Our Return to Confratute...

If you've read any of our previous posts, you may have come across this strange word that we keep throwing around... CONFRATUTE.  Don't try looking it up.  If you do, you probably won't come up with an accurate definition or description (chances are the definition will say something like Conference, Fraternity, and Institute).  That is because CONFRATUTE is indescribable.

Educators from Austin Elementary have been attending CONFRATUTE at the University of Connecticut for several years now.  It is, after all, the "hub" of professional learning for the Schoolwide Enrichment Model and gifted pedagogy.  We were fortunate enough to have our very own Liz Malone, GTI Facilitator and SEM Coordinator, attend again this summer.  Check out her "take-aways" below.  Hopefully, they'll help you come a little closer to understanding what CONFRATUTE is all about!  For more details on the Schoolwide Enrichment Model @ Austin Elementary, check out           Learning Made SEMple .

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CONferenc...FRAternity…InstiTUTE  - Put it all together and you have CONFRATUTE, an amazing, weeklong adventure in learning on the beautiful University of Connecticut campus in Storrs, Connecticut.  If you have been following this blog for very long, you know that CONFRATUTE is where our SEM dream began four short years ago.  That summer, eight educators, accompanied by our principal, Laurie O’Neill, visited CONFRATUTE for the very first time.  When we arrived, we were immediately immersed in a culture of enrichment and talent development that would forever alter the way each of us thought about education.  It didn’t take long before we were absolutely convinced that the journey of SEM implementation was one our school needed to make.  Since that time, we have taken great strides towards full implementation of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model at Austin Elementary.  As a staff, we have spent countless hours on professional development, exploring the research behind The Schoolwide Enrichment Model, and designing what it would look like for our learners.   We have redesigned the way we form our classes, and have implemented “E-Time” on Friday mornings to provide a dedicated time each week for school wide, learner driven enrichment.  Last year, we moved forward with the implementation of Enrichment Clusters.  During these 5-8 week enrichment journeys, our learners were engaged in authentic, real world learning experiences through which they had the opportunity to pursue their interests, develop their talents, and make a difference in our world. 

Educators as Learners... @ The Learning Forward National Conference!

One of the things we frequently discuss as a staff is our dual role of Educator AND Learner.  This was evident recently as three Austin educators attended the 2012 Learning Forward National Conference in Boston, Massachusetts.  Kara Cadue, Liz Malone, and Cooper Hilton spent five jam-packed days learning from leading educators, researchers, and professors from around the country.  We suspect they also managed to squeeze in some time catching the city "sites." :)

We have asked them to each share a reflection from one of the sessions that they attended.  In addition, they will share their learning with the Austin staff at an upcoming professional learning day in February.

Curriculum Compacting: A Tool For Differentiation In The Classroom

Since the beginning of the school year, we have featured a few guest bloggers and their reflections on their learning from Confratute.  To close this series, check out the article below from Liz Malone (GT Facilitator & SEM Coordinator) on Curriculum Compacting.  We are excited about the work she will do with ALL of our learners this year and the coaching/planning work she will do with our educators. 

Curriculum Compacting: A Tool for Differentiation in the Classroom

I was so excited this summer to once again attend Confratute, a week-long educational conference held on the beautiful University of Connecticut campus in Storrs, Connecticut, just outside of Hartford.  While there, I had the opportunity to participate in an exploration of Curriculum Compacting, led by Dr. Deb Goldbeck, a leading researcher in this area.  Dr. Goldbeck shared with us much of the research surrounding the practice of curriculum compacting as well as a wealth of information about the tools and resources that are available to facilitate the implementation of curriculum compacting in the general education setting. I have attempted to share just a taste of her wisdom in the paragraphs below, but I am looking forward to sharing more information as the year progresses. 

Frequently Asked Questions:

What is curriculum compacting? 

