Peak to Peak Charter School in Lafayette, CO, is pleased to announce the first annual Charter School Teacher Job Fair, to be held Saturday, March 14, 2009, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on the Peak to Peak campus. (This is a change from the original date.) This is the only teacher job fair in Colorado exclusively for charter schools.
Most charter schools are able to hire teachers regardless of whether or not they hold teaching credentials. Come interview with school representatives from charter schools in Colorado and neighboring states.
Peak to Peak Charter School is located thirty minutes north of Denver, just east of Boulder in Lafayette.
For more information, please visit the job fair website or email us directly at charterjobfair@peaktopeak.org.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Classroom Ideas to Keep ‘Em Going
These strategies come from the marvelous Ms. Kristie L. She put them together for one of her mentees last year and they are great for anyone looking for ways to get kids up and moving.
• Use reading strategies for the kids that struggle. Top four: summarizing (having them write or articulate what they just read right after they read it), clarifying (clearing up textual details that confuse such as complex sentences and especially new terminology), questioning (asking the three levels of questions about their reading), and predicting (reading titles, chapter headings and segments in order to predict what will happen next.) These strategies can be done on separate homeworks (determined by pre- or post- lesson assessments) or in small groups. Make it super fun and engaging by turning these strategies into games/performances. Read the first page of a story as a class. Clarify the words, and have them write questions. Then, they freewrite a prediction, combine in small groups and create performances of “what they think will happen next.”
• Use the upper level students (I can help you find great ones) to make the class exciting. If you are studying conflict, have two of them stage an argument which the students must describe. Run full class debates where students must glean evidence from the text and prepare their points (once you have assigned them to groups.) Then have high school students come in and be the judges. Tell them to take notes on what kind of textual evidence/argument is most compelling. Treat them VERY seriously and force students to refer to them as “Your Honors.” Middle school students melt with joy and admiration in the presence of high school students. Brendon always has extras kicking around.
• Make anything that you can into a game, a time challenge, or just something that you say, “oh we can do better than that. Let’s do it again!” They will feel the energy and respond accordingly.
• Do simultaneous read alouds. This is great for differentiation – all students read the same text (passages of Shakespeare and poems are particularly effective) out loud but AT THEIR OWN PACE. You tell them how you want them to read it (angrily, morosely, etc.) and then as they read you circulate and give direction. Usually with this one they end up standing on chairs. Tell them they are “not passionate enough.” When they get to the end of the poem/speech, they need to start over until you say stop. This uses up lots of their energy but no one is self-conscious because everyone is reading.
• STATIONS! At each station students must complete a task and take it with them to the next station. Tell them that the finished products will be due at the end of the period (even if you have no plans of grading them.) Make some stuff very serious, and other stuff more fun (naming Frankenstein’s creature and justifying their choice.) The limited time at each station means they have to get right to work and have no time to dawdle. This is wonderful for block days.
• Use alternate media to get everyone spellbound. Songs, movie clips, etc are great for discussion tone, characterization, setting and so on. Struggling literacy students can watch videos, listen to tapes and then perform the same kind of thinking tasks as the better readers. They can also do homework that requires the same critical skills but doesn’t require the same writing sophistication.
• Have students demonstrate skills by doing something that they think is just “fun” but is secretly educational. If they cartoon the conflict in MacBeth they have no idea that they are learning so much, or if they use magazines to make collages that represent the inner desires of characters. Keep time limited on these. Other suggestions: make timelines, write songs, or “introduce you to the character.”
• For critical writing assignments, have students complete most of the work in-class. This way you can circulate to offer help to those that could not complete the tasks without guidance.
• In class after direct instructions have independent work/activities where the essential items are first. The slower students will never get to the later items on the list (which perhaps should be more fun so faster students don’t feel they get the raw deal), but will be able to complete the important stuff as you circulate. With lots to do, and constant reminders about time, students will work hard. Sometimes I make the final tasks involve some kind of field trip (count how many steps from the classroom to the water fountain for example.)
• Use the musical chairs model. As an anti-set or homework have them cartoon or write something. Then play music and have them circle in a prescribed pattern. When the music stops they sit at a chair (not their own) and comment on/add to/or present to the class whatever they find in front of them. As an alternate to this the students keep moving down the line and working on a new prompt/writing assignment. By keeping the students moving instead of just passing the papers around, you keep them all excited.
Classroom Ideas to Keep ‘Em Going
• Use reading strategies for the kids that struggle. Top four: summarizing (having them write or articulate what they just read right after they read it), clarifying (clearing up textual details that confuse such as complex sentences and especially new terminology), questioning (asking the three levels of questions about their reading), and predicting (reading titles, chapter headings and segments in order to predict what will happen next.) These strategies can be done on separate homeworks (determined by pre- or post- lesson assessments) or in small groups. Make it super fun and engaging by turning these strategies into games/performances. Read the first page of a story as a class. Clarify the words, and have them write questions. Then, they freewrite a prediction, combine in small groups and create performances of “what they think will happen next.”
