NORDONIA HILLS CITY SCHOOLS

Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Development Report

Periodically, an update will be created covering aspects of instructional education. Please feel free to share your thoughts on how the newsletter can be improved to meet your particular needs.

February 2, 2013

CCSS Resources
Library Of Congress Unveils Massive Common Core Resource Center The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) is here and teachers are trying to gure out how to best integrate it into their tried-and-true lessons. Theyre struggling to integrate technology to best augment CCSS. They are in desperate need of classroom materials that they can trust. Like a superhero, the U.S. Library of Congress has just swooped in and unveiled an enormous new (and free!) resource thats all about the Common Core. Its located at http://www.loc.gov/ teachers and worth checking out. Common Core Resources You can now do a Search By Standards query which lets you do exactly that. The software has just seen a big update too. Select your state, grade level, and subject for a list of Library of Congress teaching materials aligned to those standards. Or, once youve found a lesson plan or primary source set that youd like to use, one click will show you which of your standards that particular item meets. Find Library of Congress lesson plans and more that meet Common Core standards, state content standards, and the standards of national organizations. Click here to start your CCSS search. Professional Development Tools There are professional development tools that are sorted by grade level, ease of use, and written in plain English. Classroom Materials Created by teachers for teachers, these ready-to-use materials provide easy ways to incorporate the Librarys unparalleled primary sources into instruction. Find classroom materials that meet your state standards Lesson Plans Teacher-created lesson plans using Library of Congress primary sources. Themed Resources One-stop access to the Librarys best exhibitions, activities, primary sources, and lesson plans on popular curricular themes. Primary Source Sets Sets of selected primary sources on specic topics, available as easy-to-print PDFs. Also, background information, teaching ideas, and tools to guide student analysis. Presentations & Activities Presentations and activities offer media-rich historical context or interactive opportunities for exploration to both teachers and students. Collection Connections Historical context and ideas for teaching with specic Library of Congress primary source collections.The Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are on many teachers minds this school year, and the Library of Congress is ready to help. The Librarys teacher resources are a great t for teachers trying to meet key CCSS goals, including critical thinking, analyzing informational texts, and working with primary sources. Theyre all free, and nding them is as easy as going to www.loc.gov/teachers. Learn More Want to learn more about the project? Check out the helpful blog Teaching with the Library of Congress to stay updated on all the new resources. You may also consider some of the following: 1. The Teachers Guide to the Library of Congress 2. How Teachers Can Leverage the Library of Congress 3. Six Free Professional Development Web Tools Worth Trying 4. Five Useful PLaces to Find Online Lesson Plans 5. Three Useful Web Tools that Meet Common Core Standards

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10 Great Tools for Student-Teacher

Great communication between students and teachers is the cornerstone of the best educational relationships. The best teachers are marked by how they communicate information to their students and how well they create feedback and debate mechanisms to ensure that a free-owing stream of ideas and questions is always active between learner and educator. And with the advent of education technology, a wealth of brilliant new tools present themselves to the modern educator to stay effectively connected to students at all times and in a myriad of exciting different ways. 1. Bubbl.us This brilliant online mind-mapping tool allowsgroups to collaborate on planning and brainstorming ideas around a particular topic. Teachers and students can use it to keep in touch and collaborate on new projects inside and outside the classroom. 2.Brainify Aimed more at slightly older students, Brainify is a brilliant social-bookmarking site specically designed for students and teachers. Use it to create dedicated lists of educational websites and share them with students or to allow students to show you the sites theyve been using. Great for creating different lists of resources to share quickly and simply with students working on different topics. 3.Dropbox A fantastically simple way to share les, Dropbox means you can instantly send assignments and essays from anywhere in the world to a single common place where they can be accessed by students and teachers alike. 4.QuizSnack This great tool is a quick, simple way to create polls and surveys and embed them in online blogs or articles. Its a great way for students to communicate with teachers about feedback, preferred topics and other issues. 5.Twitter Twitter is unlike almost any other online medium in its instantaneous, intense connectivity. Students and teachers can connect using school or class-specic hash-tags, or use it to tweetupdates and information about school trips and expeditions. 6.Astrid This simple-to-use, open-source to-do list allows peer groups and class teachers to share reminders, tasks and notications a great way for teachers to stay on top of student progress or for students to divide up different aspects of a communal task. 7. Edmodo This safe and brilliantly simple platform designed specically for student-teacher communication allows assignments to be set, grades to be tracked and homework to be submitted all online from anywhere. School notices can be communicated via the site too, making it the perfect tool for weekend or holiday student-teacher communication. 8.Screen Chomp This great iPad app enables teachers to create learning content, combining audio and whiteboard-style visuals to create videos, which they can then upload for students to watch online. A great way for teachers and students to communicate and learn even outside the classroom. 9. Quizlet A fantastic free learning tool, this site allows teachers to create online quizzes and ashcards on a range of content, which students can then use to help them study outside the classroom. Many of the pre-existing quizzes might also be useful for time-strapped teachers. 10.My Big Campus An amazing resource, My Big Campus combines many of the tools provided by other communication platforms all in one place. From ipped classroom resources, document sharing and educational videos to discussion boards, video chats and blogs, its a power-house of potential for student-teacher connectivity!

