Dr. Math!

As we mentioned in our previous post, several educators from Austin Elementary participated in multiple professional learning events over the summer.
 
A few teachers that went to Confratute at the University of Connecticut in July chose to attend a strand of sessions with Dr. Rachel McAnallan (a.k.a. Dr. Math).  Below is a reflection from May Voltz (3rd grade) on her experience with Dr. Math!

(Dr. Math & The Austin Crew)

 



Engaging!! Inspiring!! Tactile Learning!!! What do these words have in common?  Dr. Rachel McAnallan, aka Dr. Math.

Welcome Back!

To say that it has been an eventful summer for Austin teachers would be an understatement!  The professional learning began almost the minute school was let out and has continued up until school begins next week. 



Here are a few of the professional learning opportunities in which our educators participated this summer-

• CISD's Best Day Ever Summer Conference
• The Leadership Development Process through Learning Forward Texas
• Great Expectations
• Confratute (pictured above)
• The International Congress on Math Education
• Learning @ Lovejoy featuring Dr. Carol Dweck (author of Mindset)
• CISD's Principal Academy

As we begin the school year, we look forward to featuring a few reflections by guest bloggers from these learning experiences.

 

 

With a new school year comes new faces.  We are excited to welcome 8 new educators to our Austin family!  Each of these new educators is ready to join in and play a part in our transformation to a 21st century learning environment.  Help us in welcoming them to Austin!



Campus Vision Check-Up

Last night, Laurie O'Neill, Principal, presented to the PTO a brief overview of our campus vision and where we currently stand with the implementation of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM).  Check out this Prezi that she used to outline her presentation!

PTO SEM Prezi 4-11-12

Comment below if you have any questions or if we can provide any clarification about the information in the Prezi!

Mindset Book Study

As we've previously mentioned, we are currently in the middle of our book study on Mindset by Dr. Carol Dweck.  A few staff members will actually participate in a professional learning opportunity with Dr. Dweck in Lovejoy ISD this coming July! 

Below is our most recent topic of discussion on The Inverse Power of Praise.  What are your thoughts?

A child who has a great deal of self-awareness of his intellect lacks a great deal of self-confidence. Why does this child, who is at the top of the charts, lack confidence about his ability to tackle the most routine of school challenges?

 

Arts Integration- Guest Blogger Lisa Ricciardelli

Check out the guest blogger feature from Lisa Ricciardelli, Art Teacher at Austin Elementary.  She recently returned from the National Art Education Association's 2012 Conference and brought back a rekindled passion for arts integration!

Through a grant made possible by the Coppell Gifted Association I had the fortune of attending the National Art Education Association’s 2012 Convention in New York City on March 1-4! One of the highlights of my conference experience that would be purposeful to teachers was a session I attended on educational neuroscience and the important role art plays in the development of the brain. The Center for Transformative Teaching & Learning demonstrated in this session that, based on educational neuroscience, teachers must tactically integrate understanding of various learning modalities with multisensory learning into the curriculum for students to best learn. Arts participation has been consistently linked to better academic performance largely because the Arts are inherently multisensory and do uphold diverse learning modalities. The arts can enhance spatial reasoning, attention, thinking habits, motivation, and collaboration. What's more, Arts activities naturally incorporate factors that are known in cognitive psychology to improve long-term memory for information, rousing active retrieval of factual knowledge.

Teachers and Specialists,

I am happy to support any staff member on integrating the arts into your curriculum by helping you create project-based ideas and/or creativity exercises for your students. As a resource to you, I welcome our collaboration individually or in teams!

Need some instant gratification on the topic?

Here are some examples of excellent creativity exercises that can be used in most classrooms: DIVERGENT THINKING BEGINS HERE

More on Arts Integration…

Arts integration is not a substitute for teaching the arts for their own sake. While it is necessary to recognize the need for art specialists in the schools, it is also important that all educators become aware of the successes that have been demonstrated when students become engaged in their own learning via arts integrated instruction. Furthermore, it is essential to understand that arts integration is about a methodology and a philosophical approach to education that creates a level of personal connection and added depth in the classroom through a creative inquiry-based process of teaching and learning.

Source: http://www.neiu.edu/ Northeastern Illinois University

Links/Books:

http://educationcloset.com/

EducationCloset.com has excellent lesson ideas for arts integration. The blogger believes in providing high-quality, high-impact professional development for education practitioners and advocates using Arts Integration, Technology and Innovative Teaching Strategies to positively impact all learners.

http://www.pz.harvard.edu/at/

Artful Thinking is a program that was developed by Harvard Project Zero in collaboration with the Traverse City, Michigan Area Public Schools (TCAPS). The program was one component of a larger TCAPS grant from the US Department of Education that aimed at developing a model approach for integrating art into regular classroom instruction. The purpose of the Artful Thinking Program is to help teachers regularly use works of visual art and music in their curriculum in ways that strengthen student thinking and learning.

The following books are highly praised publications presented to us in this seminar on the topic of educational neuroscience:

·         Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck (familiar? LOL)

·         A Whole New Mind: How Right-Brainers will Rule the Future by Daniel Pink (J)

·         Five Minds for the Future by Howard Gardner (Genius!)

·         The Global Achievement Gap by Tony Wagner (of NPR)

·         The Brain-Targeted Teaching Model by Dr. Mariale Hardiman (Feb 2012)

Cooperation vs. Collaboration

At our most recent Team Leader meeting, we began a discussion of ways to build a more reflective campus culture.  One of the questions was, "How can we get to a place where, as teachers, we are comfortable stepping back, taking a look at our instructional practices, and adjusting as necessary?" 

One of the things we realized was that it will require serious and continuing collaboration.... but what exactly is collaboration?  Are we often times confusing it with cooperation?  We sat down and tossed around some ideas of what collaboration IS and IS NOT.  Check out what we came up with so far, and please forgive the atrocious handwriting :)

Here's what we came up with for "Student Collaboration."



Here's what we came up with for "Teacher Collaboration."

What would you add to the list?  Is there anything you would change?

Jensen in Coppell!



Last Friday, several staff members from Austin (and teachers from all over Coppell) were able to take part in a half day of professional learning with Eric Jensen (of Teaching With Poverty In Mind fame).  Check out this quick video for a brief overview of what Jensen speaks about. 

One of the things that stuck in my mind and kept popping up later was something that he said about our role as teachers.  "Kids no longer need us for our content.  Google replaced us there years ago."  I think that really struck home to what we are trying to do now as 21st century teachers. 

No longer will it suffice for us to teach our students "something" and then test them on it.  Chances are, that "something" is readily available already at the click of a button.  Instead, our focus should be on the skills and talents that will help them be successful in a global setting.

What were some other "take-aways" that some of you left with?