Our Reading products are up and running after a bit of a bumpy technical start. (All of our sites are going through a districtwide reimaging process, which has given some of us an opportunity to practice our problem-solving skills.) However, even during the early stages, we are seeing some positives. Both students and classroom teachers…
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. …
Words Their Way – Shedding Light on Process
Words Their Way is a program that offers a developmental curriculum for phonics/spelling instruction, reading fluency and vocabulary development. The hands-on activities engage students as they actively categorize their ‘word sorts’ and the assessment inventory provides a clear indicator of where each student is in the process. We’ve been working with a new group of…
How Readable is the Information?
Readability may be defined as ‘reading ease’ or how content can be successfully understood. Teachers know that comprehension is dependent on many variables, one of which is the readability level of information whether online or in print. It matters little if you have the best list of websites for research but the students have difficulties…
Why No Progress! Intervention layers…
A small group recently got together to tackle Progress Tracker – the reporting engine that provides an incredible amount of data to sift through. Here are some of the highlights of what was gleaned at our Interventions learning session (January 18, 2011): Prior to an intervention process, assess the situation: direct observation of student (what…
Reaching More with Less $ – SET-BC/PSAP
Sometimes post holiday sidewalk sales aren’t just in malls. Some of you have been using Kurzweil 3000 and are finding great benefits in how the students are able to be fully engaged with class materials. For those of you who have been waiting or saving up your pennies, SET BC/PSAP has launched a discount to…
It’s All About Reading – Learning Session
Our learning session on the new Reading Series is on Tuesday January 11 (3:30-5:30) at Schou – TLC. Our connecting questions: How does the new Reading exercises help to bridge students to gaining reading skills? What practices provided in the exercises can be shared in larger groups with classroom teachers? What students can best benefit…
January 2011 – Learning on the Calendar
Welcome to 2011. It’s the start of a new year and just the time to check what’s happening in the calendar. Since we moved our Learning Session Registrations online, we’ve had many people say how easy it is to check for events and to register. However, because it is so dynamic, sometimes in our busyness…
Social Bookmarks Dilemma
Many of you have heard the recent flood of comments over the e-waves about delicious.com and its demise. While the company isn’t exactly saying what’s happening to this tool, I can just imagine how people are feeling about the news. I use it myself to organize my bookmarks to share with you. But knowing that…
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?…
New Reading Products Info and Support
For those sites who are having the Reading Products installed, instruction manuals are located in the tab above > HOW TO’s. Date for learning: Tuesday January 11, 2011. (3:30-5:30pm) Schou – TLC Session will focus on introduction, focus of exercises, assessment, connections to reading and administrative setup with hands-on practice.
Coming Up
Kurzweil 3000 – Part 2: (This is really where the power of this tool takes off – ability to colour-code notes and annotate – making thinking come alive…) Monday Nov 29 (3:30-5:30) at Schou. We have a guest speaker who will take us through ‘going deeper with comprehension’. Destination Success – Using Assessment Features to…
Power in Interventions
Wow! We just finished our Interventions Day with Tom Chapin and what an amazing day. For some it was an introduction to Progress Tracker and the implications of what the data was showing us. For others it was a new twist on what we knew. Everyone took away a new found appreciation for both using…
Be An Interventions EXPERT!
Back by popular demand on Monday, November 8th, (8:30-3:00), Tom Chapin has returned from Arkansas to work with our Fast ForWord participant sites. Gain an indepth understanding of what interventions to use and when it is most effective to support our students. As a bonus, we will even explore other literacy strategies that enhance skill transfer…