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Steering Committee
Membership Information
Annual Conference
Journal
Educational Links
NEWSLETTER
The end of the
century and the year 2000 are quite literally just around the corner.
The school year is well underway with all of the excitement and enthusiasm
that is within the hearts and souls of professional and energetic middle
school teachers. I wish you all a great 1999-2000 school year.
The September Board meeting was held in Gdansk, Poland and was hosted by Karen Dunmire. You will find a summary of the minutes elsewhere in the newsletter. Please take a minute to read them. This is a new addition to the newsletter and our way of keeping you better informed of what the organization is doing. Our next board meeting will be in December. If you have anything in particular that you would like to see addressed, please e-mail me and it will be added to the agenda. Looking forward to seeing you in London! Athy Lionikis
Newsletter Submissions If you wish to contribute to the newsletter, email the article to: kdunmire@asw.waw.pl
Ms. Karen P. Dunmire
Write for the ELMLE Journal Please e-mail articles (plain text - no formatting at all). If using Microsoft Word, also send the article as an attachment (again no frmatting). Photos should be sent separately to the school address below: Ameerican International School of Bucharest
E-mial: owen@ines.ro
Great
Websites for Students!
Looking for a website with just tons of information and special articles? Try homeworkcentral.com. Every week, they publish several lists of interesting websites from among their half million choices. You can subscribe to these lists for free. Here is an example of their WOW list for one week: Yellowstone National Park
Redwood National Park
Quick Look at the Grand
Canyon
The Great Sphinx of Giza
Great Barrier Reef and
Islands
Amazon Interactive
Chateau de Versailles
They also publish a weekly list with more extensive reviews of both high school and elementary sites. Here are a couple of examples: Atlas of the Human Body
This primer with illustrations and summary text is an authoritative source for the basics of human anatomy produced by the American Medical Association and Emory University. Body parts and systems are each described separately, with labeled drawings. The atlas is a useful mix of simplicity and erudition, with some of illustrations from Current Procedural Terminology, revised 1998 edition. This example of the "Explanatory text is a bit like that old song about bones: "The bones of the toes are called the phalanges. The phalanges are jointed to the 5 metatarsal bones. Behind the metatarsal bones are a series of smaller bones known as the tarsal bones. The heel bone is called the calcaneus, which is connected to the talus bone (the largest bone of the ankle). Tendons connect the muscles that act on the various bones of the toes and feet to help you stand and walk." Columbus Letter
The Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, University of Southern Maine, has put these pages online, making one of the most influential documents of all time accessible on the Internet. The letter written by Christopher Columbus to announce the success of his first voyage became one of Europe's first widely distributed "best sellers." The text, translations, and history of this extraordinary document can all be explored here. Columbus' engaging descriptions include this one: "There are besides in the said island Juana seven or eight kinds of palm trees, which far excel ours in height and beauty, just as all the other trees, herbs, and fruits do. There are also excellent pine trees, vast plains and meadows, a variety of birds, a variety of honey, and a variety of metals, excepting iron." Climate Monitor Online
The Internet climate is comfortable and friendly here to a publication which was printed for a quarter of a century, and has now begunpublishing only online. Climate Monitor's core functions are retained in its online avatar, and exciting interactive digital graphics illustrate the information. Planet wide monthly weather summaries are available for the past year, with data and commentaries. The climate data and visualization pages are a replete with rich datasets and awesome graphics. The homepage also links to the Tiempo Climate Cyberlibrary, which has the latest climate news and vast weather study resources. THREE ELEMENTARY SITES Elementary
Grammar
Twenty-two grammar topics and two appendices make this Web page an ideal cyberplace to review English grammar, and a fine reference to bookmark. Lakawana Express
This Web site can be a platform where a grandparent could learn some digital skills from a grandchild, while discussing with the young Internet traveler some of the excitement from the heyday of riding the rails. Paintings in the Sky
This beautiful and interesting Web site is an delightful environment for learning about the aurora borealis. The self-guided tour gives a well-rounded introduction to one of nature's most attractive phenomena.
