The fifth EdCamp Omaha took place on March 21, 2015
at a new location at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
The Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center was
the perfect setting as the day did not fall short in engaging
the participants who gave up the first Saturday in spring to
attend this free opportunity. Free is one of the requirements
of an EdCamp, but in this case, “you get what you pay for”
does NOT apply!
EdCamps are a unique type of conference sometimes
called an “unconference.” A typical day of learning doesn’t
exist, because the learning opportunities are based on the
needs of its participants and are not determined until that
day. Starting with a blank session board, participants build
the schedule together as they socialize over donuts. The
result is a board of 20 sessions based on the passion and
interest of the people in attendance.
The EdCamp movement started in Philadelphia in 2010
when a group of educators gathered together to discuss
promising practices and technology integration. As those
first edcampers shared their experience on social media
over the next year, EdCamps started to pop up all over the
country. They are powerful because they honor the expertise of teachers rather than bringing in expensive outside
experts. Today there are over 600 EdCamps each year
around the world.
Kristen Swanson, one of the EdCamp Movement founders wrote, “For me, attending an Edcamp reminds me that
I’m part of something bigger. Education is greater than my
classroom, school, or district. It’s a powerful force that can
bring equity and empowerment to our world.” Betty Ray,
Director of Programming and Innovation for Edutopia,
had this to say about an EdCamp. “Again, something shifts
when a group of motivated people get in the same room
and direct their own experience: They share what’s working and what isn’t. They support each other.”
Sessions at EdCamp Omaha 2015 included Creativity and
Innovation in the Classroom, Formative Assessment. The
Maker Fair, Creating Classroom Culture and Environment
for 1:1, Empowering Teachers in Professional Development and many more. In every session that I attended, the
facilitator started the conversation, but then involved
the rest of us in the dialogue. I was required to think,
discuss, listen and communicate all day long, while
never being forced to just listen to a “presenter” lecture.
Of course the learning continued over our pizza lunch,
in between sessions in the halls and on the Twitter feed 13
#edcampomaha all day and through the weekend.
So who gives up a sunny Saturday in spring, often traveling hundreds of miles to get to an EdCamp? Experienced
teachers, first-year teachers, pre-service teachers, social
workers, technology coordinators, integration specialists,
principals, superintendents, university professors, and staff
development coordinators to name a few! Many of them
were from the Omaha-Lincoln area, but ESU 10 schools
had quite a few faculty make the trip. While there were
some edcampers from South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota and
Missouri, the farthest distance traveled that day was from
Chadron! No matter where they were from or what their
role in education was, the attendees at EdCamp Omaha all
exemplified professionalism, dedication and passion for
student learning.
“Educational Leadership:Professional Learning: Reimagined ...” 1 Apr. 2015 <http://www.ascd.org/publications/
educational-leadership/may14/vol71/num08/[email protected]>
“Empowering Teachers with DIY | Edutopia.” 2011. 1 Apr.
2015 <http://www.edutopia.org/blog/diy-edcamps-mak-
erfaires-tedx>
ESU 10 Workshop
A Framework for Understanding Poverty
Sponsored by: ESU 10 & ESU 11
When: August 6, 2015
Where: Educational Service Unit 10
76 Plaza Blvd. Kearney NE
Time: 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Cost:
Fees include: Book, Workbook, and Lunch
ESU 10 Title IIA Schools – Free
ESU 10 & 11 Schools - $75.00
Schools Outside of ESU 10 & 11 - $100.00
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This workshop gives you in-depth information to help you
understand class differences and 10 actions you can implement the
next day in the classroom to achieve impact. This workshop is
based on the book A Framework for Understanding Poverty by
Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D.
After attending this workshop, participants will:
•
Better understand how economic class affects behaviors and
mindsets.
•
Develop stronger relationships with students to impact
behavior and achievement.
•
Identify several key instructional strategies that meet the
needs of the under-resourced learner.
•
Understand the hidden rules of economic classes and how
they apply to their classrooms.
•
Reduce discipline referrals.
•
Use concrete strategies that impact the achievement of
students from poverty.
Facilitator: Patti Albright of
Baytown, Texas, has been an
educator for 31 years. Patti has
taught kindergarten through
junior high school and has
served as her campus language
arts coordinator for the past 25
years. Patti also served as a
district trainer in critical
thinking skills, vocabulary
strategies, effective
questioning strategies, and
curriculum writing. She worked
with at-risk students and
struggling readers for the
duration of her teaching career
and developed curriculum for
slow learners at the district
level.
To Register for this workshop, please use the following Registration Link:
https://odie.esu10.org/workshops/SectionDetails.aspx?SectionID=3152
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Plain Talk about Reading
by Susan Evans, T & L Coordinator
want to thank the board for allowing me to attend Plain Talk About Reading in New Orleans. One of the keynote
speakers was Daniel Willingham who earned his B.A. from Duke in 1983, his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from
Harvard in 1990, and is currently a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia. His research is focused on
how the brain learns and remembers and the application to K-16 education. Although he has never taught at the K-12
level I was very impressed with his knowledge of what teachers could do with this information. I bought his book,
Why Don’t Students Like School? in which he bridges the gap between laboratory research and hectic classrooms.
He has a systematic and yet understanding approach to addressing educators’ concerns about daily classroom activities. He sees the responsibilities that educators have to undertake and directly speaks to the reality of standardized
testing, time constraints, and varying levels of ability in the classroom. Willingham not only provides teachers with
current findings in neuroscience, but also validates their own activities and lesson plans. There are also action plans
that educators can apply in the Implications for the Classroom segment provided at the end of every chapter. I enjoyed
how each section began with a relevant question that could be asked by educators for example: “Why Is It So Hard for
Students to Understand Abstract Ideas?” (Chapter 4), “How Can I Help Slow Learners?” (Chapter 8). He then links
the neuroscience research with the question at hand providing a horde of examples and explanations.
Willingham’s book discusses nine principles of the mind that cognitive science has found are always applicable in
laboratory settings as well as the classroom. Following are the nine principles with the most important classroom
implication in italics.
1. People are naturally curious, but they are not naturally good thinkers. Think of to-be-learned material as answers,
and take the time necessary to explain to students the questions.
2. Factual knowledge precedes skill. It is not possible to think well on a topic in the absence of factual knowledge
about the topic.
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3. Memory is the residue of thought. The best barometer for every lesson plan is what you require teachers to think
about because that is what they will remember.
4. We understand new things in the context of things we already know. Always make deep knowledge your goal, spoken and unspoken, but recognize that shallow knowledge will come first.
5. Proficiency requires practice. Think carefully about which material students need at their fingertips, and practice it
over time.
6. Cognition is fundamentally different early and late in training. Strive for deep understanding in your students, not
the creation of new knowledge.
7. Children are more alike than different in terms of learning. Think of lesson content, not student differences, driving
decisions about how to teach.
8. Intelligence can be changed through sustained hard work. Always talk about successes and failures in terms of effort,
not ability.
9. Teaching, like any complex cognitive skill, must be practiced to be improved. Improvement requires more than
experience; it also requires conscious effort and feedback.
Daniel Willingham provides suggestions for educators that are sensible and insightful. He provides fundamental
cognitive principles that are scientific and yet applicable to the classroom. Many of the above principles are reflected in the work of other educational researchers. I enjoyed learning from him by listening to him speak and by
reading his book.
-Why Don’t Students Like School? by Daniel T. Willingham, published by Jossey-Bass, 2009.
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May 2015

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