If you teach English in one of the SFSD high schools, the District English Google calendar was recently shared with you. Events on this calendar are updated regularly to reflect the most current information. As it is a Google calendar, you may choose whether or not you wish to allow it to show in your normal Google calendar by adjusting the settings. If you select to hide the calendar now, you may always go back into the settings and select to show it.
Information Available on This Calendar
For All English Teachers
*No School days
*Inservices
*Semester Test Previews
*Semester Tests
*Grading Windows
*Teacher Workdays
*Conferences
*Upcoming Professional Development Conferences (This is merely for information purposes as teachers must apply to the travel committee to attend these.)
*There are NO Director Called Meetings during a Curriculum Study, but starting in the fall of 2017, you will see DCMs on this calendar as well.
PBS Digital Studios released a mini-series called Frankenstein, MD via YouTube. Each fictional episode is approximately 5-7 minutes in length and explores various aspects of the text through the eyes of a modern scientist who is fabricating her own creature. Access the entire playlist here.
Besides the fact that I really like pie (especially pumpkin or pecan!) and find Poe stories to be intriguing...nothing, really. At least, nothing on the surface.
Mathematician, software engineer, and author Mike Keith enjoys blending his passions by applying mathematics to music and the English language, the latter of which led to his interest in Pilish.
What is Pilish? Pilish is one approach to the idea of constrained writing where the writing adheres to a pattern based upon Pi. To write in Pilish, each word's letter count must match with the numbers found in Pi.
For example, Keith rewrote Poe's The Raven using Pilish. It begins:
"Poe, E.
Near a Raven
Midnights so dreary, tired and weary."
If you count the letters in each word and put them together, you have 3(.)1415926535. The first eleven digits of Pi!
You can find the entire Near A Raven poem and its 740 digits of Pi here. Keith also wrote Cadaeic Cadenza, another Pilish piece that usesnearly 4,000 digits of Pi. (Cadaeic Cadenza is a collection of shorter pieces modeled off of other popular texts; part one is Near A Raven.)
Perhaps a little something to tuck away for March 14th...(Is it too early to start planning?)
If you're intrigued, here are Keith's guidelines for writing in Pilish.
If you are a high school English teacher in our district, you are most likely already making good use of Turn It In and its many features, but did you hear about the newest feature?
Turn It In now offers an online discussion board!
I had the opportunity to view it in action this week with freshmen; I get to see it with juniors next week...and I am very excited about this new feature!
Why am I excited and using exclamation points? Don't we already have access to online discussions through Google Classroom?
Google Classroom does allow students to have discussions via questions the teacher posts to the stream. Turn It In takes it a few steps beyond the basics, however. Here's what you can do in Turn It In's discussion feature:
Teachers post questions using a screen similar to posting an assignment. There is a spot for the question, a spot for additional instructions, and a due date.
Teachers can have multiple questions posted at once, and they are easily viewed on the Discussion page.
Teachers can chose to moderate posts or not.
As students post responses and reply to posts, Turn It In visually tracks the thread and labels each response.
1 (or another single number) means the post is the beginning of a thread.
1.1, 1.2, etc means the posts are responses to the original post labeled 1.
1.1.1, 1.1.2, etc means the posts are responses to responses to the original post labeled 1.
(I'm not sure how far down the path it goes, but I did see a 1.1.1.1 yesterday!)
Teachers can manipulate how they view the posts. They can view the posts threaded (meaning the posts read like a conversation, in the order they were posted) or they can view the posts by student.
When a teacher sorts the posts by student, the teacher can see both original posts and replies to classmates posts. The student's every contribution shows up. (In contrast, Google only shows a student's original post.)
Students can post questions if the teacher allows. This could add an interesting dynamic to the conversation.
Thinking of giving it a go in your room? Please let me know how it goes!
PoeStories.com is an informative and easy-to-navigate website dedicated to the life and writings of Edgar Allan Poe created by Robert Giordano, a graphic artist, photographer, and fellow writer. Giordano included a number of features that make his website a fantastic tool and resource for both student and teacher. Like most Poe websites, it begins with a biography of the Master of Macabre, and there are a number of photos accessible within the included photo gallery, including some of Poe's gravesite taken by Giordano himself. Along with the biography, Giordano also includes a timeline that cross-references Poe's life events with major historical events that occurred in his lifetime.
