Give Second Life a try!

I have been wanting to know more about Second Life and have been avoiding learning about it (yes, me, avoiding learning) because..
A) it looks complicated
B) it looks like playing and
C) I haven't had time.
BUT - many, many educators that I follow that I know for a fact know way more than me, have said, "You HAVE to learn about Second Life."

First of all, what is Second Life?

Second Life^® is a 3-D virtual world created by its Residents. Since opening to the public in 2003, it has grown explosively and today is inhabited by millions of Residents from around the globe.

• From the moment you enter the World you'll discover a vast digital continent, teeming with people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity. Once you've explored a bit, perhaps you'll find a perfect parcel of land to build your house or business.
  
  
• You'll also be surrounded by the Creations of your fellow Residents. Because Residents retain intellectual property rights in their digital creations, they can buy, sell and trade with other Residents.
  
  
• The Marketplace currently supports millions of US dollars in monthly transactions. This commerce is handled with the inworld unit of trade, the Linden™ dollar, which can be converted to US dollars at several thriving online Linden dollar exchanges.

**taken from secondlife.com/whatis

This is where your elementary students will go after they outgrow Webkinz, Club Penguin and other virtual worlds. These are real places where people work, earn money, learn new things.

In the session I went to they showed us a nursing school using Second Life for interaction building lungs, to discover which are healthy or not. In another session, a college literature professor has built her literature classroom in Second Life and students must visit "Beowulf"'s area to interact as a part of their assignments. Students all "show up" at a designated time.

Pros in Second Life here at NECC encourage you to get out of education areas and go into other areas to make connections with people and business. They say, "If you are going to be a part of the future, you can not NOT go into Second Life."

MY JOURNEY

So...taking my own advice about "getting wet"...even though I was unsure...I dove in. I built an avatar (character that represents me) in Second Life and was "born". (That part was a little scary - you just fall out of the sky into a virtual world.) Then I found out really quick that if you don't walk and move somewhere, the next person born will drop in on you. That was weird. So I began moving around the beginning island that is set up to orient you with how to use your avatar. There are mini tutorials to run through.

I ran through some more the second night and began to get tired of strange people like me who didn't know how to work the darn thing - we're all running into each other! I went to seek out Kevin Jarrett, my twitter pal, for some help because he has been saying for months that Second Life is a must do! He said he'd straighten me out in a few minutes, and he did! He got me off that island and got me over to the Educators Island so now I am there in my virtual space! Whoo Hooo! I can't wait to see what comes next.

Now it's time for me to make connections - to hook up with other educators who can direct me to the learning available. There are online events, projects to view and places to go...how exciting! If you've been on this journey yourself --- I can't wait to hear your tips. If not, consider stepping outside of your comfort zone and trying something new!

Thinkfinity?

Thinkfinity.org: Free Standards-Based Resources for 21st-Century Learners
Jennifer Fritschi, Verizon Foundation Thinkfinity
Struggling to find ways to address specific state standards while also incorporating 21st-century skills such as problem solving and critical thinking?
http://www.thinkfinity.org/

I couldn't wait to go home and play with all of the great resources that I gathered in this amazing presentation. Just read below what she shared with everyone.

She told us that many times the teachers ask: Where can I find quality resources to address these specific skills but with a limited budget? What does 21st Century teaching and learning look like? How can I teach discrete skills from the state standards while at the same time incorporating 21st Century skills such as innovation and creativity?

She shared that Thinkfinity.org offers a free high quality solution that responds to these challenges. Thinkfinity’s 55,000+ free resources have been aligned to each of the state’s standards while also serving as great resources for addressing 21st Century skill building. Thinkfinity.org resources are at no cost, are commercial free and are created by the nation’s experts, the Thinkfinity Content Partners: American Association for the Advancement of Science, International Reading Association, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The National Council of Teachers of English, The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, National Council on Economic Education, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Geographic Society, National Center for Family Literacy, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History and ProLiteracy Worldwide.


