International Comparisions in Education

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Retention Revisited

Yesterday I had the opportunity to listen to Dr. Jason Glass, the Director of Education for the Department of Education. He was summarizing many of the proposed legislation dealing with education reform in Iowa. Many topics were covered, but as always, one of the most emotional discussion was about "3rd Grade Retention" for students not proficient in reading.

After I listened to Dr. Glass, I think we need to take a step back and focus on what the core issue is. We are NOT talking about the traditional model of simply holding a student back (we know that this has not been an effective strategy). What we ARE talking about, is a structured PK-3 system for literacy instruction.

Within this system, there would be processes in place for students to receive interventions and differentiated instruction for students who are not reaching the level of competency we need for them to be successful.

When listening to all of this a light bulb went on in my head...isn't this what we should be doing anyway? We can not like a system that helps students read by the end of 3rd grade, or we can continue to socially promote them and set them up for failure and an academic career of frustration. Lets pull together and make some positive changes.

Happy Holidays...

Thought of the Week: Question...who is cheery, checks to see if kids are naughty or nice, and gives great gifts??? Its TEACHERS of course (you thought I was going to say Santa)! We have the opportunity to give students the greatest gift on a daily basis. The love of learning should never be underestimated. Amy and I choose to give our nephews books for Christmas. Our hope is that when the excitement of all the expensive gizmos and gadgets are gone, the books will remain. Our hope is that they will read them and see that reading can open their future to whatever they choose. Lofty goals for "Five Little Monkeys", but we have high expectations :)

Next week I will be around with a special gift for each of you. I want you to know that I appreciate all of your efforts to make our school the greatest it can be. Amy, Breckyn and I are very blessed to be a part of a wonderful family and community. From our family to yours, we hope you have a Merry Christmas! (and don't forget to read a book)

Friday Focus 12.2.11

"Isn't the principal a dummy!" said a boy to a girl.

"Say, do you know who I am?" asked the girl.
"No."
"I'm the principal's daughter."

"And do you know who I am?" asked the boy.
"No," she replied.
"Thank goodness!"

Quote of the Week: "Teaching is the profession that makes all other professions possible." -Unknown

Shout Outs: I want to thank the elementary staff for all of their hard work collaborating celebration days and also their open and honest conversations to make the building the best it can be!

Thought of the Week: Don't take this personally...but I want you to leave. There, I said it!

I want you to leave your classroom and go watch a peer teach a fantastic lesson. I want you to leave and attend a professional development training and bring it back to share with your peers. I want you to leave your comfort zone and find out that you don't have to work harder than the students for them to learn. I want you to leave ineffective past practices in your desk drawer. I want you to leave your comfort zone (again) and fail, learn from it, and make it better. I want you to leave your boring worksheets in the binders.

I want you to leave if you are negative, cynical, and poisoning our wonderful learning environment. I want you to leave your presumptions and prejudices at the door and welcome every student into your classroom (no matter how naughty they were the day before). I want you to leave the politics out of your classroom. I want you to leave the belief that not every student in our school can learn.

Leaving isn't always bad. You should try it sometime.

Important News and Notes

Parents,

Greetings! I have a few important notes to share with you...

1) Parent-Teacher Conferences (PTC) will be this Thursday and next Tuesday. Our goal is 100% participation from our parents. The middle school and high school teachers will be calling their advisory student's parents to see when you will be available to come and visit. All PTC will be in individual teacher rooms this year. PTC are an important way to learn about your child. Here are tips to help you have a more successful PTC:

*Plan for it. Before you come to your conference, write out questions you'd like to ask. Here are suggestions:

-Does my child get along with others?

-How is my child's behavior in class?

-Does my child read at the level you would expect for this grade?

-Is my child able to do the math that you would expect for a student at this grade?

-What are my child's strength's and weaknesses?

*Keep an open mind. Your goal is to work for cooperation between you and your child's teacher. Even if the teacher says something you disagree with, try to listen to what he/she has to say.

*Ask to see your child's work. There's no better way to see how your child is progressing.

*Ask for suggestions. If your child is doing well, ask what you can do to keep things on a positive track. If there are problems, ask what you can do to help.

*Clarify and summarize as you go. Teachers sometimes use educational buzz words. If you don't understand something the teacher says, just ask.

2) There will be a Public Hearing on Thursday following PTC at 8:00pm in regards to sharing football with Ruthven-Ayshire. If you cannot attend the meeting, but would like to provide input, please contact me directly before the meeting.

3) Winter is coming! I will be sending a test alert today to test our communication system. Here are a couple of ways to stay informed:

* https://schoolalerts.iowa.gov This is the site most of our district uses. Follow the directions to sign up to have alerts directly sent to your phone.

* www.ktiv.com/alerts

* http://www.kicdam.com/School-Closings/

*All local radio stations

Thank you for sharing your students with us everyday. We take pride in the education that we provide for our students. If you have questions, concerns, or feedback please feel free to contact me. Have a wonderful week!

Thanks,

Jess

Jesse Ulrich, Principal

Graettinger-Terril CSD

712.859.3286

http://principalulrichscorner.blogspot.com/

Twitter: @jdulrich76

Skype: jesseulrich

Friday Focus 11.4.11

I listened to Shawn Cornally, a teacher from Solon CSD speak to our group about assessment (good timing for me). You may want to read the entire focus this week, there is an assignment at the end :)

Quote of the Week: "You’ve got to get to a stage in life where going for it is more important than winning or losing." -Arthur Ashe

Shout Outs: Big thank you to our PBiS leadership team for planning for our end of the quarter celebrations! Also, a big thanks to our middle school staff for their recent interdisciplinary units!

Thought of the Week: I'm beginning with the end in mind with the change coming in our district. It is a topic that has been haunting me at night, and until we can get on the same philosophical page with it, we can't move forward. I want to take a few moments to talk about assessment for/of learning.

Here is a question for you...if you stood in the front of your class the 1st day of school and said, "I have a bag of 100,000 M&M's...I will offer any student an "A" for the course if they choose to sort the bag of M&M's by color rather than taking the class traditionally." After the students realize you are serious...how many students would take you up on the offer? Think about it for a second and then be real to yourself (your gut answer is probably right). Reality is MOST of our students would take the "A" and sort the M&M's. WHY??? Its the same reason students always ask how much an assignment/paper/project is worth. Have you guessed it yet?

Answer: We (as a society and an educational system) have put more value on what the final grade for the course is rather than what was actually learned.

The point is this, the whole basis of teaching is informing students what we want them to learn, teaching/guiding/facilitating knowledge, and then assessing if they know what we wanted them to learn. Assessment is not a compliance issue. The reason I bring this up is I believe we are too focused on homework completion rather than if students actually are learning what we are asking them to learn.

So how can we fix it? I have ideas, but I want to hear yours. Your assignment this week/weekend is to respond to this blog with your thoughts/reflections/opinions on the issues I've talked about in this Friday Focus. It is due Monday by 8:00am. I'm looking forward to the conversations

1st Day of School!!!

My favorite day of school!!! Random photos of the day...