Summer professional development offerings will continue to be posted here throughout the rest of the school year. Here is the link to offerings through Walsh University and attached is the Stark County professional development offerings for the summer of 2011.

http://www.walsh.edu/summer2011educationw

Attached you will find the professional development offerings for the remainder of this school year. There are a variety of technology offerings as well as an entire listing of 21 online sessions that you can take. Remember that you must have documented 12 PD hours of which two hours must be some kind of technology professional development. These hours must be completed and documentation to Wendy Williams by May 31, 2011.

I have developed a Moodle site on which I have posted all the documents concerning the new teacher evaluation process. To get to this site follow these directions: Click on Technology on the Home page (scroll down the left menu), Click on Moodle in the middle of the Technology page, Select Staff on the Moodle page and then Curriculum Resources. Scroll down the page to see all the information there. If you were not able to attend the Teacher Evaluation Clarification meetings, then you may want to look at the documents entitled "Clarification of Standard ..." - there is a clarification document for every standard. This site also contains links for such topics as differentiation strategies, teaching students self-evaluation, graphic organizers and much more! Please check it out!

The week of August 23rd. is the week we will be looking at data from the Spring Ohio Achievement Assessments. If you have not yet registered, you may always email Wendy to sign up. Attached is the schedule for the remaining summer offerings!! Please attend for your given content and grade area so that planning can be done for the upcoming school year. Teachers - hopefully - will also be able to
receive their Value Added results if ODE publishes them as they are supposed to on Friday, August 20th!

The list of professional development opportunities - as it is updated - will be located here on this blog throughout the summer. Any opportunities offered in other places that staff members are going to attend need to be approved by Wendy to count towards the required 12 hours. Remember that two hours of technology are mandated, and those hours can be taken anywhere. Best wishes for a restful summer!

There are three specific professional development opportunities coming up in May - two of them this week. On May 18th from 3:30 to 4:30 at Marlboro Elementary, Erika Lukens-Yoder will show you how to organize your computer to make your life easier! On May 20th from 3:30 to 4:30 at the high school computer lab, Patty Lovell will show you how to use QUIA to create tests, quizzes and games to again, make your life easier in your classroom. And on May 25th from 3:30 to 4:30 at Marlboro Elementary there will be a session on learning how to use Turning Point which allows you to use "clickers" in your classroom. For all of these sessions, please email Wendy to let her know that you are planning to attend.

Within the next two weeks I need to know what technology everyone has in their classrooms - computers, laptops, desktop, clickers, doc camera, SmartBoard etc etc. I have every intention of getting into your classroom to personally ask you but if you don't see me by the end of this week, please feel free to email me that information. As we move forward in planning professional development options for this summer we really need to understand your needs.

For those teachers who still need professional development hours as well as for all interested, Thursday night, April 29th, there will be a one hour video conference facilitated by Tierney Bratten in the high school distance learning lab from 3:30 to 4:30 on CYBER SAFETY. Please email Wendy if you plan on attending. Also, do not miss the opportunity to attend the middle school's Evening of the Arts this Thursday night, April 29th beginning at 6 pm where middle school talent is showcased! What a wonderful event this has been in the past - don't miss it!

Just a reminder that the required 12 professional development hours must be completed by May 31st. These hours must be from opportunities OUTSIDE of the normal school day. This month there are two remaining opportunities: April 19th from 3:30 to 5:00 there is an elementary SmartBoard session with Dave Hope, and on April 29th, Tierney Bratten will be facilitating a webinar on Cyber Safety from 3:30 to 4:30 in the high school distance learning lab. May offerings will be published soon. Check with Wendy if you are not sure of the number of hours you have accumulated.

Welcome back from a well-deserved break! Professional development this week is on Thursday, April 8th from 2:30 to 4:00 in the high school computer lab for middle school and high school SmartBoard users. Please email Wendy if you are interested in attending. Also, the new drafts of the science and social studies standards revisions are now online at which you are encouraged to look and provide comments. Go to: education.ohio.gov and in the search box put "Standards Revisions". Also, anyone who still "owes" professional development hours will be receiving an email within the next few days reminding you of what your present total hours are. Have a great week!

Attention Parents of a Special Needs Child!!! I am attaching a flyer for a workshop to be held on Saturday, May 1st from 8:00 am to 3:30 at R. G. Drage. Individuals can choose different sessions to attend such as Issues with Autism, Difficult Moments for the Asperger Child, Positive Supports, Transitions and many more.



