Our focus is on serving you!
The
A Message from Dr. Bell
Connector April 2014
The philosophical question for the day is if March came in like a lion and left like a lion what foreboding is that for April? I’m afraid all of our curious minds will discover that answer soon enough. I just know that my solar powered brain cells are starting to lose their charge! The journeys to all of the school districts have been completed. ESU 10 is now in possession of a 77 page document that resulted from fruitful conversations between school district and ESU 10 personnel. The next challenge is already being addressed as to how to use, display, cache, and mine this information to provide positive support as “Educational Service Unit 10 partners with our customers to meet changing needs through professional expertise, training, and support.” As it is for all of you, this is the time of year to crescendo toward the successful completion of goals while beginning the process of securing staff and resources for another fiscal year. Things tend to get a bit confusing in April and May, but I am fortunate to work with a fantastic staff of professionals who make this process manageable. There are many new and improved programs to be shared with you during the months to come. Some outdated or unused programs are on their way to the scrap pile. New staff will be filtering in to replace those retiring or moving to new opportunities. Budgets are being created and discussed that will efficiently and effectively operate the approved Program of Services. My stockpile of antacids and aspirin has been replenished – so let the games begin!
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I had the opportunity to attend the 2014 Nebraska Rural Community Schools Association Spring Conference. Jon Habben and his conference planning crew did another excellent job. I can remember serving in that planning capacity about 30 years ago and know it is no easy task to assemble an outstanding conference. I enjoyed watching personnel from school districts served by ESU 10 presenting at Select-a-Sessions. It especially pleases me when I can tell that our service to them made a positive difference. I also enjoyed the keynote speakers and picked up nuggets from each of them. Matt Blomstedt, NDE Commissioner of Education, brings good qualities to the position and has ties to this region of the state. All ESUs will continue to work with NDE staff to provide more coordinated services to school districts. On a sad note, March was also the month where we lost a longtime, and personal, friend to education. Russ Inbody, senior administrator of the NDE Finance and Organization Services Team. He was someone known and respected by school administrators. I’ll miss Russ. The emergency telephone number to his desk will probably always be burned into my memory as he answered my endless budget questions and just laughed with me at my initial ineptitude. I just hope I can provide the quality of service to others that he provided to me. Enough! It’s time to head out the door past the shivering robins in search of spring. Best wishes to all of you as you deliver quality educational opportunities to your students and communities. 76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org
ESU 10 Workshops
April 08 PowerSchool - PowerScheduler Prepare to Load 15 iConnect, iTeach, iBloom with iPads 15 Beyond Social Skills 22 Art Teachers Workshop 29 Beyond Social Skills 30 A Google Buffet
May 02 CTE Advisory Council and Coordinators Spring Meeting
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05 Title III Consortium Mtg and Training with NDE 06 Beyond Social Skills 16 Instructional Coaches Meeting (4 days) 20 NSSRS Workday 28 Structured Teaching (2 days) 29 Writing Instruction with Write Tools 101 (2 days)
June
02 Digital Citizenship 03 Regional Consortium Leadership Summit (2 days)
76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org
High School Academic Quiz Bowl Congratulations to the winners of the 25th Annual Quiz Bowl sponsored by ESU 10. The competition was held on Tuesday, April 1, 2014 at the University of Nebraska Kearney where 34 area schools competed. The purpose of the quiz bowl competition is to encourage higher order thinking, recognize outstanding achievement, and promote academic excellence among participating middle school students.
