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The following four web sites may help local leaders in determining the impact and possible local action regarding new regulations issued recently by the State Education Department for the Annual Professional Performance Review and Professional Development Plans.
WWW.NYWIRED.ORG The New York Wired for Learning site contains lesson plans aligned with the state's learning standards.
WWW.NBPTS.ORG National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.
WWW.NYSPEEREVIEW.ORG The New York State Academy for Teaching and Learning site contains peer review lesson plans aligned with state standards.
LEARNONLINE.EDUTECH.ORG

language arts

Do Research Studies Ever Ask The Practitioners...US? Yes, here's one. They watched us! They found out what the most effective first grade literacy teachers do and have in common!

Young children who have been read to regularly come to first grade with an advantage knowing that reading can be fun and they want to learn how. Not all children are so fortunate. Researchers from the National Research Center on English Learning & Achievement (CELA) observed teachers in 5 states and discovered what teachers do to make literacy the foundation for all students to succeed in school and beyond.

 

"The most effective teachers assembly daily a mosaic of classroom management and instructional strategies, arranging and rearranging the pieces according to the needs of their students at a given time." This is not written down in a plan book. It is intuitive knowledge, the process, the content and the needs of the children that makes for effective literacy teaching.

 

The following characteristics in combination, typify the most effective classrooms:

 

• Much Reading and Writing. Large blocks of time devoted to Language Arts
• Explicit Teaching Skills. Literacy skills taught in context, frequent opportunities to practice, teachers model tasks students are asked to perform, and teach and reteach
• Emphasis on Literature. Teachers read outstanding literature in the classroom, author studies, classroom collections for students to select.
• Matching the Demands to Student Competence. Teachers have high but realistic expectations for students, monitor students' use of skills and provide prompts (scaffolding) on an as needed basis, assign tasks and assignments at which students can succeed, and as competence increases gradually increase demands on those skills.
• High Academic Engagement and Competence. Lots of on-task talk and self motivation instruction is seamless, integrated and overlapping
• Excellent Classroom Management. Expectations of student behaviors and learning are clear, students know the rules (and, for the most part, follow), activities are designed to be academically challenging.
• Positive, Reinforcing, Cooperative Environment. Cooperation between students is encouraged, discipline is handled gently but firmly with a minimum of disruption, positive reinforcement both privately and publicly
• Encouragement of Self-Regulation. Students are expected to work to the best of their ability and work below par is not accepted, students are taught to monitor their time, and their own work habits

 

There is no activity or action that can be singled out as the key to improving literacy instruction. Rather, the research team has identified these preliminary set of characteristics. If you look around you will see them in action.

 

For more information: http://cela.albany.edu/1stgradelit/index.html, or e-mail:

 

cela@cnsvax.albany.edu or write: CELA, ED-B9, University at Albany, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 12222.

 

Open Line October 11,1999

 

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The Math Connection In A Box! Millenios from Cheerios Mathematics is everywhere! Students today need to understand this concept. Have you been to the cereal aisle in the grocery store lately? I found a box of cereal that just screamed "Here's some great mathematics and other learning standards right here for only $1.98! How could I resist! Check out Millenios. It's a box of 2's and 0's in cereal form. When we look for mathematics everywhere, we will find it. If we bring it in, they will see it, eat it, explore great concepts and develop necessary skills in the most unusual places! Try some of these activities and see what happens. Tell us of your experiences so we can share them with our readers. ELA: Vocabulary - millennium, century, decade, year, month, day, hour, minute, second.

Write to General Mills and tell them about all your experiments.

The magazine encfocus  is for classroom innovators - Integrating Technology in the Classroom. This magazine, from the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education (ENC), is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Research and Improvement. ENC's mission is to identify effective curriculum resources, create high-quality professional development materials, and disseminate useful information and products to improve K-12 Mathematics and science teaching and learning.

 

Many of the web sites that are recommended on the STA website (nysut.org/syracuse) are from this resource. This magazine provides the best selection of math and science education resources on the Internet, supports teachers' professional development in math, science, and the effective use of technology, acquires and catalogues mathematics and science curriculum resources, creating the most comprehensive collection in the nation and provides k-12 educators with free products and services and grant sources.

 

Here's just one example of the useful information you will find helpful.

 

Criteria for Choosing Computer Games for Girls and Boys by Megan Murray and Marlene Kliman.

 

Finding computer games that are engaging and educationally rich for children - both girls and boys - is a difficult task. Research has suggested three criteria to consider:

 

Is the game educational? Does it encourage problem solving, creativity and the development of important strategies or skills?

Is the game equitable? How accessible and engaging is the game to both girls and boys? Are these features that particularly appeal to (or deter) girls or boys?

Is it a good game? Is it fun? Is it challenging without being overly frustrating? Does it encourage persistence?

 

The Through the Glass Wall project reviews computer games according to the three criteria. Visit its website: www.terc.edu/mathequity/gw/html/gwhome.html

 

Request this subscription by visiting ENC Online: www.enc.org/order/

 

or

 

Send e-mail to: editor@enc.org (don't forget to include your postal address)

 

or

 

Call toll-free: 800-621-5785

 

Enjoy this professional publication. It's just for you! It's free!

 

Open Line November 8, 1999

How About Us Here In The Syracuse City School District?

 

Professional development done the right way

 

When Dixie Gunter started as a paraprofessional in a special education BOCES classroom three years ago, she could have used a mentor."You really need someone to bounce questions off, but you don't want to interrupt the classroom," said Gunter, who works at Oakdale Bohemia Junior High School in the Connetquot schools on Long Island.