Did you notice all of the great business sponsors and partners that are listed? That is big time because now we have complete access to their tools.
The most profound thing that I walked away with is the fact that we can learn about cultures, gather lesson plans and actually view videos about just about anything, totally free. http://www.thinkfinity.org/standards_alignment.aspx

Make sure that you all look for terrific resources for your virtual learning adventure.

Web2.0logist :)

One of the highlights of any conference is meeting people that you have only met through the virtual world. You should see Melanie as she walks around in paradise rubbing elbows with the who's who. It is magical. One of the best days for me was meeting Cheryl Capozzoli, Instructional Technology Specialist of the Susquehanna Township School District in Harrisburg, Pa.
She is a little dynamo that has such an enthusiasm for technology and helping teachers, I immediately connected with her. After we met briefly she presented and it was a whirlwind. Just the few moments before her presentation were so telling of her philosophies and passion I just couldn’t believe it. Then the real work began as she quickly and I mean quickly took us on a tour of her wiki site.
http://web20guru.wikispaces.com/
Once you link to her site you will understand why I am so excited. Don’t be afraid of the strange vocabulary, just roll with it and try to digest everything in little bites.
Take a quick look at her vision.

Cheryl’s Vision
It would be advantageous for schools to begin evaluating their fiscal spending in regards to instructional tools and support. I would love to see the following in classrooms all over the world.

Instructional technology support through specialists and mentors
Professional development that encompasses demonstrations and time to practice new instructional skills
Paperless classroom environments
Digital Text books - NO MORE HEAVY BOOKS!! - Get Amazon's KINDLE!!!
Laptops - one/child PC's and Mac - both environments to ensure more tech platform literate students
Interactive white boards/LCD projecors
Free Web 2.0 Alternatives to expensive site liscense softwares - Google Aps, Zoho, Drawanywhere, Splashup
Student Email - ePals, gaggle, Google for Schools email
Cell Phone use - they use them anyway, get them to use them constructively Mobile networks and technology continue advancing
Nintedo DS or Palm pilots - great for group work and communication
GPS gadgets - geocahing is the bomb
Online interactive classroom environments - Moodle, Learnhub, Yacapaca, Visionlearning
Classroom social learning networks - ning, wikis, blogs
Classroom global communications - ePals, Taking IT Global, Skype, ooVoo, Vawkr, Palbee
Student Peer Trainers - online live help - ustream.tv, WizIQ, liveperson, vawkr
Microphones/speakers - tape audio for podcasts
Digital still and video cameras - demos, digital story telling

Now I know that was a little overwhelming but you have to admit, she's got the right stuff.

So I thought if you want to just bite a little off of her wiki, start with the Best Practices link on left of the page, you will be wowed with the 2.0 web tools.

My favorite word that she uses alot is FREE.

I can't wait to share more.

K!2 Online - Our Way to Grow

Blended and self-directed professional development is the training teachers need for the 21st century. K12 Online is the way to make that happen. - Wes Fryer

Darren Kuropatwa streamed in live over the internet from Canada to share his experiences last year with K12 Online. It is an online conference for professional development online. Presented by individuals involved in cutting edge 21st century learning. It is marked by the passion of the people participating. Dip your toe in and see what is there. It is free, that's right.....free!

Bud Hunt did the keynote from his car, porch and basement. It was truly that homegrown. K12 Online - everyone takes turns driving the learning and riding the learning. It's up to all of us to make connections. Why shouldn't teachers just have their own professional development? Because we will perpetuate what we already know. It's nice to learn from other places, hear about issues and how they are overcome . These are conversations that should be happening.

A district tech integration specialist from Alabama tried to figure out a way to provide her teachers cutting edge tech training for the one day they had. She set it up so the teachers would listen to the podcast or video on K12 Online all at the same time that day. They were able to choose sessions that applied to them as learners. One great way to choose is by academic needs at school. Talk about meeting differientiated needs!

Jeff Utecht - formerly of Shanghai American School had the idea of hosting a LAN party (Local Area Network - haha) He had pot luck dinners at his apartment for four Saturdays where everyone brought food and then after dinner they would break up in the apartment with computers and headphones for an hour and then would come back as a group and podcast their thoughts.

