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If spring is near, can testing season be far behind? With this thought in mind, it is never too early to begin preparing for state and/or national assessments. Advanced planning can go far in preventing last-minute test jitters for campus administrators. Consider the following tips to ensure a smooth testing process on your campus:
- Identify small or special group testing needs, and assign students to groups, testing locations, and test administrators. Ensure that all required paperwork has been completed if students have special testing accommodations.
- Conduct test administrator training on your campus. Maintain a file that includes a training sign-in sheet and all signed oaths of confidentiality.
- Check test materials as they are received from the district assessment coordinator. Order additional testing materials as early as possible. If you have students who will test using large print or Braille materials, ensure that these materials have been ordered well in advance.
- Prepare test booklet tracking forms for each test administrator on the campus. Record the sequence of test materials that each test administrator will receive for each test.
- Make and laminate “TESTING – Do Not Disturb” signs on brightly colored paper for teachers to place on their doors. These signs may be reused for subsequent test administrations.
- Purchase plastic tubs or large size zipper bags and label them for each test administrator. Place all testing materials in each tub or bag along with a supply of sharpened pencils, a test booklet roster, special reminders, the “Do Not Disturb” sign, and a “teacher treat” such as a bag of peanuts or a candy bar.
- Plan well in advance how to revise schedules for special classes on test days. Notify all teachers, both testing and non-testing, at least a week in advance so that all staff will be familiar with revisions to the daily schedule.
- Send home a “testing reminder” notice with all students, testing and non-testing, the day before the test. The note should not only remind parents of the testing date(s) and subject(s), but it should also provide tips for parents to help their children be well-rested and prepared for the test. Parents want their children to do well on tests, but are often at a loss for ways they can help
By: Karen White, Educational Consultant at Mentoring Minds
Starting each staff meeting on a positive note sets the tone for the entire meeting. To ensure a positive start, begin meetings with a moment to share positive experiences. Here are some examples of prompts that can be used with your faculty members during this sharing time:
- Name a staff member who has helped you since the last meeting.
- Describe a success experience that one of your students had this month.
- Describe a learning activity that worked in your classroom.
- Share something that you have learned since the last meeting.
Use only one prompt per meeting, and solicit participation from multiple staff members.
The holidays are a special time of the year, and we will enjoy them more as leaders when we help our students and staff maintain their focus. Suggestions for helping your school remain focused during this season may include:
- Remind staff and students how they stand on the goals that have been set for the year and encourage them to fi nish the calendar year on a positive note.
- Acknowledge the distractions and challenges that inevitably arise during the holidays, particularly on campuses with young children.
- Provide opportunities for special activities, treats, and a little extra fun in the days immediately preceding a school holiday.
- Present positive expectations for the New Year by giving your staff something to anticipate.
- Generate excitement about a goal or project that can make a real difference early in the New Year. Providing a “forward focus” now will help alleviate the “post-holiday letdown.”
As the holiday season approaches, please be reminded that every day of school is important. Teachers prepare diligently to assure a quality education for students. The success of a campus reflects the priority a campus places on student engagement. Instruction must engage students in purposeful learning experiences. When teachers know and acknowledge this as a priority, then student improvement will occur due to the increase in authentic student engagement. Keeping this priority on center stage will help maintain focus for the entire year, especially during holidays. It can be difficult to balance the needs of all, yet it is the responsibility of the campus administrator to ensure that productivity flows throughout the school year. There are many ways a leader can maintain high standards without being a scrooge. Knowing how to keep the campus focused at any time and not just during the holiday season is an essential key to a high achieving campus.
- Show compassion to others -
As a campus leader, start the year by taking an active interest in the personal lives of staff and students. Showing compassion and leading a campus at the same time is possible as a compassionate leader can still have control and respect. Continue each day by being caring, nurturing, helping, and a people-person. Modeling these behaviors with staff and students on a daily basis cultivates a positive school climate all year long.
- Set the tone of the school -
It is imperative for the campus leader to be a positive role model. Leaders must take time to build positive relationships with all stakeholders. A campus leader should know the pulse of all the people. Face-to-face contact is the best way. Showing interest in the students is an outstanding way to cultivate such relationships. The building can easily take on the tone and personality of the leader. All staff and students model the attitudes and behaviors of the one in charge, so be positive, act positive, and be visible. School leaders need to set a good example for all. A good leader must continually reach out to others. Develop the habit of smiling and encouraging your staff to smile. A smile has a positive effect on staff, students, and parents. Smiles are contagious and can be the beginning of an effective learning environment. Significant learning occurs when there are significant relationships. Students can listen attentively, work diligently, and it could all occur because of a smile.
- Preserve instructional and learning time -
Avoid unnecessary interruptions of classes since this can be disruptive to the learning process. There is only so much time in the school day and sometimes it appears we are prisoners of time. Thus, principals need to be conscious of interruptions and make adjustments to limit them so as not to detract from the learning environment and take away from instruction.
- Acknowledge and inform students about holidays -
It is important to recognize the holidays that families in a school community celebrate. The context of how this is done is key. Whether it is through a display of holiday traditions, reading or listening to literature, or other avenues, flexibility is a guiding factor. Experiences can vary from teacher to teacher or from classroom to classroom, but legal guidelines define how campuses and students celebrate holidays in schools. The goal of these diverse activities is not to celebrate a particular holiday, but to celebrate the students, to gain an understanding of fellow students’ cultures, and to help students recognize, honor, and enjoy the differences among all.
- Set goals to keep the campus team and students on task -
A campus needs to know the goals that they are working toward. Student engagement must be modeled at all times by a campus leader. Planning ahead can alleviate misuse of time and prevent loss of valuable time. Review academic and behavioral expectations. Collaborate with teachers about down time in a classroom. Acknowledge distractions. Obviously, excitement of students or lack of purposeful lessons could lead to down time, so it is best to plan ahead. Effective classroom management must be in place along with instructional plans containing experiences that motivate students. Lessons should include experiences that alternate between active and passive activities. As the holiday season begins, ask teachers what they are most thankful for in their professional lives. These shared comments, in written format, can serve as inspiration. Campus leaders should avoid introduction of new initiatives during approaching holidays since staffs are trying to complete previously assigned tasks. After holidays occur, the staff will return refreshed and ready to continue their teaching passion.
- Keep communication flowing -
Always keep the faculty and students informed to help them remain focused. Provide a newsletter that is informative and sends a message that parents, students, and teachers must work together to resolve conflicts and develop strategies to help students succeed academically and socially. Include reminders of upcoming campus events. Create a campus schedule that celebrates staff and student accomplishments. In addition, provide incentives that show appreciation. Taking action to keep a campus focused at the onset of the school year and communicating high standards continually will promote and maintain an outstanding learning environment all year. A strong focus on student engagement can make a difference!
Written by: Sandra Love, Ed.D
Effective leaders constantly strive to foster a campus climate where creative thinking is encouraged and valued. It follows, then, that administrators must engage in creative thinking by seeking ways to accomplish the many tasks which fall to them. Bob Eberle’s SCAMPER technique, often used in creative problem solving, is based on the premise that every new idea is an extension, adaptation, or modification of an existing idea. Consider these suggestions as you find ways to maximize efficiency on your campus:
- Substitute a mini tape recorder for a notepad as you make daily campus walks.
- Combine an impromptu visit with a member of your staff with a regular campus walk.
- Adapt forms and letters from previous years by revising them for current needs.
- Magnify the efficiency of your office by maintaining a well-organized system of files.
- Put colored paper to other uses as it becomes a signal for specific types of communication, such as using blue paper for weekly newsletters.
- Eliminate procedures that prove to be inefficient or unproductive.
- Reverse roles by encouraging staff members to assume positions of leadership on your campus.
As you encourage your staff to include creative thinking in daily instruction, it is important that you model its uses and applications in your role as campus leader.
Mention the holidays and we all get excited! Our thoughts turn to sleeping late, shopping, reading for pleasure, or just having some down time. Until that last bell rings, signaling the beginning of our long-awaited vacation, we have to meet the challenge of keeping students focused on learning. How can this be accomplished?
Begin by maintaining a well-managed classroom. Keep students on a regular schedule and expect students to follow established procedures. Reduce distracters within the classroom as much as possible. Activities should be well-planned and materials readily available as students accomplish learning tasks. Play music to calm, to relax, or to signal a change in activity. Be responsive to the physical needs of students.
Plan activities that keep students actively engaged in learning with an academic focus. Using a holiday theme, play games that teach concepts. Produce a play or reader’s theatre based on a holiday book. Have students read and follow a recipe to cook a healthy holiday treat. Involve students in activities that connect art to the holidays by making 3-D ornaments, potato print wrapping paper, and gifts for family members.
In math, have students generate a wish list and calculate the cost of the items. Provide word problems using a holiday theme. Ask students to measure objects using holiday items such as candy canes, ornaments, or bows. In language arts, write holiday poems or stories. Research and write about a holiday from another culture. Interview an older person to compare celebrations of the past with the present. Display seasonal pictures as a prompt for writing assignments. Ask students to fi nd examples of figurative language in holiday poems or books.
Teach social studies and science concepts using a holiday theme. Have students plan and map out a holiday trip. Research and report about how other people celebrate the holidays. Hold a multi-cultural celebration. Ask students to conduct experiments on how twinkle lights work.
For more activities visit: www.weareteachers.com
Article written by: Beverly Collins, M.Ed.
Academic assessment is an integral part of any student’s educational experience. Targeted academic preparation feeds directly into the achievement of students. For teachers, the thought of state assessments might trigger the feeling of heading into unknown territory, which may add to existing anxieties. With two keys to academic success, preparation and time, it is possible to overcome such anxiety and emerge from the assessment experience at a high level of performance.
Preparation Requirements alleviate stress and establish a foundation for success.
Administrators and teachers must know and understand the state’s academic standards to ensure that the curriculum reflects the standards. A campus needs to know the goals toward which they are working. Observation of teachers should occur regularly to validate teachers are addressing the standards. Instructional strategies are tailored to accommodate a constantly shifting population. Diagnosis of student needs, not only at the beginning and end of the year but regularly during the academic year, accurately reflects the progress made and the data informs future instruction. Assessment identifies small problems before they escalate and ensures students are actually learning what teachers are teaching.
Funds must be allocated for purchasing materials that match student needs or align to identified standards. Professional development that complements teacher and campus needs, horizontal and vertical leveled planning, established benchmarks for measuring progress, and effective classroom management are other requirements that must be in place when preparing a campus for success.
Tools for Preparation include people, instructional resources, and student materials or supplies. New teachers can be paired with others for support and encouragement.
Student needs must be measured frequently to maintain accuracy in the identification of students who need additional learning opportunities, students who have achieved mastery, and where confusion in instruction has occurred. Teachers must be provided appropriate instructional resources and receive continuous updates about upcoming state assessment. Tips, ideas, and strategies should be freely shared with teachers to assist students in reaching or sustaining high levels of performance. Lead teachers are identified for sharing content-specific strategies and providing opportunities for other teachers to observe and adapt best practices.
Mental Preparation motivates faculty and staff. In order to reach success, commitment and a plan to execute campus goals are necessary. Teachers must be familiar with the features of state assessments and confident in the knowledge that state standards prepare students for assessment success. Consistent communication maintains focus and frequent feedback inspires teachers; visibility shows that administrators care and are available, approachable, and supportive. Teachers must be provided essential resources for the implementation of standards and assigned personnel for instructional support. Informative newsletters should be utilized as opposed to meetings when possible, allowing teachers time to plan high-quality instruction, to work directly with students, to collaborate with colleagues, and to reflect personally and professionally.
Celebrations also play an integral part in campus achievement. Administrators must design a campus schedule that recognizes staff and student accomplishments. Incentives that show appreciation and recognize small and large accomplishments toward the overall academic goals are evident. Timely information must also be communicated to parents and to publicize events leading to student success. Communication should be positive, up-to-date, and reflective of the culture of the school.
