HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY WV TIS Cohort
2013-14
TIS & That Newsletter Date Volume 2, Issue 13
No Luck Involved Teaching may be part art form, science, mentor, counselor, master organizer and facilitator, but what it isn’t is sheer luck. Success is planned and differentiated so that all students may learn. Differentiated instruction considers students’ varying learning styles, interests, readiness levels, and their preferred medium of learning to allow them to express their knowledge. To assure that all students are meeting their learning potential within the classroom, teachers need to devise lessons that
actively engage students. One way to do this is through the medium of technology. Throughout this newsletter various websites and apps will be highlighted to help teachers differentiate their lessons.
Teachers often ask themselves, “Why do I need to differentiate?” The following cartoon will explain why .
The next question teachers ask is, “How do I differentiate instruction?” The chart to the right outlines ways to differentiate.
Carol Tomlinson’s Differentiation Central This is an amazing site for teachers who are interesting in building their knowledge of differentiated instruction and getting ideas for implementing it in their classrooms. The resource page has lesson
plan examples and online templates that teachers may download and use. I love the graphic organizer that explains how differentiation works through the planning and implementation process. Power-
Points are available with management and implementation strategies that are practical and easy to follow. The support this site provides takes all the excuses out of being able to differentiate instruc-
tion. http://differentiationcentral.com/#
This newsletter is brought to you by: Luann Baker, Debbie Dunham, and Marsha Fink
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Web Resources for Differentiation Other Social Studies Resources The National Archives www.archives.gov/education Digital History www.digitalhistory.uh.edu Gilder Lehrman Collection www.gilderlehrman.org/collections
The Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/) is are great resource for social studies and language arts teachers beginning at 5th grade and extending through college. The site includes links to these major areas: • American Memory •
Prints and Photographs
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Historic Newspapers
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Veteran History
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Sound Recordings
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Performing Arts
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Film
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Maps
• Manuscripts With the vast amount of
resources, teachers are able to match ‘just-right’ resources with advanced, struggling and reluctant students. There is a page for teachers that allows for searches by grade level, content area (language arts or social studies), and common core standards. There are presentations, lessons plans, primary resources, and activities for the common core standards. There are political cartoon analysis guides with access to political cartoons throughout the ages.
http://1.usa.gov/1cSEgQa
This link is for an article explaining how to use primary sources with elementary students. http://1.usa.gov/1gwgW5I
The vast resources provided by this site, teachers to differentiate by students’ interest, readiness, and preferred learning style.
The Museum Box “The Museum Box might be a nice change in presentation style for those who have been using PowerPoint or Glogster.”
This website allows students to showcase their learning by placing videos, pictures, text, and sound clips onto a digital, three-dimensional box. It is a lot like a report on a tissue box but with the ability to incorporate multi-media representations of learning.
Boxes my represent a person, event, or time period. From a literary perspective, the museum box may include information to support and argument or depth of comprehension from a reading selection such as a novel or nonfiction piece.
The nature of the presentation style allows for differentiation concerning students’ background knowledge and complexity of content mastery. There is a trial option, but unfortunately it is a paid site. museumbox.e2bn.org
Cast Science Writer
Click on microscope for hyperlink to the Cast Science Writer
This site is recommended for middle and high school students. It assists students in writing a lab report. The Cast Science Writer incorporates the writing process into the development of the lab report and breaks the writing down into smaller more manageable parts. The
site also provides some very helpful online features. The online journal allows students to save experiment data, take notes, reflect, question, and make observations all in one place. For struggling writers, it provides a “Help Getting Started” feature where sentence starters aid
students who are unsure of how to begin their writing. A text-to-speech option allows students to listen to the text they have written. This is a great editing tool. This website would be a great guide for students writing their first lab report or struggling students who need a little more support.
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Science Resources Video Lecture http://videolectures.net is a site for advanced high school students. The lectures provided on this site are extremely informative but not captivating. However, it would be a means of extending the curriculum for those higher achievers. The National Science Teachers Association http://www.nsta.org requires a membership to access most perks; yet, some lesson plans
are free. The Learning Center Section allows members to search for lesson plans and resources by grade level and type of science.
The National Science Foundation offers an app called Science 360. It is free and offers recent and relevant images, videos, and news in the field of science.
SciLinks http://www.scilinks.org is a website partnership between textbook publishers and the National Science Teachers Association. There is a list of textbooks on the website that offer online features such as extension activities and other interactive.
