Intervention Website Three-Reading

You've done both formative and summative reading assessments with your students and identified their areas of need, now what do you do? For a comprehensive list of reading interventions, visit the Florida Center for Reading Research website at http://fcrr.org

Look for the Student Center Activities and browse through hundreds and hundreds of interventions and lessons complete with all needed printable materials for everything from fluency to letter recognition, to improving comprehension when reading nonfiction and literary elements such as characterization, plot elements, and everything in between.

Ideal for individual centers, partner work, small groups, or whole class instruction, these research-based strategies are easy to use immediately-no additional fancy materials needed.

What is SBR?

SBR, or scientifically-based research, is a term used often in education. Districts, schools, and teachers should be using it; SD district accreditation plans, school improvement plans, and consolidated applications should reference it; and students should be experiencing it. But, what is it? Simply put, instructional strategies and teaching materials that are based on SBR have been proven through research studies to be effective in increasing student achievement. For examples and ideas of SBR, visit the website for the Center on Instruction found at http://www.centeroninstruction.org/index.cfm The work of Center on Instruction is focused on the areas of reading, math, science, special education, and English Language Learners, and provides SBR ideas for those content areas and populations.

Making Science Fun!

If I were able to go back in time, I think I would have changed my major to science! I did get to teach 7th grade science for one year back in the olden days before things like Highly Qualified status and Praxis tests, and I had so much fun doing experiments and building and discovering things with the kids. Steve Spangler is the guru of making science interactive, and above all fun. His blog http://www.stevespangler.com/ is filled with experiments, ideas, and videos which can be shown to students or simply used to give teachers ideas. Since it is time to think about shopping for holiday gifts, his latest blog entry gives 25 ideas for FUN educational gifts, including a "magic wand" which actually works through static electricity. Very cool-I want one.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I promised I would blog every day, and one topic I promised to blog about was technology. The technology in today's blog is . . . the crockpot! My favorite fun blog is called A Year of Crockpotting found at this link http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/ The author decided to use her crockpot every day for one year and blog about it. Each day she posts her recipe, pictures, and comments from family and friends about how the recipes turned out. It's fun to see how creative a person can get with a crockpot, and the recipes I have tried have been delicious. Recipes for non-food items like candles and other craft items are also included. Hopefully the cooking portion of your Thanksgiving is over by now, but you can always refer to this blog for ideas on using your leftover turkey. Happy crockpotting!

What's on the DakotaSTEP?

Educators in South Dakota are well-versed in content standards-we're involved in writing them, revising them, mapping them, and teaching them. Teachers are also well aware that standards are assessed both formatively in the classroom, but also summatively on the DakotaSTEP test. I'm often asked what will be assessed on the DSTEP, and instead of just referring teachers to standards, I often refer them the the test blueprints found here http://doe.sd.gov/octa/assessment/dakSTEP/index.asp Just scroll down to the 2009 STEP section and you will find the blueprints for math, reading, and science.

The blueprints tell you not only what indicators will be assessed, but also which standards WILL and WILL NOT appear on the 2009 DSTEP, and how many questions per standard and strand. For example, in every grade level math test, algebra has the most questions with the measurement strand having the least questions. Reading and science follow the same protocol, with some strands heavily assessed and some with very few questions. Having the DSTEP blueprints will not solve every problem, but might provide teachers with more information about how to align curriculum as needed.

Writing in the Content Areas-math

Incorporating writing in the content areas is a great avenue to increase higher level thinking skills in your students and allow you as the teacher to do a quick check for understanding. Having them write just a few sentences can really highlight what concepts students have mastered and which concepts need more attention. Imagine asking your students to write out the steps to a math problem or explaining in writing how they came to the answer or how they know it is correct. Allowing them to share what they wrote with each other is also a great way to encourage peer assistance; it seems there is always a kid or two who can explain things in a way that reaches the kids who struggle.

I recently found a blog called "Let's Play Math!" which is all about using games, reading, writing, and challenging activities in K-12 math. This entry deals specifically with writing in the math class http://letsplaymath.wordpress.com/2008/10/06/writing-to-learn-math-ii/#more-1869
The author gives math journal prompts, ideas for math poetry, essays, word plays, etc.
Happy writing!

Assessment Questions-Free of Charge

We are all certainly familiar with the Dakota STEP test, but what do you know about the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP? The NAEP assesses what the average 4th, 8th, or 12th grader in the United States should be able to know and do. The NAEP is given across the nation to compare achievement in states and to track changes over time in grades 4, 8, and 12 in math, reading, writing, science, history, etc. If you teach grades 4, 8, or 12, you may have had some or all of your students included in a test sample. NAEP hires its own assessment teams to plan, administer, and ship the tests at no cost to the state or school districts. How do the NAEP and the DSTEP compare? The NAEP has higher cut scores, meaning it is more difficult to score proficient on the NAEP than it is on the DSTEP. Even though, SD students generally continue to do well on the NAEP. Our DSTEP and NAEP reading scores are fairly similar, but there is a larger gap between our NAEP and DSTEP math scores. Want to see some sample test questions? http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/itmrls/

The questions tool allows you to select grade, content area, and the year from which the question was used. (Reading questions also have the reading passages, and the writing prompts have samples of student writing)

Want to play your own version of "Are you Smarter Than a 4th, 8th, or 12th Grader?" Click the test yourself icon to take a short sample test and have it immediately scored and compare your results with how kids across the nation responded to the questions. Try using the questions to assist with teaching test-taking skills or project the site for whole class involvement.

Intervention Website Two

Probably the best part of my job is being able to visit so many wonderful schools, teachers, and classrooms. I usually go with the intent to share some ideas at the request of a teacher or administrator, but I always come away with so many great ideas from them! I was recently at Huron Middle School and saw intervention wheels hanging in many of the classrooms and teacher planning areas.

These intervention wheels come from a Texas company called http://www.mentoringminds.com/ Mentoring Minds has a variety of products for grades K-8 (but they could certainly be used at the high school level) for interventions and teaching materials in most content areas. What caught my eye about the wheels was their similarity to the EZ grader I used to use-just slide the card over to show what the student's percentage would be based on the total number of questions and the number right. Turn the intervention wheel to a new intervention to try, document its success or failure over time, turn the wheel and try another one. The wheels are about $9.00. Check out their online newsletter and other products.

P.S. I do not work for this company, but after seeing their products in use at a school, wanted to share the resource with you.

Intervention Website One

As we use more formative classroom assessments to find out what our students know now compared to what they need to know, we search for ideas to assist us in closing the gap. One great website I found is http://www.interventioncentral.org Website author Jim Wright is a school psychologist who offers downloads, lesson ideas, short movies, and articles on everything from several printable behavior contracts to intervention ideas on reading fluency, math, motivation, you name it. Check out the peer reading/tutoring manuals for ideas and directions on implementing this strategy into your classroom.

Three great things about this website: Jim keeps it updated with new information all the time, everything is free, and all ideas are applicable to k-12 learners with or without diverse needs.

Welcome to the blog of ESA 4 in South Dakota!

Welcome to my first day as a blogger. I have decided to start blogging as both a means to share ideas with the teachers of Region 4 and to create a personalized opportunity for me to learn more about technology and 21st century skills. Check back each day for a new blog with ideas about curriculum, assessment, teaching, professional development, technology, and education updates from ESA 4 and the SD Department of Education.