As we go into the summer, a huge ‘thank you’ goes to teachers, students and parents. To the students, you’ve practiced focus and attention and this is no easy feat. It takes hard work to build and exercise an efficient brain. To our parents, you ensured your children had a good night’s sleep and a…
Tag: learning
Interventions – Positive Steps in the Right Direction
Those pesky red flags made your heart sink. And they were doing so well. At some point every student reaches this wall. Actually this can be seen as a good thing. It means that both the student and the program have located the area of need, that point where the student missed along the journey…
App #9 of “10 Apps to Countdown Season”
App #9: In our effort to highlight the SAMR Model of integration of technology, we’ve been considering what activities might fit into Redefinition (technology that allows creation of new tasks, previously inconceivable). What activities might have significant impact to student outcomes? The “tell your story” concept remains one of the powerful ways we have to teach others, to increase audience,…
App #7 of “10 Apps to Countdown Season”
App #7: How do you present information from research projects? Usually we default to PowerPoint. Another option is Haiku Deck for all platforms. I wrote about this app for the iPad before (click here). The presentation software offers a beautiful, yet simplistic way to to share information. Each slide offers options for layout, format (bullet points), images (including…
Discovery and Relationships
It’s June and I’m really not sure what happened to this year. The ten months prior have whizzed by and here we are again. I wanted to take this moment to share some reflections of the year. Our Fast ForWord teams saw a boost and challenge in the delivery of this Tier 3 intervention program. The move…
In a Networked Community of Learners
It’s summer and the warm weather has certainly given us more chances to sit back and ponder over the year. And what I’m reminded over and over is that WE have great people in each of our school sites doing great things to support our students. Funny how sitting on a log, listening to the waves…
First Ever iPad Party
Get a group of administrators, teachers and district staff together – add food and boxes and more boxes of brand new iPads. What do you have? Excitement, anticipation, a bit of wonder, “eyes wide open”, tons of chatter and buzz… Last week, we spent the afternoon with a set of goals: introduce the iPad,…
Choice Words
Things happen when you return from a conference. New ideas attach with old ones and a host of “how does this all connect” is sifted through a lens of “what if…”. At FETC, keynote speaker Michael Wesch (watch TED talk) talked about the fast rise of the new technologies (Youtube 2005; Twitter 2006) resulting in a new culture of…
Take Your 3-Ring Binder Online or Bookmarking Gone Extreme!
This is a “have your cake and eat it” situation. Last time I shared bookmarking through the use of Symbaloo (a great tool that lays websites out in visual tiles). Today it’s LiveBinders. This tool organizes your resources and presents your content in a binder format. (They even look like little binders.) Tabs provide the organizational structure so that you…
A New Look for 2011-2012
You might have already taken a peek at your Fast ForWord stations and discovered a new look to the Gateway icon and program. All sites have been upgraded to version 5, which offers not only a sleeker view but some differences in the way the program launches. Click here for instructions about launching the new Demo….
Latest Webinars to Tickle your Brain
MARCH 9; April 27 – Virtual Brain Seminar (Register here) Sherelle Walker (CEO, Scientific) and Martha Burns (Speech & Language Pathologist) – This duo session includes concrete, useful strategies for integrating Brain Fitness districtwide, as well as the latest in neuroscience and research. MARCH 18, 2011 – Our Changing Education Landscape (10:00-11:00) (Register on Scilearn…
Prevention is easier than Intervention
Imagine a week where no red flags appear in Progress Tracker – those crazy hints that you may have to readjust your teaching. This is one of the reasons that it is important to work through the exercises yourself so that you get a feel for any problems that may crop up for your students. …
Research – Posing the Questions
Sometimes the best research is right in front of our noses. When we see our students succeed when they have not succeeded in the past, (even when we know we’ve put enormous resources to help) we continue to ask questions such as: What was different about these interventions that made it click for the student?…
Intervention – Clunks
A number of extra interventions were provided in your packages at the Participants meeting. Instructions for the Clunk Visual is now posted under INTERVENTIONS tab.
What’s Up with Those Flags!
On Tues Nov 17th, we met at Schou – TLC to familiarize ourselves with some of the reports of Progress Tracker and what to do with interventions. The Condensed Report provide an overview of days participated, and percentage of each exercised completed as well as when flags will appear. Individual Progress reports provided an detailed…