Sheryl NussbaumBeach spoke about the Live events on K12 Online - fireside chats and "when night falls" events are a way to connect internationally with other educators. Conversations with other educators can transform our thinking.

The great thing about this conference that is coming again this year... is that because it is online you can go view LAST year's sessions now. AND, did I mention it is free?

Flat Classroom - A Global Collaboration Initiative

Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis started the Flat Classroom Project after meeting through twitter and email. Vicki is from Georgia and Julie is from Qatar, Doha.

The term flat classroom was born from studying the book The World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. You can read about what Julie and Vicki's classes did here.

You know your classroom is flat if:
1) You and your students expect to have regular, if not daily, conversations with teachers and students from other places in the world.

2) You and your students communicate, collaborate and create products that make a difference to the world with other people in different countries.

We broke up in groups according to interest and planned how we would like to start flat classroom projects in our schools. I joined in on the elementary group conversation. There are so many things we want to do! The possibilities are limitless...

The first step is to join the ning network for this project to be able to hook up with other educators involved and interested...http://flatclassrooms.ning.com
We'll post projects or create our own and invite other people to join in... This is definitely the step we need to take to lead our students into global awareness and becoming digital citizens. Are you up for the challenge?

Podcasting with Audacity

Chris Hamburg started this session by having us use this dialogue in a podcast as an example of what he does with his students first.

Person 1: I've been waiting for you.
Person 2: I'm sorry I'm late.
Person 1: That's OK.
Person 2: Thank you.
Person 1: I have something for you.
Person 2: What is it?
Person 1: This.

By adding audio files such as creepy music, gunshots, piano playing or others, it changes the genre of the conversation. It could be a nice conversation or a dangerous conversation...
The students love doing this.

We practiced recording, importing and exporting files and it was really quite easy. Just download the free program, Audacity. If you create an audio file for your own use, that is just an audio file. In order for it to truly be a podcast you have to register it with itunes or Podomatic to create an RSS feed.
What is an RSS feed? Watch here:


Chris uses these sites for his files, but always has the kids give credit to the file and location of where it came from at the end of the podcast.
Creative Commons (free) music
Free Sound Effects
Do you podcast? Give us your tips and tricks!

The Ripple Effect - 21st Century Innovations That Matter

This session made a case for how using digital innovations could transform education and have a global impact as students are required to become prepared to enter a interdependent global workforce. Several points where explored.

1 - Learning with Understanding Works - this has to do with how information is transfered from short to long term memory and the number of synapsis used to transfer the information - it takes less when context comes into play.

2 - Prior Knowledge Counts - preconceptions must be made visible to students.

3 - Self Direction is Critical - students must be able to independently manage their own time

4 - Collaboration Advances Complex Learning - collaboration trumps competition everytime

5 - Multimodal Learrning - working memory can hold only 7 bits of information at a time, auotmaticity means your working memory is freed up to hold new things

6 - Creativity and Critical Thinking - can be taught acroos all domains

7 - System Thinking - Classrooms fall across a continuum of preparedness for 21st century learning - is yours a 1 or a 10?

Check out this website for more...

Interactive Video Conferences?

IVC Showcase

Kansas Goes Mandarin
IVC (interactive video conferencing) makes it possible.
This showcase was presented by Ann Lundy, South Central Kansas Education Service Center and featured Audra May, Zhang Kun

This project began because the state of Kansas charged the districts with the expectation that every student by 2011 would be exposed to Mandarin Chinese. They have a lot of companies that send their employees to China to train and sometimes live there. The district began by just using a phone conference between an instructor and students and then evolved to interactive video conferencing. They employed an international teacher from China to teach state-wide which evolved into reaching students across the country. This could have never been possible without the Polycom technology. As the international speaker popped up on the screen she had the audience’s attention. She spoke English beautifully and shared her lovely culture with us, via video conference from Kansas. She explained a paraprofessional is used in most cases in the physical classroom while she virtually teaches the students. My mind was flowing with ideas of how we could video conference a teacher into our community and present cultures from all over the world using our pre-existing Tandberg equipment that has been shared by the Schultz Center. Even though we use the equipment at least 2-4 times per month, can you imagine the number of opportunities that lay just ahead for us.