1st Place - Kearney
2nd Place - Heartland Lutheran
3rd Place - Kearney Catholic
4th Place - Callaway
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76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org
High School Science Olympiad Winners
Gothenburg - 1st Place
Omaha Skutt - 2nd Place
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Ravenna - 3rd Place
Ord - 4th Place
Grand Island Northwest - 5th Place 76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org
Middle School Science Olympiad Winners
Ord 1st Place
Paxton 2nd Place
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Hastings St. Cecilia 4th Place
Alma 3rd Place
Loup City 5th Place 76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org
Safety and Digital Citizenship
Nebraska AG & ESU Internet Safety & Digital Citizenship Poster and PSA Contest Winners - 2014 To promote Internet Safety and Digital Citizenship the Nebraska Attorney General’s office and the state Educational Service Units (ESUs) hold an annual Poster and PSA (Public Service Announcement) contest. Within three grade level divisions (K-4, 5-8, 9-12), there are five categories: Hand-drawn posters, Computer-generated posters, Audio PSAs and Video PSAs (which must be under 30 seconds), and an Open category for brochures, documentaries, etc. (anything doesn’t fit in the other categories). Each district may submit one entry per category within each grade-level division. The entries are judged at their regional ESU with the winning entries in each category moving on to the state ESU organization where they are judged once again. The state winning submissions are sent to the Nebraska State Attorney’s office for use in Internet Safety Campaigns throughout the year. Entries by the following students were selected as winners at the state level. They can be viewed by clicking on the corresponding links at http://esu-internet-safety-psa-contest.wikispaces.com Grades K-4 · Hand-drawn Poster – Faith McDonald (Grade 4) Centura Elementary, Cairo NE · Computer-Generated Poster – Jaci Larsen (Grade 3) Burwell Elementary, Burwell NE · Open – Southern Valley 1st Grade Class (Grade 1) Southern Valley Elementary, Oxford NE
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Grades 5-8 · Hand-drawn Poster – Esmeralda Maya (Grade 8) Columbus Middle School, Columbus NE · Computer-generated Poster – Emily Pick (Grade 8) Columbus Middle School, Columbus NE · Video PSA – Kylee Munson, Trevan Rut, Colton Storer, Kate Miles, Kasey Channer (Grade 7) Arthur County Public Schools, Arthur NE · Open – Fryda Moine, Nadia Garzoria, Gustavo Garzoria, Sarah Avila (Grades 4-5) Madison Elementary, Madison NE Grades 9-12 · Hand-drawn Poster – MacKenzie Brandl (Grade 9) Stanton High School, Stanton NE · Computer-generated Poster – Lindsy Siegel (Grade 11) Litchfield High School, Litchfield NE · Video PSA – Ryley Weller, Charlie Berney, Jayden Dvorak, Joseph Kleier (Grade 10-11) Palmer Public Schools, Palmer NE Congratulations to the state winners! In addition to this recognition, the winners are invited to attend the Governor’s signing of the Proclamation of June as Internet Safety month on April 9, 2014 at the State Capitol in Lincoln. More information will follow. The time, effort and creativity of ALL the students who entered the contest is greatly appreciated. Words to live by in a digital world: Respect and protect yourself. Respect and protect others. Respect and protect digital property. (Andrew Churches, http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/The+Digital+Citizen)
The Nebraska AG & ESU Internet Safety and Digital Citizenship Committee
76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org
The Summer Slide
by Jennifer Rumery, ESU 10 School Psycholgist
It is hard to believe but summer is right around the corner. People are thinking of summer plans and activities. Students are thinking about no school. They can just pick up where they were in the spring when they return in the fall, right? Unfortunately that is not what research tells us. What happens instead is called the “summer slide”. The summer slide occurs when students are not involved in activities that use skills they have learned during the school year. How much students “slide” back depends on a lot of factors but it creates a problem for many students. Schools and parents both need to be involved to help reduce or eliminate the problem. The Problem While all students experience learning losses when they are not involved with educational activities, some students show more loss than others. The average is 2.6 months in the area of math computation, but statistics look a little different for reading. Middle income students and upper income students may actually show slight gains in reading over the summer but low-income students lose an average of two or more month’s achievement in the area of reading. These students are likely to be the same students who were struggling in reading during the school year. This means that they are even further behind when they come back in the fall. This all adds up. If a student loses two months of reading every summer and never makes that two months up, they would be two years behind when they start high school. One research group identified this “summer slide” as being one of the three biggest obstacles to reading proficiency at the end of 3rd grade. The other two were being ready for kindergarten and chronic absenteeism in early grades.
