TMS BLIF Update
March 25, 2016
Instruction
Planning on Mondays and Tuesdays
- ELA with Jaye Parks and Pam Bumgarner
- SS with BJ Johnson
- Science with Bill Brown
Tuesday
- Math with Stacy Wozny
Please do not schedule any grade level team meetings during this time. It is important that we use the time that the curriculum specialist are here effectively.
Recognizing High-Performing Instruction
Effective Feedback
Advice, evaluation, grades—none of these provide the descriptive information that students need to reach their goals. What is true feedback—and how can it improve student learning?
Who would dispute the idea that feedback is a good thing? Both common sense and research make it clear: Formative assessment, consisting of lots of feedback and opportunities to use that feedback, enhances student performance and achievement.
Global Day of Design: April 26, 2016
- Here is the Google Form to sign up your class and/or school for the Global Day of Design. We will continue to send out an email each week as the date comes closer with Design Challenges, Maker Projects, and other resources to make this year’s Global Day of Design a success!
- Flappy Bird Generator: Make Your Own Flappy Bird Game (20-45 min)
- The Gift-Giving Project: Goes through entire design cycle to redesign the gift-giving experience. (1 hour)
- Challenge 1: Here is the Google folder link to Challenge One. It has a complete lesson plan, a video about the LAUNCH process and a video explaining the challenge. NOTE: Your PE folks might really like this one. The challenge is to create your own sport using specified items.
- Challenge 2: The Marshmallow Challenge = prototyping, diverse skills matter, incentives magnify outcomes. (20 min.; Free via TED)
- Challenge 3: Draw How to Make Toast = Systems thinking & problem solving (20-45 min; free via TED)
- 5 Chairs Exercise - Students design and create 5 chairs for a user
- Wallet Project- Each student builds a wallet for their partner
- Ramen Project - An immersive multi-day design thinking project
- Back to KG???!!! - Middle-school students rediscover the fun they had in kindergarten
- Welcome to Middle School- Students role play how to make transition to middle school easier
- Car Maintenance redesign - Students redesign the car maintenance experience based on video interviews
- The Special Olympics - Students develop a sense of empathy for people in the Special Olympics
- The Classroom Redesign Project - Students redesign a classroom
- The Morning Routine - Students redesign their morning routine
- Native American Culture Design Challenge
MORE Design Thinking Resources:
Professional Development Smores
GIST
Summer Opportunities
TMS Camp for Rising 6th Graders
Volunteer Opportunity at Special Needs Summer Camp
Personal Learning Networks
Jane Austen Summer Program
(http://janeaustensummer.org) is an annual four-day symposium organized by UNC’s Department of English and Comparative Literature and is designed to appeal to established scholars, high school and middle school teachers, graduate students, undergraduate students, and anyone else with a passion for all things Austen. Each year, the symposium focuses on a different Austen work.
Eight scholarships covering the full tuition fee are available to North Carolina middle school and high school teachers. Free housing will also be provided to scholarship winners, subject to availability. Teachers can apply for the scholarships at www.janeaustensummer.org/scholarships. The deadline for scholarship applications is April 4th.
Mathematics Education Leadership Training Including STEM Leadership
If you are a K-14 Mathematics or Science teacher or a school
- You may already know the strong history of professional development the Mathematics Education Leadership Training Program (MELT) (http://melt.appstate.edu) at Appalachian State University (http://appstate.edu) in Boone, NC has provided K-14 mathematics teachers in North Carolina and throughout much of the nation through its week-long, residential, MELT Summer Institutes (http://melt.appstate.edu/node/6). Last year, we had record numbers of teachers, curriculum personnel, and administrators attend MELT Institutes. This year, our registrations are already ahead of projections.
- Our Summer Institutes focus on the mathematical and pedagogical content knowledge needed for teachers to assist their students to succeed. Each MELT Summer Institute provides participants with the opportunity of earning either three continuing education units (CEUs) or two graduate credits.