Next stop… Polycom and Tandberg exhibitors to find out what options we have for our students and teachers.

Hang on to your cowboy hats, Chets, because I think we are about to embark on another great adventure.

Authentic Mexican Birthday - Ole!

Last night was my principal Susan's birthday and since we're in San Antonio, we HAD to do it up Mexican style. The locals recommended us heading off the beaten path to Mi Tierra restaurant. Walking in we knew we had come to the right place! The lobby is a Mexican bakery - we resisted but it sure looked good!

We had Susan serenaded by mariachis in Spanish and English! Then ordered our food trying to ignore the fact that "tender young goat baked to perfection" was on the menu and when it came...bleeeech! It was yucky! I personally ordered chicken and I'm not 100% sure it wasn't goat - two bites was all I could stomach. Why am I telling you this? After our trip to Hollywood, people want to know about the fabulous food we're eating. Well, so far, that is not happening, BUT we did have a great time otherwise and it was an adventure!

Happy Birthday Susan!

The Great Race

We pounced out of bed this morning with great anticipation of what the day would bring. I had already prepared my game plan of what I would attend and soak up. Little did I know with a conference this size that I would have to be a flexible 1st timer. My first stop on my learning adventure was none other than the “The Great Race”. Two teachers with vision shared their story of taking a lesson plan of creating a cross country great race to the next level with fifth grade students. They started small, just using their own classes and then they kicked it up a notch. And that is an understatement.

The Great Race: A Virtual Race Across America
presented by Katrina Moore and Kathy Mohr

They shared how they coordinated the work of 40 classes from Ohio to Texas virtually to see which class could get from Jamestown in Virginia to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California. The winning class was chosen by spending the least amount of money, in the quickest time and at the same time hitting the most states. The students walked away with many real-life applications. On their virtual journey the students found out a watermelon in Alaska costs $35.00. That's real life.

This dynamic duo used the site moodle to document their trip using journals, upload video and store tons of teacher resources.
http://ohioportal.org/moodle/course/view.php?id=18
Don’t neglect looking at their site. I challenge you.

I couldn’t help thinking about how our own work at Chets has been similar taking just a small idea and creating something really big.

I am anxious to see how many of our teachers check the information out and use it in their own classroom. The mission of the presenters was accomplished as I left with ideas and questions of how we can make an idea like this work at Chets Creek. The interactive video-conference piece was really what had pulled me in but I left with more ideas of how students can virtually cross the country and even the world.

Scratch - Teaching kids programming

This session was taught by Christopher Michaud from Nebo Elementary in GA.

Why teach programming to elementary students?
1) It allows students to encode and reflect on sequential and logical thought in a dynamic system.
2) It provides real application to math concepts - coordinate plain, directions, grids/arrays
3) Game making is a form of storytelling
4) Develops technological fluency

Scratch was developed by MIT to teach young students programming concepts and develop skill in multimedia communication. It is easy, fun and visual. It's object oriented so reading level doesn't really apply. And...it's free!

If you go to Christopher's site he has tutorials for practice. We practiced making a sprite perform an action. Such as...pac man eating in a maze. This took me a while, but I could see elementary kids doing this in 15 minutes! Christopher said he planned his first lesson for a 50 minute class period and the kids finished the project in 10 minutes.

Online Tools for Reading Comprehension Instruction

Reading Teachers - You're gonna LOVE this!

This program helps struggling readers by making reading visible. It is called Into the Book. It focuses on 8 strategies:
1) Using Prior Knowledge 2) Making connections 3) Questioning 4) Visualizing 5) Inferring
6) Summarizing 7) Evaluating 8) Synthesizing

There are four components in the program
9 15 minutes videos for classroom use
9 10 minute videos for professional development
website for student with interactives and lots of teacher materials

Into the Book allows students to log in and apply each strategy in engaging activities. There are video clips for the kids to watch other kids apply the strategies and videos of teachers explaining the strategy. One of the best things about this program is that it is NOT multiple choice. The kids really have to apply the skills to get the answer right and it is very engaging. We played on the program for a while during the session and it was a blast!

