Wednesday, December 28, 2016

I'm a high school teacher. I have a need for used mobile phones that are not connected to a telephone service. The only thing that I need the phone to do is take photos and video and connect to wifi.

do you have phones that are donated to you but are not usable for your clients? If so, I teach many females who might be potentially in distress (i'm a math teacher and many of my students are female). I wonder if you would consider it a good use for educational purposes to add useful educational apps to the phones that you distribute to your clients (so they can help their kids with homework) and if you have phones that are not useable for your purposes... perhaps those phones can go to a local school for use of technology in the classroom. Let me know if you are interested.

steve mccrea teacher 954 693 6379

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Here's the Craigslist ad that I tried...
I'm a high school teacher. My school forbids the use of mobile phones in the classroom. I want to create a class of BYOD (bring your own device) and make sure no student is left out. I want to put BROKEN or cracked screen phones in the hands of students to practice Math Workout and other scholastic apps. HELP ME with my teaching. I need 10 of these devices. Then I can have students working in groups of 2 and 3.

Call me or tell me where to get broken or used smartphones so I can load the phones with apps for school use. Steve Innovative teaching methods

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Here's my appeal to Women in Distress
i'm a high school teacher. I have a need for used mobile phones that are not connected to a telephone service. The only thing that I need the phone to do is take photos and video and connect to wifi.

do yu have phones that are donated to you but are not usable for your clients? If so, I teach many females who might be potentially in distress (i'm a math teacher and many of my students are female). I wonder if you would consider it a good use for educational purposes to add useful educational apps to the phones that you distribute to your clients (so they can help their kids with homework) and if you have phones that are not useable for your purposes... perhaps those phones can go to a local school for use of technology in the classroom. Let me know if you are interested.

steve mccrea teacher 954 646 8246

Friday, November 11, 2016

Support "Proficiency-Based Graduation": Completion of 2 performance assessments (exhibitions, portfolios and/or comprehensive course assessments)

LINK
Click here to learn about "Proficiency-Based Graduation"

FROM THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

Performance Assessments

Performance assessments (or Diploma Assessments) are one of the three requirements for demonstrating readiness for graduation. Students are required to complete two Diploma Assessments chosen by the district or school (student portfolios, exhibitions and/ or comprehensive course assessments).

CLICK

While two particular types of performance assessments are required for graduation purposes, performance assessments include common tasks, comprehensive end of course tasks, diploma assessments, and other “authentic” assessments. Performance assessments allow students to demonstrate, at a more comprehensive and increased cognitive level, the application of content learned through coursework. Performance assessments are a regular part of curriculum, instruction and assessment practices.

Scaling Up PBG - NEW

Scaling Up PBG is a network of Rhode Island secondary schools that participate in a powerful professional development experience, working collaboratively to develop and implement quality common performance assessments as part of the state’s Proficiency-based Graduation Requirements policy (PBGR). Scaling Up PBG is a partnership between RIDE and the Center for Collaborative Education’s Quality Performance Assessment program.

Over the course of 18 months (June 2015-December 2016), Scaling Up PBG will provide professional development opportunities for:

Four Demonstration high schools with strong capacity in implementing PBGR (Blackstone Valley Prep High School, Cumberland High School, Mt. Hope High School, and The Greene School);
Twelve Practicing high schools to deepen their existing practices in implementing PBGR, including Block Island School, Burrillville High School, Central High School, Classical High School, Cranston High School West, Highlander, Hope High School, Juanita Sanchez Complex, Opportunity by Design @ Hope, Paul Cuffee Upper School, Providence Career & Technical Academy, and Sheila Nowell Leadership Academy); and
All RI public secondary schools that self-select targeted professional development opportunities to strengthen their PBG efforts.

Scaling Up PBG enables participating schools and educators to move their PBG work forward and deepen professional learning through collaboration and sharing of best practices. A collection of validated performance assessments will be made available to educators across Rhode Island at the completion of the Scaling Up PBG initiative.

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Graduation requirements are set at a level to provide students the skills and knowledge to successfully enter and complete a rigorous post-secondary academic or technical program, join the military, and/or obtain a job that leads to a rewarding and viable career. The RI Board of Regents through the Secondary Regulations set the minimum requirements for earning a RI high school diploma including:

Demonstrated proficiency in 6 core areas (English Language Arts, math, science, social studies, the Arts and technology)
Successful completion of 20 courses (at a minimum)
Completion of 2 performance assessments (exhibitions, portfolios and/or comprehensive course assessments)

Districts may include additional expectations or requirements such as additional coursework requirements, a level of proficiency on the state assessments or community service learning.

Districts are required to communicate specific graduation expectations to families and students prior to the start of the ninth grade.

THIS LINK WAS FOUND BY Learning Policy Institute.

Linda Darling-Hammond <ldh@learningpolicyinstitute.org>

Fri, Nov 11, 2016 at 2:11 AM

To: "Steve \"The Posterman\" McCrea" <manyposters@gmail.com>

Hi Steve,

Rhode Island has legislation that authorizes graduation by portfolio for all students. Here’s a summary of their latest iteration. http://www.ride.ri.gov/studentsfamilies/ripublicschools/diplomasystem.aspx#16441117-performance-assessments

Because of recent politics they have added test options but the portfolios remain. We can dig up the original legislation if that would be helpful to you and could potentially work on some model legislation.

Let’s stay in touch.

Regards, Linda

Learning Policy Institute helps teachers. Please support the organization with your clicks

This organization helps teachers create better schools.