 

Questions ranged from the complex - What is my role with a particularly disruptive student? - to the simple - Where do I get more construction paper and glue?

 

When the Eastern Suffolk BOCES paraprofessionals offered training five years ago, Rosemarie Ahrens was one of the first to sign up.

 

"It was so worthwhile," she said of the training by Arlene Barresi, a member of New York State United Teachers through the BOCES Educators of Eastern Suffolk.

 

Those sessions - done on a para's own time - provided training on communication styles for the classroom, behavior modification strategies and confidentiality issues.

 

High praise from the training guided Connetquot's union leadership, led by then-president Nancy Smith; to work with administrators to get training offered to all paras. Smith and a negotiating team of Marion Mack, Marion Karavias, Maryann Gelardi, Marie Sclafani and current President Karen Chiarelli worked to get the training.

 

"Originally, administrators wanted it to be on a volunteer basis," said Karavias. "We made the point that all staff should be developed. All staff need to learn skills to benefit all children."

 

Last year, districtwide training started for all 225 paras in the Long Island district. New paras receive three hours of training before they ever work with children. All paras eventually receive 15 hours of training a year, over four half-days.

 

Union leaders are working toward getting a para-mentor for each of the district's 10 schools. Currently, there are two. To become a para-mentor, paraprofessionals must attend three to four additional sessions and update their training each year.

 

"We've come a long way from just being monitors on the playground," said Marion Mack, first vice president of the Connetquot PA. "We work with the teachers, reinforce instruction and help kids to meet the higher standards."

Open Line October 25,1999

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Spotlight On The Standards Have you ever heard or said to yourself, "My problem in mathematics is that I learned it only one way, then I can't apply it in other situations." Does that sound familiar? After the 4th and 8th grade tests were given, I recommended that teachers use visualization (drawing) to help students solve mathematic problems. The teachers agreed that this would be a powerful teaching strategy but did not know how to go about teaching it. They agreed it was not enough to just tell students to draw a picture. The process must begin by giving students examples in which drawing is a natural way to solve problems. A classic problem is the "Frog at the Bottom of the Well." A frog is at the bottom of the well. Every night it hops up 3 feet, but soon falls asleep and slips down 2 feet. How many nights will it take the frog to get out of the well? Even very young children can draw this scene to come up with the solution. There are many such problems. These types of problems are not difficult to create. For example: There are 4 boats on Oneida Lake. Each boat has 4 fishermen. Each fisherman catches 4 fish. How many fish were caught? Children will soon be able to create problems themselves for class after being introduced to this type of problem. This will give them ownership in the process. Students, who are given the opportunity to solve many problems by drawing, will begin to apply it to other situations. It will become second nature. Next have students create their own math problems that uses drawing a natural strategy to solve. Soon the children can create their own books of by making a collection of their math problems, binding them in book form and sharing them with other classes or putting them in the library collection of student published works. Or students can create a one-problem book and collect all the solutions to that problem. These can be bound and shared also. This allows students to see how their classmates solve problems. There may be many different solutions to the same problem. These books would be great for parents' night and open house. Drawing pictures to represent visualization is just one way to promote the mathematical processes necessary to complete problems. Try it out and let's see what happens. Write back and share your experiences. We'd all love to see, hear and publish what happened. Open Line September 13, 1999

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music
According to Ed O'Rourke, a music teacher in the Syracuse City School District, the following sites may be of interest to other music teachers, or anyone with an appreciation for the art. Check this site on occasion for additional links of interest in the field of music.

http://www.menc.org - Web site of MENC, the National Association for Music Education. contains information of interest to music educators. Teacher resource listings, articles and information from "Teaching Music" and "Music Educators Journal", as well as other MENC journals and publications. Links to other music education sites. Also has interactive bulletin boards and a national job bank.
http://www.fredonia.edu/nyssma - Home page of the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA), NYSSMA is the New York State affiliate of MENC. Contains information for music educators, as well as some parent and student items. Many links to other music education sites. Also contains the NYSSMA job bank.
http://members.aol.com/nyssmanews - This site contains the "School Music News", monthly publication of NYSSMA, online.
http://www.nationalbandassoc.org - Website of the National Band Association. NBA is a professional organization for instrumental music teachers and people interested in bands and music education. Onondaga County Music Educators Association...OCMEA is the local affiliate of NYSSMA. It sponsors professional development for music teachers and runs All-County festivals at elementary, junior high and high school levels, and a jazz festival. It also awards scholarships to outstanding musicians planning to study music in college. At present, OCMEA is developing a website, and is not on line yet. Membership information is available from Ed O'Rourke at: eorourke@freeside.scsd.k12.ny.us

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science

ELEMENTARY SCIENCE PROGRAM EVALUATION TEST The ESPET (Elementary Science Program Evaluation Test) is the last remaining program evaluation test. With the Part 100 Regulations mandating Academic Intervention Services, the elementary test will be reviewed and revised to make it a pupil assessment. The elementary core curriculum outline in science is the last to be developed. The progress is slow because some elementary teachers lack content knowledge and the state has to find certified science teachers in elementary schools. The intermediate core curriculum outline in science will be out in the spring of 2000. Additions have been included in the core - more chemistry, simple machines, weather, and buoyancy. The completed draft will be sent to each principal of a school housing grades 5, 6, 7, or 8. The intermediate assessment will be given in two parts. Part D will be administered in either April or May 2001. Parts A, B, and C will be given in June 2001. The intermediate assessment and the science Regents exams will have the same formats. 11/16/99

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