There is a teacher section on the site with classroom ideas, strategy song posters for download, strategy bookmarks, book suggestions for mini-lessons and actual lessons in mini lesson format.

This program was made for K - 4. I could see K and 1st teachers using this maybe for the teaching point in a mini lesson and as a way to differentiate for higher functioning students during the work session, but I see it being used absolutely daily for 2nd and 3rd graders at home or at school. Special Education teachers of all levels will also love this because it is so visual and interactive. Check it out - you won't believe it!

Click here for some other great literacy websites.

Bloggers Cafe

For those of you following me on twitter - you may be asking...What is the Bloggers Cafe? It sounds like we're sitting around on beanbags and drinking lattes, but not so!

It's a common area where you can stop, sit down and log in to blog, twitter..or whatever! Everyone is ready to connect so I have met so many new people. Yesterday I met a teacher from Canada, PA, NH and NJ!

In between my sessions I'm trying to go there and edit my posts, but I'm spending so much time talking...I'm probably missing some edits. BUT it's worth it because we're meeting so many people that will help us connect, collaborate and grow and we're bringing it all back to our wonderful faculty. Hey - maybe we need a Bloggers Cafe at our school!

Creating Live Web TV for the classroom

Ustream.tv and Mogulus are live streaming websites where you can make a TV show that can be shown live on the internet and also can be recorded and embedded in a blog, wiki or website later. This is a newer technology that is not being used as much in the classroom. One reason may be because it is blocked in many districts, but it is being used all the time in professional developement sessions. (I have been in two sessions today that we streamed live to the internet for those who are not here.)

You could film special events that can only be seen with a password also. Think of the application...school plays, Open House, classroom news show, class lectures, classroom student presentationsetc.

How does technology extend the learning experience? That is how you should plan. How could this extend the learning in your classroom. This is cutting edge instruction - start dreaming and dream BIG!

The Wonderful World of Wikis

This session was presented by Adam Frey, cofounder of Wikispaces and Vicki Davis (aka coolcatteacher) teacher at Westwood Schools.

Adam Frey started the session by explaining about the back channel link for the session. For those of you who don't know, it is a chat room for the participants of a session to speak during the session and ask each other questions. There is a back channel moderator in the room answering questions and writing some down to guide the session as it goes on.

From Adam: What is a wiki? It is a standard webpage where you can go click a button and change the content. Anyone can change the content. The wiki keeps track of who makes the changes and when. If you are a teacher and your kids are making changes to a wiki you can look and see who made the change and when. You can have the wiki email you when any changes have been made or you can follow the changes through an RSS feed.

Benefits of having a wiki: Kids don't have to have email, it's easy and doesn't take a lot of time, you don't have to have special software. You can have a fully open wiki or you can have one private for your classroom. They are fully capable of embedding html code to post videos from You Tube, Teacher Tube or Voicethread. There is no limit to disk space for the number of pages you want or amount of content.

The biggest advantage to using a wiki for a group project is that it is "trackable to the comma". You can look at the history tab and see the contribution of each person. Vicki keeps all of her class wikis private for the students and students aren't introduced to public wikis until 9th grade, such as Wikipedia.

What does she put on the wiki?
Course outline, student files for them to download, project list and due dates, embedded videos, student artifacts, spreadsheets, blog posts, websites used for projects on student portfolios.

Creating efolios for the students to complete in high school and use as resume or job interviews. Business now want your application and information submitted to them digitally.

The biggest change in her practice is using tags with the kids for their assignments. She teaches the kids how to use tags and has them tag their work in the wiki by naming it assignment or turnitin.

Subscribe to the edits and discussions separately that your students are having.
Problems: Watch your RSS feed closely for edits and let the students know that you take online spaces seriously like you take the behavior in your classroom seriously. You have to be tough and watch everything just like you are when you set up rituals and routines in a classroom. Don't use computers to babysit. They need to have a TASK when they get on the computer.

