Visiting Writers Series presents Jonathan Kozol

“There is something deeply hypocritical in a society that holds an inner-city child only eight years old “accountable” for her performance on a high-stakes standardized exam but does not hold the high officials of our government accountable for robbing her of what they gave their own kids six or seven years before” (Kozol, 54).














This statement from Kozol’s book Shame of the Nation presents tough questions on behalf of inner city students. Kozol is an acclaimed author, Harvard Graduate, and Rhodes Scholar who is visiting Hickory as part of the Visiting Writers Series at LRU.








Kozol began his career working in an inner city school and is a well known advocate for children. His involvement in equity issues has also contributed to his notoriety. His latest book, Letters to a Young Teacher is the Freshman read at LR.


Kozol has been called the “social conscious” of education and is concerned about the amount of time teachers spend preparing kids for standardized testing.











Hickory Public Schools’ teachers are invited to attend Kozol’s lecture at 4:00 pm on November 6 at PE Monroe Auditorium on the campus of Lenoir Rhyne University.

The lecture will be immediately followed by a special reception at 4:45.
















For more on the book, Shame of the Nation, please take a moment to view the YouTube clip below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pB-niRGNms

Attached you will find the invitation to the lecture, reception, and interview with Kozol.

References

(2008). Letters to a young teacher. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from Cover browser Web site: http://www.coverbrowser.com/search?q=letters+to+a+young+teacher&mode=searchResult

Bui, Trung (2008). Author finds hope in teacher. Retrieved October 30, 2008, from New Mexico Daily Lobo Web site:
http://media.www.dailylobo.com/media/storage/paper344/news/2007/09/27/News/Author.Finds.Hope.In.Teacher-2996645.shtml

Kozol, Jonathan (2005). Shame of the Nation. New York, New York: Random House.

More on Writing. . .Sample Content Area Prompts

This week’s message shows links to the state developed Moodles for professional development regarding the new writing assessment.

The link below is to a DPI site with examples of writing tasks by content area. Since the writing tasks have not been content specific in the past, I thought it would be helpful for you to see state provided examples.

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/testing/writing/writingtasks

This site could clear up some questions or add to your list of questions.

Let me know how I can help.

NC State Writing Assessment

OODLES OF MOODLES

The face of instructional delivery models is changing. There are now many other options to consider in addition to face-to-face delivery. Our state is using a Moodle-based software program to deliver the information regarding the changes to the NC Writing Assessment model.

The beauty of a Moodle is that it can be accessed online and you can complete the activities are your own pace.



What if you don’t teach Language Arts?

The new model for writing assessment will involve teachers in all curriculum areas. There are two Moodles from the state to support the shift. The first Moodle focuses on writing instruction while the second Moodle explains the nuts and bolts of the new process and timeline for writing assessment.

For this year, we will require that all 4th and 7th grade writing teachers complete Moodle II. In addition, all 7th grade teachers of Social Studies will need to complete Moodle II.

An E-mail was sent to principals with information regarding district-level support for Moodle training. We will offer sessions for 4th and 7th grade at the HPS Annex to assist in logging on and orienting teachers to the Moodle format.



4th Grade October 28th (3:30-5:00) at the Annex

7th Grade October 29th (3:00-4:00) at the Annex


On December 2nd, we will have additional training for 4th grade (3:30-5:00) on closing out the Moodle and setting up dates for the upcoming formative and summative assessments as well as the scoring sessions. The training for 7th grade teachers will be December 3rd from 3:00-5:00 at the Annex.

What about high school and other grade levels?

All teachers are encouraged to access and complete the Moodle.

In the near future, every pre-K – 12th grade teacher will be responsible for completing the Moodle and for assessing student writing in his/her content area.

Participation in writing assessment is now the responsibility of every teacher as outlined in the new North Carolina Writing Assessment Proposal.

For more information or details on this proposal, see the attached document.



MOODLE FAQs

What is a Moodle?

Moodle is an open source software package for producing Internet-based courses and websites. Click here to see an informational video on Moodle.

How will Moodle be used in the North Carolina Writing Assessment Program?

Moodle will be used to provide professional development for all teachers and for digital upload for the pilot schools.

What professional development is available for teachers?

Instructional Writing Across the Curriculum

How do I access the Writing Across the Curriculum course?

Click here to access the NC Writing Assessment System Moodle.

If I have questions, who do I contact?

For passwords, see your school-level testing coordinator

If the questions are technical, contact the NCSU Help Desk at ncdesk@ncsu.edu or (919) 515-1320.

If the questions are content related contact the Writing Assessment Help Desk at writingassessment@dpi.state.nc.us

Technological Change

Each week, I try to send information to you that is helpful, inspiring, or timely. Some weeks, I receive a ton of wonderful responses from teachers across the district. Sometimes we engage in our own dialogue back and forth about the subject. I have always wished we could engage in more systematic exchange around the issues presented in messages. But how to do that. . .

This week, I thought I would introduce a new tool in the weekly message arsenal. Yes, that's right, a blog. Donna Murray held my hand through the process of creating a blog and even linking it to my own Delicious account.

I will be pulling some of you kicking and screaming into the digital age. We are using a tool that will allow you to post comments about the weekly message that can be viewed by one another. Yes, this tool increases our ability to communicate quickly.

If this feels awkward to you, you are not alone. As I learned how to create this blog and my Delicious account, I felt like my brain was made of memory foam, minus the memory! Yes, it was awkward and after 2 hours, I wanted to take a nap. I had almost decided that I would rather hand write each of you.

But change is hard for all of us and I had to muddle through. It is still not comfortable for me to blog. I am learning a new format. A format that is essential to know in the digital age. It is very much like learning a different language. But all change is like this, isn't it?

We are working on our School Improvment Plans and IGPs. Both documentation of change. Both can be frustrating processes because they force us to examine what works. Why do we change our practice? The hope is to improve our results.

I tried to find some quotes to share with you about change. I first found one from Abraham Lincoln that speaks to the critical place we are in our educational system.

"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew."

Think about this quote for a minute. We must rise to the occasion by thinking and acting anew. Thinking and acting in ways that are different from before. The same methods yield the same results. What are we doing differently to reach students?

Then I found this quote from Alan Cohen.

"It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power."

What practices are we holding on to that are no longer meaningful for our students? Are we empowered within our buildings to take risks and try new things?

And if those quotes weren't heavy enough, I found this one from Albert Einstein.

"Technological change is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal."

Change is not easy for any of us. But necessary for all of us.

What new strategies are you using in your classroom that really seem to work? I would love to hear from you. Post a comment.

You can post as anonymous if you like, so you don't have to create a google account if you don't have one. Just add your name to the bottom of the body of the post.

Thank you for all you do!

Weekly Message- Inclusive Classrooms

Inclusive classrooms create students who are comfortable with differences, skilled at confronting challenging issues, and aware of their interconnectedness. Mara Sapon-Shevin shares ways we can redefine the inclusive classroom in this month’s issue of Educational Leadership.

Ten Strategies for Creating a Positive Inclusive Classroom


Make time for community building throughout the year. Time spent building community is never wasted.


Proactively teach positive social skills: how to make friends, how to give compliments, what to do if someone teases you or hurts your feelings. Don’t’ wait for negative things to happen.


Be explicit in explaining to your students why treating one another well and building a community is important. Use key terms: community, inclusion, friends, support, caring, kindness. Don’t let those words become empty slogans; give several examples of those positive behaviors.


Adopt a zero-indifference policy. Don’t ignore the bullying in the hope that it will go away. Don’t punish the participants, but be clear about what is acceptable. Say, “I don’t want that word used in my classroom. It hurts people’s feelings, and it’s not kind.”


Share your own learning around issues of diversity and inclusion. When students see that you are also learning (and struggling), they can share their own journeys more easily. Tell them, “You know, when I was growing up, there were some words I heard and used that I don’t use anymore, and here’s why. Sometimes I’m still a little uncomfortable when I see people with significant physical differences, but here’s what I’ve been learning.”




Think about what message you’re communicating about community and differences in everything you do, including the books you read to your students, the songs you sing, what you put on the walls, and how you talk about different families and world events.


Seize teachable moments for social justice. When students say, “That’s so gay,” or “That’s so retarded,” talk about the power of words to hurt people and where such oppressive language can lead. When a student makes fun of another student, talk about different cultures, norms, and experiences.


Provide many opportunities for students to work together, and teach them how to help on another. End activities in “Appreciation Circles.” Ask students, “What’s something you did well today?” “How did __________ help you today?” “Who provided a new insight to you today?” etc.


Don’t set students up to compete with one another. Create an atmosphere in which each student knows that he/she is valued for something.


Keep in mind that your students will remember only some of what you taught them but everything about how they felt in your classroom.


Visit the September 2008 issue of Educational Leadership online at www.ascd.org/el to read a review of Mara Sapon-Shevin’s book Widening the Circle: The Power of Inclusive Classrooms.

Sapon-Shevin, Mara (2008).Learning in an inclusive community. Educational Leadership. 66, 49-53.