Math Resources Convert Anything to Anything is recommended for middle school students and higher. This site is a great resource for math and science students who need a conversion but may not be able to recall quickly or easily from memory. This site also provides advanced students the ability to make
uncommon conversions. www.onlineconversion.com
The National Archives of Virtual Manipulative provides interactive manipulatives for all ages to aid concrete thinkers in progressing in their understanding of math. Could be great extension or instructional support for
small groups of students depending on their needs. This site needs Java to run.
Language Arts Resources Matching appropriate books to readers is an important key to properly differentiating . All Students need to be able to access the content in order to learn. One way to assure this is by having text read aloud to the students while they follow along. The Librivox website will allow teachers to search for books under public doman by
genre, author, and/or title to download a recording. www.librivox.org Once students’ lexile levels are determined the Lexile website will be helpful in determining if text selections that fit varying lexiles. www.lexile.com Scholastic.com offers
teachers the opportunity to use the Book Wizard that attempts to match similar book themes or authors are different reading levels. Lesson plans and activities are also available to support this level of differentiation. www.scholastic.com/ bookwizard
Free Math Apps That support basic math practice • ArithmeTick •
Basic Math
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Concentration
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Math Quizzer
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Illuminations: KenKen
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Web Resources Continued The next website is recommended for every educator especially those in technology roles). This link connects to a short article from Discovery Education that highlights three different sites by Kathy Schrock. She is a retired technology director that continues to learn about new technologies and how they can be used in the classroom. She has a blog dedicated to this called the “Kathy’s Katch of the Month.” There is also a link for “Kathy Schrock’s Guide to Everything,” website that connects to her “Kaffeeklatsch” blog, her personnel homepage, and iPads4Teaching. This site
is the “pot of gold at the end of the rainbow” especially for TIS educators! The blog reviews new technology devices. Schrock’s homepage repeats some of the other links mentioned, but what I like best is the section titled, “Writing,” which contains links to articles she has written. The iPads4Teaching doesn’t just suggest apps to use, but it outlines how to implement iPads in the classroom to the same level as paper and pencil has been traditionally. For schools who have a lot of iPads this is the site to visit.
Don’t miss the wealth of information provided in this link to help meet the needs of all students at various levels. http://bit.ly/OqnZqE
Differentiated Professional Development for Teachers Simple K12 http://bit.ly/1iWLSE7 PD 360 http://bit.ly/PK0UAg
The integration of technology into professional development has allowed educators to personalized their own learning. It is difficult for counties to provide professional development that is relevant for teachers of
multiple disciplines, grade levels, and years of experience. Simple K12 and PD 360 are two sites that offer a plethora of professional development opportunities. With Simple K12 there are incentives built into the system to encourage educators to
learn more. These sites allow teachers to explore what interests them most and is needed for their personal development considering their background knowledge and experience.
Online Learning for Free Sometimes it’s difficult to attend conferences and trainings. Continuing education opportunities online are a viable solution. For special and general educators and speechlanguage pathologists who work with students with physical, cognitive and communication challenges, AbleNet University provides live continuing education opportunities.
All trainings are free. If it isn’t possible to attend the live trainings, archived recordings are available. All trainings can be access on line at your convenience, and certificates of attendance are available whether you attend the trainings live or view them at a later date. Presenters provide informational hand -outs and suggested references. A recent training
included lesson plans on differentiating instruction for a health unit. It’s an excellent option for gathering information, learning more about a topic and for professional development. Topic areas include: curriculum, communication, switch use, iDevices and computer access. Check out AbleNet University @ http://bit.ly/OwGitV .
