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,
Friday, May 31, 2013
Monday, May 27, 2013
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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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 8th
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 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, May 12, 2013
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!
Thursday, May 2, 2013
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
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Getting geek on
After conf call with Carol and Adambot meeting I am off in many directions today.
1. looking for our classes at Michigan learns online
Got lost and found some great resource for online best practices
1. looking for our classes at Michigan learns online
Got lost and found some great resource for online best practices
I am poking around Michigan Learns Online. There are a lot of
resources for online educational leadership around best practices.
Such as Essential Principles of High-Quality Online
Teaching: http://info.sreb.org/programs/EdTech/pubs/PDF/Essential_Principles.pdf
Start up guide for online learning ( yea we are passed this
but there are resources there) http://www.onlineprogramhowto.org/
For stuff here: http://www.remc.org/projects/milearnsonline/getting-started/
2. Creating mindstorm classes for elementary
Found the local lego education rep.
3. questioned ( that's pushing by asking questions) into a meeting with Google about Chromebook
This grew out of a comment that Carol said virtual program will not get full FTF's. They are considering 80% of FTF. So they need the price point of chromebooks.
I feel great. I am moving again. I felt like I stalled during the winter. It was a cold late spring.
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