Instructional Spotlight:

Melissa taught a theme vs. message lesson this morning.  Her mentor text was very rich literature (Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters).  She stopped at strategies places to ask the students questions and stopped to quickly define unknown vocabulary words as needed.

As you can see in the picture, Melissa’s anchor chart is very explicit with only words that will be beneficial to the students.

It was a great lesson!

PTO Spirit Wear Sale:

At the beginning of December, PTO will have a spirit wear sale which will be advertised on the PTO Facebook page. Spirit wear is available at Buchanan Intermediate in the PTO room.

Additional Families Still Need Adopted for Christmas Assistance:

The social work office has matched ¾ of their families with community/school partners. However, there are still families available to adopt. If interested, please contact the social work office at 336-1854.

CRE is hosting be a “CHANGEMAKER!” Jan Dongarra has recruited over $150 in outside donations already and our parents have been generous in our efforts to host a family in need for Christmas. When all change is counted I will let you know how many children CRE is sponsoring. I will need some shopping helpers at the end of next week!!! #crestrong

Attendance Focus:

Please continue to emphasize the importance of good hand washing to your students. The flu and other illnesses have started already this year and children are the #1 carriers of such conditions.

Artisan Teaching Theme Update: December

Connection – The ability of the teacher to establish a mental link between the intended learning and past learning experiences.

Connection is perhaps the single theme that is most directly aimed at how the human brain naturally learns.  The brain is constantly seeking to connect things, to look for patterns, to see similarities, and to form familiar categories.  Whenever we encounter something new, it is natural for us to think of the past knowledge or experience that is similar.

Teachers who recognize this natural process, and capitalize on it, are teaching in a way that is congruent to the brain’s innate tendencies.  Example…. In the movie the Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi used connection when he taught Daniel.  Wax on … wax off.  Mr. Miyagi used those movements as a connection to block incoming punches.

Tips for making connections:

• The connection must      first exist in the mind of the learner.  It is a good idea for the teacher to      first provide the knowledge experience to be connected to and then execute      the connection.
• The connection should be      made actively.       Each individual student should engage in the connection, not just      watch as other students participate.
• Watch for, and test for,      misconceptions.       Since connection is an invisible process, the teacher can only hope      that the right links are being made.       It is best to assume that there will be misconceptions and to      predict where they are most likely to occur.

Practice – The ability of the teacher to improve recall and application of learning through effective rehearsal, repeated effort, drill, repetition, study, and review.

The joke goes, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?”  The punch line is, “Practice, Practice, Practice.”  Great teaching is not simply the presentation of new material in an interesting, relevant manner.  It involves designing quality experiences for students such that, as they engage in the experiences, they work out their mastery of the curriculum.

Call it repetition, drill, rehearsal, review, study or practice.  By any name, a key effect of practice is that knowledge and skills become established in long term memory so that recall and application can occur in the future.

Success principles for practice:

• Keep practice sessions      short so focus and intensity can remain high.  The key to productive practice is focus,      intention, motivation, and intensity, not just the amount of practice or      the length of time one practices.
• Practice small chunks,      then, move to larger combinations.  Human short term memory has limited      capacity and practice sessions are more productive when the amount of      material to be practiced is limited.
• Attend to energy and      motivation needs during practice.  Practice requires energy.  Focused, intense practice requires even      more energy.
• Provide knowledgeable      feedback during practice.  Practice sessions are most productive      when students are provided abundant, immediate and specific feedback on      their work.
• Move quickly to      elaborative practice.       It is easier to remember items if we know more about them, beyond      their definition, spelling, or representation. The more students can make      connections among ideas and concepts and associate them with other items from      prior learning and experience, the more likely they are to be remembered      and applied.
• Conduct practice in the      visual, spatial, and cognitive domains.  Recall is enhanced when students are      asked to engage using both internal (cognitive) and external (visual and      spatial) processing methodologies.
• Distributive practice      sessions across time.       Recall is enhanced when the brain has an opportunity to consolidate      memories before adding new ones.
• Design the difficulty of      the practice to be challenging, but attainable.  Motivation to engage in practice is weak      if the task to be practiced is viewed as too easy or too hard.

December Faculty Meeting: We will meet for breakfast at 7:00 and our meeting will begin at 7:15 on Dec. 16th. See you all bright and early!

Bucket Fillers: Michelle Brown is our resident CELEBRITY this week. She is going to share a live GR+ lesson via Skype. This lesson will broadcast nationwide and serve as a model of learning for other Literacy coaches and Interventionists. Linda Dorn will be leading the discussion for learning with Mrs. Brown’s lesson as the focus. Be sure you ask Mrs. Brown for her autograph in passing this week. She has certainly put her SIGNATURE on CRE. #crestrong