In September, Harvey Silver was in Olean presenting to area districts about student engagement;” Tools for Conquering the Common Core.”  During the training, Harvey spent time talking about student’s cognitive engagement and discussed the Eight C’s of Engagement to increase our students’ commitment to learning? Here are some quick ideas to get you started.

Competition. There’s no question that competition is motivating to many students, but if too extreme, competition can become a liability in the classroom. To maximize the motivational power of competition, focus classroom activities around mild and friendly forms of competition that allow everyone to experience success. For example, near the end of each unit, you might use well-designed learning games  or Vocabulary Jeopardy to help your students review and master key terms for the test.

Challenge. Why do so many people work so hard to ski down a double black diamond slope? Why do so many students choose to play the hardest level of their favorite video games? Because they love a challenge. You can increase the level of challenge in your classroom b
providing tasks at three different levels and allowing students to choose the task they feel most capable of completing (Graduated Difficulty: see Silver, Strong, & Perini, 2007, based on the work of Musska Moston, 1972). More generally, you can foster a challenge-oriented classroom by letting your students know that you expect excellence and by “daring them to go the extra mile.”

Curiosity. Look for opportunities to puzzle your students, to engage them in solving mysteries associated with your content. For example, why not start a unit on the American Revolution with this question: How did an untested ragtag militia defeat the most powerful army in the world? Or a lesson on insects with these questions: Why do we need pests like insects, anyway? Would we be better off if we got rid of them? Provoke students to inquire, investigate, and go beyond the yes and no questions.

Controversy. Our content areas are loaded with controversies, arguments, and intellectual disagreements. Invite students into the controversy. Challenge them to take and defend positions on the “hot button” issues at the heart of your discipline (Do women and men write differently? Was Algebra invented or discovered? Is global warming more a result of human activity or natural causes?).

Choice. You can easily capitalize on this powerful motivator by giving students more opportunities to make selections and decisions about their learning. Learning centers and Shared Interest Groups (small groups of students working together to learn about a topic of common interest) let students explore content in ways that work best for them, while choice-based assignments and projects offer students the chance to decide how to demonstrate what they’ve learned.

Creativity. Many students long to express their uniqueness and individuality. Look for ways to invite their creativity into your classroom through divergent thinking activities, non- routine problem-solving, metaphorical thinking (How is a colony like a child?), projects, and just about any way you can think of that allows students to put their own original stamp on what they’re learning.

Cooperation. For many students, the greatest inspiration comes in knowing that they’re part of a community of learners. Nurture this sense of belonging through cooperative learning activities, learning partnerships, small group work, and lots of classroom discussion. Or, the next time students conduct research, try Jigsaw (Aronson, et al., 1978/Slavin, 1995), which organizes research projects around a highly effective cooperative structure.

Connections. Why do I need to learn this? Why does it matter to me? These are common questions from students, and in them we can hear students looking for – and not finding – a way to connect what they’re learning to their lives beyond the school walls. It doesn’t take much to let students express their own opinions or to encourage them to draw on their experiences before, during, or at the end of any lesson or unit. Work questions and activities involving students’ values, priorities, and experiences into your content (When is rebellion justified? Have you ever used fractions to settle a dispute? What do you want to learn about spiders?). 

By: Tessa Levitt, CA BOCES Professional Development and Whitesville Central School

This August area High School Math teachers gave up some of their time to come together to work on preparing for the upcoming school year.  With the transition to the Common Core over the last two years most have grown accustom to the format of the NYSED Modules on EngageNY.  However, even though some Algebra I teachers have had two years under their belt (and Geometry completing their first year of using the Common Core standards) they came together to share ideas of what they’ll look to tweak for this school year.  Those teaching Algebra II also worked on adapting the modules for this first year of implementation of Common Core Algebra II.  Throughout the two sets of 2-day offerings in August teachers were able to share ideas with others and have time to plan to hit the ground running next month.
 
As things continue to change for this trainsition to the new Common Core Algebra II exam you can find any and all of the approved High School Regents changes and/or resources at EngageNY:  https://www.engageny.org/resource/regents-exams-mathematics
                 
Resources shared for area teachers are also posted in our CABOCES HS Moodle course at:  http://moodle.caboces.org/demo/course/view.php?id=471

*You can click “Login as a guest” instead of entering a username/password for access*

By: Mark Carls, CA BOCES and Hinsdale Central School

Over the past three years, there have been several major changes to our public education system as part of the Regents Reform agenda.  The first change was the decision from NYS to implement the Common Core Standards for English and Mathematics.   These Standards are designed to help our students be better prepared for college and careers in the 21st Century.  The Common Core Standards are rigorous and challenging to both students and teachers.  As a result, they have forced every teacher of English and Mathematics to rethink and re-design their instruction and assessments. 

