September 11th Activities

Posted on August 31, 2011 by gsumner3rd • Leave a comment

West Virginia schoolchildren will be among those participating in events commemorating the 10^th anniversary of the September 11 attacks when terrorists crashed planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field.

“September 11 is both a time to remember the victims and heroes of 9/11 and to honor their memory,” said West Virginia Superintendent of Schools Jorea Marple. “The anniversary offers a time to teach about this unforgettable moment in history, and to reconsider the effect that September 11 has had on our country and the world.”

Many of today’s schoolchildren were born after 2001. This year’s high school seniors were only in the second grade a decade ago when the tragedy occurred. Many of them were shielded from the violent images that are seared into the memories of older individuals. Their memories are fuzzy or non-existent despite round-the-clock media coverage.

“Teachers, together with parents and community leaders, can help students come to understand these events and their aftermath by putting the events of September 11 into a meaningful context,” Marple said. “I encourage you to get involved with events in our schools and to organize events in your communities commemorating the national tragedy.”

The history lessons will continue on Sept. 16 when schools across the state also will participate in activities celebrating Constitution Day. West Virginia’s Robert C. Byrd, the longest serving U.S. senator until his death in 2010, will be remembered on Constitution Day for his staunch support of a document that defines and outlines the basic laws and rights of American citizens.

Byrd inserted a provision into a massive spending bill that Congress passed in 2004 requiring every school and college that receives federal money to teach about the Constitution on Sept. 17, the day the United States Constitution was adopted in 1787. Throughout his life, Byrd kept a copy of the Constitution in his pocket.

Many Sept. 11 and Constitution Day activities and lesson plans may be found on the teachers’ resource page of the social studies website at http://wvde.state.wv.us/socialstudies/social_studies_teacher.html. Learning opportunities also are available from the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center at www.national911memorial.org. Schools are encouraged to register their activities on the following form http://tinyurl.com/wv9-11tributeactivity.

Marple also has recorded a video message for students about the significance of 9/11. The video is posted on the department website at http://wvde.state.wv.us/player.php?m=f&vid=super/2011-patriot-day.

The WVDE also will recognize the 9/11 tragedy during a ceremony at the West Virginia Culture Center on Sept. 8 at 1 p.m. Students will be asked to sign a Declaration of Commitment showing their support for patriotism, volunteerism and civic literacy. An electronic version of the Declaration of Commitment will be placed on the WVDE websitehttp://wvde.state.wv.us so that teachers and students can highlight civic literacy projects throughout the school year.

WVDE- Joey Wiseman

PLC Resources

Posted on August 26, 2011 by gsumner3rd • Leave a comment

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES AT SCHOOL

What they are, why they are important and how to create them

The term professional learning community has become quite commonplace in education circles. The term describes a collegial group who are united in their commitment to an outcome. In the case of education, the commitment would be to student learning. The community engages in a variety of activities including sharing a vision, working and learning collaboratively, visiting and observing other classrooms, and participating in shared decision making. The benefits of professional learning community to educators and students include reduced isolation of teachers, better informed and committed teachers, and academic gains for students. Shirley Hord of the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory says, that as an organizational arrangement, the professional learning community is seen as a powerful staff-development approach and a potent strategy for school change and improvement.

Standards in Practice Overview:
Standards and Looking at Student Work

Get prepared. Select a chair, timekeeper, and recorder. Read and discuss the protocol. Make sure there is a batch of student work that the group will look at in using the protocol. Review the following ground rules:
1. Behavior is professional throughout – no outbursts, no personal attacks
2. Everyone listens to everyone else and does not interrupt or talk over others
3. Praise where possible, but express critical opinions candidly
4. Accept criticism as if it were intended to help improve student achievement
5. Be brief, so that everyone gets lots of chances to talk

Do the assignment yourselves. Every member of the team does the assignment as given to the students.

Make a scoring guide. The group generates a rough scoring guide from the standards and the assignment.

Score the student work. The group scores the student papers, using the guide.

See what students know and can do. The recorder writes the group’s answers to the following questions:
1. What does this student work tell us about student learning?
2. What do students know, and what are they able to do?
3. Was the assignment well designed to help students acquire knowledge and exercise skills?

Do something about it. The recorder writes the group’s answers to the following question: What needs to happen on the classroom, school, and district so that all students can do this and similar tasks well?

Develop and carry out an action plan. The group plans and carries out action to improve student learning.

From NC Public Schools site

–http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/profdev/resources/proflearn/

Here are a collection of resources to improve our professional learning teams here at Valley High!

http://www.centerforcsri.org/plc/

http://www.solution-tree.com/public/Media.aspx?ShowDetail=true&ProductID=BKF273

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_learning_community

http://pdonline.ascd.org/pd_online/secondary_reading/el200405_dufour.html

http://www.allthingsplc.info/

http://www.sedl.org/change/issues/issues61.html