Friends and Colleagues,
Thanks for responding to the request to be on the From LtoJ Consulting Group's newsletter list. Recently I learned that GoDaddy.com has a newsletter service. I pay an annual fee and the data base, templates, and feedback system is already in place. I am writing this in case some administrators might like such a system for their school or district.
The first item each month will be ideas I have learned from various schools using LtoJ. The outline for the newsletters will then be (1) resource, (2) an attachment you may be able to use, (3) LtoJ news, (4)Future events, (5) a clever idea, (6) a quote, (7) a basic concept review and (8) other. I'm sure as time passes, this will be revised, but this is the concept for now.
1. Resource: While working at the Lexington, NE High School I was told of a web site for games, in Power Point, that can be downloaded. You may want to check out the site -- http://jc-schools.net/tutorials/PPT-games/ I invite you to send me suggestions for other monthly newsletters.
2. Attachment: Jenks, OK kindergarten teachers have used Excel to create the graphs and item analysis in one document. The random selection of letters and sight words are done ahead of time and then typed below each weekly column. The teacher asks the students 1:1 to read the words/letters and then the teacher highlights the correct items and the student colors in the appropriate number of cells on the graph. See bottom of page for attachment. Thanks to Kelly Bigpond of East Elementary.
3. News: Nebraska continues to be the state where I am working the most. This is because of Elaine Specht, Staff Development Coordinator for Education Service Unit #10 in Kearney, NE, and her staff. Her method is quite simple, but powerful. Each time I am in Kearney, she has invited a colleague from a neighboring ESU. Often this results in an invitation to come to another ESU and thus the LtoJ process is spreading across Nebraska.
4. Future events: On April 27th I am speaking to representatives from various state departments of education. The conference, sponsored by the Education Commission of the States, will be in Wilmington, DE. Those of you who are working closely with members of your state departments of education may encourage them to attend this root cause session.
5. Clever idea: In Lexington, NE middle school, all teachers are quizzing vocabulary weekly on vocabulary in their home room. The vocabulary is from English, Social Studies, Math and Science classes. By beginning their LtoJ journey this way, all teachers are working out the efficiencies and details of LtoJ, so that next year the process can be expanded with all teachers and departments knowing how LtoJ works.
6. A quote: Woody Wilson, Parkersburg, WV High School history teacher was presenting LtoJ concepts at a conference. He had four students with him. Some of the teachers were having difficulty understanding the LtoJ concept so one of the students replied, "The reason you are having difficulty is because you are thinking grading system; this is a learning system." Out of the mouth of kids...!
7. Basic concept review: Run charts, they have inclines, plateaus, and valleys. What do we do at each stage? For inclines we are just happy. For valleys we discuss with the students why. For plateaus, we must have a class meeting to determine a hypotheses that the class can test. Usually 3 to 4 weeks is sufficient to know if a particular hypothesis will change the plateau into an incline. If the hypotheses works, continue. If the hypotheses does not create improvement, establish a new hypothesis and test it out for several weeks. Plateaus are team-building times with teacher, students and their learning process.
8. Ideas for improvements and/or corrections are appreciated. Please e-mail me at Lee@LtoJConsulting.com. Thanks.
Lee Jenkins,
Lee@LtoJConsulting.com
Two attachments are at bottom of newsletter.
Please send ideas, stories, questions, photos that can be used for future newsletters. Thanks.
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