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If you want to know more about the president of LPI. a link to an article from Stanford school newspaper

I wrote to the organization:

Attn: Linda Darling-Hammond, president and CEO,

Learning Policy Institute

Hello

I'm looking for

model state legislative language to promote alternative assessment and portfolios.

I've heard that both Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire have rules or procedures to allow portfolios to be used in assessing students.

Can a student get a high school diploma through portfolios? What state laws might allow that?

I'm seeking legislation to propose to my state legislator.

Steve McCrea

She wrote me a reply within 24 hours. Please support her organization with your "one click"....

Hi Steve,

In New Hampshire, graduation is a local decision, so I don’t believe there is state legislation, even though many districts are using performance assessments or portfolios.

Let’s stay in touch.

Regards, Linda

THIS IS WHAT THE RHODE ISLAND LANGUAGE LOOKS LIKE

Demonstrated proficiency in 6 core areas (English Language Arts, math, science, social studies, the Arts and technology)
Successful completion of 20 courses (at a minimum)
Completion of 2 performance assessments (exhibitions, portfolios and/or comprehensive course assessments)

Districts may include additional expectations or requirements such as additional coursework requirements, a level of proficiency on the state assessments or community service learning.

Districts are required to communicate specific graduation expectations to families and students prior to the start of the ninth grade.

Diploma System - All Students Ready for College, Careers, and Success in Life

Performance Assessments

Scaling Up PBG - NEW

Four Demonstration high schools with strong capacity in implementing PBGR (Blackstone Valley Prep High School, Cumberland High School, Mt. Hope High School, and The Greene School);
Twelve Practicing high schools to deepen their existing practices in implementing PBGR, including Block Island School, Burrillville High School, Central High School, Classical High School, Cranston High School West, Highlander, Hope High School, Juanita Sanchez Complex, Opportunity by Design @ Hope, Paul Cuffee Upper School, Providence Career & Technical Academy, and Sheila Nowell Leadership Academy); and
All RI public secondary schools that self-select targeted professional development opportunities to strengthen their PBG efforts.

CLICK HERE

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Go to Medium and find remarkable content. It's as good as a magazine...

I learned about Medium from this article in The Atlantic

I bumped into this blogpost

Thus, I want to encourage all new contributors to document their experience. Help us establish this balance. I assure you it’s worth your time and patience.

This will help you in a number of ways. When you’re writing, you can’t brush details under the carpet. Writing forces you to perceive things as they are, and not how you think they are. Writing also puts things into perspective. It helps you remember where you started, and how far you’ve come.

You may worry that you don’t know enough to write about a particular topic. I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to be an expert on a topic to write about it. Write what you know.

The worst thing that can happen is that you get something wrong. And if you do, someone will probably point it out to you. And this will help you fill in the gaps in your knowledge. It’s a win-win situation.

so, get your account on Medium...

Monday, September 19, 2016

The Whale who spoke

It's hard to write, "The Whale THAT spoke" because "who" suggests a person. This whale was more than an animal.

It turns out that Bragget heard Noc. The ‘out’ he thought he’d heard, we realized, had come from Noc. He repeated the word several times.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/story-one-whale-who-tried-bridge-linguistic-divide-between-animals-humans-180951437/?no-ist

The Story of One Whale Who Tried to Bridge the Linguistic Divide Between Animals and Humans

While captive in a Navy program, a beluga whale named Noc began to mimic human speech. What was behind his attempt to talk to us.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/story-one-whale-who-tried-bridge-linguistic-divide-between-animals-humans-180951437/#Jvq8bMlXqgmZfrtr.99
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

Here is an excerpt

In the middle of that day’s outing, one of the divers, a Navy veteran in his late 30s, Miles Bragget, abruptly surfaced and asked a puzzled supervisor: “Who told me to get out?” Informed of the incident later, Ridgway and his team decided to start keeping a closer eye and ear on their beluga recruits.

“After a set period of time,” Ridgway explained, “or after the divers completed a task, the supervisor would typically order them out. It was also not uncommon for Noc to be in the vicinity when the underwater communications systems were being used. But Bragget had come up at a point when the supervisor had said nothing. It turns out that Bragget heard Noc. The ‘out’ he thought he’d heard, we realized, had come from Noc. He repeated the word several times.”

“I didn’t observe Miles’ initial interaction,” Jeffries said of Bragget, who died in 1990, “but I was at the facility that day. I remember when Miles got out of the water he was sure the dive monitor and the guys around the pens were kidding him when they said they did not call him out of the water. He thought they were pulling his leg. But we realized pretty quickly what was going on, maybe because of the way Noc reacted to the divers, watching them from his pen, following them, focusing on Miles in particular. Belugas are very aware of people and their actions, especially Noc, and Miles had a nice touch with Noc. He was a gentle man. And once we figured out that it was Noc, we were all excited, laughing, and, I think, completely humbled by this amazing animal.”

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/story-one-whale-who-tried-bridge-linguistic-divide-between-animals-humans-180951437/#Jvq8bMlXqgmZfrtr.99
Give the gift of Smithsonian magazine for only $12! http://bit.ly/1cGUiGv
Follow us: @SmithsonianMag on Twitter

Let's remember an observation by a "financial engineer" John Vornle: "Space Path Ahead" and "a new economic continent"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VivjwbRGMhQ

A New Economic Continent

Four years ago, John Vornle made this talk... Let's visit it again.

Two days earlier, he gave a similar talk: