Research-Based Instruction & Reading First

A study of the NCLB Reading First program found that teachers were spending more time on reading instruction but that there was no significant difference in reading comprehension between those schools that used the program and those that didn't.

See interim report here.

Relate Articles:

Washington Post: "Billions for an Inside Game on Reading"
NCTE Elementary Section: "Reading First Called 'Ineffective.'"
Reading First: The Naked Truth
Gary Stager at Huffington Post: The Surge Against First Graders

What do you think? Are there any lessons to be learned here?

Standardized Testing in Maine

Listen to Episode 18 - "Stop. Put Your Pencils Down." at Wicked Decent Learning

DOE - Maine High School Assessment - SAT
Maine Educational Assessment (MEA)
Wikipedia: SAT

What are your thoughts on standardized testing in Maine?

Free Technology for Teachers

Western Maine's own Richard Byrne shares a wealth of free technology resources and how teachers can use them on his daily-updated blog, Free Technology for Teachers. His reviews are based on carefully checking out the latest developments and concisely reporting on how they might be used in the classroom and elsewhere. I find that dropping into his blog saves a great deal of time in sorting through the plethora of new applications . . . Richard does it for us.

Maine Sheet Music Source

An incredibly rich resource of Maine sheet music and more . . . a Maine gem. Click here and get ready to make some music! Did I mention that it is free?

Crazy or Stupid?

"We are told accountability is essential — by people who refuse to be accountable for underfunding schools, who fail to address the social needs of children created by inequalities and who think simple answers exist for complex problems. Accountability flows both ways. I may be crazy, but I am not stupid."

I regularly check out AASA's excellent monthly online publication, The School Administrator, for articles on education. A visit to Paul Houston's column is always a must. This morning I read his "Crazy or Stupid?" offering in which we speaks to issues of accountability and blame.


Recent Issues:

• May 2008 — Values-Based Navigation
• April 2008 — The Work of Transformation
• March 2008 — The Arts at K-12’s Center Stage
• February 2008 — Globalization and Education
• January 2008 — Healthy Bodies, Well Minds
• December 2007 — Life Beyond the Superintendency
• November 2007 — The Immigrants Among Us
• October 2007 — Legal Fallout
• September 2007 — Personalizing Schooling
• August 2007 — Where's Graduate Study Going?
• June 2007 — Personal Evaluation
• May 2007 — Personal Technology
• April 2007 — Professional Networking
• March 2007 — Primacy of the Superintendency
• February 2007 — Gifted Education Left Behind
• January 2007 — Measuring Academic Growth

Cartoon Creation

How to Use Comic Life in the Classroom
Online Educational Comic Generator for Kids of All Ages
ToonDoo - The Cartoon Strip Creator - Create, Publish, Share, Discuss!
Cartoon Youself!
ReadWriteThink - Comic Creator
Comics in Education
Cartooning for Kids
Teacher's Guide for the Professional Cartoonist
ARTSEDGE: Drawing Political Cartoons
Political Cartoons in the Classroom
Using Political Cartoons in the Classroom
Storyboarding
Cartoon Smart

Cartoon credit

New Books, New Readers

I had an absolutely delightful morning assisting Oxford Hills adult education teacher, Ramsey Ludlow, in taping a class designed by the Maine Humanities Council called New Books, New Readers. Mary Alice Crosby, in cooperation with local literacy teachers, facilitates this book group, which consists of adults who are learning to read. Books have been chosen according to theme and readability and discussed in an informal and emotionally-safe atmosphere with an emphasis on connecting with the lives of the participants. Students get to keep the books.

The just-completed series called "Telling Our Stories" includes the following:

Session 1: Recalling Our Past

• When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant
• Miz Berlin Walks by Jane Yolen
• Leon’s Story by Leon Walter Tillage

Session 2: Discovering Our Stories

• Tong Ting Finds a Family by Elizabeth Cooke
• The Raft by Jim LaMarche
• Journey by Patricia MacLachlan

Session 3: Other Ways of Telling

• When Clay Sings by Byrd Baylor
• Family Pictures by Carmen Lomas Garza
• Arctic Memories by Normee Ekoomiak

For discussion: How do we tell our own stories? Why are they important? How do we decide what to tell? What do we learn from telling our own stories? From reading others’ stories? How and why do we share our stories with others? How do our personal stories connect to the stories of our communities and country?

This is an excellent model on many levels. Making these connections is important in encouraging persistence in working on the needed reading and writing skills. Oxford Hills Adult Education teachers help participants in developing skills before the discussion group . . . and follow up after the discussion is over.

Personalized education is alive and well in our Maine Adult Education communities!

Related Links at LIM Resources:

Digital Storytelling
Biography
Autobiography
Who

Jason Ohler:

Storytelling

TelstarToo Session: Blogging

“One of the reasons we fear these technologies is because we as teachers don’t yet understand them or use them. But the reality is that our students already do. It’s imperative that we be able to teach our kids how to use the tools effectively and appropriately because right now they have no models to follow.”

~ Will Richardson

Essential Question: How can classroom communication and collaboration be enhanced with the use of blogs?

Connectivity and Warming Up

Blog Definition/Description

• Blogs in Plain English
• 
  
  

Why Blog?

• Blogs in Education at LIM Resources Wiki
• eMINTS eTHEMES: Using Online Journals and Blogs
  
• Using Weblogs to Promote Literacy in the Classroom

View Blogs

• Support Blogging Listing of School Bloggers
• International Edubloggers Directory
• Bloggers in Maine (Please add Maine education blogs that you are aware of . . .)
  

Create a Blog

• Sign Up for a Google Account

Promote Your Blog

• How to Grow a Blog
• Twitter
• Del.icio.us
• RSS

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Bonus: Drawing /Painting/Photo Editing Programs for the Classroom

• TuxPaint
• Project Draw
• Gliffy
• Photoshop Express
• Picnik
  
• Appleworks
  

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Closing . . . .How did it go? What next?