Strategic Plan Design Team

I just spent two long days working on my District's Strategic Plan Design Team. It was enlightening, exhausting and more than I could have hoped for. How did we get to this point? In the last month our Deputy Superintendent, Suzie McWilliams, held public forums with all the different stakeholder groups. I personally found the student forum the most valuable. People from these forums volunteered to give up 2 days of their time to be on the Design Team. We had community members, parents, students, elementary teachers, secondary teachers and administrative people. 

My team consisted of a Bank President, a School Secretary, 2 parents, the Executive Director of Facilities, an Elementary Teacher and the most awesome student from North Forney High School. She is in all AP classes and works a job after school. She was a wealth of information about how school REALLY is. She talked about the pressure that AP students feel to pass the AP test, how teachers are so pressed to get everything covered that everyone feels rushed, and that there are a a lot of students who just don't care and make teaching and learning difficult. As a a member of the Curriculum and Instruction Department most of the discussion was not new to me, but it helped me clarify my thinking because I had to explain the education process to non-educators. 

Melody Paschall from Engage2Learn led us through all of the required stages; Belief Statements, Learner Outcomes, Learner Profile, and finally we arrived at setting district Goals.The six District Goals that were created are clear, concise and will definitely move the district forward. I'm looking forward to the next step: creating action plans to implement these goals. Even though I know change is education is a slow process I'm excited to get started. 

Wonderful Weekend Websites

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 Wonderful Weekend Websites

            3/21/14

#7

I have moved all of the previous Wonderful Weekend Websites to my blog, hopefully this will make the sites easier to find.  

This weeks sites are 

Mobento won't change the way that you use videos with your students, but it could be helpful in finding a good video to use in a flipped lesson. Once you find a video you might want to try a service like EduCanon to create a flipped lesson that requires students to answer questions while watching the video.

Literably.com is a web site that teachers can use this to track and monitor student progress in reading. Teachers create an account and then add their class list. Teachers can pick leveled readers for each student. Students login and record their reading of the passage selected for them by the teacher. Literably analyzes and scores the reading.

Storynory is an online treasure-trove of free audio stories. Here you will find a mixture of original stories, fairytales, and specially adapted myths and histories. We also provide a sprinkling of verse.

Check out these eight videos that explore the beauty of math, both in its simplicity and its complexity. There are practical applications of math theory, quick tricks to save you time and make you look like a genius and even a little history thrown in that shows how math is truly an awesome thing.

3/7/14

#6

 This is Google Training primarily for students but anyone can take it. The training consists of 5 different sections where the student can move from a White Belt Ninja  to a Master Ninja in each section! There is a leaderboard where students can track their progress compared to other students and schools within our district. The students will have to be logged into their edu Google account to access the training. Click here for information on how to login.   Click this link to access a short video that can be used to introduce the training to students.  There are several ways to access the training,

o   From the above link

o   through the Forney ISD Home webpage – Parents/Students – eBook & BYOD – Click the first link.

o    http://tinyurl.com/fisd-google-ninja

1/24/14

#5

For Everyone:   Google Custom Search Engine for education includes Lesson Plans & Curriculum, Videos, and Games.  

For Everyone:   Google for Education Learning Center, learn the tool and then apply it in the classroom.

For Everyone:     Wing Clips - Movie clips that illustrate and inspire. 

11/1/13

#4 

For Everyone:   20 questions that can guide student research at any stage.

For Everyone:   4 new ways to use Google Forms with your students.  

For ELA teachers:  A group of Pinterest boards to inspire and engage your students in Language Arts. 

For Art Teachers:   Here are some neat interactive websites that will allow your students to create pictures that simulate the works of famous artists.

 10/25/13

        #3 

For Everyone: Netclick.me Automatically make your existing slides and PDF documents interactive.  It also can give polls and surveys. It’s free for educators.

 For Everyone:  Forallrubrics The best rubric software around, can run on any device. Class rosters can be imported using a CSV file, click here for instructions. Search for Daily Rehearsal Rubric for a great rubric that can be used for any class.

 10/25/13

        #2 

For Social Studies Teachers:  10 Web Resources to Help Teach about Primary Sources

For Science Teachers: 10 Science YouTube Channels You Can’t Miss. (Click the link to access the specific channel.)

For PE/Athletics: The Flipped Coach – the original site for taking the flipped classroom model to athletics and physical education.

For Everyone: We are Teachers –Ideas, Information & Inspiration

 10/11/13

        #1 

·            For ELA or Social Studies Teachers: Rewordify.com is powerful, free, online reading comprehension and vocabulary development software. It helps people understand difficult English faster, helps them learn words in new ways, and helps teachers create high-interest learning materials from any English text passage.

            For Math Teachers: A useful virtual math geoboard to explore a range of shapes and sizes.

For Band/Music Teachers: OnlinePracticeRecord.com is a free music education resource that can be used by all instrumentalists and vocalists to keep track of daily practice.

For Everyone: 25 Tricks to Improve A Boring Lesson for Improved Student Engagement.

And finally, some words of inspiration.