Another change in the state is how school districts evaluate a teacher’s performance.  For the first time in the state’s history, teachers are now accountable for how well students achieve on NYS assessments in grades 3-8, Regents exams and on local tests in other subject areas that are given to measure student growth.  Teacher performance is coupled with an additional recommendation from the state to use data from additional assessments given periodically throughout the year to inform instruction.  With all of these changes being put into place in a relatively short period of time, many parents as well as teachers have expressed concerns over the increase in the amount of testing that our students are now experiencing. 

The State Education Department has responded to these concerns by funding an initiative to examine the number and types of tests that school districts are giving students and to learn about how to design high quality assessments.  Thirteen school districts in the Cattaraugus-Allegany region have been awarded a nearly four hundred thousand dollar ‘Teaching is the Core’ grant from NYS Education Department.   The primary purpose of this grant is to improve the quality of all classroom assessments, while also reducing the number of assessments that do not inform instruction.  In addition, this grant can help districts identify and/or develop high-quality assessments already in use for instructional purposes that can simultaneously be used for teacher performance purposes.

For the past three months, the thirteen districts participating in this grant have been looking at their current classroom assessments to see if they have a strong alignment to the Standards.  We are also looking to see how assessments are used to inform instruction – the way in which feedback is provided to students during the assessment process; the way in which teachers use the results of the assessments to inform their instructional decisions; and the degree to which assessment results are used to address the needs of diverse learners (including students with disabilities, English language learners, and gifted learners).  We are analyzing the timing of classroom assessments – a balanced assessment system should include diagnostic, formative and summative assessments as well as pre/post measures to assess growth.  We are also looking at the types of assessments we are giving – are they rigorous and authentic?  Do they ask students to recall information, create a product, demonstrate their learning through a performance or explain their thinking processes?   What we are discovering is that our current assessments are rarely modified to meet student needs and do not allow students various ways to access content and/or demonstrate their learning.  And finally, we are questioning the reliability of our assessments – how do we know if teachers have the same vision for quality and agree while scoring student work? 

Most of our work during these first few months of the grant focused on assessment audits – looking at assessment artifacts to see if we need to replace, revise or keep our current assessments.  The primary purpose of this grant is to support districts in their efforts to improve the quality of all educational assessments, while also reducing the number of assessments that do not contribute to teaching and learning.  In addition, this grant can help districts identify and/or develop high-quality assessments already in use for instructional or other curricular purposes that can simultaneously be used for Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) purposes.

As we proceed to phase two of the grant, districts will have multiple opportunities to learn about quality assessment design, how to develop performance-based tasks, designing assessments that increase rigor and authenticity, and learn protocols for looking at student work to provide meaningful feedback to students and their families.  The districts involved in the grant include Allegany-Limestone, Andover, Cuba-Rushford, Genesee Valley, Hinsdale, Olean, Pioneer, Portville, Randolph Academy, Salamanca, Scio, Wellsville, and West Valley.  For additional information and educational resources from NYSED, please visit the “Teaching is the Core Assessment Literacy Series” at http://www.engageny.org or contact Mary Morris, CA BOCES Staff Specialist and TITC Grant Coordinator.

By: Mary Morris, CA BOCES

November 19 - 9am to 1pm - Southern Tier West, Salamanca

A recognized expert in the educational technology field, David Jakes will focus on the increased need to develop agile 21st century, personalized and digitally-enhanced learning environments.  David works alongside of CannonDesign leaders to expand Education Practice.

David’s educational thought leadership encompasses digital storytelling, cloud-based learning environments and their relationship to physical learning spaces, mobile learning, professional development, and the use and impact of social media in education. His command of social media will enable CannonDesign to be the professional voice in the evolving conversation of primary, secondary, post-graduate and adult education.

"For me, design provides a landscape for innovation; a way to think and rethink what education is and can be, while focusing deeply on the needs of students and their learning," said David.

He has spent the last three decades in education as a teacher, technologist, storyteller and designer, most recently overseeing all technology and library services as the Coordinator of Instructional Technology and Information Services at Glenbrook South High School in Glenview, IL. David is a frequent speaker at national and international educational technology conferences.

Registered participants will receive a copy of Rethinking Education in the Age of Technology, by Richard Halverson and Allan Collins.