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IIS System Update

Ohio, Massachusetts Select Thinkgate to Provide Online Learning and Data System For Educators Ohios schools will have access to a state-of-the-art system that lets teachers analyze student achievement and select the best learning resources under a contract awarded today. Thinkgate, LLC. has been selected to provide an instructional improvement system (IIS) for schools in Ohio and Massachusetts. Both states education agencies agreed to create powerful online learning platforms as part of their federal Race to the Top grants and teamed up to conduct a competitive procurement. It has never been more important for educators to use modern technology to give students customized learning options based upon real data about their needs, said Michael Sawyers, Acting Superintendent of Public Instruction. Creating a statewide instructional improvement system is truly the beginning of a new era in Ohio education. The IIS will enable teachers to accelerate and personalize the education experience by providing the following features: Online access to curriculum and standards Curriculum customization Easy to use paper, online and clicker test administration options that teachers can use to determine what progress students have made and what help they need Data analysis and reporting capabilities A portfolio of every students work

As part of Ohios system, the Ohio Department of Education will collaborate with the Ohio Board of Regents (OBR) to incorporate iLearnOhio.org, a one-stop home for high quality K-12 content that is aligned with the states new learning standards. iLearnOhio is the product of a collaboration of the Ohio Resource Center, The Ohio State University College of Education and Human Ecology, and OBR. Integrating iLearnOhio.org into the new system will assist schools in selecting: Full-year courses, such as Advanced Placement courses for students who are ahead (state tuition waivers offered) or credit recovery courses for students who must repeat a course. Online college courses for students still working on a high school or home school diploma. Learning objects to assess a students learning level to match him/her to appropriate level resources. Webinars and other extra help for students needing remedial assistance. Reduced costs for fee-based resources thanks to efciency in state bulk purchasing.

Thinkgate was selected through a competitive bid process and an innovative procurement partnership between the Ohio and Massachusetts education agencies. By pooling purchasing, the states received better prices. Ohios split of the development cost is only $138,367. An additional $1.7 million is being spent to implement the IIS in Ohio which includes connecting the IIS to other resources in Ohio. Under the contract, the Thinkgate IIS will be available to all Race to the Top (RttT) schools funded by ODE using the RttT grant for the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 school years. All schools could then pay a per-student price that will be based upon how many districts ultimately adopt the system. Estimates indicate that the cost will be between $2.75 and $5 per student. Use of the Thinkgate system is voluntary. The new IIS is still being developed and tested but will be available to RttT school districts beginning next school year. Visit http:// thinkgate.net/ohma/ to view video and learn more. [3]

Ohio, Massachusetts Select Thinkgate to Provide Online Learning and Data System For Educators

Ohios schools will have access to a state-of-the-art system that lets teachers analyze student achievement and select the best learning resources under a contract awarded today. Thinkgate, LLC has been selected to provide an instructional improvement system (IIS) for schools in Ohio and Massachusetts. Both states education agencies agreed to create powerful online learning platforms as part of their federal Race to the Top grants and teamed up to conduct a competitive procurement. As part of Ohios system, the Ohio Department of Education will collaborate with the Ohio Board of Regents (OBR) to incorporate iLearnOhio.org, a one-stop home for high quality K-12 content that is aligned with the states new learning standards. iLearnOhio is the product of a collaboration of the Ohio Resource Center, The Ohio State University College of Education and Human Ecology, and OBR. It has never been more important for educators to use modern technology to give students customized learning options based upon real data about their needs, said Michael Sawyers, Acting Superintendent of Public Instruction. Creating a statewide instructional improvement system is truly the beginning of a new era in Ohio education. The IIS will enable teachers to accelerate and personalize the education experience by providing the following features: Online access to curriculum and standards; Curriculum customization; Easy-to-use paper, online and clicker test administration options that teachers can use to determine what progress students have made and what help they need; Data analysis and reporting capabilities; A portfolio of all students work.

