This clip is what this spring was all about, and what next year will be like: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t39EAeE8ehc
Please visit Altona's website and check out our LEAD plans! Besides revamping our extracurricular activities, we will redesign homework club, implement a new student management system (Infinite Campus - which will replace SMS, Engrade, K12Planet, etc.), become a center school for Students with Significant Needs, adopt a new universal student data tool (Alpine Achievement), and continue to analyze our two new curriculums in Math and Science.
I'm really excited about where we are heading. This summer the majority of the Altona will participate in a Professional Study Team. Like last summer I'd like to invite you to stop by and check out our conversations in this blog.
Thanks for reading my blog, and your comments are always welcome.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Friday, March 6, 2009
Core Knowledge versus 21st Century Skills
Continuing with my previous post on the Colorado Achievement Plan...
Part of the CAP4Kids legislation and revising the Colorado standards center on defining work force readiness and post-secondary education preparedness. The CDE (Colorado Department of Education) and the CCHE (Colorado Commission of Higher Education) are at this very moment defining what skills a student should have to enter the workforce, college, community college, the military, etc., and be prepared. In this process the discussion is centered on 21st Century skills, or "soft skills" as many of us refer to abilities such as leadership, organization, teamwork, resiliency, etc.
The questions I have surrounding this debate are:
1. What are critical 21st Century skills?
2. How do we teach those skills in a consistent manner (because we are teaching those skills every day)?
3. How do we measure whether or not we achieved our goals?
4. Finally, if we assume education is a zero sum game (X amount of days multiplied by Y amount of minutes divided by what we teach equals ___) how do we decide what to teach and when to teach it?
Below is a thought provoking article. I agree with the 21st Century Skills concept, but I also E.D. Hirsch's philosophy concerning core knowledge.
Enjoy: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-03-04-core-knowledge_N.htm
Thanks for reading my blog!
Part of the CAP4Kids legislation and revising the Colorado standards center on defining work force readiness and post-secondary education preparedness. The CDE (Colorado Department of Education) and the CCHE (Colorado Commission of Higher Education) are at this very moment defining what skills a student should have to enter the workforce, college, community college, the military, etc., and be prepared. In this process the discussion is centered on 21st Century skills, or "soft skills" as many of us refer to abilities such as leadership, organization, teamwork, resiliency, etc.
The questions I have surrounding this debate are:
1. What are critical 21st Century skills?
2. How do we teach those skills in a consistent manner (because we are teaching those skills every day)?
3. How do we measure whether or not we achieved our goals?
4. Finally, if we assume education is a zero sum game (X amount of days multiplied by Y amount of minutes divided by what we teach equals ___) how do we decide what to teach and when to teach it?
Below is a thought provoking article. I agree with the 21st Century Skills concept, but I also E.D. Hirsch's philosophy concerning core knowledge.
Enjoy: http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2009-03-04-core-knowledge_N.htm
Thanks for reading my blog!
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
CSAP & Assessment in Colorado
Here we are! The CSAP brings up a whole host of emotions and opinions. I like the CSAP. The CSAP is the only objective measurement we have in the state of Colorado. When you think about a state with 170+ school districts and hundreds of thousands of students and thousands of teachers I'm thankful for the one measurement that cuts through the fog of the teaching - learning process. The future of assessment in Colorado is changing. Senate Bill 212, the Colorado Achievement Plan, or CAP4Kids, is coming. Right now the state is working on rewriting Colorado's standards with a very clear end product: Fewer, Clearer, and more Rigorous. For the first time the Colorado Department of Education and the Colorado Commission of Higher Education is working together. There is also much discussion centered on assessment and the future of CSAP, particularly at the high school level. You can follow the process by clicking below!
http://coloradostandardsreview.wetpaint.com/
Thanks for reading my blog, I'll be updating on a regular basis.
http://coloradostandardsreview.wetpaint.com/
Thanks for reading my blog, I'll be updating on a regular basis.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Technology Again
Well, over the break I added two pieces of technology that will result in a sea change for productivity and entertainment. The iPhone and the kindle. We all know about the iPhone and the hype may be understated. The seamless integration of email, calendar, contacts, Internet, mapping, etc. is amazing. I figured I have added at least 20-30 minutes to my productivity every day. Email may be a chain, but once one is freed from the tether of a computer it becomes the communication tool it was intended to be!
The Kindle, which is lesser know is an amazing digital reader from Amazon.com. I won't subject you to a sales pitch, but check it out.
