Pulling yourself back ........to a place of knowing

Learning about the OODA Loop has helped me when I begin to get overwhelmed by my task list or the expectations in any area of my life.  I was introduced to this concept by John Kuglin.  In working with John in the area of growing my technology skills, he often reminded educators in the room that pulling back to a place of knowing before regrouping and moving forward is key.  Check out this TedTalk on the OODA Loop.

Click here. OODA Loop 

Character Traits - teaching the concept

WOW - What a rigorous discussion this morning with all of you at Evergreen?  This is the exact same thing we want to have when we engage with students.  Shelley Wagner's question about feelings versus traits (great thought, here is a list that define character traits - how would feelings versus interests versus traits be different?)  I loved all of the questions this morning --- this truly was exciting professional development to me.  Thanks Jackie for spurring our deep conversation regarding character traits.  Here are some resources for everyone that were shared at the meeting.

Character traits have in common particular elements. We do not attempt to list them all, but you will want to make note of five major similarities:

The FIVE Bolded ones seem to be easier to begin with in elementary school.

1. Understanding flowing into desire and then action. All character traits are built intellectually first. We must understand the trait. Understanding flows into desire for the trait. Desire leads to action as we begin to exercise the trait consistently.

2. Assumption of personal sacrifice if necessary. The exercise of any character trait may require known or unknown personal sacrifice. We must be willing to relegate personal interests to second place in order to exercise character rightly.

3. Acceptance of consequences beforehand. In the exercise of any character trait, we can expect consequences: pleasant or unpleasant. We must choose, even before we exercise the trait, to accept the consequences, whatever they may be.

4. Constancy even when no one observes. Character traits can never be exercised for the benefit of spectators. The nature of character traits is such that they must be exercised faithfully, whether or not anyone is observing.

5. Inability to cancel out another trait. No one character trait ever cancels out another character trait. They are never mutually exclusive. That is, one never excludes or precludes another. Example: Tactfulness can never cancel out honesty.

Every definition below includes those five elements by default. You will want to add them to your study of a specific character trait.

Click here for more informaiton: http://character-in-action.com/character-trait-definitions/

Learning About Grit with Michael Rosandich, Kevin Brodzik this morning in Brookfield..........fascinating

Angela Duckworth and the Research on 'Grit'

   BY EMILY HANFORD

How gritty are you?

Take the Grit test.

Before she was a psychology professor, Angela Duckworth taught math in middle school and high school. She spent a lot of time thinking about something that might seem obvious: The students who tried hardest did the best, and the students who didn't try very hard didn't do very well. Duckworth wanted to know: What is the role of effort in a person's success?

Now Duckworth is an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and her research focuses on a personality trait she calls "grit." She defines grit as "sticking with things over the very long term until you master them." In a paper, she writes that "the gritty individual approaches achievement as a marathon; his or her advantage is stamina."

Angela Duckworth (Photo: University of Pennsylvania)

Duckworth's research suggests that when it comes to high achievement, grit may be as essential as intelligence. That's a significant finding because for a long time, intelligence was considered the key to success.

Intelligence "is probably the best-measured trait that there is in all of human psychology," says Duckworth. "We know how to measure intelligence in a matter of minutes."

But intelligence leaves a lot unexplained. There are smart people who aren't high achievers, and there are people who achieve a lot without having the highest test scores. In one study, Duckworth found that smarter students actually had less grit than their peers who scored lower on an intelligence test. This finding suggests that, among the study participants -- all students at an Ivy League school -- people who are not as bright as their peers "compensate by working harder and with more determination." And their effort pays off: The grittiest students -- not the smartest ones -- had the highest GPAs.

The Grit Test

Duckworth's work is part of a growing area of psychology research focused on what are loosely called "noncognitive skills." The goal is to identify and measure the various skills and traits other than intelligence that contribute to human development and success.

Duckworth has developed a test called the "Grit Scale." You rate yourself on a series of 8 to 12 items. Two examples: "I have overcome setbacks to conquer an important challenge" and "Setbacks don't discourage me." It's entirely self-reported, so you could game the test, and yet what Duckworth has found is that a person's grit score is highly predictive of achievement under challenging circumstances.

At the elite United States Military Academy, West Point, a cadet's grit score was the best predictor of success in the rigorous summer training program known as "Beast Barracks." Grit mattered more than intelligence, leadership ability or physical fitness.

At the Scripps National Spelling Bee, the grittiest contestants were the most likely to advance to the finals -- at least in part because they studied longer, not because they were smarter or were better spellers.

In October 2009, Angela Duckworth gave a TED Talk titled "True Grit: Can Perseverance be Taught?"

Grit and College Completion

Angela Duckworth is now turning her attention to the question of grit and college completion. In a studyfunded by the Gates Foundation, Duckworth and a number of other researchers are trying to understand what predicts college persistence among graduates of several high-performing urban charter school networks: YES Prep Public Schools in Houston, Mastery Charter Schools in Philadelphia, Aspire Public Schools in California and Achievement First Schools in Connecticut.

New ideas and projects sometimes distract me from previous ones.

- Grit Test

These charter school networks serve mostly students from low-income and minority families. The schools were founded to close the "achievement gap" between these students and their higher-income peers. The ultimate goal of these charter school networks is to get students to go to college and earn degrees.

The charter schools have succeeded in providing strong academic preparation. Most of their students go to college. Yet the students graduate from college at lower rates than would be expected based on their academic preparation.

The charter schools want to know why that is. Angela Duckworth wants to know if grit has anything to do with it.  Click to keep reading.

