WinkWorld February 2009
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Dear Friends,
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Chelsey Carver-Jones
We, in CA, are quite crazed at the moment with TPA (Teacher Performance Assessment). Chelsey shares her experiences for other students. http://mayhemsm.getmyip.com/DAV/tpa%20review.wmv Here is the link to the media player download: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html Michelle Williams shares her learning about TPA 2 (Designing Instruction) and TPA 3 (Assessment) by focusing on her students' learning while reading The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate Decamillo and Timothy Basil Ering. www.joanwink.com/newsletter/2009/Michelle_Williams-0209.pdf Click to Order: The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread 
Julie Michaels shares a very traditional approach to lesson plans; however please note how she uses WordSift with A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon www.joanwink.com/newsletter/2009/Julie_Michaelis-0209.pdf Click to Order: A Bad Case of Stripes 
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Joe Jennings captures his reflections on learning in a cyberspace file folder. www.joanwink.com/newsletter/2009/Joe_Jennings-0209.pdf Esperanza Flores captures her learning from our class. www.joanwink.com/newsletter/2009/Esperanza_Flores-0209.pdf Jessica Faria shares a lesson plan (White Socks Only by Evelyn Coleman) based on Alma Flor Ada Creative Reading process. www.joanwink.com/newsletter/2009/Jessica_Faria-0209.pdf Click to Order: White Socks Only 
Chris Busse created a traditional 5-step lesson plan with Knots on a Counting Rope by John Archambault and Ted Rand. Please note his inclusion of standards. The 5-step or 7-step (Madeleine Hunter) is often required of credential students in CA. However, please note how Chris included new learning with the use of WordSift. www.joanwink.com/newsletter/2009/Chris_Busse-0209.pdf Click to Order: Knots on a Counting Rope 
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José Rodriguez reflects on his learning, complete with two of his observations of a student, which he did in a local school. www.joanwink.com/newsletter/2009/Jose_Rodriguez-0209.pdf Stuart Hayden shares his detailed lesson plan of Friends/Amigos by Alma Flor Ada. Please note how he has incorporated much a traditional lesson plan, but he has also included the Creative Reading Method and CREDE Activity Centers. www.joanwink.com/newsletter/2009/Stuart_Hayden-0209.pdf Click to Order: Mis Amigos /my Friends 
Now, you get a glimpse of why I love the students so much! Below is the online assignment, which I gave them for these assignments. Writing-thinking January 2009 www.joanwink.com/newsletter/2009/Writing-Thinking-0209.pdf Riverchase Elementary, Alabama: Give Us Hope. An Open Letter to President Obama and Secretary Duncan The credential students and teachers I work with, give me so much hope. Now, watch as a group of children in Alabama, also give us hope. http://blog.al.com/hoover/2009/02/riverchase_elementary_firstgra.html#more Birmingham News February 4, 2009 Thank you, Riverchase Elementary Students! |
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WordSift by Dr. Kenji Hakuta, Stanford University www.wordsift.com This is absolutely amazing, but a word of caution for teachers: Preview all before using with students. This is still in the developmental stage. If you find anything inappropriate, alert Dr. Hakuta and team immediately. Thank you. Kenji and his team write: (If you are using Internet Explorer, make sure you have version 7.0 or higher - Mozilla Firefox and Safari work well too) We created WordSift following two main principles: simplicity and utility. It is free, easy and hopefully fun to use. Just try it - it will only take a minute to appreciate its main features. The output will be a panel display showing the main vocabulary, the academic words, the Visual Thesaurus word web, pictures and videos from Google searches, and sentences in the text containing targeted vocabulary words. We hope that teachers find this useful in previewing texts and talking with students about the language in the texts that they read - all in a fun and motivating way for the student. To get started, just copy a piece of text into your clipboard (you can even take this note, or take any file from your hard disk, or the web), and paste it into the box and click the SIFT button. Voilà! If you like what you see and want to explore its features, just follow the links to some simple explanations on the top bar, or click on the View Demo button to watch and hear me talk through it. Something else that you can do -- write to me and tell me what you think, or give us feedback directly through the site through the "Give Feedback" tab. Also, please forward it to anyone you think might find this useful - a teacher, a coach, a curriculum developer, a principal, or someone in the district office. Many thanks! Kenji hakuta@stanford.edu WordSift Production team: Kenji Hakuta, PI; Greg Wientjes, Web Producer; Diego Roman and Karen Thompson, functionality consultants. |
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FVR (Free Voluntary Reading) Books: Pleasure Reading Dakota: A Spiritual Geography by Kathleen Norris I believe this is the 3rd time I have read this book, and I am once again inspired by Norris and her ability to capture all of the complexities and subtleties of prairie life. Click to Order: Dakota: A Spiritual Geography 
Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life I have not read the latest by Norris, but I am sure I will. However, I know I know want any acedia. Click to Order: Acedia & Me: A Marriage, Monks, and a Writer's Life 
Books for Kids and Me White Socks Only by Evelyn Coleman Click to Order: White Socks Only
Knots in a Counting Rope by John Archambault, Ted Rand, and Bill Martin Jr. Click to Order: Knots on a Counting Rope
Walk Two Moons by Marshall K. Hall Click to Order: Walk Two Moons 
Mis Amigos/My Friends by Alma Flor Ada Click to Order: Mis Amigos /my Friends
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate Dicamillo and Timothy Basil Ering Click to Order: The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup and a Spool of Thread
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Cool Stuff Kindle 2 - The Latest Generation Click to Order: Kindle 2: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device 
Prairie Pedagogy The prairies are always filled with the unexpected-like a flood in February, something I have never seen. While Wink is off in Pierre working on education bills, women's reproductive health bills, smoking bills, and gun bills, I'm here on the ranch trying to figure out how to get the horses to high ground. I was sitting at the kitchen able, looking south through our beautiful big windows and writing about behaviorism*, when I noticed the water rising on the dam just a little ways south of the house. There was a lot of dirt here in the morning, and by 3 p.m. it was all water. Pix: South of the House  This is looking south of the house, where I was sitting and writing. One hour earlier, this was all ground, except for a little frozen creek. The horses were in the corral, which was rapidly filling with water. The three pictures below show where the horses normally cross to high ground - that will never work. South of Corral Pixs: 
 The following picture is the spillway on the dam south of the house. The culvert took all the water it could take, eventually, the water had to escape from the spillway, looking to the southeast towards Howes. Pix: Spillway south of house 
Now, the water has a thin sheet of ice on it, and the horses will not enter it, as when their hooves go through the ice, it scares them. Pix: Surrounded 
*No, this is not the first time in my life when I felt like I was drowning in behaviorism. |
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