Memo

Ramsey School District
266 East Main Street
Ramsey, NJ 07446

MARC VOGEL & ERICA ROTH TEL: (201) 785-2300 CO-PRINCIPALS FAX: (201) 934-6623
SMITH MIDDLE SCHOOL

December 4, 2008

To: Barry Bachenheimer, Superintendent

From: Marc Vogel and Erica Roth, Co-Principals

Re: Fifth Grade Curriculum Change

The proposed astronomy unit for the fifth grade science curriculum is interdisciplinary in nature and focuses on creative thinking, critical thinking, and communication through the use of technology and purposeful reading, writing, and discussion. It teaches to our students’ left- and right-brains, and even though it incorporates creativity, it is by no means a “Crayola Curriculum”. In addition, it is formatted in an Understanding by Design (UbD) template so that teachers have direction. These changes are necessary so that our teachers can facilitate learning communities in which students develop enduring understandings. If approved, the curriculum will prepare our students for the twenty-first century by encouraging them to develop the skills needed to transfer what they learn to new and challenging situations.

The current curriculum is content based, age-appropriate, and aligned with the NJCCCS. However, the curriculum does not meet the needs of the twenty-first century learner because it encourages students to memorize facts and definitions. The newly formatted curriculum is based on research by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe, Mike Schmoker, and Daniel Pink. It focuses on what Wiggins and McTighe call the “big ideas”, which they state will give facts and skills greater meaning. Their concept, UbD, “takes content and shapes it into a plan for how to conduct effective and engaging teaching and learning.” An UbD astronomy curriculum “makes it more likely that students achieve desired results.” Since the current curriculum is content based, it does not require students to read for purpose and develop their own viewpoints. However, Mike Schmoker says that school should be a thoughtful place. It should rouse the intellect and give children the opportunity to expand ideas and opinions. He says that “good talk” about readings will help achieve this. This is why incorporating activities that involve purposeful reading, writing, and discussion into the curriculum is essential. Lastly, Pink, in his book A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future, proves that creativity is essential for success in the American workplace. Since our goal is to prepare students for success, we must help them hone their creative skills so that they can become leaders in innovation. Our UbD curriculum follows the advice of these great thinkers, and thus, will set our students up for success.

Fortunately, these great changes can be made without affecting the budget. However, staff development will be necessary for implementation. Over the course of the 2009 - 2010 school year, fifth grade science teachers will need to use all staff in-service days to learn about UbD lesson development. The teachers will also work in professional learning communities to develop a unit plan similar to the one attached, and will pilot the changes in the spring of 2010. We expect that our fifth grade students will become better readers, writers, creators, and thinkers. We will determine if these changes are successful by analyzing the results of the many forms of assessment described in the unit plan. If the changes are effective then curricular change in other units will be considered.

Results Now

“For students to fully develop their intellectual capacities, close reading and rereading must be joined to writing.” P.61

As the elementary principal in a 4^th and 5^th grade building, I would create the following change based on this situation. I would restructure the organization of scheduling to join Reading and Language Arts classes into a unified literacy class taught by the same teacher. Separating the two classes—Reading being homogeneous and Language Arts being heterogeneous—does not enable the opportunity to take “pen in hand” as Schmoker described, to write about one’s thoughts about a specific text.

I will work with the teachers in learning communities so that these new unit plans can be created. The plans will be created so that there is must dialogue and writing about what is read in school. If we’re looking to “develop their intellectual capacities” for the future, then this is a solution. This will be a drastic change to the culture of our school. But, the teachers will most likely be excited by the idea since they often stress about not having enough “face time” with their Reading students whom they only see for 40 minutes a day. They also stress about the lack of time for assessing and giving feedback to these students.

We will have to research the successfulness of homogeneous vs. heterogeneous for this new scheduling plan. Either way, with a group of twenty-five students, the unit plans will still need to take modifications and extensions into account, and will also need to plan for discussions including the teacher rather than with small groups.

