Thanks for the special mention...

I was getting some traffic from Promethean Planet blog and here's what I saw when I checked it out:

Now that Promethean operates in over 90 countries we must all find new ways to connect to build the products you want and need. User’s blogs and the Promethean Planet Forum - are some of the tools that have come into play to help build a new “customer connection” that Promethean hopes will continue to form the foundation of an ongoing dialogue with teachers and educators around the world.

Over 200 blog submission were made to Activblogs and blog articles were submitted from users all over the world! It would be impossible to pick any fair shortlist from the great array of blogs out there so you will have to search them out and view them all, but some of the highlights for me include:

*Teacher Sol:

http://teachersol.blogspot.com - A special needs teacher in Washington DC and Winner of the Activblogs contest*
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----> Jill Mendell: http://jmendel.blogspot.com - A teacher from St Louis.
----> OllieBray: http://olliebray.typepad.com - A Depute Head Teacher from Scotland who keeps a busy blog full of ideas
----> Dai Barnes: http://daibarnes.blogspot.com from Ealing in London
----> Rosie MacAlpine: http://iwbaustralia.wordpress.com from Australia
----> Chris Betcher: http://betch.edublogs.org - Another great blog.

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We say designed by “Educators FOR Educators” - and with this release, we feel we have lived up to it.

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Thanks guys for all the hardwork that you do for us teachers!

Promethean ActivConnect and SKYPE

My readers know by now that I follow through with what I say. What I have written in this entry will not just be a plan, I will make it happen! I already have started ActivConnect through Promethean Planet, sharing flipcharts and lessons with teachers across the globe. And I am excited to try other new ways to connect with educators and their ActivClassrooms around the globe!

Promethean TLC, Joe Talaiver, immediately responded to me and gave me hope that my plans are attainable:

I have accepted your skype deets and I will get in touch with you next time I see you on there. I think we will be able to setup some tele-collaboration from your class to others via ActivConnect. You might be able to then virtually share your classroom with another and considering that I cover VA, DC, and MD I am sure I can find a class to connect with. I have been wanting to try/facilitate that with teachers either way and I would love to help facilitate anything that could happen.

I will see you on skype soon enough and we can chat there too.

So yesterday, in my classroom, for the first time, I tried to do a webconference. I was getting ready to have a webconference with Joe, who was in VA in his office, when my AP came in with a visitor from another school in the district. He was sent by his principal to my school to see the high tech stuff that we have in the campus. My AP introduced me and asked me to share to him how I am using the Promethean board for teaching and learning and for professional development. He was excited when he left and said that he will definitely ask his principal to see for himself how powerful this instructional tool is.

I tried to SKYPE video call Joe again, and at last, we were able to connect! It was exciting to actually hear and see each other from the other end of the line! I was so excited that I brought all the people I saw in the hallway to speak with him: my special education coordinator, our Math Coach, our school IT, and my principal! It was fun!

Promethean will revolutionize teaching and learning in my classroom! This is exactly the assistive technology tool that we need in every special education classroom in the district. Will my students be able to interview people with special needs who are now successful in their careers? Yes, very soon, with Joe's help *wink*.

SKYPE me!

Hey teacher, are you a SKYPE user? Let's get connected and learn from each other! My SKYPE ID is teachersol and I have my online status on the right sidebar of this blog.

My colleagues from other school districts have been using this to collaborate for professional development. I have been invited several times to join in but my old webcam was not always functioning at its best. Thanks to my hubby for a new HP multi-media laptop with a built-in webcam, he's the best!

For those who have heard about SKYPE the first time, I have embedded below a presentation from the 2009 conference. To extend this technology to the education field, I believe that this is a great way to do web conference/ webinars at no cost at all! This is also another means to get our classes connected and to collaborate with other teachers across the globe.This is awesome!

So what are we waiting for? SKYPE me!

Skype COO Scott Durchslag at CES 2009

View more presentations from SkypeConversations. (tags: ces skype)

Triathlete with disabilities urges children to keep trying

Sarah Reinertsen, whose lower left leg was amputated when she was 7, urged children to follow her example as a Paralympics runner and an Ironman triathlete. "For me to keep up, I've always had to be tougher than the rest," said Reinertsen, who also competed on CBS' "The Amazing Race." "I never wanted to be underestimated and sports helped me own my disability and my body." St. Petersburg Times (Fla.)

Parent Teacher Conferences (3rd Advisory)

If you promise not to believe everything your child says happens at this school, I promise not to believe everything he says happens at home. English schoolmaster, Wall Street Journal, January 4, 1985

Yesterday was our Parent Teacher Conferences. A couple of parents brought my students with them. I had meaningful conversation with the parents who showed up. I discussed to them their child's progress while showing them their child's portfolio, I showed them the benchmark assessment online results from the Promethean board (parents LOVED it!), and explained to them why it would not make sense if I give their child a good grade but is not showing proficiency in any of the learning standards. Some students are just few points away from reaching proficiency, and their goal is either to be on or above grade level in academic skills.

