 |
| ISSN Pending | February 15, 2006 | Volume I, Issue 7 |
|
Dear Educator, Remember the "good old days" as educators? You know...the days when we taught our content and assumed students could read, write, think, and calculate well enough to master whatever we had to say. You don't? I don't either. I've been an educator longer than most of you, and there has never been a time when I didn't have to use techniques that taught literacy across the curriculum. The lingo may be new, but the reality is the same: whatever our content, we have a responsibility to our students to develop them into literate, lifelong learners. Always have; always will. SCORE's key question is not, "Why can't Johnny read?" It is "What must we do so Johnny can read?" That is the focus of this month's featured article. Perhaps, as educators, the most important question is...how will we handle it when we teach students to think only to find that they think differently than we do? It is frightening to think that they, like Aristotle, might entertain our thoughts without accepting them. 
May your students challenge your thinking this semester. May they cause you to rethink your premises. May they inspire you to hone your skills. May you model for them what it is to be a lifelong learner. Sharon Marshall Lockett, Director | |||||||||||||||||||
 |
So Johnny Can Read... When students are not achieving in the classroom, there is always a reason. Reasons are myriad, but they always have a "root cause." When we discover the "root cause," we can bring about dramatic change quickly. "Root cause" can be: Intellectual. We educators always wish all problems were intellectual. We have been trained and inserviced to deal with the intellectual. Intellectual includes miss-matches between student learning style and teacher teaching style; between teaching style and test style/content. We minimize these easily:
Physical. These are almost as easy to spot but more difficult to fix. Your students who can't sit still or who fall asleep in class may be experiencing physical problems that short-circuit learning. Physical causes of underachievement can be eye-hand coordination problems, high or low blood sugar, allergies, medications, or substance abuse. They are suspect when a student performs dramatically better on oral assignments than on written assignments; when there is a miss-match between test scores and performance or within segments of test scores (i.e. low comprehension scores but high scores on word problems that require comprehension). These indicators are also present at certain levels of language acquisition. We minimize these by:
Emotional. Here we educators stumble. We have, after all, been trained to develop the mind. However, emotions are a profound part of academic achievement. When a child is carrying an adult responsibility because of illness or dysfunction in the family; when a child is reeling from death, divorce, or destruction; when a child is fearful; when a child's heart is broken for any reason...it will surface in the classroom. Additionally, in children, grief has a "sleeper effect." When a trauma is too big for a child to cope, it is buried. Buried grief resurfaces periodically and consumes the student. Your daydreamers or fighters may fall into this category. We minimize these by:
Spiritual. Public educators are so afraid of crossing the lines of separation of church and state that we sometimes ignore the spiritual personhood and it's role in learning. Spiritual issues that don't violate separation of church and state include dreams, goals, and values. Religious or not, we all have these in abundance. Sometimes a student is underperforming because they are living at dissonance with their values; sometimes they have lost touch with their goals and dreams. When this is "root cause," we intervene by:
Everything we do outside of "root cause" is a band-aid. Band-aids are good; band-aids are necessary. Band-aids are not enough. Yes, Johnny Can Read! He just needs a little help. It does take a village to raise a child. |
|
SCORE will be exhibiting at both the Beyond School Hours Conference in February and the Charter Schools Conference in March. Drop by our booth, mention this e-mail, and we'll give you $25 in SCORE-Bucks! SCORE offers centralized workshops...or SCORE can come to you! If you have more than 10 staff members to train, fill in the information on our contact form and we will send you a Training Options flyer, personalized to your site. Summer Institute: July 27–August 2, 2006 Attend SCORE's Summer Institute! Develop your personalized action plan! Learn SCORE's Success Strategies! Receive materials and curriculum to empower staff and students! The six-day summer institute covers all three of SCORE's workshops...in one "bundle." Register early for all three workshops to receive a 20% discount!
Use SCORE to plan your reform with your site restructuring team. We can come to you! Tell us what you need at http://www.score-ed.com/contact.htm You will gain skills and resources to:
Train your entire faculty! We can come to you. Tell us what you need at http://www.score-ed.com/contact.htm Crisis, Grief, and Loss...and How to Help Your Students Through It: Grief is a fact of our students' lives (not to mention our own!). When they are grieving, the way they learn changes. That means we need to reach them differently. Attend this SCORE workshop to learn:
Do you have a student in mind? They're invited! Listen to what students say:
We can come to you! Tell us what you need at http://www.score-ed.com/contact.htm. |
|
 Strategies for Teachers to Improve the Performance of Language Minority Students The more I've learned about teaching English language learners, the better teacher I've been to everyone. One of America's great strengths is her diversity. America educates the masses. The masses speak multiple languages and dialects. The goal is the same: Students proud of and fluent in their native language; students who are masters of the English language; students who can read, write, speak, and think at levels comparable to native English speakers; students who can achieve in academic courses at levels required for career advancement and college completion. The responsibility for educating these students belongs now to every classroom teacher, not just those who are specially trained in bilingual methodologies. Strategies for Teachers to Improve the Performance of Language Minority Students offers tested strategies, teaching techniques and methodologies proven to empower language minority students to function at a level of content mastery in academic coursework. The ideas are easy to implement and effective in multi-lingual classrooms. This book will help every teacher utilize whole-brain teaching techniques and begin to implement the ideologies of educational reform. Focus: Teacher K-12 |
|
SCORE Celebrates 25 Years of Improving Student Achievement! SCORE is a comprehensive systemic change program, validated for effectiveness by the United States Department of Education. SCORE provides inservices, technical assistance, and field-tested materials, all proven to result in increased student achievement. To request specific information related to your site, visit: http://www.score-ed.com/contact.htm
What do Others Say?
|
|
The SCORE staff, eager to support you in your quest to improve academic performance, is always as near as your mouse click, fax, or phone number: Educational Innovations/SCORE 949-363-6764 Voice/Fax |
This SCORE newsletter is offered by subscription only. SCORE periodically sends out information relevant to educational issues. Forward it to a friend so they, too, can learn SCORE's successful strategies. To subscribe, send e-mail to sharon@score-ed.com with a subject of "Subscribe." To unsubscribe, simply reply to this e-mail with the subject of "Unsubscribe."