Stepping Stones or Stumbling Blocks

I listened this morning to the BYU devotional given by Elder Steven Snow on 9-11-12.  He started his speech by giving this account of Francis Webster who said the following while sitting in a Sunday School class where members of the class were criticizing church leaders for allowing this handcart company to even start the trek. 

 

 

 

 

"I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you

know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here for they

give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send

the Hand Cart Company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that

Company and my wife was in it. . . . I have looked back many times to see

who was pushing my cart but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the

Angels of God were there.

Was I sorry that I chose to come by hand cart? No. Neither then

nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted

with God was a privilege to pay and I am thankful that I was privileged

to come in the Martin Hand Cart Company."

 

Elder Snow went on to discuss how we can use the obstacles in our lives as stepping stones or stumbling blocks.  He also admonished that the following stumbling blocks be avoided:  1) Pride, 2) Negativity and Pessimism, and 3) Modern technology and social media addiction. 

 

Standing for Right

Whether you are LDS or not, this is a profound example of standing up for what's right which we want to teach our Esperanza scholars to do.  This is why Service Learning (Social Action)/Character Education/Civics is a part of Esperanza. 

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”  Edmund Burke

Painting from the Art Studio of Rose Datoc Dall's photo


One night the men had been kept awake by the guards, who were vulgarly boasting about their cruel acts of violence against the Saints. It was midnight, and the imprisoned men had been listening to the guards’ filthy language for hours. Unwilling to tolerate the abusive language any longer, the Prophet Joseph rose to his feet and with a voice of thunder rebuked the guards and commanded them to be silent. Parley P. Pratt later wrote, “Dignity and majesty have I seen but once, as it stood in chains, at midnight, in a dungeon in an obscure village of Missouri.”

Who Are You Spending Your Time With?

More great advice from Kevin Eikenberry for all of us.  It's extremely important for Esperanza scholars to understand it. 

Who are you spending your time with?

How are they influencing you? What are these associations leading you to think about, read, listen, watch and do? These questions may take, and warrant, your time and attention.

Is this the influence you want or need? Are these associations and their influence helping you reach your goals? Maybe your reflection on these questions leave you with a resounding “Yes!” But maybe some of your associations aren’t helping – or are even hurting you.

With your attention to these answers, you can begin to handle or manage relationships or associations that are holding you back. Here are three possible next steps . . .
1. Move on. If your association with someone creates negative habits,thoughts or stress, you may have identified a person that you don’t want to spend time with anymore. This is not an easy decision, nor something you should take lightly, but in some cases it may be necessary. This difficult choice could lead you to much greater results, productivity, and happiness.
2. Limit them. Maybe you can’t or don’t want to remove someone from your associations or life, but you don’t have to invite them to dinner every week! Consciously spend more time with those whose influence is positive and affirming and less with those who have minimal or negative influence on you.
3. Expand and engage. I hope you focus here. Work to spend more time with those who support you, challenge you and spur you towards your goals. Since you know these associations are helpful to you (and likely this is true for the other person), look for more of them!

Animals in the Classroom

The Washington Post

Groups helping teachers pay for classroom pets that enrich students without family animal

 