Vicki Davis was asked why use a blog or a wiki? Do they need both? She says: Blogs are for opinion and first person writing. Wikis are for facts, the assignment.

Check out this video for more about wikis:


Live blogged - so please excuse awkward writing. :)

Get Wet!

I should know better than to turn the computer on before I'm ready to walk out the door in the morning... I logged on to twitter to see what everyone was doing this morning at NECC and noticed an interesting blog post by Wes Fryer at Moving at the Speed of Creativity.

It got me thinking about professional development and how it is changing and NEEDS to change. My own professional development has become 100% web-based. I don't mean signing up for a webinar, although, nothing is wrong with that...but instead, developing my own online presence and connecting with people around the globe who point me in the direction of new tools.

How do you get started today?
1. Read blogs
2. Comment on blogs so people know who you are and what you're interested in
3. Join twitter and follow people who know what you want to know
4. Join a ning like Setting the Standard, Classroom 2.0, or Flat Classroom

As Wes Fryer says: If you're going to swim...you have to get WET!

Opening Keynote-the Wisdom of Crowds

Tonight has been a true magical experience for me. I have wished to attend the NECC conference for a long time and today that dream came true. I am actually sitting here in a gorgeous landmark hotel (The St. Anthony Wyndam) located in San Antonio, Texas. Even with alot of problems with airplanes, connecting flights, and taxi cab driver that couldn't drive, we made it safe and sound. Did I mention the connecting airplane ride out of Nashville, TN. made me have a flashback of "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride" in Disney?

Well, now back to tonight's magical experience. We arrived at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center to listen to the opening keynote speaker. I was biting at the bit (yep,right here in Texas) to plan my week's workshops, to convene, connect and transform as a learner, and of course look at the books that were on sale. How can I do all of this and not miss one moment? Then there was an answer right in front of me. The keynote speaker was on every closed circuit flat screen in the convention center. Talk about multi-tasking. Mission accomplished.

The keynote speaker was James Surowiecki. James Surowiecki is a staff writer at The New Yorker, where he writes the popular business column, "The Financial Page." His work has appeared in a wide range of publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Artforum, Wired, and Slate. He spoke about his latest work, "The Wisdom of Crowds".

I walked away with this jewel of wisdom... If you have a diverse group that works together with free flow of information the better the decisions will be. The sum intelligence of a group under the right conditions are often smarter than the smartest person in that group.

Wisdom of a crowd + new tools =POWER. I can't wait to see what the week brings.

My hope is to learn alot to take home to my Chets Creek family, eat good food and have fun.

San Antonio Arrival

This blog post is for all of you who are already wondering what we are doing, where we are going and what we're eating! This may be too much information for some - but it's how we roll on Live from the Creek. We want you to feel like you're really with us. :)

This morning started very early with us heading out the door around 4am! We checked in at Jacksonville International Airport and as our departure time passed we realized something must be wrong. Our plane had mechanical troubles, so they decided to switch. Well, if we weren't awake before.... yikes! We left over an hour later (you'll note in the photos how Susan spent her time waiting :) ) and proceeded to have one of the roughest plane rides I have EVER had. Thank goodness for Dramamine.

We arrived in San Antonio around noon Texas time and checked in to our hotel. On our way to the convention center we explored a little of the Riverwalk in San Antonio. What a gorgeous walkway by the river! We checked in at the convention center to get ready for all of our NECC learning and then prepared for the keynote. I personally can't wait to get started with our first full day tomorrow.

NECC 2008

The Live from the Creek team is headed out of town for some out of sight learning. We're going to the National Educational Computing Conference in San Antonio, TX.

Get ready, starting on Sunday, for blog posts from myself, Susan Phillips AND....introducing KK Cherney. KK is our beloved media specialist and an integral part of our tech team here at Chets Creek.

If you're interested in being a part of the back channel discussions among participants feel free to lurk on the active ning of participants. http://www.necc2008.org/ KK , Susan and I will also be twittering which you can look for this weekend in the sidebar of the blog.
'
Come virtually along with us! We're looking forward to hearing from you!