Curriculum compacting is simply another tool that can be used to differentiate classroom learning experiences so that we are able to effectively meet the unique needs of every learner.  Dr. Goldbeck defines it this way: “Curriculum compacting is a procedure used to streamline the regular curriculum for students who are capable of mastering it at a faster pace.”  In other words, we do not continue to require students to practice those skills and concepts in which they have already demonstrated mastery.  Instead, we create experiences which allow them to explore those concepts at a higher level of depth and complexity and in a way that relates to their own personal interests and talents.

Reflections on Creativity

Last week, we featured a Confratute reflection on a series of math sessions that our teachers attended.  This week, we would like to spotlight Lisa Ricciardelli (Art teacher @ Austin) and her reflections on Creativity at Confratute.

I was so thrilled to have the opportunity to attend this year's Confratute and fully enjoyed all the speakers, classes, workshops, and scoops of farm fresh ice cream. The energy there at UCONN is really playful, informative, and inspiring! Yet if I could sum up this experience with just one word, it would definitely have to be creative.

 

In one of my favorite classes of the week, “Motivation, Meta-Cognition, & the Importance of Creativity”, we learned that there are two types of creativity according to Dr. Bonnie Cramond: expressive and inventive. Expressive creativity illustrates conceptions or emotions and aesthetics where the inventive type addresses a worthwhile problem to find novel and appropriate solutions. Both have equal merit in education and can be woven into our curriculum in a plethora of ways. From the new Fine Arts TEKS:

The Fine Arts, as universal languages, incorporate the study of dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts to offer unparalleled experiences and empower students to explore realities, relationships, and ideas. The Fine Arts engage and motivate all students through active learning, critical thinking, and innovative problem solving. Our disciplines develop cognitive functioning and increase student academic achievement, higher order thinking skills, communication, and collaboration. Students develop relevant aesthetic and cultural awareness through exploration leading to creative expression. Creativity is essential and the study of the Fine Arts nurtures and develops the whole child.

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.

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)

Her Big Debut!

This is a first for PD@Austin!  We are pleased to feature our debut Guest Blogger.  I'm thinking she deserves at least a t-shirt or coffee mug for this prestigious honor.  Her name is Sarah Daugherty (a member of the iTeam), and she recently returned from the Texas Computer Educators Association (TCEA) Conference in Austin.  We are excited for her to share some of her learning with Austin teachers!  Take a look at what is in store...

I’ve had the opportunity to attend the Texas Computer Educators Association (TCEA) for the past four years.  TCEA is the statewide gathering of teachers, principals, educational technicians, and instructional technology specialists.  We attend keynote presentations and break out sessions facilitated by classroom teachers and specialists.  These sessions introduce new ideas in the world of instructional technology.  There is a lot of “geeking out” and even more networking that goes on in every corner of the Austin Convention Center.  I even had the chance to meet several Twitter “rock stars” and made potentially revolutionary connections with individuals from all over the state!

Every year I walk away with exciting ideas, tips, and tricks to share with teachers.  This year was no exception.  I had the chance to attend Apple Academy, an all day workshop put on by the Educational Support Representatives from Apple. 

We learned about management of iDevices, great apps for every subject area, and even how to rotate apps in and out of devices so nothing gets stale!  iDevices in the classroom has been around for some time, but it is a fluid movement.  Resources and tools evolve daily and I’m thrilled Austin Elementary is a part of the iRevolution!

My mind was sufficiently blown within the first 15 minutes of the workshop.  The rest of the day didn’t disappoint either!  In fact, I started my first professional blog during a break because I was so excited about all I was learning.  I invite you to follow my blog as I highlight specific apps on our campus, as well as ideas for implementing apps to coincide with the instructional vision of grade-level curriculum.

Follow the CISDAppAddict blog today!

Sarah Daugherty is an Instructional Technology Specialist for Austin and Mockingbird Elementary.  She has been in CISD for 10 years and served on the iTeam for four of those years.  If she was not in education, Sarah would work for E! News, taking at least one of Ryan Seacrest’s jobs.

Sarah, here is your Techie coffee mug for being featured on our blog.