Time is paramount to increasing student and teacher performance. Preserve instructional and learning experiences by preventing unnecessary interruptions to classrooms since this can be disruptive to the learning process. Be conscious of interruptions and make adjustments to limit them. Build in blocks of time in the master schedule for extended practice or tutorials for students and for networking of ideas among teachers. Arrange common planning time for teachers to meet and strategize, working to increase student performance and improve instructional strategies for targeted areas of need. Create time for sharing success stories, providing feedback and encouragement to both students and teachers. Planning ahead can alleviate or prevent loss of valuable instructional time.
Campus leaders must model student engagement at all times. When students are actively involved in purposeful experiences, interest in learning soars. Instruction aligned to state standards leads to favorable assessment results. Focusing on preparation and time as key elements that yield academic success produces a win-win situation for students, teachers, parents, and community. Preparation and time can reap the desired results…academic success.
Written by: Connie Moore, Educational Consultant at Mentoring Minds
As educators plan and prepare for instruction in the area of writing, it is important to remember that students are more likely to master composition, revision, and editing skills when they are presented in context, rather than in isolation. These skills must be learned and practiced within the context of text, both prepared and composed, if students are to achieve at the required level of depth and complexity required by STAAR™.
In order to meet this requirement, Motivation Writing™ contains a strong instructional focus based on a contextual foundation for each unit. While this format is not a mirror image of STAAR™, it provides a strong instructional supplement for teachers as they provide composition, revision, and editing instruction for students.
The unit components include:
- Introductory passages
- offer an instructional model of an effective composition
- provide a context for students as they consider the personal experience about which they will compose an original writing
- present a context in which teachers can instruct and students can learn and practice the targeted revision and/or editing skills
- Three practice and assessment passages with questions include Guided Practice, Independent Practice, and Assessment pages incorporate four multiple-choice formatted questions per page that require students to respond based on the targeted revision and/or editing skills
- Critical thinking prompts
- require students to think and respond at the application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy
- guide students as they transition from the introductory passage to the unit composition
- Composition prompts
- allow students to write 12 expository and 8 narrative compositions throughout the year
- include graphics and scaffolded prompts:
- Read section – summary of the introductory passage
- Think section – application-level questions that prompt student thinking as they reflect on the introductory passage and prepare to compose
- Write section – a specific composition prompt
- Be Sure to section – rubric reminders for content, revision, and editing
- Planning, drafting, and composition pages
- Motivation Station pages
- feature creative thinking activities that provide reinforcement of previously learned skills
- incorporate writing tips provide parent activities
For STAAR™ Writing, Grade 4, students will write two compositions, narrative and expository, on individual days. The revision and editing skills will also be tested over the same two-day period using passages and multiple-choice question formats.
Within Motivation Writing™, the twenty scaffolded composition prompts were not intended to replicate STAAR but to instruct students and guide them through the writing process while providing multiple and varied opportunities for composing. Students must have specific instruction and practice in the writing process if they are going to think deeply and write compositions containing layers of thought and reflective ideas – key elements required by STAAR™. In order to effectively teach students composition, revision, and editing skills, teachers must provide meaningful contexts for thinking and for developing ideas. The writing experiences within Motivation Writing™ will help prepare students to meet the requirements as established by STAAR™.
While bullying is known to leave physical and emotional scars, a new study finds that victims may suffer long-lasting academic effects, and high-achieving black and Latino students are especially vulnerable.
Building off previous research that found high-achieving black and Latino students are more likely to be bullied, Ohio State University doctoral student Lisa M. Williams and Anthony A. Peguero, an assistant professor of sociology at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, found that bullying, in turn, could lead to lower achievement for victims of bullies.
Their study was presented last week at the American Sociological Association’s annual meeting in Las Vegas.
The sociologists found that the grade point average of all students who were bullied in 10th grade dropped slightly by 12th grade. By their senior year, black students who had a 3.5 grade point average, on a scale of 0 to 4, as freshmen, lost almost one-third of a point if they had been bullied. The result was more pronounced for Latino victims of bullying: They lost half a point. That compares with a loss of less than one-tenth of a point for white students who had undergone such harassment, the researchers found.
One reason minority students seemed to suffer larger academic aftereffects, Ms. Williams said, could stem from some of the stereotypes about minority students, including that they are tough or street smart, compared to their peers from other racial and ethnic groups.
“Schools may think that because students are black and Latino, they’re better able to handle bullying,” she said, “and their schools won’t have the same type of [bullying prevention] programs.”
