Saturday, December 12, 2015

Learn the Basics of Google Drive

Learn the Basics of Google Drive 
by Suzanne Barker, Learning Liaison

GCISD is a Google Apps for Education.   As part of this, every student in GCISD has access to Google Drive and other tools.  Throughout the year, we work to teach our students how to use their digital tools more effectively.  Earlier this school year, we shared a Blendspace with our students to help them understand better how to use their Drive.  We would like to share this resource with our parents and community as well.  Check out this resource and see how you can help support your child with this resource or start to use this tool for your own personal use! (While you are learning about Google Drive, take note of how Blendspace works.  Many of our classrooms use this digital tool to share learning with their students as well.)

Thank you, Janie Stach, coordinator for Instructional Technology, for your assistance in building this resource.

Google Drive Blendspace


Friday, December 11, 2015

Digital Databases by Salena Smith

Digital Databases

Have you ever tried to put a picture in your project and was not able to do so because it was copyrighted?  Do you need support finding information that was accurate? MackinVIA can help you with these needs!  To use this resource, click on MackinVIA and login in with your school login.


After logging in the following screen will appear.


The following screen will give you access to 10 databases.  You will not need to remember any new passwords because you are already logged into all databases.

Friday, November 6, 2015

GT Independent Studies: An ELA Elective by Deborah Morgan


GT Independent Studies: An ELA Elective 
Guest post by Deborah Morgan


Gifted and Talented Independent Study (GTIS) is an language arts enhancement class available for any qualified GT student to take. The purpose of this course is to provide a constructive, challenging environment in which to maximize the potential of high-achieving youth to learn as much and as fast as they can among peers of similar abilities on topics that interest them—engaging with a broad spectrum of resources locally and electronically. Think of it as a “My First Dissertation” or an MFA, Jr., intended to mirror at an age-appropriate level the rigorous self-directed coursework of graduate studies. The teacher is a facilitator; the students direct and drive their own learning with guidance from their educator and their peers. Students design a self-determined project or product with the goals of developing a knowledge base that is both broad and deep and cultivating skills that are socially and emotionally rewarding, but also have real-word global applications.

One component of the class is blogging about their progress on a biweekly basis or more if they desire.  These are just a few examples of the type of projects and work we see on a daily basis in the four GTIS classes we offer.




Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Grading for Mastery

What’s the purpose of grades?

Take a minute and think about what is a grade supposed to be?

Should a grade measure learning or effort? Should a grade be partially based on student behavior, or should it be a pure reflection on student progress towards a goal?  Should grades be used as punishment and reward? 

What do you think? 


This year at CMS, a group of teachers are addressing these questions and challenging convention by implementing small but powerful changes.  They are Grading for Mastery.  

What is Grading for Mastery? 
Grading for Mastery is a grading philosophy that believes grades are a form of feedback on student progress and as such, should be primarily, if not solely, based on student’s progress towards subject mastery of district objectives.  

Grading for Mastery recognizes that not all students learn in the same way or at the same pace. 

Expectations

Teachers who choose to implement this grading policy must agree to the following.

  • Grades are first, and foremost, a feedback tool for students and their parents. They should not be used as a means of reward or punishment. ​
  • All grades will be directly tied to grade-level standards.
  • Students will have the ability to reassess on all major grades to demonstrate mastery. Before reassessing, students will need to talk to their teacher to show they are ready to reassess. Reassessments do not have to be in the same format as original grade.
  • Students will be held responsible for work through professionalism grades and/or 5 Phase system.  Points will not be deducted from individual assignments turned in late.
  • Missing work may receive a zero, but it should be communicated as a lack of evidence of learning, not as a punishment.  
  • Understanding that formative assessments are benchmarks on the way to mastery, homework should have a significantly less impact, if any, than summative assignments, such as tests and projects, on students' overall grade. 
So what does all this mean? 

It means that we are striving to provide you and your student with honest feedback based on their knowledge and skills.  It means that students that take longer to learn, have grades that still reflect that learning.  It means we hold students accountable for being self-regulated learners but don’t let behavior being the main driver of their grades.  It means that even if a student doesn't get something the first time, we expect them to keep trying and their grade will reflect that success (if it's on the second try).  

Ultimately, it means...Grading for Mastery places value on the learning instead of the grade.


Saturday, October 24, 2015

Looking for a Good Book?

There is a lot going on in our Colt Learning Commons.  Students are regularly in and out checking out books to read.  Students read 30 minutes each week in their ELA classes as well as one day a week in Advisory.  Reading is a great way to ignite curiosity, learn vocabulary and become global citizens! We have some new resources in our CLC that might interest you.  Read about some new books and then join us in the CLC to check one out or sit down and read for a while!












Monday, October 19, 2015

Family and Consumer Sciences: Not the Home Economics of Yesterday! By Katie Adams

Guest post by Katherine Adams, CMS Teacher

The pathway that lead me to teaching Career and Technical Education was an interesting one.  When I finally declared my major I had every intent of becoming a Psychologist.  It wasn’t until I had the amazing opportunity to travel and work in Japan for a summer that I realized my intense desire to help prepare our youth for life outside of school walls.  Upon my arrival back to the states I met with my college advisor and began to look to see how I could make the transition from a psych major to an education major a reality.  


