If you want to assess a skill that isn't showing up in Assessment Center, perhaps Assessment Center has aligned it with a different grade level. Al Bode, a recently retired Skills Iowa Project leader, has created a great web page that gives links to all skills assessed at each grade level in all subjects. It can save you a lot of time when you are searching for a skill.
Go to: Assessment Center Grade Levels and then bookmark that website for future reference.
This blog is designed to assist and inspire Skills Iowa schools in their efforts to improve student learning.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Happy Earth Day
It's not only the Pennsylvania presidential primary, it's also Earth Day.
I was struck by the news this morning that the first Earth Day was in 1970. According to Wikipedia, here's what else was going on in 1970:
Among other things, 1970 in the United States brought with it the Kent State shootings, the advent of fiber optics, "Bridge over Troubled Water," Apollo 13, the Beatles' last album, the death of Jimi Hendrix, and the meltdown of fuel rods in the Savannah River nuclear plant near Aiken, South Carolina -- an incident not acknowledged for 18 years. At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. Environment was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the evening news. But Earth Day 1970 turned that all around.
Well, I don't know if we have conquered our environmental problems, but it is certainly good to hear that our air and water are cleaner than they were nearly 40 years ago.
One thing I have learned in traveling around the state for Skills Iowa is that we have a beautiful and varied state. I hope we all do what we can to insure it stays that way.
Happy Earth Day!
Here is the official U.S. Government Earth Day website. www.earthday.gov There are some interesting educational activities listed there that could be used on ANY day of the year.
Jim Lippold
Skills Iowa Project Leader
jlippold@ia-sb.org
I was struck by the news this morning that the first Earth Day was in 1970. According to Wikipedia, here's what else was going on in 1970:
Among other things, 1970 in the United States brought with it the Kent State shootings, the advent of fiber optics, "Bridge over Troubled Water," Apollo 13, the Beatles' last album, the death of Jimi Hendrix, and the meltdown of fuel rods in the Savannah River nuclear plant near Aiken, South Carolina -- an incident not acknowledged for 18 years. At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. Environment was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the evening news. But Earth Day 1970 turned that all around.
Well, I don't know if we have conquered our environmental problems, but it is certainly good to hear that our air and water are cleaner than they were nearly 40 years ago.
One thing I have learned in traveling around the state for Skills Iowa is that we have a beautiful and varied state. I hope we all do what we can to insure it stays that way.
Happy Earth Day!
Here is the official U.S. Government Earth Day website. www.earthday.gov There are some interesting educational activities listed there that could be used on ANY day of the year.
Jim Lippold
Skills Iowa Project Leader
jlippold@ia-sb.org
Reading Good Nonfiction
Last week we asked for what you do in the summer. Mrs. M. responded that she reads and reads some more. What are you reading? I read World Without End and The Pillars of the Earth both by Ken Follett who used to write good spy novels on the recommendation of two very different friends. I thought if they both liked them, so would I. When I saw the length of both, I was flabbergasted, but once I got into them, I really like them. He’s a good story teller.
I have always had a place in my heart for non-fiction books. When I was a senior in high school, my speech teacher, Mrs. Stull, gave me a biography of Sarah Bernhardt, who Wikipedia says has been referred to as the most famous actress in the history of the world. I loved it because I wanted to become a famous actress (well THAT didn’t happen) and over time, have found other wonderful works of nonfiction. American Dreamer, a biography of Henry A. Wallace, written by former Senator John Culver and Des Moines Register reporter John Hyde, I’ve found particularly interesting. Vice-President Wallace was born in my county and was named the most influential Iowan of the century by the Des Moines Register. What an amazing guy he was – a founder of Pioneer, a developer of effective farm programs, a promoter of peace, a scientist, and certainly a dreamer. The picture at the beginning of this post is from his farm located about 8 miles east of Greenfield in Adair County.
When my former school began working in the Every Child Reads initiative and we began to focus on children’s nonfiction, I became a great lover of Seymour Simon, Gail Gibbons, Jim Murphy, and others. I learn so much reading nonfiction children’s books. Talk about developing content knowledge! A friend who knows says that the vocabulary in children’s nonfiction is often commensurate with doctoral level writing. No surprise to me! I’m so glad we’re understanding the value of nonfiction integrated into our curriculum in Iowa for students of all levels. Nina Carran, Emily Calhoun, Carlene Lodermeier, the statewide reading team, and others have certainly contributed to that understanding. Thanks to them.
