Does it make a difference when community members volunteer in your school?

Does it make a difference when community members volunteer in your school?

I have always believed that parents and other community members could make a difference in schools and have recently had that notion confirmed. I had the opportunity to talk with a community volunteer and was touched by his sincere appreciation and understanding of a student he listens to read.

The volunteer works in our community and has no real connection to the elementary school. He volunteers an hour each week out of his busy schedule and says it is one of the best things he has done. He readily admits that he had no idea of the varying needs our students have.

The last week that he was in to volunteer the regular teacher was away and the substitute teacher said to take who ever he wanted to listen to. He asked the kids who wanted to read and was very surprised to see the hand of a young fellow who struggles shoot up. He chose another student and told the other one that he was next. The struggling reader beamed, the volunteer thought that was weird thinking, that kid has to work so hard to read.

When it came time for the struggling reader to read he brought a book about legends of mythical creatures which was unusual, because he usually brought comic books and generally just talked about the pictures rather than read the words. He opened the book to a page that he had marked and began reading fluently and continued to this for another page and then skipped a page that had words with definitions. The volunteer was a bit confused and was wondering what the difference was. He asked the student why he had skipped the page and he said he didn’t know. The volunteer stated that they should read it because he wasn’t sure what some of those big words meant. When they went back to the page the student struggled, needing assistance from the volunteer. They went on to the next page and he was able to read it well. The volunteer stopped him and asked what the difference was and the reader said, “Well, I practiced three pages, I read them four times because I wanted to show you that I could read them to you”.

The volunteer’s heart was touched deeply – this kid had worked so hard to impress him. He knows he made a connection with that student and in doing so made a difference.

Check out the Lochearn C.A.R.E.S reading program at http://lochearncares.blogspot.com/

Why Change Assessment practices?

Assessment means to sit beside and guide the next instructional steps of learning. We need to deeply involve the learner. It means having the students and teachers working together to improve learning.
Evaluation means to value, to judge. It is summative and should only occur at the end of the learning. It is done by the teacher.

Assessment = scaffolding /practice/practice/practice Evaluation = Showtime! - Sandra Herbst


Classroom assessment has the greatest impact on student learning and achievement of any educational innovation ever documented and is especially true for students who struggle and need additional instructional support. - Black and Wiliam 1998

Perhaps the question should be - Why do we keep assessing students in traditional ways?

How long will it take for schools to change so that all students are engaged learners?

I recently heard someone say not long …… what will take the time is for them to decide to change.

In the words of Martin Luther King………

“We are now faced with the fact my friends that tomorrow is today.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.”

Can we make a difference in student learning by using formative assessment?

If the greater value is given the score, then value the score. If the greater value is intrinsic, then value the child.

Bob Stanish – The Giving Book

I believe if we as teachers understand our curriculum and truly use outcomes to drive our teaching we will use assessment to improve student learning.

Formative assessment breaks down the outcomes in order for the child to scaffold his or her learning. The assessment tells the child and the teacher whether the child needs to go forward or take a step back and revisit the learning outcome.

If we are able to communicate this with the learner and their parents we will improve learning.

Thomas Guskey – One of the greatest challenges that we face is describing students levels of academic performance in meaningful ways to parents and others.

Mentorship-what does it take to be an awesome mentor?

In "Mentors: They Simply Believe," Lasley (1996) argues that the crucial characteristic of mentors is the ability to communicate their belief that a person is capable of transcending present challenges and of accomplishing great things in the future.

I have been reflecting on the many informal mentors that I have had in my teaching career and I think that the best mentors have been those that encouraged me to rise to the challenge and keep the big picture in view.

Listening, asking open-ended questions – not giving an easy answer are all ways that respect the importance of the individual and what they bring to the table.

Mentorship is a “lean on me and I’ll lean on you” way of being. Being respectful of what you can learn from each other is a recipe for an awesome mentorship experience.

Happiness - 5 facets to connect / be active/keep learning / take notice and give

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What can we learn from spaghetti sauce?

An awesome new administrator recommended that I watch this TED video by Malcom Gladwell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIiAAhUeR6Y

From this I am wondering just how important student choice is when it comes to assessment for learning?

Gladwell speaks about :
We are not always able to explain what we need or want.
Horizontal segmentation gives people something to aspire to - different things for different folks
Embracing diversity leads to happiness