I explained to the parents how they can help their child at home reach their goal. I showed them our class website and asked the parents (students know how to do this already) to come up the Promethean Board to solve some BCRs and answer practice probes from Discovery Education. They get to play their favorite games when they get the correct answer. We had so much fun, it was a hit! Parents were very receptive and supportive; it was a very productive PTC!

Are there any more reasons why my students will not achieve? Not me as I am doing all the academic supports, intervention, accomodation and modification that they need. Parents who showed up pledged their involvement. As one parent puts it "even if Ms. Angala and I work hard to help you [student] and give you all the supports you need, you will still fail if you don't help yourself".

Correct! Ms. Angala is not giving away A's and B's for free, students need to work hard and show progress and proficiency.

Facilitative Conferences: Alliances for Success

Betty Jo Simmons, professor of education at Longwood College, urges teachers to engage in facilitative conferences to nurture productive parent-teacher relationships. Simmons proposes five keys to successful problem solving in facilitative conferences:

• 1. Be honest. Provide parents with specific and accurate information in a calm, nonaccusatory manner.
• 2. Assure parents that their child is liked. Convey that you care about their child and that he or she is important.
• 3. Describe the responsibilities to be shared. Clarify the roles of parent, teacher, and student in achieving success.
• 4. Involve the student. Include the child in discussion of academic progress or behavior concerns.
• 5. Provide encouragement. Reassure parents that whatever difficulties the student faces can be resolved with collaboration.

Teacher supplies 75%off!

I just need to share this quickly to my colleagues...

My favorite School Supplies Etcetera teacher store, where I go every start of school year, is closing and selling all furniture and school supplies (brand new) for 75% off! I went there this morning and bought four excellent quality activity books for Inclusive Classrooms, a lot of supplies and banners. The price was $92.88 and I only paid $19.00, what's in your mind?

Here's the address:

School Stuff Etcetera

3087 Old Washington Road

Waldorf, MD 20601

Tel#: (301) 843-KIDS

Their last day is tomorrow and they are going to throw away all the teacher's supplies that they won't be able to sell by COB tomorrow. It breaks my heart to see them go, I really love this place!

DCPS Math Coach's blog

Our Math Professional Developer (MPD) at Jefferson Middle School High Tech Campus is now blogging at http://mpddc.blogspot.com/.

This blog is to communicate information about our Math Curriculum to archive DCPS initiatives, Jefferson Math Department initiatives, course materials, to publish the courses curricula, syllabi, lessons, homework assignments, scoring guides, and power point presentations. This blog contains varied Mathematical information for students, teachers, and parents to increase proficiency in Math. This is another way for me to collaborate with other Math Professional Developers, Math Admininistrators, and Math Teachers.

I would like to welcome all your contructive feedbacks and suggestions for this blog. All of you are also welcome to use our forum. I will provide a forum for educators, for parents, and for students to give everyone a chance to ask questions, to give opinions, or to share his/her Mathematical conceptual knowledge and skills.

Way to go, Ms. Domingo!

Shout out!

GREAT JOB!!!

First year is always the toughest as a teacher, and I just want to give a SHOUT OUT to our new DCPS teachers who made it this far!!! You're doing an excellent job!!!

Please do know that I am here if ever you need support. I can be your teacher, friend, guide, coach, shoulder to cry on, listening ear, or a shock absorber.

I promise to be understanding, supportive, trustworthy, empathetic, innovative, knowledgeable, open-minded, reform-minded, and committed.

The very fact that you have made it through the middle of this school year says that you are a dedicated teacher who chooses to make a difference in the lives of the students you teach. You're doing an excellent job!

Technology could revolutionize tests

Computerized tests not only check what students know, but also can help educators understand how children are learning, according to a new Education Sector report. Performance-based models would allow students to complete more comprehensive simulations rather than simply fill in bubbles on a multiple-choice test, the report says. Education Week (premium article access compliments of Edweek.org)

Former jail chaplain hopes to protect inmates with disabilities

People with autism and other developmental disabilities may need special protection in jail, says Washington parent Beki Hissam, who also worked as a jail chaplain. "These are the most vulnerable people served in the correction facility," she told lawmakers considering a bill to reinstate jail services for people with developmental disabilities. Tri-City Herald (Kennewick, Pasco and Richland, Wash.)

Cyclist: P.E. may help keep children with ADHD engaged

School-based physical education is especially important to children with ADHD, says cycling champion Greg LeMond, who had attention-deficit issues as a child. "You could have the best schools in the world, and if your kids can't pay attention and their brains are asleep, they're not going to absorb what they need to learn," he told Minnesota legislators considering mandatory physical-education classes for high-school students. KARE-TV (Minneapolis-St. Paul)

Endless Possibilities...

I attended the Q&A session with Chancellor Rhee yesterday.

