I was watching the news (CNN) this morning when I heard the anchor use the metaphor “Sticky wicket” in a sentence. I was very surprised, I have not heard that metaphor used in many years. What does the metaphor mean to you, especially in the context in which she used it and the general meaning? Listen to the audio below and leave your response. Do not Google it, that would be cheating. I’ll give you a hint, look at the image above.
PBS Kids’ Cartoons Teaching Bad Behaviors?
Daniel Tiger (the replacement for Mr. Rogers) on PBS Kids was playing in our house the other day, and it was an episode teaching children what they should do when they get upset. They always have a cute little song to go along with the lesson they are teaching the children, which helps kids remember. We actually use many of the songs around the house daily:
I often sing “If a friend doesn’t want to play with you, you can find something else to do” when the twins are fighting that the other won’t play their game.
Or “It’s almost time to go, so choose one more thing to do. That was fun but now it’s done” when we’re ready to leave the pool, park, library, etc. It actually helps, and they don’t throw a fit about leaving!
“If you can’t do it alone, work together” and “You gotta try new food cuz it might taste good” are also a couple that top the list. Overall I would say they have some great lessons. I even sing some of the songs to my second graders when the circumstance fits the song’s lesson.
This lesson, however, was disturbing. What do you think?
I often wonder where children learn some of their bad behaviors. After seeing this, I feel like cartoons teach them these awful behaviors in an attempt to teach them how to behave in an alternate, more appropriate manner. However, which behavior is the child going to remember the most? What do you think about this?
Getting Started With i-Ready
i-Ready is an awesome program and is a great blended learning tool that all teachers should, try to, add to their toolbox if possible. Below, I have created a series of videos that will make it very easy to get started with i-Ready. Additionally, you may want to take a look at my comprehensive review of i-Ready here.
| Getting Started | Settings | Generating Reports | Assignments | Lesson Plan | Roster Tab |
| Home Tab | Assignments Tab Overview | Class Management | Resources and Activity Feed | Instructional Groups | Extra Lessons |
Getting Started With i-Ready
This video will walk you through the i-Ready interface and features.
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i-Ready Home Tab
This tab will display quicklinks to reports that may be generated. This video will allow you to see what is available to you on the landing page after logging into the software.
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i-Ready Roster Tab
You will be able to manage your classroom from here (add instructional groups, add classes, etc).
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iReady Settings
You can use this feature to determine what your students see after logging into i-Ready.
I-Ready Assignments Tab Overview
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Generating Reports
Generate awesome reports using i-Ready. You can use these reports for parent teacher conferences, Student Support Team meetings, for your records, progress monitoring, etc.
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Class Management
Customize i-Ready to meet the needs of your students.
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Assignments
You can use this feature to create tests for students (diagnostic or progress monitoring). Additionally, here you will be able to adjust the lesson plans within i-Ready.
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Resources
Download lesson plans and access your activity feed, and so on.
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Student Lesson Plan
Adjust the lessons that your students take. Therefore, you will be able to interfere with the default placement that a student receives from i-Ready.
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Create Instructional Groups
This is a nifty little module that allows you to segregate your students into instructional groups. Therefore, you will be able to assign activities much faster to a particular group of students.
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Lesson Plan
You can use this feature to make adjustment to the lesson sequence.
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Extra Lessons
You can use this feature to assign extra lessons to your students. For example, you may assign lessons to correlate with a lesson currently being taught to reinforce a particular concept, or you may want to assign a task you think the student needs.
Is PARCC Dead? Georgia Along With Florida Have Arrounced They Are Dropping PARCC Today
The Georgia Department of Education has released a press release stating that they are pulling out of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC ). PARCC is funded by a “$186 million grant through the U.S. Department of Education’s Race to the Top assessment competition to support the development and design of the next-generation assessment system” as stated on the PARCC website. Georgia’s decision to pull out of PARCC cited primarily their objections to the cost of the assessment. Georgia and Florida’s education administrators’ decision to pull out of the PARCC assessments will surely have an adverse impact on the viability of PARCC and may directly/indirectly affect the objectives of the Common Core. According to Massachusetts Education Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education and Chairman of PARCC, Mitchell Chester:
“I don’t think any single state is going to make or break the PARCC project. It doesn’t surprise me that there are states that are questioning their commitment.
