I would first like to express my gratitude to all the staff at the Nashville office. I am new to the program, and have felt welcomed and encouraged by everyone in the office. Now for a little humor!
Yesterday, I went to one of my schools to take inventory of the supplies that were left there last year. When I got there, I noticed that there were two shelves in the cabinet labeled for Title One use. I decided that I would reorganize the shelves. In doing so I found an entire shelf of books and binders that I would not need. So being the helpful person that I am, I put them in two boxes and brought them back to the office. When I gave them to the teacher from last year, she politely explained that I had stolen the materials, from the speech teacher. The two had shared a room and the same cabinet. Not to worry though. I returned the materials promptly!
[Catapult colleagues, please peruse the private diaries for the portable document file (pdf).]
It is a new year and Parent Link has a new look. Joanne Hawley and the Tennessee teachers once again illustrate how to be the best. Each of us, in personal and professional relations has realized the harm that comes when we do not communicate well. The quality of a partnership is often determined in the first few moments. When we meet, if we do not communicate who we are, what we need, the principles we cherish, then, frequently repercussions result
Our LEA is still working on our allocations here in Nashville, so we are spending our time talking to our principals, getting materials ready in our established locations, and meeting with our growing staff. With five new teachers we find it particularly important to provide clear, interesting, complete information regarding the Catapult Learning background, philosophies, and instructional strategies. It is one thing to pass on the ample training materials provided to us and quite another to keep the teachers engaged and enthusiastic. I mean, really, how exciting can you make the five hundred required forms?
Since I did some research on motivating veteran teachers for a round table discussion in Chicago, I used a few of the ideas that I discovered. Every half hour or so during the training I have asked the veteran teachers to group with new teachers and discuss any questions or comments the newbies have. The experienced teachers have a wealth of knowledge, need to be recognized, and all will benefit from establishing relationships within our staff. Some people are not comfortable appearing confused before a large group and may be more apt to share with an individual or a small group.
Energizing the meetings with music, games, and poetry has also been fun and varied the pace of the process. It's interesting that we spend so much time discussing how best to teach children and then rarely use these techniques within our adult community! We really enjoyed the "getting to know you" game with our staff which Joanne and I both used in Chicago.
I've introduced some of our new staff to this website and hope to get everybody involved at one time or another. We all have such busy lives it is hard to imagine doing one more thing, yet some activities are energizing and some are energy-draining. Communicating with my peers gives me new motivation to continue growing and learning. Isn't that what life's all about? Yeah.
As parents pour into the Catapult classrooms to meet and greet teachers, please invite them to be a more profound part of their child's education.
Perhaps, if we are to hope for parent involvement, we must invite mothers and fathers to join us in our shared quest to help the children grow wise and more wonderful. Dear Catapult colleagues, you may wish to consider this possibility. A letter addressed to Moms and Dads, titled, "As a parent, I promise . . ." may open minds and heart.
Please feel free to print, "As a parent, I promise . . ." Present this to Moms, Dads, and Guardians. Begin a conversation that advances awareness, and watch your pupils' blossom.
[As a Parent, I Promise -English and Spanish Portable Document Format versions below.]
Teaching has been a job that has been very time consuming, yet so rewarding. The idea of working with students in small groups or one-on-one is something that I am really looking forward to. The training so far has been easy to follow. The paper work can be a little overwhelming, but we have been told over and over, not to worry, we will get help from veteran teachers or from our staff.
I have no idea what schools, grade(s), subject(s), I will be teaching, but with the training we have had so far, I know I will be prepared.
The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development wants you to be informed. Issues in education are important to mentors who are immersed in instructional programs each day. Daily, we read or hear of a report that motivates our minds, and moves us to think, say, and do what we would not have imagined. Often educators receive instruction from students. Parents are also teachers. Paid professional "tutors" are pupils. We, none of us, no matter our career, know everything. There is always much to learn.
Encourage Education understands this. Thus, we have decided to share a widget, a little box that will permanently sit on the front page in our net neighborhood. On the right side of the screen, you, dear reader will be able to access a resource. Updated headlines from numerous newspapers will scroll freely. Click on a link that interests you, and instantly, you will be taken to a brief overview of the article. If you choose to read more, travel into to The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Seattle Times, to educational journals, to research periodical, whatever the source.