So back to you… what are you reading? Do you like the infusion of good nonfiction into the curriculum? Weigh in!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Healthy Kids
The Drake Relays are coming up. I love the Relays. Even if you don't like track and field, watching all those healthy young people gives me great hope for the future. And the food - speaking of the OPPOSITE of healthy. Whew. Pic is of my favorite track team at state track last year. Geesh. We've missed a lot of meets already. Hope the weather holds this week, so the kids can get in some meets. Even if you don't like track, go hang out a meet and get your energy renewed. Great kids being healthy - ya can't beat that.
Tom Friedman, The World Is Flat
Tom Friedman who wrote The World is Flat and hails from Minneapolis spoke to the National Governors’ Association when they met in Iowa in July of 2005 when then Governor Vilsack was chair. While that seems like a while ago, his message is certainly still pertinent and I think you might find it interesting. He addresses clearly WHY kids have to know more when they leave school than I did when I left Beaman-Conrad way too many years ago to say out loud.
In the World Is Flat Friedman argues that if we don't figure out how to educate everybody well, our economy and our standing in the world will not be what they once were. While I know this idea gives people hives, given the problems kids have who walk through the school house door, how do we do this? If schools don't, who will? What resources would we need to make it happen? Isn't this what public education is all about - giving kids a chance to be somebody? Let me know what you think.
In the World Is Flat Friedman argues that if we don't figure out how to educate everybody well, our economy and our standing in the world will not be what they once were. While I know this idea gives people hives, given the problems kids have who walk through the school house door, how do we do this? If schools don't, who will? What resources would we need to make it happen? Isn't this what public education is all about - giving kids a chance to be somebody? Let me know what you think.
Go to this site to see the video or to hear the audio. Scroll down the page and look for Thomas Friedman.
Preschool!
My sister Jen, this wonderful woman to the left, is a preschool teacher. I think she’s a saint. I taught a few kids in K-2 when I taught special education, but I thought it was a tough go. What do you think about the infusion of preschool dollars into local schools? How will that help you do your job? Does your district make clear what you want kids to know and do upon kindergarten entry? What are those things? IASB provides tons of resources for developing a quality preschool program. Find them at this website.
Assess, Analyze, Act
The project leaders; Pam, Dennis, Myra, Jim, Doug, and Jane; are coming into Des Moines for our monthly meeting on Wednesday. We do have a good time together, and they work hard to help schools implement Skills Iowa well. Al has retired and he and his wife Patricia plan to spend serious time traveling. You can see the project leader pics at http://www.ia-sb.org/skillsiowa/staff.aspx
Do you think the way you use Skills Iowa makes a difference for kids? Do you use the Assess, Analyze, Act sequence to support the learning of your students? Let us know how that works for you.
The National Middle School Association provides an interesting article on formative assessment. “Formative assessment is a tool teachers can use to probe student understanding, inform instructional decisions, and develop relationships. Bell and Cowie (2001) defined formative assessment as ‘the process used by teachers and students to recognize and respond to student learning in order to enhance that learning, during the learning.’ This rich description explicitly states the process and the players, but not the difficulty of its implementation when district calendars are promoting coverage of material.”
http://www.nmsa.org/Publications/MiddleSchoolJournal/Articles/March2006/Article7/tabid/722/Default.aspx
Do you think the way you use Skills Iowa makes a difference for kids? Do you use the Assess, Analyze, Act sequence to support the learning of your students? Let us know how that works for you.
The National Middle School Association provides an interesting article on formative assessment. “Formative assessment is a tool teachers can use to probe student understanding, inform instructional decisions, and develop relationships. Bell and Cowie (2001) defined formative assessment as ‘the process used by teachers and students to recognize and respond to student learning in order to enhance that learning, during the learning.’ This rich description explicitly states the process and the players, but not the difficulty of its implementation when district calendars are promoting coverage of material.”
http://www.nmsa.org/Publications/MiddleSchoolJournal/Articles/March2006/Article7/tabid/722/Default.aspx
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