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What Can You Do? Whether you are a teacher, parent, or just someone who has a relationship with a school age child, there are things that you can do to help reduce or eliminate this decline in skills. Schools and Teachers Different reading groups list summer reading programs as being a common response to the “summer slide”. If your school is able to do this, there are some points to keep in mind.
• It will be the most successful if it occurs over several years. Have summer school only for the purpose of helping students perform well on a specific test produce only short term growth.
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76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org
The Summer Slide (continued) • Consider working with other programs or agencies in the community to get the most from everyone’s efforts.
Some schools have developed partnerships with other camps to help them incorporate reading and writing into camp activities. Consider any summer activity your students are involved with over the summer. The other area in which schools can help is in providing families with information and support about family literacy. Some of the factors that have been identified as affecting family literacy include:
• • • •
• Having an established sense of community between the school and family members. Having ongoing and varied communication between home and school Recruiting families to be involved with school and school events and providing families an opportunity to interact with one another as parents Providing families with information about reading and literacy with concrete suggestions about what they can do to help their child School staff demonstrating understanding of the different challenges being faced by individual families
Parents
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• Take advantage of any reading or summer school programs available in your community. • Talk to your child’s teacher about things that you can do with them over the summer. Work with the teacher to
come up with a list of things you think you can follow through with and that are fun. Maintaining skills over the summer does not need to be an extension of what your child does in school • Talk with your child about setting some goals for the summer. This can be reading books, writing letters, looking for information about things they are interested in, or even reading to younger children. • Provide your child with opportunities to hear books being read. This can be time with you or time listening to recorded books. When possible, have a book available that your child can follow along in. Stop and talk about the story or information as well as any new vocabulary that might be in the book. Don’t forget nonfiction books. Some students enjoy books with information in them more than books that are stories. • Make printed materials accessible to your child. This means all printed materials. Have materials in the car, in the living room, kitchen, and bedroom. The more time they spend around printed material and the more accessible it is, the more likely they are to interact with it. Communicate to your child that reading is important. Talk about different types of reading and encourage your child to find information instead giving them the information. Set an example by letting your child see you read even if it is directions or a manual. Need more ideas? Here are some websites that have excellent ideas for summer reading activities. Just search “summer” or “summer slide” on their website: • www.readingrockets.orgrockets.org • www.rif.org • www.pbs.org (click on parents or kids before you search)
76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org
Write Tools Summer Trainings
by Dallas Lewandowski, Prof. Dev. Coordinator
ESU 10 Write Tools 2014 Summer Trainings Writing Instruction with Write Tools 101 May 29-30 Implementing Write Tools Strategies June 5-6
Register at:
https://odie.esu10.org/workshops
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76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org
Noodletools During the 2013-14 school year ESU 10 purchased a oneyear license for schools interested in testing NoodleTools with their teachers and students. A few questions were sent out inquiring if and how they have been using it and if their teachers were responding positively to it. Two of the responses follow: “I am a teacher who uses NoodleTools with my freshmen Holocaust research project. Each student is allowed to choose one “Hero of the Holocaust” who made a difference in lives of Jewish people. I have done this project for years, in many different ways, and having students find sources and create the citations before they try to take any notes is a great way to find out if they can even find enough information. Students can then begin taking notes and know that they have enough resources. NoodleTools allows the kids to make citations and tie those citations to each of the notes they take. I love that they could connect the note to the source. In the next step, the students used NoodleTools software to make an outline. This was a great way for my struggling students to organize their notes and drag them into their outline to begin writing. When they realized that they could export the outline with the notes and the citations to a word document (or to Google Docs), they were so excited! NoodleTools saves so much time and effort. With the students having the notes connected to the sources, they can also sort them into an outline that we created from the very beginning of the unit.
