Ms. Kirsten Subach, 7th grade math teacher, asked her students and parents that very question and then posted their responses on her classroom wall for all to view. See Ms. Subach's tweets below. Students have high expectations for their teachers but they are one's that can be attained! Great job families!
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Wood Dale School District 7 applied for and received a grant, from the Illinois State Board of Education, to offer professional development related to teaching English Language Learners (ELLs). Last week, 25 teachers participated in this professional development opportunity. Dr. Sonia Soltero, consultant and DePaul University Professor, taught the courses. This professional development was a continuation of work that Dr. Soltero started 2 years ago with our school district. On August 13th & 14th, Wood Dale 7 Bilingual teachers worked with Dr. Soltero on the continuation of the development of the Spanish Language Arts curriculum. Teachers learned instructional strategies related to teaching ELLs. Part of the discussion related to bridging instruction from Spanish to English so that students are successful at gaining English proficiency. August 15th, specialists and classroom teachers continued learning about the WIDA standards (learning standards for ELLs) and the Model Performance Indicators (MPIs). MPIs describe WHAT students can be expected to process and produce at a given proficiency level within reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Teachers revised their grade level integrated units to add specific instructional strategies and activities for ELLs. The WIDA standards and MPI's were used to to help them with this process. Thank you to the many teachers who took advantage of this professional development! Many commented that it was beneficial and appreciated the opportunity to improve their instruction for ELLs. On Monday and Tuesday, the Wood Dale School District 7 new teachers participated in orientation meetings. On the 1st day, new teachers were introduced to District 7 procedures, the teacher evaluation system, and began creating their teacher websites with Greg Augsburg, Technology Trainer. New teachers had lunch with Wood Dale administrators and Board of Education members. Thank you to the BOE for this special treat! On Day 2, Steve Hovey and Kelly Lynn, Wood Dale Instructional Coaches worked with the new teachers on curriculum, technology, and standards-based grading. We are excited to have this great group of new, professional educators joining our team!
You matter! These 2 words are simple, yet powerful and can make a difference in the world. Angela Maiers (@AngelaMaiers), keynote on the last day of the Leyden 1 to 1 Symposium, was thought provoking and definitely inspiring. "You matter, is not an ego-thing. It is a DNA-thing. We were created for significance". Angela is an educator and is on a mission to empower people to change lives. She started the Choose2Matter campaign around the world. This movement challenges and inspires students to work collaboratively to develop innovative solutions to social problems in an authentic way. She has written two books, The Passion-Driven Classroom and Classroom Habitudes. Below are tweets from Angela's presentation. A few of these tweets reference Genius Hour, a practice that some teachers in District 7 have already started with their students. Read this blog post by Mr. Krause explaining Genius Hour in District 7. Thank you to Lauren Hasse, Josh Halverson, Lindsay Bjerga-Palm, Shelly Skarzynski, Trisha Nikrandt, Ashley Curran, Ashley Stoltz, Ben Hartman and Chris Perry for attending the Leyden 1 to 1 Symposium and for your contributions to our students. #YOUMATTER
Who will you tell (or show) today that they matter? Do you need help staying organized? If the answer is yes, watch this screencast about Google Tasks by Wood Dale School District Technology Trainer, Greg Augsburg. Google Tasks integrates with Google Calendar and Google Mail. If needed, you can create and name several lists (ex. personal, work, team meetings, etc.). Additionally, you can email or print these lists. For example, if you created a task list for a meeting, you can email participants the list ahead of time. Click Here: Google Tasks Video |
AuthorWelcome to my blog! I'm Merri Beth Kudrna , a Curriculum Director in a PreK-8 school district. My past experiences as an educator include classroom teacher, reading specialist, instructional coach, assistant principal, and principal. I love watching kids learn & grow through authentic learning experiences. My passion is integrating technology into the curriculum and using social media to connect students & staff to the world. Archives
January 2019
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