North Dakota Classrooms

Hello out there!

I am very honored to be serving as the 2011 North Dakota Teacher of the Year. This year has brought me many amazing experiences and challenged me to imagine the possibilities for statewide teacher collaboration. With recent legislative changes across the country, the fate of teachers, schools, and classrooms has become a central focus for all Americans. Now is the perfect time for educators to connect and direct changes for education. In our state, teachers are well respected and appreciated. If we took on the challenges of heavy thinking about education reform, our thoughts and ideas would be valued by our legislative leaders.

Teaching is hard work, so finding the time and opportunity to connect is difficult. Mary and my hope is that this blog can serve as the begining step in hosting our conversations. So many issues, from bullying to implementation of new standards, are open for us to take the lead. Please become an active contributor to the discussions on this blog. Share the blog with all North Dakota educators around you, so we are able to direct educational change in our state. There is a lot of work to be done and eductors agree; we should be the ones directing education reform. Step up and help us do this job well!

THE SKY IS THE LIMIT WHEN WE WORK TOGETHER!

This goal of this blog is to build a useful place for North Dakota teachers to share ideas, discuss important issues and work together to provide a better education for students!

Inspiring One Another

Please share your most creative, inspiring, and worthwhile activities for teaching technology as well as for teaching WITH technology.

This spring the Department of Education is implementing new standards for mathematics. The new draft standards are based upon the Common Core, a national set of standards developed by the National Governor’s Association and the Council of Chief State Schools Officers. Please take time to view the standards and share your insights with the Department of Education. Many teachers who have already reveiwed the document have commented on the rigor of document. Many mathematical skills have grade level movements compared to our current North Dakota standards.

http://www.dpi.state.nd.us/standard/content/math/math_draft.docx

If you would like to comment on the document, you may be able to do so through a Survey Monkey link:  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/R2S8YZT

This spring the Department of Education is implementing new standards for English and language arts. The new draft standards are based upon the Common Core, a national set of standards developed by the National Governor’s Association and the Council of Chief State Schools Officers. Please take time to view the standards and share your insights with the Department of Education. Secondary teachers take note: there are literacy standards in this document that apply to literacy in history/social science, science, and technical subjects. To view the documents, click on the link below:

http://www.dpi.state.nd.us/standard/content/ELA/ELA_draft.docx

If you would like to comment on the document, you may be able to do so through a Survey Monkey link:  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/R2S8YZT

Last spring, as 2010 ND Teacher of the Year, I experimented with setting up a web page called North Dakota Classrooms on NING. It was a good start to building a network of North Dakota teachers who want to share ideas about teaching. This fall, Karen Toavs, the 2011 ND Teacher of the Year and I decided to move the website to EduSocial in hopes that it would be easier for more teachers in North Dakota to get on line, share ideas, ask questions, discuss topics, work together on classroom projects and think of other ways we can work together to improve education in our state.

Please let us know what you would like to see on this website and please participate in the discussions! We can hardly wait to see what will happen!

Inspiring One Another

Please share your most creative, inspiring, and worthwhile activities for teaching computer science.

Inspiring One Another

Please share your most creative, inspiring, and worthwhile ideas for developing our North Dakota school libraries.

Inspiring One Another

Please share your most creative, inspiring, and worthwhile activities for teaching business.

Inspiring One Another

Please share your most creative, inspiring, and worthwhile activities for teaching physical education.