“Weeks of nonliterary activities would be built around the reading of a single short story or novel.” P. 79

As the elementary principal of the 4^th and 5^th grade building, I would again help the teachers to work together to create units built around novels that are NOT boring, do NOT suppress creativity, but DO emphasize reading, writing, and discussion. Projects would be designed to do at home where dialogue with the teacher does not happen anyway. In school, we would use multimedia that promotes literacy such as Smartboard, blogging, and podcasts, to make class time interactive, engaging, and full of the main elements of literacy. Blogging can be used to write journal entries from the characters’ perspectives. Podcasts can be used to talk about the changes seen in a character, or examples from the text that prove a character’s personality trait. The Smartboard can be used to highlight (literally) and focus on actual text for all students to see. These uses of media will be used in conjunction with face-to-face discussion about the actual story, and not on the elements of the story or parts of a sentence.

“You can walk into any school system large and small, and ask to see samples of work that’s proficient from 5 different 4^th grade classrooms. You’ll get five radically different qualities of work.”

As an elementary principal, I will help the teachers to create a Rubric Bank where teachers can post assignment descriptions and their correlating rubrics. This can all be done prior to the implementation of learning communities. But once the learning communities are in place, the teachers will be able to use the bank to create unit and lesson plans with clearly planned assessments.

The learning communities will also be used to refine the rubrics so that they are useful and do what they’re meant to—provide a clear label for quality that helps the teachers and students. The rubrics will need to be descriptive, and will NOT need labels such as “fair,” “good,” “awesome.” What do those really mean anyway???

UbD Lesson Plan

click each page to enlarge














































I enjoyed having to deeply think through this unit which I’ve taught before. It was definitely a struggle for me, specifically deciding if something belonged under “understanding, “knowledge,” “skills,” etc. I felt that I was often repeating myself, not knowing if I was correct. It was also difficult using a pre-existing unit. I think it would have been easier and more fun using UbD to create a new unit—something I have yet to teach. I also felt guilty including text book reading and note taking in the planned activities (so I didn’t!), but now think that it would have been okay to do that as long as it would be geared toward the planned assessments, essential questions, and understandings.

I preferred the Word format because it felt more guided and structured. I was a little confused, however, when having to identify role, situation, etc. The students’ roles change slightly from class period to class period since this was a plan for a whole unit, and not just one 45 minute class period. I tried to be broad and on-topic as best I could during this part.

Additional Questions:
Is the Performance supposed to be a culminating activity? Were the planned activities supposed to be more specific—as if another teacher is supposed to be able to interpret and use this lesson plan? Should I have been more specific—including every single worksheet, reading, activity, etc in the format? Is it better to use this format when planning a unit or daily lessons?

UbD is a really interesting way to plan curriculum. In talking to some colleagues, many of them seemed familiar with the idea but have not used it in the classroom. One of them asked, “is that the method for teaching to the test?”

Mash-up

More about Did You Know

I forgot to mention that my superintendent showed Fisch's video to district-wide staff at our welcome back meeting of 2007. Looking back, I'm glad that he showed this to open our minds, but I wish he used it more productively, like we are now in this course, to decide what this means for education and what we are to do about it. My district uses a lot of technology. We have many PD hours every year about technology, and we are expected to use it daily. But I remember sitting among my colleagues thinking, what else? Is there more that we need to do?

Did You Know?

Who’s scared? I am! Thinking about how much computers will be able to do in the near future is unsettling. I don’t like the thought of being replaced my machines, and I certainly don’t like not knowing how to prepare for it. We are experiencing severe unemployment rates in the United States. The possibility of more and more jobs being wiped out because computers can do the same thing for a lesser cost and in less time means that we are about to face an even higher unemployment count. And the idea that computers will take over the human race is an obvious scary thought as well.

