Schools That Can

[girlwithalessonplan]

aurlmystudentswillneverfind said: You give out your cell phone number to your students?

I *KNEW* this question would happen.

Yes and no.

So let me back this up by saying, when I was a kid, I could look up my teacher’s numbers and call them any time I wanted because...

[schoolsthatcan]

Do you use social media or your personal number to connect with students on school related issues? 

[oupacademic]

I wrote my book on a brand-new laptop that had never been online. Every night I locked it in a safe in my apartment. I never mentioned the book on the phone or in e-mail, at home or in the office — both located in the same Beijing diplomatic compound, which I assumed was bugged.

[oupacademic]

Louisa Lim, author of The People’s Republic of Amnesia: Tiananmen Revisited, on writing her book in China. Read other accounts of how China is keeping quiet about the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square uprising.

Image: Tiananmen Square, Beijing, China 1988 by Derzsi Elekes Andor. CC-BY-SA-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

[theyuniversity]

[theyuniversity]

First of all, thanks for love, Anon.

The semicolon is one of the most misunderstood, misused, and underappreciated punctuations.

This famous quote from Kurt Vonnegut might have something to do with it:

On the other hand, standardized tests (especially the ACT and SAT) insist that you...

[projectedblog-blog]

Happy Digital Learning Day, everyone! 

In the spirit of Digital Learning, check out our open contests, and you could win up to $1000!

[coolcatteacher]

Great guide to share with teachers (and parents) about the “trendy” terms that are being shared throughout schools.

(via A New Educational Technology Cheat Sheet for Teachers ~ Educational Technology and Mobile Learning)

[novicephoenix-deactivated202407]

Hi. I've been following you for a while now as a student of education and I'm about to start my student teaching. I'm a music ed student and I'm going to be teaching middle school band and I am very, very nervous about it. I know that our subject areas are very different, but are there any pointers you would give a beginner teacher that's about to student teach?

Hey there!

Thanks for the awesome question! Sorry for the delay in responding. it has been so crazy at work! We do have a different subject, but many moons ago I had to long-term sub for a chorus teacher. I realized a few things were important:

Although we don’t teach the same subject, I think it’s important for any teacher to ask themselves:

What are my routines (How do I set up my class, how do I want the kids to come in, how do I want them to deal with music materials)?

What are my standards (What do I expect for my kids to accomplish, how do I want them to perform)?

What are my consequences (What are behaviors that annoy you? What are some reasonable consequences?)?

How can you relate music to their lives (How can you make music relevant?)?

How can I put on a performance to show off my students talents?

Also, forgive yourself, trust yourself, and learn everyday

Music teachers, art teachers, or other teachers that teach outside of the “typical subjects” on tumblr, chime in and let us know your thoughts! What’s your advice?

[schoolsthatcan]

Great advice for all teachers. 

[oupacademic]

There are many roads to leadership and innovation. It is important to realize that no one will invite you to become a leader. Such roles do not happen by accident. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Leaders who aren’t afraid to forge a new road can move their professions in uncharted directions.

Heidi Moawad, author of Careers Beyond Clinical Medicine, shares her thoughts on medical residency. Look out for other snippets of advice for junior doctors and medical students on our Tumblr. (via oupacademic)

[oupacademic]

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy

Martin Luther King Jr. University Press Scholarship Online has made a collection of articles free for one month to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day. (via oupacademic)

[gjmueller-deactivated20181226]

Technology should help us to teach better and in more meaningful ways. It should be used to connect us. It should give us choice and allow us to share. It should not be something that you do in addition to everything else you already do in your classroom. If technology is something that you try to add after you have planned your reading, writing and math, you are destined to fail at “integrating” technology.

Technology in the Classroom: Embrace the Bumpy Ride! (via gjmueller)

[theyuniversity]

should the first lettters of subjects like physics and chemistry be capitalized?

She is a physics major.

I am studying chemistry.

Did you sign up for Physics 101?

Jane looks forward to taking AP Chemistry next year.

Bonnibel fell asleep while studying for her Physics in Cartoons class.

[gjmueller-deactivated20181226]

Happiness as a measurable educational outcome

[schoolsthatcan]

Very interesting. 

