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I tried to put a calendar into my website and managed to delete all of the items in my sidebar, grrrr!  Well, I’ll be working on that later.

It seems that I am in the position of waiting to hear…waiting…waiting…waiting.  Waiting for decisions that I personally have no control over, but affect me significantly.  Most of the time I just focus on what is before me because that is the only thing I have control over, that is my response to the event that I am part of for the moment.

But in quiet moments that waiting…waiting…waiting invades my consciousness.  Would I rather not know and be surprised?  I don’t think so.  Significant would become catastrophic.

So I must be satisfied with waiting…waiting…waiting.  I try to keep busy, but sometime inertia overtakes and I seem to go from thing to thing overwhelmed by the immensity of it all, the inability to effect outcomes…that’s when I wish I had the “clean gene.”  Everything in my house would be clean and picked up using the “clean gene.”

If you pray for patience does that mean you have to wait longer?  Hmm.

How do you wait?  What does your practice of patience look like?

You Can’t Compensate for Not Reading
I posted this comment for this article that talks about the significance of reading.

In working with court-involved young women ages 11 through 17, we find that all students that are identified as truant have significant reading and/or writing deficits. It’s a vicious cycle that they are trapped in–they go to school, don’t “get” what they are being taught, fall behind, can’t or won’t ask for help (that will be inadequate to solve the larger problem–their reading and/or writing deficit), so they stop going to school, they get in trouble (for not going to school and other things), they are ordered to go to school, and the whole cycle starts over again until they are “kicked out of school”. Since we are a residential school, we have purposed to develop a culture of reading and writing outside of the school day, whether it’s dialogue journals with counselors, reading for “pleasure” (30 minutes a night, every night), as well as staff and students sharing books and making recommendations about “good reads.” We find sometimes, students surprise themselves by awakening a reading and writing habit that they didn’t know they had.

Welcome to Humanities!  This course uses literature and the language arts to learn about people and issues.  This week we’re off to Africa!

You’re online work begins with learning more about African folktales, specifically working with proverbs.

After the classroom introduction you will be assigned to the group working on the geography project about Africa or the group working on literature.  Later in the period and during the week you will be switching roles so that we can use our computer resources effectively.

For your first task, follow the instructions on the following website: African Proverb Activity.

Remember: Asking questions to clarify instructions is helpful when starting any project!

By popular request, we will be learning more about Asia this week.  Before we talk about issues, let’s take a look at what is Asia and do some exploration.  These three web sites will help you complete your first tasks.

Choose which region of Asia you would like to explore.  Check in with your teacher before you start because spots are limited.

Task 1 Description:  Summarize the information you discovered about the region that you have chosen using one of the following formats: paragraph, outline, bullet-list, bubble (semantic map).  Choose the graphic organizer provided or develop one of your own.

Task 1 Assessment: A. Clarity of the information, organization (4 points); B. Completeness of information (4 points). (8 points possible)

Task 1 Web Resource: Natural History on the Net: Asia

Task 2 Description: Label all of the countries in your region of Asia on the map provided.  Be neat.

Task 2 Assessment: A. Completeness (4 points); B. Neatness (4 points).  (8 points possible)

Task 2 Web Resource: National Geographic Map Machine

Task 3 Description:  Choose one or more countries from your region.  You will be preparing travel brochures (separate brochures for each country).  First, decide what criteria would be important for travelers to the country (countries) to know. Once your list of criteria is complete, review it with a teacher.  You must have a minimum of six (6) criteria you are including in your travel brochure.

Task 3 Assessment: Choice of criteria for the travel brochure (4 points possible).

Task 3 Web Resource:  National Geographic: Country Information

• Ease of use
• Improved communication among stakeholders: children, parents, advisors, teachers
• Authentic goal setting and self-reflection
• Observed progress by stakeholders especially the students
• Capturing of appropriate data

• Template

• Transitions to School or Employment

• Parents needs and wants

• Each advisor has 9 advisees in 7th and 8th grade

o Some advisors have limited time with students

• Sixth grade have homeroom as advisory
• Profile

o Name

o Grade

o Learning Strengths Profile

• Modality Strengths

• Multiple Intelligences Strengths

• Thinking Style

o Track Record

• Grade 5, 6, and 7 End of year information

o Already Acquired Abilities

• Organization
• Social Goals
• Academic
• Extra-curricular
• Goals

o For each goal set the following questions should be asked:

• Goal: What outcome could you achieve by a specified date?

• Rationale: How does your stated goal relate to Self-Worth, Active Engagement, or Purpose?

• Action: What immediate, practical steps can you take toward your goal?

• Evidence: How will you know when you have achieved your goal?

o Academic

• Performance goals captured from the following resources:

• MAPS: Set one RIT growth goal; review and set next goal at the testing term; send copy of goal to class teacher

o In the alternative: have the class teacher set one RIT goal with the student and have the student report the goal to the advisor and parents

• Literacy Skills:
• Math Skills:
• Disciplinary records
• Academic strengthening plan

• Independent work at home

• After school program

• Tutoring

o Socially (Self-worth: Belonging, Heroes, and Sense of Accomplishment)
o Physically (Active Engagement: Fun & Excitement, Curiosity & Creativity, Spirit of Adventure)
o Personally (Purpose: Leadership & Responsibility, Confidence to Take Action)

• Extended Learning Opportunities

o Career Exploration

o Service Learning

o Internship

Goal Setting

Goal setting forms for Middle School Students and Parents
Goal setting strategies
Middle School Assessment using a goal setting model
Implementation of using MAPS data for student goal setting
An ERIC item that discusses goal setting for at-risk students called Project PASS
Goal setting notebooks developed by NMSA
Middle School Newsletter includes goal setting and other things to think about
A whole thing about goal setting
Example of web page with references to goal settingGoal setting pages
Parental involvement in setting goals

Helping young people set goals and make plans about how to attain goals is strategic to success in school. The following websites are examples of or descriptions of personal learning plans.

A sample template for a high school PLP

A Powerpoint presentation specifically about middle school PLPs

Middle school website that explains how personal learning plans are implemented

Another middle school website that explains how personal learning plans are implemented

Webpage with how-to’s and things to think about:
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4

A Powerpoint solution

An identified exemplary program paper

A webpage that enumerates what PLPs are

A PLP solution from the United Kingdom

A high school solution for the PLP

A podcast, blog, and template for PLP from The Supportive Classroom

This morning I just finished Laurel Ulrich Thatcher’s Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History. Having read two of her previous books, I was interested in reading this one. This is a great book to learn about some of the feminine voices of the past. She mentions so many authors and books that I fear a new stack of “choice reads” will be created. When that happens I am filled with the overwhelming sense of “so many books to read, so little time.” She begins her book by contrasting three women and their writing: Catherine de Pizan, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Virginia Woolf. Each of the women brings an historical perspective to the female experience. It is interesting to learn that while women have been silenced and made invisible, their work has not been totally lost and is not only being rediscovered but being made accessible.