On the other hand, the unknowingness is pretty exciting. (I know I have pretty extreme feelings about this!) Looking back in my lifetime, and the lifetime of my parents and grandparents shows how much can be accomplished with technology. We didn’t turn out so badly, did we? I don’t think we’ll ever be able to completely prepare for the future. As Americans, we’re always creating new, better, faster, more efficient ways of doing things. Our teachers prepared us as much as they could for the future they didn’t know about, and we are doing the same. I think our job as educators is to teach about the past, teach skills, and content that we think is worth knowing NOW. We can’t see into the future, so we will have to trust that when our students enter the workforce they, among their peers, will have the skills, motivation, and personality traits to explore the future.

The most important skills we can teach our students are to think critically, to research, to experiment, to see cause and effect, to explore, to communicate, to question, to strategize, and to be creative. These skills are timeless and help prepare us for any situation in any era.

As educators, we need to commit to learning the most about technology, and passing that information onto our students as we possibly can. We must commit to stay current, but not to say goodbye to all of the information, skills, and pieces of technology that we have used thus far. We can’t write off our pasts in hopes that the future will be better. Future creations will certainly be different, and will definitely bring about change. But we won’t know what’s BETTER until we experience it. Let’s commit to refrain from saying that our past has been a waste of time. The best we can do it learn from the past as we continue to move forward. How can we possibly expect more from ourselves?

Symphony

So I have to be honest, this chapter really makes me want to take up drawing. Pink’s first self portrait definitely resembles the type of art that I create. His second attempt was absolutely incredible. Pink’s experience also proved that the teacher matters! He was very affective at teaching about the right side of the brain, and obviously helped Pink to tune his left side out! Although I am severely more right brained than left, I think it would be really interesting to undergo a class like the one Bomeisler taught and see if I too can forget everything I knew from before and focus more on the big picture.

As a side note, I saw the FedEx logo about a hundred times in the past week! It was fun asking people around me what they thought about the logo. One of my friends and I got into a conversation about the creation and meaning behind logos. She told me of a time in a college marketing class where she had to describe stores and companies as people. For example, what kind of car would Walmart Drive? The common opinion was an old station wagon with the wood paneling. What would Target drive? A new Volkswagon bug. I know it’s a little off topic but I thought it was funny.

When reading about Metaphor Makers, I thought of my students. Teaching my fifth graders to use descriptive language has been so difficult. Now I wonder if those students just haven’t been R-directed enough, or if they just weren’t developmentally ready to understand, recognize, and create metaphors in their writing and speaking.

Lastly, I loved reading about The Boundary Crosser. My favorite part was about giving blended solutions instead of either/or outcomes. I was definitely that kid to always ask, “why not?” My parents didn’t enjoy that so much, but after reading the chapter on Symphony I don’t feel so bad!

Dear Mr. Hirsch

Dear Mr. Hirsch,

I’ve been reading some of your work about Cultural Literacy, and I have some comments about your theory. I’ll preface my thoughts by saying that I usually give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and I choose to see everyone’s positive qualities.

First, I totally agree with you that spoon-feeding children of the poor would not be helping them grow toward a productive future. It reminds me of the phrase:

Give a man a fish and he eats for a day…teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime.

Giving these children the skills to work hard and overcome the difficult financial situations to which they were brought into would better suit their long-term needs.

So that was it—your only positive quality.

You seem incredibly racist, sexist, ageist, and overall insensitive to our differences as human beings. How dare you demand, and assume that each student is capable, to learn in the exact same way? It is completely unreasonable, dated, and irresponsible. Unfortunately, you can’t stop the progressive education movement. It’s happening before our eyes. We can’t stop the creation of technology, and we certainly can’t stop parents from raising our students with it since birth. How then, are we to just to use memorization? If the “teacher has it” and the “student needs it,” why can’t we use fun and inventive ways to transfer that information?

I agree that our students should assimilate, but to mix students together does NOT mean that they become the same. Why should I be insensitive to the presence of Jewish children (or any children who has experienced mass hatred in some way) when teaching about the Holocaust? For them, hearing the brute facts might be so unbearable that they tune out the teacher’s babble and become incapable of learning any of the information. Perhaps, for the sake of these students’ learning, the information could have been presented in a more creative way.

