December+Meeting

=Access all materials for our December meeting here. All assignments and content is due by January 8th, 2012. Many of your responses will be recorded in the Discussion section above.=

__Guiding Questions__: Please respond to the guiding questions thread in the discussion section above. Remember, there are no right or wrong answers and no judgement :-)
==__Articles__: Please read at least one of the articles below and respond in the Discussion section (Discussion tab on top of this page). To respond, identify two "ah-ha's" that resulted from your reading, something that you agree with, and a question. You are welcome to format this anyway you like and go beyond with your discussion.==

Teachers Don't Like Creative Students

After 13 Years of School, a Test Says She Should Be ... a Parking Lot Attendant?

Why Curriculum Change is Difficult -- and Necessary!

==The i can bug is contagious! How can we apply this to not only our students, but our staff? Respond below the video by clicking the edit button on the top right of this page. Please identify your comments with your name.==

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===The premise seems simple enough. Let the kids make decisions and have real life experiences. We have always believed that kids __can__, but are we going about it in the right ways? If our goal is to increase student achievement then let's allow our kids to guide this. Key word here people, EMPOWERMENT! Danette===

==I agree with Danette. The philosophy is very similar to the ITI model that some of our schools adopted many years ago and Stratton still try's to follow. It is a matter of using the district guides that they have given us and standards and going from there but letting the kids do more of the work while the teacher is the facilitator. To get our staff there I think weneed to just keep modeling the type of learning went to see our building and hopefully more people will see how much the kids are enjoying learning and join in. Kristin==

I loved her "one idea" strategy, by empowering the kids with something that interests them first they become infected. Then the infection spreads, especially if it is shared. We have started giving kids this empowerment already with the Library Challenges. Not all students participate but the ones who do really enjoy it. We can add a version of her "one idea" there and see if we can get more kids to join. Once the staff sees the excitement generated they will see a reason to add something similar into their classrooms. Sandy


 * Scott --** I loved the "One Idea" assignment as well. It kind of relates to the dream boards Coop talks about. But the key point here for me was that we as teachers can foster not only idealism, but action behind it. I can is a way of life that starts with us. If we are constantly saying I wish, I could but I can't because of (insert your favorite obstacle here), we are modeling that obstacles cannot be overcome. Let's take the negative connotation that being an idealist (often thought of as being childish or naive) has and switch it up. Celebrate and encourage those ideas!


 * Hope-**Wow! That was powerful! (Truly made my eyes mist.) This is proof if you raise the bar, children will meet it! I think we need to show this video on Mtv!