Common Core State Standards Summer Institutes for Oahu and East Hawaii

Title: Common Core State Standards Summer Institute Oahu and East Hawaii

Description: The training sessions are designed to help teachers successfully implement the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in English Language Arts and Mathematics. Sessions will include research papers and readings related to building deeper understanding of the CCSS, deconstruction of the CCSS, lesson planning and lesson revisions tied to the CCSS.

The training sessions will focus on: Goal 1: Assure all students graduate college-and-career-ready through effective use of standards-based education. In addition, the training sessions will link to the following Literacy for Learning principles: Guiding Principle #1: Assessment of and for learning drives instruction, Guiding Principle #2: Evidence-based instructional strategies, and Guiding Principle #4: Instructional Leadership and Professional Learning.

Date(s):
Oahu: July 9-13, 2012
East Hawaii: July 16-20, 2012

Time:
8:00-3:00 pm

Location:
Oahu: Japanese Cultural Center (July 9, 11-13) and Ala Moana Hotel (July 10)
East Hawaii: Imiloa Astrology Center

Facilitators: The Common Core Institute; Mr. Kevin Baird and senior faculty team

Registration: Pre-registration deadline: Friday May 18, 2012 (registration fees to be sponsored for eligible school teams).
For registration details, email jjbower@iaak.net or call (808) 237-5567.

Ed Tech Conference – 2 weeks away

We hope to connect with you in two weeks at the Principals & Education Technology Conference on October 19^th from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Hawaii Convention Center.  We’d like to invite you to attend as our guest!  Click here to register and enter the code “IAAKFREE” to waive the registration fee.  To learn more about the speakers and relevant content, click here.  And, come conference day, be sure to stop by our “digital playground” to explore new tools and chat about how they can enhance teaching and learning in your classroom.

Excitement builds for the Oct 19th Ed Tech Conference

In just under a month the IAAK Principals & Educational Technology Conference will take place at the Hawaii Convention Center from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.  I’ve highlighted some of the sessions here… for more information on the conference, click here.

Resources for the Classroom:

• You don’t want to miss learning about a new resource to be used on the IWB – Channel One News InterActiv, created in partnership with Channel One and CBS News, offers students in grades 3-12 daily high-quality broadcasts featuring current, real-world content.  The program offers teachers a simple and engaging way to integrate authentic experiences while modeling the effective use of IWBs.
• As the Common Core State Standards continue to shape teaching and learning in the classroom, teachers will need to increase the complexity of text and integrate more non-fiction text.  MyOn Reader is a great web-based resource which not only provides access to thousands of eBooks but also includes embedded assessments to measure and track students’ Lexile levels.  This session will focus on how several Hawaii schools are using the resource to promote reading.
• It seems the buzz these days is all about “learning across platforms”.  If this concept is buzzing in your brain, you probably want to attend the session focusing on how PBS Kids is engaging students across platforms through its characters and content.

Common Core State Standards:

We’ve spent a good part of the school year working with Kevin Baird of the Common Core Institute and several Honolulu schools, focusing on unraveling the Common Core Standards.  In this keynote session, Kevin will discuss the ways educational technology tools and resources can and should be used to support the implementation of the Common Core.  Drawing from his diverse experiences in education, Kevin does an excellent job highlighting priorities and sharing practical strategies with high impact.

Promethean:

There’s always exciting news and practices to share with regards to Promethean.

• Ensuring 100% response rate in the classroom just got easier!  Hear about Promethean’s latest development – BYOD (bring your own device) for collecting responses.
• There is so much to learn from our friends at Variety School.  Hear and see how teachers and students at the school are leveraging the capabilities of the ActivBoard to enhance teaching and learning for students with special needs.  You will be impressed!

Join on October 19th – we’d love to see you there.

The Schools of the Future Conference just got even better

Exciting news – Marco Torres was just added as the closing keynote for the Schools of the Future Conference, extending the day until 4:45 pm.  Marco Torres is a 10-year high school teacher, media coach, and educational technology director for San Fernando High School in Los Angeles.  To learn more about Marco Torres click here.

2011 Schools of the Future Conference – Sept 8

It’s already mid-August and summer is over (or nearly over) for many of us educators.  Hard to believe it came and went so quickly.  The excitement of a new school year is hard to beat –new students, new curricula, new practices to explore, and new tools make it such a delightful time.  Just in case you need something else to get excited about, the 2011 Schools of the Future Conference is right around the corner.  Organized by HAIS and the Hawaii Community Foundation the conference is on September 8^th from 7:30 am to 3:30 pm at the Sheraton Waikiki.  The keynote address will be presented by Alan November, an international thought leader in educational technology.  The breakout session speakers are diverse (click here for more information), representing perspectives from advocacy organizations (K-12 and higher education), corporations (i.e. Apple), foundations, and charter schools.  The conference is open to all educators, administrators, parents, and students.   For more information, view the program or visit the website.