By Associated Press, Published: September 18

LOS ANGELES — For many children, their first pet is a virtual one.
Experts say many children who enter the first grade can play video games but few have a pet to play with. And teachers say that’s a shame, considering how animals — real ones — can enrich a child’s upbringing.
So for a quarter of a century, educators such as Dawn Slinger in Farmington, Minn., have paid out of their own pockets to provide one for their classrooms. Only in the past few years have groups stepped in to help with the financial burden.
Two years ago, Pets in the Classroom, a Maryland-based project from the nonprofit foundation Pet Care Trust, began offering grants to U.S. and Canadian teachers in grades 1 through 8. The money can be used to buy starter pets, cages, food and other supplies. It issued its 10,000th grant this summer.
The $150 grants help offset the cost of the animal and its care, which helps teachers like Slinger who has been using her own money, said foundation executive director Steve King. Just an aquarium for a frog could cost more than a hundred dollars.
Teachers who apply for a second year or more get $50 for additional equipment, food and supplies.
Pet Care Trust first started introducing pets to classrooms through a joint venture with the Florida Aquarium in Tampa five years ago. A classroom fish project gave participating teachers a 150-gallon aquarium, supplies and fish, King said. Nearly 200 classrooms in the Tampa area got aquariums, and a similar program was started in Chicago.
Slinger believes the cost is worth the experience for her students. She builds lessons around two miniature Russian tortoises, a fire-belly newt, tree frogs, three types of gecko, several hermit crabs, two small ball pythons, a corn snake and a 45-gallon tank of fish. Students observe and draw the animals, and research and write about them. When the school year is over, each student’s work becomes a book.
Parents tell her their children are inspired by the animals and are excited about learning, she said.
She said that out of a class of children — hers last year had 26 — “maybe six will have pets at home, usually a cat or dog. Not many will have reptiles.” Since taking her class, “several students have gotten hermit crabs or fish for their houses. One got a lizard and one is working on a snake.”
The decision over what kind of pet to get lies with the teacher. Slinger chose hers because they fascinate children, their temperaments are right and they don’t bother students with allergies or asthma, she said.
Concerns from parents over disease, allergies and exposure to waste have led to bans or limits on animals in some classrooms, although service animals are allowed in most schools. The Pet Care Trust leaves it to the teachers to know their students and parents, and King said teachers and students must follow cleanliness guidelines.
Among applications for first-time grants, the most popular choices for classroom pets were small mammals, like hamsters, guinea pigs, rats and rabbits, King said. That was followed by aquarium pets, reptiles and amphibians, then birds, he said.
Classroom pets also have been enlightening for some families. Heidi Keating said her 8-year-old son Wayne has been begging for a snake since he was in Slinger’s class last year.
“First, I said absolutely no. Then Wayne said, ‘Come see the snakes in class.’ Even Grandma came. We petted it. I never knew they were soft. I am a little more open at this point,” she said.
Keating said the family wants to encourage his interest, so they took Wayne to a reptile zoo for his birthday.
“It helps me get over my fears too,” she said. “I am learning. I am honest about it, and he knows I am coming along with it. His (5-year-old) sister Quincy is too. When she had her face painted, she wanted a snake.”
But until Wayne is a little older, he’ll have to settle for the 4-month-old basset hound puppy the Keatings got recently.
Classroom pets also can be incentives for good grades, as when some teachers allow students to care for the animals when school is out, King said. Slinger visits her classroom pets two or three times a week during summers and vacations.
As for the animals that don’t return for another school year, that’s a learning moment too, King said.
“Lifespan is part of the life lesson that comes with having a classroom pet,” he said.
___
Online:
http://www.petsintheclassroom.org
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Love These Sticky Notes

More fun things can be found at this website: 

http://www.fasteners4schools.com/index.php/department.html?department=673

Esperanza Teacher Job Description

                                                          

Esperanza Elementary

Teacher - Job Description

 Esperanza Elementary (K-6) is a charter school built upon 4 pillars:  1) Invitational Education, 2) Glasser Quality School, 3) Best teaching/learning practices for all students, 4) Community Learning Center. A two-way Spanish-English dual language immersion program in the entire school is one component. Esperanza will be opening its doors in the 2013-2014 school year and is doing a nation-wide and international search for full-time teachers in all grades.

·         Location: West Valley City, UT

·         Salary:

 

Required

·         Bachelor’s degree (in the U.S. or in any other country)

·         Bilingual Endorsement or Dual Language Immersion Endorsement

·         Student teaching in a culturally and linguistic diverse school or two years of full-time elementary classroom teaching experience in a culturally and linguistic diverse school, especially with Latino students

·         Bilingual and biliterate in Spanish and English

·         Advocate for  bilingualism, biliteracy, and multiculturalism for students and families

·         Excellent rapport with all students and families, especially among the Latino community

·         Supportive of the school vision and mission

·         Knowledge in technology and computer skills that support Esperanza’s vision/mission

Preferred

·         Teaching license

·         Experience teaching Spanish and English literacy

·         Experience/Knowledge helping students learn a second language and culture

·         Experience/Knowledge in dual immersion education, especially in a 90:10 model

·         Knowledge about Invitational Education/ Glasser Quality School/ Service Learning

·         Experience/Knowledge in WIDA, SIOP, TWIOP

·         Familiar with charter schools

Personal Characteristics

·         Grooming and personality which establish a desirable example for students.

·         Enthusiastic, dedicated, caring, and who sincerely enjoy working with diverse students

·         Skills working as a team member

·         Flexibility and desire to learn and implement new educational techniques, strategies, and programs

·         Physical and mental health.

·         Lifelong learner professionally and personally

\

 

Major Duties & Responsibilities

·         Follows the Utah State Office of Education core curriculum and will adjust the curriculum and differentiate instruction in order to meet the dual immersion goals of academic achievement, bilingualism, biliteracy, and biculturalism for all students.

·         Promotes and validates students’ needs, interests, and values as well as students’ culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills in the lesson plans and their implementation in the daily teaching.

