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Director's Notes
Grade-Level Collegial Meetings
Interested in participating or facilitating grade-level meetings with your colleagues in the region? NCES is willing to host such meetings. Lisa Morse and Kim Hockmeyer have volunteered to facilitate a meeting of second grade teachers this spring at NCES. If you're interested in that meeting or one for your grade-level (or content area), let me know and we will work to convene a group.
Call for Presenters
NCES is calling for presenters for North Country Professional Development Day. We are looking for best practices in Response to Intervention, technology integration and/or the use of data for improving student achievement. Sessions are 90 minutes each. If you or team from your school are interested in facilitating a discussion and sharing your practice in any of these areas, please contact me.
Speaking of facilitation...
Here's a chance to brush up on your skills facilitating professional conversation. NHSDC is offering a book talk at NCES on Thursday, February, 18, 2010 on Charlotte Danielson's Talk about Teaching: Leading Professional Conversations. Visit nsdcnh.org for details.
Assessing Student Writing
Schools working to improve daily writing, reduce interventions and raise test scores, should consider contracting with Jean Mann. Jean can work with individual teachers to examine and assess students’ writing samples in order to determine specific weaknesses in the varied elements or traits of the content. She will help to bring an understanding as to why these weaknesses occur and how to improve them and the quality of a whole piece. Contact NCES to schedule Jean to meet with interested teachers.
Executive Director Search
NCES is accepting applications through February 28 for the position of Executive Director. Visit ncedservices.org for more information.
Lori Langlois
Interim Executive Director
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Technology Leadership Cohort
Both the teacher group and administrator group for the 2009-2010 TLC program for the North Country region came together with their respective cohorts at NCES in January. The administrator group is pictured below. For more photos of TLCers, visit ncedservices.org/tlc
Front row: Dan Shallow, Paula Churchill (facilitator), Karen Conroy, Shelli Roberts, Courtney Vashaw Piper, Erik Anderson, David Backler (participant and co-facilitator). Back row: Ron Paquette, Steve Sexton, Pierre Couture, Kim Stoloski, Rick Bidgood and Kevin Richards. Missing from photo: Rosanna Moran.
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Upcoming Professional Development
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Get SMART about Smart (Senteo) Student Response Systems
This half day workshop covers what you need to know to use the Smart Response System student “clickers” and the Senteo assessment software. Suitable for those who already use student response systems or those interested in learning how these systems work. Topics covered will include:
- setting up a class and importing a roster of students
- creating three types of questions: an assessment, an instant question and questions in PowerPoint slides.
- setting feedback options
- exporting results to Excel
Participants are asked to bring their laptop, a student roster in Excel (Student ID, First Name, Last Name), some sample questions (both T/F, Y/N, multiple choice and numeric answers) in a Word document or other electronic format and, if possible, two response units and the Senteo receiver.
Date: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 from 1:00 to 5:00
Presenter: Paula Churchill
Cost: Member School Staff $25, Associate Member School Staff $30, Non-Member $40
Location: NCES Conference Room, Gorham, NH
Registration: Please register by calling NCES at 800-268-5437 or 603-466-5437. Purchase orders should be faxed to 603-466-2907.
Did you know? "Clickers" can be used without interactive whiteboards. That's right, you can simply use them with a projector.
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Language Arts Professional Development
Jean Mann will facilitate the following sessions.
Non-Fiction Reading Strategy Instruction
(for Grades 3-6)
Did you know that cockroaches can predict earthquakes? Come and see what you can learn in this session that helps students make sense of a text. Explicit strategy instruction, transfer of learning, student application and ownership are the keys to enjoyment and comprehension for young readers.
Date: Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Time: 4:00 to 7:30
Cost: Member school staff $50, Associate Members $55, Others $60
Increase Vocabulary Understanding and Use
(for Grades 3-6)
Isolated memorizing and practicing of vocabulary words doesn't carry over into successful application. This session will offer explicit instruction on how to help students take ownership of their reading and writing vocabulary. They'll gain higher-level achievement through key strategies, reinforcing practice, and independent application.