One piece that was especially important to Giordano in creating his website was accessibility to Poe's writings. Through his website, teachers and students have immediate access to the full digital texts. In order to help readers, Giordano hyperlinked words and phrases, connecting them to a glossary he has created. The glossary assists readers in understanding both definitions and allusions. Readers have access to the glossary as a whole, but the information is also visible while reading a text. Instead of being redirected to the glossary page, clicking on a hyperlinked word in a story opens a little pop-up box with the definition/explanation.
Whether you're looking for a new Poe story to engage your students or seeking a more accessible way to read his works, Giordano's website might be worth checking out.
Oh, the Reflections contest! Having a mother who was extremely active in the PTA, the Reflections contest was on our yearly calendar. Perhaps my memory is incorrect, but I do not recall there being so many categories. I hope if dance had been a category back when I was in school that I would have taken that opportunity!
If your students are looking for a creative outlet that can earn them a little scholarship money, encourage them to think about entering this year's contest. Entries need to connect to the theme "Let Your Imagination Fly" and fall into one of the following six categories: Dance Choreography, Film Production, Literature, Music Composition, Photography, or Visual Arts.
The local Sioux Falls deadline is Saturday, December 5, which is less than a month away. Access the printable registration form here. As I learn more, I will update this post,
A few weeks ago, I shared this timeline for our English curriculum study. It is a digital timeline that I created through TimelineJS, which is based out of Northwestern University's Knight Lab. A few people expressed interest in how I created the timeline, and the instructions are all presented very clearly and concisely on the TimelineJS website.
In a nutshell, you make a copy of a Google spreadsheet template from TimelineJS. (If you are going to have your students use this program, I recommend making your copy of the template "View Only" so that students have to make a copy from your copy.) Then you (of your students) fill in the information on the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet has spaces dates (start and end), times (if appropriate), heading text, explanatory text, digital media (images, YouTube videos, website links, etc.), and digital media source citations.
Once your spreadsheet is complete, the TimelineJS website walks you through how to publish your spreadsheet to the web. After a few clicks on their website, you have a moderately interactive digital timeline that looks pretty polished.
Honestly, the part that took me the longest was finding the perfect picture for each event on my timeline!
If you are thinking of having your students use TimelineJS for a project, here are a few tips from the website:
Keep it short. We recommend not having more than 20 slides for a reader to click through.
Pick stories that have a strong chronological narrative. It does not work well for stories that need to jump around in the timeline.
Write each event as a part of a larger narrative.
Include events that build up to major occurrences - not just the major events
We live in a very technology-driven world, and I will readily admit that I am a digital girl, which led me to switch exclusively to a digital calendar four or five years ago. At the time, the transition was very painful. I loved my paper high school planner so much that I searched for it online and diligently ordered it each fall to use during college, grad school, and my first few years of teaching. But I made the switch. And I was happy. Or at least, happy-ish.
Recently, however, I have begun to miss that old paper planner.
I miss using my colorful, ultra-thin pens to color-code my schedule, even though I have been able to do a variation of this with my digital calendar. It just isn't the same.
I miss being able to flip through the weeks to glance back at the events that have passed.
I miss writing down my to-do list and the satisfaction that came with physically crossing-off a task. (I have been known to add a task after it has been completed, just so I could cross it off. Paper planner people...you with me on this one?)
And my bookshelf misses those volumes that were lost to the digital world. In many regards, my old, paper planners act as a journal for my years. And I miss that.
Enter the Passion Planner!
Today, I am going back to paper, and I'm ordering a Passion Planner! Why today? Because I've been waiting for them to go on sale, and for today only, the 2015-16 academic Passion Planners are 1/2 price. (Just FYI in case you want one or you know someone who might want one...)
Here are a few reasons why I'm giving Passion Planner a try as I switch back to paper:
1. Size: I can get either a full size or a compact size, and while I haven't quite decided which one I want, it looks like either choice will give me the room I need to record everything that I want to write.
2. Time Slots: The days have time slots. I like to have the hourly lay-out as opposed to a blank space for the day.
3. Hours: The hours start earlier and end later than other planners I have seen.
4. Daily Focus: The top of each day has a spot specifically reserved for the day's focus.
5. Weekly Focus: Each weekly spread has a weekly focus spot, too.
6. Celebrations: There is a special block of space to record the good things that happened that week. We can never celebrate the good stuff too much.