Session Description: 

Design is a process that can be used by educators to design innovative and human-centered learning experiences.  In this session, learn and apply a design thinking approach to the development, implementation, and evaluation of a STEM education program.  You’ll learn how the process of design thinking can be used to initiate and sustain organizational change and development, and provide a construct for the creation of creative and innovative solutions to the challenges faced by education.  This session will also provide a framework for understanding how the topics of this series can combine to create a new ecology for learning based in an integration of science, technology, engineering and math.


Session Goals: Participants will be able to: 

• Describe the process of design thinking 
• Discuss the role that empathy, ideation, prototyping and iteration have in the process of design 
• Define trends and develop design drivers from data collected through a wide-range of ethnographic techniques 
• Develop a capacity to rapid prototype and test design solutions 
  
• Explain how design thinking can be utilized as a pedagogical approach within the context of a STEM education 
  
• Explain how the process of design thinking can be used to address the challenges and opportunities, including the development of STEM educational opportunities.
  

With teachers in grades 3-8 transitioning to the ELA Common Core Learning Standards (CCLS) over the course of the past two years, much conversation has centered on the best methods for helping students meet those standards.  Will my textbook be best?  Should I look into the modules?  Is there another option?  As teachers at Pioneer can attest, reading and writing workshop is definitely a viable option for marrying the expectations of CCLS rigor and student-centered teaching.

Author and writing workshop expert Amy VanDerwater has worked with teachers at Delevan Elementary, Arcade Elementary, and Pioneer Middle School for the past two years to bring workshop to district classrooms.  Professional development sessions have focused on various aspects of the writing workshop, including designing effective mini-lessons that deliberately target specific skills, fostering student choice to build investment, and incorporating various writing celebrations when finished with units.  Additionally the emphasis for units of study has shifted from narrative and memoir based modes of writing to those that require students to write from sources, such as informational and argumentative.  Both the quantity and the quality of student writing being produced have grown exponentially thanks largely to the work done in writing workshop.

Students are meeting the demands of CCLS with the work being done in reading workshop as well.  Like the writing workshop, during reading teachers are developing targeted and rigorous mini-lessons, selecting texts that challenge all learners, and including student choice in leveled reading materials designed to build a lifelong love of reading.  Units often are built around a central text supplemented by relevant, nonfiction materials that build students’ background knowledge base on the topics or themes of the central text.  Opportunities for students to engage in text-based conversations both in whole groups and small groups reinforce the skills being taught at the time, and those skills are then applied to the students’ independent reading selections.  Ultimately students’ time with eyes on print is greater than ever, and that time will pay off as they progress through school.

Teachers who are looking for the right fit for their classrooms may very well find that reading and writing workshop is an instructional approach worth pursuing.  A workshop model provides a balance of structure and flexibility that responds to student needs while targeting the various standards.


By Amy Windus, CA BOCES and Pioneer Central School

Over the summer, many of the teachers at Pioneer Central came together to work on designing their curriculum, improving instruction and creating common assessments.  All of them deserve recognition for the work they accomplished, but the teachers in 5th grade really caught my attention.  Not only did they re-design their common core math units, but they consistently displayed the qualities of a great team.  As a group, they set clear and demanding performance goals.  Each of their math units include “big ideas”, essential questions, Common Core Standards, goal sheets, problem sets, exit tickets, student note sheets, power vocabulary and “I can” statements.  They incorporate Thoughtful Education tools and strategies and use a combination of direct instruction and gradual release to help their students learn together and succeed independently. 

Their work environment was comfortable and relaxed.  I witnessed several discussions in which everyone participated and it was obvious that the teachers felt comfortable expressing their feelings as well as their ideas.  There was laughter as well as serious moments when disagreements occurred, but in the end everyone worked together and the group produced student workbooks that will be shared and used in all of the Grade 5 classrooms.  “Our job is to teach students how to think, and not just put a workbook in front of them” states Julie Gates . . .   “Everyone is humble and everyone gives ideas.  It makes you want to work for your team, when you are supported”.    Colby Rehrauer added “There is so much to do, and it’s always changing . . . you have to be unselfish – you have to be willing to share.  We are professionals. We are in it together.”

The 5th grade team is made up of Julie Gates, Michelle Kline, Jessica Kamats, Colby Rehrauer, (all pictured above) as well as Eric Kramer and Jessica Kleinschmidt.  In addition, Yvonne Gillette and Ellen Farrell will assist in the classroom as Special Education consultant teachers, and RTI specialists Stephanie Jordan (math), Mark Mitrowski and Cheri Ludwick (ELA) will be working with struggling students.


By Mary Morris, CA BOCES and Pioneer Central School

The motto at Delevan Elementary is “We are in this together and better collectively than we are separately.”  The Common Core Learning standards have been a guiding force in instruction as well as a learning process for ALL K-4 teachers including special area teachers, who have made a significant contribution to the movement.  “Common Core and the six instructional shifts methodology does not silence the creative voice; it enhances the aesthetic process and provides opportunity for higher level thinking skills” (engageny.org).