Broaden Your Testing, Teaching, Thinking with the DRA 2

I tend to be the type of person who likes to hear it straight from the horse's mouth, so I was thrilled when I was asked to attend the DRA 2 training for my school. Each Duval County elementary school was asked to select one representative to attend a special series of trainings conducted by Pearson, the publisher and distributor of the Developmental Reading Assessment. These lucky teachers were fortunate to be trained by experts who, in addition to years of practical experience with the popular reading assessment and extensive practice with the new version through field testing work, still today work under the immediate supervision of Joetta Beaver, the writer and creator of the test. The only thing better would be training from Ms. Beaver herself!

I left my workshop chomping at the bit! I cannot wait to get my hands on the first kits when they arrive this summer! In my experience with the classic version of the assessment, I, like many of you, have been frustrated by the amount of time the test takes to administer. I, also, have at times been concerned with the reliability of the assessment, especially after conversing with teachers and learning that there are, apparently, a wide range of delivery practices. It has concerned me, at times, that, in the classic version, children are tested so infrequently on nonfiction texts that, at times, the yielded results are not reliable across genres. I've found that the finer points of scoring running records and analyzing errors are often misunderstood, leading to inaccurate error tallies and, therefore, reading levels. I've also witnessed, and been guilty of, over testing students -- testing the next level up in an effort to push students up for more of a challenge.

In short, this training opportunity was incredibly clarifying and educational. I've found that many of the "problems" we've encountered with the DRA have been fixed in the new version of the test, or corrected through thorough, reliable training. For example, one of the most common complaints (especially in the intermediate grades) with the DRA is the enormous amount of time it requires to test every child on an assessment that requires extensive one-on-one conferencing time. Consequently, many teachers have tried to reduce the duration of the assessment by shortening the test passage (number of words in running record), removing important elements (such as the element of student selection of text, reading engagement, or reading habits interview), or both. What I learned, rather, is that with proper preparation (including previous reading conferencing to get to know your readers and build rapport and preparing the students for the assessment), implementation, and training teachers to understand the philosophy behind the assessment, this manageable slice of time can be the most valuable time we spend with our children all year long. This is an amazing and powerful tool that will help us tremendously towards diagnosing students' needs and planning for instruction.

As a part of our new reading adoption, each classroom will receive a new DRA 2 kit. Yes. Each classroom. Additionally, the district recognizes that there is a need for continued training and professional development in the implementation of this assessment to dispel related myths and poor practices. Therefore, they are rolling out a plan for professional development that will span the next two years. Last week's workshop was just the first step in the process. Over the course of the coming years, we will be working closely with district and Pearson personnel to answer questions, resolve issues, and perfect our practices, both within our classroom and between schools in the county.

Here are just a few notes from this first "snippet" of training.

• The DRA 2 introduces written summaries (scaffolded) as part of the comprehension check beginning in late 2nd grade levels.
• Kits will contain multiple copies of texts, in addition to more titles per level, to improve efficiency of testing.
• There are more nonfiction texts in the new version. Beginning in the intermediate range, students should not proceed into the next grade level without first being tested on a fiction and nonfiction text.
  
• Higher levels include a written reading engagement survey that can be delivered in a whole group format.
• Rubrics for all elements of the test have been refined and made more objective.
• There is an additional word analysis piece to the assessment that is reserved for a specific set of "struggling" readers.
• The "Bridge Pack" is included in the intermediate kit now.
• An online management software option is available. (The county will be piloting this with one school from each cluster.)
• Blackline master books come with each kit. However, each kit also includes a CD with printable forms.
  
• Texts have been improved to include a "magic asterisk" to cue students stopping/starting points. (NO MORE WRITING IN THE BOOKS!)
• Many of the titles are the same, but the text may have been slightly altered.
• The intermediate kit has a simplified scoring system (which means less levels of text required and less time spent testing students).
• Each kit comes with a handy-dandy clipboard, with built-in calculator and timer!
  

There is MUCH MORE to come. Keep an eye on this site and your ear to the ground for details regarding trainings at your school in the 2008-2009 school year. You won't want to miss them!