TECHNOLOGY TIPS FOR PARENTS
Steering Committee Memebers Athanasia M. Lionikis, President
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Are You a Tech Savvy Parent? Use the following list to find out just how technology savvy you are as a parent. Simply answer "yes" or "no" to each of the following statements by marking your answer with a check in the appropriate column. Then total your number of "yes" answers to determine your score. · I use e-mail to communicate
with teachers about my youngster's academic progress. ? Yes ? No
Total Number of "Yes" Answers: ________ If your score is between 1 and 2, you are barely technology savvy. If your score is between 3 and 5, you are somewhat technology savvy. If your score is between 6 and 8, you are very technology sawy. If your score is between 9 and 10, you are remarkably technology savvy. Web Sites for Parents Visit the ParenTech Web site at www.parentech.org to learn more about parenting in the digital age. The National Parent Teacher Association has initiatives in educational technology designed to help parents be involved in their schools' technology activities. Available online at www.pta.org/index.stm How Can I Be Involved in My Child's Education by Lynn Liontos is an article on the ERIC Web site that has many suggestions for parents wishing to become more involved in the education of their children. Available online at www.ericps.crc. uiuc. edu/npin/respar/texts/parschoo/involved. html Discovery Channel Online is an added resource to the television programming on the Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, and Animal Planet. The site also has great science and history resources and games. Available online at www.discovery.com The Public Broadcasting Service Web site includes information on their programming as well as resources for teachers and links to information on the arts, technology, history, and science. Available at www.pbs.org Ask Dr. Math is a Math Forum Project that provides homework help. It is maintained by Swarthmore College. Available at http://forum.swarthmore.edu/dr.math/ Bilingual Books for Kids is a commercial site that distributes materials written with Spanish and English appearing side by side. Available at www.bilingualbooks.com/ Think College Early is a Web site sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education that provides young adolescents with online resources for examining their choices in preparing for an occupation. Available at www.ed.gov/thinEcollege/early/tce_home.htm Technology Tips for Parents is published by National Middle School Association (NMSA) as part of its ongoing commitment to Month of the Young Adolescent. For more information about Month of the Young Adolescent, please call 1 -800-528-NMSA or write to us at 4151 Executive |
Reading, Talking,
Thinking:
Using Professional
Literature for Staff Development
John H. Lounsbury
The
middle school movement, lacking teachers initially prepared to work with
young adolescents, has depended heavily on staff development programs,
in-service courses, and conferences to spread its concepts. This reliance
on in-service educational experiences and state, regional, and national
conferences has been remarkably successful. In fact, the advancement of
the middle school in the last thirty years is one of the great educational
sagas in America's educational history.
But as educational budgets are being cut all across America, one of the
first items to get the ax has been the professional development fund. Support
for attending conferences and even for substitutes to permit participation
in local staff development activities are being excised completely or reduced
greatly. Will the further development of middle schools, therefore, be
curtailed? Has the inevitable turnover of staff brought in many teachers
who did not have either pre-service or inservice preparation for working
with young adolescents? These are important questions with critical implications.
In the late sixties and seventies there were few middle school resources
available, printed or otherwise, so oral communication was the primary
means used to spread an understanding of this new and different educational
advocacy. But we are now in the late nineties and much has occurred in
three decades, particularly in the building up of a body of knowledge to
undergird the middle school concept. There is no longer any shortage of
professional materials on middle level education. Books are available on
the nature of the age group, the theoretical concepts, recommended practices,
and even ones that share success stories from the classroom.
These two factors, the reduction of professional development funds and
the richness of recent middle level professional materials, lead me to
advocate more and better use of available literature as a means of furthering
the implementation of the middle school concept. Excellent resources are
affordable, readily available, and don't require released time and the
expenses associated with attending a conference to take advantage of what
they have tooffer. Opportunities for using professional literature already
exist in common planning periods, faculty meetings, and the ongoing, informal
dialogues among professional teachers--shop talk, it's called. We need
to create a culture of professional development within a school, one in
which an expectation of continuous improvement exists. Teaming should mean
learning together as well as teaching together. Too often, staff development
has been viewed as someone else's responsibility and has left teachers
waiting to be told to attend an in-service session someone else had planned.
However, when you put appropriate literature in the hands of teachers and
teams, you can get results. More effective staff development occurs teacher
to teacher than we recognize. When teachers read an item in common then
exchange ideas about the selection, something is likely to happen. To change
current classroom practices, experience has shown that teachers need to
do more than just hear someone's advocacy or philosophy in a meeting; they
need to react, reflect, chew on ideas and options--even argue about them.
To help achieve this condition, many schools have found it worthwhile to
take an NMSA institutional membership that provides four copies each of
Middle
School Journal, the popular magazine Middle Ground, and Target.
Having a single copy of a professional journal or a professional book housed
on a special shelf in the library, or, even worse, kept in the principal's
office, simply doesn't work. Materials must be in the hands of teachers
or teams on a long-term or continuing basis. If they have ready access
to helpful resources teachers will make use of them. I believe, dollar
for dollar, putting professional literature in the hands of teachers will
be the best money ever spent on staff development.
As an example
of how a publication could be used for a meaningful professional development
experience, consider NMSA's position paper, This We Believe: Developmentally
Responsive Middle Level Schools (1995) as the basis for a irst group
includes some of the titles that I believe every middle school should have
readily available, in circulation, sometimes in multiple copies. The second
category includes titles that should be available for direct use by teachers
and teams in planning instruction.
I. School/Faculty Resources
This We
Believe: Developmentally Responsive Middle Level Schools.
The position
paper of NMSA should be read and digested by every middle level administrator
and teacher as well as shared with central office personnel, board members,
and parents.
What Current
Research Says to the Middle Level Practitioner, edited by Judith
Irvin.
This comprehensive
presentation of recent research findings on 31 different topics by acknowledged
experts is an essential resource.
A Middle
School Curriculum: From Rhetoric to Reality,
Second
Edition, by James Beane.
The book that
crystallized the now ongoing and extensive curriculum conversations, it
is one of enduring importance, and no serious middle school should be without
it--even if the vision it sets forth cannot be immediately implemented
in a particular school.
