2nd Week of September Announcements

Tatum CIA Resources Page

I have made some updates to the CIA Resources page (CLICK HERE).  You can find these resources by clicking at the top of this blog on the tab called CIA Resources.

• Video on Lead4Ward Resources Page
• Lead4ward Resources
• ESL Required Forms
• Formative Assessment Checklist in odt format

DOK Questions of the Week

• Heather Haley (TPS) - How would you adapt (change) a declarative sentence to create a different kind of sentence (interrogative)?
• Jerri Bates (TES) - Why do we need to know what is the subject noun and predicate verb? 
• Shane Myer (TMS) - How would you describe the sequence of rational numbers from > to < and < to > to someone just learning about it?
• Wendy Fleming (THS) -  How did optimism impact the lives of immigrants who sought a better life in America?

Formative Assessment Explanation

As you are building formative assessments for STAAR, be sure to look at the criteria for assessments listed on the Formative Assessment Checklist.  Here are a couple of things to consider about standards.

• Readiness Standards make up 2/3 of the test
• Supporting Standards make up 1/3 of the test
• Processing Standards are bundled with Readiness and Support Standards.

To verify how your STAAR test assessed standards, you can pull up your Heat Map which is in your campus' Dropbox folder for curriculum.  If you can't access these Heat Maps, your principal can get these documents for you.

If you would like to learn more about your standards, call me.  I will be glad to sit down with you or your team and go over STAAR standards and the testing blueprint with you.

Digital Citizenship

Not much is said about teaching digital citizenship, but this blog really lays out some important points about the importance of teaching kids why being responsible stewards of technology is critical.

5 Reasons You Should be Teaching Digital Citizenship by @TeachThought (CLICK HERE)

TIP (Tech Integration Product) of the Week

Mrs. Nelson's kindergarten class
using the new digital math resources with
the interactive whiteboard.

Mrs. Nelson in Kindergarten has done a great job integrating the new digital textbook into her whole group instruction.  These interactive tools have the students jumping to get involved.  

Textbook integration has been a challenge as we implemented district-wide adoption of digital textbooks.  We know that there are difficulties as this change is very complex; however, there are bright points in this initiative.  For the first 6 weeks, our goal is have all students using tablets with PDF versions of the textbook and using the assessment portion of the book.  

In the subsequent weeks, our goal is identify exemplars of tech integration with the digital textbooks and use your expertise to show the rest of us how you are integrating the digital textbooks in your instruction.  

We all grow when we are learning from one another.