ASCDSmartBrief brings you the K-12 education news that really matters. Our (Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) editors handpick key articles from hundreds of publications, do a brief summary of each, and provide links back to the original sources.
Within this essay, you, Catapult colleagues have a opportunity to explore. Peruse pedagogical papers. Scrutinize studies. Delve into instructional plans. Research the trends in teaching. Discover what educators throughout the country do. Please play. Share your experience. We hope you will enjoy.
The exceedingly successful Tennessee businessman may have shrieked with excitement when he realized all along he likely knew what would work well in American schools. "More is best." "Too much is never enough." For an Entrepreneur these adages are thought accurate. Bob Compton, founder and head of several technology and medical firms, a man with a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard knows how to tackle a problem and achieve results.
As I perused the poems Melissa shared I was reminded of why I teach. I treasure the opportunity to interact with another in ways in which we both learn. This chance awareness, is precious. The many people who, each day, help me grow, richly bless me. I value and cherish being emotionally and intellectually touched by students, families, friends, and colleagues. In the process of sharing ideas and exploring life, I learn. I feel. I grow, and appreciate the unimaginable greatness of being one with many.
It's the end of the school year. Can you believe we've made it? Six months ago, June seemed so far away. Now it's here. Some of you have finished the school year, but those of us who haven't, I wanted to talk about end of the year love.
Recently, I was asked to share some ideas for Title One month. The question posed were "What can we, as teachers and supervisors do to better involve parents in our pupils' formal education?" "How can we bring Moms and Dads to the classroom?"
Please realize I do not have all the answers. I will offer a few thoughts; however, my true intent is to invite each of you to add your comments. I hope to start a dialogue, one that will help each of us discover what we had not imagined. Too frequently, we know what we know, do, as we have done and do not delve deeper.
With this in mind, I decided I might explore beyond the boundary of what I knew and did. Hence, I sought a little help from my Catapult colleague friends. I turned to Barbara Pennucci, Program Supervisor in Dayton Ohio. Ms Pennucci shared what she and her teachers do to help Parents feel welcome and part of their child's education. Barbara wrote in response to my request for inspiration . . .
As a Title I teacher, I am constantly stressing how important it is to have a positive attitude in school and generally, throughout life. One of my classrooms rules is "Have and 'I Can' attitude!" When a group of Catapult 5th grade reading students, (all girls), began reading Oprah Winfrey's biography, I used the book as an opportunity to further emphasize this point.
The class was usually well behaved, but the students had moments of self doubt and negativity. The girls came from diverse family situations and they all had to cope with inner city stresses (homelessness, alcoholism, poverty, etc.) in their every day lives.
Although it took me almost 30 years before I could fold an origami crane without assistance, I think that origami can be a fun way to promote math and celebrate API heritage. There are many stories, real and legendary, behind the crane which can help with reading.
The California Dept. of Ed. Lists origami as one of the many "suggested activities for accommodating students' learning styles." http://www.cde.ca.gov/sp/eo/is...
The Federal Resources for Educational Excellence has as a National Science Foundation program called ScienCentralNews http://www.free.ed.gov/resourc... which has a really interesting link to Extreme Origami , http://www.merrimack.edu/%7Eth... an informational site by a former laser physicist/current full time origami artist. Part of the site is dedicated to "origami mathematics" http://www.merrimack.edu/~thul...
This site also links to an interesting, but technical article, A Mathematical Theory of Origami Constructions and Numbers, published in the New York Journal of Mathematics. http://nyjm.albany.edu/j/2000/... It may help boost students' confidence to first do an easy origami project and then show all the formulas in the article and tell them they did it! There are many websites with directions for children's origami and many books. If you are interested but have trouble finding ones that work for your class, then let me know. You don't need special origami paper - any paper will do as long as it is cut into a square (you can make it a more environmentally friendly activity by using paper that would otherwise be recycled).
Also, let me know if you want more info or a link to see my version of the story of "Sadako and the 1,000 cranes," which was recorded as part of my ECE storytelling class years ago. I remember my mother telling me this story, which was always easier for me to remember than how to fold a crane!
If your students have a hard time with it, you can let them know that we had an annual event with law students, who had a very difficult time folding cranes. Also, they can decide what real or "original" animal their origami looks most like and make up a story about it.
