Good things happening in Schools
What things are happening in your school that people should know about?
This blog mostly focuses on district-wide issues and news, but we want to give some attention to things that are happening in individual schools or in clusters of schools.
So tell us what's going on in your corner of the District!
This blog mostly focuses on district-wide issues and news, but we want to give some attention to things that are happening in individual schools or in clusters of schools.
So tell us what's going on in your corner of the District!
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What's working in your school system?
There are many problems with the education system in the United States. But some schools have found ways to fix them. We want to see something that's working well in the school system where...
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1) one of our RIFfed teachers was hired back - at our school! Tough to lose someone with a couple years of experience with a school, especially an alternative school, and good the retain that knowledge. Yay!
2) I peeked into our "library" and found someone in there - a LIBRARIAN. Sure, she's only 0.5 FTE, but that's 0.5 more than we've had for the last couple of years. Awesome!
The transplanted teachers from Summit seem to be poised, confident, and raring to go. It'll be different, no doubt, but I hope it'll be good. Is it too much to ask that my kids can be somewhere where they're happy, learning, and safe?
WV: If they can pull that off, they'll DESERVE the ingasm they get (not kidding! That's one racy WV!).
Which brings more good news: Seattle, like many districts, has invesated steadily in digital tools over the years. Sure, the student computers are kinda' old; sure there aren't enough. But teachers almost all have presentation stations (computers hooked to internet and also to digitsal projectors with sound and screens) No smart boards yet, alas, but just the presentation stations are an enormous leap forward in adding to the teacher's toolkit.
There are caveats with all this tech, of course: Many say that kids are so wired, now, that educators simply have to meet that expectation with lots of bells and whistles. While there are appropriate times to use technology, there are also times to form a circle and discuss a piece of text...maybe evne on paper, with edit marks, questions, comments, connections written using that old standby, the pencil.
An example is a recent video I saw on tech in the classroom. Student says, I never read, no time, but there's Sparknotes! [cliffnotes] I can read a book in twenty minutes! Out of ten classmates, the student says, eight use sparknotes and two don't read a tall. [cut to picture of computer screen, with Sparknotes, Romeo and Juliet highlighted for selection...
Maybe we don't always have to meet the the students' expectations, their attention spans: Maybe they just HAVE to read the whole dang thing, then sit and think about it, discuss it, without all the hoopla.
No matter, the tools are here and when used appropriately are, no doubt, wonderful! Thanks, SPS!
Started as merely a plagarism check website, but now also has a fine paper grading and editing tool...WOWZER! Tell your friends (and no, I'm not an employee or otherwise profiting from this for-profit company...ach, the conflict, the duality of everything! I don't want profiteers in the schools, but I sure want some of the products...on which companies make profits from districts...hmmm
The students are eagerly anticipating the opportunity to NOVA-tize their new school building. They are excited with the task of setting new traditions for the new location. They are also excited by the acres of wall space they can paint.
My oldest starts at Hale next week. I can't tell you how many emails we have recieved from the Hale community over the summer. Emails inviting him to turn out to football, an invitation from the Ultimate Frisbee team to come hang out and toss the Frisbee even if he has never touched a Frisbee before, emails asking if anyone is interested in housing two Hale foreign exchange students, carpool requests, emails about auctions dates, water damage updates, an email inviting all families to the first football game. I could go on and on.
The schools feels like it has a REAL sense of community, and walks it's talk of being inclusive and welcoming. So far, I'm very very pleased.
Jill Hudson the new principal also seems like she will be a GREAT fit. And, BTW, she was not just appointed by MGJ. From what I understand (and please correct me if I'm wrong) is that Marni Campbell, along with the Hale community specifically requested that Jill Hudson replace Marni.
"He (Horace Mann) stated that "Education is conducted with a view to making money and not with a view to purity of principle and perfection of character". I almost hit the floor when I read this because this directly applies to the current reform efforts where privatization is considered the panacea to our educational problems. Along with privatization other free-market principles like competition, choice, and deregulation (called greater felxibility) are now being forcefully applied to our education policy. The idea is that these elements will create better schools.However, we should realize that these are the same principles that were responsible for the mortgage crisis and the crippling of our economy."
Ironic we're closing down the school named after him. does any charter have dibs on the building?
m.
sent. Lots of interesting topics.
thanks all. m.
I see that Garfield has a technology wishlist website- as do other schools.
Carefully chosen technology in high school doesn't bug me as much as technology just to attract the geekier parents/kids in elementary school
My daughters teachers used turnitin which we had a few problems with.