7. To-Do Lists: Yes. Lists. There are TWO weekly to-do lists: one for work and one for personal.
8. Me space: The bottom of the right-hand page of each week is empty. I can utilize it however I want.
9. Appearance: The binding and cover are much more professional looking than my old spiral-bound planner.
10. Smashability: I don't think that is a real word, but I'm going with it. I have seen many people use these planners as smash books. Check them out on the Passion Planner blog.
Lastly, they have a referral program. If you refer three people, you get a free one. As I am already purchasing one for myself, I'm looking to earn one (or two!) to give to a new teacher! I'd love to be able to gift a planner or two to a colleague. If you happen to purchase a Passion Planner after reading this post, I would be very grateful if you would please list me as your reference at check out. Please use this email address: margaret.dalton@k12.sd.us
John Green, popular YA author of The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska, has a secret YouTube vlogging persona on the Crash Course YouTube channel!
Did you find him? I hope so because it really wasn't that secret...perhaps just relatively unknown, at least around here. (He has over 3.5 million followers!)
If you took a moment to visit his YouTube channel, you saw a sampling of Crash Course's almost 450 educational videos. Started by John and his brother Hank, the Crash Course channel offers free (and might I add, entertaining) 10-15 minute videos covering all sorts of content. Currently, 24 of those videos are specifically connected to commonly taught high school literature. The literature playlist starts with:
And then it moves on to:
Of Pentameter & Bear Baiting - R&J Part 1
Love or Lust? - R&J Part 2
Like Pale Gold - The Great Gatsby Part 1
Was Gatsby Great - The Great Gatsby Part 2
Language, Voice, and Holden Caulfield - The Catcher in the Rye Part 1
Holden, JD, and the Red Cap - The Catcher in the Rye Part 2
Before I Got My Eye Put Out - The Poetry of Emily Dickinson
A Long and Difficult Journey, or The Odyssey
Fate, Family, and Oedipus Rex
Ghosts, Murder, and More Murder - Hamlet Part 1
Ophelia, Gertrude, and Regicide - Hamlet Part 2
Don't Reanimate Corpses! - Frankenstein Part 1 Frankenstein Part 2
Reader, it's Jane Eyre
If One Finger Brought Oil - Things Fall Apart Part 1 Things Fall Apart Part 2 To Kill a Mockingbird Part 1
Race, Class, and Gender in To Kill a Mockingbird Part 2
Aliens, Time Travel, and Dresden - Slaughterhouse Five Part 1
PTSD and Alien Abduction - Slaughterhouse Five Part 2
Slavery, Ghosts, and Beloved Langston Hughes & the Harlem Renaissance
The Poetry of Sylvia Plath
Beyond the literature playlist, however, are many other videos that could be connected to the literature in our classrooms. For example, the US History Playlist contains 48 videos that could help set the stage for texts studied in American Lit. There are also Psychology and World History Playlists that could connect. View all of the Crash Course playlists here.
While these videos were not originally intended for the classroom, the Green brothers are very encouraging of teachers using the videos. I could see the videos working in many classrooms, or as part of a Blendspace activity, or as an informational text/video to be analyzed, or...
Since the adoption of the CCSS, we have heard the term text complexity many times. The concept has also emerged through questions bubbling up as we embark upon our English curriculum revision.
How do we ensure that we are placing adequately challenging texts within the grade level curriculum guides?
As we seek to diversify our literature options, how do we know that we are adding options that are of high quality?
These questions are undoubtedly important for us to examine during our study because we need to be intentionally including both accessible texts and texts that stretch our students; these questions, however, go beyond the diverse literature element we recently started exploring. As we review the texts currently in our curriculum and as we study potential new texts to add, I challenge us to turn to this question:
What does it mean for a text to be challenging or of high quality?
Often, the first measure to come to mind is a text's Lexile score, which can be a very good place to start. When thinking about Lexile in a post-CCSS-adoption world, however, it can get a bit tricky. The Lexile Band has changed for each grade band due to the fact that over the past 50 years, the gap between most secondary texts and most college texts has widened. In order to move students closer to the College and Career Ready Lexile level, a new "Stretch" Lexile Band has been adopted by The Lexile Framework for Reading. (But this is a whole other topic...Click here to read more from the Lexile Framework group.)