On the other hand, Ms. Williams said, there are often prevention strategies in place at many predominantly white schools. Instead, schools must employ bullying-prevention programs regardless of the racial and ethnic backgrounds of their students, she said.
This fall, the U.S. Department of Education will begin a study that looks at how local bullying policies are put into action in several individual school districts and states. At about the same time, the Education Department will share the results of an analysis of current state anti-bullying laws and model policies. The study will aim to identify promising strategies that school districts are implementing to combat bullying in schools. This information will be used by the department to better support bullying-prevention activities.
Ms. Williams’ and Mr. Peguero’s results were based on the academic performance of 9,590 students in 580 schools. While many factors contribute to students’ academic performance, the researchers controlled for some other variables often associated with students’ academic achievement. They eliminated family background, previous grades, and school characteristics when calculating the effect of bullying on students’ grades.
In a previous study published earlier this year, Ms. Williams and Mr. Peguero found that black and Latino students who have high test scores, countering stereotypes of low academic achievement among such students, are more likely to be harassed or teased at school. They also found that low-achieving Asian-American students—going against stereotype—were also particularly vulnerable to bullying. Another study by Mr. Peguero has found that black and Latino students bullied at school are more likely to drop out than their peers.
Study’s Methodology
For the study released at last week’s conference in Las Vegas, Ms. Williams and Mr. Peguero came to their conclusions by comparing students’ baseline academic performance as 9th graders, before they had been bullied, with their academic achievement four years later as high school seniors. They found that about 40 percent of all students in their study answered yes to questions about being bullied, including whether they had been hit, bullied, or threatened with violence in the previous year.
Earlier this year, another study involving school bullies and stereotypes suggested that the most likely campus aggressors aren’t the most popular or most socially outcast students—those most typically thought of as potential bullies. Instead, mapping of students’ social networks found that children somewhere in the middle of the social hierarchies in their schools were the most likely bullies on campus.
Source: EdWeek, August 23, 2011
TYLER, TX–(Marketwire – Oct 12, 2011) – Teachers have challenges instructing students regardless of grade level, subject matter, native language, socioeconomic background, or learning abilities. Teaching strategies research by Mentoring Minds shows that these and other factors contribute to the success of a classroom’s learning environment and that teachers often have the power to counteract negative effects of different classroom challenges and obstacles to widespread learning among students. Research indicates that teachers are most often the greatest factor influencing student achievement (Wright, Horn, and Sanders 1997).
By utilizing teaching strategies from Mentoring Minds that are backed by research and years of experience in education, teachers have greater chances for success with managing their classroom and teaching to their students. Mentoring Minds aims to empower teachers and other educators in all instructional settings and provide teaching tools that enable them to reach their students and witness great accomplishments.
There are many different tacks to take when approaching a barrier in the classroom, from humor and storytelling to group exercises and visual engagement. Some research by Emmer, Evertson and Anderson (1980) suggests that elementary and secondary teachers who implement behavior management tactics from the very first day of class in a new school year have a greater chance of maintaining that order. Ornstein and Levin (1981) suggest that distracting materials in a classroom can decrease attention and increase disruptions; so removing these superfluous items may increase student attention and decrease the likelihood of disruptions.
All of Mentoring Minds’ products are held up by research that is cited on its website. While using a product like the Math Essentials or Spanish Card Set, teachers can pinpoint the exact studies that led to the creation and implementation of these teaching tools. By providing the research used for development of its teaching strategies, Mentoring Minds both assures its customers of the validity of its product as well as invites them to do further research if the topics are particularly interesting to them. Reading about the studies and papers that back up a product like Writing Round-Up or Critical Thinking Flip Chart may incite further curiosity in the teacher or administrator, and lead to more reading or use of other Mentoring Minds products. This creates an overall well-informed approach to the classroom environment, whether the main issues challenging a teacher are bullying, time management, development of critical thinking skills, manners, or other essential classroom topics.
Mentoring Minds is dedicated to helping educators and parents enhance the educational experience for all children. Please contact us concerning bulk pricing, purchase order processing, RtI Institutes, or any other issue. We are here to help you!
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