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County-Wide iPad Initiative Raleigh County had the luck of the Irish with them when they made one-to-one a reality. Since then, excitement has been abuzz in Raleigh County. The iPad initiative is providing students’ county–wide with the opportunity to join the global trend of integrating technology into daily educational experiences. Mary Ann Foster, Technology Coordinator and her technology team have deployed iPads to students in all schools in grades 2-12. Kindergarten and first grade students are sharing iPad minis with a fellow student. An in-service was provided for students at the time of deployment. In addition, teachers are being provided seven training sssse-
Sessions throughout the school year to increase their knowledge and for use of the iPad for enhancing both effective teaching and student learning. District recommended apps for students in grades k-12 have been adopted. Although iPads are not totally replacing textbooks, the county’s goal is to phase in electronic texts over the next five years. This year, social studies are being provided in an electronic format. Raleigh County’s initiative is embracing the SAMR
5 Tips to Help Teachers Who Struggle with Technology Josh Work, a Middle School teacher in Maryland writes a blog. He recently shared some tips to help teachers who have a rough time using technology. Build a Tech Team LC’s are a good way to work together and share ideas for bringing technology into the classroom. Start slowly. Integrating technology is daunting when you aren’t familiar with it. Scaffold Professional Development Do not introduce too much or too little technology at one time. Concentrate on what is valuable to the teacher who has trouble with technology. Teachers can feel isolated and afraid to admit that they are just not getting it. Ask the teachers what technology areas they would like to focus on and choose one or two. Make Time Talk to your principal and ask for some time to collaborate with your fellow teachers. Offering support to teachers creates success and helps those who need it, especially with technology. Make it Relevant There are many teachers who resent technology. They feel like it was pushed on them. Technology needs to be successfully integrated into lesson plans. Teachers need to know that it might not always go as planned and that is alright. They need to be willing to try again. Encourage Them Some teachers will struggle regardless. They need support and encouragement. If they are willing to try something new, it’s a step in the right direction. Once they have mastered one technology, offer them another to try. After all, isn’t that what we do for our students?
model, moving from technology acting as substitution for a classroom tool to eventual redefinition of the classroom. Tech support is also ongoing county-wide. Visit the iPad initiative at the iRaleigh link on the Raleigh County School’s website.
http://bit.ly/1disf1e
Lucky Find—Article Review “How to Survive the Next Wave of Technology Extinction” was a very lucky find on a chilly February 12, 2014. In his New York Times article, Farhad Manjoo tells you how not to end up with technology that is completely outdated and useless. He recommends that you use assorted tools and apps simultaneously. He believes that you won’t be at risk for technology extinction if you use Apple’s Hardware because it’s not hard to learn and is long lasting. Google’s Services such as Gmail, Google+, and maps are available on your iPhone or iPad. He says to buy media from Amazon. If you buy a book from Amazon, it will work on your iPad, Android and Kindle. Finally, use connectors that bridge devices and technologies like Dropbox and Evernote for pictures and documents because they replicate on all of your devices. http://nyti.ms/OwG2ey
Infusing Technology into New School Construction Along with traffic flow, safety precautions, and class size, the placement, incorporation, use of technology are considered when building a new school. The new Weirton Elementary will house up to 950 pre-K through fourth grade students with over 100 staff members. These students will be infused with technology. The school will have a computer lab on each floor along with five iPad labs and five laptop labs. Every classroom will have a smart board and document camera. An 87 inch smart board will be available for student and parent involvement activities in the multipurpose room. Two additional smart boards will be placed in each conference room for the purpose of webinars. Hancock County will open the Other perks of the facilities 105,000 square feet will be: largest elementary school in WV • Two floors with more than 60 classrooms plus resource rooms and administrative in March 2014 offices. • Two gymnasiums (one with bleachers that seat 500) and a cafeteria with the capacity of seating 350 students. • Two playgrounds and a play area around the outside of the school •
Parking that accommodates 200 cars and 18 buses
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Each classroom will have its own restroom, sink, storage cabinets, and carpeting.
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An elevator to make it more handicap accessible Security features— over 80 security cameras, a prevention resource officer on staff daily, and glass mantraps in each entry way. Finally, the first school-based health center in the Northern Panhandle will be adjacent to the school and operated by C.H.A.N.G.E., Inc. http://bit.ly/OwGQjt
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TIS and THAT Technology Tidbits
Spring Into Action With This App As spring is upon us, it’s time to kick-start wellness. Let’s Move It is a free app for iPhone/Android phones. It’s available at the App Store, and makes walking and running fun and challenging. Developed by the Cleveland Clinic, this app includes a free pedometer. Local and world-wide mileage challenges are available. In addition, videos, wellness tips and a calorie converter are included. There is also a tracking feature which allows users to buddy up and compare results. As WESTEST prep intensifies, a little stress reducer could be just what the doctor ordered!
Don’t assume your teachers or students know that: Ctrl+A will select all the text on a page Ctrl+C will copy the item highlighted Ctrl+D will delete the item highlighted Ctrl+N opens a new window Ctrl+R will refresh the open window Ctrl+S will save a document Ctrl+T opens a new Tab Ctrl+V will paste the item highlighted Ctrl+X will cut the selected item Ctrl+Y will redo an action Ctrl+Z will undo an action Ctrl+Esc will open the Start Menu Esc will cancel the open task