Kids Love 'Clickers'!

by Lynn K. McMullin

I could call this technology a “Personal Response System” (PRS), and risk a ‘ho-hum’ reaction... or I could call it what the kids call it -- a 'clicker'! -- and hopefully entice you to read on.  A 'clicker' looks like a simple remote control, it fits in even our littlest student’s palm, and it changes the way our students participate in class.


The Clicker Instructional Model

Linda Caraher, a Grade 2 teacher at Cherry Brook Primary, uses clickers with her interactive SmartBoard to gauge her students’ progress with the concepts being learned. For instance, she might show a reading comprehension activity on the whiteboard (like the “Penguin” example shown here) and ask the students to answer several multiple choice questions with their clickers. Immediately, she has the results and sees who needs to meet with her in a small group for further instruction. Or, she can use the clickers in the morning for a quick assessment, and then during Reader's Workshop, pull the children who might have missed the morning assessment question into one group. The software program for the Smart Response system also provides a spreadsheet with the students’ scores. The clickers even make DRP assessments more fun and provide Linda with immediate feedback. A DRP assessment moves from easier questions to more difficult questions. (Examples also included below.)

 The kids love the clickers as well. They actually get excited to take a test when they see the clickers come out. According to Linda they beg, "This is cool! Can we do more?"

Linda collected some simple data about the impact of the clickers on students’ learning. She had her class complete several simple reading comprehension exercises in which students identified the ‘best answer’ to a multiple choice question (see below). When using the clickers, the students were more focused and were significantly more accurate -- from about 75% (paper/pencil)to 95% correct (clickers).  Linda then asked the students to answer an open-ended question explaining their choice, and they more eagerly participated in this activity as well.  As a result, the class scores had improved, probably due to the increased interest level of the students and their desire to have their correct answer show up in graph.

The Everyday Instructional Benefits
First, and foremost, they make 100% on-task attention more likely. They are enticing to students. Every student responds to every question posed by the teacher, and the teacher waits until every clicker has entered a response. Second, the teacher has immediate understanding of whether or not the class 'gets it'.  In conventional instruction, even if every hand is raised after the teacher asks a question, only one student actually answers.  If the student is right, does this mean the class understands?

Third, each student has the chance, by viewing the class graph, to compare his or her answer to the rest of the class.  Finally, the teacher can pinpoint and correct misunderstandings, as in, “Eight of you thought ‘D’ was the right answer.  Let’s look at what may have been misleading...”

'Clickers' are spreading. Principal Joe Scheideler at CMS is exploring the use of clickers in his Language Arts classrooms.

CLOZE assessments, such as this one, progress from easy to difficult.

The History of Clickers

The technology began on college campuses, where professors began using them for en mass quizzes and exams in those large lecture hall settings. They could post a multiple choice or true and false question in a PowerPoint presentation, ask each student to respond with his or her personal remote (which was coded to software on the professor’s laptop), and then view the answers for each student and for the entire class. The professor knew two things: each student’s individual score on the quiz or test, and how well the class did as a whole on each question. It’s also the same technology used on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” when the contestant asks to poll the audience, and the audience members use radio-signal responders to select A, B, C, or D. A graph then displays the results.

CyberSMART and a Decision-Making Model

by Lynn K. McMullin

In education, as with many other fields, we tend to rely on catch phrases which are intended to resonate with an audience and make a complex concept more meaningful and memorable.  Sometimes, however, jargon does the opposite because the phrase is wide open to a variety of interpretations.  “Whole Child Education” is one of those terms. On the surface, it even seems a little silly – after all, who would teach half of a child?

Whole child education, however, refers to the idea that all children learn best when their academic, emotional, physical, and social needs are met.  Yes, we report to you on CMT, SAT, AP, and CAPT testing as evidence of our students’ academic achievements.  For a while now, educational thinking, practice, and policy has seemed singularly focused on improving academic achievement.  But, to be successful participating world citizens, our students must also be healthy, safe, confident, self-motivated, caring, and capable.  All of our schools focus on these important qualities; but today, an event at the Middle School illustrates the idea of whole child education perfectly.