Date: Wednesday, March 3, 2010 from 4:00 to 7:30
Cost: Member school staff $50, Associate Members $55, Others $60
Developmental Ages and Stages: Ensure Appropriate Practices (added session)
(for Grades K-3)
This session will address that wide span of development you have in your classrooms each year so that you can meet each student where they are. We’ll follow the predictable, sequential path of your students physically, cognitively, socially and in the area of language and look at the classroom implications. You’ll learn how to integrate all that you are required to teach into developmentally-appropriate practices for your wide range of learners.
Date: Wednesday, March 10, 2010 from 4:00 to 7:30
Cost: Member school staff $50, Associate Members $55, Others $60
Optimal Spelling Instruction
(for K-4)
Why do students get 100 on their Friday spelling tests then spell so many words wrong in their Monday writing? This session will cover everything you need to know about teaching spelling effectively: developmental stages of spelling; authentic assessment of spelling needs; strategies and mini-lessons for phonetic, visual, and semantic patterns; sight words; word-sorting for higher-level thinking and forming generalizations; student accountability to use, proofread and edit what they know in spelling.
Date: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 from 4:00 to 7:30
Cost: Member school staff $50, Associate Members $55, Others $60
Registration: Please register by calling NCES at 800-268-5437 or 603-466-5437 or by emailing becky@ncedservices.org. Purchase orders may be faxed to 603-466-2907.
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Families in Conflict: When Education is the Battleground
This three-hour interactive seminar gives educators the tools they need to navigate between the law of divided parenting and the educational needs of children. Lawyers Margaret-Ann Moran, Marilyn McNamara, and Maureen Soraghan of the law offices of Upton & Hatfield bring their collective experience in education and family law together with real-life scenarios that demonstrate the challenges of educating children living in high conflict families. Topics will include: parenting law, how the law impacts parental decision-making, parental authority, child protection, special education matters, and related child-rearing and educational issues.
Date: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 from 12:30-3:30
Location: NCES, Gorham, NH
Cost: $60
Registration: Please register by calling NCES at 800-268-5437 or 603-466-5437. Purchase orders may be faxed to 603-466-2907.
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GLOBE Seasonal Change (Grade K-4 teachers)
Bring science into your literacy and math programs with Elementary GLOBE by using the seasons! Introduce your K-4 students to Earth System Science through storybooks and learning activities appropriate for them. The five Elementary GLOBE books, designed for elementary readers, and their activities, are based around the topics of weather, hydrology, seasons, and soils but also include skills such as writing math sentences, measuring and estimating, writing results of observations, using media and the library, storytelling, and even acting out a play. We will be covering only the seasons book and activities in the evening session but each participant will receive a set of storybooks and activities, along with a CD of all the materials for reproduction purposes ($40 value). Elementary GLOBE materials also include extensive teacher's notes and have been correlated to the NH Science Curriculum Frameworks. The activities include the use of technology and inquiry.
Instructor: Jennifer Bourgeault
Dates/Times: Friday, March 5 from 4:00 to 7:30 and Saturday, March 6 from 9:00 to 12:30
Meals: Friday March, 5 a light dinner will be provided. Saturday, lunch provided.
Stipend: Each participant will receive a $100 Stipend
Location: NCES: Gorham, NH
Registration: Please register by calling NCES at 800-268-5437 or 603-466-5437.
Questions: matt@ncedservices.org
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GLOBE Seasonal Change (Grade 5-12 teachers)
Get your students REALLY excited about the changes that are happening in the spring and fall and bring relevance to weather and soil data you may already be collecting or thinking about collecting. What causes the trees to burst out and green-up? What causes green-down? Is it the warmer or colder air temperature, warmer or colder soil temperature or availability of water? When does it happen in your area? Are there differences between northern NH and southern NH times of budburst and green-down? Do different species of trees “burst” at different times? In this workshop, you will become prepared to collect spring budburst and green-up data just in time to gather it, and practice entering it onto the GLOBE International database and using GLOBE data from around the world to look at trends. This workshop will also discuss how you can also collect green-down data when the fall approaches. In addition, there are some great background learning activities on seasons which will complete your unit so your students can become ‘real’ scientists studying phenology. All the data collection protocols and activities are correlated to the NH Science Curriculum Frameworks.
Instructor: Jennifer Bourgeault
Date/Time: Saturday, March 6, 2010 from 9:00 to 3:30
Meals: Lunch provided.
