Investing in Teachers

Don't forget about the State's Investing in Teachers. Applications for Summer Workshops are due May 1.
Investing in Teachers

Today's students need educators to re-envision the role of technology in the classroom

by Nancye Blair
Principal, January/February 2012


A dramatic shift is sweeping through our schools. The signs are all around us. Third graders texting on their cell phones. Kindergarteners who can navigate an iPod Touch better than we can. Middle schoolers who already have an Internet following on their blog or YouTube channel.
These are not the same 21st century learners we came to know over the first decade of the new millennium. For these students, simply watching videos or images during class, playing an Internet multiplication game, or even taking turns at an interactive whiteboard is no longer enough.
These new 21st century learners are highly relational and demand quick access to new knowledge. More than that, they are capable of engaging in learning at a whole new level. With the world literally at their fingertips, today’s students need teachers and administrators to re-envision the role of technology in the classroom.

For the rest of the story, click here...

Common Core: Shift 6: Academic Vocabulary

Discussion of increasing comprehension through understanding of vocabulary that transcends specific disciplines, but appears regularly in complex texts.

Click here.

Closing Keynote: Rob Mancabelli: The Secrets of Creating 21st Century Schools

Rob Mancabelli: The Secrets of Creating 21st Century Schools

• Why do most schools change effort fail? 
• 90-95% of school change efforts fails.
• What can we do to succeed with change? 

• What changes are at the heart of 21st Century Schools?
• Networked learning

• Changes
• Change 1 - Instead of just one teacher in the classroom, not there are millions.
• Change 2 - My students can learn from me how to learn without me.
• Change 3 - My students knowledge is a combination of their learned skills and the quality of their networks
• schools still built on the idea of a learner of one

Kindergaten Robotics - Susanne Brokmeier

Kindergarten Robotics by Susanne Brokmeier, SDSU
We Do Robotics kits (http://www.legoeducation.us/eng/product/lego_education_wedo_robotics_construction_set/2096)

Hall Davidson, Discovery Education: Not Your Father's eBook: New Kinds of Learning Tools for New Kinds of Learners

"South Dakota....where the wind blows like the Apocalypse."

Hall Davidson, Discovery Education: North Your Father's eBook: New Kinds of Learning Tools for New Kinds of Learners

http://thedynamicdavidsonqrcode.wikispaces.com/Welcome+Page
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S8-PqPoJBOvWeF34wIMdXee9gZOnFnuuNoA21bp7EKM/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1

Hall Davidson Handouts

For iPads, use http://linkyy.com/MDLA
This site is also accessible through http://linkyy.com/HallDavidsonHandouts

Hall Davidson’s links to follow-up sessions at CALSA, for the Siemens’ STEM Academy, GAEL, TCEA, PETE&C, ICTLT, and others!

South Dakota TIE Conference
Making Mobile Media Meaningful pdf
Keynote:  Not Your Fathers eBook:  New Kinds of Tools for New Kinds of Learners pdf

Day of Discovery - Colorado
When the Inside Becomes the Outside:  Book as Backpack pdf
Ten Things to Try with Video pdf
ICTLT Singapore
Leading, Learning, Achieving: The Realities of the Digital Age
Trees to Bits:  Moving Education into the 21st Century
Palm Beach Technology Conference
Making Mobile Media Meaningful pdf
Assess This!  New Tools for New Kinds of Learners pdf
ASCD - Making Mobile Meaningful pdf
ASCD - They’re Coming From the Cloud and They’re Here to Help:  The Techbooks pdf
NCCE
NCCE - They’re Coming from the Cloud and They’re Here to Help
NCCE Three-Hour Admin Workshop pdf

CAG (Gifted Association)
iPads and Tablets:  The Flatout Future pdfSouth Carolina Middle School AssociationRight in the Middle:  The Very Fine Future pdf