Newseum

Becky Inda, 6th grade teacher at Woodfield Elementary, shared the website Newseum:Front Pages with the Social Studies 6-8 Team when we met for our Articulation Meeting this week.  It has newspapers from around the world and is appropriate for use for teachers and probably 5/6-8th grade students.

Becky taught us how to work with Newseum and Google to translate the information so that we could read newspapers from around the world.  How neat!  Thanks Becky for sharing this with us -- and then helping me share out to all of you.

I personally love reading international newspapers from places I have visited or look forward to visiting some day.  The perspective on the news is, of course, quite different sometimes and is key for us as Global Citizens to know about.

Steps to Translate -
1. pick a newspaper from the Front Pages Newseum website
2. go the newspaper website (there is a button on the newspaper site to click)
3. If you are logged into Chrome, a pop-up will ask you if you want the paper translated

This is exciting!

Weebly is an easy way to organize yourself, your class, ........................

Weebly can be used to organize many different levels of materials for use - as a teacher, a student, and just for personal use.  You don't have to publicize all of your weebly sites.  I use a site just to organize the amount of materials for my professional reading and one for my hobbies.  You can import many other sites into it too...............John Kuglin once said, "You have to get the technology working for you instead of you working on the technology.  Once you use it throughout your whole life as a total transformation you will find it much easier to do."

Here is a link for Weebly:  Try it out.  It is free  Click here.

 Google Classroom  is a new way to communicate with your students on projects.  There is a lot less stress in finding ways to organize the information that you need to distribute as you can assign them assignments very easy and the work they complete from those assignments comes back to you in an organized manner while it logs how many students still need to turn in the work.  Deana Kulow told me about this free Google App that you can get in the Google Store and so I am trying it out with the Music Team.  They are an adventurous team!

Video for your learning Click here

Accountable Talk - clarity for students

Thanks to Renee for sharing this handout that everyone at our meeting today wanted a copy of when they saw it sitting on the tables for the next class of students.  Kudos to great work and sharing helps the team.

Hi Kathy,

Here's a copy of the handout on Accountable Talk. They help students recognize the purpose for each of their comments during group discussions. Hope you can find a good use for them :)

Renee Heyden

7th Grade Language Arts

Fox River Middle School

Waterford Graded School District

heyden@waterford.k12.wi.us

So why can't so many kids sit still........

The Centers for Disease Control tells us that in recent years there has been a jump in the percentage of young people diagnosed with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, commonly known as ADHD: 7.8 percent in 2003 to 9.5 percent in 2007 and to 11 percent in 2011. The reasons for the rise are multiple, and include changes in diagnostic criteria, medication treatment and more awareness of the condition. In the following post, Angela Hanscom, a pediatric occupational therapist and the founder of TimberNook, a nature-based development program designed to foster creativity and independent play outdoors in New England, suggests yet another reason more children are being diagnosed with ADHD, whether or not they really have it: the amount of time kids are forced to sit while they are in school. This appeared on the TimberNook blog.

EEP = SLO and PPG...............

Need some quick assistance.  Thanks to Sara Schoepke and our EE coaching team.

Tech PD website ~ under Educator Effectiveness Resources http://techpd.weebly.com/

Here you will find supports for NWEA data, SLOs, PPGs, and steps/support for TeachScape. The templates for SLO and PPG are here! Fill in the blank, Mad Lib format......... Very helpful!

EducatorChat website ~ under Educator Effectiveness http://educatorchat.weebly.com/

Here you will find the templates and artifacts documents to support the Educator Effectiveness Plan.

Our wonderful team of EE support:
Super EE Coach - Sara Schoepke (Technology Integrationist)
Trailside EE Coach - Brad Singer (6th grade teacher)
Fox River EE Coaches - Rachel Bergman - special area teacher support (Art teacher) and Brian Shew (7th grade science teacher)
Evergreen EE Coaches - Rana Freeze - interventionists and Evergreen (ELL and Math Interventionist) and Jackie Itzin - interventionists and Evergreen (reading teacher)
Woodfield EE Coaches - Megan Geary (1st grade teacher) and Bev Peterson - special ed support (Special Ed Teacher)

Learning takes time for children and adults -- even you!

Give yourself time - are you learning how to give new running records, how to write an SLO, trying to work thru running guided reading groups.................give yourself time to grow.  It is okay.  Learning isn't always easy but remember to be easy on yourself.  :)

The Four Stages of Learning

The learning process has often become more difficult than necessary because of the bad feelings people get when they make mistakes in learning. The bad feelings come from judgments like, "not doing it right," "not good enough," "can never learn this," etc.

Ironically, not doing it right and making mistakes are vital steps in the learning process. Yet too often our attention goes to trying to avoid the bad feelings, rather than to the learning at hand. Understanding the four stages of learning a skill can help keep the learning process focused on learning to do something, and not feeling bad about ourselves for not already knowing how. Here are the four stages of learning as uncovered by Abraham Maslow:

1. Unconscious Incompetence

"I don't know that I don't know how to do this." This is the stage of blissful ignorance before learning begins.

2. Conscious Incompetence

"I know that I don't know how to do this, yet." This is the most difficult stage, where learning begins, and where the most judgments against self are formed. This is also the stage that most people give up.

3. Conscious Competence
"I know that I know how to do this." This stage of learning is much easier than the second stage, but it is still a bit uncomfortable and self-conscious.

4. Unconscious Competence

"What, you say I did something well?" The final stage of learning a skill is when it has become a natural part of us; we don't have to think about it.