We Gain
More Than We Give: Teaming in Middle Schools,
edited by Tom Dickinson and Tom Erb.
A major work
of continuing importance, this book provides new and valuable insights
into all phases of teaming. Truly a "must read" title.
Thinking
About Middle School,
by Jere Hochman.
Not a "how to"
book about middle school but a "why" book about middle school. Off-beat
and intriguing, this resource will push one's thinking and clarify one's
views in an engaging and disarming way.
II. Resources for Teams and Teachers
Prescriptions
for Success in Heterogeneous Classrooms,
by Sandra Schurr.
Just what its
title claims, this teacher-friendly and practical handbook is what teachers
who deal with diverse classrooms have been waiting for.
Portfolio
Assessment: A Handbook for Middle Level Teachers, by
Keith Lustig.
Written by a
classroom teacher, this small book is a direct and down-to-earth presentation
of how a portfolio assessment system was initiated. Examples and forms
included.
Student-Oriented
Curriculum: Asking the Right Questions,
by Wallace Alexander with Dennis Carr and Kathy McAvoy.
A small book
with a big story--two teachers and their forty sixth graders in one year
instituted a truly student-centered and integrated curriculum. The lessons
learned from their success provide encouragement and guidance to others
wanting to take the big step.
Camel-Makers:
Building Effective Teacher Teams Together, by
Daniel Kain.
Written as a
fable, this thoroughly delightful and insightful resource will help teams
assess their ways of working and move them to a higher level of effectiveness.
Signaling
Student Success: Thematic Learning Stations and Integrated Units, by
Sandra Schurr and Associates.
This one-of-a-kind
resource will show teachers and teams how to become directors of learning
rather than simply instructors. It provides classroom-ready examples of
an integrated curriculum.
The above list of just ten titles is highly restrictive and based solely on my opinion. There are many other outstanding resources available, including some videos, not only from NMSA but from other publishers. Administrators, curriculum coordinators, and team leaders need to become familiar with the rich resources being produced. But for the moment just stop and consider the long-term benefit in faculty development if every middle school had an ample supply of just these ten titles and an ongoing plan that ensured all staff members in a year would read, reflect on, and in concert with colleagues take some actions resulting from the study of several of these professional resources.
Presenter Application Form
FOURTEENTH ELMLE CONFERENCE
London, England
January 28-30, 2000
Dear Colleague:
ELMLE invites you to submit a proposal to present at the 2000 Annual
Conference in London, England. This conference is the only one of its kind
in Europe-dedicated exclusively to consideration of educating the middle
school student. Please be informed that all presenters serve on a contributing
basis-as contributors, presenters cannot be reimbursed for lodging, travel,
presentation, or conference registration fees. Conference fees meet
the cost of lunches, coffee breaks and a Friday evening reception as well
as venue costs for all participants.
Please complete this application and return it prior to October 12, 1999 to:
Ms. Patricia McMahon, Planning Committee
| Institution | American Community School |
| Institution Address | Heywood
Portsmouth Road Cobham, Surrey KT11 1BL England |
| Institution Telephone | (44) 1932 867 251 ext. 504
Fax: (44) 1932 869 764 |
| pmacmahon@acs-england.co.uk |
PRESENTER(S) - Please Print or Type
Circle: Dr Mr Mrs Ms Miss
Name __________________________________________________________________
Circle One: Teacher Administrator Exhibitor Other
Position/Grades Taught (Subject) _____________________________________________
School/Institution Name ____________________________________________________
Address ________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Residence Address ________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
Work Phone: (_____)(_____)(___________________)
Home Phone: (_____)(_____)(___________________)
Fax Number: (_____)(_____)(___________________)
E-mail Address ___________________________________________________________
If a group presentation, please list all other presenters below:
Name _____________________________ School/Institution _______________________
Name _____________________________ School/Institution _______________________
Name _____________________________ School/Institution _______________________
Name _____________________________ School/Institution _______________________
Name _____________________________ School/Institution _______________________
Administrator Authorization/Signature __________________________________________
I. JOB ALIKES
I would be willing to act as a "Job-alike" coordinator. (A Job-alike is a session in which departments and/or specialists meet.)
Name _____________________________ Subject Area __________________________
II. SESSION PRESENTATION
Title ____________________________________________________________________
Abstract: In approximately 100 words and ready for publication
in the conference program, give a summary of the session contents. Please
Print or Type!
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Target Audience (circle one): Advanced Beginners All Parents
Time required: _____ Single Session (50 minutes) _____ Double
Session (2 x 50 minutes)
Are you willing to present this session more than once? __ Yes __ No
III. AUDIO VISUALS
Following is the list of audio-visuals available at the conference. Please check the needed material. Should additional equipment be necessary for your presentation that is not listed below, we ask you to supply your own.
Are you willing to write an article on your subject for the ELMLE Journal? If so, submit it prior to October 12, 1999 to Mrs. Gail Owen, American International School of Bucharest, Dorobantilor 39, Bucharest, Romania.
** For every article published, the author will receive a 50% reduction in conference registration fee. **
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