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Our goal is provide educators immediate, relevant information that allows them to make instruction more personal for every student, every day, shared Eric Waynick, Thinkgate CEO. Our instructional improvement technology provides this benet when used by committed educators. Ohio and Massachusetts have proven to be innovative leaders in education and we are excited about this partnership. This new toolkit will allow our educators and students to more effectively engage in a teaching and learning partnership, said Massachusetts Education Secretary Paul Reville. By giving educators a way to track and assess student progress, and facilitating consistent feedback between students and teachers on performance, we are helping close those gaps that prevent students from reaching their full potential in the classroom. Thinkgate was selected through a competitive bid process and an innovative procurement partnership between the Ohio and Massachusetts education agencies. By pooling purchasing, the states received better prices. Ohios split of the development cost is only $138,367. An additional $1.7 million is being spent to implement the IIS in Ohio, which includes connecting the IIS to other resources in Ohio. Under the contract, the Thinkgate IIS will be available to all Race to the Top (RttT) schools funded by the ODE using the RttT grant for the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 school years. All schools could then pay a per-student price that will be based upon how many districts ultimately adopt the system. Estimates indicate that the cost will be between $2.75 and $5 per student. Use of the Thinkgate system is voluntary. Integrating iLearnOhio.org into the new system will assist schools in selecting: Full-year courses, such as Advanced Placement courses for students who are ahead (state tuition waivers offered) or credit recovery courses for students who must repeat a course. Online college courses for students still working on a high school or home school diploma. Learning objects to assess a student's learning level to match him/her to appropriate level resources. Webinars and other extra help for students needing remedial assistance. Reduced costs for fee-based resources, thanks to efciency in state bulk purchasing. The new IIS is still being developed and tested, but will be available to RttT school districts beginning next school year.

Tech News
Feb. 6 is National Digital Learning Day, a campaign sponsored by the Alliance for Excellence in Education to spotlight successful instructional practice and effective use of technology across the country. We have joined with several partners to celebrate Ohios commitment to increasing student access to quality digital and blended learning. eTechOhio is hosting a collaborative website containing great information about Ohios strengths in providing infrastructure, creating innovative policy and model sites for the digital transition, as well as information on Digital Learning Day events around the state. I encourage you to explore it for ideas to use in your district and to participate in two Digital Learning Day events on Feb. 6. Your participation is needed in our attempt to set a world record for the most students learning online in one day. The Ohio Digital Learning Day Committee is teaming up with the American Dairy Association to offer grade-appropriate online learning sessions about nutrition. These lessons include multiple digital learning approaches and align with most course topics. The lessons and participation information are available here. Additionally, that evening, WOSU and the state partners are hosting a leadership panel entitled: Leaderships role in launching and expanding blended learning in Ohio. The panel will take place at WOSUs COSI studio in Columbus from 5:30-6:30pm. Four Ohio school leaders will reect on whats worked and what hasnt as theyve journeyed into blended learning with students, teachers and parents. The presenters include Loveland Schools Superintendent John Marschhausen, Gahanna-Jefferson HS principal Dwight Carter, Cleveland Metropolitan School Districts New Tech West High School principal Erin Frew and Forest Hills Local Schools Nagel Middle School principal Natasha Adams. The panel will take questions from the audience and be broadcast on WOSU and other Ohio Public Television stations in the weeks following the event. The recorded forum will also be available on the Ohio Digital Learning website for viewing once production is completed. If interested in attending, please contact Tracy Taylor at eTechOhio by Friday, Feb. 1 at tracy.taylor@etech.ohio.gov. Free digital resources to support the Third Grade Reading Guarantee INFOhios digital resource collection, available to all schools at no charge, offers many tools to help students meet the requirements of the Third Grade Reading Guarantee. Among them are the Early World of Learning and Searchasaurus. The Early World of Learning offers students in grades K-3 narrated stories, interactive reading games, leveled reading practice and an online encyclopedia. Searchasaurus helps students in K-3 practice reading and searching skills. It also allows for Lexile-level searching, which lets educators target articles specically to the needs of the student. Ohio educators offer unique insights via blogs Teachers are an active group on many social media channels, but a few dozen regularly share their thoughts and useful information online in the form of web logs, more commonly referred to as blogs. A blog is webpage where the author posts journal-like entries that others can subscribe to, comment on and share. ODE has compiled a list of Ohio-based education bloggers available here. National Public Radios StateImpact Ohio has also compiled a list of Ohio educators who use Twitter frequently, a list that can be found here. These lists are by no means exhaustive nor an endorsement of views contained in the listed blogs. Feel free to share appropriate blogs for inclusion on either list. The National Humanities Center offers free online seminars American in Class is provided by the National Humanities Center and offers free seminars that focus on teaching with primary sources historical documents, literary texts, visual images, and audio material. Emphasizing critical analysis and close reading, they address the skills of the Common Core State Standards while giving teachers the opportunity to deepen their content knowledge. Seminar texts are provided free online. The Center draws texts from a variety of sources, including America in Class primary sources and lessons, and attempts to select fresh material that will invigorate classroom instruction. Led by distinguished scholars, these live, interactive seminars focus on teaching with primary sources -- historical documents, literary texts, visual images, and audio material. See the full seminar schedule for more details and registration. Review the technical specications and learn how an online seminar works.