So should Lexile be our go-to for determining a text's complexity?
Does a Lexile number really inform us if a text will be challenging for our students or if it is of high quality?
While the Ledile measure can be a starting point, the CCSS promotes a three-pronged approach when determining a text's complexity, and many educators with whom I have spoken agree that the following three elements are all important when considering a text: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Reader & Task.
One of the three prongs is, of course, the quantitative measures, which includes Lexile measures. Algorithms are used to analyze the word length, word frequency, sentence length, and cohesiveness of the text. This is helpful, but it is not the only factor to consider.
The qualitative measurements, on the other hand, are evaluated by a human. An actual, living, breathing person has read the text. This pulse-maker considers aspects of the text like levels of meaning, the clarity and conventions of the language used, the knowledge demands, the format and structure, and the complexity of the visual materials. These factors place different requirements on the reader than a Lexile score.
The third prong is the reader and task combination. Within this sphere, reader pieces such as motivation, background knowledge, and previous experience are considered. The other element of this portion is ensuring that the text fits the purpose and the complexity of the task at hand.
Each one of these prongs fails to paint a full picture of the text by itself. Together, however, they create a fairly sturdy stool on which the reader can sit.
As we move forward with our Curriculum Study, it is my hope that we can keep this stool with us. What does it mean for a text to be challenging or of high quality? To start, it means that the stool is just the right size for the reader to grow.
Save the date(s)! If you are interested in attending a conference this year, here are a few worth considering. They are listed in chronological order, and I've noted the deadlines for applications to the Professional Travel Committee. Now is a great time to apply since we are beginning our curriculum study. To view the applicant criteria and access the application, please visit the District Professional Travel page.
*UPDATE 1/18/16 I moved the conferences that have passed to the bottom of the post since I am also updating the post with new information.
Parent-Teacher conferences are upon us this week! Here are a few resources that might be useful as you think ahead to the upcoming conversations.
Cliff Notes Version: Be prepared! Be positive! Be solution oriented!
Pre-Conference Tools and Tips
Parent-Teacher Conference Form: This Google Doc is one example of a form to have students complete BEFORE conferences. Use this form (or one like this) to gather personalized talking points for each student. It can also help make the conversation more student led. Just make sure to collect these from the students before conferences and to bring them to conferences.
Tips for New Teachers: While this document specifies new teachers in the title, like all good resources, the information can be applied no matter where you are in your teaching career. The beginning of the article does talk about 30-minute conferences; just ignore that part! The rest can be applied to any parent-teacher conference format.
Harvard's Parent-Teacher Conference Tip Sheets: The Harvard Family Research Project published this document in 2010; it includes tips for principals, teachers, and parents. Pages 5 and 6 are specific to teachers, but the whole document is a quick read.
5 Quick "Tips for Parent-Teacher Conferencing": As both an educator and a mom, Edutopia blogger Elena Aguilar shares her top-five tips for parent-teacher conferences.
Hope your conversations are productive and fruitful!
The following excerpts come from "Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors" by Rudine Sims Bishop, and were referenced in our Curriculum Writing Meeting as we discussed diversifying the literature options in our curriculum.
“Books are sometimes windows, offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange...When lighting conditions are just right, however, a window can also be a mirror. Literature transforms human experience and reflects it back to us, and in that reflection we can see our own lives and experiences as part of the larger human experience. Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and readers often seek their mirrors in books...
When children cannot find themselves reflected in the books they read, or when the images they see are distorted, negative, or laughable, they learn a powerful lesson about how they are devalued in the society of which they are a part. Our classrooms need to be places where all the children from all the cultures that make up the salad bowl of American society can find their mirrors...
Children from dominant social groups have always found their mirrors in books, but they, too, have suffered from the lack of availability of books about others. They need the books as windows onto reality, not just on imaginary worlds. They need books that will help them understand the multicultural nature of the world they live in, and their place as a member of just one group, as well as their connections to all other humans."
Thank you to the Curriculum Writing Teams for the thoughts, ideas, questions, and concerns expressed last night at our curriculum writing meeting! For those of you not on a CWT this round, we started a conversation about diversifying the literature options in our curriculum. Maybe it would be better described as barely started, as it is a rather lengthy conversation to have!