I did not have any concern to bring to her attention. I went there to personally thank her for the excellent resource that she gave me two months ago, which is a very powerful instructional tool that truly enhanced teaching and learning in my class and gave my students the confidence that they now have so that they are able to learn on grade level mastering the same skills that their grade level peers learn in regular education. If not for this powerful assistive technology tool that she gave me in my classroom, I could not have won another Activboard which I will be donating to the special education department of my school so other special ed teachers and exceptional needs students can also take advantage of all the thousands of instructional resources and possibilities this Activboard has. I believe that despite their disability or cultural background, "every child can learn, just not on the same day or the same way".

I am preparing for a Support Group Meeting this morning for our new DCPS special education teachers. I am doing this, among other things, as part of my initiative as a WTU Vice President of Special Education to help the WTU Leadership to proactively reach out and support our special educators. I have created an evaluation flipchart so we can also use the Activote and Activboard as a collaborative tool for DCPS educators for professional development.Here's an online evaluation too.Click Here to take survey

I am maximizing the use of my Activclassroom, aside from teaching and learning, we also use my classroom regularly for professional development and collaborative meeting school wide every Thursday with our Math Department, every Tuesday and Thursday with our afterschool program for Asian students (The Chinatown Project), and now district wide with our monthly support group meetings.

It is not impossible anymore that my exceptional needs students will be interviewing book authors and successful people with disabilities. I am also excited for my class to interact with other 21st century classrooms in the country and across the globe. It will be soon that teachers who will be attending the professional development workshops to be held in my classroom will be able to attend webinars facilitated by top special education reformers. Promethean has already told me that this board is also capable of this 21st century technology.

It won't be long...

Blooper

Thanks to everyone who emailed me, and Twittered me, and left their messages in this blog, and to all who are sharing my excitement!

I was INSPIRED to use the free trial of the ActivSoftware Inspire today to my students, everyone was eager to go up the Activboard and then save their works. We finally used the Activotes this morning too and enjoyed it tremendously! Because it was a hit, we invited a whole class of regular students in my resource classroom to join us and also try the Activote themselves. Their teacher and I decided that we are going to do this regularly and we are going to call it "Technology Thursday"...my students working together with his class in an inclusion setting!

Was I sleepy or just plain careless when I submitted my entry last Friday? Fortunately, I did not omit a letter in typing my email address when I submitted my application for my entry, I received a message from Promethean Americas tonight:

.

Dear Maria,

As you know from following Twitter, you are the grand prize winner of Promethean’s Activsoftware Blogging competition. Congratulations again! You must be excited!

My group coordinates community and media relations programs for Promethean and I personally enjoyed spending time in your blog. Several of us learned a few new things!

You will be receiving:

(1) Activboard+2(32) Activexpressions or Activotes (your choice)(1) Activsoftware Inspire Edition(1) Activslate(1) Activtablet(2) Activpens

http://www.activblogs.com/2009/02/18/and-the-winners-are/

I am not sure if it is due to an entry error or on our side, but your telephone number as input in the contest is missing a digit! So I was not able to contact you personally via telephone today. Please confirm your telephone number and let me know a good time to contact you between now and next Tuesday. I look forward to meeting you via telephone.

Respectfully,

Promethean Americas
http://www.prometheanworld.com/

Anything for my exceptional needs students...

Hardwork pays off...my exceptional needs students are working very very hard and they will be rewarded...

Twitter kept me waiting last night for the results of the ActivSoftware Inspire Edition Blogging Contest. I couldn't wait for this little birdie to bring the good news because I needed to go to bed early for work tomorrow, can't face the class with huge eyebags. I was not expecting to win anyways, I was just excited to see who's the lucky teacher to give her students an ActivClassroom.

When I woke up, went straight to check the Activblogs, I was frozen I couldn't believe my eyes...

And the winners are…

Congratulations!

Promethean is proud to announce the winners of our Activsoftware Inspire Edition / Activinspire Blogging Contest! The winning entries are listed below. On Friday we’ll be announcing USA Honorable Mentions as well as top posts from around the world.

In addition to added value for multiple blog posts and the incorporation of external links and research, submissions were primarily scored for the following criteria:

• 1. Originality (25%)

• 2. Relevance to Teaching (25%)

• 3. Effective Use of Multimedia (50%)

After viewing and reviewing blogposts from classrooms across the USA, the following received the highest scores:

1st Prize - (Multiple Posts)

Maria Angala

Special Ed Teacher, Grades 6-8

Jefferson Middle School

Washington, DC

Miss Angala contributed several posts about her experiences using the new software. She incorporated online research and cross-linking, used twitter to follow news and updates on the software, researched other blogpost entries from around the world and embedded several forms of multimedia including news media broadcasts in her posts.

She wins a complete Activclassroom:

(1) Activboard+2

(32) Activexpressions or Activotes (your choice)

(1) Activsoftware Inspire Edition

(1) Activslate(1) Activtablet

(2) Activpens

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Thank you! You'll never know how much this means to our exceptional students in my school!

