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Thursday, October 25, 2012

Creativity - trying to make a difference!

I went out on a limb today! I flipped the switch to "go live" with my Kickstarter project. Due to my nine year olds persistence and encouragement, I am trying to make a more global impact upon K-8 computer programming skills in the lives of children!

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1220355518/computational-thinking-and-computer-science-for-al

Other countries are starting to add computer programming skills into the mandatory educational programming; it seems we are many steps away from that type of commitment to 21st century educational skills in the United States.

Please send/share this link with anyone who has an interest in computational thinking and supporting our children!

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

STRETCh & Scratch

Well... last week was a whirlwind! My daughter celebrated her 9th birthday AND I conducted an ISTE webinar on STRETCh and Scratch - incorporating computer programming skills into the K-8 core curriculum.

To view the webinar, see the following link:

https://iste.adobeconnect.com/_a729309453/p35txgktvsb/

The computational thinking that went into the 6th grade Language Arts project above was incredible! After just 20 minutes of instruction and 4 class periods to work, student demonstrated their knowledge of verbs through the programming of their own video game! The engagement and focus of students throughout the four days was OUTSTANDING!

I have also created a website dedicated to K-8 computer programming: check it out here!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

RtI - Response to Intervention

learning progression
In my new role as a K-12 Intervention Coach, I have seen many teachers frustrated and in tears over our jump into the proverbial RtI waters. In an effort to put the frustration into perspective, I came up with this visual of the building blocks needed in order to effectively deliver Tier 2 and 3 interventions. As you can see the 1st building block is an understanding of the CCSS - but not only at the grade level you teach. You really need to understand what comes before and after you...in order to put it into perspective. One you have a handle on the CCSS, then you need to break it down into bite sized chunks (aka: learning targets) for your students. THEN, you can move into formative assessment. How do I know when my children have achieved their learning target. Once I give the formative assessment, this will move into the 4th block of differentiation. I can then use my formative assessment to determine how I will differentiate for learners within my classroom. This is really the foundation for Level 1 of RtI. Once I have put these first four building blocks into practice, then I can work on collaborating with others around the level 2 & 3 interventions of RtI. 

Here is a website I have put together that is full of RtI resources!
https://sites.google.com/a/stretchinstructor.com/intervention-corner/




Tuesday, October 9, 2012

81 Ways to Use Google Forms...& GROWING!

Just checking up on my Diigo Resources and found this one listed. Hope you can at least take one or two ideas from the list!


Monday, October 8, 2012

Recap of ISTE 2012


 
Besides all of the benefits that I received during the ISTE2012 conference in San Diego, I think the best part was standing back, watching, and being a proud mother!
 

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