Scio Teachers are “Making the Connections”…between students, teachers, and parents with Schools Attuned®.

Many students in our districts struggle in school because of their unique learning profile and the mismatch between that profile and what students are receiving instructionally in school. The Schools Attuned® Program reflects the most current, research-based principles of professional development that changes teaching practice and has a positive impact on student outcomes and learning profiles.

The district leadership, faculty and parents at Scio Central School are committed to observing and working with students on specific strengths and weaknesses defining their unique neurodevelopmental profile. This approach will surround and support the students in Scio with a strong commitment to understanding and working their strengths and weaknesses in the classroom and at home. The Scio community of students, teachers, leadership and parents are beginning a year long initiative of implementation in neurodevelopmental thinking that will include: Learning about Learning workshops for parents, Learning about Learning lesson studies in neurodevelopmental thinking with teachers, and the All Kinds of Minds Fair for students.

Ø Learn more about the implementation plan at Scio
Ø Learn more about the Schools Attuned® Parent Program
Ø Learn more about the All Kinds of Minds Fair

For information regarding the Schools Attuned program at Cattaraugus-Allegany BOCES contact:
Tim Cox
716.376.8309
tim_cox@caboces.org

21st CCLC Connects With Students

It’s the battle of the bands! No it’s middle school students with microphones! No, it’s St. Bonaventure business students mentoring middle schoolers! It was all of these and more. The S.I.F.E. organization, http://www.sbu.edu/, taught our 21st Century students over a 24 hour period the business, ethics, and fun of setting up their own “rock” band. What better way to engage students than to provide Karaoke, 60 friends from Cattaraugus and Allegany counties, an overnighter and food!

How can we further capitalize on student’s strengths and challenge them? The Lego group has made a connection with their product and education. http://www.legoeducation.com/ Students have begun to delve into Lego Robotics with enthusiasm. Notice the concentration and visual stimulus that encourages students to learn with their affinity driving them. To learn more about Lego Robotics check out this website http://www.usfirst.org/.

Also, an integral part of the after-school program involves building relationships. Fieldtrips, project learning and community service opportunities assist with this building process. Through the Capturing Kids Hearts training that the staff received we are building caring communities at each center. Check out http://www.flippengroup.com/ to learn more about this training that assists teachers in creating a nurturing environment each day.

What Do You Mean He Can Read That?

Picture this… the father of a student who has struggled in school since kindergarten states that his son reads motorcycle manuals. What a statement! What was he thinking??? This boy would not/could not read a thing! This boy answered all questions with a grunt that sounded like, “I dunno.” Humph! I didn’t believe that father, not for a minute!

I look back at that moment in time and cringe. If only I knew then what I know now! I know that students will read about what they love. They apply their schema, their background knowledge, to the reading. This young man’s neurodevelopmental profile must have included strengths in spatial and temporal sequential ordering. He was the kind of kid who could fix anything. His struggles in language and memory made school a place of fear and failure. How could I, as his teacher, have supported him in order to make school a less fearful, awful place?

Dr. Levine believes that we must begin to recognize students’ strengths and work on these strengths and affinities. Dr. Levine says, "Success is a vitamin that every kid must take in order to thrive during his or her school years." All Kinds of Minds is dedicated to helping students who struggle in school and in life. Dr. Levine’s summary of his beliefs can be found on the All Kinds of Minds website at this site. Stories of success can be read at this site. If you have found success by recognizing student’s strengths and working to strengthen these strengths please take the opportunity to share your story. If you get a chance, check out the rest of the site

iPods in the Classroom

During the months of September and October, teachers who attended Curriculum Camp XI: Keeping in Touch with Kids have been attending professional development trainings to learn about using iPods to connect with twenty-first century students.

If iPods are one of the technological tools that students use in their daily lives, then it makes sense for teachers to take advantage of iPods to support student success. It may seem easy to say that iPods are just an evolved Walkman, but the truth is they can do so much more. Besides being able to listen to educational podcasts and recordings from the Internet, iPods also allow students to view downloaded streaming video clips, listen to MP3 versions of books on tape, and view images of people and places they would never have the opportunity to meet or visit.

The power of the iPod is not just in the content they can carry, but the fact that the content becomes completely portable and individual. Students who require more repetition and exposure to information can get self-paced teaching and re-teaching of information. Students who lack background knowledge going into a unit or lesson can take time with the iPod to have some of the groundwork laid out for them.

In the coming months, teachers who attended the initial trainings for iPods will be attending follow up sessions to focus on some of the other tools iPods make available. Furthermore, they will have the opportunity to delve into the realm of creating their own content. Think of the usefulness of having teachers creating recorded content for students. Even better, think of the power of having students create their own content for one another.

For more information about iPods, go to the Apple site.
For information about CA BOCES technology offerings, visit our wiki.