Worldwide, teachers are measured and paid, advanced and fired, by the test scores of their students. But what if balancing the testing of academic skills with testing of happiness became our educational evaluation strategy? Happiness is at last measurable, and this recognition was perhaps the greatest achievement of this year’s Annual International Education Forum in Seoul. Could we begin to address and value student happiness with the directness of any other educational objective?

[schoolsthatcan]

Transforming Inner-City Education: The Hidden Power of Character

The Gesu School, an independent Catholic K-8 school in Philadelphia and member of Schools That Can, held its Annual Symposium on Transforming Inner-City Education on Friday, November 1. Since 1997, Gesu has organized this annual forum to address hot-button topics in urban education such as school vouchers, the impact of stress on children’s learning, 21st century learning and early education. This year’s topic, “The Hidden Power of Character” was timely as STC continues its work on Teaching Success with character “experts” Angela Duckworth and Walter Mischel. More photos of the symposium are included on Gesu’s Facebook page here.

Paul Tough, a New York Times Magazine contributor and the author of several books including his most recent How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, launched the conversation with an engaging and informative keynote address highlighting key points from his most recent research on the topic.

Tough’s research challenges the “cognitive hypothesis,” which posits that one’s IQ is the strongest predictor of success. He argues that one’s character strengths are more foretelling than inherent intellectual capacity. Researchers emphasize different strengths, but some of the most commonly mentioned traits include: grit, zest, curiosity, self-control, optimism, and conscientiousness.

But how does one teach optimism – especially in the face of the unspeakable challenges unfortunately all too common in underserved communities? Of course there is no one answer, but the research does bring to light some effective practices and tricks of the trade.

Positive Character Traits Lead to Success

Not unsurprisingly, it starts at home during early childhood. Children who develop secure attachments to caregivers are less likely to feel the effects of toxic stress long-term and are more likely to develop these character strengths.  However, all is certainly not lost for youngsters who don’t develop secure attachments. Another fruitful time for developing character strengths is adolescence. It is at this time that metacognition is developed, and schools can certainly have an impact on adolescents’ character, regardless of prior experiences.

Two schools in New York have experimented with this work at the adolescent level – KIPP Infinity Middle School, a charter school in Harlem serving low-income students; and Riverdale Country Day School, an elite private school. Leaders from the two schools noticed that students were successfully taking tests and getting into college, but were lacking important character traits that would help them succeed beyond the supportive walls of school, and were easily de-railed when something went wrong. To address this challenge, the leaders selected 7 essential traits to emphasize in their classrooms:optimism, zest, grit, curiosity, social intelligence, gratitude, and self-control.

Given the different contexts, each school approached the challenge differently. At KIPP, teachers completed “character report cards” along with academic report cards. Each semester, students were “assessed” on their demonstration of these traits, and scores were included with their classroom grades. At Riverdale, Head of School Dominic Randolph worried that a “character report card” would open the gates for “character tutors,” and grappled with how to teach and measure these skills, especially in an environment in which students were largely sheltered from experiences of failure. Tough addressed this “adversity gap,” noting that children in poverty have often experienced too much adversity and need protection from it. By contrast, children from affluence have often experienced very little adversity, and as a result, have not had opportunities to develop strengths like grit, persistence, and resilience.

Tough closed his talk by imparting lessons learned from success stories. We have all heard stories of individuals who have pulled themselves up out of poverty, overcome tremendous setbacks, and come out “successful” on the other end and wondered “how did he/she get from point A to point B?” If we look at the research, we can begin to understand. Primarily, the individual typically possesses some of the traits discussed above (persistence, resilience, optimism, gratitude). However, there is almost always someone who reaches out with a helping hand to get him/her back on track.

So what can we learn from this? We should encourage the development of secure attachments in early childhood. Throughout childhood and into adolescence, we can support students by helping them name essential character strengths and practice displaying them. Finally, we need to teach students how to face risks, to persist through challenges and to be resilient in the face of failure. And always, we should reach out and provide a helping hand and encourage when needed.