Stipend: Each participant will receive a $100 stipend
Location: NCES, Gorham, NH
Registration: Please register by calling NCES at 800-268-5437 or 603-466-5437.
Questions: matt@ncedservices.org
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Performance Tracker: Beginner
This session is designed for educators who have not used the Performance Tracker tool and would like a hands-on introduction and practice experience. Beginner level topics include an overview of navigation, data available, generating reports on individuals and groups of students.
Date/Time: Tuesday, February 9, 2010 from 8:30 to 11:30
Presenter: Paula Churchill
Sponsored by: NH Department of Education
Cost: Free
Registration: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KCPNYRY
(Please note that this registration form includes sessions at other locations and dates.)
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Performance Tracker: Advanced
The advanced session is designed for educators familiar with the tool and can generate basic Proficiency level reports, and have basic understanding of the data available in P+. Topics will include: Comparison Reports, Assessment Scores Report and Excel conditional formatting, Item Analysis, using multiple filters to find answers, looking at local assessments with Performance Tracker, and Content Library for generating standards based in-class activities. In addition, the trainer can help you to use Performance Tracker toward your own data goals.
Date/Time: Tuesday, February 9, 2010 from 12:00 to 3:00
Presenter: Paula Churchill
Sponsored by: NH Department of Education
Cost: Free
Registration: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KCPNYRY
(Please note that this registration form includes sessions at other locations and dates.)
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Common Core Standards: Structured Feedback Sessions
The NHDOE recently submitted feedback to the National Governors Association and Council of Chief School Officers regarding the second confidential draft of the U.S. Common Core Standards www.corestandards.org. The NHDOE was pleased to find that the NGA/CCSSO had incorporated some of their recommended changes.
It is that high-level of responsiveness that has prompted NHDOE and their collaboration with NH nonprofit, Revolutionary Classrooms, to invite all NH SAUs to the table during the final round of feedback on the US Common Core Standards for Language Arts and Mathematics, K-12.
During the structured feedback sessions, teacher representative(s) will be asked to comment on the clarity of each standard from a user's perspective. Participants' comments and questions will be correlated and submitted to the standards authoring committee on behalf of New Hampshire and all of its schools.
The feedback session for the North Country is Wednesday, February 17th, 9:00 to 11:00 for Language Arts and 12:30 to 2:30 for Mathematics at NCES. For locations in other regions, check with your SAU office.
Participation must be approved by your superintendent to assure equal chance for all SAUs to participate. Please RSVP with your SAU representative(s) including their name, grade-level or position, SAU#, contact phone #, and email address by Friday, February 5th: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9RNGYWF
There is no cost for the participants, but there is also no lunch provided.
In case of cancellation due to weather, a cancellation message will be posted on the DOE homepage and recorded message on Deb Wiswell's phone, 271-3828.
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Attention High School Teachers
Have you given any thought to making your classes available to other North Country high school students through video conferencing? Matt Treamer and various guidance counselors are working to share classes in the region. Contact matt@ncedservices.org if you might be interested in teaching via this medium.
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21st Century Learner Conference
The Local Education Support Center Network (LESCN) will be holding its annual spring conference on April 1, 2010 in Meredith, NH. Save the date! Details to follow soon at lescn.org.
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High School "Big Idea" Competition
Social Entrepreneurial Student Leadership is an experiential, real world, community problem-solving competition designed to foster a culture of social entrepreneurship among teams of NH high school students. Partners include the NH High Tech Council, the NH College and University Council and the NH Division of Resources and Economic Development, SNHU, and Red River Theatres. Registration is open only this week. FMI www.seslchallenge.org
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A Chance to Experience Success (ACES)
A call for proposals has been released to select four high schools to participate in a two-week summer residential pilot program at Keene State College. The program focuses on experiential career exploration, self-advocacy and independent living skill development for high school juniors ages 16 to 17 with learning disabilities and/or ADHD. The program is highly applicable for those students with LD and/or ADHD that are struggling to make the connection between their education and life after high school. Contact Tina Greco, NHDOE Voc Rehab Transition Coordinator for details at 271-3993 or tgreco@ed.state.nh.us.
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