Monday, November 4, 2013

Khan Academy in Jerome School District

8th Grade students working on "new skills"
They "show work" in a comp book when working through Khan activities

Math teachers in grades 6-9 are utilizing Khan Academy in their instruction this year.  Teachers are utilizing the "coaching" tools to "frontload" concepts before they are taught in the class, and the "reteach" concepts that were not mastered the first time.  Some teachers are using a "center" concept - having some students work individually while doing direct instruction with others.  Students are enjoying the "different" way of learning math in addition to the instruction they receive from teachers.  

8th Grade Teacher, Dawn Thornton, explains to students that the activities they will complete are "new" concepts that they may struggle with at first.  The struggle is a productive one in that they can work together, get "hints" within Khan, and get assistance from Mrs. Thornton.

Friday, July 12, 2013

June and July have Been a Time for Jerome Teachers to LEARN.

Summer is in full swing, but many Jerome School District teachers and administrators have been busy using the time to engage their brains in best practices.  May sound crazy to some - but this engagement CAN be rejuvenating to teachers - if it their choice.

80 of our teachers attended a three day workshop (June 19-21), sponsored by Idaho State University, writing Unit Plans using Wiggins'/McTighe's Understanding by Design model.  This model deals with starting a unit with "Essential Questions."  Those questions deal not just with content - but what do our students need to be able to DO with the content.  How will the skills learned be transferred to real world situations.  These essential questions help answer the "why" that students tend to aks about what they are learning.

Our staff worked with others from around the Magic Valley to begin the implementation process of the Idaho Core Standards.  THAT was the power - the TIME to sit and collaborate with others to design units, and think about resources and instructional strategies to best engage students in to content.  That power of collaboration was incredible to watch.

Another group of teachers and administrators attended the Idaho Instructional Innovation Conference (i3C) on June 27 and 28.  These teachers learned about components of Schoolnet that will be available to all Jerome School District staff this upcoming year.  These included uploading lesson plans, and an assessment component aligned to the new Idaho Core.

In addition, there were breakout sessions on utilizing Discovery in the classroom, what is coming with the SBAC (the new state assessment), Depth of Knowledge, Using Twitter for Professional development, Assessment Literacy, Using iPads in the Classroom, and many others.  The JSD team then set some goals for the 13-14 school year, and will be involved in some additional training throughout the school year.

We also had some Secondary English and ELL (English Language Learner) teachers participate in a co-teaching workshop.  These teachers learned about the new WIDA standards for English Language Development, and collaborated together to plan for engaging instruction for the Limited English population.

There are still additional learning opportunities for JSD staff at the end of the July and throughout August.