INFOhio offers free classroom webinars Upcoming sessions include:

Jan. 24 Digital Badging for Learning in Libraries Collecting online badges as signs of acquired skills is an emerging concept in education. Cloth badges on sashes, kerchiefs or vests badges dened scouting and gave scouts a way of displaying their skills. How can moving that practice online transform learning? A team from the University of Michigan School of Information joins INFOhio in discussing this question. [5]

Tech News CONTINUED....

Feb. 7 Curation: Trends, Tools and Teaching with Emily Colpi, Library Media Specialist, Mariemont City Schools. The word curation is hot right now in the worlds of tech and business, but most teachers and students know little about what this term means and how it can be used in learning. Participants will learn why curation is an important 21st century skill and how it can help in teaching critical thinking skills. They also will look at sample curation pieces and discuss what to consider before assigning a curation project. Special emphasis will be on using curation to assess student learning. Online newspaper collection contains activities for the classroom NewsBank, a collection of digital newspapers offered free to schools through INFOhio, is a great way to incorporate current events, text complexity and research techniques into the classroom. The News Headlines/Activities section presents top stories in politics, science, sports and culture from around the world along with related activities based on Common Core State Standards. The Hot Topics section poses questions about current stories of interest and suggests search terms to help students explore on their own. Look for both sections in the top left corner of the NewsBank home page. ODE ePublication Center The Ohio Department of Education is committed to providing a wide variety of documents in formats that can be easily viewed on popular readers. This will include Ohios new Model Curriculum and Academic Content Standards, which we are actively working to convert into e-reader les. This page will be updated frequently as new documents become available. This years Statewide Education Conference in Columbus was rich with information every educator should have. At this link, youll nd the latest issue of Tools for Teachers, the Ohio Department of Educations eNewsletter for educators, which contains a summary of the conference and links to session recaps and resources.

If you are interested in some additional professional development on Mcrel walk through instructional videos, you can visit the companies You Tube videos. There are over 30 educational related videos for review. iPad Applications In Blooms Taxonomy An interesting graphic that actually places example iPad applications into Blooms levels of performance in the cognitive domain. Focussed around students, and not really workplace learning, but interesting nonetheless. Check it out.

Scootpad is a site where students can go to practice all of the Common Core standards for math and reading. The site is adaptive, so students can
move through the standards at their own pace. You can also modify the content to meet the needs of specic students! As a teacher, you will be able to see data {a lot of graphs} about how each student is performing and can also get detailed email updates about students' progress. Common Core math and reading practice is available for grades 1-3 on Scootpad. Practice is not available for grades K or 4-5, but the site says it's coming soon! (Update: K, 4, and 5 will be available by August 15) As students complete practices on Scootpad, they earn coins. In your teacher account, you can create rewards and specify the amount of coins that each reward is worth. You can use tangible items like candy or a pencil, or set other rewards like lunch with the teacher or show and tell. Parents can also set rewards for their child to earn at home. Social media... students love being able to connect with their friends on Scootpad! They can send messages to each other, choose a smiley face to indicate how they are feeling for the day, pick out their own avatar, check out their news feed (updates about messages from friends and coins they have earned), look at the class wall (with posts from the teacher), and check out the leader boards. One nice feature is that the messages are pre-selected, so students can't actually type anything to each other. As the teacher, you CAN type messages to students, which is great for encouragement. Here is how one teacher used Scootpad in her classroom last year: 1) Fast nishers logged on when their work was complete {I am blessed to have 4 desktop computers. I also house our level's laptop cart in my room, so I have a lot of computers available!} 2) Students chose to use Scootpad during centers while I worked with guided reading groups. 3) Homework! I was amazed by the amount of students who used Scootpad at home for fun! I think that says a lot about a website when students choose to use it at home. [6]