Please remember that this conversation is NOT a cry to throw out all of the classic literature. It is, rather, a conversation to help us make choices regarding literature options that will best benefit student learning.
The "Challenge Yourself" image above came from the website The Educators' Spin on It, and one of their posts includes a tip about how to diversify the literature in your classroom with classics in mind:
"Do you have any books featuring diverse characters that are not primarily about race or prejudice? Consider your classic books, both fiction and nonfiction. Do any contain hurtful racial or ethnic stereotypes, or images? If so, how will you address those stereotypes with students? Have you included another book that provides a more accurate depiction of the same culture?"
When we look at the texts we want to teach, keep, or add as options, we need to be aware of the stereotypes involved. One small change we can make is to look at supplemental materials to pair with classics and Shakespearean plays. There are many ways to bring in the missing voices through background-building informational texts (like those found at KidsInBirmingham1963, for example) or a version of Romeo and Juliet from another culture.
We are all coming to this conversation from our individualized backgrounds, so the road ahead may not be an easy one. It is, however, an important journey as we look at what is best for our student population. Our students who are use to finding mirrors in literature need windows just as much as our students who are use to finding windows in literature need mirrors.
I'm looking forward to continuing this conversation as we revise our curriculum options!
See the details below regarding the Autism training this week.
An invitation is extended to any Sioux Falls School District staff to a training titled “Autism Overview.” This training is an introductory workshop for staff new to working with a student with autism. The training will include sections explaining Autism Spectrum Disorders and their characteristics, unique language needs of students with Autism, and classroom strategies that should be used and are research based. This includes both general education staff and special education staff – both professional and support staff. If you choose to attend, you will be paid hourly for time outside your work day.
**If you have attended this training in the past, you will not want to attend as it is the same training that was offered in past years and is intended as an introduction to autism.**
Ever struggle with creating sentences that show a vocabulary word in context? This resource does it for you! Or, this could be a resource you share with your students to help them help themselves when they come across an unfamiliar word.
Words in a Sentence has over 2500 words (2611 as of Monday and 2636 at the moment, to be exact...) with sentences. Each word on the website is defined and then used in ten sentences to show the proper use in context. Many words also have synonyms and antonyms. From the looks of one page, it appears that they are working towards including an image for each word, too.
You (or your students) can also sign up for their word of the day.
The wonderfully helpful Nicole Hansen from ATI shared out some resources for the assessment within our district. I've linked to the two that pertain to high school English below; the one caveat is that you must be logged-in to your k12 account to view these district files. If you happen to find one or some of them helpful, please make sure to thank Nicole!
"That night, they dreamt of unknown landscapes..."
Mixed Media by Michael Two Bulls, Oglala Sioux Tribe
CAIRNS (the Center for American Indian Research and Native Studies) recently published an online exhibit titled Lakota Emergence. The main feature of this exhibit is a collection of vignettes that revolve around the Lakota emergence narrative, "How the Lakota Came Upon the World." The short narrative is divided into 16 pieces, each of which is paired with practical and historical Lakota museum objects, and an original piece by a modern Lakota artist who "creatively interpret[s] the passages and museum objects from a contemporary Lakota point of view." The culmination is a vignette that reveals a portion of the emergence narrative through not only word, but also artifact and art. Together, history and passion weave the narrative.
As part of the online exhibit, CAIRNS has also provided a number of resources for educators and students. Each vignette is accompanied by the digital version of a museum plaque; the artist is introduced, the artwork is described, and the historical significance of the objects is explained. Also woven into the vignettes is a mini-lesson on counting from one to 16 in Lakota. Beyond the vignettes, CAIRNS provides both a background and a foreground. The background documents set the stage by helping readers understand the spirits of the underworld and the Pta people (the Lakota underworld ancestors). The foreground documents provide readers with a brief history of the Oceti Sakowin (Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota), focusing on the Titonwan (Lakota) nation.
Overall, it looks to be an excellent resource for many classrooms, particularly for those who are looking to add diversity to the curriculum or to add more depth to the Oceti Sakowin components of the curriculum.
