Blog

The Standards Institute Keynote

Powerful keynote by Dr. Sonja Santelises, CEO of Baltimore City Schools on Day 2 of the Standards Institute in LA!  Dr. Santelises moved and inspired listeners with her work and data on the impact of bias and lack of access to high-quality standards, especially to students of color. Her data speaks to how economically disadvantaged white students outperform non-economically disadvantaged African American and Hispanic students. This data is telling and requires school leaders to dig deeply into their data and create a call of action. All our young people need access and high-quality instruction aligned to core standards!  Zip code [...]

2018-02-01T02:27:51+00:00 February 1st, 2018|

Greetings from LA and the UnboundEd Standards Institute

Greetings from LA and the UnboundEd Standards Institute. An amazing Day 1 with much thought provoking discussion, reflection, and call to action around equity for all learners. The work we do with students and the lens we use to determine that work is critical and requires a bias reality check. It’s not okay to spare our students of poverty or color the challenge of the productive struggle. We need equal access and multiple entry points for all, especially around accessing complex texts.  Can’t wait for tomorrow!  Can’t wait to share my learning!  

2018-01-31T01:41:26+00:00 January 31st, 2018|

Three Keynote Speeches

So looking forward to attending the Standards Institute in Los Angeles at the end of the month.  It is truly one of the best learning experiences I’ve been involved in as an educator.  Many powerful messages and take aways.  Here are three keynote speeches that provide thought provoking, paradigm shifting ways we can think about supporting learning for all students. Tim Shanahan - Prior Knowledge and Literacy The Lenses We See Each Other Through - Lacey Robinson Kate Gerson - Research and Curriculum

2018-01-15T14:41:49+00:00 January 15th, 2018|

UnboundEd Resource

This is an amazing resource for any administrator and/or Instructional Leadership Team.  UnboundEd has shared these resources that can be used with faculty for lesson planning and observing for standards implementation and alignment to the core shifts.  Included in the resources are video and protocols that can be used with teachers, teams, and leadership teams.  What incredible resources!  If you haven’t already done so, check out the Standards Institute Winter Conference. Leadership takes us on a journey that requires us to steadily build and reassess our character and the skills that allow us to model, inspire, and collaborate with others. As [...]

2017-12-05T11:59:03+00:00 December 5th, 2017|

A Great Resource for Supporting Students

"Designing Shifts-Aligned Interventions in the Math Classroom” is a great resource for supporting students who may not be there yet.  It offers great suggestions for teachers regarding common teaching missteps with suggested recommendations.   As teachers, we want to help all kids learn and when we’re faced with the realization that some students just aren’t “getting it,” we work to figure out how to catch kids up. It’s a prevalent struggle many educators grapple with and a frequent conversation in schools: How do we address unfinished learning in math and fill gaps in student understanding? Over the course of my [...]

2017-11-30T02:33:00+00:00 November 30th, 2017|

English Language Arts Research Based Strategies

I’m passing along some open-sourced resources from UnboundEd.  These are great English Language Arts research-based strategies to help teachers prepare their students for college and careers. Advancing Student Knowledge Through Close Reading and Volumes of Reading - David LibenIn this podcast, David Liben, one of the lead authors of the Common Core State Standards, as well as a former teacher and administrator, addresses the difficulties and advantages of close reading and topic-based study, as well as the value of reading several texts in series on a single subject. Writing Instruction in the Era of Higher Standards - Dr. Judith HochmanJudith Hochman, [...]

2019-10-29T15:00:11+00:00 November 24th, 2017|

Great Math Resource From UnboundEd!

Great math resource from UnboundEd.  Check out the three featured podcasts, all open sourced and free to use! The Mathematics Standards And Shifts - Andrew ChenDr. Andrew Chen, MIT professor, president of EduTron, and member of the Common Core Standards Development Team, discusses the history of math standards in the United States, how rigor is like baseball, and what coherence really means. The Standards for Mathematical Practice - Dr. Bill McCallumBill McCallum, professor of mathematics and lead author of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics, discusses in detail what the standards actually look like across elementary, middle, and high [...]

2017-11-07T12:03:08+00:00 November 7th, 2017|

Pathways to Academic Excellence Launches in Colonie

Pathways to Academic Excellence held a ribbon cutting/launch party at the Capital Region Chamber’s Colonie Office. The Chamber, Chamber Ambassadors, friends and family were all on hand to help Lisa Henkel solidify the opening of her business. Throughout her career in education as a teacher, building administrator, superintendent, and consultant, Lisa has always had a passion for school improvement. As the former Senior Director of School and District Support for the National Center for Time and Learning, Lisa worked with struggling schools in primarily urban areas that were working hard to make change to improve student outcomes. Her work in [...]

2017-11-03T15:47:48+00:00 November 3rd, 2017|

Mohonasen Business Advisory Board Meeting

Honored to be part of the Mohonasen Business Advisory Board who’s mission is to act as a resource for the school community by offering expertise, programs and services that support teaching and encourage instructional practices that focus on student learning and the development of critical thinking skills.  It also serves as a resource on career and technical education programs and associated courses for the purpose of improving the knowledge and skills that students gain as they contribute to their preparation for the workforce, military and/or continuing education in a competitive global economy.

2017-10-31T12:42:28+00:00 November 1st, 2017|

Syracuse School District Visits Troy Prep

So wonderful to visit Troy Prep in Troy, NY with Eva Williams, Karen Dotsan, and Nancy Volk from the Syracuse City School District.  Troy Prep is doing such great work!  It was a fabulous day observing their work and collaborating on best practices.  I am so excited to head back to Van Duyn Elementary School to continue to support them in their outstanding work increasing student outcomes!

2017-11-06T02:21:21+00:00 October 31st, 2017|