At first, when Family and Consumer Science was brought up, I dismissed it.  Thinking what many people today still think, “Oh, that’s the class you take to learn how to cook and sew…” I am here to tell you, you (and I) are so wrong in holding onto that belief.  Too often we hold onto the ideas of the past and allow it to shape our futures.  The journey that has taken place in Home Economics as it has transitioned into Family and Consumer Sciences has been an immense one.  As an educator, I feel it is my mission to help prepare students for life outside of the classroom confines.  As a Family and Consumer Science teacher, I have the opportunity to teach my students about life, how to budget their finances, how to apply for a job… more importantly how to keep a job.  I show them the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle and the effects it can have on their life.  I encourage them to make choices now that will make a difference in who they plan to become in the future.  



Picture Left: Students got a “Reality Check” on the true cost of living on your own.  

This year in particular, my focus is on preparing my students so that when they get to high school - they are one step ahead.  I want them to have prior knowledge of what they should expect - so that when the time comes to apply for their first job, or apply for a scholarship they have resources filed away to use as needed.  


We just wrapped up our college and career unit.  Students had the opportunity to research the college of their choice and were asked to evaluate data such as: entry requirements, acceptance rates, tuition/fees and scholarship/financial aid.  I asked all students to reflect on what really stood out to them throughout their research.  It was interesting to hear many of them make comments about how they never realized just how many students apply and don’t get accepted to the school of their choice.  I posed the questions, “What can you start doing NOW to make sure you stand out from the rest?”  The resounding answer was, “Get involved!”  



Picture Left: As a part of their college research, students create a college pennant and an oral presentation over their findings.


To encourage my students to get involved, I created and shared with them an Experience Log.  This log is essentially a spreadsheet that allows them to track their involvement in a multitude of ways - so that when they are ready to apply for college and/or scholarships, they have a vast pool of resources to pull from.  It encourages them to get involved, whether it be clubs outside of school or volunteering in the community.  It not only serves as a visual reminder of all the areas in their life where they can be participating, but it also encourages them to set goals for themselves and track their growth over their high school career.  


Through this log, students can track their current GPA, community service hours, participation in clubs/activities/sports, ACT/SAT scores, AP Classes taken, Awards Received and much more.  They are encouraged to update it often through their high school career and use it as a tool when apply for scholarships and college in the future.  I explain to them the importance of keeping up with it and how valuable it will be when senior year rolls around and they need to begin to apply for scholarships and college.  I hope to plant the seed now that they should not wait until their senior year to think back on all they have done.

Career and Technical Education plays such a pivotal role in the lives of the students who take our classes.  We are teaching them skills that will hopefully following them from their middle school days into high school and beyond.  By instilling these ideas into their minds at a young age we are allowing them to become accustomed to them so that they will be one step ahead of their competition as they enter the real world.   

Friday, October 9, 2015

English Language Arts Learning by Pat Huster

Where has the time gone? We are already into the eighth week of school, and our students have been quite busy in their English/Language Arts classes. Students have been reading, writing, presenting, and learning vocabulary. In addition to our core language arts classes, 6th & 7th grade students have chosen an ELA Elective.

ELA Curriculum
Our language arts curriculum uses SpringBoard:English Textual Power, published by The College Board, as its textbook. Each grade level focuses on a different theme that runs throughout the lessons. Our 6th grade students study the theme of change, while 7th grade students learn about choices, and 8th grade students follow the idea of challenges. Now in its 4th year at CMS, SpringBoard is the vehicle that makes rigorous standards attainable for all of our students through vertically aligned and carefully scaffolded strategies-based instruction.

Through SpringBoard, students:
  • are exposed to higher-order thinking skills
  • practice close analysis with pre-AP and AP reading strategies
  • confronted with increasingly challenging texts
  • challenged by complex writing tasks

With their exposure to these AP strategies, prompts, texts, and writing tasks, our students will be well equipped for their journey through the 21st century.

In the Classroom
This week 8th grade classes have been busy exploring how the protagonists in Fahrenheit 451 and The Giver follow the Hero’s Journey archetype and using direct text evidence to support Short Answer Responses. In addition to their reading, students are participating in Socratic Seminars about Questioning Society’s Rules and Laws. Next week 8th graders will dive into graphic novels as their final preparation piece before they create visualizations of the Hero’s Journey in graphic novel format for their Embedded Assessment.

 8th grade Socratic Seminar

  8th grade Socratic Seminar


7th grade students are working on revision skills, a vital part of writing. Students are revisiting a piece of writing they completed earlier, revising the piece, and then reflecting on academic and personal growth. 7th grade students will be taking the Writing STAAR this spring which will focus on a written essay in addition to revision and editing skills.

6th grade students have been busy discussing the concept of change. Personal narratives are wrapped up and students are now focusing their efforts on expository writing. Thesis statements, topic sentences and transitions have all been big topics in class recently. This next week students will participate in  Writing Workshop where they will develop the following skills:
  • presenting effective introductions and concluding paragraphs
  • guide and inform the reader’s understanding of key issues in body paragraphs
  • include specific facts, evidence, details and examples in body paragraphs
  • include appropriate organizational structure
  • use a variety of sentence structures and transitions to link paragraphs

As you can see, our core English/Language Arts classes have been working hard by reading, writing, listening, and speaking. They are developing the skills that will grow into skilled problem solvers, effective communicators, collaborative workers, self-regulated learners, and global citizens.

Portrait of a Graduate.jpg