Are you a fan of David Sedaris or Annie Dillard? Maybe both? If so, you should make plans to hang out at Augustana's Kresge Recital Hall on Tuesday, September 29. Why? Because John T. Price will be there and, well, I can't say it any better than The Iowan: “If David Sedaris and Annie Dillard had a literary love child and raised him in Iowa, he would write like this.” — The Iowan
Here's what you need to know:
John T. Price
Tuesday, Sept. 29
7:30 p.m.
Kresge Recital Hall
Tickets are available at the door. General admission is $5; children and Augustana students are free. (I wonder if I can still use my Augustana College ID?)
For more information, visit the ALA website or call the Mikkelsen Library at 605.274.4921.
If the proposal on your mind is to another person, this information won't help you. However, if the proposal you are planning is for a class full of energetic learners, then please read on!
Looking to try something innovative and creative in your classroom next semester?
Looking for some funds to help you get the needed materials?
If you are employed by the Sioux Falls Public School District, you need to look here! The Education Foundation Grant is a competitive process that could get you the monies you need.
Up to $10,000!!
In a nutshell, the criteria state that the grant proposal must be for something that enhances the current curriculum in a creative and innovative way. (View the full list of criteria here.)
Two types of proposals are considered by two different groups. The Sioux Falls Public Schools Education Foundation will consider proposals up to $10,000! (Note: If your proposal requests more than $3,000, you may be asked to present your proposal to the panel.) The Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation considers smaller proposals of $1,000 or less.
Interested? Head to the Education Foundation website to read all of the details. The proposal form is a Google form and can be accessed here.
Remember: The proposals for the Innovation in Education Grants are due October 16, 2015, and must be submitted via the Google Form by 5:00 p.m. on that date. Best wishes! And, I hope they say "Yes!"
If you currently teach a course that uses a McDougal Littel textbook (English I, English II, or American Lit), remember that students have online access through Classzone. If you can't find you Classzone codes, please email me and I can send them to you. (I am not posting them here as the codes are specific for our district.)
Here's a little Google Drive tip that I have found especially helpful lately...
Unlike the traditional file folders on your desktop or laptop, Google Drive allows you to save a document in multiple folders on your Drive. Save really isn't the right word here. There is only one copy of the document, but Drive allows you to access it through more than one folder. It's sort of like how you and I can both access the same document through our own respective Drives. Two different paths. One destination.
For example...I have some English curriculum documents that were also part of the September 3rd inservice. I wanted to be able to have those documents at my fingertips while working on the inservice, but I also wanted the documents to remain with my English curriculum files.
The magic combination of Shift + Z allowed me to do both.
Here's how to tap into the magic.
I first created my document, saving it in my English curriculum folder. Then, instead of right-clicking on the document name to pull up options, I left-clicked one time to highlight it.
When I held down the Shift key and typed Z, an "Add To" box appeared, allowing me to designate a second home for the document.
Those few steps provided me with easy access to my documents from both folders. Why Google didn't just add that as an option to the right-click menu is beyond me, but as Bill Nye always said, "Now you know!"
Dr. Raeder will be hosting semester test previews starting this week. The test preview simply provides you with an opportunity to see the question types that are attached to the content standards and to see how they are worded. If you are unable to attend the preview scheduled for your building, you are welcome to attend a session at one of the other high schools. If none of the previews work for you, you are welcome to call ATI (605.367.6112) to set up a time to review the test. All 1st semester previews must be completed by November 30th, 2015.
You are invited to preview the District 1st semester tests at the following locations, dates, and times:
Tuesday September 22nd – Roosevelt High School – 3:15 - 4:30 p.m. – Library
Thursday, September 17th – Washington High School – 3:15 – 4:30 p.m. – Library
Thursday, October 29th – Lincoln High School – 3:15 – 4:30 p.m. – Library (Please note the date change from the original email!)
For those of you who like to put everything on the calendar at once, you are invited to preview the District 2nd semester tests at the following locations, dates, and times:
Monday February 8th –Roosevelt High School – 3:15 - 4:30 p.m. – Library
Tuesday February 9th – Washington High School – 3:15 – 4:30 p.m. -- Library
Thursday, February 11th – Lincoln High School – 3:15 – 4:30 p.m. – Library (Please note the date change from the original email!)