D.C. judge attempts to rein in special-education lawyers

Lawyers seeking to sue Washington, D.C., schools over special education must complete 16 hours of specialized training as well as other requirements meant to protect parents, says D.C. Chief Judge Lee Satterfield. The special-education legal industry has exploded in D.C., ballooning the system's special-education costs to about $300 million annually for 11,000 students with special needs. The Examiner/Washington, D.C.

Ideas from Teachers.net

I just received this announcement from Teachers.Net. Feel free to pass it on to any teacher that could benefit from the information.Teachers.Net Economic Relief Package...

The news about the economy seems to get worse each day. School budgets are getting crunched. Hiring freezes. Hours getting cut back. Credit card debt piling up. But there are ways Teachers.Net can help take the sting out of this economic downturn, and help teachers make ends meet...

Find a Teaching Job

Teachers.Net offers a current listing of job openings for teachers from your state, and around the world. The listing features new jobs updated hourly. You can even sign up for free and upload your resume to our database, allowing employers seeking teachers to find you without even applying for a job!

Teaching Jobs
Put Your Resume Online
Job Seekers Support Forum

Make Extra Money Tutoring

Expand your earning potential by tutoring students in your spare time. Tutoring is a great way to help others learn while making extra money. Teachers.Net Tutors Available and Tutors Wanted listings help you find work fast. You can advertise your tutoring services in your area, or search our listing of tutors wanted. Whether you choose to offer tutoring on a local basis, or hook up with a service that provides clients and a means to tutor online, tutoring is a smart way to make ends meet.

Tutors Wanted
Tutors Available
Tutors Chatboard

Increase Your Salary by Degrees

Teachers have a unique opportunity to increase their salary grade by furthering their education. Depending upon your district or school, you may be able to ad thousands of dollars to your annual salary simply by getting an advanced degree, or even just by completing additional credits toward that degree. Teachers.Net offers a fast-moving listing of online and campus-based educational programs and courses. Check out our teacher education resources:
Teaching Programs
Continuing Education
National Boards/NBPTS
Distance Learning
Student Teachers

Make Money Selling Your Handicraft Teachers are great at creative solutions for challenging problems in the classroom. Smart teachers know that your best classroom solution can make you good money if you can pass it along to other teachers who also have the same need. Teacher Created Materials is a classified ad section on Teachers.Net, which allows teachers to buy, sell, and trade their creative genius. You may be able to save big money by looking through the wonderful solutions your fellow teachers are marketing, or who knows - you might be the next huge success story after you package your best idea too!
Teacher Created Materials
Teacher Classifieds - For Sale

Make Money for Your School or Classroom through Fundraising

Even though the school budget may be tightening, that doesn't mean you can't expand your options for supplies, travel, gear, and more. Teachers.Net features powerful resources to help teachers find and evaluate fundraising opportunities for every grade level and application.
Fundraising Chatboard
Fundraising Opportunities

Grants Can Help Pay for Great Opportunities and Useful Supplies

Successful teachers know that grant writing is a great way to fund exciting class trips, high tech equipment, or anything else that's needed in the classroom or on campus. One of the best kept secrets is - anyone can write a grant proposal! Tap into the Teachers.Net Grant Writing resources to get the inside track to writing successful grants!
Grant Writing Chatboard
Writing Grant Proposals
Educational Grant Opportunities
SHOW ME THE MONEY!!! (Grant Writing Guide)

Make Cash Selling Your Old Teaching Materials

Make money to help make ends meet by selling your old teaching materials. It's like Craig's List, but just for teachers! Thousands of teachers read the Teachers.Net Classified Ads daily, list your old stuff today and get paid tomorrow. The Teachers.Net Classifieds are also a great place to find gently used books, software, teaching supplies and other materials for big savings!
Teachers.Net Classifieds
For Sale
Items Wanted
Books For Sale
Teaching Supplies
Teacher Created
Manipulatives
Educational Games
Educational Software

For more great teaching resources, visit the Teachers.Net Teacher Chatboards, Teacher Classifieds, and Classroom Project Center. Don't forget to subscribe to the Teachers.Net Gazette to get the latest teacher articles delivered right to your email box.

Educators are offered 10 tips to guide 21st-century learning

As part of an in-depth investigation into bird adaptations, first-grade students at Ormondale Elementary School used various household tools to determine which beak was most effective for cracking open plastic eggs. They then designed birdhouses for the mock birds. Courtesy IDEO

California-based business IDEO has worked with educators at a Portola Valley, Calif., elementary school to establish a "investigative-learning" curriculum, and Sandy Speicher, an IDEO official, offers educators 10 tips to creating a 21st-century learning experience. Those include cultivating curiosity among students, building on existing student interests and fostering creativity and collaboration. MetropolisMag.com

1. Pull, don’t push. Create an environment that raises a lot of questions from each of your students, and help them translate that into insight and understanding. Educa­tion is too often seen as the transmission of knowledge. Real learning happens when the student feels the need to reconcile a question he or she is facing—and can’t help but seek out an answer.