Once you label me, you negate me. ~ Soren Kierkegaard [Danish Philosopher]
"Union gives strength." ~ Aesop's Fables, The Bundle of Sticks
The Mentors, Co-authors of Beyond the Bake Sale: The Essential Guide to Family-School Partnerships (with Vivian R. Johnson and Don Davies), Anne T. Henderson and Karen L. Mapp offer advice and dozens of practical solutions for building strong family-school-community relationships to benefit student learning.
Parents, pupils, professional educators; the lines are drawn. Distinctions define these individuals. Too often, each of us forgets what we are intensely familiar with in our personal lives, we are people. No two of us are identical.
The month of May was come,
when every lusty heart beginneth to blossom,
and to bring forth fruit;
for like as herbs and trees bring forth fruit and flourish in May,
in likewise every lusty heart that is in any manner a lover,
springeth and flourisheth in lusty deeds.
For it giveth unto all lovers courage,
that lusty month of May. ~ Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d'Arthur, 1485
April showers have given rise to May flowers. The rain nourished the soil. Roots spread. The sun, water, and wind supported the seeds and buds blossomed. Our children are as kernels planted in terra firma. Educator, parents, and teachers grow a garden of pupils when they attend to the needs of the littlest plants. Catapult colleagues in Tennessee understand this. In this, the last Parent Link publication of the school year, instructors from the South offer ideas, so that teachers may help sustain the bloom on the current crop of students. Beginning now and through the summer, Moms and Dads may wish to consider ways to nurture a child's creative interests.
The newsletter also offers ideas to further the relationship between parent and child, home and school. Mentors in Tennessee consider how we might foster financial expertise in our youngsters. Television time will also be a consideration if we are to rear critical thinkers. Teachers in the Volunteer State offer ways in which guardians might seek other activities and opportunities for the offspring.
Joanne Hawley and those who work with her invite us to peruse and use this communiqué to help our parents grow their glorious garden, otherwise known as the profound and beautiful progeny. Passages taken from the pages may tantalize . . .
Parents can help their children find opportunities for learning in everyday activities. Ask your child what his or her interests are and let the learning discovery begin! Here are some tips:
Seek local studios and businesses through the Yellow Pages. Visit your local library for telephone books of nearby cities, or use the Internet. Offer to take classes with your child in his or her areas of interest.
Search the newspapers. Look for articles about local residents with the skills you are looking for and share these stories with your child.
Call museums. Museums have a lot of information about local artists and often offer free admission. Call early in the day during the week so you won't compete for attention with large crowds.
Contact your Chamber of Commerce. Local Chambers provide names and telephone numbers of people in the industry you desire.
Surf the Web. This is a good way to view lists of local and national associations. Many offer calendars of regional events and weekend seminars in your area.
Attend local fairs, conferences, and festivals. Many artists and craftspeople work out of their homes or in studios. Special forums may be the best place to find them. Ask about receiving instruction or referrals of other teachers.
Remember that the search may not end overnight. To support your child's interests in the meantime, buy books about the field he or she is interested in and about famous professionals. You can also rent or borrow videos about the activity for your child. Always encourage your child's interests in non-traditional activities. Hobbies often turn into great careers. Even more important, your child learns other skills along the way and develops creative self-expression.
Please share this publication with Principals and Parents. We welcome your ideas. What have you done to teach our children? We know the options for instruction are infinite. In May, the sun shines brightly. Let us ensure our children will radiate and glow as the star in the sky does. Nourish the flowers and the souls who sit in a classroom. Perchance, by the Fall of the year what was but a blossom will be a field of flora.
Please share how the buds you call students have grown with loving care. The Tennessee teachers await the bouquets of blossoms you call lessons.
Dear Catapult colleague, if you have a newsletter, a lesson plan, a counseling strategy, a helpful hint, or any other materials you think might benefit your associates please share it with Encourage Education readers. Suggestions are also welcome.
If you need assistance, and feel uncertain of how to best publish an entry, please do not hesitate to contact Betsy L. Angert, the Web page Administrator. Please mail your questions, comments, and request for assistance to learnglow@yahoo.com.
As educators, the issues that concern America's children are important to us. Many of us at Catapult Learning are aware of what occurs when a child is seen as nothing more than a statistic. When people are taught and assessed as though they are numbers, little knowledge is gained. Discipline problems are prominent.