CyberSMART at CMS
Today, parents and their students are participating in a day-long event aimed at equipping both groups with the knowledge and skills they need to navigate the world of the Internet and telecommunications.  The day is being hosted by Mr. Drew Bartkiewicz, a parent and the CEO of CyberRiskPartners; Joe Scheideler, Principal; the Middle School PTO and Quality Council; and its teachers and staff.  The event includes opportunities to learn new information and to discuss both concerns and possible plans for the Middle School’s next step in this contemporary student arena.


In conjunction with this day-long event -- during which students will receive USB flash drives and the parents coffee mugs bearing the school's CyberSMART logo -- the teachers have added a CyberSMART experiential course.  This is a 30-day course covering the basics of SMART use of electronic information and communication: Safe, Mannerly, Authentic, Research-wise, and Twenty-first century ready.  A major theme of the curriculum is that your "online self" should mirror your “real self.”  If you wouldn’t walk up to a perfect stranger on the street and say, “Here’s my name, age, phone, and address,” then don’t do that online either.  If you wouldn’t pass a questionable photo aound the cafeteria or walk up to a classmate and bully them to their face, then don’t do it online, either. The internet is neither distant from you nor anonymous.  Be real.  Be who you are.  Put your best self forward.

A Important Decision-Making Model
Over the past two years, the Middle School has begun to adopt a focused decision-making model to help students consider wise choices, rather than simply “follow directions.” Often we think that decision-making only has two opposing sides.  In error, we think that decision making is black and white, our kids either do the ‘right thing’… or, the ‘wrong thing.’  But, in reality, decision-making is more complicated than that, as shown by the four quadrants in the model below.  The model applies to all decisions, from choosing the right food to choosing the right social action.

Consider this example: Student A tells her best friend, Student B, that she has done something really stupid.  She sent a photograph of herself in her underwear to a boy in their class because he asked for it.  Student A begs Student B not to tell a soul.
Using the decision-making model above, a class can discuss what Student B should do.  In the green quadrant, the right decision might be to get the help of a parent; the right reason might be so that Student A is saved from embarrassment and future repercussions. In the red quadrant, the wrong decision might be for Student B to keep the secret and tell no one. The wrong reason would be because she never liked Student A anyway and hopes the picture gets around.

But, most students find themselves living in the middle of those two choices – If I tell my mother or an adult, my friend will get in trouble and she will hate me.  I care about her, so I better not say a word to anyone -- the wrong decision, but for the right reason. 

If I tell my mother or an adult, my parents may see how responsible I am and think I’m old enough to have my own cellphone -- the right decision, but for the wrong reason. This latter quadrant can be confusing sometimes, because the student DOES make the right decision.  But whenever kids make the right decision solely out of fear of the consequences… or, due to our level of policing… or, because we have told them what to do… their ability to make the right decision for the right reason is affected.  When they get older, and the fear or the policing or the parental direction lessens, they will need to rely on their own reasoning and decision-making ability.  That's why instruction in decision-making needs to explore all four quadrants.

In educating the whole child, the Middle School is focusing on doing the right thing for the right reason by talking about real-life decision-making as being more complex than simply right or wrong.  Right or wrong, “WHY?” is the question.

Extended Day Kindergarten Pilot

by Lynn K. McMullin

Over the past few years, we have worked diligently to improve reading at Cherry Brook Primary School.  Our focus has been on assessing the reading skills of our youngest students and differentiating instruction to meet the needs of our emerging readers.  In the process, we have successfully turned over a pyramid of support so that we now provide a great deal of tutoring support in kindergarten and require less support for third graders.
We have enjoyed solid, positive results!


Providing tutoring support to our kindergarteners, however, is complicated by the reality of our half-day Kindergarten schedule, which includes not only reading and writing instruction, but also math, science, art, music, computers, PE and Health.  Thus, was born the idea to pilot an extended day program, to collect some relevant data, and analyze whether or not taking extra time to develop background knowledge, foster print readiness, and focus on early reading and math skills makes a significant difference.  Our Extended Day Kindergarten Pilot is yet another effort to provide just the right support to our students at just the right time.