For years those of us who are technophiles have really been waiting for technology to be true to its tantalizing promises of ease of use and increased productivity. I think... we might finally be close. If your student is carrying textbooks when they go to college I'd be dumbfounded! What we (educators) must keep trying to figure out is how to embrace these tools in the classroom and beyond.
Thanks for reading my Blog!
The Kindle, which is lesser know is an amazing digital reader from Amazon.com. I won't subject you to a sales pitch, but check it out.
For years those of us who are technophiles have really been waiting for technology to be true to its tantalizing promises of ease of use and increased productivity. I think... we might finally be close. If your student is carrying textbooks when they go to college I'd be dumbfounded! What we (educators) must keep trying to figure out is how to embrace these tools in the classroom and beyond.
Thanks for reading my Blog!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Where Are Some New Posts!
Greetings, I apologize for the absence - I'm sure all 8 of my regular readers have missed me!
Seriously, this campaign season coupled with the economic events of the last few months has stretched everyone to their limits. I would like to thank the Altona community for its support of the MLO and Bond packages. I can promise you that you will be pleased with the direction Altona can take. Right now we are planning for the future. The 2 things that parents and students will see right away are 2 more positions; a new 6th grade science teacher to reduce class sizes and a campus supervisor. The campus supervisor will provide a heightened sense of security and supervision throughout the day. As soon as I know who those individuals are we will introduce them all of you.
Thanks for reading my Blog, I'll be posting regularly again!
Seriously, this campaign season coupled with the economic events of the last few months has stretched everyone to their limits. I would like to thank the Altona community for its support of the MLO and Bond packages. I can promise you that you will be pleased with the direction Altona can take. Right now we are planning for the future. The 2 things that parents and students will see right away are 2 more positions; a new 6th grade science teacher to reduce class sizes and a campus supervisor. The campus supervisor will provide a heightened sense of security and supervision throughout the day. As soon as I know who those individuals are we will introduce them all of you.
Thanks for reading my Blog, I'll be posting regularly again!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Reading, Writing, Math and a dose of Self-Reliance!
I'm sure many of you have received the Bill Gate's 11 rules of life email. I was going to post that until I discovered the original (and better) article. As I've discussed in this venue, our goal at Altona is to create self-reliant citizens. This is a great article, I'm making my daughter read it tonight!
Some rules kids won't learn in school Text By Charles J. Sykes Printed in San Diego Union Tribune September 19, 1996
Unfortunately, there are some things that children should be learning inschool, but don't. Not all of them have to do with academics. As a modestback-to-school offering, here are some basic rules that may not have foundtheir way into the standard curriculum.
Rule No. 1: Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teen-ager uses thephrase, "It's not fair" 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents, whosaid it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generationever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, they realized RuleNo. 1.
Rule No. 2: The real world won't care as much about your self-esteem as muchas your school does. It'll expect you to accomplish something before youfeel good about yourself. This may come as a shock. Usually, when inflatedself-esteem meets reality, kids complain it's not fair. (See Rule No. 1)
Rule No. 3: Sorry, you won't make $40,000 a year right out of high school.And you won't be a vice president or have a car phone either. You may evenhave to wear a uniform that doesn't have a Gap label.
Rule No. 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait 'til you get a boss. Hedoesn't have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he'snot going to ask you how you feel about it.
Rule No. 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grand-parentshad a different word of burger flipping. They called it opportunity. Theyweren't embarrassed making minimum wage either. They would have beenembarrassed to sit around talking about Kurt Cobain all weekend.
Rule No. 6: It's not your parents' fault. If you screw up, you areresponsible. This is the flip side of "It's my life," and "You're not theboss of me," and other eloquent proclamations of your generation. When youturn 18, it's on your dime. Don't whine about it, or you'll sound like ababy boomer.
Rule No. 7: Before you were born your parents weren't as boring as they arenow. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room andlistening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, beforeyou save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents'generation, try delousing the closet in your bedroom.
Rule No. 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Lifehasn't. In some schools, they'll give you as many times as you want to getthe right answer. Failing grades have been abolished and classvaledictorians scrapped, lest anyone's feelings be hurt. Effort is asimportant as results. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblanceto anything in real life. (See Rule No. 1, Rule No. 2 and Rule No. 4)
Rule No. 9: Life is not divided into semesters, and you don't get summersoff. Not even Easter break. They expect you to show up every day. For eighthours. And you don't get a new life every 10 weeks. It just goes on and on.While we're at it, very few jobs are interesting in fostering yourself-expression or helping you find yourself. Fewer still lead toself-realization. (See Rule No. 1 and Rule No. 2.)