Also, this Wednesday, March 31st, from 3:30 to 4:30 in the HS Library will be a district-wide discussion on the new Math Core Content Standards. We have until April 2nd to submit comments about the standards to ODE. To view the new standards, go to www.corestandards.org.

• Please be aware that TONIGHT'S LANGUAGE ARTS MEETING has been changed to THURSDAY, MARCH 25TH FROM 3:30 UNTIL 4:30 IN THE HS SCHOOL LIBRARY. I am in Cleveland for a standards meeting today.
• Tomorrow there is scheduled a Middle School/High School SmartBoard session with Dave Hope - NO ONE has signed up so you must let Wendy or Gary Bush know today if you plan on attending!!!!
• Wednesday, March 24th is Web Page Design Revisited with Gary Bush - Two sessions at the HS: 2:30 - 3:30 and 3:30 to 4:30. Email Gary or Wendy if interested
• Thursday, March 25th - a review of the new Language Arts content standards; come prepared with your comments and concerns

Here are the professional development opportunities for THIS week:

March 15, 2010: HS SmartBoard with Josh Morckel from 2:30 to 3:30 in room 503.
March 16, 2010 Elementary SmartBoard with Dave Hope at Lexington Elementary from 3:30 until 5:00 pm.
March 17, 2010 Gary Bush will teach you How to Back Up Your Hard Drive from 2:30 to 3:30 for MS/HS teachers and from 3:30 to 4:30 for elementary teachers. This will be held in the HS computer lab.

This year there have been a few staff members whose hard drives have crashed, and they have lost all or most of their computer files. To save us all from a similar fate, Gary Bush is offering a new professional development opportunity next WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17TH to teach us "How to Back Up Your Laptop Hard Drive". He will offer a middle school/high school session from 2:30 to 3:30 followed by an elementary session from 3:30 to 4:30. Both sessions will be taught at the high school. Take advantage of this for PD hours as well as to save yourself the heartache of losing all of your work! To register, send an email to Wendy Williams.

Yesterday the new Core Content Standards for Mathematics and Languages Arts were finally published for all to see. These are DRAFTS and are open to public comment. If you go to: www.corestandards.org you can view the standards by grade level, and there is an online survey for you to complete. This public comment period will end April 2, 2010. The state of Ohio is under the gun to get these standards approved because of the requirements for Race to the Top funds. I had sent out an email yesterday for after school meetings for us to discuss the Language Arts and Math standards. I need to change the date for the Language Arts meeting - it will no longer be on March 22nd but rather Thursday, March 25th from 3:30 to 4:30 in the HS Library. Please email me if you plan on attending. The Math meeting remains on March 31st at the same time. I was told by an ODE consultant yesterday that they are anticipating the new OAA tests aligned to these new core standards will not be in place until 2014-2015.

In an effort to creep into the 21st Century and provide better communication to both staff and community, I (as well as all the administrative staff) am initiating my first ever blog. In this blog I hope to keep everyone updated on changes that will be occurring here at Marlington. On April 1st, the states who have been awarded Race to the Top funds will be announced. I believe that Ohio will be one of those states but we won't know for sure until it is announced. If we receive Race to the Top funds, we will be using those funds for professional development, for improving our data management system and for implementing a new evaluation system for teachers and principals. I will try to keep everyone informed of time lines and expectations through this blog so stay tuned!!

I have fallen behind on my Curriculum Focuses that I published regularly last year, so my new plan is to include "Classroom Tips" within this blog. One thing I have heard over and over from the teaching staff is how they have enjoyed being able to choose their own professional development opportunities for the 12 waiver hours. I encourage all teachers to use this "miracle of choice" in their classrooms as well! Everyone enjoys feeling like they have control and giving students a choice returns responsibility for learning to the student. How does choice "look"? In language arts it could be books to read, topics about which to write, and due dates for assignments. Allowing students to present portfolios of individual work on a given subject whether it is art or math or science labs opens up the door for creativity in assessment. Learning contracts, "choice boards" or simply asking students their opinions on what choices they would like to have can change the climate of a classroom. Perhaps now is the time of year, when everyone is a little tired, to try something new and experiment with choice in the classroom!