This pilot program is 100% funded by an Open Choice Academic and Social Support Grant which is designed to benefit Choice students and Canton students equally.  Currently, our Open Choice students attend one session of kindergarten in either the morning or the afternoon and spend the remainder of their day at a local daycare/preschool. In this pilot plan, our seven Choice students will remain with us at Cherry Brook for the full day, thus experiencing less time in buses and fewer transitions in their day.


The additional benefit to us is the opportunity to offer placement in this extended day class for seven or eight Canton students.  The composition of the class will be an even combination of students who are 'at goal' and 'below goal' in reading as determined by in-house assessments during the opening weeks of school.  Parents who are interested in this extended day opportunity are currently filling out an application, which requires some background information about their child and a commitment on their part to occasionally volunteer in the extended day classroom.  Additionally, they agree to attend three social gatherings for the extended day kindergarteners and their families and to participate in survey-like data collections.


All our Choice kindergarten students began Extended Day Kindergarten on the first day of school.  We are planning to have the Canton students placed by September 21st.


The extended day kindergarten program will offer the students our suite of intervention strategies, (including Lexia Reading, DIBELS, guided reading groups, interactive read-alouds, etc.); a strong hands-on component; individualized instruction; a focus on building background knowledge as an aid to comprehension; and a wealth of print-rich experiences.


The extended day kindergarten teacher, Ms. Jessica Papp, will also work in the morning, observing and assisting her 15 students in their regular kindergarten classrooms.  She will confer with their teachers, analyze the skills and gaps of her students, and plan for their needs regarding upcoming curriculum.  We’re thrilled that this provides an extra teacher in the morning kindergarten classes, which have larger enrollments than we’ve experienced in the past.


There is an abundance of research comparing half-day and full-day kindergarten programs and analyzing whether children benefit from developmentally appropriate, full-day programs.  Most research states that in terms of early academic achievement, full-day kindergarten gives students a better foundation for school success and helps prevent a future cycle of remediation and possibly grade retention.  Research focuses on primary-grade reading and math skills.


However, the seven studies (one each from 1988, one from 1991, and the rest coming after 1995) were specifically focused on the difference in achievement between full-day and half-day programs for disadvantaged students.  Students were considered disadvantaged based on criteria such as print-rich environments, non-English speaking homes, mother’s highest completed grade in school, and so on.  There is no research study which supports a difference in achievement between full-day and half-day kindergarten for students from print-rich, English-speaking environments, etc.


To that end, we’ll try to analyze our own data collection, by continuing to progress monitor the kindergarten students in reading and math and surveying the parents of these students, and to thereby evaluate the effectiveness of program.


As I mentioned earlier, this is a grant-funded pilot program with no cost to Canton.  Both the teacher’s and the tutor’s salary and benefits are funded by an Open Choice Academic and Social Support grant.

A Summer of Accomplishments

by Lynn K. McMullin

The building principals, Kevin Case, Ed Hoyt, and I often hear, “You must love summer! It’s got to be so quiet without the kids and teachers!”

In truth, the summer -- especially this summer! -- is anything but ‘quiet.’ Granted it is a very different kind of work, and what we do in the summer is very exciting, because we see the changes happen right before our eyes.  So much gets done that I thought it might be fun to share with you what we have accomplished while you were away.

We Hired New Staff!
We have many new staff members, and I can tell you unequivocally that everyone in this district recognizes there is no more important summer task than hiring the right people. Because, this district’s strengths are its people, we don’t rush the process or take short cuts.

Most of our employees had a series of two or three interviews, and many of the teachers taught a summer school class in Canton to demonstrate their classroom expertise.  Did you know the advertisement for elementary teaching positions attracted over 400 applications?  By the second week in August, we had hired 9 new teachers, 11 paras and tutors, one high school counselor, a new Athletic Director, and a new Administrative Assistant for Cherry Brook.  Within a few weeks, after an equally extensive search process, including a site visit, we’ll announce a new Assistant Principal for the High School.  To see photographs and introductions of our new staff members, please click on “Welcome New Staff” back on the district website.

We Developed New Programs!
Over the summer we added a couple of new features -- without spending a dime! – to our programming.  The Extended Day Kindergarten PILOT is key among our accomplishments. This is a 100% grant-funded program for about 14 – 15 kindergarten students, and we’re so excited about this new program I’m featuring it as next week’s blog.

