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New England League of Middle Schools 460 Boston Street, Suite 4 Topsfield, MA 01983 Tel: (978) 887-6263 Fax: (978) 887-6504 Email: nelms@nelms.org |
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November 5, 2009 |
Assessment for Learning – Eye on Education Assessment for learning is interpreted in a variety of ways – quizzes, standardized tests, classroom activities, etc. Some educators believe they should be graded, others say no. Educators should learn about this topic in order to join district-wide conversations on the topic designed to craft a common understanding of the concept of formative assessment for learning. Click here for some research findings and principles put forth by a variety of experts in this area. Board Elections in Maine, Massachusetts, and Vermont Board members are vitally important to the growth and development of NELMS. Directors are elected to serve a four-year term with full authority and responsibility to develop policies, procedures and regulations for the operation of the League. It is also a wonderful professional experience! The Nominations and Elections Committee of the NELMS Board announces that three NELMS regions of New England will have elections this fall. The four-year terms start in July of 2010. The newly elected Board members will be invited to attend the Annual Conference and the May Board meeting. Nomination forms and other materials are available on the NELMS website. They are due by November 13th, 2009. Call for presenters for the 2010 Annual Conference – Still Time
Please send your proposal to NELMS. A brief resume must accompany the proposal. Your proposals will be considered for our Annual Conference and other conferences. All presentations must be consistent with the NELMS mission, beliefs, and position statements. Thank you for taking the time to complete the form and your ongoing work to improve learning for young adolescents. The Call for Presenters form is available at: http://www.nelms.org/pdfs/2009/call_conf_presenters_intractv3.pdf. For your convenience this form is interactive so you can type all the information online. Print a copy for your records, then send it back to NELMS by hitting the submit button. This will open your email program (MS Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, etc) and the Acrobat Reader file will be attached to the email. Make sure to hit the “send” on your email program. If you have concerns about your submission, please email Karin Wilmarth at kwilmarth@nelms.org. April 8-10, 2010 Thursday, Friday, & Saturday Kids Master Mathematics When They're Challenged But Supported New Jersey teachers have found a surprising way to keep students engaged and successful: they let underachieving youngsters get frustrated by math. "We've found there is a healthy amount of frustration that's productive; there is a satisfaction after having struggled with it," says Roberta Schorr [1], associate professor at Rutgers University at Newark's Urban Education Department. Her group has also found that, though conventional wisdom says certain abilities are innate, a lot of kids' talents and capabilities go unnoticed unless they are effectively challenged; the key is to do it in a nurturing environment. "Most of the literature describes student engagement and motivation as having to do with their attitudes about math -- whether they like it or not," Schorr says. "That's different from the engagement we've found. When students are working on conceptually complex problems in a supportive environment, they do better. They report feeling frustrated, but also satisfaction, pride and a willingness to work harder next time." Former Newark middle school math teacher Debra Joseph-Charles says the Rutgers training taught her to see her role as that of a guide. In her classes, she assigned rich word problems, then gave students a few minutes to work individually in a way that emphasized their strengths. "If you are good at computations and you want to do it that way, you can," says Joseph-Charles, now a math coach in the school district. "If you are a visual learner and you want to draw, you can. Or if you want to use manipulatives, you can. You hear this rhetoric about there being this and that type of learner, but no one really gives students the opportunity to learn in different ways in the math classroom." Using the Rutgers method of group learning, Joseph-Charles's students organized themselves into groups so that each student could explain how she arrived at an answer. The other students in the group gave constructive criticism about the pros and cons of each approach. Each group then decided which method was best and presented it to the class. "Children who were failing are now quite successful," Joseph-Charles says of her former math students. "They're solving problems in ways we didn't see as a possibility but which were valid." Naga Madhuri Philkhana, another former teacher turned math coach in Newark, says the Rutgers approach gave her students a sense of accomplishment. "You bring out their confidence by letting them have their own way of looking at problems and sharing it in the classroom," she says. After teachers like Joseph-Charles and Philkhana began applying the Rutgers techniques in the classroom, students showed more interest in math, and the math test scores at what were among the lowest-performing schools in the state began to soar. (In comparison, the language arts scores often remained the same or decreased.) Schorr was delighted but admits she was also surprised at the rising scores and how they have continued to improve year after year. Since 2003, the average standardized math test scores among fourth graders in Newark schools have risen from 45 percent to 79 percent. As a result of its success, math teachers across New Jersey are now receiving professional development in the Rutgers method through a federally funded series of webinars called MathNext [2]. Schorr and her colleagues at Rutgers, with the help of MetroMath [3] researchers in New York City, have begun identifying how and when students appear to be most engaged in math so they can train teachers to create and sustain that engagement. A number of their academic-journal articles on the subject have been published, and more are forthcoming. "Motivation is a key aspect of achievement that we often ignore in math; it's the missing link," Schorr says. "We need to provide kids with conceptually challenging math problems in an emotionally safe environment, and the teacher plays a critical role in that. Kids can view frustration as an opportunity for success instead of an indication of failure, but that won't happen without teachers letting the students experience productive struggles." Bernice Yeung is a contributing editor for Edutopia.
Did you know that NELMS has a discussion board on our website? Well, we do! Some great discussions happen there like DI is Effective Instruction and Emerging Technologies. Our “Can You Help Me Find….” can be a starting place if you are looking for a website, need Web 2.0 Ideas or want to share some of what is happening in your classroom. Our discussion board is located at http://www.nelms.org/discuss2/ and you will need to register for access during your first visit. Do you have an idea about a topic that we might be missing? Or, maybe you would like to moderate a discussion? Just send us an email at nelms@nelms.org with Discussion Board in the subject line. Moving to School 2.0 - By Design http://sn.im/school2.0-ubd Sub Plan Ideas from Rick Wormeli Great Sub Plan Ideas (pdf) http://www.census.gov/schools/
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For over 35 years, NELMS has been dedicated to helping young adolescents learn. The themes and topics contained in our conferences represent the best of current thought and practice regarding effective education. Proposals are read as part of a process by the Conference Review Committee. Information may be edited for space and clarity. Selections for the 29th Annual Conference will be made by November 25, 2009. Information regarding the status of applications will be available after that date. Letters will be mailed to all applicants accepted by the Annual Conference Review Committee.
NELMS has started a page on Facebook! Our page will have information about upcoming events, photos from past conferences, and other great things. If you are already signed up for Facebook, why not join the New England League of Middle Schools page at