MDLANot Your Father’s eBook pdf
Ten Things to Try with Video pdf

ITSCStraight link to test download http://mediashare.discoveryeducation.com/mediashare/index.cfm?event=pushFile&guidAssetMediaFileId=a0e80219%2D0e10%2D73a4%2D1294%2D23fbff30ba95
Making Mobile Meaningful pdf
Making Mobile Meaningful ppt
Assess This!  New Tools for New Kinds of Learners pdf
Assess This!  New Tools for New Kinds of Learners ppt

PETE&CDo the MASH..Tech Style ppt (filling in for Traci Blazowsky)Do the MASH..Tech Style pdf (filling in for Traci Blazowsky)Making Mobile Meaningful pdf
Making Mobile Meaningful ppt

TCEA
New Tools for New Kinds of Students:  Assess This! pdf
New Tools for New Kinds of Students:  Assess This! ppt
Take a Page from the Perfect Digital Techbook pdf
Take a Page from the Perfect Digital Techbook ppt
Moving the Earth: Google Earth and the Gifted pdf
Moving the Earth: Google Earth and the Gifted ppt
Media Mashups: pdf
Media Mashups: ppt
Faster, Better, Shorter, Deeper: Editing and Capturing Video. pdf
Faster, Better, Shorter, Deeper: Editing and Capturing Video ppt
Going Digital: What it Means to Administrators When Technology Changes the Game pdf
Going Digital: What it Means to Administrators When Technology Changes the Game ppt

GAEL PresentationsIt’s in Your Pocket:  Teaching Spectacularly with Cellphones, Tablets, and other Mobile! pdfIt’s in Your Pocket:  Teaching Spectacularly with Cellphones, Tablets, and other Mobile! pptLearning and Leading in the Digital Age pptLearning and Leading in the Digital Age pdf

Making Mobile Media Meaningful in Your Classroom - And Beyond - pdfMaking Mobile Media Meaningful in Your Classroom - And Beyond - ppt (slides only, no video)Siemens Making Mobile Meaningful - pdfSiemens Making Mobile Meaningful - ppt

 

Puppet Pals

leafsnap

shazam

 

Free Cool Tools - Sherry Crofut

Pic Monkey
Sweet Search
Twurdy
Instagok
Live Binders
Plunk

New Science and Math Resources from PBS and SDPB - Steven Rokusek

Steven Rokusek

NEW Science and Math Resources from PBS and SDPB

South Dakota Public Broadcasting -  http://www.sdpb.org

• http://pbsdll.k12.sd.us - Digital Learning Library
• http://sdpb.pbslearningmedia.org – PBS LearningMedia
• http://sdpb.org/ScienceIQ - Old School Science Demonstrations

Old School Science Demonstrations
http://sdpb.org/OldSchoolScience/default.aspx
Welcome to the "Old School Science Demonstration!" website. The video science demonstrations at this site are designed to be watched by you, the educator or parent. We encourage you to watch the video lessons and then conduct the demonstrations with the student/children in your care.
New video lessons will be added, so check back often! Please post comments at http://sdpb.org/ScienceIQ. We would like to know how the students/children reacted to the demonstrations. Also, please provide ideas or hints on how to make the demonstrations better!
DLLLearningwebsiteslinks.docx

ICU - A Plan that Works

Justin Zajic - Mitchell School District

The Power of ICU

Mandatory Tuesday - Thursday after school for kids on the list

Google Docs Form Directions

Concatenate Formula directions

I have our google docs set up so that everything is autofill including the emailer tab.