by Susan Sandoval, Media Center Specialist
As we began to write, I loved that they could export the works-cited page for me and I could see if they were citing correctly or if their sources were credible. The students favorite part (besides the creation of the workscited page) is that they can export their outline, with their notes in the right order, with the citations attached into a word document and then change that outline into their rough draft! My students never really saw that connection before and now realize why they take all of those steps to write a quality paper. NoodleTools is such a great way to organize really large projects such as freshmen research papers. A couple of my senior students are also using it to create a formal annotated bibliography. I was so excited about how well NoodleTools worked that I shared it with our librarian and then asked our High School Special Ed teacher to see how helpful it really is. I even showed the principal just so she would pay for it again next year!!!” -Nicole Badgley, Arnold Public Schools
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“The kids like it, I like it, and I have a few high school teachers interested. They think I have been “trained” and have lots of answers, but I remind them I can help, but we have to work through it together and learn the process together. But so far, so good. “ -Alicia Lassen, Overton Public School
76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org
Formative Assessment
by Kelly Clapp, Professional Dev. Coordinator
Thoughtful assessment is the theme of the March edition of Educational Leadership. In reading this publication, the article resonating most with me was written by Carol Ann Tomlinson, educational leader and expert in differentiated instruction. In The Bridge Between Today’s Lesson and Tomorrow’s, Tomlinson elaborates on ten principles of formative assessment that can improve both teaching and learning. She challenges educators to reflect on their own assessment practices to determine the best way to glean evidence about student performance, interpret that evidence, and use insights gained to make adjustments to instruction that causes increased student learning. I would like to share Tomlinson’s ten principles with you. 1. Help students understand the role of formative assessment.
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It is important to show students that formative assessments help us understand their thinking and helps them make improvements in their work. Immediate perfection should not be the goal, therefore not all assessments will be graded. Once they’ve had time to practice, then it will be time to grade. 2. Begin with clear KUDs. (Know, Understand, Do) By defining precisely what students need to know, understand, and do, teachers can focus curricular decisions on what matters most for student success. Formative assessment measures can then be designed according to the KUDs which in turn informs planning and instruction. 3. Make room for student differences. Formative assessment requires the teacher build in some flexibility so that students can show what they know, understand, and can do through various methods. 4. Provide instructive feedback. Students need useful feedback so they can be clear about the learning targets at which they are aiming, and they understand how their performance on the assessment shows their progress toward them. Feedback needs to be instructional in nature so the student can improve on how or why they missed the mark. 5. Make feedback user-friendly. Feedback must be specific to the learner’s progress and cause the learner to reflect on how to improve. Good feedback focuses each learner on actions that are challenging but achievable for that.
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76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org
Formative Assessment (cont.) 6. Assess persistently. Effective teachers continually assess formally and informally with individuals and groups in order to understand academic progress. Teachers walk among their students as they work taking notes, listening for understanding and asking questions to illicit deeper thinking. 7. Engage students with formative assessment. Formative assessment works best when students are fully engaged in the assessment process. Using rubrics to examine their own work as well as the work of peers helps them practice giving and receiving feedback to benefit their own academic growth. 8. Look for patterns. Planning and instructing using formative assessment can be done by finding patterns in students’ work and clustering them accordingly. Teachers do not need a lesson plan for each student. 9. Plan instruction around content requirements and student needs. As Carol Ann Tomlinson states in the article, “There is little point in spending time on formative assessment unless it leads to modification of teaching and learning plans”. 10. Repeat the process. In order to maximize each student’s growth, formative assessment must become habitual. Each assessment of learning informs instructional plans. It is a process that never ends.
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If we are going to be effective as educators, we must break away from the traditional paradigm that anoints the teacher as giver and grader of tests. We must engage students in a reflective process that enables them to seek and provide feedback, practice using the feedback, and explain their progress toward academic goals. This can only happen if the teacher creates a classroom environment that is feedback-rich, emphasizes growth, is monitored continually, and adapted daily.
