TMS BLIF Update
October 7, 2016
Useful Information
MacBook Cord Check
Quarterly laptop/cord checks are due. Please do this in homeroom on
Assessing Damage resource here. Follow IT Dept. process for reporting damages (click here)
Resources
Grant Opportunities
- Deadline: Ongoing
- Deadline: Ongoing
- Deadline: Ongoing
Naiku Innovative Teacher Grant
Deadline: Ongoing (approx. 10 awards per month)
Professional Development
Keys to Literacy Spotlight
I will be spotlighting elements of the routine in my Weekly Update and you will see that I will be using the routines in our professional development. I'm excited about The Key Comprehension Routine and it is a good way to teach literacy skills, no matter what subject you teach. This is just a snapshot and is not the training itself.
Keys to Literacy Top Down Web
- A top-down topic web is one of the four strategies that are part of the student routine. This is the main graphic organizer used in The Key Comprehension Routine because it is flexible enough for use across all content areas.
- Research supports the use of graphic and semantic organizers to represent the relationships between underlying ideas in text. Teaching students to organize ideas in a systematic, visual graph improves their ability to remember what they read (National Reading Panel, 2000; Klingner & Vaughn, 2004).
- A top-down topic web uses different shapes, position, and sometimes color to represent the main topics and ideas from source information that is read, said, or done.
The availability of so many different types of graphic organizers often results in confusion about when and how to use them. As they move from class to class and encounter teachers using different kinds of graphic organizers, students may become overwhelmed and focus more on mastering the use of each new template rather than using the graphic organizer to learn information. Of course, this does not mean that you should stop using other graphic organizers if they are helpful for your students!
Top-Down Topic Web Format
A top-down topic web provides a clear visual overview of the topics or main ideas. Levels of topics and sub-topics are arranged in a top-down format. The overarching topic is placed at the top, and the sub-topics are arranged vertically to represent the relationship of each topic to the others in a hierarchy.
Food for Thought
- Copyright is a constant struggle in Education. But the provider, Great Minds, is suing Fed Ex for copying services.
- Providing wi-fi hot spots on buses and then parking them in locations that students, without internet, can do their homework.
Jaye Parks
Email: parksj@iss.k12.nc.us
Twitter: @JayeParks1