Brightprogram2018

Recently, ODE decided to remove the 4th and 6th grade SS AIR test requirement. This is not the first time they have done this - back in the OAA days, 6th grade students were required to take a social studies standardized test but it was eliminated to save costs (along with the 4th grade writing test). When those tests were eliminated, the focus on social studies instruction in many schools dropped dramatically. Because of the high stakes associated with the reading and math tests (and to some extent the science, though not as much), schools, especially elementary schools, began to focus almost completely on those subjects, leaving social studies to be taught "when there's time".  As a result, I saw students going in to middle and high school with a significant lack of background knowledge needed to be successful in high school social studies courses. I worry that the same will happen again, now that Ohio has once again eliminated the test.  While I don't agree with ...

I am curious as to what everyone thinks about creating schedules that include common planning periods for grade level teachers.  I have seen it done to varying degrees of success. Some teachers can get a lot of work done together when given common planning, and in other schools I have seen the planning period turn in to 45 minutes of whining and complaining with one another and no planning being done at all!   Does anyone have any experience with this?  If successful, did you do something to make it that way? If not successful, ideas as to what can be done to make sure teachers are utilizing their time wisely and effectively?  Or do we need to worry about it at all? 

The Atlantic published an article this week about how poor kids are hurt when they believe that effort is linked to success. Check out the article here:  Why the Myth of Meritocracy Hurts Kids of Color “If you’re in an advantaged position in society, believing the system is fair and that everyone could just get ahead if they just tried hard enough doesn’t create any conflict for you … [you] can feel good about how [you] made it,” said Erin Godfrey, the study’s lead author and an assistant professor of applied psychology at New York University’s Steinhardt School. But for those marginalized by the system—economically, racially, and ethnically—believing the system is fair puts them in conflict with themselves and can have negative consequences. “ If the system is fair, why am I seeing that everybody who has brown skin is in this kind of job?  You’re having to think about that … like you’re not as good, or your social group isn’t as good,” Godfrey said. “That’s the piece …...

When reading through the educational blogs as well as engaging with teachers on a daily basis, the conversation always arises about being forced to "teach to the test"! What does this mean? Is there some confusion about teaching to the test as opposed to standards based instruction. Teachers all across this nation are being evaluated based upon student performance on standards based standardized tests. Why? I always try to explain to my teachers that it is not the story you are using to teach your lesson that technically matters. The academic focus should always remain on the standards themselves. I recommend that they implement the backwards planning design. This process requires them to start with evaluation tools that mirror the full rigor of the academic standard. After building the assessment, it becomes much easier to plan activities that can become the bridge between instruction and assessment. One of the main issues that I have noticed when reading through lesson plan...

The middle school at which I'm doing my internship spends the first week of each school year running what they call Culture Camp. The students spend all of each school day during this week in classes, activities, and workshops that teach them what is expected of them both academically and behaviorally. They focus on the six core values that drive culture at the school: scholarship, teamwork, respect, intelligence, virtue, and effort. Behind this week of training lies their theory that you cannot expect students to behave if you don't explain what behaving looks like. Students who come from an educational and family background that doesn't teach them the skills and values needed to succeed in middle school have to be explicitly taught them. This focus on culture and values continues throughout the school year as well, as teachers are guided to correct students who are  misbehaving by explaining what they should be doing instead of simply telling them to stop doing the wrong ...

This is Sephan's second post, Building teachers In class, there was the discussion of Positive reinforcement for teachers.   It was said that Principals do not change schools it is the teachers that change schools.  This was very enlighting and influencial to mee.  I had never though about the change this way.  Even now there is so much enphasis on pricipals changing the climate of the buldings and ensuring that teachers are teaching the right things.  I think there needs to be more enphasis on exactly how does the principals can motivate and chane the teachers.  Like discussed the teacher in the one that is infront of those students in the classrooms.  Think we need to reconizing techers on a quartly basis with some of the same awards for students.  These awards include perfect attendance, most improvented scores, least amout disipline.  These awards should be inconjuction with I cought you doing good messages. Also someone in cl...

This is Sephan's first blog post (he is having trouble positing, but he talks about me so I thought it was of the highest importance). After reviewing the first few chapters professor Glassman’s Educational Psychology and the Internet and some of our classroom discussion I began to think about how we are using technology and especially tablets in my classroom. I believe that we are not using technology and tablets to the full potential that we could be in a classroom. I think technology should be used for a lot of good research as well as increasing human Internet transactions. Technology and tablets today are use more as toys and busy work. In most elementary and middle schools, the original purpose as a communication service has been left behind in many classrooms. In Dr. Glassman's book, he talks about a combined intelligent, these include combining collaborative, swarm and open source/collective intelligence. I believe especially in the case of tablet in middle schools. ...