Here is Georgia’s press release issued by the Georgia Department of Education (DOE) today:
“July 22, 2013 – State School Superintendent Dr. John Barge and Gov. Nathan Deal announced today that Georgia is withdrawing from the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) test development consortium.
Instead, the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) will work with educators across the state to create standardized tests aligned to Georgia’s current academic standards in mathematics and English language arts for elementary, middle and high school students. Additionally, Georgia will seek opportunities to collaborate with other states.
Creating the tests in Georgia will ensure that the state maintains control over its academic standards and student testing, whereas a common assessment would have prevented GaDOE from being able to adjust and rewrite Georgia’s standards when educators indicate revisions are needed to best serve students.
“After talking with district superintendents, administrators, teachers, parents, lawmakers and members of many communities, I believe this is the best decision for Georgia’s students, ” Superintendent Barge said. “We must ensure that our assessments provide educators with critical information about student learning and contribute to the work of improving educational opportunities for every student.”
Georgia was one of 22 states to join PARCC several years ago with the aim of developing next generation student assessments in mathematics and English language arts by 2014-15.
“Assessing our students’ academic performance remains a critical need to ensure that young Georgians can compete on equal footing with their peers throughout the country, ” Gov. Deal said. “Georgia can create an equally rigorous measurement without the high costs associated with this particular test. Just as we do in all other branches of state government, we can create better value for taxpayers while maintaining the same level of quality.”
Superintendent Barge was one of the state school chiefs serving on the governing board for the consortium, but he frequently voiced concerns about the cost of the PARCC assessments. The PARCC assessments in English language arts and math are estimated to cost significantly more money than Georgia currently spends on its entire testing program.
Superintendent Barge also expressed concerns over the technology requirements for PARCC’s online tests. Many Georgia school districts do not have the needed equipment or bandwidth to handle administering the PARCC assessments.
As GaDOE begins to build new assessments, please note that our Georgia assessments:
•will be aligned to the math and English language arts state standards;
•will be high-quality and rigorous;
•will be developed for students in grades 3 through 8 and high school;
•will be reviewed by Georgia teachers;
•will require less time to administer than the PARCC assessments;
•will be offered in both computer- and paper-based formats; and
•will include a variety of item types, such as performance-based and multiple-choice items.“We are grateful to Georgia educators who have worked hard to help develop our standards and assessments, ” Superintendent Barge said. “We look forward to continuing to work with them to develop a new assessment system for our state.”
Currently, Georgia plays an important role in the PARCC. The PARCC’s website states the main players involved in Georgia’s previously planned implementation of the PARCC assessments:
“Superintendent John D. Barge serves on the Governing Board. Melissa Fincher, Associate Superintendent for Assessment and Accountability at the Georgia Department of Education, is the K-12 Lead for PARCC in Georgia. Ron Jackson, Commissioner at Technical College System of Georgia, serves on the PARCC Advisory Committee on College Readiness. Judith Monsaas, Executive Director of Assessment and Evaluation at the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, coordinates PARCC-related post secondary engagement activities in the state.
Update: 6PM:
Georgia appears to have already deleted the PARCC webpage from the DOE’s website and is redirecting users to the homepage. However, I have managed to retrieve an archived copy of the deleted page here.
Image Credit/ Declaration: This is not an official PARCC map.
Infographic: Georgia CRCT 2013 Results
The Georgia Department of Education released today the compiled data of the Georgia 2013 CRCT results. Overall, the data is pointing to an improved performance across all grades tested. We have compiled an infograhic to present this data. The main takeaway is that for students exceeding the standards, there has been an improvement on 24 of the 30 content-area tests. And there is a one year improvement on 18 of the 30 content-area tests for students meeting and exceeding the standards.
Infographic: Kids Who Read Beat Summer Loss
First Book, a nonprofit social enterprise that provides new books to kids in need, has published an original infographic illustrating the effects of a summer without books on low income students. As the infographic simply shows, summer loss is a reality-poor kids are especially impacted by the ills of summer because they are less likely to read a book, to be read to, or be placed into situations where they can easily get access to books to read.