New BOCES Summer Learning Experience!

The term “summer school” often conjures up images of students sitting in hot classrooms, trying hard to concentrate as teachers review subject matter that didn’t make sense to them during the school year, and their focus is more on making plans for lazy afternoons in the sun as soon as the dismissal bell rings. Well, we’re about to change that!

Students who register for this New Summer Learning Experience will be on a newly designed track for learning. This year’s summer learning experience promises to be much more Personalized and Engaging for students!

The use of technology will be evident everywhere as students use laptop computers to take on-line courses and teachers use the Polycom technology and Breeze software to communicate with students, both in the room and at another site. Some students will even be able to take on-line courses from home. No, this isn’t your father’s summer school anymore!

In the past, students have been transported to one school site and taken 1-2 core academic courses. This summer, school districts can choose to have students attend either Elm St. Academy in Cuba or Wellsville High School, depending on their geographical location. Teachers certified in the four core academic high school areas will be teaching from both sites. Students enrolled in on-line courses will be taking classes under the supervision of NYS certified teachers either at one of the sites or on their own. Personalization is the name of the game!

Integration is the key element for students in grades 7 and 8. This year, middle level students will be engaged in an integrated ELA / Social Studies class and an integrated Math / Science class. No longer will students have to wonder how to connect what they learn in one subject area to what they are learning in another. Integrating the content areas will lead students to making direct applications to deepen their understanding of the concepts they are learning. Isn’t the application of knowledge and skills what true learning is really about?

Instructional delivery will be more diversified than ever this summer. Students registered for Earth Science, Biology, and Chemistry will take these courses on-line under the supervision of NYS certified teachers at both sites. US History, PIG, Economics, and Spanish I will be available on-line “any time, any place.” For students taking Math A, Global Studies and ELA, teachers will use distance learning to instruct students using the Polycom technology. It’s all about creating learning environments where students can take the initiative to become fully engaged in their own education."

If you’d like to know more about this 21st century framework for student learning, please call 716-376-8297 or email Lynne Yehl at lynne_yehl@caboces.org. We hope to see your kids this summer!

Clarity of Thought: Finding Your Voice as a Leader

School leaders at all levels and in all roles will gather together August 14-17 at Holiday Valley for Curriculum Camp XII. The week will be dedicated to understanding our authentic voices as leaders by finding clarity in what we believe. Dr. Dennis Sparks, Executive Director of the National Staff Development Council and one of this year’s national experts at camp, believes that “silence offers us access to the clarity and power of our own “voice” – which is the wellspring of our authenticity.” He believes that our authenticity is the most important source of influence as a leader.

As busy teachers and administrators, we often find that there’s not much time for silence in our hectic schedules. Finding the time to reflect and clarify our thinking is difficult. We need to understand that our effectiveness as a leader ultimately depends on our willingness to carve out the time to be silent and reflective through things like meditative reading or journaling. There are enormous rewards for taking the time to understand just what it is we are clear about. It helps us focus our efforts and communicate our ideas to our colleagues in a manner that is meaningful and enabling. According to Wilma Mankiller, Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, "people with clear minds are like magnets and people and organizations move toward that which they are clearest about."

Join us in the Leadership Cohort at Curriculum Camp XII and bridge the gap between knowing and doing. Find out more about how clarity of thought will make your vision for learning translate into action.

Join the discussion by visiting Dr. Sparkes Blog at http://www.nsdc.org/sparksblog/

Laurie MacVittie, Staff Specialist for Math, Science and Technology and Co-chair for the Leadership Cohort at Curriculum Camp XII.

My Kind of Brain

I didn’t know what the word meant. I just had to go to these special classes where I would walk on a balance beam and trace these strange lines and letters. I also remember looking at these pictures of shape, numbers and letters. The word was dyslexia. When my parents sat me down (you know the way parents sit you down to tell you something that is difficult) and broke the news to me, I still didn’t know what the word meant. I just knew I had trouble reading.

My case of dyslexia is very mild. I have finally found out what the word really means. I think it has more to do with learning than reading and actually what I discovered is that dyslexia is an auditory issue. I discovered this after watching Susan Barton's 3 hour WebCast. Through further studies, I have finally found out how my brain works. When I read I have a problem decoding the words on the page. There is only so much space in the working memory part of the brain. I like to compare it to a shot glass and a gallon milk jug. The shot glass represents the size of our working memory; the gallon milk jug represents the size of the amount of information that can be stored in our brains long term. Part of my shot glass gets filled quickly because I am working so hard to decode the words that I read. When I read I have to read and reread the same text over and over until decoding the text is no longer an issue and most of my working memory shot glass is not filled up. When my working memory is not filled up with decoding I can then continue to read and devote more of my working memory to comprehension.

I also use some technology to help myself with my dyslexia. I use a program called ReadPlease2003. ReadPlease2003 can be downloaded for free from ReadPlease.com. This program allows me to copy anything that is in HTML format and paste it into ReadPlease2003. Then the program reads the text to me. As the program reads the text it hightlights the words in yellow. I have shown this program to reading expert Dr. Ellin Keane and she said, "However you can get a read aloud is a good thing." This is also further research to show that ReadPlease2003 helps both students with and without reading difficulties.

Dyslexia, which my spell check ironically keeps telling me I've misspelled, is just a word. Dr. Mel Levine, who I had the honor of meeting recently, would say that dyslexia is just a label. For me, Dyslexia is a part of who I am. As a teacher I fully understand when a student or a colleague struggles with any part of learning.

Capturing Kids' Hearts Means Listening to Their Voices

Capturing Kids’ Hearts training offers teachers an opportunity to connect with their students in an authentic way. According to its founder, Flip Flippen, “If you have a child’s heart, you have his head.” The three-day training model offers educators a chance to explore their relational capacity with students as well as learn the critical skills of building communities within their classrooms. These skills include the shared design of Social Contracts by students and teachers, developing an approach to communicating with people that consistently places engagement with a person as priority, and learning how to address inappropriate behaviors in the classroom under the guises of a Social Contract.

During the week of March 26th teachers, administrators, counselors, and support staff gathered for our 6th Capturing Kids’ Hearts training held at the Olean Center BOCES. On day two of a typical training participants get a chance to listen to students share from a video how Teen Leadership, a middle-high school curriculum available to teachers who have taken CKH, has impacted their lives. Unique to this training event in particular was the participation of twelve of our own students who traveled from the Cattaraugus-Little Valley campus to share how CKH & Teen Leadership has helped them adapt to the unique challenges in high school.

The power of this experience is evident from the responses that have been collected over the last six training experiences. Teachers and students are finding refreshment and rejuvenation following these three days of professional development. If you have thought about attending a Capturing Kids’ Hearts training there is another opportunity on July 31—August 2 at the Olean Center BOCES. Fall dates will be coming soon!