First we had dial up ( and many families don't even have that), and because that was so slow, many pages would not load correctly.
While I did appreciate use of the Source and especially appreciated the ability to download assignments, when files were not compatible with the Mac OS, it was a source of frustration ( no pun intended)
I also had an issue with paying a fee to something that seemed to make teachers and students into adversaries when the objective ( IMO) should be to hone the students research skills and teach how to accurately quote. ( something that dyslexic students in particular have difficulty with- how do you paraphrase using different words than author but not changing the meaning or using more words?)
I would like to see all school libraries ( starting at high school down), open for at least two days a week after school ( to allow for conflicting jobs/activities), for students who do not have computer access at home.
Is there some way to authorize volunteers to supervise for schools that do not have enough funds for librarians after school?
Oh- I forgot I am supposed to talk about puppies and kittens.
Sorry.
I hear from myballard.com, that West Woodland will recieve a large grant from the city to redo the playground. This will coincide with the 100th anniv of the school.
I am also pleased that the Nova community is being positive about the " new " building and that they are going to be able to make it their own. Did I understand that right?
I think that is great- I really think high schoolers need to feel invested in where they spend their days, and individualizing it to meet their needs- even artistic ones is important.
RtI = Response to Intervention - mainly formulated as a response to the traditional "special ed" tests-after-crises, RtI suggests a three-tiered approach to analyzing where students are at, academically and behaviourly, and acting accordingly with more intervention as necessary. This doens't just impact Special Ed students, as it's a tool for classroom use, noting where ALL students are at and wathcing for those who falter, giving them targeted supports.
This COULD mesh with a couple of other initiatives: Performance Management, MAP and Curriculum Alignment.
Then again, it might not. As with anything, it depends on the expected outcomes, the use, and the support.
Ideally? These things, among others could provide some common frameworks (NOT scripted lessons) which students would see often thorughout their school years. It could provide a common set of assessment tools (MAP...which wouldn't supplant other classroom assessments, of course, but only provide common assessment language and data) and with RtI, a common awareness and framework to address deficiencies.
Cautiously optomistic that there are elements to these reforms that might prove beneficial.
In a city so full of technology, it seems like good news that students are starting to get the opportunity to participate.
(Full disclosure: I'm the teacher starting the program so I suppose I'm rather biased ;))
As part of the Southeast Initiative, Rainier Beach added several new Advanced Placement classes. We had a large number of students take the AP exams and we had the most success that we have had in a long time (maybe ever). We had 2 students pass the AP Calculus exam (one of the students scored a 5), we had two 3's in Human Geography and in AP Statistics (the class I teach), one student scored a 4 and one student scored a 3. I also had 2 ELL students score a 2 and that is my fault for not making more of the importance of vocabulary because they had the statistical knowledge to score a 3. I promise all of you that will NOT happen this year.
Now the percentage of students who achieved a 3 or better is still low, but we have generated more excitement about Advanced Placement, enrollment is up in all the AP classes and the students have a better understanding of the effort required to achieve a score of 3 or higher. I'm sure that we will have even more success this year.
Speaking of vocabulary, it's been said that many students have difficulty on the WASL (all sections) because of an unfamiliarity with the "task terms" ("analyze...evaluate...etc)
Not to be presumptuous, maybe you teach these terms, but if not it's something to think about. (These are generally useful terms: they are important and helpful in any context)
Originally published June 9, 2009 at 10:49 AM | Page modified June 9, 2009 at 11:03 PM
By Katherine Long
Seattle Times Eastside reporter
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The 2009 listing was also a point of pride for Ingraham High in Seattle, which made it on the list for the first time, placing 940th. Ingraham, one of Seattle's smaller high schools, adopted a rigorous International Baccalaureate degree program seven years ago, and that helped the school find a place on Newsweek's list, said principal Martin Floe.
One other Seattle school, Garfield, made it on the list, placing 497th. Garfield has been on the list for five straight years.
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For the third year in a row, five Bellevue high schools have been named to Newsweek magazine's ranking of the top 1,500 public high schools in the country in academics.
But in a first for the Bellevue School District, all five schools made it into the magazine's most exclusive count — the top 100.
The schools are the International School, ranked 11th; Interlake High, 18th; Newport High, 34th; Sammamish High, 47th; and Bellevue High, 78th.
Two of the five schools, Interlake and Sammamish, moved several places higher in the rankings than last year. The International School, which was 10th last year, moved down to 11th.
http://www.ingrahamrocketry.org/Homepage.htm