Joel Zehring » intervention http://joelzehring.edublogs.org "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire." William Butler Yeats Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:10:32 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Casting the vision in a small way http://joelzehring.edublogs.org/2009/05/06/casting-the-vision-in-a-small-way/ http://joelzehring.edublogs.org/2009/05/06/casting-the-vision-in-a-small-way/#comments Thu, 07 May 2009 02:57:27 +0000 Joel Zehring http://joelzehring.edublogs.org/?p=184 I’m serving as a coordinator for our site student assistance program next year. My partner and I are making plans and brainstorming options for the processes that will support at-risk students on their way to mainstream interventions or special education services.
As we dream and discuss and collaborate, it strikes me that a solid, engaging mission is critical for this kind of work. We’re toying with this statement: Collaborate with teachers to individualize instruction.
To preload this goal into our work next year, I incorporated the mission statement into an online feedback survey.
The question reads "CSTs mission: Collaborate with teachers to individualize instruction. What grade would you give us in achieving this goal?"
In this screenshot of the survey, “ES” represents “Excels in the standard”, “MS” means “Meets the standard”, AS means “Approaches the standard”, “FS” means “Falls below the standard”, and “FFS” means “Falls far below the standard”.
We don’t know who will serve on the team next year. We’re inviting teachers this week to consider return/joining. I’m hoping that as they share their opinions and observation from this year, they’ll catch the mission statement and show up to school in August with a clearer idea of what we’re about.
]]> http://joelzehring.edublogs.org/2009/05/06/casting-the-vision-in-a-small-way/feed/ 0 Differentiated Learning [RET day 8] http://joelzehring.edublogs.org/2008/06/18/differentiated-learning-ret-day-8/ http://joelzehring.edublogs.org/2008/06/18/differentiated-learning-ret-day-8/#comments Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:31:32 +0000 Joel Zehring http://joelzehring.edublogs.org/?p=33 Differentiated learning was the topic of the afternoon. I had particpated in the training through my district, so Alison Murphy’s activities weren’t all new, but I did come away with some valuable ideas, tips, and activities.

  • In planning lessons and units, plan for the advanced students first. Do this will eliminate “what do I do now?” syndrome, and it provides extension for any student that masters the core objective
  • Break the core objective of the lesson down into very specific, attainable goals for students that aren’t immediately ready to demonstrate mastery. This gives the teacher a chance to praise students for their achievements, before they master the core objective.
  • Post the core objective for all students to see. Leave that objective on the wall as long as possible.
  • The teacher must find every student fascinating and worthwhile. Assessing each student’s readiness and interests early makes it easier to affirm each student.

In waste stream news, our meeting with a representative from Tucson Recycles was very productive. This guy has a huge volume of experience on projects in Australia, France, and the Bermudas. Sample size and interception point were the main topics of the day. There’s no way we can measure all the trash at our site, but we can deliberately select a sample and then make assumptions about the site based on that sample. Observing trash and collecting data at different points of interception in the waste stream can help us to insure that our assumptions are accurate.

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