News and Notes:
Bridges Math Update
On Wednesday, March 14, at
The administrators will listen carefully to
the presentations and subsequent discussion to gather further information so
that they can make a decision whether or not to recommend the adoption of the
Bridges Math program to the ANWSU School Board.
They will meet after the K-4 meeting to make that decision. If the recommendation is for adoption, then
Pam, Betty, and the Bridges Math pilot teachers will give a presentation about
the Bridges Math program to the ANWSU School Board on March 28. If the ANWSU School Board votes to adopt the
program, then we will proceed with the implementation of the program.
The implementation plan includes
training for Bridges Math leaders and classroom teachers, beginning this summer. The K-3 teachers’ training will be a
three-day training June 25-27. The grade
4 teachers’ training will be a three day event in August 13-15. Both sessions include one day for assembling
the materials. There will be 15 total
contact hours for each session and one graduate credit will be available through
Castleton. The Bridges Math Leadership
training will be held in July 2007. These
training opportunities are being arranged through the Addison/Rutland
Consortium and the
The Vermont Bald Eagle Restoration
Initiative's Eagle Box is ready for circulation!
This
exciting new teaching tool is chock-full of resources to help educators teach
about our national symbol and its place in
In the box you'll find:
Books
Photos
Videos
Bio-facts
Full scale silhouettes of birds of prey
Plus, dozens of suggested interdisciplinary eagle-related activities to support
your curriculum
The Eagle box is available for loan
now and is FREE except for any necessary shipping (other options
available). Be sure to visit the Vermont Bald Eagle Restoration
Initiative's website (www.cvps.com/eagles)
to learn more about the Bald Eagle Restoration Initiative.
Professional
Development Opportunities
Scholarships available to
“Fish and Wildlife Management for
Educators,” a one-week, three-credit graduate course offered by the Vermont
Fish and Wildlife Department through Johnson State College, will be held
Cling Gray, president of the Vermont
Bearhound Association, presented a check to Vermont Fish and Wildlife
Commissioner Wayne Laroche and Education Manager Mark Scott at the department’s
“Those of us who belong to the
Vermont Bearhound Association strongly support the Fish and Wildlife Management
for Educators course and want to offer scholarships for at least four teachers
to attend this year,” said Gray. “This
course offers well-balanced exposure for
“I hope other
Mark Scott, who has coordinated the
program since its beginning, feels it plays a vital educational role for
“Wildlife resources are important to
all Vermonters in one way or another,” said Scott. “If teachers can get
connected with the outdoors and in turn expose their students, then many of the
these youngsters will be able to make informed decisions about
Tuition is $400 for the week –
books, food, and overnight facilities included.
A course application and scholarship
information are available from the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department’s Web
site (www.vtfishandwildlife.com
). Click on “Education and Training,”
and then “General Education.” Copies are
also available by mail from Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department,
The
annual Vermont Science Teachers' Association (VSTA) conference will be held on
March 14 at
The beginning of a new year is a
bustling time here in the Vermont Mathematics Initiative (VMI) office because
it is the time of the year we begin recruiting a new cohort for our three-year
master's program.
The link below can be accessed by anyone
who may be interested in joining next year's class. Help us by speaking with
the teachers at your school about the VMI and encouraging interested teachers
to apply.
Information and applications are available
on our website http://www.uvm.edu/~vmi/. If there are any questions or you need a hard copy of
the application please contact us at vmi@cems.uvm.edu or call Kathy at 656-8186.
Differentiated
Instruction
Two dates to remember:
April 16 (vacation week
unfortunately) Cindy Strickland will
speak on "Challenging Gifted Students through Differentiated
Instruction" from 8:30 - 3:00 at the Unitarian Universalist Church,
Burlington, VT. Presented by the
St. Michael’s College: July 11, 16-20,
25, “Differentiated Curriculum in the K-12 Classroom” Instructor: Beth
Peterson. For more information visit http://www.smcvt.edu/graduate/courses/sum_ged.asp.
Adolescent Literacy
Conference:
March 28-29, Stoweflake Resort and Spa. Register for one
or both days. Keynotes on March 28 by Cynthia Hynd-Shanahan (“Learning Science
Better Through
Teachers Who Write:
Teachers Who Write, Fri., May 11 at
|
|
|
|
The
|
|
|
Applying to the Three Year Professional Development VSI Tier 1 Program Leading to a MA in Science Education.Applications for the VSI Tier 1 program
can be downloaded from the link below. Completed applications should be sent
to Cathy Higley, Graduate Office, Johnson State College, 337 College Hill,
Johnson, VT 05656. Application for Enrollment in Tier 1 Applying to the One Year Professional Development VSI Tier 2 Program.An application to the VSI Tier 2
program can be lownloaded from the link below. Completed applications should
be sent to Cathy Higley, Graduate Office, Johnson State College, 337 College
Hill, Johnson, VT 05656. |
|
© Vermont Science Initiative 2007. All rights reserved. Website design by Bluehouse Group |
The
|
||||||||
Developing Computational Fluency & Problem Solving Skills in Grades 5-9 |
||||||||
|
|
Tuition: $575 includes 2 graduate credits in mathematics and all course materials.
|
||||||
Websites Of Interest
Ripple Kids: Website
Acknowledges Individual Kids Doing Good Community Works
Ripple Kids is a nonprofit organization dedicated to
inspiring and empowering kids to take action in their communities by
publicizing what their peers are doing. On their website, you can learn about
other projects kids are doing, find resources to help you get involved in your
own community, and get help for initiating your own project. Ripple Kids is
looking for more kids and their projects to feature as success stories. Go to www.ripplekids.com to submit your
story today.