2. Create from relevance. Engage kids in ways that have relevance to them, and you’ll capture their attention and imagination. Allow them to experience the concepts you’re teaching firsthand, and then discuss them (or, better yet, work to address them!) instead of relying on explanation alone.

3. Stop calling them “soft” skills. Talents such as creativity, collaboration, communication, empathy, and adaptability are not just nice to have; they’re the core capabilities of a 21st-century global economy facing complex challenges.

4. Allow for variation. Evolve past a one- size-fits-all mentality and permit mass customization, both in the system and the classroom. Too often, equality in education is treated as sameness. The truth is that everyone is starting from a different place and going to a different place.

5. No more sage onstage. Engaged learning can’t always happen in neat rows. People need to get their hands dirty. They need to feel, experience, and build. In this interactive environment, the role of the teacher is transformed from the expert telling people the answer to an enabler of learning. Step away from the front of the room and find a place to engage with your learners as the “guide on the side.”

6. Teachers are designers. Let them create. Build an environment where your teachers are actively engaged in learning by doing. Shift the conversation from prescriptive rules to permissive guidance. Even though the resulting environment may be more complicated to manage, the teachers will produce amazing results.

7. Build a learning community. Learning doesn’t happen in the child’s mind alone. It happens through the social interactions with other kids and teachers, parents, the community, and the world at large. It really does take a village. Schools should find new ways to engage parents and build local and national partnerships. This doesn’t just benefit the child—it brings new resources and knowledge to your institution.

8. Be an anthropologist, not an archaeologist. An archaeologist seeks to understand the past by investigating its relics and digging for the truth of what was. An anthropologist studies people to understand their values, needs, and desires. If you want to design new solutions for the future, you have to understand what people care about and design for that. Don’t dig for the answer—connect.

9. Incubate the future. What if our K–12 schools took on the big challenges that we’re facing today? Allow children to see their role in creating this world by studying and creating for topics like global warming, transportation, waste management, health care, poverty, and even education. It’s not about finding the right answer. It’s about being in a place where we learn ambition, involvement, responsibility, not to mention science, math, and literature.

10. Change the discourse. If you want to drive new behavior, you have to measure new things. Skills such as creativity and collaboration can’t be measured on a bubble chart. We need to create new assessments that help us understand and talk about the developmental progress of 21st-century skills. This is not just about measuring outcomes, but also measuring process. We need formative assessments that are just as important as numeric ones. And here’s the trick: we can’t just have the measures. We actually have to value them.

Virtual school trains educators to teach online

Future teachers gain real-world experience through online teaching internships.

The Florida Virtual School is training prospective teachers to better address the needs of online students as part of an internship program that includes seven weeks in virtual schools and seven weeks in traditional schools. "We want to be thinking ahead of where the education industry is now," said Michael Hynes, chairman of the University of Central Florida's Teaching and Learning Principles department. "It will give our students an edge, because they will not only know how to teach a traditional class, they will also know how to do it virtually." eSchool News

SPED Programs Director?

Funny, I received an email from one of the special education teachers in DCPS:

"Maria, you are doing some exciting things for special Education in DC. Congratulations on your promotion to president of Special Education Programs Director."

My reply was sincere:

"Thanks for the kind words, but I am still a classroom teacher and I will always be an educator working with the students in the classroom because nothing can be more rewarding for me than working closely with the kids and directly impacting their lives in a positive way.

I feel flattered but it is not true that I am the new Special Education Programs Director, but I will always be reaching out and collaborating with them as your WTU Vice President for Special Education to make things better for our DCPS teachers and students."

I can still be involved with education reform and policy making as a teacher leader, even without going to administration, and I believe that I can better advocate for the students and the teachers as an educator.

Vancouver Dyslexia Association Website link

I was getting traffic from Vancouver Island Dyslexia Association and found that they have a link to my blog (see A Teacher's Blog). They are based in Station A, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada. V9R 5M2. Thanks guys!

Student with cerebral palsy wins CEC award for his poetry

Tharp Sixth Grade School student Justin Martin was named a winner of the 2009 Yes I Can! awards for his poetry. He will travel to Seattle, Wa. in April for the awards ceremony.

Sixth-grader Justin Martin, 12, who has cerebral palsy but is also gifted, has won one of CEC's "Yes I Can!" arts awards for 2009. "I have lots of wonderful students. It is unbelievable what he can do," said Justin's gifted teacher, Jeanne Melvin. "He is not only a gifted poet, he's thoughtful. He is interested in social justice. ... He's always thinking. He deserves everything he's earned, every award he can get." Columbus Local News (Ohio)

Stability balls help children with ADHD stay on top of academics

Third-graders in Deb Felstul’s Morris Area Elementary School class sit on stability balls while working on assignments.

Teachers in a Minnesota district say that sitting on stability balls rather than traditional chairs is especially helpful for their students with ADHD. "They're moving but they're working," said elementary teacher Deb Felstul, who applied for a grant to pay for the balls. "It gives them a chance to bounce a little bit, wiggle a little bit, but not so they're disrupting class." Morris Sun Tribune (Minn.)