Adolescent Literacy Project 2013-2014: A Year in Review by Denise O’Brien, Professional Dev. Coordinator
For the past three years, the ESU 10 Professional Development Department has facilitated the Adolescent Literacy Project. The project has grown in the number of school districts and participants each year. It has been the most successful ESU 10 project I have been a part of in my seven years as a Professional Development Coordinator. During this school year, we had a total of 440 participants including administrators, teachers, and ESU staff. Here is the breakdown of our training series participants: • Year 1- 210 • Year 2- 160 • Year 3- 70 We have received positive feedback from school districts and plan to offer one more year for new participants beginning September 9, 2014. ESU 10 will continue to sponsor the project with Title IIA federal funds. During the 2014-2015 school year, the newly formed Teaching and Learning Department will be working on a plan to sustain the efforts of the Adolescent Literacy Project. National presenters, Dr. Kevin Feldman, Dr. Anita Archer, and Dr. Marcia Tate will be phased out of the project during the 2015-2016 school year. As always, we will continue to serve our schools in their implementation efforts. 76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org
Collaboration
by Susan Evans, Professional Dev. Coordinator
On March 3, 4, and 12, 2014, at three different sites in the ESU region, teachers gathered to collaborate on the implementation of the Adolescent Literacy Project strategies and technology integration. As a facilitator I was able to step back and watch as teachers discussed successes and challenges of being a teacher of adolescents. It was a privilege for me to witness these great minds thinking and bouncing ideas off of each other as they thought about how to improve student learning. Steven Paine, the West Virginia State Superintendent, often mentions an idea that he calls “a back 13 porch for teachers.” A leadership group comes together regularly for indepth discussions about topics and initiatives that are important in their district. Then they take ideas back home to share with their colleagues. This leadership group enjoys the extended time to talk through ideas and learn from each other. Such intensive, ongoing, and collaborative professional development is exactly what research shows to be most effective for improving both teachers’ practice and student learning. Yet for most teachers, this remains a rare experience. Earlier this year, the National Staff Development Council released a report, “Professional Learning in the Learning Profession.” The report points out; the United States “is far behind in providing public school teachers with opportunities to participate in extended learning opportunities and productive collaborative communities.” Not enough teachers, it seems, are offered a back porch to congregate and the time to take advantage of each other’s wisdom. I hope we continue to make it a priority to provide opportunities for teachers to gather on “our back porch” to build relationships, ask questions, and share innovative ideas. Does your school make space for teachers to engage in deep conversations about teaching and learning? Where and when do your best conversations with colleagues take place? Please share your thoughts. Paine’s goal is to give educators places to come together and talk about innovative ideas that may well revolutionize public education. 76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org
Productive Mathematical Discussions I recently had the opportunity to attend the third annual Midwest Mathematics Meeting of the Minds (M4) Conference. This year’s conference was held in Omaha, and about 100 people involved with math education in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri were in attendance. One of the speakers was Margaret Smith, co-author of Five Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematical Discussions (Smith & Stein, 2011). During the presentation at the M4 Conference, Ms. Smith emphasized that, in order for mathematical discussions to be productive, the teacher first must have a clear mathematical goal in mind and select an appropriate task to be the basis of the discussion. Once these two foundational elements are in place, a teacher can then successfully utilize the Five Practices. These practices include Anticipating, Monitoring, Selecting, Sequencing, and Connecting. When a teacher employs the practice of Anticipating, he or she considers what strategies students are likely to use to approach or solve a challenging mathematical task prior to asking the students to attempt the task. The teacher also Anticipates how to respond to the work that students are likely to produce, and which strategies are likely to be most useful in addressing the mathematics to be learned. In order to do this, the teacher will work the problem as many ways as possible and develop expectations of how students might mathematically interpret a problem. The teacher will also envision the array of strategies – both correct and incorrect – that students might use to tackle the problem and consider how those strategies and interpretations might relate to the mathematical concepts, representations, procedures, and practices that you would like the students to learn. With these in mind, the teacher will write potential guiding questions that correlate with expected misconceptions (Smith & Stein, 2011). The practice of Monitoring takes place while students are attempting the given mathematical task. During this time, the teacher will circulate the room as students work individually or in small groups, making notes about students’ mathematical thinking and solution strategies. The teacher might also ask questions to get students back on track as needed, help students clarify their thinking, ensure all students are engaged, and press students to consider all aspects of the task to which they need to attend (Smith & Stein, 2011).