But, I’m also excited about two new courses added to the Middle School curriculum. The first is a new course called “Electronic Communications,” based on the CyberSMART curriculum, which teaches students safety, manners, authentic uses, research skills, and twenty-first century readiness. This year all 7th and 8th graders will take the same electronic communications course; next year, all 8th graders will have an application course which will follow-up on this year’s foundation.  Joe Scheideler and the two CyberSMART teachers are also planning a full-day workshop for students and their parents on this topic for late October; so as we draw closer to that workshop, I’ll feature this new curriculum in a future blog.

Also, at the Middle School, we added a course for 7th graders called “The Science of Healthy Eating,” to cover everything from food preparation safety (cross contamination, proper temperatures, and properly holding a paring knife) to balancing your food group choices to preparing your own healthy snack.  Look for new curriculum in the 7th and 8th grade Physical Education and Health classes, as well.   In a future blog, I’ll tell you more about the "decision-making" model that underlies all of these new Middle School courses.

We Added Technology!
Both equipment and programs!  First, a new internet technology is now simplifying and tracking our mandated Title IX training.  Staff members train on-line and take an on-line test for their Title IX certification.  Second, we added a new module Inform to our PowerSchool Student Information System to help us track our SRBI interventions (this is grant funded!).  A great deal of very intensive training and reconfiguration went into this new product.  We’re adding NetTreker, a tool for differentiating research and instruction (also, grant-funded!).  And, most classrooms at every school have been equipped with LCD’s, speakers, and other enhancements such as SmartBoards, mimios, document cameras, and so on (with a lot of generous support from our PTO’s and a lot of installation work by our tech department).

In addition, we added to our Virtual High School (VHS) program by training our first teacher to host American Popular Music in the VHS format.  Tom Moran will conduct an on-line class of students from around the world.  In return, up to 25 Canton middle and high school students can take on-line virtual classes of their choice from the VHS catalog.  (If you’re interested, the school counselors at the high school and middle school can help.)

We Went Green!

Our new janitorial supply company, ROVIC, worked with Ed Hoyt and our custodians to introduce new cleaning processes and products which are “green certified.” All of the custodial staff were trained and certified in green cleaning basics, carpet cleaning care, and hazardous materials handling. The gym floors, for example, have never looked better, and they were cleaned with ionized water, not chemicals.  The same process, using hand-held ionized water cleaning, makes our white boards look like new.

New painting projects were completed with environmentally friendly paint.  All classrooms were analyzed for efficiencies, and teachers are sacrificing the convenience of small appliances, such as coffee makers and microwaves, in their classrooms in our “green schools” effort.  In addition, between August 12th and 25th, the windows on the back wall at Cherry Brook Primary, which were rusting and contributing to significant heat loss during the winter, were replaced.

We Improved our Facilities!
Paint crews were busy -- everywhere! – and, as I mentioned, with green-friendly paint.   At CHS and CMS, the classrooms on all three floors were touched up or repainted. At CIS the hallways and stairwells were painted.  At CIS and CBPS, the outside doors were scraped and painted, as well.

Concrete floors in the CHS and CMS weight room and boys locker area were tested for moisture, analyzed to be in the acceptable range, and the highest recommended flooring was installed.  Bleachers in the gymnasium were also renovated and repaired, by replacing broken boards, cracked welds, and adding the handrails which made them ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) compliant.  In addition, the classroom locks and hardware in the old section of the high school building were replaced in order to meet ADA requirements (IDEA ARRA grant-funded).

The CBPS Courtyard, under the careful eye of Jarleth Connolly’s Lawn Tailors, has made a radical transformation into two teaching stations. There is still work to be done, but the "science center" dream is being realized as each day passes.

This report touches on some of the key efforts and changes that mean the most to us.  We did these things in addition to cleaning every classroom, processing hundreds of purchase orders and inventoring truckloads of supplies, registering a slew of new students, printing handbooks and policies, analyzing the CMT and CAPT testing results, setting school goals and writing district and school improvement plans, preparing for our back-to-school student orientations and teacher professional development, establishing bus routes and student schedules, and so much more.

All of this work, none of which would be possible without our secretaries and custodians, led to what we hope has been a fabulous first week ... and what will be another successful year.