8 Simple Ways To Start Using Video In Your Classroom

There are hundreds of video sites perfect for your classroom. They wouldnt exist without useful videos. Therefore, its safe to say that video is playing a big role in the lives of todays students. But how much of a role does it play in the future of education? Luckily, Cisco conducted a study (PDF) and crafted a whitepaper that details exactly what we should expect in the coming years regarding video. They also whipped up a handy infographic if you dont have time to comb through the whitepaper. Ive highlighted some of the key points below: Key Takeaway The paper encourages educators, superintendents, administrators, deans, and information and communications technology specialists to see video technologies as tools that enable and support the learning process and that need to be complemented with forward-looking pedagogies, solid professional development programs for teachers, and a true integration with curricula.

Recommended Applications
Basic instruction In foreign language classes, history and geography lessons where students can bring a subject to life, stimulate their ability to recall facts and events, and experience places they wouldnt otherwise experience. Advanced instruction In science subjects like physics, mathematics, astronomy and biology allowing students to expand their understanding of complex concepts by strengthening the links between abstract ideas and practical applications. Classroom enrichment Video gives students the opportunity to travel to remote places outside the classroom walls without leaving school. Accelerated learning One-way streaming blended with other online methods of communicating is one of several ways of ensuring that learners can take the college-level courses they need. Distance education To make courses, lectures, and faculty accessible to populations in remote areas and also to students with disabilities or with physical impairments. Global student collaboration Video technologies can help students connect with peers located in different campuses and in different countries so that they can interact with different cultures, exchanging information and learning from each other. Communications Video can also be used to stream instructional/informational or entertainment related content at campus public areas such as cafeterias, auditoriums, and stadiums. Professional development Using video technologies has proven helpful for primary and secondary in training teachers when sharing resources, exchanging ideas, recording and evaluating themselves, and taking full advantage of professional development opportunities they might otherwise miss. [7]

You Have to Check Out ReadingRockets.org

Teaching kids to read and helping those who struggle
Our library provides teachers with effective, research-based classroom strategies to help build and strengthen literacy skills in the following areas: print awareness, phonological awareness, phonics, uency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing. 1 Print awareness 2 Phonological awareness 3 Phonics 4 Fluency 5 Vocabulary 6 Comprehension 7 Writing When using any teaching strategy, teachers should (1) help students to understand why a strategy is useful, and (2) describe explicitly how the strategy should be used. Teacher demonstration, modeling, and follow-up independent practice are critical factors for success. Student discussion following strategy instruction is also helpful. Each strategy in the library includes: 1 Instructions on how to use the strategy 2 Downloadable templates 3 Examples 4 Recommended children's books to use with the strategy 5 Differentiation for second language learners, students of varying reading skill, students with learning disabilities, and younger learners 6 Supporting research Which strategy? The chart lists all of the strategies currently in our library, with guidance on when to use each strategy. It allows you to see right away if a particular strategy should be used before, during, and/or after reading.

Helping Struggling Readers

Unfortunately, the older a child is, the more difcult it is to teach him or her to read. The window of opportunity closes early for most kids. If a child can't read well by the end of third grade, odds are that he or she will never catch up. And the effects of falling behind and feeling like a failure can be devastating. Click below to nd information on: 1 Top 10 Things You Should Know About Reading What it takes to learn to read, the achievement gap in the U.S., and how we can help struggling readers 2 FAQs Find answers to real questions from real parents about reading and learning disabilities 3 Q&A with nationally known experts A new monthly feature covering topics such as assessment, cognition and learning, and educational technology 4 Why They Struggle Learn why some kids struggle with reading 5 Target the Problem! Pinpoint the problem a struggling reader is having and discover ways to help 6 Assessment Process Find out how to get your child evaluated 7 Parent as Advocate Why you need to toughen up and stand up for your child 8 Finding Help Where to get extra help for your struggling reader 9 Self-Esteem and Reading Difculties What else suffers when kids struggle in school and what they can do to help themselves 10 Struggling Readers Find more Reading Rockets resources, including inside the classroom video, webcasts, articles, and related research Early identication is crucial. Please, if you suspect a problem, don't hesitate. Learn about reading difculties, get your child assessed, nd out what you can do to help your struggling reader, and don't give up! Related articles Top 10 Things You Should Know About Reading Reading Intervention Programs: A Comparative Chart Early Signs of a Reading Difculty Seeking Help for a Struggling Reader: Seven Steps for Teachers About Reading Disabilities, Learning Disabilities, and Reading Difculties [8]