MRVED Business

Industrial Technology Best Practice Meeting
The Industrial Technology teachers gathered on Thursday, November 20.  The group first met at Lakeview Schools to meet for about an hour before heading to Extreme Panel in Cottonwood for a tour.  Extreme Panel makes insulated paneling for homes.  After our tour of Extreme Panel, the group gathered for lunch and shared stories and ideas.  After a great lunch discussion, the teachers headed to Mid Continent Cabinetry in Cottonwood for a tour.  Overall it was a great day and the instructors had the opportunity to see how a few products are made and talk about their trades.  Thank you to Lakeview schools for allowing us to use a room and Extreme Panel and Mid Continent Cabinetry for opening their doors to us.

MELT Update
TODAY is your last opportunity to sign up to be a networking facilitator.  Check the document link below to see if your group already has a facilitator.  You do not have to be the expert in the room, simply start and end the meeting on time, and move things along.  If you have trouble placing your name in the sheet, please let Brandon know.

Networking Facilitator Sign Up

Registration will be coming out in a few weeks.  You will want to register early as sessions fill up FAST!  Watch the update in the coming weeks for registration information.


Upcoming Meetings

November 26, 2014  Superintendents' Council
December 2, 2014  Language Arts
December 4, 2014  World Languages
December 5, 2014  Social Studies
December 10, 2014  MRVED Board (7 p.m. meeting)

Repair Kit for Grading - Fix 10

Fix 10: Don't rely on evidence gathered using assessments that fail to meet standards of quality; rely only on quality assessments.

If your assessments are assessing information and/or standards that are not pertinent to the grade level or class, then why are you assessing?  The assessments need to have:

• Clear Purpose
• What's the purpose?
• Who will use the results?
• What will they use the results for?
• Key Targets
• What are the learning targets?
• Are they clear?
• Are they appropriate?
• Sound Design
• What method?
• Quality questions?
• Sampled how?
• Avoid bias how?
• Effective Communication
• How to manage information?
• How to report?  To whom?
• Student Involvement
• Students are the users
• Students need to understand the targets
• Students can track progress and communicate too

When creating an assessment it is important to make sure it:

• Relates to the learning goal
• Is at the level the standard calls for
• Is appropriate
• Questions are clear

If your assessments do not meet any of the criteria listed above, your data will be inaccurate and results will be skewed.

Technology Tip - CNN Student News

CNN Student News is a great daily program for students to hear national news stories.  In my classroom, we watched CNN student news every Friday and either played a current event game, or discussed the current events.  We would also watch any episode the day after a "big" news story.  CNN Student News would be appropriate for any 7-12 grade, and could possibly be a good option for students as young as 5th grade.  CNN Student News could also be a great filler activity for students who have finished work and have a device in front of them.

Below is an example of a CNN Student News program with captions.

MRVED Business

Upcoming Meetings

November 18, 2014  FACS - MOVED TO DECEMBER 16, 2014
November 20, 2014  Industrial Technology (Meeting will start at Lakeview Schools)
November 21, 2014  Community Ed
November 26, 2014  Superintendents' Council

December 2, 2014  Language Arts
December 4, 2014  World Languages
December 5, 2014  Social Studies

Compound Confusion

Compound pronouns can be confusing.  The choice between "everyone" or "every one" and "anyone" or "any one" can trip up even the most experienced writers.

Remember these rules:  "Anyone" and "everyone" mean "any person" and "all the people," respectively.  The non-compound modified pronouns "any one" or "every one" put greater emphasis on the word "one."  Those phrases mean "any single person or thing" and "every single person or thing," and they're usually followed by a prepositional phrase that begins with the word "of."

Here are some examples:

• Did anyone hear from the customer? (any person)
• Did you reply to any one of those concerns? (any single concern)
• Is everyone ready to begin? (all the people)
• The boss rejected every one of the ideas. (every single idea)

Adapted from "Anyone and Everyone or Any One and Every One?" Common Mistakes and Tricky Choices, www.englishplus.com

MELT Networking Facilitators Wanted

The MRVED is looking for facilitators of networking groups.  As a facilitator you are not expected to be the expert in the room, but rather move the discussion along.  The goal of a networking group is to share resources and ideas with people who have the same interest.  They are meant to include a give & take.  Bring something to share and take something away that someone else shared.  The only networking groups that will be offered are those that have a willing facilitator.  If a networking group does not have a facilitator, it will not be held.  If you would like to sign up, please click the link below and add your name to the list next to the group you would like to facilitate.  The networking sign up will close at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday November 18.  If you have any questions, please contact Brandon (braymo@mrved.net).


MELT Networking Group Facilitator Sign Up

Repair Kit for Grading - Fix 9

Fix 9: Don't assign grades based on a student's achievement compared to other students; compare each student's performance to preset standards.

When assigning grades to students, a teacher should never or very rarely use a curve.  What this does is unintentionally pits students against each other and the "successful" students will be less likely to help those in need.

Grading should be based upon whether the student knows or does not know the standard.  In theory, all students can achieve in a classroom if this were the case.  It could also be the opposite where none of the students achieve.

"Grading students by comparing their performance to one another distorts individual achievement.  We need clear, criterion-referenced achievement standards- absolute, not relative, standards that describe a limited number of levels: at, below, and above proficiency.  Teachers in a noncompetitive grading system assign grades to each student based only on that student's own achievement in relation to the applicable standards." (O'Connor, 80)

A Repair Kit for Grading: 15 Fixes for Broken Grades by Ken O'Connor