Hello

The file storage for this group was becomming a little too big to leave in an unstructured format. A folder will be created for each scheduled meeting of this group, and files associated with that meeting will be added to that folder. If additional folders for specific topics need to be created, that can be done as well.

 Reminder: Any member of this group has permission to upload files they wish to share.

http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/14343

Selecting Vocabulary Words to Teach English Language Learners By: Colorín Colorado (2007)

http://jc-schools.net/writeaway/vocab.html

This site from Jefferson County High School has excellent resources for vocabulary development. See the many links and PowerPoint lessons for writing also.

http://jc-schools.net/write/deadwords.pdf

This is a list of overused words that need to "rest in peace" with alternative more interesting words.

Banner County School is currently in the process of developing an updated web page.  As we navigate this process, I am wondering if anyone has any advice about what to include or how to design the page to maximize the potential to improve the educational environment for our students, staff, and community.  Any advice would be appreciated.  Our new domain name will be www.bannercountyschool.org

Currently the site links to our first school webpage.  As we develop a new site, I imagine that we will have a "rollover". 

 

I hope that everyone is having a great summer!

 

Travis

When developing your core, common vocab lists, the Marzano book is invaluable.  (Building Academic Vocabualry)  But, if you give the NWEA MAPS tests, also check the Des Cartes service.  It gives key vocabulary words for each of the RIT levels...a big help when trying to align your curriculum and assessment systems.

Welcome to the new Nebraska NWEA User's Group Blog. The notes from the April meeting are posted in the section called "File Storage".  I will ask Jane Stavem from Columbus to post her Spanish version of the Parent Activities page,  if she is willing.  I have learned the hard way that if you click the "Click here to leave the community"--you actually delete yourself from the blog.  Don't do what I did--Use the "log off" to close it totally.

I have found a great source you all might visit to see how you could do similar things in your own school systems.  Remember that we were told about the Poway School System's use of NWEA....their website has a pdf file that tells their procedures--and has some great ideas.  The document is called "The New and Improved Taming Data Tool kit: Interpreting MAP Data for Teachers and Students."  It includes testing and accessing reports, interpreting results, goal setting and lexile tools.  Handy!  My favorite is the "Extreme Academic Makeover Goals"--kid appeal! 

I found it at:  http://powayusd.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/projects/edtechcentral/MAPS/PDFs/9-07%20Toolkit/FinalMAPsToolkit9-11-07.pdf

 The actual document also says it is available at:  http://www.pusdmap.com

 At the same school district I also enjoyed their tech department's support with pictoral directions for teachers on how to do things with MAPS--It even has powerpoints for parent orientation--and a powerpoint about assessment "Of and For".  Look at this site:

http://powayusd.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/projects/EdTechCentral/Training/MAPsGoals.htm

Let's remember that our professional learning community of bloggers is in its infancy.  Yes, we have plenty of room for growing into a more purposeful community.

There are roughly 6.5 billion people on earth, about 2.5 billion in China and India, 300 million in the United States, 1.7 million people in Nebraska, and 90,000 in the panhandle. (please double check my math) 

Let's look at the numbers another way.  We, the population of the panhandle make up 0.00139% of the world population.  That means 99.99861% of people in the world live somewhere else.

In the global society of today, technology, specifically Web 2.0, is a tool for keeping us connected to the rest of the world.

So we may be blogging along with only an emerging, purpose, audience, and voice, but we have taken a meaningful step into the future by joining the professional development blogging community.  Keep the blogs coming

I think that Michelle has a good point about finding meaningful content.  I think that one of the keys to this is that we enter specific keywords when we post so that our posts will be connected to the content we are writing about or need. 

 That being said, I can't help but post one more thing for everyone to scroll through . . . just to make things interesting, I thought I would share my new avatar (cartoonish, online person-thingy) with you.  I saw one of these on the blog site of another school administrator (Melinda Miller) and decided to create one for myself.  You can create your own at www.meez.com or you can click on the following link to see the animated version of mine:  http://images.meez.com/user/4/8/8/6/2/1/5/4886215_bodyshot_300x400.gif   [You do not have permission to access this file]