Teachers using social media as learning channels

How do you, as an educator, grow and learn?  It’s worth pausing to think about.  As educators, we all talk about being ‘lifelong learners’ but how do you learn how to be a better teacher?  In other words, what resources (people, print, digital, etc.) do you rely on to help you do your job better?  Do you walk down the hall and talk to a colleague?  Do you pose a question or problem to friends in a Ning?  Do you search the Internet for resources?  Do you wait for the next “professional development” day?  Check out this interesting discussion, sparked by Scott McLeod’s post about Twitter, in which McLeod poses the question – at what point will teachers be expected to use social media to improve their practice?

I have to admit – there is quite a bit of ‘noise’ out there and it can be all-consuming and distracting but amidst the ‘noise’ there can be clear melodies that not only inspire but also positively change teaching and learning.  So, perhaps a good starting point is to learn the skill (and art) of using social media for professional advancement…

Learning.com – teacher generated content contest

Here’s a great opportunity for Learning.com users to enter to win technology tools (iPad2 or flip cams) for creating activities for teacher professional development.  Create one or more shared Journals or Activities for NETS-T 2008 teacher professional development and enter them to win.  Contest runs from February 17 through May 15, 2011.  For details, click here.

Common Core State Standards – free webinar series

Continuing on the same vein as my last post, I’d thought I’d pass along two opportunities to learn more about the Common Core State Standards.  With the DOE in the process of training teachers on the Common Core, these webinar series may be helpful.  Collaborative Learning is offering two series on the CCSS:

• Series 1:  Common Core State Standards – The Common Core State Standards adoption has changed the landscape in instruction and curriculum planning.  Now it’s time to roll up our sleeves and use the new Standards to effectively improve curricula and assessments.  Join us for a three-part webinar series to explore this new landscape and discuss implementation strategies to ensure success with the new standards.  Part 1:  Understanding Common Core State Standards, Part 2:  Bridging the Gap Between Common Core & State Standards, and Part 3:  Common Core Impact on Content Areas.  Starting this Thursday, 2/24 at noon Hawaii time.  To sign up, click here.
• Series 2:  Deconstructing Standards – This three-part webinar series focuses on deconstructing, or unpacking, standards.  We will investigate specific standards to determine learning expectations, explore methods for investigating and determining the sequence and intensity of instruction related to standards, and define a process for moving from broad standards to learning targets and defined skills.  Part 1:  Building Rigor through Standards Across Grade Levels, Part 2:  Standards & the Operational Curriculum, and Part 3:  Deconstructing Standards:  Clearly Defining Student Skills.  Wednesdays at noon, starting March 9^th.  To sign up, click here.

 I’ll be in attendance… hope to (virtually) see you there!

Simulations to help prepare teachers

I came across an interesting article today in Education Week about the use of simulations to help prepare teachers for the classroom.  The TeachME initiative at the University of Central Florida enables teachers to “practice” with student-avatars.  A similar program is simSchool which can be populated with up to 18 students who respond to the teacher’s behavior.  Essentially, the simulation environment offers teachers the opportunity to practice classroom management skills and “experience” various “cognitive dimensions”.  It’s quite fascinating stuff.  Pamela Grossman, a professor of education at Stanford University, highlights the most important piece – the development and use of “… a framework for breaking down and analyzing specific teaching skills.”  This aspect seems a bit easier in the nursing and aviation fields, other domains that have success with simulations, given that there is a direct cause-and-effect.  When dealing with personalities and abilities, it’s a bit more complex. 

On a side note:  do they have such simulations for parents of toddlers?  I would jump at the opportunity to participate in a monthly simulation with a virtual child who was entering into the next developmental stage… in essence, preparing me for what was to come.  My actions in the simulation could be analyzed and constructive feedback offered.  So, that when my (real) toddler started to [insert behavioral challenge], I could calmly and appropriately address it.

Time for PD to grow up

It seems professional development is all I talk about these days.  There is so much to discuss – the who, what, when, where, why, how, and the most important – the ‘did it work?’  I wanted to share an interesting article in Education Week titled “Professional Development for Teachers at Crossroads”.  It’s worth the read.