• Use the upper level students (I can help you find great ones) to make the class exciting. If you are studying conflict, have two of them stage an argument which the students must describe. Run full class debates where students must glean evidence from the text and prepare their points (once you have assigned them to groups.) Then have high school students come in and be the judges. Tell them to take notes on what kind of textual evidence/argument is most compelling. Treat them VERY seriously and force students to refer to them as “Your Honors.” Middle school students melt with joy and admiration in the presence of high school students. Brendon always has extras kicking around.
• Make anything that you can into a game, a time challenge, or just something that you say, “oh we can do better than that. Let’s do it again!” They will feel the energy and respond accordingly.
• Do simultaneous read alouds. This is great for differentiation – all students read the same text (passages of Shakespeare and poems are particularly effective) out loud but AT THEIR OWN PACE. You tell them how you want them to read it (angrily, morosely, etc.) and then as they read you circulate and give direction. Usually with this one they end up standing on chairs. Tell them they are “not passionate enough.” When they get to the end of the poem/speech, they need to start over until you say stop. This uses up lots of their energy but no one is self-conscious because everyone is reading.
• STATIONS! At each station students must complete a task and take it with them to the next station. Tell them that the finished products will be due at the end of the period (even if you have no plans of grading them.) Make some stuff very serious, and other stuff more fun (naming Frankenstein’s creature and justifying their choice.) The limited time at each station means they have to get right to work and have no time to dawdle. This is wonderful for block days.
• Use alternate media to get everyone spellbound. Songs, movie clips, etc are great for discussion tone, characterization, setting and so on. Struggling literacy students can watch videos, listen to tapes and then perform the same kind of thinking tasks as the better readers. They can also do homework that requires the same critical skills but doesn’t require the same writing sophistication.
• Have students demonstrate skills by doing something that they think is just “fun” but is secretly educational. If they cartoon the conflict in MacBeth they have no idea that they are learning so much, or if they use magazines to make collages that represent the inner desires of characters. Keep time limited on these. Other suggestions: make timelines, write songs, or “introduce you to the character.”
• For critical writing assignments, have students complete most of the work in-class. This way you can circulate to offer help to those that could not complete the tasks without guidance.
• In class after direct instructions have independent work/activities where the essential items are first. The slower students will never get to the later items on the list (which perhaps should be more fun so faster students don’t feel they get the raw deal), but will be able to complete the important stuff as you circulate. With lots to do, and constant reminders about time, students will work hard. Sometimes I make the final tasks involve some kind of field trip (count how many steps from the classroom to the water fountain for example.)
• Use the musical chairs model. As an anti-set or homework have them cartoon or write something. Then play music and have them circle in a prescribed pattern. When the music stops they sit at a chair (not their own) and comment on/add to/or present to the class whatever they find in front of them. As an alternate to this the students keep moving down the line and working on a new prompt/writing assignment. By keeping the students moving instead of just passing the papers around, you keep them all excited.
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Off to a great start!
Welcome to the forum where Peak to Peak teachers will share and discuss their experiences mentoring the teachers new to our school. The 2007-2008 induction class is made up of a diverse and talented group of teachers. Some are brand new to the profession and are excited to begin their first jobs. Others have been in the profession for a number of years but are new to our school, and in some cases, to our state.
We finished our three days of New Teacher Orientation today, and tomorrow the induction class will be joined by the returning teachers. Faculty meetings will continue, but the focus will shift off of induction and onto topics more applicable to all faculty.
As Induction Supervisor, it is obvious to me that the mentors are far and away the most important resource available to the new teachers. Based on my conversations, new teachers are feeling welcome, well-versed in P2P expectations, and excited to start school.
I am grateful to all mentors for being willing to share their time, wisdom and experience so graciously. We've come a long way in eight years, haven't we? I also appreciate everything the mentors added to the conversation today in the Backward Design workshop. Many thanks for helping all our new teachers start off on the right foot!
We finished our three days of New Teacher Orientation today, and tomorrow the induction class will be joined by the returning teachers. Faculty meetings will continue, but the focus will shift off of induction and onto topics more applicable to all faculty.
As Induction Supervisor, it is obvious to me that the mentors are far and away the most important resource available to the new teachers. Based on my conversations, new teachers are feeling welcome, well-versed in P2P expectations, and excited to start school.
I am grateful to all mentors for being willing to share their time, wisdom and experience so graciously. We've come a long way in eight years, haven't we? I also appreciate everything the mentors added to the conversation today in the Backward Design workshop. Many thanks for helping all our new teachers start off on the right foot!
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