This is what we are preparing them for!

Today at about 1pm the Associated Press twitter feed put out a simple message

Breaking New: Explosion at the White House and Barack Obama injured.
1.9 million followers
5K retweets later
The stock market goes down 14 points in three minutes.


The stock market tanked based on trading algorithm not humans.

Details here  graphic Look at the market. It the a recession or it's a tweet

More details here

This is what was are raising our students for. A world we cannot image. Maybe they cannot image with 72 characters goes around the globe and crashes markets!!

chrome book limitations

google docs does not format well. I used to be just a font addict. There are very few fonts in google docs. Also I am not sure the formatting is high functioning enough for MLA requirements.

Then there is PDFs. For the student it might work but teachers need to edit PDFs. I have not found a good extension or app for that.

So have the chromebook. 4/19/13 physically the are really nice. Light weight streamline large keyboard. Lighter and cheaper than an Ipad with a keyboard.
The apps are nice. The really are just links to websites. The extensions move more options forward.

Google Chat could replace Skype
Not sure how Connect functions - I need to test if you can host in Chrome
Editing PDF's and creating MLA level papers are still an issue

App are there for supporting subjects we teach Geogebra

chromebook questions

The basic principal of a chrome book is there are no apps loaded locally. It's very internet dependent.

What other apps do we load on the standard student load?
what about printing? scanning to a chromebook?
If you use the 16 gb version what about uploading tests?
what about uploading papers written on google docs instead of open office?
you cannot share a document as turning in an assignment because of the dropbox feature

first we need to know what the LMS will support and require.
PDF editing? Open office?
How will you do the drop box-knowing that's a different LMS.

In order to truly report on how well this will work for the high school, we need to know more about how the high school will work.

For my teacher use, I need PDF pro editor and tablet inference.
Also we need to be able to host webinars on it

can students attend connect sessions??

We should teach the different between apps and extenstions
The students will need a PDF editor  app or extension
Connect there is an extension but no app and cannot host from chrome
They will need to use Google Drive and Docs

For VLAC how will we attach tests to the drop box??

can we build a basic load for the chrome books/ with extensions and apps?

School popping the unspoken consequence of school of choice

Yes parents should have educational options that fight their child's style of learning. But the cost of that menu of choices should not be character skills and quality education.
Avoiding the issue and blaming others are natural coping methods of the human condition. When we create school of choice options. We create the opportunity for using these coping methods in our child's education also. When a child's education hits the hard subjects such as possible learning disabilities, difficult curriculum or challenging relationships, the school of choice option can be an out.
School of choice has created a group of "school hoppers". These are families that switch school often. It could be going from the public neighborhood school to a charter school. It could be a switch from one public school to another in a neighboring community.

There are questions surrounding the general impressions of this "school hoppers" that should be addressed with research.
How many students are switching schools each year?
What are the moving patterns? Is it a one time move or a pattern of moving?
What are the switching patterns? Public to public school? Public to charter? Private?
What are the test scores impacts? Grades impact? Graduation impacts?

Progress and Promotion

As look to the spring:

Jan progress reports

Cut date

        Test 1/21 Monday

        Lessons 1/24 Wednesday

        Snap shot on Friday 1/25 of their lessons completed.

        Spreadsheet due turned in on: Jan 28^th  the next Monday

Pacing guide set for lesson 70 =41% 70 lessons / 170 lesson total

Percentage complete  49%

> 60-74=1  60 lesson would be 35% complete or within 6%

> 40-60=2  40 lessons would be 24% complete or  6 to 25% off pace from the 49% you should be at

> below 40=3

> no recent activity/contact=4  These are extreme kids.  Look at the beginning of December until now.

Spring progress reports

Cut date

Test 4/15 Monday

        Lessons 4/17 Wednesday

        Snap shot on Friday 4/19 of their lessons completed.

        Spreadsheet due turned in on: 4/22  the next Monday

You should be on lesson 123 that Monday the 15th or  79 % complete

We have 6 weeks of summer support. 2 in june and 4 in july

        Maybe 10 lessons per week – because they were not doing 20 to begin with

        60 lesson total per ALL classes (if you have four classes that means you are on lesson155

We could just use the overall % as a marker

1=

2 =

3 =

4 = no test 80 test.

How far to you have to get to be promoted?

The only logical place to break it is at a test marker. 120 is too early ;160 is the end sooo 140?

You must complete English and math to lesson 160. All other subjects, if you get to 140 and average in a 0 on test 160. If you have a passing grade you are done?

English would be the reading and writing class.

Science for middle school you would need to get to the first test in the last unit. That way we could say they were exposed to all the subjects.

innovative decision making is different

During a conference call staff meeting, Carol mentioned that innovated decision making is a different process. That got me thinking. It really is because decisions should be based on data and research. But when you are in an innovated situation like ours- the data and research simply do not exist.
So how does the process change. Our team finds it useful to use a discussion approach. We talked about decisions long before they will need to be made but we cannot make them in advance. It's a just-in-time situation because the closer you get to the time the more accurate the situation gets. I will not say clearer or more defined. It is just more accurate to the moment that you make the decision.
Our next decision is spring progress reports leading to summer school "plan of work" contracts. We talked about it today. But that decision really need to be made in April because the situation will be different then. The valuable work that can happen now is the definition of considerations. What do we need to consider when we are ready to make that decision. I added that the summer plan of work contracts should be setup in the last two weeks of May. June will be busy with on time finishers. Setting those goals in May allows for them to be achieved in June and heads off late surprises.
So we are talking about what goes into that decision so we are prepped when the time comes to make it.

Decisions we have coming:
After spring break progress reports. What is a "2" what lesson number are they on. The same about 3 and I think the same definition will hold for a 4.
What do we do about 2,3,4? In May we create summer plan of works?
What is promoted?
What if a power subject is below 70%

I think a good conversation to have would be what are the power subjects in each grade level. I know art history, vocabulary, and spelling I would not consider power.
Science and socail studies are ify maybe you must have a 70% on 70% of the lessons
Reading, writing and math are power subjects Those classes should have a higher standard.

If you are on lesson
an A is what it is. A B is what you earned. C is lowest passing. D is modified passing with only the power subjects

technology is not the answer for everything

Today I added skype to the list of tech pieces I have.
Not that impressed. I will use it to IM Vance at work because he does not allow any other methods of communication. But it's not a tool I need. Adobe Connect is better for meetings. The sounds has less delay. You can have more then one web camera. And you can record it.

But Carol wants us to do an evaluation by skype. Another thing I am not excited about. I enjoy the face to face conversation of our last evaluation. I think these critical conversation you cannot have a tech barrier. if you must use tech, they have to add something to the conversation. Not impede it.