If you teach in Sioux Falls, I hope you saw the email from our local Zoup! that they want to provide you a little "comfort in a bowl" to say Thank You for all you do! All you need to do for this perk is show your teacher ID at the 41st and Kiwanis location, and they will treat you to an 8 oz serving of soup and a hunk of bread.
Zoup!'s menu of soups changes daily; click on their logo above to view their website and online menu. They tend to offer some of the staple soups you would expect, plus a few more adventurous recipes. Whether you tend to eat low-fat, dairy-free, gluten-free, or vegetarian, my guess is that you will be able to find at least one soup that you could at least try for free. I checked today, and here is what I found on the menu:
Beef Barley
Chicken Wild Rice Medley
Fire Roasted Tomato Bisque
Frontier 7 Bean
Italian Pasta and Vegetable
Overstuffed Bell Pepper
Pumpkin Pie Bisque
Shrimp, Asparagus, and Dill
North Indian Lentil
Whole Grain Chicken and Dill
Chicken Potpie
Lobster Bisque
If I were going today, I think I'd be trying the Pumpkin Pie Bisque!
If you go, please remember to thank them for thanking us for doing what we love to do!
EdCamp SD is back! Last fall marked the first of hopefully many EdCamps in our state, and the feedback I heard was positive! If you weren't able to attend the inaugural EdCamp SD, please put this date on your calendar and consider attending:
EDCAMP Harrisburg
Oct. 17th, 2015
If the term EdCamp is new to you, here's a quick run-down. It is commonly referred to as an unconference because, unlike a regular conference, no one plans the sessions ahead of time. The participants begin the morning by bringing forth possible topics. From there, "sessions" are assigned rooms, and while someone typically leads, there is no true presenter. Sessions typically resemble discussions more than presentations. The participants lead the learning by sharing their best practices.
The Details
Where: Harrisburg South Middle School (600 S. Cliff Ave, Harrisburg, SD 57032)
If you happen to be west-river that weekend, EdCamp Lead is also taking place on Oct. 17th at the Lead-Deadwood High School (320 S. Main St., Lead, SD 57754).
I don't know about you, but when I watch the gymnastics portion of the Olympics, I become an instant expert on the gymnast's technique and precision. One portion I'm exceptionally good at evaluating is the landing. Did she end with a solid dismount? Did he wiggle or wobble while attempting to maintain his balance? Was there (gasp!) a step forward/back/to the side? A gymnast can perform a flawless routine and be knocked out of the running for gold if she doesn't stick the landing.
Why is sticking the landing so important in gymnastics? Despite what you may believe from my couch-scoring of Olympic gymnasts, I'm not a gymnastics judge, but here's what I imagine a judge would say. First and foremost, sticking the landing is safest for the gymnast's body...but I doubt that is the reason it makes or breaks a gold medalist. The real reason, I believe, is two fold. First, it is the very last technique a gymnast can show a judge. It is the final opportunity to make a lasting impression. The middle might have been a little muddled, but if a gymnast can stick the landing, suddenly the muddy middle doesn't seem quite as severe. The gymnast exits the arena feeling more successful, and the judge is left with a more favorable opinion when processing the performance. Second, it is one more opportunity for the gymnast to demonstrate mastery, her control over her body. Gymnastics is precise. There are many ways to demonstrate that precision and control during the routine, but the only way to show it at the close is to stick the landing.
What does this have to do with the classroom if you don't teach PE or coach gymnastics? ASCD published an article this past summer entitled "Stick the Landing" where history teacher Tyler Reese connected sticking the landing to closure. Helping our students experience closure in the classroom is one of the more highly effective strategies we know for helping the brain process and store information. Students need effective closure for similar reasons a gymnast needs to stick the landing.
When a teacher provides a student with time for closure, both the student and the teacher are given an opportunity to stick the landing. In many closure activities, the student is given one more instance where he can demonstrate his knowledge to the teacher. This is turn becomes a moment of formative assessment, which allows the teacher to reevaluate next steps. When students participate in closure that is reflective in nature, they also move towards a deeper understanding of the content as their brains attach connections to the content. In this way, closure is the last chance (at least for the moment) for the teacher to help the current content make a lasting impression in the student's brain.