·         Creates motivating daily lesson plans as well as trimester and year-long plans

·         Provides lesson plans when absent- creates emergency lesson plans on file in the office

·         Encourages cooperative learning and flexible grouping

·         Provides students with computer instruction and encourages computer and technology skills

·         Evaluates students’ academic, linguistic (English and Spanish) and social growth and keeps records.

·         Provides students with the additional academic support as needed, including before or after school

·         Works collaboratively both vertically and horizontally with colleagues and participates in looping

·         Assists other staff members in helping students solve health, attitude, learning problems

·         Participates in committees to further school goals

·         Participates in grade level, faculty, PTA and other meetings as requested by the Principal.

·         Develops professional growth by participating in professional development activities, conferences and workshops related to dual immersion and/or other educational areas.

·         Follows the Principal’s and families’ suggestions and directions, and is willing to receive feedback and implement change

·         Completes all paperwork and assignments on time

·         Is responsive to teacher/administrative/families requests in a timely fashion

·         Emphasizes family participation and community involvement in traditional and non-traditional forms.

·         Communicates on a regular basis with families regarding the students progress and is always available to assist families with homework

·         Ensures that all students, families, community members, and visitors are welcomed in an inviting environment

 

 

For more information about Esperanza go to www.esperanzaelementary.org

Please send electronic versions of your resume and cover letter to:  Barbara Lovejoy (barbara.lovejoy@esperanzaelementary.org).  Please do not send letters of recommendation unless requested by Ms. Lovejoy

 

The Amazing Sticky Note!

This article from Edutopia on September 10, 2012 reminded me of an idea Suzi Ramos expressed while I was at DIA.  She suggested leaving a sticky note with a compliment when spending even just a few minutes in a teacher's classroom. 


This week, I watched a science teacher use sticky notes in a very creative way. To check for understanding, the teacher gave each student a sticky note and asked each of her science students to give concrete examples of the vocabulary that they had learned in class. As the students exited the classroom, they placed the sticky note on the door. After the students all left the classroom, the teacher collected the sticky notes and was able to tell right away which students understood the concepts and which ones needed some targeted assistance.
This not only helps the teacher, but the students also were able to confront their exact understanding of what they had learned and intuitively they understand the clear message that what they did in class today was important and they are expected to learn.
This got me thinking of all the other ways we use sticky notes to help students learn. We give students "way-to-go!" recognitions on sticky notes. I find that the more specific I am with my praise, the more power it has to reinforce the behavior. I put a note on a student's paper that complements her on her neat writing, and the next day, this student was much less withdrawn and more active in her participation. As a principal, I have seen teachers respond positively when they receive a positive sticky note about something great that I saw in a walk-through observation. Even email and texting have not replaced a well-placed sticky note for powerful communication.
In the Spanish classes I taught, I would use the small sticky notes to provide extra credit points as a reward for student participation and effort. I took a rubber stamp of a toucan that said Bravo! and created my Bravos! right on the sticky notes. If students made attempts to speak Spanish, answered correctly, did something nice, or won a game I would give them these by pealing off a sticky and placing it on their paper. The competition to obtain one was often fierce. The nice thing about this kind of extra credit is that the students are the ones that have to keep track of it. Because they are sticky, all they have to do is stick them on a test or a quiz. I put limits (only five Bravos! could be used on any quiz or test), so they couldn't save them up for the final. I also frequently had auctions of stuff that I got at workshops and conventions that they could bid on with Bravos!
Some of the ways I've seen sticky notes used in classrooms:

• When reading difficult passages from technical texts, I have seen teachers encourage students to summarize what is being stated on a sticky note and then place the note in the margin so it sticks out a bit to make it easy to find in the future
• Students use sticky notes to organize their folders, study cards and notepapers
• Students storyboard their writing with sticky notes so they can be moved around. This matches the idea that not all of us think sequentially, and allows students to take advantage of ideas spawned out of order
• Some students (particularly boys for some reason) when they get a pad of sticky notes seem to always want to draw the antics of stick men on the bottom of each one so that when they flip the pages, it appears that the stick men are moving. This actually requires planning and higher order thinking
• Students comment on other student papers or work and give suggestions for improvement and compliments on sticky notes
• Students sticky notes to identify things in the classroom, label items in a target language, or categorize items by type
• Gallery walks in which students analyze poetry, quotes or philosophies by placing their responses on sticky notes
• Teachers use colored sticky notes as disciplinary measures, green notes being exemplary behavior, and red ones warning of impending discipline if behavior doesn't change
• Here's a recent Edutopia video that shows how one middle school teacher uses sticky notes to help her assess her students.