Part of becoming a productive working member of society is having the skill to work with other people. Part of becoming a tennis player is developing the skill of holding the racquet, positioning the feet, and aiming the racquet just so that it can slam the ball accurately to the other side. Part of learning how to stir fry food is obtaining the skill to know what the flames should look like on the stove, how much liquid should be in the wok, how small to cut the pieces, how to identify when the food is thoroughly cooked and desirable. These skills can ONLY be learned from DOING. A teacher cannot TELL a student how to work with others and expect them to perfect it. A teacher cannot TELL a student how to play tennis, and a teacher certainly cannot TELL the students how to make stir fry. SHOWING these students would be insufficient as well. The only way that these students will learn certain skills is for them to experience it themselves.

Your theory is completely ineffective in our current time, and it disregards too many elements of a child’s life. Unfortunately for you, a child is a package deal. We can’t change their core, and we can’t make them be what we wish for them to be. As educators, it is our job to do whatever it takes for the children to learn skills necessary for life.

Good luck convincing your readers that your way is THE way.

Sincerely,
Erica Roth

Standards

I specifically focused on the standards for fifth grade so that I could compare the standards to the reality in my school.

My overall reaction is that website is effective in presenting what a typical student should be able to do by June. It was well organized (better than I remember when I used the website in college) and easy to navigate. For parents of a typical child, it is effective in communicating the flow of learning from grades K-12, the well roundedness of a public education, and an understanding that schools not only teach skills and concepts, but also focuses on helping the children to grow as productive members of society.

However…

Parents of atypical children may feel frustrated by these standards—that their child ISN’T accomplishing what is expected. These parents might feel angry—why didn’t my child’s teacher teach them _________? Lastly, these standards may point out to these parents how very different their children are from their same-age peers.

The same is true for the teachers. Teachers of typical children probably like the guidance the standards provides, as it helps to structure the school year. The standards also help teachers understand what prior knowledge the students should have, and what they should know/be able to do before the next school year. The vagueness of the standards empowers teachers to have flexibility in their classrooms as far as HOW to teach a concept, and how long it should take.
And for teachers of atypical students? I’m never going to get to that topic (for me—probability in math, consistency of voice in writing)! Am I going to get in trouble if I don’t introduce that concept to my class? Should I move onto the next topic even though the majority of my class hasn’t mastered the current one?

The solution: Standards should be called “Guidelines” instead. I know…what’s in a name…but it matters! A guideline GUIDES us in the right direction, and sounds helpful. I also think that the grade level should be removed, and then the topics should just flow into the next one. This way, it would feel reasonable to go at an appropriate pace for each student. It would remove the intense pressure and competition that standards induce. I don’t think state standards are as useful as national and local standards (or guidelines!!!). National Guidelines would unite the country on general topics, while local standards could focus on topics that are specific and important to growing up and living in that specific area. How could students in a town in Alaska have the same Life Skills curriculum as a town in Florida? Shouldn’t they each be learning skills specific to being productive in THEIR lives?

I think the country would lose educational focus without standards. But I also think we should be permitted take them with a grain of salt…that they’re more of a guideline , and that not ALL students will __________ by the end of grade ____. If American culture prides itself on its members being unique and different, how could we all be held accountable to the same information on the same time schedule?

This I Believe

Although this is not a general philosophy of education, it has bit more focus and is near and dear to me....


I BELIEVE that autistic children who attend public school should be paired with instructional aides (if it is deemed necessary for them to have such services) who are either licensed Special Education teachers, or are people who receive intense training in the autism spectrum, or are professionals who have some kind of substantial experience in the field.

From my experience, autistic students spend 95% of the school day with an aide. It is the aide who is at recess, the aide who helps them organize their desks and lockers, and the aide who takes them out of the classroom to calm down after an emotional “meltdown.”

