TASHE program

I'm currently working as a mentor in a fabulous program with Palm Beach Community College.They provide a teaching certification program for second career seekers (mostly of hispanic descent- but not necessarily) called TASHE: Transitioning and Supporting Hispanic Educators. As mentors, we provide the support that the mentees need, whether it is information needed for coursework, or assistance in the classroom with curriculum, classroom management, and/or behavioral challenges with challenging students. The mentors are such a supportive group; we are constantly in touch with one another making sure we are up to date with what the mentees are in need of, we have held our first mini-conference where we discussed ESOL strategies, reading strategies, CRISS strategies, Reading and Writing workshop, and setting up a classroom, and we are planning on holding our next conference within the next four weeks. We are now working on implementing VoiceThread within the website, and updating our current website with resources for our mentees and other students who are enrolled in the teaching program at PBCC. We (those of us who want to see all educators- preservice and currently employed- succeed) want to make sure anyone and everyone has access to these resources that we believe are helpful to all educators!

Check out our links and some of our mentors websites!!!
http://www.palmbeachschooltalk.com/mcdonaldl/Literary_Lady/Welcome.html
http://www.pbcc.edu/TASHE.xml
http://www.projectcriss.com/

Increase traffic to your blog!

Looking to increase traffic to your blog?

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If you are a relatively new blog/blogger and/or you just don't see the traffic to your blog that you want, then you should check out a new concept called "BLOG-UPP." It is a completely free program that will advertise your blog on other blogs.... FOR FREE!!!!

What do you need to do? It's EASY!....Download the widget "BLOG-UPP" and display it on your site. There is a waiting period for approval, approximately 24 hours, however Blog-Upp immediately starts working for you!!

The widget will post some blogs throughtout the day; this is how your blog will gather some viewers. Visitors from other blogs will see your blog advertised, click on it, and it will take them directly to your site! Viola! Magic... I've seen an increase in traffic since I've taken on my BLOG-UPP widget and I'm VERY HAPPY!!!! Try it- It's FREE!!

Lesson Study.. What is it? How can it help?

Why is it that Japanese students seem to outperform us in mathematics and science when we study the results of testing? Many seem to 'generalize' the answer to one notion...they have better students...This is not true. A typical classroom in Japan would look very similar to one here in the U.S. The difference is in the teaching practices and the delivery of material.



Japanese educators continually develop themselves and their teaching practices through the practice of Lesson Study. In their practice of Lesson study, Japanese teachers will work in small teams to develop lesson plans based on content/curriculum goals and the learning/emotional goals of their students. Once lesson plans are completed and agreed upon by the team, one teacher will deliver the lesson to his/her class while the other teachers observe.

After the lesson has been taught, the teachers meet again and discuss the lesson as a whole, delivery of instruction, interaction of students, achievement of instructional and affective goals. The lesson is then revised upon all the findings and then taught by a second teacher to a different group of students, while teachers observe.



In Japan, lesson study is a very important component of professional development. Japan's emphasis on this process has gained the attention of the National Council of Teacher's of Mathematics and the National Science Foundation. Check out the following link to find multiple resources on the process of lesson study, materials to help implement lesson study, and research that supports it's use in schools.



http://www2.edc.org/lessonstudy/lessonstudy/

Banyan Creek second-graders learn more while enjoying their education

September 29, 2008
Banyan Creek second-graders learn more while enjoying their education
> Posted by DAve DiPino at 4:01 PM

At Banyan Creek Elementary School, Susanna Livingston teaches a class of gifted second-graders and has found an innovative way to motivate her students.“First, and foremost, I prepare my students to be the world's future scientists, researchers, cancer curers by using inquiry skills,” Livingston said. She said her class has been renamed “the Livingston Township" at Banyan Creek Elementary School. Through regularly scheduled activities, some students who previously were uninterested in science are now excited about the subject.

Donations from parents and support from area businesses have allowed Livingston to purchase a pair of durable plastic goggles for each child to protect their eyes. Plus every child has his or her own lab coat, purchased slightly larger than their current size so that it will fit them through out elementary school.


The class also has participated in a recent “Read-In Celebration” held each month at the Livingston Township. In September, the read-in's theme was Dr. Seuss.focus was
Each student brought in as many Dr. Seuss books as they had at home and could physically carry to school, along with a blanket and pillow or sleeping bag, since the day's focus was to read, relax and enjoy, Livingston said.

Adding It Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics

Adding It Up: Helping Children Learn Mathematics

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Do you...Squidoo?? some say you can make $$ too...

If you are reading my posts, then you know I love learning about TECHNOLOGY!!! Well, I've just found a new obsession...SQUIDOO!! It's like a blog but somewhat different. If I knew a bit more about it I could draw you a Venn Diagram and label the differences on separate sides of the circles and the commonalities in the middle...but I am in the learning stages of my 'squidooing'... and don't quote me on that term because it's my own- It's not an official Squidoo term, though Squidoo does contain it's own vocabulary and jargon. Instead of pages, you create lenses. The great part of it all is that there are people actually making MONEY from their lenses... I've posted a link to a 'lens' that really intrigued me.

Do I think I'm going to hit it rich?? Who knows? Will I have fun? Most certainly...will my students like this...ABSOFREAKINLUTELY!!! Definitely check it out... It is totally free- and if you are so opposed to making money, you can donate all your profits to charity!

Check out my first Squidoo lens and find links to making money with Squidoo...

http://www.squidoo.com/teachyourheartout

Hi Readers, I just wanted to share a few articles that were posted this year on a blog. I was going to import articles printed in my local newspaper, the Sun Sentinel, but I am not yet able to complete the task. Hopefully, it will be done soon enough!!

Second grade class gets grant to get gross

> Posted by DAve DiPino on April 20, 2009 at 11:50 AM

The "Livingston Township" meets before their trip to the South Florida Museum's Grossology Exhibit. Susanna Livingston, gifted education second grade teacher at Banyan Creek Elementary School in Delray Beach, recently found about the Target field trip grant through an e-mail she received from Banyan Creek Elementary's principal William Fay.


According to Livingston, Target had begun offering field trips to help educators fund programs in which students can be taught in settings other than the classroom."I had written a Target Grant before (not a field trip grant but for a Literacy Program for Parents and Title I families at my previous school). I clicked on the link and began filling out the information. Everything had to be completed online which was a challenge but when I received an e-mail notification that I was one of the recipients and would soon receive the funding for all the second grade students (almost 150) at our school I was thrilled.The highest amount that the grant could be written for was $800, our grade level received the entire amount to send almost 180 students to the South Florida Science Museum," Livingston said. She spent two of her off nights and four hours of her personal time to write the grant making it possible for the students to attend the exhibit for $1 per student rather than the original cost of $8 per head.


The Grossology exhibit will only be at the museum until May 1, the "Livingston Township" intends to attend this week in a scheduled field trip. We will also conduct some grossology experiments when we return from the field trip. One will be creating edible poop- although sounding rather gross that is what grossology is all about- the study of things that gross you out! But let me place your fears aside- edible poop is just chocolate but it looks like real poop- you would just make strangers very nervous if you were to eat it nearby without them knowing, especially if you just picked it up off of a bench they were sitting near," Livingston said.

At the South Florida Museum large crowds are coming from all over Palm Beach County, including a Jupiter resident and her daughter."It's a cool exhibit about all the functions of the human body like puking, farting and snot... It's cute you'll like it. Check out the baby alligators in the exhibit," said Laura Kramer, who attended the exhibit with her daughter.