Rule No. 10: Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom. Yourproblems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials.In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs.Your friends will not be as perky or pliable as Jennifer Aniston.
Rule No. 11: Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We allcould.
Rule No. 12: Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic.Next time you're out cruising, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in hismouth. That's what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for "expressingyourself" with purple hair and/or pierced body parts.
Rule No. 13: You are not immortal. (See Rule No. 12.) If you are under theimpression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse isromantic, you obviously haven't seen one of your peers at room temperaturelately.
Rule No. 14: Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school's abother, and life is depressing. But someday you'll realize how wonderful itwas to be a kid. Maybe you should start now.
You're welcome.
As Always, thanks for reading my blog!
Some rules kids won't learn in school Text By Charles J. Sykes Printed in San Diego Union Tribune September 19, 1996
Unfortunately, there are some things that children should be learning inschool, but don't. Not all of them have to do with academics. As a modestback-to-school offering, here are some basic rules that may not have foundtheir way into the standard curriculum.
Rule No. 1: Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teen-ager uses thephrase, "It's not fair" 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents, whosaid it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generationever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, they realized RuleNo. 1.
Rule No. 2: The real world won't care as much about your self-esteem as muchas your school does. It'll expect you to accomplish something before youfeel good about yourself. This may come as a shock. Usually, when inflatedself-esteem meets reality, kids complain it's not fair. (See Rule No. 1)
Rule No. 3: Sorry, you won't make $40,000 a year right out of high school.And you won't be a vice president or have a car phone either. You may evenhave to wear a uniform that doesn't have a Gap label.
Rule No. 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait 'til you get a boss. Hedoesn't have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he'snot going to ask you how you feel about it.
Rule No. 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grand-parentshad a different word of burger flipping. They called it opportunity. Theyweren't embarrassed making minimum wage either. They would have beenembarrassed to sit around talking about Kurt Cobain all weekend.
Rule No. 6: It's not your parents' fault. If you screw up, you areresponsible. This is the flip side of "It's my life," and "You're not theboss of me," and other eloquent proclamations of your generation. When youturn 18, it's on your dime. Don't whine about it, or you'll sound like ababy boomer.
Rule No. 7: Before you were born your parents weren't as boring as they arenow. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room andlistening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, beforeyou save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents'generation, try delousing the closet in your bedroom.
Rule No. 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Lifehasn't. In some schools, they'll give you as many times as you want to getthe right answer. Failing grades have been abolished and classvaledictorians scrapped, lest anyone's feelings be hurt. Effort is asimportant as results. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblanceto anything in real life. (See Rule No. 1, Rule No. 2 and Rule No. 4)
Rule No. 9: Life is not divided into semesters, and you don't get summersoff. Not even Easter break. They expect you to show up every day. For eighthours. And you don't get a new life every 10 weeks. It just goes on and on.While we're at it, very few jobs are interesting in fostering yourself-expression or helping you find yourself. Fewer still lead toself-realization. (See Rule No. 1 and Rule No. 2.)
Rule No. 10: Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom. Yourproblems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials.In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs.Your friends will not be as perky or pliable as Jennifer Aniston.
Rule No. 11: Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We allcould.
Rule No. 12: Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic.Next time you're out cruising, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in hismouth. That's what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for "expressingyourself" with purple hair and/or pierced body parts.
Rule No. 13: You are not immortal. (See Rule No. 12.) If you are under theimpression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse isromantic, you obviously haven't seen one of your peers at room temperaturelately.
Rule No. 14: Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school's abother, and life is depressing. But someday you'll realize how wonderful itwas to be a kid. Maybe you should start now.
You're welcome.
As Always, thanks for reading my blog!
Sunday, August 3, 2008
PST - 10!!!
Tuesday is our last meeting of the Summer. Our last meeting will focus on two areas of discussion - which just happen to be your individual work products - due on Friday August 15th!!!
Area 1: This is a little new, but I think important. What did you learn about working with at-risk students this Summer? Really define it to no more than 2-3 big ideas.
Area 2: What 4-8 instructional strategies will you consistently implement this year? What strategies are new? What are your tried and true strategies that you will continue to use? How will you measure progress?
I think this is the best and most productive PST we've done thus far at Altona. See you Tuesday, comment away!!
Area 1: This is a little new, but I think important. What did you learn about working with at-risk students this Summer? Really define it to no more than 2-3 big ideas.
Area 2: What 4-8 instructional strategies will you consistently implement this year? What strategies are new? What are your tried and true strategies that you will continue to use? How will you measure progress?
I think this is the best and most productive PST we've done thus far at Altona. See you Tuesday, comment away!!
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