Preparing students with special needs for adult life

The transition from school to adulthood can be difficult for some students with special needs to navigate, but New York transition specialist Mary Korpi offers advice to educators and parents. "A good plan includes the student in every step of the way," she said. "For a student who has needs centered around basic life skills and difficulty taking care of themselves, their transition would need to include basic self-care, grooming, how to move into the community, handling money. For students on a more vocational track, they should have the opportunity to explore different career paths and find something that works for them." Disability Scoop

Young man with autism succeeds in college

Nick Perry, who has autism, is a college junior majoring in urban studies and hopes to become a city planner. "I was concerned whether he could handle it," said Robert Perry, Nick's father. "It was a big change. Now he wants to do more things on his own. You ask 'Can he do that?' But more and more he's proving he can." San Francisco Chronicle

Special Olympians Rally for Respect

As thousands of students with developmental disabilities gathered for the Special Olympics Global Youth Unity Rally before the start of the organization's Winter Games in Idaho, celebrities with disabilities urged them to demand respect. Eddie Barbanell, an actor with Down syndrome, urged the athletes to press for an end to the "R-word," while Tim Shriver, son of Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, urged the crowd to focus on their different abilities rather than their disabilities. The Idaho Statesman (Boise)

All teachers at California school aim to be NBCTs

Every teacher at a California elementary school is working toward National Board Certification, and five out of 43 have already earned the distinction. Student performance already has improved at Julius Corsini Elementary School, where test scores in 2008 met federal standards for the first time in five-plus years. "I think everyone who went through the process is a better teacher, whether they passed or not," said Edna Byers, who is now National Board Certified. The Desert Sun (Palm Springs, Calif.)

Teacher wins $9,400 in classroom technology

Vanessa Wiltsie,a student at Leighton Elementary School in the Oswego city district, uses the SMART Board as teacher Cathy Kelly looks on. Vanessa is one of the Oswego students who is going to Calgary to visit the SMART Technologies headquarters.

A New York teacher eager for new classroom technology, like an interactive SMART board, won $9,400 in equipment in a nationwide contest that includes training on how to use it in lessons. "These SMART Boards are used out in many fields, and my students already have seen them and used them," said sixth-grade teacher Cathy Kelly. "The technology also has rejuvenated me as a teacher. And the students are more engaged. They are more focused. And I've seen enormous improvements in their grades." The Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.)

Kansas special-educator wins state arts award

Lannell Finneran, who uses art to engage children with severe emotional disabilities, will be honored for her work with a Governor's Arts Award, Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said. Finneran uses art projects as therapy and educational tools. Lawrence Journal-World (Kansas)

Children who are gifted may face unreasonable pressures

Children who are gifted sometimes feel pressure to be "on" all the time, even in subjects at which they don't excel, gifted-education specialist Tamara Fisher writes in a blog post that followed a revealing conversation with her students. "I feel like any little thing I get wrong is seen by them as a giant black spot on my soul," one boy said. Teacher Magazine/Unwrapping the Gifted blog

Promethean Board and Special Education

The deadline for the ActivSoftware Inspire Edition blogging contest was at 12:00mn. I wonder who's winning the ActivClassroom. I just followed the ActivTweets last night and just noticed that I had a message from them from February 11. I have blogged several entries about the Promethean Board, and I will keep blogging about how my students are loving it.

I have seen the effect of this powerful IWB to my students, and I sincerely wanted for the rest of the special needs students in my school to also have this in the other resource classrooms. So I told my special education coordinator that I was going to submit my entry for the contest. I saw some excellent entries from other teacher bloggers of the review of the ActivSoftware Inspire, all I can say is that it's really a lot better and that it has more features that are more appealing to the students and are user friendly to the teachers! My students will LOVE the new icons!

I did not get a formal training on the applications yet because I just recently got my Promethean Board, It was a struggle creating a flipchart. I am well used to creating PowerPoint Presentations for my students and what used to be my problem with the ActivStudio was that it was confusing for me to put together a flipchart with the Flipchart Builder. So I just download them from the Promethean Planet or convert my PPTs to flipcharts. But with this new software, it's now easy to create my own flipchart as the page browser of flipcharts now looks the same as the PPT. Also, with the ActivStudio, my students were getting confused with how to save their work without messing with the original flipcharts. Now with the Inspire Edition, the "Save As" or "Save" browser can be easily found. The coolest part that my students will really appreciate is that they will be able to use the Promethean Board now at the same time, no more frustrations with working together on the board like before.

Other teacher bloggers were able to demonstrate it better and I realized that I really need to learn how to do screencasting now. I will have another chance next time, and promise that I will do better so I can get more resources for the special needs students in my school.