If you're not sure where to start, Reese provides three of his favorite closure activities: Around the Horn (a variation of closing circles), Negotiations, and Logo Galleria (a variation of a gallery walk). If none of these three strike a spark in you, don't worry; there are many ways to provide effective closure. Some methods take more preparation than others; some are quick in the classroom while others take a chunk of time. The important piece is to remember to do it regularly - and that doesn't mean just at the end of the class period. Closure is beneficial anytime you are concluding one piece and moving on to another.
A few that are often quicker and easier to implement are quick writes/journals (paper/pencil or digital), critical thinking exit ticket questions, and connection-based pair-shares.
Have a closure strategy that you have found to be very successful in assisting students stick the landing? Please share your ideas in the comments!
The DWP Invitational Summer Institute is in the works! Very few details are out at this point, but here is what I know:
This has been some of the BEST PD in which I have participated. It is for ANY teacher who wants to look at using writing more effectively in the classroom. (The summer I participated, the teachers ranged from K-college, and included PE, science, social studies, and art, as well as English.)
The dates are set: June 8 - July 2, 2015. The group meets Monday through Thursday.
The ISI takes place on USD's campus. Typically, teachers can choose to commute each day or to arrange housing in Vermillion. (I opted to commute each day with another Sioux Falls teacher, which I really enjoyed. We were able to spend time bonding and processing the information from the day.)
One of our own SF teachers will co-direct - Meghan WoundedHead!
Teachers can earn 6 graduate credits for completing the ISI.
As I learn more, I will try to send out information. In the meantime, you can watch the DWP ISI website or contact DWP director Michelle Rogge Gannon at mrogge@usd.edu.
This spring, Google is hosting a free two-day online conference called Education On Air. Join other educators from around the world, and participate in online Keynotes, panel discussions, and mini-sessions. It appears to be the sort of thing that you can jump in and out as your schedule allows, so if you are unsure of committing, register just in case! Remember, it is FREE!
Friday, May 8: Leading for the Future (9 am - 2 pm CST)
The Friday online Keynote and panel sessions are marketed towards those in leadership positions (anywhere from admin to a team leader to IT), but the posted topics sound applicable to classroom teachers as well. The full schedule will be released in April, but here are a few of the currently posted sessions:
*Creating Student Ownership
*Fostering Innovation in Schools
*Making Technology Work for Learning
*Communicating Change
Saturday, May 9: Shaping the Classroom Today
The Saturday online sessions are meant to be convenient and applicable to the classroom teacher. As Google puts it, "run by educators for educators, designed to be immediately useful to you." Sessions range from 15-45 minutes, and they are led by Google Certified Teachers, trainers, and general Googlers. Again, the full schedule is set to be released in April, but here are the posted teaser sessions:
(Custom Ole shoes by Augie junior Brianne Bernard)
Augustana's spring workshops are close to wrapping up, but there are still a few left on the schedule if you are looking for a class. One in particular that might be of interest is All Things Macbeth, which will take place the weekend of April 10-11. Another option is Twenty Google Tools You Should be Using in Your Classroom the weekend of May 8-9.
The University of Sioux Falls offers numerous topics for personal professional development. If you are in need of graduate credits for a lane change or renewal credits for re-certification, USF offers both opportunities for their courses.
Some of the upcoming offerings that might be of interest include:
*Writing from Middle School, High School to College (Starts June 3)
*Discipline with Love and Logic (starts June 5)
*Literacy and Gender (Starts June 8)
*Teaching with the Brain in Mind (Starts June 10)
*Grammar 101: Beginners to Advanced (Starts June 10)
Click on the links below to view the full spring and summer listings.
"Since 2003, writers from all over the United States have gathered in an intimate lakeside setting with award-winning authors and teachers to practice the arts of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction."
This year's Northwoods Writers Conference is set for June 20-26, 2015. Participants will be able to "create, collaborate, and commune" on the lake at Bemidji State University. Throughout the week, participants will hear from and work with five authors: Aimee Nezhukumatathil (poetry), Tayari Jones (fiction), Matt de la Pen (YA fiction), David Gessner (creative nonfiction), and Joni Tevis (creative nonfiction). When applying, participants select their particular genre for workshop sessions. Other scheduled events include author readings, craft talks, consultations, and editor's talks. (See the whole schedule here.)
The full conference costs $545 if you register before April 15 or $585 after the early bird date passes. This cost covers all events and three meals. Participants can also opt to audit many of the events for $125. View more cost details here.