by Emily Jameson, Professional Dev. Coordinator
The third and fourth practices, Selecting and Sequencing, are closely related and happen nearly simultaneously. The practice of Selecting is guided by the mathematical goal for the lesson and the teacher’s assessment of how each student’s solution contributes to that goal. The teacher will not take random volunteers. Instead, he or she will call on specific, pre-determined students/ groups to present, let students know before the discussion that they will be presenting, or ask for volunteers but strategically call on those students whose ideas contribute to the goal. Sequencing is the practice during which the teacher makes purposeful choices about the order in which students’ work is shared so as to best highlight the key mathematical ideas. The teacher will not only consider which students can contribute to the discussion in a productive way, but also which students need to be heard from in order to ensure that all students have an opportunity to contribute on a regular basis (Smith & Stein, 2011). Connecting, the fifth and final practice, is designed to help students see relationships between their solutions and other students’ solutions, as well as the key mathematical ideas. This is also when the teacher leads the students to make judgments about the consequences of different approaches (for example, accuracy and efficiency), attend to mathematical patterns, and develop key mathematical ideas as student presentations build on one another.
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These five practices naturally tie-in with work already being done by math teachers in the ESU 10 area through the Adolescent Literacy Project. Mathematical discussions are an excellent way to foster students’ mathematical literacy, which directly supports both students’ mathematical knowledge and skills, as well as their overall literacy skills. Works Cited Smith, M. S., & Stein, M. K. (2011). Five Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematical Discussions. Reston, VA: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org
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Nebraska Math & Science Summer Institutes
ADVANTAGES FOR TEACHERS • Current Nebraska teachers qualify for a 20 percent discount on in-state tuition at UNL • Teachers can apply for a $300 tuition fellowship from the NMSSI • Free lunch will be provided each day of class
http://scimath.unl.edu/NMSSI MATH 807T: Using Mathematics to Understand our World
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Description: This course will examine the mathematics underlying several socially-relevant questions from a variety of academic disciplines. Mathematical models of problems will be constructed and studied using a variety of topics and basic skills in algebra, functions, statistics and probability. Sources will include original documentation whenever possible (such as government data, reports and research papers) in order to provide a sense of the very real role that mathematics plays in society.
Location: ESU 10, Kearney Dates/Times: July 7-11, 2014 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Primary Audience: Grades 6-12 Teachers Credit Hours: 3
Instructor: Amy Nebesniak, Assistant Professor, Department of Math and Statistics, University of Nebraska at Kearney
Class #: 8758 Section #: 961 Benefits: Lunch will be provided each day of class at ESU 10.
Questions? Contact Lindsay Augustyn at laugustyn2@unl.edu The NMSSI also is offering MATH 804P in Hastings, MATH 800T in Grand Island and STAT 811T in Holdrege. Please visit our website for details on these courses.
For more information on how to register, apply for fellowships and review the other NMSSI courses across the state, please visit: scimath.unl.edu/NMSSI
UNL Center for Science, Mathematics & Computer Education Supported by: UNL Office of Graduate Studies, College of Arts & Sciences, College of Education & Human Sciences and College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources The University of Nebraska–Lincoln is an equal opportunity educator and employer with a comprehensive plan for diversity.
76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org
Nebraska Association for Gifted Conference
by Dallas Lewandowski, Prof. Dev. Coordinator
The Nebraska Association for Gifted Conference was held in Omaha on February 20-21 at the Embassy Suites in downtown Omaha. STEM education and Gifted Education have had a long relationship of providing Science, Technology, Engineering and Math to our most talented students and to the teachers that teach them. The addition of the ARTS to build STEM to STEAM was one of the objectives of this year’s conference. Presenters provided opportunities for participants to witness how STEAM skills and 21st century skills can inspire and challenge our most able students and their teachers. Emily Jameson and I were honored to be selected as presenters for this year’s spring conference. Our presentation was based on Carolyn Coil’s Questivities. Questivities consist of an interdisciplinary Project Activity along with a series of Thinking Questions that stimulate creative & critical thinking & give practice in research skills. By using Carolyn Coil’s Questivities, students go beyond just working on a project to thinking about the project ideas in more depth and greater detail. The following example was used to expose the conference participants to higher levels of thinking and rigorous learning. Designing a Structure Using Three-Dimensional Geometric Figures Project Activity: Design and draw a structure made from combining at least 4 three-dimensional geometric figures or shapes. Indicate area, volume and surface area of each shape. Label each geometric shape.