1.     The name column will be left blank and this is where I copy and paste all the names from the ICU list. The rest is auto fill

2.     I have set up our message column to Concatenate all of the information in the ICU list into a single cell or “the message cell”  It looks like this:

=CONCATENATE(IF('8th ICU-2nd Semester'!A2=0,"",'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!$A$1),'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!A2,IF('8th ICU-2nd Semester'!D2=0,"",'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!$D$1),'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!D2,IF('8th ICU-2nd Semester'!E2=0,"",'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!$E$1),'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!E2,IF('8th ICU-2nd Semester'!F2=0,"",'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!$F$1),'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!F2,IF('8th ICU-2nd Semester'!G2=0,"",'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!$G$1),'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!G2,IF('8th ICU-2nd Semester'!H2=0,"",'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!$H$1),'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!H2,IF('8th ICU-2nd Semester'!I2=0,"",'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!$I$1),'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!I2,IF('8th ICU-2nd Semester'!J2=0,"",'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!$J$1),'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!J2,IF('8th ICU-2nd Semester'!K2=0,"",'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!$K$1),'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!J2,IF('8th ICU-2nd Semester'!L2=0,"",'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!$L$1),'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!L2,IF('8th ICU-2nd Semester'!M2=0,"",'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!$M$1),'8th ICU-2nd Semester'!M2)

You can see that it pulls columns A or (Student name) and then D-M   and categorizes each assignment by subject so our message to the parents actually looks like this

Student Name Joe Cool  

Math :1/5 Qz8-2(abs), 1/6 Qz8-4(was abs), 1/9 Ws8-4, 1/12 Ws8-7, Qz8-7, 1/13 Ch8Rev, Ch8Test. 1/18 Ws9-1(was abs), 1/19 Qz9:1-2, 1/23 PH pg 105-106, 1/24 Ws9-3, 1/25 Ws9-4, Qz9-4(redo), PB

Science:   1/9 Ch. 4 & 5 Test and Review 1/13 Life has a history 1/24 Chapter 4 Quiz Redo AS   

Language Arts: 1/6 double journal entries; AR Test  1/13 Character analysis essay SBH"

In the email address or column A I have a simple formula that pulls the email address off of our database tab by referencing Column C.

Keynote Speaker - Will Richardson

Learning in a Networked World: For Ourselves and Our Students

Presentation on Google Docs

http://willrichardson.com/

http://todaysmeet.com/

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17NQmkE1qgYv9f-SGUqTbyfePmDfkyT6bQHY-LKR1uA4/edit?pli=1#slide=id.gddf4350_1_14

The world is changing because of the web.

Education is changing because of the web.

The moment is filled with great opportunities for learners....

...but great challenges for schools.

We have important questions to answer.

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."

-Alvin Toffler

Author Rethinking the Future

Why have students memorize information when the whole world just looks it up?

VIMEO

http://vimeo.com/

Vimeo is a respectful community of creative people who are passionate about sharing the videos they make. We provide the best tools and highest quality video in the universe. See for yourself and Join today!

Media - YouTube/Netflix
Politics - Obamanet/Change.org
Journalism - Twitter/Storify
Medicine - Patients Like Me/Foldit
Books - Kindle/Nook/iBooks
Business - Amazon/Paypal
Music - iTunes/Rhapsody

http://www.knewton.com/

Khan Academy

http://www.khanacademy.org/ 

Watch. Practice.

Learn almost anything for free.

With over 3,100 videos on everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and hundreds of skills to practice, we're on a mission to help you learn what you want, when you want, at your own pace.

 Motuto 

http://motuto.com/

motuto is an on-demand, real-time mobile tutoring app. When you have a problem or question you need help with you can just log on, connect with a tutor and get the help you need. It is as simple as that!  

iTunes U

Department of Education in Maine on iTunes U

http://maine121.org/itunesu/

he Maine Department of Education maintains a K-12 iTunes U site that is designed to offer educators a valuable source of multimedia teaching and learning materials that are fully accessible to users with different learning styles or disabilities. With a focus on professional development activities and supporting the integration of technology into the classroom, some of the most recent content added to the Maine iTunes U site includes:

Maine121.org - a series of podcasts by MLTI state-wide integration mentors that focuses on the effective integration of technology and learning

Game And Learn: An Introduction To Educational Gaming – a series of podcasts by Dr. Ruben Puentedura that highlights the value of gaming as an educational resource.

What’s On Your MacBook – a series of podcasts identifying the many pieces of software on the MLTI image, and why you might want to use them.