Professor Anderman's book had close to 2 dozen points where he accentuated this point, as related to motivation. TNTP referred to research results to the effect that even when teachers try to teach to the test regarding literacy, the results show the efforts to have been ineffective anyway. Professor Glassman's book weighs in on this subject as well. "The Internet promotes a third type of intelligence", in addition to the open discovery of youth, just exploring any idea floating past, and the hardened knowledge of adulthood. This third type is not a search for an answer, it is an attempt to expand understanding, by taking chances and getting big leaps of aha-type moments(my words, not his). Cole's book makes it clear that these tests just prove which kids are most accustomed to the context in which the questions are framed. No theory of learning has any connection to supporting the testing being used currently, per our Professor. Even the 1945 work of Vanneva...

Common Core Standards Are Not Liked By All But They Are Better Than Nothing! By Bob Jennings In 2010 several states independently adopted the Common Core, a set of math and English Language Arts standards for K-12 students to reach by the end of each grade level.  School districts design the curricula and teachers create their own methods for instruction, selecting the resources best tailored to their lessons. All of last week I was at the high school in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District where I have been assigned.  I really like the school and especially the co-principals that I will be training under.  I am certain I will learn a lot from both of them, though they keep telling people how much they are going to learn from me.  It is obvious that they are both fully committed to the children in their care.  One of the principals has been at the school for more than 15 years and the other one has been there four years.  I can tell that they wor...

The experiment that Professor Glassman conducted during class reminded me of Jane Elliot's experiment that she conducted with her 3rd graders many years ago. As Dr. Glassman continued to ask me questions, without validating any of my responses, I was left feeling "dumb", and I remember feeling so irritated and hoping that he would not ask me  any more questions. My participation in this experiment changed the lens in which I see feedback, and because of it, I will address my students differently in the future. Although Jane Elliot is one of my personal heroes, I never viewed her work through the lens of positive reinforcement. She was able to observe differences in student performance based upon positive reinforcement via affirmations. Below is a small clip of the experiment.

In Michael Cole’s Cultural Psychology , he states, “However it was not long before difference became deficiency” (9).   This, to me, became the undercurrent for how differences were treated and a poor excuse that continues today.   My immediate response affirms the saying, “people fear what they don’t know.”   This fear is a great motivator in many cases.   The fear that your difference is a threat to my reality inspires me to act in a way that preserves my existence with no regard of yours.   It also, in my opinion, creates binary thinking; that is unlike this, and is therefore bad.   Consider the application of this phenomena in today’s classrooms.   Punishment is practiced, and 'easy' to enforce, but who is ultimately punished?   More often than not, it is the students who are considered different in some way. Our conditioning since the beginning of time tells us any differentiation deserves punishment because it is deficient.   I wo...

Skinner and the Behaviorist Theories of Learning By Bob Jennings I was quite impressed with the discussion by Dr. Glassman on B. F. Skinner.  Through an in-class demonstration using two of my colleagues, he pointed out that Skinner, one of the most influential of American psychologists and a noted behaviorist, is credited with developing the theory of operant conditioning.  This theory purports that behavior is determined by its consequences, be they reinforcements or punishments, which make it more or less likely that the behavior will occur again.  Professor Glassman pointed out that teachers can get students to engage in tasks by rewarding them and that they can stop using the rewards once the behavior is established.  The literature on Skinner makes thi s point also and he contends that the introduction of rewards can motivate some students more than others.  In other words, rewards can have both a positive and negative affect on a student's learning and ...

In class we talked about how self-efficacy at a task is achieved because of success and that it causes you to like the task more, which causes you to be more likely to succeed which in turn increases your self-efficacy at that specific task. Sometimes success isn't possible or doesn't happen, and self-efficacy is what determines if you continue after failure. This is pretty much a positive-reinforcement loop. Self-efficacy cycle as described in class on 7/21/17 So, how do we get there? We know self-efficacy is linked to higher performance in academics. We know self-efficacy is important and necessary for living a life full of activities, challenge, growth, and so on. How do we improve students' self-efficacy? We make people experience success.  In the classroom this could be done with students setting small goals: This week I will....  learn 5 more multiplication facts read 2 chapters of this book read 10 more sight words When the goals are met, and you...

I loved Prof. Glassman's example in class of how administrators need to provide positive reinforcement to the teachers. See them try a new and difficult intervention, and when they come to tell you it worked, reward them with a 10 minute break or something like that. I am hopeful we can start a thread with ideas you have to support your teachers.  My sister (an intervention specialist) celebrated these two positive reinforcements on Snapchat (millenial teachers in the house!) this past school year and I saved them so I wouldn't forget. What ideas do you plan to use?

I’m going to dive into another topic we discussed in Professor Glassman’s class, which we also talked about in Classroom Motivation.   It’s the topic of self-efficacy.   I was really interested to hear how Professor Glassman described it as a continuing loop and how it builds on itself, but “getting into the loop” is the most essential part of it.   How does one break into the loop or help others (teachers and students alike), especially if a person doesn’t have an affinity for the skill?   Further, I thought about how will I help teachers get into the self-efficacy loop?   (Especially since I will be perceived as an “outsider” coming into their world.)   In our group paper for Classroom Motivation, Zach and I talked about helping teachers with self-efficacy, but really, how does this play out in a practical, daily, hands-on, real world scenario?   How do we build up teachers?   How do we enable them to get into the loop and build on their succes...