The instructional aides take them for the physical therapy sessions required by the IEPs and to have a lesson with the speech and language pathologists. The aides run out of the building chasing the autistic students who respond frantically to the sound of the fire drill alarm.

The aides are forced to respond to the other students who say,

“there are already too many people playing this game, sorry,” and
“uh…no thanks, I’ll work by myself today,” and
“why does he keep touching me?” and
“why won’t he look at my eyes?” and
“I can’t concentrate with him making those noises!” and
“What are all those weird drawings in his notebook? They look like video games,” and
“What is that thing he does with his neck?” and
“STOP IT!!!”

Not to mention the fact that the aides also go to class with these students, with the intention to provide support with all activities and assignments provided by the teacher. Last year there was an incredible boy in my fifth grade class who was classified on the autism spectrum. Being on the spectrum means that there is a wide variety of traits and behaviors that students may or may not exhibit. There are no such things as “cookie cutter” Autistic kids, and there certainly is not a handbook on working the same way with every student on the spectrum.

My student, “S” was provided with an instructional aide who was very kind and enthusiastic. She graduated the previous May with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Although she and I were provided with much support from the CST and the Behavioral Consultant, it was up to us to make decisions to help this student throughout the day.

The structure of my school has students switching classes for math, reading, and social studies. In addition, S went to the Resource Room for Language Arts. Obviously, I didn’t go with him to all of these classes, so it was up to the aide to make S’s day consistent and smooth. She was faced with thoughts such as these every day:

Should I stand in the back of the room or sit behind him?
Is he disrupting his classmates? Should I take him out?
He won’t listen to me. Do I have to call the principal to take him out?
He keeps talking asking me why he’s like this. He says that the “stupid stupid autism” is making him do these things.
He won’t stop running.
Should I keep on him or let it rest?
I’m so frustrated.
I just want to go talk to the other kids. I need a break from him.
Among many others.

I attended a one-day workshop on Autism Spectrum Disorders. This aide, had zero training on Autism, or more specifically on S’s past. I think that my school district was a disservice to him by providing him an aide who was not prepared for him. She was also unprepared for how to interact with the other students. Without having prior experience or a teaching degree, it seemed that she lacked some Educator 101 things to know. Without having a teaching degree or prior experience, she made many decisions out of frustration and convenience. She didn’t feel qualified to tell him NO or to make a drastic and necessary decision. My school district was a disservice to my student by providing him a HUMAN to escort him between classes instead of a professional who is qualified, capable, and interested in making the public school the best learning environment for this student.

I BELIEVE that my student missed out and it’s not FAIR.

About Me

Hi everyone,

My name is Erica Roth and I'm a 5th grade teacher in Ramsey, NJ. This is my fourth year there, and I really love it. I live in Hoboken, which is fun and convenient-- I take the train to work every day to avoid the hassle of parking here. I also work as the Program Director at Gate Hill Day Camp, which is a year round commitment. Most of my leadership experience in terms of management, long term planning, staff training, etc. has been there. I started out at a counselor there for five years, and have worked on the Leadership Team for the past five.

I love spending time in Hoboken and I'm glad to be back here since most of my time in the summer is occupied by camp. I also love to travel and am planning to go to Israel this winter.

After this semester I'll have completed 18 credits toward the Educational Leadership program-- halfway there! I'm taking this course because it's a requirement in the program. I'm not exactly sure of my career goals... I know that I enjoy staff development, so I'll have to see where I wind up. I don't believe that most districts have a Professional Development staff person, but it's usually paired with Curriculum, or some other administrative area. For now, I'm extremely happy teaching, and can see myself staying in the classroom for the next few years. I haven't completely ruled out becoming an Elementary School Principal... But I'll have to see what I think over the next few years.

My parents are both newly retired, and my older sister just celebrated her first wedding anniversary. My boyfriend is shown in the picture; he lives close by in Hoboken too. I'm lucky to have them all in the area.