Geogebra: Do The Math! – a series of podcasts that introduces the open source software GeoGebra.

MITnews

 http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/mitx-education-initiative-1219.html

MIT today announced the launch of an online learning initiative internally called “MITx.” MITx will offer a portfolio of MIT courses through an online interactive learning platform that will:

• organize and present course material to enable students to learn at their own pace
• feature interactivity, online laboratories and student-to-student communication
• allow for the individual assessment of any student’s work and allow students who demonstrate their mastery of subjects to earn a certificate of completion awarded by MITx
• operate on an open-source, scalable software infrastructure in order to make it continuously improving and readily available to other educational institutions.

MIT expects that this learning platform will enhance the educational experience of its on-campus students, offering them online tools that supplement and enrich their classroom and laboratory experiences. MIT also expects that MITx will eventually host a virtual community of millions of learners around the world.

 

Scratch

http://scratch.mit.edu/

Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the web.

As young people create and share Scratch projects, they learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.

Fold It

http://fold.it/portal/

 Foldit is a revolutionary new computer game enabling you to contribute to important scientific research. This page describes the science behind Foldit and how your playing can help.

Change.mooc.ca

http://change.mooc.ca/

This course will introduce participants to the major contributions being made to the field of instructional technology by researchers today. Each week, a new professor or researcher will introduce his or her central contribution to the field.  

Deforest Action

http://dfa.tigweb.org/

What is Possible when Young People Decide to Change the World?

DeforestACTION is a project created and owned by young people from around the world.  It is supported by a number of industry and NGO partners who strongly believe that old models of reform are not working and young people deserve the chance to have a say in the condition of the planet they are going to inherit.

it is also a project to ensure schools have real examples of 21st Century Learning.  The teacher resources, guides, virtual classrooms and collaborative spaces help young people to quickly work in international project groups, tackling comlex projects, while developing hope, confidence, civic and global responsibility and creativity.

Why did young people unit to start deforestation?  And why is this project so important? 

...are you being "old school" or "bold school?" 

“In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.”

--Eric Hoffer

 

Are you Sick of Highly Paid Teachers?

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/04/15/are-you-sick-of-highly-paid-teachers/

Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do – babysit!
We can get that for less than minimum wage. That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan– that equals 6 1/2 hours). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day…maybe 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day.
However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.

LET’S SEE….
That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).
What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year. Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here! There sure is!
The average teacher’s salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student–a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!!

Make a teacher smile; repost this to show appreciation for all educators.

Common Core Shift 5: Writing From Sources

http://vimeo.com/27076961

Keynote Session 1 - Jaime Casap, Google

Communication
Collaboration
Need to start thinking
Analyzing and making sense of information
We learn and solve problems in different ways

Among high-income families 91% of kids have computer access at home
Among low-income families 48% of kids have computer access at home

If we all learn in different ways, shouldn't we be tested in different ways?

Technology
Teach to use not to ban...

It was cool for me to be able to show my teachers how I would use these tools

Tudo bem
ivocab
Studu
YouTube.com/schools
google.com/edu

"Learning is not a product of schooling but the lifelong attempt to acquire it."

TIE 2012 In-Depth Session

Death to Textbooks: Building your own Textbook with Narratives
Dr. Mark Geary, DSU
 http://www.homepages.dsu.edu/mgeary/


Imaginative Education Research Group  - http://ierg.net/
This website introduces new theories, principles, and practical techniques for making education more effective. Because engaging students' imaginations in learning, and teachers' imaginations in teaching, is crucial to making knowledge in the curriculum vivid and meaningful, we call this new approach Imaginative Education (IE). We show that the imagination is one of the great workhorses of learning, and how it can be used for all ages and skill levels.

