Together We Can Make the World Pretty

Together We Can Make the World Pretty Jaclyn Mitchell, Las Colinas Elementary School, Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD
(On the Texas Education Agency website)

The Classroom Teacher

1. Econometric analyses continually confirm that an effective classroom teacher is the most powerful in-school instrument currently available to propel student academic achievement.
2. An effective teacher [three] years in a row can set a student on a remarkably productive schooling trajectory and if all students were so fortunate as to have such a beneficial sequence of teachers the achievement gap between have and have not students would virtually disappear.
3. An ineffective teacher is the flip side. Three years in a row of an ineffective teacher is remarkably damaging to a student, often triggering a virtually irrecoverable lifetime learning deficit.
4. Terminating the lowest five percent of ineffective teachers and replacing them with teachers who are only average in effectiveness would of itself elevate U.S. achievement to among the highest in the industrial world.
5. United States public school teachers are more highly paid, on average, than those of OECD nations or Euro zone teachers.
6. When salaries are annualized, stretched over twelve months, and fringe benefits are included, U.S. teachers are paid more, on average than those in other occupations requiring comparable training.
7. U.S. Education school enrollees are among the lowest scorers on the Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) and education school classes routinely award their enrollees the highest grades of any major in college.
8. No differences in student achievement gains can be discerned statistically between teachers who have obtained their pedagogical preparation through an education school or through a truncated alternative training route, such as Teach for America.
9. Turnover among beginning first and second year teachers is about the same as turnover among other professionals in fields requiring comparable training.
10. The greatest amount of gain in teaching effectiveness appears to occur during the initial three years of a classroom teacher's career. After that, gains to student achievement from teaching experience alone are quite low.
11. There is no consistently positive correlation between a teacher's accrual of advanced college academic credits and the achievement gains of his or her students.
12. Teachers holding a National Board of Professional Teachers Certificate display a slight positive advantage in terms of student achievement gains over those teachers not similarly certified.

James W. Guthrie is Nevada's superintendent of public instruction. This essay first appeared on the Nevada Department of Education Superintendent Blog.

Wisdom from Jiminy Cricket

"When your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme."

-- Jiminy Cricket

We want our Esperanza scholars to dream...and we who are Esperanza educators need to set the example. 

Rain

This message fit so well with the poem by Francisco Alarcón that I read this morning:

First Rain

Is it raining

or

is the sky

crying?





Our Potential--Leadership

Those within our stewardship must see us striving and improving so we can be an example that we are serious about what we are doing.  Our circle of influence will be enlarged as we improve our performance, even a little bit.  We can still be very effective, even though we are not perfect. 

Getting the Most from a Training

Kevin Eikenberry shared this.  It is great counsel for us to use for each of our Esperanza trainings.

Before You Attend . . .

 1. Review the workshop materials. If the trainer has sent you materials, read them. Perhaps it is an outline of the learning objectives or agenda. Looking that over will give you a sense of what is to come and get your mind thinking about how these ideas might benefit you. If pre-reading is offered, reading it will prepare you further. The more prepared your mind is for the subject matter, the more connections you will make during the session, the more you will gain, and honestly, the easier it will be.

 2. Think about what you would like to learn. This is the most important thing you can do before the workshop begins. Think about (and write down) what you would like to learn from the session. Then take your answers to the training with you, reviewing them before the workshop begins (the trainer may ask for some info like this, and if they do, you are already prepared – no last minute pressure!) Ask yourself questions like:

 ■What would make this worth my time?

 ■What is my fondest wish for this training?

 ■What do I expect from this training?

 ■What is the best possible outcome that could arise from this training?

 ■What is the biggest question I’d like answered?

 3. Check your attitude. Decide to bring an attitude that will help you learn. Be open-minded. Be positive (or at least not negative). Bring a smile. Think about it: how often have you learned successfully when you were stressed, cynical or negative? Remember that you chose your attitude. Decide now to bring one that will be beneficial, not a barrier to your learning.

While You are There . . .

 1. Take responsibility for your learning. Yes, there will be a trainer. Yes, they will be “in charge” of the workshop. But you are responsible for your learning, so do what you need to be successful. This could be anything from bringing a sweater if you might get cold, to bringing coffee if you need it, to asking the questions you want answers for. The session is for your learning. Make sure you get what you want and came for, and remove as many barriers from getting that as you can. Ultimately, you are responsible for your learning – so take that responsibility.

 2. Look for application. The most important question you can ask yourself during any training is . . . “How can I use this?” Throughout the session, keep your mind open and your radar out for how you can apply what you are learning. Realize, too, that because you are away from your normal routine, you may get ideas that aren’t even directly related to the training – just consider those a bonus. Look for application, and write those ideas down so you don’t lose them!

3. Engage in the process. Learning is an active process, so be an active participant. That doesn’t mean you have to answer every question or be the most talkative person in the group – it just means to actively engage in what is going on.

After You Leave . . .

 1. Decide what you will do next. You may have time to do this before you leave the session. If so, great. If you don’t know that, this is one of the most important of these nine suggestions. Identify the top 1-3 things that you learned and what to apply in your work. Write them down, along with any quick thoughts on your plan of action. Writing these down provides clarity and focus. It also helps your commitment to success.

 2. Teach something to someone else. Take something that was useful or interesting to you and teach it to someone else. When you do that you begin to own the learning for yourself and you understand it better. Plus, you are benefiting someone else – and in teaching them, they might be able to hold you accountable for applying that lesson in your work too!

 3. Take action. You prepared for the session. You activity participated. You even decided what you would like to do. None of that matters unless you actually do something. If you want to get more from the time you have invested in going to training, make sure you try something you learned – until you do that, there is no real return on your investment.

Nine steps – each are easy to do. Collectively they will make the next training you attend more enjoyable and valuable.

Will you do them?

Signed,

A person who believes in you and your success

Honesty--An Esperanza Attribute

I was reading this morning in the book Multiplication Is for White People by Lisa Delpit about a school that had a creed for its students that they repeated every morning.  We could do something similar at Esperanza connecting the creed to the 9 character attributes of Esperanza.  Honesty/Integrity ought to be one of these character attributes.

While listening to the BYU Devotional speech this morning given by Neil L. Andersen in September 2011 on honesty he quoted part of the following poem by Edgar Guest about the need to be honest--even when no one is looking. 

Myself

by Edgar Guest

I have to live with myself and so I want to be fit for myself to know. I want to be able as days go by Always to look myself in the eye. I don't want to stand with the setting sun And hate myself for the things I've done. I don't want to keep on a closet shelf A lot of secrets about myself And fool myself as I come and go Into thinking that nobody else will know The kind of person I really am. I don't want to dress up myself in sham. I want to go out with my head erect. I want to deserve all others' respect. But here in the struggle for fame and wealth I want to be able to like myself. I don't want to look at myself and know That I'm bluster and bluff, an empty show. I could never hide myself from me. I see what others may never see. I know what others may never know. I never can fool myself, and so Whatever happens, I want to be Self-respecting and conscience-free.