Tactics for Character Nourishment

Following his keynote, Tough joined Jeanne Brady, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at St Josephs University; Mark Gleason, Executive Director of the Philadelphia School Partnership Program; and Keith Leaphart, practicing doctor and Chairman of the Lenfest Foundation to discuss implications of the research on our schools and communities.

The panelists all agreed that there isn’t just one way to do this. There are different kinds of children, and schools can meet their needs in different ways. However, successful districts, schools, and programs do share some common ingredients including:

Comprehensive early learning experiences that emphasize character traits

Collaboration amongst community groups and along the pre K-16 learning continuum

Provide and value multiple means of assessing student learning

Don’t trust “silver bullet” solutions

Show students that failure matters, but it happens; Help them navigate it

Instill in students a belief that they can succeed and help them experience it

Help kids see how their success in school relates to success beyond school

Provide mentorships and apprenticeships

Involve families

In addition to a discussion, attendees were serenaded by the school choir and entertained by Christian, a 7th grade Gesu student. Christian introduced Mr. J. Gordon Cooney, Chairman of the Board of Trustees, who then introduced the school’s mission and core beliefs.

“Gesu strives, without selective admissions, to provide a quality, innovative education for their neighbor children to empower them to break the cycle of poverty and violence.” They do this by embodying the beliefs that all children can learn, have the right to aspire, should be given the tools to achieve those aspirations, should give back to their community, and should be treated as a whole person. Gesu teaches children to navigate their worlds with grace, non-violence and the hope for a better future.

[schoolsthatcan]

New Expansion Equals New Growth for Logos Academy

Right across the street from the Logos Academy in York, PA brings a new opportunity for the school’s community. The school purchased 255 West King Street to support their growing student population. Six to eight lower school classrooms will be added to the building. To aid their blossoming K- 12 program, they foresee the need for twenty-six classrooms in the future.

“As always, Logos Academy remains committed to ensuring that our classrooms are most accessible to York’s lowest income families. From the very beginning, Logos Academy has always reserved two-thirds of our kindergarten seats to students from low-income homes. Logos Academy partners with students and their families in order to provide a Kingdom education characterized by our classical curriculum and intercultural community,” said Head of School Jason Lewis. We’re happy to see this school’s continued growth.

[schoolsthatcan]

STC NYC Roundtable: Performance-Based Assessment & Data-Driven Instruction

On Tuesday October 29, STC NYC held its first School Leader Roundtable of the school year. More than 20 educators from 8 schools representing all 4 sectors attended, along with representatives from the NYC Department of Education and other educational organizations. Principal Christina Tettonis and her team at Hellenic Classical Charter School in Brooklyn were incredibly hospitable hosts showing attendees around to classrooms, sharing instructional resources, and feeding us well with tabbouleh and hummus!

The topic for the evening was “Performance-Based Assessments and Data-Driven Instruction.” Through the sharing of best practices, we hoped that leaders would leave with concrete strategies and resources to incorporate into their school’s data and assessment systems. Additionally, Minerva Diaz shared a brief overview of Peace Jam, a fabulous service learning and character education program built around lessons learned from 13 living Nobel Peace Laureates.

To break the ice and start on a positive note, everyone shared “fabulous fall feats” from their schools. Next, Leslie Chislett, a director from the DOE’s Office of School Quality, discussed leadership shifts to facilitate effective school-wide data-driven instruction. She shared the DOE’s revised Quality Review rubric that is used to evaluate schools, but which also can be used effectively as a self-assessment tool to guide continuous improvement. Leslie focused leaders in on relevant strands, shared effective practices from high-performing schools, and identified tools to support this work.

Next up, Michael Cassaro and Ashley Baffour shared Mott Haven Academy CharterSchool’s data action-planning tools and processes. Leaders at the Roundtable discussed different methods and programs for creating meaningful interim assessments, and Michael and Ashley shared templates to guide action planning, regardless of the actual assessment. Last year, professional development focused on helping teachers build comfort and facility with their analytic skills. With that foundation, teachers can now arrive at data planning meetings having already analyzed their interim assessment data and instead focus their discussions on what to do with the data. Haven Academy works with an external organization to administer interim assessments 5 times a year, which allows for targeted re-teaching, re-assessing, and small group instruction to address individual students’ needs on a relatively tight cycle.

