We're still here..

but we are aware that most of you are off for the summer. The postings on the Skills Iowa blog will start again in earnest in August. If you have questions in the meantime, please contact your project leader for help.

Time to share...

What will you be doing for fun this summer? What have you done in the past that you think others would enjoy? Share it with others and we'll let you know if it works out for us.

Have a good summer, and if a spare moment arrives, think about how you will use Skills Iowa next year.

Memorial Day Memory

I was thinking about a friend of mine who I haven't thought of in years this morning. We were great pals when we were just little guys. I'd go to his home and play, and he'd come to mine. He was the only one of my friends whose parents my mom had to call and tell them to come and pick him up. He was fearless. We climbed to the top of the corn crib inside the alleyway. We went to the top of everything that seven year olds could get to. I was brave on those occasions, but he was fearless.

As time progressed, we went different directions. I went to college, and he went into the Marines. Years ago, when visiting Washington D.C., I found his name on the Vietnam Memorial. I looked his name up in the directory, and found that we were there one day before the anniversary of his death. I also discovered that my wife and he shared the same birthday; he would have been one year older. Some time after that, I was at the cemetery in my home town for Memorial Day. I found a clipping in the gathering building there that told of his death. Strangely, whoever had cut out the clipping had left a notice in about a play that I was going to perform in at college. Such different paths, and yet we seemed to be linked in so many ways.

Here is a portion of what was written about him in his Bronze Star Citation, "...while conducting a patrol near the Khe Sahn Combat Base, the Marines came under intense mortar and automatic weapons fire from a numerically superior, well-entrenched North Vietnamese Army force and sustained numerous casualties. Ordered to attack, Private First Class Anderson and several companions boldly advanced, routing the enemy soldiers and seizing the emplacement. While consolidating to continue the assault, he alertly observed several wounded Marines lying in an area dangerously exposed to hostile fire. Reacting instantly, he unhesitatingly left his covered position to aid the injured men. Fearlessly maneuvering across fifteen meters of fire-swept terrain, he reached the side of a casualty and skillfully administered first aid. Ignoring the enemy rounds impacting near him, he continued to treat the injured man, and while assisting him from the hazardous area, private Anderson was mortally wounded. His heroic actions and sincere concern for the welfare of his comrades inspired all who observed him....He gallantly gave his life in the service of his country."

It surprised me that after forty years his memory is still so vivid. I'm sorry he died so young.

If you would like to find someone from your community who gave their life in the service of their country while serving in Vietnam, go to: http://thewall-usa.com/index.asp#search and search by home of record and state.

Jim

Before you leave for the summer...

All of us at Skills Iowa thank you for what you do for the students in your classes, school and communities. We are incredibly proud to be a part of what you do to increase student achievement. The recent changes in education have not come without some difficulty and some pain, but you have embraced change and have done what you could to insure that all students have high and equitable achievement. Thank you.

Over the summer if you have questions about how you might utilize the programs comprising Skills Iowa, please feel free to contact your project leader. We are available all summer, and will be happy to answer any questions you might have or to offer suggestions on the use of our programs. If one of us can't answer your question, we will be happy to share the question with the rest of our Skills Iowa team until we can find the solution.

Enjoy your summer. Take some time to do something that you've been wanting to do. Breathe deeply and relax. And then, when you are ready to start thinking about 08-09, we'll be there to help if you need us.

Thanks so much for everything you do for kids.

Skills Iowa in the Summer

Your students don't have to stop using Skills Iowa just because school ends for the summer. If you set up assignments in Skills Tutor for your students, they can work with them at home until July 31st. There are many ways to set these assignments up, and you are the one who knows best what needs your students have. If you are assigning a section which the students have not yet done, you could just assign the pretest and Skills Tutor will take care of the rest. If you are assigning in an area that students have already taken the pretest, you may want to assign all of the activities to ensure that the student has access to every skill. Any lessons that have already been done can be done again and again.

You might want to look at the reports and determine which students could go from the level they've been working in to the next level up in difficulty or which students need to work in a lower difficulty lesson to find success. You could also assign each of the A, B, and C levels and let the students determine where they need to work.

Students will spend their time doing something this summer, and not every day lends itself to playing outside or doing chores. If they have at least one alternative to video games, they might just keep learning. A letter home to parents with the instructions on how to access the programs, what the username and password for their student is might just insure that your kids will keep learning during the summer.

Have you found solutions to problems?

More often than not, the Skills Iowa programs work with no problems at all, however, once in a while problems do arise. Frequently, emails or calls to the project leaders can lead to a quick resolution. Sometimes, calls to the company's support numbers are needed, but lots of times the problems get solved at the local level by teachers or by the tech coordinator for the school or building. A big problem maker is pop up blockers and firewalls that have to be administered by your tech person.

Today we'd like to know what problems you've found, and what solutions you have found for those problems. It might be as simple as switching to a different browser or reloading a web page. Share your solution so others might have a starting point for their problems. If you have any questions about how to use comments, drop an email to jlippold@ia-sb.org.

Gardening

I'm a gardener, and as such, I start each day with a walk around the yard to see what's in bloom. It's the most beautiful time of the day. The light is gentle; the air is cool and crisp; and it's as quiet as the day will be. It's a good time to contemplate. I think about what needs to be done and make short term and long term plans, and when I see something that needs to be changed, I start to think about what I can do differently.

Sometimes, a plant has to be moved. Even though I have planted it where I was sure it would thrive, over and over again I find a plant struggling right next to a plant that loves the spot in which it is planted. So, I look around for a different plan. Is the soil different where this plant is growing? Is there too much shade? Not enough? Is the plant getting enough water or too much? There are lots of questions to ask, and if I do the diagnosis correctly and find the solution, the plant can be saved and can thrive once again. I have a little yellow hosta whose identity has been lost. Two years ago I moved it to a place where it would get more sun. It started recovering, and now it is a nice little clump of yellow leaves. I have another hosta that just isn't responding, and I'll have to start looking for the solution if I'm to save it. I noticed this year that I have a blank spot in one garden where a plant that was struggling has just not come back.

I wonder if education isn't a bit like gardening. We have to discover which students are thriving, and which are struggling. Sometimes, we can make easy course corrections for them with an explanation, and sometimes we just have to keep looking for the solution. Sometimes, it is difficult to notice that a student isn't thriving until we have tested the last time and are ready to move on. What happens to the student then?

Formative assessment helps us find those students and shows us just where they aren't thriving. With this knowledge, we can reteach those topics. We can provide further explanation, additional practice and further evaluation. The good news is that in doing this practice we don't only move this student forward; we move ALL students forward. Just like the garden, even those students who are doing fine can do better. It is a daunting responsibility, and a challenging practice, but Assessment Center can help in making these assessments. It takes little more than a few minutes to create an assessment that will give us great information in the reports that will let us know who is thriving, and who needs a different approach. With a little good fortune, we can find the way to help the struggling student reach the kind of success that my little yellow hosta is having. When we do, life improves.

If you would like to read more about formative assessment, Inside the Black Box, by Black and Wiliam is one of the definitive articles about the subject. You can find it here. If you need assistance with Assessment Center, contact your project leader.

Jim