new developments

5/30/13
The team talked about compensation with Carol today. I was disappointed that this was not a new issue to her. She was aware of it. I think that everyone felt better airing it out. it was handled well on both sides.

New options that came out of it were carrying more students for more money. We now carry 40 kids. If we move that up to 45 kids we can divide the salary that new teacher would have hired across our staff.

It is also on my radar that we have a high school with 35 kids and I can teach English. I would like the extra $$ of carry those kids but it's English and that is the hard subject to grade.

I am glad that we can have more money, but I am really tapped out in terms of time. Hours in a day we becoming a problem. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Personally I hope that there's another admin position created.

after the board meeting

It went well. I got in all my thoughtful for points. I learned a great deal about the other programs  that OS offers. The most I learned if that they are different. WAY is not structured like us.
I felft that our presentation had the most staff information. It also had students.

Afterwards I had a good conversation with Terri the dep. super. of learning services. Also two board members came up and said they appreciated our work.  Vicker, the super, was not there because she was traveling.

Over all it went well,

Board Presention

Dr. Spencer, myself and a student Jennifer Smith are presenting to the Board of Education on May 28 to report out on our first year. Below are Carol's data points. Under that are my talking points.
From Carol ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Virtual Learning Academy Consortium

Enrollment:  269 (February count) students in grades K-8

Supported by a team that includes:

·         8 full time certified teachers

·         1 Program Administrator

·         1 Project Assistant

·         Technical support team

·         Helpdesk services for families

Highlights for the year:

Participating Counties:  Genesee, Lapeer, Livingston, Oakland, Washtenaw, Wayne

Number of participating districts: 57

VLAC uses email, webinars, and meetings to provide regular updates to participating districts and assist with state reporting requirements

MEAP administered for all students in grade 3-8 at sites in Oakland, Livingston and Wayne counties with 85% participation rate

ELPA administered at multiple sites for students who receive ELL services

EDPs completed for 8^th grade students

Fountas & Pinnell reading assessments conducted for grades K-3

Students complete daily checkpoint assessments to receive immediate feedback on learning, VLAC teachers grade comprehensive unit assessments to monitor student learning

Learning Guides receive periodic reports on students’ progress toward grade completion (pacing and proficiency)

Teachers use Skype to conduct live sessions for individual students and/or Learning Guides

Teachers use Adobe Connect to conduct live group sessions for students and/or Learning Guides

Conducted multiple parent orientation webinars to help families get started with VLAC program, Calvert curriculum, and Learning Management System (Connexus)

Face to face activities included:  Fall Open House, trip to The Parade Company and a scheduled trip to The Henry Ford (cancelled due to inclement weather), Family Science and Engineering Night, and Michigan Week Celebration

From me ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Board meeting talking points

My role as a mentor teacher

        Moving from sage on the stage to guide on the side

        Mentor to student – and parents

        I am a counselor, interventionist

        The definition of work from bell to bell has changed as I am in contact with students every weekend and many evenings

My day

        25% interacting with students –customer service and interactions

        25% acting as a learning interventionist coaching parents or tutoring students

        50% monitoring student achievement mainly done through grading

My practice as a teacher

        Increased communications skills having difficult conversation and in written form

        Deeper relationships with students as learners

        Deeper partnerships with parents

        New definition of work through flexible hours

                Getting my own kids off to school

                Being in contact with my students on weekends and evenings

        Increased technology skills have increase my flexible problem solving skills

        Here I am developing the learning

Highlights of my year

        Proficiency as a grading policy

(Jackie) behavior problems bad experience; taken charge of her own learning.

        (Joe) two year of math and science

        (Yamen) passed IA admission tests

        (Kiara) one year below grade level in writing and math to on grade level

(Dominique) able to train for Olympics and be successful in school

(Alyane) medically unable to attend is successful in our flexible program 

Chromebook reflection

May 15th
This Friday I attend the Google event at Oakland Schools. We listened to their presentation. The Google rep then ast down with us to answer our questions.
There is a bill that passed congress cutting our funding down to 85% FTF for 100% online programs. The desktops we now used are about $942. The Chromebooks with licensing are $320. This is a 66% savings but we have to make sure it works.

The impact of this is that Drive will replace all Open Office, Google Hangout will replace Skype. Student will have to know how to create a PDF from a Google doc to upload into the drop box. I did find one unsupported function. Quick time spelling tests in 3rd grade do not function well.

Overall I think this is a good move.

at this point

May 15th
At this point the year I did not expect to be surprised but this week it did happen.

Rachel has a mother who has blown up many times over very small things. I think the heart of the matter is that she is the teacher and she believes that everything her children turn it is 100%. I have noticed the math tests seem already checked. Which is possibly OK - depending on the process. But this week Rachel cited her mother as a source in a research paper. I just had to laugh because in Rachel's world Mom is the gospel. And then I have to be careful about how to redirect that .

Jonathan is a new student from a district. He is in the better than nothing bucket. He sent me a web mail messaging " i dont know what do to. i am going to throw this computer thru the wall. i would rather go to jail" The intensity of this message surprised me.

Nushare is a 8th graded who is lat least six moths behind. His mother sent me a webmail because she wants to send him to a NASA summer camp. They want to see his grades and did a teacher recommendation. She requested a report card and let me know that I will need to write the letter. I had to very carefully respond that his time might be better spent making progress in the grade so he can be promoted.

infographics

My new favorite way to learn is inforaphics. They are creditable with sources listed on the bottom. The are graphic with visualize representation of data. And easy to understand!

Source: edudemic.com via Luciano on Pinterest

Source: mencoplatform.com via Luciano on Pinterest

where does language live in your brain

Brain Research suggests that we use our whole brain for language including visual, motor and tactile areas. As a teacher, this rings true to our stressing visualization as a reading comprehension tool. See those scientists are catching up to us teachers!

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/05/02/180036711/imagine-a-flying-pig-how-words-take-shape-in-the-brain