To round out the presentations, Hellenic’s Literacy Coach and ELA teacher Cathy Kakleas and Meg Duff shared strategies for using performance-based assessments to monitor reading and writing progress. Meg shared a Common Core-aligned checklist that students regularly use to close-read their own reading responses. Participants had lots of questions and seemed eager to adapt a similar strategy in their departments. Cathy then shared the school’s approach to on-demand writing, which is done twice in each unit of study. To streamline feedback and inform instructional adjustments in response to students’ work, staff members spent a fair amount of time during summer pre-service training norming on expectations for writing so that teachers can more easily identify trends and make quick adjustments instead of getting too bogged down in picking apart individual essays.

100% of participants indicated that they identified at least one idea or resource that they can use in their school, and the general consensus was that this conversation would continue among school leaders and educators. STC NYC will follow up with small group study tour opportunities to see these practices in action, as well as resources to further support this work.

We are excited to see everyone at VOICE Charter school next month when we will be discussing best practices around facilitating professional learning for teachers!

[schoolsthatcan]

Dropping Out is Not the End: Civicorps Saves Students From Failure

It happens to us all at least a few times in our lives. Failure. We don’t always see it coming. We try the hardest to get the result we wanted, but when it doesn’t come it’s like a punch in the stomach. Yet, the powerful truth about the human race is that even through adversity we tend to rise again.

The various stories of students attending Civicorps Academy entails victory as they head towards completion, but it is also drizzled with the fate of failure from their past. The hardships these young adults went through did not stop them from reaching to a higher place. Kathryn Baron from EdSource writes a captivating piece detailing the good Civicorps is providing for those who once fell, but chose to get back up:

Not a single student at one of Oakland’s public high schools has to be there. They all arrive by choice – willingly, happily, sometimes desperately – at Civicorps Academy, a charter school for young adults who have aged out of traditional high school but aren’t too old to want another crack at earning a high school diploma.

Tyneisha Crooks, 22, left regular high school during her senior year; she just passed the high school exit exam at Civicorps. Credit: Kathryn Baron, EdSource

“People tell me, ‘You’re getting a diploma? (You’re) 22.’ I am,” Tyneisha Crooks said she tells her incredulous inquirers. “There are people older than me getting (a diploma) and I commend them for that; that’s a big step. You got to start from the bottom to get on top and that’s what I’m doing.”

More than 47,000 Oakland Unified high school students dropped out in the past five years. During that same period, nearly 200 of them graduated  from  Civicorps Academy. California’s overall high school dropout rate has been declining in recent years. Out of 501,729 students in the class of 2012, 65,687 dropped out, or 13.1 percent, according to the California Department of Education. That’s 1.6 percentage points lower than the class of 2011 and 3 ½ percentage points below the class of 2009. But it’s still tens of thousands of students a year who leave high school without a diploma, and they’re disproportionately students of color.

Crooks is one of about 150 students between the ages of 18 and 24 enrolled in Civicorps’ high school diploma and job-training program, which is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. The school is housed in a modest rust-colored building in West Oakland, close enough to an adjacent Amtrak line to see what the passengers are reading. Once inside, however, Civicorps Academy has a soothing, somewhat pastoral atmosphere due, in large part, to a high-ceilinged atrium, left over from a prior tenant, where meetings and programs are held under a canopy of ficus trees that are rooted into the ground water.

The program opened in 1983 as the East Bay Conservation Corps, which also ran an elementary and middle school. They converted to charter schools in 1995, receiving the state’s 99th charter and, in 2009, changed their name to Civicorps Academy to better reflect the program’s community service and job-training mission, explained Head of School and former Peace Corps volunteer Tessa Nicholas. East Bay Conservation Corps consolidated the elementary and middle schools in 2009, and closed them last year citing declining enrollment.