I have read and watched from the news how the Promethean Board affects other special education classrooms in other school districts. Just last night, I was emailed this link from Fox News Birmingham (AL). They featured a 100% special needs ActivClassroom, which again validated my experiences with the Promethean Board:

Video self-modeling may help children with autism improve behavior

Kylee and her mother, Dawn, read a book together in the library at South Park Elementary Center. Kylee, who is autistic, was a participant in a new teaching technique designed for children with autism. Dawn is a first-grade teacher at the school, and spends time with her daughter whenever their schedules allow. Kylee loves books, according to her mother, with this one, "Dog and Bear," being her current favorite.

Children with autism may benefit from watching videos of their proper interactions with others, according to research in two Pennsylvania districts. Educators film children while prompting them to act appropriately, then edit out the prompts and show the video to the children until they master the skill. "This is a great technique," said Ann Huang, an assistant professor at Duquesne University's School of Education. "It's a very, very effective way of teaching children with autism the appropriate behaviors. We should be promoting this technique more in classrooms." Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Florida schools use interactive technology in lessons

Artavia Conner, a third-grader at Rock Island Elementary school, participates in an interactive lesson on President Obama through the use of a Promethean Activboard as teaching consultant Shannon Lohse watches. (Susan Stocker, Sun Sentinel / January 21, 2009)

Some Florida students are using interactive whiteboards to participate in lessons with students from other schools, thanks to a software program that allows for the two-way communication. Each participating classroom is outfitted with a camera so the students and teachers can see each other, and educators say they also are learning new teaching techniques from their colleagues through the interactive technology. Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.)

Teachers, Excellence, Leadership, Results

I was already in the school this morning when my husband called me and told me that he was feeling very very sick and he needed me home. I immediately prepared for the substitute folder, submitted an emergency leave slip to the AP and hurried 30 miles back home.

My 12 month old baby had an appointment with his pediatrician, and my 5th grade daughter was given several awards today during the school's recognition ceremony, I made sure that I was there for them. I am still trying to be better at juggling family life with my work as a teacher, it's not always easy.

Remember my entry on Parental Involvement when I wrote about my daughter's school and how they have helped my daughter come out of her shell, and how they are successfully pulling the parents into their programs and getting them actively involved?

This afternoon I had to attend the recognition ceremony in my daughter's school. Rae made me a very proud mom today as always. She received the Principal's Award for having all A's again this quarter. She also received the Student of the Quarter in Reading and her homeroom teacher told the audience what she has achieved in class to get this. She also got the All Greens Award, meaning, she was always in her excellent behavior in class. I looked around the hall and saw parents beaming with joy, happiness and pride. The school, the teachers, the students, the parents are proud members of this school community. The school climate is very positive, cheerful and active.

I finally met the leader behind all these, the Principal of Ryon Elementary School in Charles County Public Schools, Principal Virginia Mc Graw. She has a positive aura surrounding her, and I got more interested when she told me that she used to be a special education teacher in DC Public Schools a little less than 30 years ago. We shared some common experiences as DCPS educators, but then there is something in her that immediately earned my respect and admiration --- she respects her staff, the teachers, the parents and the students, and most of all, she appreciates them. A special education teacher from DC Public Schools was awarded as the Principal of the Year and has successfully transformed a Title 1 school into Maryland's Most Outstanding school in 2007?

She introduced me to another respectable veteran special education teacher, Ms. Peels who showed me her classroom and allowed me to borrow some of her strategies in giving instruction to students with special needs that I will surely bring back to my classroom. I told Ms. Peel and Principal Mc Graw that I believe I need special education mentors like them who can share their expertise and wisdom from their years of experience. They gave me their emails.

Tonight when I checked my inbox, I saw this video about "Teachers, Excellence, Leadership, Results". As soon as the video started I cried, I couldn't control my emotions until the end of the video. Do you understand why I cried? Watch this video.

Teachers, leadership credited with school improvements

Marie Simmons passes out a test to students in her ninth-grade English class at Independence High School on Friday. YALONDA M. JAMES - yjames@charlotteobserver.com

Hard work by teachers and quality leadership are being credited for the dramatic turnaround of a North Carolina high school. Teachers say they are working together more to share best practices, and math scores soared after a group of teachers suggested that students take Algebra II courses before geometry. The Charlotte Observer (N.C.)

Duncan: Stimulus must include $20 billion for school construction

Education Secretary Arne Duncan visits with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, Tuesday.

U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan told a group of students Tuesday that the Senate's version of the country's economic-stimulus package contains no money for school construction projects -- a problem he hopes to correct by fighting for the inclusion in the final bill of $20 billion for infrastructure improvements that had been present in the House version of the stimulus package. "I think we're not just in an economic crisis, but in an education crisis, and we just simply can't afford to take a step backward," Duncan said. "The only way we're going to sustain and bring back a strong economy is through better educating our children and our young adults." CNN (2/11) , Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Functions of a class website

Are you now thinking of what your class website will be used for? How you can maximize the use of your class website is in your hands now, you just need to give it a touch of creativity and innovation.