Interactive Elements of the Reading Process

• Reading
• Text
• Learning Environment

Proficient Readers

• figure out what is confusing them
• set goals for getting through the reading
• have strategies
• do a lot of these invisibly

Strategies of Proficient Readers

• Visualize - to make mental pictures or sensory images
• Connect - to link to own experiences, to events in the world, to other readings
• Question - to actively, wonder, to surface uncertainties, to interrogate the text
• Infer - to predict hypothesize, interpret, draw conclusions
• Evaluate - to determine importance, make judgements
• Analyze -
• Recall -
• Vocabulary -

Comic Life - http://plasq.com/products/comiclife/mac 
Be the Hero You Are! Comic Life lets you create astounding comics, beautiful picture albums, how-tos... and more!

Struggling readers have issues with

• Comprehension
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Work recognition
• Motivation

How to teach kids to read text books
Look at the text book backwards - Do the summary and questions first. Then go through chapter backwards looking at the text features.

Book - Understanding Comics
http://scottmccloud.com/2-print/1-uc/index.html

The Tar Heel Reader - http://tarheelreader.org/
Welcome to the Tar Heel Reader, a collection of free, easy-to-read, and accessible books on a wide range of topics. The books may be downloaded as slide shows in PowerPoint, Impress, or Flash format. Each book can be speech enabled and accessed using multiple interfaces, including touch screens, the IntelliKeys with custom overlays, and 1 to 3 switches.

DSU Delicious site - http://delicious.com/dsu_coe
List lots of online textbook resources


Webquest - http://webquest.org/
A WebQuest is an inquiry-oriented lesson format in which most or all the information that learners work with comes from the web. The model was developed by Bernie Dodge at San Diego State University in February, 1995 with early input from SDSU/Pacific Bell Fellow Tom March, the Educational Technology staff at San Diego Unified School District, and waves of participants each summer at the Teach the Teachers Consortium. 

Module Maker2 - http://questioning.org/module/module.html

Online Learning represents an exciting new way to structure and guide student research efforts so they will focus upon higher level thinking and rich electronic resources along with good print resources like books and live data from sources such as interviews. Research modules can be an effective way of addressing the most challenging new state standards.

This Module Maker will show you how to build your own
Online Research Modules that will challenge your students to make up their own minds while supplying them with rich information to support such thinking.

Questioning.org -

An educational journal devoted to questions,
questioning, sound intelligence, strategic reading
and quality teaching.


The Story Form Model

• Identifying Importance
• What is the most important about this topic?
• Why should it matter to children?
• What is affectively engaging about it? 
• What polar opposites fit best with topic?
• For more information on Binary Opposites and their importance in teaching and learning visit the Imaginative Education Research Group at www.ierg.net  

Some Binary Opposites
respect / disrespect
oppression / liberty
dominance / subordination
balanced / unsteady
survival / death
starvation / gluttony
life / death
drought / flooding
identity / nameless
belong / not belong
healthy / unhealthy
confront / compromise
health / sickness
risk taking / safety
wealth / destitution
success / defeat
take / release
give / take
victory / defeat
force / work with it
beautiful/ ugly
pride / shame
clean / filthy
gigantic / miniscule
never / forever
alone / together
difficult / easy
friends/ enemies
perfect/ flawed
right / wrong
powerful / weak
translucent / opaque 
fair / unfair
equal/ unequal
clear / foggy
sane / crazy
remembered / forgotten
treasure / garbage
pain / pleasure
create / destroy
end / renew
linear / cyclic
friend / foe
peace / war
help / hinder
love / hate
joy / sorrow
parent / child
forgive / blame
endure/ give up
hot / cold 
connected / disconnected
improve / worsen
sturdy / fragile
hide / show
news / secret
appear / disappear
visible / invisible
conceal / reveal
truth / false
lead / follow
advantage / disadvantage
remember / forget
smart / stupid
ingenious / unimaginative
industrious / lazy
lethargic / energetic
hero / villain
stench / perfume
stagnant / active
warmth / cold
colourful / drab
bright / dark
cheerful / sombre
careful / careless
trusting / suspicious
believe / doubt
win / loose
forget / remember
timid / bold
modest / arrogant
impartial / biased
rational / illogical
separate / together
kind / cruel
whisper / scream

• Finding Binary Opposites
• What powerful binary opposites best catch the importance of the topics?
  