While there are many adult education centers and community college programs in California where people who never completed high school can go to earn a high school equivalency degree, known as a GED, Civicorps Academy is the only public high school in the state that requires students to earn a diploma along with job training skills. The only other similar school in the state, the San Jose Conservation Corps and Charter School, offers diplomas or vocational certificates, according to the California Dropout Research Project at UC Santa Barbara. Because they are publicly funded like any other charter or traditional public school, students don’t pay to attend.

Other programs, such as Job Corps, a federal program with seven locations in California, offer both GEDs and diplomas, but the majority of their students receivetechnical training or GEDs, according to Job Corps data. Those students are not counted as high school graduates by the state Department of Education.

Civicorps students plant a tree at the school’s new job training center in West Oakland. Pictured, from left, Kamree Miller, Raheem Brown, Amanda Orr & Komarai Anderson. Credit: Civicorps Academy

“I think it’s a model that has been proven to work,” said Russell Rumberger about the Civicorps type of program. Rumberger, who directs the California Dropout Research Project and is an education professor at UC Santa Barbara, said that by linking academics and job training, students see the relevancy of their schoolwork. “In general, especially for this group of kids, it’s a viable model because they can earn their diplomas and getjob skills.”

In order to graduate, Civicorps students are required to pass the California High School Exit Exam just like anyone else. They also take specialized adult educationassessments such as those offered by the Comprehensive Adult Student Assessment Systems. However, instead of graded exams in each class, diplomarequirements include research papers, oral reports, class projects, community service, multimedia presentations and workshops on such topics as First Aid and CPR. They also have to show competence in life skills and career development.

To read more, check out the original article here.

[theyuniversity]

[schoolsthatcan]

Got to love it. 

[schoolsthatcan]

Discovering the Mighty C’s of Challenge Foundation Academy

Every great school has a value system that they live by. These institutions don’t just educate the child; they prepare them for the inevitable. The practices showcased at Challenge Foundation Academy, an Indianapolis K – 5 school, pushes to help their students excel in the academic challenges happening in their lives. Find out more about the three Mighty C’s and more of the Foundation Academy’s curriculum:

At Challenge Foundation Academy, we offer a strong Core Knowledge curriculum which compliments Indiana’s Academic Standards and Common Core Standards. This curriculum is integrated with and supported by enVision Mathematics and Reader’s and Writer’s Workshop.

Core Knowledge is a curriculum that provides a broad base of knowledge and the rich vocabulary needed for reading achievement and academic success. The programconsists of three C’s. Visit http://www.coreknowledge.org/ for more information.

1. Coherent- Identification of what children should learn at each grade level ensures a coherent approach to building knowledge across all grade levels.

2. Cumulative- Core Knowledge provides a clear outline of content to be learned grade by grade so that knowledge, language, and skills build cumulatively from year to year. This sequential building of knowledge not only helps ensure that children enter each new grade ready to learn, it also helps prevent the repetitions and gaps that so often characterize current education.

3. Content-Specific-Core Knowledge clearly specifies the important knowledge in language arts, history, geography, math, science, and the fine arts.

enVision Math includes daily Problem-Based Interactive Math Learning followed by visual learning strategies that help deepen conceptual understanding by providing visuals for students. It includes daily problem solving and common core review. Built into theprogram are various interventions for students as well as enrichment opportunities based on the student’s needs.

Writer’s Workshop is an approach to writing instruction that addresses the needs of all students in the class. Writers’ Workshop begins with a mini-lesson where the teacher models the process and conventions of writing. After the mini-lesson, students write independently for an extended period of time. During independent writing, the teacher meets with individual students or groups of students to help them with their writing. Finally, Writers’ Workshop ends with a share time where students discuss and share their writing with their classmates.

Reader’s Workshop is similar to Writer’s Workshop and begins with a mini-lesson where the teacher directly instructs the class based around a specific strategy or skill. After the mini-lesson, students engage in a variety of literacy based activities. Students are participating in independent reading as well as activities focused on comprehension, grammar, and vocabulary. Students are encouraged to read books at their independent level according to Reading A-Z. Teachers lead guided reading groups at this time. These leveled groups are designed to meet a variety of learners at their different levels.

What did you think of Challenge Foundation Academy’s curriculum? Let us know in the comments section below and have a wonderful Halloween.