Just to give you a list of thinks on how you can use it. Will Richardson, from his book Blogs Wikis, Podcasts and other powerful classroom tools, tell us some ideas on how you might like to start a class website:

- post class-related information such as calendars, events, homework assignments, and other pertinent class information.

- post assignments based on literature readings and have students respond on their Weblogs, creating a kind of portfolio of their work.

- communicate with parents if you are teaching elementary school students.

- post prompts for writing.

- provide examples of classwork, vocabulary activities, or grammar games.

- provide online readings for your students to read and react to.

- gather and organize Internet resources for a specific course, providing links to appropriate sites and annotating the links as to what is relevant about them.

- post photos and comment on class activities.

- invite student comments or postings on issues in order to give them a writing voice.

- publish examples of good student writing done in class.

- showcase student art, poetry, and creative stories.

- create a dynamic teaching site, discussion topics, posting not only class-related information, but also activities, discussion topics, links to additional information about topics they are studying in class, and readings to inspire learning.

- create a literature circle (where groups of students read and discuss the same book)

- create an online club.

- make use of the commenting feature to have students publish messages on topics being used to develop language skills.

- ask students to create their own individual course blogs, where they can post their own ideas, reactions, and written work.

- post tasks to carry out project-based learning tasks with students.

- build a class newsletter, using student-written articles and photos they take.

- link your class with another class somewhere else in the world.

The most important thing is that your students and the parents also know how to navigate your class website and the purpose of it. My students and parents are clear that my class website is an online extension of my classroom, it's our virtual classroom and our information portal. They are given the same high expectations, and rules and procedures apply. My next post will be on this.

How else can we use our class website? Please share your ideas...

Defining Roles For The Interaction Of Co-taught Teams

March 4, 4:00P – 5:45P (U.S. Eastern Time)
Presenters: Lisa Dieker and Becky Hines

The roles for two teachers in a classroom can be confusing if there is not clarity in purpose, practice, and outcomes. Clarifying the roles of the general and special educator in the inclusive classroom ensures success for all students and underscores the importance of the co-taught environment.

Participants will be able to:

- Define the specific roles of co-taught teams.
- Learn ways special educators can support students with disabilities in a variety of models.
- Discover ideas for behavior, instruction, and assessment in co-taught roles.

Using Technology To Provide Access To The Gen Ed Curriculum

Using Technology To Provide Access To The Gen Ed Curriculum
4:00P – 5:45P (U.S. Eastern Time)
Presenters: Tara Jeffs and John Castellani

Discover technology-based practices for teaching history and enhancing literacy and written language in inclusive classrooms. National experts offer practical ideas on how to help students with disabilities access the general curriculum. Attendees will receive Technology and Media for Accessing the Curriculum—Instructional Support for Students with Disabilities .

Participants will be able to:

- Discuss the main issues surrounding the integration of technology into the general education classroom.
- Develop an appreciation of universal design for learning.
- Explore assistive technology applications that aid in learning core content and those that focus on individualized instruction.

California schools adopt meditation techniques for students

MICHAEL ALLEN JONES mjones@sacbee.com Siena Bogatin, left, and Mateo Galguera, both 11, meditate with their classmates at Park Day School in Oakland last week. The relaxation exercises are adapted from an adult stress-reduction program.

Some California schools are making time in the school day for meditation exercises in an effort to relieve student stress. The rhythmic breathing and meditation is designed to calm students down and help them concentrate -- skills that have suffered as students experience stress from standardized tests, family situations and current events, some say. The Sacramento Bee (Calif.)

Technology allows teachers to differentiate classroom lessons

Second-grader Briggs Danner works online solving math problems at Kratzer Elementary School. (CATHERINE MEREDITH, Allentown Morning Call / August 24, 2006)

Some school districts are using an online program called Odyssey, which helps teachers create individual lesson plans for students. One teacher says she takes her students to the computer lab for a pre-test before starting a new lesson, and Odyssey creates a spreadsheet showing the areas where students need the most help. The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.)

College trains church leaders to help with autism

A Catholic college in New Jersey is helping church leaders learn how to better include people with developmental disabilities in their religious services. "It's not just that we want little kids with autism to learn to sit quietly so they can go to church with the rest of us," said Mary Beth Walsh, the mother of a boy with autism and an adjunct theology professor at Caldwell College, which is known for its applied behavioral analysis training program. "We want our faith communities to take the vanguard in showing how inclusion works." NorthJersey.com (Hackensack, N.J.)

Educators: NAEP should be modified for students with special needs

Students with special needs and English-language learners should be tested as part of the National Assessment of Educational Progress but only with appropriate modifications, said educators attending two National Assessment Governing Board hearings. The board is considering adopting standard national rules on what accommodations can be used and which students should be tested. Education Week (premium article access compliments of Edweek.org)

Creating a Class Website with Blogger

Glad that you decided to innovate, as many teachers across the nation already have. Here's the first part of this entry, How do you create a Class Website?.

So, now that you have decided to use Blogger.com for your class website, here is a quick video tutorial to help you create a free Blogger account so you can get things rolling...