• Organizing Contents into story form
• What content most dramatically embodies the binary opposites, in order to provide access to the topic?
  
• Conclusion
• What is the best way of resolving the dramatic conflict inherent in the binary opposites?
• What degree of mediation of those opposites is it appropriate to see?
  
• Evaluation
• How can one know the topic has been understood its importance grasped, and the content learned?

"An image tells a thousand words, but you don't know which thousand."

Three Basic Frameworks

• Mythic - Content at: http://ierg.net/teaching/plan-frameworks/index.html
• Locating importance - What is emotionally engaging about this topic? How can it evoke wonder? Why should it matter to us?
• Everything that we teach can evoke some kind of wonder and produce some emotional response in us.  
• In order to help students connect emotionally to the material, teachers need to
  first identify their own emotional attachment to it.  A sense of wonder about
  something is usually connected to this attachment.  Everything that we teach can
  evoke some kind of wonder and produce some emotional response in us.  A sense
  of wonder and an emotional response to material are important in engaging
  students’ imaginations. So this first question asks the teacher to feel for what is
  wonderful about the topic. This can be difficult if the topic is something like the
  use of the comma! The trick, though, is to try to re-see the topic through the eyes
  of the child, to catch at what can stimulate the sense of wonder about even the
  most routine topics. Especially when teachers have been taught to become expert
  at organizing classroom activities and structuring topics into instructional units,
  this can be hard. It is asking the teacher to do something that is, for most of us,
  quite unfamiliar—to begin by feeling about the topic. Try to indicate for any topic
  you plan to teach what is wonderful about it, and what can provide an emotional
  engagement to it by the child.
   
• Who, what, when, where, why, how, how much? (from Back of the Napkin) http://www.danroam.com/the-back-of-the-napkin/
•  
• Romantic
• 1. Identifying “heroic” qualities
  What heroic human qualities are central to the topic? What emotional images do they evoke? What within the topic can best evoke wonder? 
• In order to help students connect emotionally to the material, teachers need to
  first identify their own emotional attachment to it.  What heroic human quality or
  emotion––courage, compassion, tenacity, fear, hope, loathing, delight, etc.––can
  we identify in the topic?  These human qualities help us––and our students––see
  the world in human terms and give human meaning to events and ideas in all
  disciplines. We “humanize” each topic not to falsify it but to infuse the world with
  human meaning. Again, this first task is the most difficult part of planning the
  lesson or unit. We are asked to feel about the topic as well as to think about it;
  indeed, we are asked to “perfink” (David Kresch’s term for perceiving, feeling,
  and thinking together) about it. Remember, the heroic quality you identify will be
  a shaping force to the narrative or story you create for this unit or lesson so
  identify heroic qualities that most effectively convey the content of the topic. 
• Philosophic

Common Core: SHIFT 1: PK-5: Balancing Information/Literature

A discussion between Commissioner King, David Coleman, and Kate Gerson, Senior Fellow for Educator Engagement & The Common Core, USNY Regents Research Fund, regarding the strategy of increasing emphasis on informational text in elementary education in order to build foundational content knowledge across disciplines, beyond English Language Arts (ELA) into history and science.

http://vimeo.com/27074227

NCLB, New Accountability System, Evaluation, and HB 1234

March 9, 2012

Hi He Doggers!

You may or may not know…I am working on my Masters in Administration. I am starting my internship (runs from March ‘12 to March ‘13). Deb is acting as my internship supervisor. So, I will be tagging around with her learning the ins-and-outs of being a principal over the next year. I also have a variety of projects that I need to complete. If you have any ideas on projects that will help make He Dog an even better place to be please let me know. I would love to do something that is meaningful for our students and staff.