4. Would you rather be a triangle or a prism? Why?
5. How would you feel if all
buildings were constructed in the form of pyramids? What would life be like? 6. Why are some structures in real life designed using one specific geometric shape? Discuss with an example. 7. How will you design your structure using four geometric shapes? Active Question: Make a list of questions a Cone might ask a Pyramid. Coil, C. (2011). Differentiated Activities & Assessments Using the Common Core Standards. Saline Michigan:Pieces of 16 Learning
Math Domain: Geometry (Common Core Standards) • Draw geometric shapes with given conditions. • Solve real world and mathematical problems involving area, volume and surface area of two- and three-dimensional objects composed of triangles, quadrilaterals, polygons, cubes and right prisms. • Draw, construct and describe geometrical figures and describe the relationships between them. Assessment Mini-Rubric: 1. Design has at least four different three-dimensional shapes 2. Each shape is correctly labeled 3. Shapes are combined to form one structure 4. Shows area, volume and surface area of each shape 5. Design is original and could work in the real world Project Questions (Essential Questions answered through the Project Activity): What three-dimensional geometric shapes can be used to create an original structure? How can we design and engineer structures to work in the real world? Questivities Thinking Questions: 1. List all the geometric figures you know (at least 10). 2. Compare/contrast two-dimensional and three-dimensional geometric shapes 3. What would happen if the shape of the earth were a cube? 76 Plaza Blvd • PO Box 850 • Kearney, NE 68848-0850 • Ph: 308.237.5927 • Fax: 308.237.5920 • www.esu10.org
Leadership Lessons
by Rosemary Cervantes, English Language
When Jeff Zwiers, author of Academic Conversations, was working with teachers as an instructional coach, he asked a fourth-grade student what she liked to do. Her eyes got really wide, and without hesitation, she emphatically said, “I love to talk!” Zwiers then goes on to say that this was indeed true, but that most of her talk, like that of others in the class, was not academic. He gives the following as an example of “academic” conversations he observed: A: Why did the author write this? B: To teach us about courage. A: Yeah, the guy was brave. B: Okay. What do we do now? Students do not tend to use academic communication skills in social situations outside of school, especially in low-income homes and communities. Although these highly valued oral skills are not emphasized on state tests, curriculum programs, or intervention efforts, academic and professional success after schooling ends depends on them. According to Zwiers, “They are major gate-keeper skills, and too many students who lack them are being stopped and turned away at this gate.” Research has shown that English language learners need more oral language skills, especially academic language, and vocabulary development than native English speakers to achieve grade-level reading levels. Unfortunately, oral language is rarely taught in depth after third grade when lessons tend to be dominated by teacher talk.
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The teachers wanted more and better student talk in their classrooms where students initiated and maintained conversations, creating, shaping, applying, negotiating, and sharing academic ideas but there were few practical resources on training students to converse academically in pairs and small groups on their own. In response, Zwiers and Crawford wrote the book Academic Conversations to help teachers in grades three to twelve teach their students to converse in academic ways. The book covers everything from how to get started through how to assess academic conversation. Three chapters show how to use conversations in the specific content areas of language arts, history and science. Zwiers gives teachers the following convincing arguments to use in case someone asks why their classroom is so loud. These reasons may also convince teachers to get and study this long-needed book!
Conversation Builds: Academic Language Vocabulary Literacy Skills Oral Language and Communication Skills Critical Thinking Skills Content Understanding Relationships Academic Ambience Confidence and Academic Identity Student Voice and Empowerment
Conversation Develops Inner Dialogue & Self-Talk Conversation Fosters: Creativity Skills for Negotiating Meaning & Focusing on a Topic Equity Engagement and Motivation Choice, Ownership, and Control over Thinking Conversation Cultivates Connections (between ideas) Conversation Makes Lessons More Culturally Relevant
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