Civic Teacher
Awards
The 2007 American Civic Education Teacher Awards are
given annually to elementary and secondary teachers of civics, government, and
related fields who have demonstrated special expertise and dynamism in motivating
students to learn about Congress, the Constitution, and public policy. Those
honored will travel twice to
Online Spelling for
Grades 1 - 5
You can use this free online spelling program that uses
text-to-speech technology and phonetically correct interactive characters. Teachers sign up - then set up a class that
their students can use - For Grades 1 - 5
Articles of Interest
Mastering a Mind
By Daniel Tammet
http://www.edutopia.org/php/article.php?id=Art_1773&key=238
An
excerpt from Born on a Blue
Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Austistic Savant.
I find some aspects of language much more difficult
than others. Abstract words are much harder for me to understand, and I have a
picture in my head for each that helps me make sense of the meaning. For
example, the word complexity
makes me think of a braid or plait of hair -- the many different strands woven
together into a complete whole. When I read or hear that something is complex,
I imagine it as having lots of different parts that need tying together to
arrive at an answer.
Similarly, the word triumph
creates a picture in my mind of a large golden trophy, such as the ones won in
big sporting events. If I hear about a politician's "election
triumph," I imagine the politician holding a trophy over his head, like
the winning team manager at an FA cup final. For the word fragile, I think of glass;
I picture a "fragile peace" as a glass dove. The image I see helps me
understand that the peace might be shattered at any moment.
Certain sentence structures can be particularly hard
for me to analyze, such as, "He is not inexperienced in such things,"
where the two negatives (not
and in-) cancel
each other out. It is much better if people just say, "He is experienced
in such things."
Another example is when a sentence begins, "Don't
you . . .?" as in, "Don't you think we should go now?" or
"Don't you want ice cream?" Then I become very confused, and my head
starts to hurt, because the questioner is not being clear about whether he
means "Do you want an ice cream?" or "Is it correct that you
don't want an ice cream?" and it's possible to answer both questions with
a "Yes," and I don't like it when the same word can mean two
completely different things.
As a child, I found idiomatic language particularly
confusing. Describing someone as being "under the weather" was very
strange to me because, I thought, "Isn't everyone under the weather?"
Another common saying that puzzled me was when my parents might excuse the
grumpy behavior of one of my brothers by saying, "He must have got out of
the wrong side of bed this morning." "Why didn't he get out of the
right side of the bed?" I asked.
In recent years, scientists have become more and more
interested in studying the kind of synesthetic experiences in language that I
have, in order to find out more about the phenomenon and its origins. Professor
Vilayanur Ramachandran, of
In particular, Ramachandran points to the facility with
which creative writers think up and use metaphors -- a form of language where a
comparison is made between two seemingly unrelated things -- and compares this
to the linking of seemingly unrelated entities such as colors and words, or
shapes and numbers, in synesthesia.
Some scientists believe that high-level concepts
(including numbers and language) are anchored in specific regions of the brain
and that synesthesia might be caused by excess communication between these
different regions. Such crossed wiring could lead to both synesthesia and to a
propensity toward the making of links between seemingly unrelated ideas.
William Shakespeare, for example, was a frequent user
of metaphors, many of which are synesthetic, involving a link to the senses.
For example, in Hamlet,
Shakespeare has the character Francisco say that it is "bitter cold"
-- combining the sensation of coldness with the taste of bitterness. In another
play, The Tempest,
Shakespeare goes beyond metaphors involving only the senses and links concrete
experiences with more abstract ideas. His expression "This music crept by
me upon the waters" connects the abstract term music with a creeping
action. The reader is able to imagine music
-- something normally very difficult to create a mental picture of -- as a
moving animal.
But it isn't just very creative people who make these
connections. Everyone does; we all rely on synesthesia to a greater or lesser
degree. In their book Metaphors
We Live By, language scientist George Lakoff and philosopher Mark
Johnson argue that metaphors are not arbitrary constructions but follow
particular patterns, which in turn structure thought. They give as examples
expressions that indicate the links: happy
= up and sad = down: "I'm feeling
up"; "My spirits rose." "I'm feeling down"; "He's
really low." Or more
= up, and less = down: "My income rose
last year." "The number of errors is very low."
Lakoff and Johnson suggest that many of these patterns
emerge from our everyday physical experiences; for example, the link sad = down may be related to the
way that posture droops when a person is feeling sad. Similarly, the link more = up may come from the fact
that when you add an object or substance to a container or pile, the level goes
up.
Other language scientists have noted that some of the
structural features of many words not normally associated with any function,
such as initial phoneme groups, have a noticeable effect on the
reader/listener. For example, for sl-
there is slack, slouch, sludge, slime, slosh, sloppy, slug, slut, slang, sly, slow, sloth, sleepy, slipshod, slovenly, slum, slobber, slur, slog -- where all these
words have negative connotations, and some are particularly pejorative.
The idea that certain types of sounds "fit" particular objects better than others goes back to the time of the ancient Greeks. An obvious illustration of this is onomatopoeia. (The term refers to a type of word that sounds like the thing it is describing: fizz, whack, bang, and so on.) In a test carri