I started my next class on Saturday. Dr. Medody Schopp (State Ed Secretary) is the professor. She shared some information about the South Dakota Department of Education's decision to freeze NCLB, the new accountability system, and HB 1234 (See below). I thought you would be interested, as this will affect our students and our entire staff.

It is an exciting time to be in education in our state for sure!

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Have a wonderful week all!

Danylle

NCLB and New Accountability System

Dr. Schopp said the reason the state decided to apply to freeze the NCLB standards is because this year a large number of schools would have been classified as low performing (in addition to those already classified as low). Schools are making improvements, but not fast enough to comply with NCLB standards. The state applied to the feds to create our own accountability system. So, NCLB will be phased out in South Dakota. The legislature actually repealed it this session (Senate Bill 25).

The South Dakota Department of Education submitted a new standards plan to the Federal Government and are waiting for a response. The complete application is at the DOE site. Here’s the link - http://doe.sd.gov/NCLB/index.asp.

The new accountability system will be point based. Every school will reach to achieve 100 points. Elementary and Middle school have five indicators. High school has different categories. Let me know if you would like to see them. The points are listed in the top row. Only three categories will be mandated through the 12-14 school years. During the 2014-15 all of them will be in affect.

Points 40 (12-14; 25 Points (14-15)	Points 40 (12-14; 25 Points (14-15)	Points 20 (12-14; 20 Points (14-15)	Points 0 (12-14; 20 Points (14-15)	Points 0 (12-14; 10 Points (14-15)
Indicator 1	Indicator 2	Indicator 3	Indicator 4	Indicator 5
Student Achievement --percent proficient or higher in English language arts and math in grades 3-8 on state assessment -- two aggregate sub-groups -- unduplicated count	Academic Growth --Value added (linear regression) model based on student growth – factoring for certain variables	Attendance	Effective Teachers and Principals --Aggregate number of teachers in each of four categories Unsatisfactory, basic, proficient, distinguished	School Climate -  Measurement needs to be determined

The D-Step will be phased out as well. A new system is expected for the 2014-15 year, although it has not been created yet.

New State Evaluation Process

The State is requiring all school’s to use the Charlotte Danielson Framework for Teaching Model beginning in the 2014-15 school year. Todd County is a pilot school for the Danielson Framework. We will begin implementing the evaluation process this fall. April’s in-service will cover Charlotte Danielsosn. This affects ALL STAFF. We all will be doing a book study on this process. I’m not sure when that is scheduled, but I do have the books and if you are interested in looking at them please let me know. Deb also has copies.

Dr. Schopp said Gov. Daugaard has been reading the material (referring to her as Charlie Daniels, lol). She said that he is meeting with Danielson in Pierre on Tuesday, March 13. They are going to ask her to consult with the state on implementing her framework.

HB1234

As for HB 1234, I have a handout of this info if you are interested. Dr. Schopp said that the state will be emailing this info to all teachers in the state sometime this week.

This does not go into affect until the 2014015 school year.

Math and Science Incentives

All MS and HS science and math teachers are eligible. All others have to have a math or science endorsement. So, if you have either of those regardless of where you teach you are eligible for the $2,500 bonus.

Reward/Bonus Program

$15 million has be allocated for this program. The governor says he’ll fund it every year. Districts have three options.

·      They can opt-out. (The money goes back into the fund and redistributed to schools that are participating.)

·      They can create a local teacher reward program that gives bonuses to teachers based on student achievement, teacher leadership, or district’s high-needs teaching areas. Pretty much, the district decides how they want to spend this money, with the condition that it has to go to teachers.

·      They can give $5,000 bonuses to the top 20 percent of teachers.

Continuing Contract or tenure

Continuing contracts will be eliminated in 2016, if you have tenure prior to the 2016 date, the state will not take it away.

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The SDEA is putting together a petition to have HB 1234 placed on the ballot this year.  I read that Larry Lucas is involved with as well. If I hear of anyone with a petition I will let you all know.

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DNR

March 9, 2012