Our students have experienced invisible hurts. These hinder their ability to learn. Too many suffer emotional loss and physical pain. The intellect is slowed by all the commotion at home. Personal angst consumes a child's mind. Our young have trouble in school. All that happens in a tot's, teens, or adolescent's life is not separate and safely filed away for a time when adults can assist a young child to cope with tribulations. Children are whole beings and if we are to effectively educate them, we must treat them as such.
Encourage Education invites each Catapult Learning colleague to be part of a broader community. May we each consider the possibilities if we choose to encourage the Whole Child concept. Perchance it is time to ponder as The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development asks us to do. ASCD sponsors The Whole Child Home webpage. This site features numerous interactive and informative resources.
Here is a quick idea to incorporate Earth Day (and art via an exhibit called Running the Numbers: An American Self Portrait) into math lessons.
This reminded me of the book/video about how much a million is, but with an environmental twist. Some of the images may not be appropriate for class, but are compelling to look at on your own).
On the website linked below, there are zoomed out images (as well as partial zoom and actual print size images) of huge huge numbers of items we use in our daily lives -- a picture of 1 million plastic cups, 2 million plastic beverage bottles, 426,000 cell phones, 1.14 million paper bags, 106,000 aluminum cans, 410,000 paper cups, 60,000 plastic cups. Students can try to guess what the individual item is. They can write the number in expanded notation or, when given the frequency of use, can practice proportions or mental math. For example: if there are 1.14 million paper bags used in the US every hour, then how many every minute? how many every day? etc. (These frequencies are on the website)
There are many other math activities that can be derived from this art - let me know if you have any questions. I offer a superb reference . . .
Running the Numbers;An American Self-Portrait. By Chris Jordan
Also, the resource book Activity Math: Using Manipulatives in the Classroom (Bloomer & Carlson) has some good ideas:
"Have students research the capacity of neary lakes, resrvoirs... Have them then figure the equivalent cups, pints, and quarts. How much water is used for a bath? A shower? A bath a day for a week, month or year? A faucet that leaks a cup an hour?" p. 216
By the way, changing part of an Achieve Reading lesson script on sequence can be an environmental lesson related to the water one above. When introducing sequencing and order (with the example of brushing teeth) the script makes it seem like wetting the toothbrush before putting on paste is a requirement. This can be an environmental education moment -- we don't need to wet the toothbrush first. How much water would we save in a week, month, year, lifetime if we skipped that step?
For a hands-on activity: 1) count (and keep) the paper towels you use when you dry your hands after you wash them. 2) calculate how many are used in a week, month, year, etc. 3) brainstorm ways to reuse -- eg: wipe the boards, erasers, and desks; clean up spills etc. 4) how many trees does it take to make the paper towels? 5) what percentage of landfills is paper products?
There are so many opportunities to reinforce math (and reading) with environmental and environmental in/justice issues that are relevant to our students - especially those who live in areas that are especially affected by pollution and/or those who suffer from asthma, which can be triggered by pollution.
I'll try to post more ideas, but for now there are tons of resources on the Federal Resources for Educational Excellence link above.
"Now that the winter's gone, the earth hath lost
Her snow-white robes, and now no more the frost
Candies the grass, or casts an icy cream
Upon the silver lake or crystal stream;
But the warm sun thaws the benumbed earth,
And makes it tender; gives a sacred birth
To the dead swallow; wakes in hollow tree
The drowsy cuckoo and the humble-bee.
Now do a choir of chirping minstrels bring
In triumph to the world the youthful spring." ~ Thomas Carew, The Spring, 1630
As you read the rhyme, did you envisage the billowy snow banks that exist no more? Were frost filled fields prominent in your mind's eye? Might the lake covered in ice have been the memory evoked? A sense of warmth may have come upon you as the word "sun" appeared on the page. Inquire of yourself. Instantly, are you transformed by the words? Sounds echoed in your ears if you felt what the poem speaks of. Did the beauty of what you know to be the month of April inspire you as you perused The Spring? If you were inspired and imagined as you scanned the words the author offered, then, according to the information in the April 2008 Parent Link newsletter, you may be a Visual - Spatial learner. If you were not, you may be one of millions who interpret information in another manner. Please peruse; ponder how you might best learn.
Please note, a Spanish version of the Parent Link is now accessible in a Portable Document Format [pdf] file. The Link for this printable edition is offered at the close of this composition.
