Literature Study April 3, 2010

This week's literature study continues an important theme - homeroom.  As I am looking to write an article and book on the subject, I thought it pertinent to combine my required research with my blogging.  So here we go:

AUTHOR:	Jing-qiu (Jane) Liu and Ruth Barnhart
TITLE:	Homeroom Teacher and Homeroom Class: The Key to Classroom Management in China's Schools
SOURCE:	The Educational Forum 63 no4 380-4 Summ 1999

Highlights:

• All students are part of a homeroom, from elementary to high school.
• Homeroom teachers have many roles, and new teachers and soon-to-retire teachers are not considered candidates for homeroom teachers.
• All teachers take a class or two in pre-service education classes to prepare them for homeroom.
• Homeroom teachers "loop" with teachers so that they can build strong relationships with the students (and the students with the other students).

How does your school do homeroom and what ideas do you have to make it better?

Literature Study - March 25, 2011

TITLE: Homeroom: An Updated Classic
SOURCE: Principal Leadership (High Sch Ed) 9 no3 N 2008

http://ezproxy.hamline.edu:2060/hww/jumpstart.jhtml?recid=0bc05f7a67b1790e52524b6a7a73d197d63c163083cd776d0975212c27324993a313048d6fec665d&fmt=P Vitale, J. A. Homeroom: An Updated Classic. Principal Leadership (High School Ed.) v. 9 no. 3 (November 2008) p. 24-7


This writers of this article started a new school that would hold up to 4000 students.  They knew that in a school this large students could get lost if they didn't create a system that would help students build a relationship with a caring adult.  Here are some highlights:

• Advisory lessons are taught based on needed themes
• Advisory lessons are built around longitudinal ideas
• Advisories banished anonymity in the school by creating a personal relationship for each student
• Homeroom lessons were very memorable for students (as measure on exit surveys)
• Teachers are key for implementing this initiative

What ideas do you have for homeroom?  Do you have lesson ideas?  What do you think?

ELNC and MNASCD

Expeditionary Learning National Conference went well.  The Crew lesson was a Grand Slam and the SBG&R was a homerun.  We really challenged people and people left with lots of ideas around this idea.

MNASCD went so well that teachers brought it back to their school and their principal wants us to present to the whole staff!  Ott and Totushek are on their way!

Next Up - Portland

MN ASCD went very well.  I am describing it as a stand-up triple.

Next week I have two presentations in Portland.  We are pretty much ready for them, with a few loose ends to clean up.  I'm looking forward to it.

Hans and I have also talked about next steps.  This will include the launching of a website, seeking consultation opportunities, getting published, and teaching at area colleges and universities.  A tall order, but I think we can pull it off.

Any hints out there?

MN ASCD

This coming week Hans and I will be at MN ASCD talking about the role that SBG&R can play in enrichment and intervention.  We will focus on synchronous and asynchronous intervention.  The middle school principal's meeting went well, but you could tell they were interested in immediate results.  Hopefully the people at MN ASCD will be interested in a system that will yield results in the long term.  I'll post about the experience later.

TMP-TT

Middle School Principal's Meeting

Hans and I gave a SBG&R overview at the middle school principal PLC meeting yesterday.  It went pretty well.

Hans and I had a few ideas on the way back to school:
1) Perhaps we should make ourselves available to pre-service educators to talk about SBG&R, because...
2) We talked about how the research is decided about the fact that SBG&R is the way to go, so why don't more teachers/schools use it?  Because we not taught about grading and systems are handed down by tradition.  Therefore pre-service education is the one way to break the cycle.

Perhaps we should make a class about it . . .

Do other people have ideas about why grading methods are so hard to change?

Study of the week Feb 16th

Sorry there has been a delay, but I'm back!

This week we look at Competency-Based Learning.

Short article, here are the highlights.

1. In a forward-looking move, New Hampshire passed a law allowing students to receive credit for individualized learning experiences that bring the learning to life for them.
2. The move is from seat time to proof of learning based on students' needs and interests.
3. Teachers and schools are embracing this slowly but surely, and there is concern for teacher workloads if this continues to expand.
4. Anecdotes provided in article.

How is what we're doing with EL (or in the district) supporting or hindering this kind of learning?  What kinds of kids do you see this working for?

TMP-TT