Area 4 ALT Program

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2008-2009 Tip of the Week Organizer for Second Semester

Hey everyone!  Here is the Tip of the Week Organizer to wrap up the Tip of the Week for this year.   :)

 

Download Semester 2 Tip of the Week Organizer

 

My last tip was called Why Differentiation?  I just had to share with you an excellent website that does a great job explaining differentiation.  It has great links, cheat sheets, templates, etc.  You might want to bookmark this one!  I say it could be my One Stop Shop (Super Wallmart) for Differentiation! Just kidding but it really is very good!

 

http://www.wilmette39.org/DI39/distrategies.html

 

 

2008-2009 Tip of the Week #19 (second semester)

Hey everyone!  I know countdown is on.  Just a few more weeks.  Hang on!!!!

The Tip of the Week focuses on the topic of Differentiation.  Why did I choose differentiation at the end of the year?  As I reflect back to my teaching days in middle school 3 years ago, this was honestly my least favorite time of the year.  Why?   The kids were not focused and we were stressed to the max trying to finish out the year.  What do you do to keep students engaged in reviews that are happening in all of their classes?  Differentiate!

The second reason that I chose this topic was based on the results of the Unit Planning Survey.  Teachers stated that they would like more tips and strategies on differentiation.  Differentiation is not easy and takes planning.  The good news is there are some low prep strategies that make it possible.  One of my favorites is offering Choice.  Next week I will share many more low prep strategies.

So…I share with you this week one of my favorite examples of why we need to differentiate - Animal School.  To model differentiation I included several ways I might “differentiate” this content/information – movie (visual learners), song (music lovers), and text with definition hyperlinks for ELLs, and even a commentary that you might use as an extension activity or a model before the writing activity. 

Download Semester 2 Tip of the Week #19 

Take a look and let me know what you think!
Have a great week!  

Sheree

2008-2009 Tip of the Week #18 (second semester)

Hey everyone!  Countdown is on I am sure! :)  Hang in there!

The Tip of the Week is a reminder of a wonderful Professional Learning Resource that Cobb offers not only to staff but even to your families!!!  If you have technology questions, please take a few minutes to try out Atomic Learning!  You will love it.

Have a great week!  
Sheree

Download Semester 2 Tip of the Week #18 Atomic Learning

News and Notes from Debby 4/27/09

Ah spring, lovely spring!

May approaches and you are feeling GOOD about the great job you have done this year with your kids!

I found an interesting metanalysis of studies on strategies that help kids learn ... see if you find your favorite among the list.  I couldn't help noticing the connection to Marzano's top strategies and Cobb Counties new teacher assessment rubrics!  If you are so inclined, follow the link to more detail and examples! 

 

Debby

Download News and Notes 4-27-09

2008-2009 Tip of the Week #17 (second semester)

Hey everyone!  I know - it is crunch time!  These last few weeks we need to pull out every strategy you can think of to keep the students motivated and engaged.  If you have not used a Webquest in a while, this might be a great time!  It incorporates reading comprehension, technology, and problem solving/analysis.

 

Take a look and see what you think!

Sheree

 

Download Semester 2 Tip of the Week 17 - Webquests

2008-2009 Tip of the Week #16 (second semester)

Hey everyone!  Just had to share this Tip!  Simple and could be used in a variety of formats - during reading, during a lecture for a quick processing check, discussion groups, etc.

I did divide the Tip into 3 sections:

Section 1:  Say Something Procedure

Section 2:  Handout of Sentence Prompts for students as you help them get started.  This might make a great handout for you also as you pose questions to your students.  I think it is worth making a class set!

Section 3:  Example of a lesson plan incorporating this strategy

Take a look and see what you think.

Have a great week!

Sheree

Download Semester 2 Tip of the Week #16 Say Something

 

News and Notes from Debby 4/13/09

Welcome back! 

All good teachers constantly reflect on their practice and look for ways to make their teaching more efficient and effective so I know that as you are looking at the last quarter instruction you are refining and tinkering with your instructional methods.

One of the Area 4 High School ALTs found the following article and included it in her Tip of the Week email to teachers.  I thought it relevant to elementary and middle school as well - since TIME is the element we all struggle with! 

 

Enjoy your week!

 

Debby

 

Download News and Notes 4-13-09

Download Timer with Chime

2008-2009 Tip of the Week #15 (second semester)

Hey everyone!  I sure hope you had a wonderful and restful Spring Break.  The week does fly by for sure.  Even if you are not ready, I guess we will have to pretend.  Yes- April and May are always crazy!  :)

The Tip of the Week this week focuses on incorporating Choice Boards/Think Tac Toe/ Learning Menus.  These certainly help motivate many students these last few weeks of school and are one of the more popular differentiation strategies.  

Please be sure to scroll down all 4 pages on the attachment.  I think you might like both the Tic Tac Toe Menu (pg. 2) and the Blooms/ Multiple Intelligence Grid (pg. 2).  It was always difficult for me to come up with enough selections for the task - I think these will help give you even more options.  

Also be sure to check out the link -

http://daretodifferentiate.wikispaces.com/Choice+Boards

   (Many sample boards and tips)

Enjoy and have a great week!

Sheree

Download Semester 2 Tip of the Week #15

2008-2009 Tip of the Week #14 (second semester)

The tip for this week is about timing tools.

Have a wonderful and restful Spring Break!  Enjoy!

Sheree

Download Semester 2 Tip of the Week #14 Timing Tools

Download Timer with Chime

2008-2009 Tip of the Week #13 (second semester)

Hey everyone!  The focus this week continues to be on reading comprehension.  Take a look at the different templates and see if you can adapt to make it work for a reading this week.  Just a little something different!  :)  The templates are in the attachment - be sure to scroll down to see all the possibilities.

Hang in there!  Have a great week!

Sheree

Download Semester 2 Tip of the Week #13