The special area teachers at Delevan have seamlessly and consistently integrated both the Common Core ELA and Mathematics standards into their curriculum.  In both art and music classes, students create, explore, build vocabulary, and complete written reflections/self-assessments aligned to the CCLS Writing standards.   To hook the students into a new unit, visuals and technology resources are used along with historical background that aligns to the CCLS Informational Reading standards.  Students are provided with weekly experiences that provide Career and College Readiness skills along with the 4 C’s in 21st Century Learning; critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity.  “The Common Core Learning standards act as a thread that helps knit together a well-rounded learning experience for every student while supporting colleagues cross- curricular” (www.engageny.org).

In the library media center, lessons are aligned to appropriate grade level Common Core Reading and Writing Learning standards.  Students in Grades K-4 are exposed to reading and writing across a variety of genres including narrative, expository, and persuasive text.  Students learn about author’s purpose, characteristics of nonfiction and fiction, text features and text structures.   Students in the class learn how to collect information from multiple sources and compile it into a short research paper.

Physical Education is a place where students bodies are participating in physical activities, while their minds are critically thinking at the same time.   Students participating in physical education classes are engaged in literacy infused lessons on a daily basis.  Students are responsible for problem solving  and peer collaboration.  Thematic units that align with school wide literacy efforts are implemented.  For example, K-4 students participated in an Olympic games unit that correlated with the school’s reading celebration, titled “Go For the Gold”.   Also, students in K-4 had a reading competition.  For each book read and Accelerated Reading quiz completed, students earned a gold, silver or bronze medal.   Each grade level chose a country and created a flag to display in the gymnasium.  All medals earned were displayed near the flag.  The physical education teachers were instrumental in making this school wide literacy effort fall into place. 

When students attend special area classes, they are” rocking the Common Core” by participating in the arts as readers, writers and thinkers!


By Colleen Root, CA BOCES and Pioneer Central School

Students are meeting the demands of CCLS with the work being done in reading workshop as well.  Like the writing workshop, during reading teachers are developing targeted and rigorous mini-lessons, selecting texts that challenge all learners, and including student choice in leveled reading materials designed to build a lifelong love of reading.  Units often are built around a central text supplemented by relevant, nonfiction materials that build students’ background knowledge base on the topics or themes of the central text.  Opportunities for students to engage in text-based conversations both in whole groups and small groups reinforce the skills being taught at the time, and those skills are then applied to the students’ independent reading selections.  Ultimately students’ time with eyes on print is greater than ever, and that time will pay off as they progress through school.

Teachers who are looking for the right fit for their classrooms may very well find that reading and writing workshop is an instructional approach worth pursuing.  A workshop model provides a balance of structure and flexibility that responds to student needs while targeting the various standards.

http://www.amyludwigvanderwater.com/


By: Amy Windus, Pioneer Central School and CA BOCES

Photos:  NASA and Bolivar-Richburg Central School 

What's out there in space? How do we get there? How do you live in space?  These are some of the questions that were answered for Bolivar-Richburg Elementary students.  Over 300 elementary students and teachers were invited to a Virtual Field Trip Showcase event that took place in their school on Friday, March 28, 2014.  Each grade had the opportunity to have the world brought to their classroom through Distance Learning.  Students sat patiently as Scientists, Firefighters, and Museum experts talked with the students about space, habitats, building communities, and fire safety.

When a professional development day focusing on writing evolved into a discussion about reading comprehension, the day took a very eventful turn. Lesa Dionne, staff specialist for Cattaraugus Allegany BOCES, was providing professional development on the writing process for fourth and fifth grade teachers at Cuba Rushford Elementary School. The fifth grade teachers arrived in the afternoon, frustrated after looking at student work and realizing the class was having a difficult time citing evidence and answering comprehension questions. Student seemed to be struggling with the challenging texts from the Common Core and teachers wanted them to become more active learners. Lesa looked at the student work and pointed out that the students cannot write about a passage that they can’t comprehend. The discussion quickly changed from the writing process to reading comprehension and the use of questioning as a strategy to actively engage students.

It isn’t very often that an entire district’s faculty has an opportunity to see the vertical alignment of standards that impact every area of instruction.  Curriculum development within districts is generally saved for the summer, and at that time teachers work within departments to map out their curriculum alignment for the upcoming school years.  Very seldom do we have the opportunity to see the vertical alignment of the standards and how they apply to every grade level, let alone across several content areas.