mcemilywrites

I've moved.

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 22:46:00 -0500

You may have noticed it’s been a little quiet around here for a while. That’s because I’ve been moving everything over to a new website. It’s got a dot-com after my name, a pretty good-looking logo by Jess Craig of IROCKSOWHAT and a new tagline I explain in great detail here.

The only thing that’s missing is you.

Won’t you come join me at www.emmillerwrites.com?

From the Storyteller (Sun-Times Media)

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:33:52 -0600

From the Storyteller (Sun-Times Media):

Is there such a thing as “Superman” when it comes to turning around public education? Here’s what I learned in writing about what makes an A+ teacher.

Storyteller: A+ educators show and tell what it takes to succeed (Sun-Times Media)

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:31:01 -0600

Storyteller: A+ educators show and tell what it takes to succeed (Sun-Times Media):

Late last month, Dorothy Rouse sat around the small table with three second-grade students, workbooks open in front of them.

Rouse held up a fourth book, her fingers following the letters in the words on the page.

“We’re going to sound it out and then say it fast,” she said. “Sound it out: Mmm. Aaa. Ddd. Say it fast: Mad.”

And then, “Camila, what is it?”

Camila Guardado, 8, brightened and answered: “Mad!”

Rouse has thought a lot lately about how she works as a special education resource teacher at Highland Elementary School in Elgin.

That was part of the process to earn her National Board Certification, an advanced teaching credential that teachers nationwide can earn in addition to the required state license. That process requires educators to complete assessments and several portfolios that reflect their practice over several years.

School District U46 recognized nine teachers who recently were certified at a Board of Education meeting last month. That brings the total number of certified teachers in the Elgin district to 60, according to U46.

But those teachers aren’t the only ones reflecting on what works in their classrooms, as the Center on Education Policy estimated in December that 48 percent of all U.S. schools did not make the Adequate Yearly Progress outlined in the federal No Child Left Behind Act last year. That’s an all-time high and an increase from 39 percent in 2010, according to the CEP Web site .

President Barack Obama has offered waivers of those NCLB requirements for states that adopt education reforms and implemented the Race to the Top program to reward states for making reforms. And Governor Pat Quinn referenced a number of recent “education reforms (that) put the children of Illinois first” in his state of the state address earlier this month.

But Rouse said, “Legislation can’t dictate what a good teacher is.”

What does make a good teacher, she said, “is different in different places.”

“You have different needs in different places. Bartlett has different needs (than Elgin). The result is the same: Achievement. Just getting there is different.”

Rouse, Dundee Middle School teacher Kristine Pizzolato and Mooseheart Child City & School teacher Jennifer Antonson each have been recognized by their school districts, as well as the Kane County Regional Office of Education and other organizations.

Each teaches in very different communities. And each shared what has worked well for them in their combined 45 years in the classroom.

For the rest of the story, visit The Courier-News.

Photo credit: Michael Smart

I forgot how happy the Puppet Bike makes me! puppetbike.com

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 23:15:46 -0600

I forgot how happy the Puppet Bike makes me! puppetbike.com

Best street art ever?

Sat, 18 Feb 2012 23:12:42 -0600

Best street art ever?

onaissues: Following up on our post from yesterday, which...

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 13:27:21 -0600

onaissues:

Following up on our post from yesterday, which quoted Amanda Hess’s article that shows that “the media is male and getting maler,” here is an excellent post from GOOD which shows what you can do to have more women published and promoted.

good:

Recently, a female GOOD staffer was commiserating with a male journalist about the dearth of female bylines in major American magazines. She suggested a solution: He should speak to the editors of these magazines—people he knows personally—about how awesome she is. She was on the phone with a highly regarded editor within a week, discussing the possibilities for freelance work.

Reading big statistics, it’s easy to place yourself in a bystander role. You acknowledge that women are underrepresented in your industry—particularly if you work in media, design, or tech. You know that they are far less visible, and probably paid less, than men of equal experience. You’re frustrated at how difficult it sometimes seems to fill your workplace or panel discussion with enough women. But what have you ever done about it?

PROMOTE WOMEN. It’s time to stop lamenting and start doing. Here’s how:

1   Think of three women in your industry who are underpaid, underemployed, or under-noticed. Women who are rising through the ranks more slowly than their male peers. Women who are really great at what they do but haven’t been recognized as up-and-comers yet.

2   Think of three powerful people (of any gender) in your industry who you know personally and who are in a position to hire or assign to women.

3   Compose an email to each of those powerful people individually and recommend a specific woman they should meet, hire, or otherwise work with.

4   Email those women and tell them you’ve recommended them. We haven’t provided a form email by design—a genuine, original email is what counts.

Put your email where your mouth is. Use your network. Endorse women today. Then boost the signal. Women, share your stories about infiltrating male professional networks. Facilitators, submit your own accounts of giving women a leg up. Submit your stories here on GOOD’s Tumblr, on Twitter with the #promotewomen hashtag, or in the comments on our site. We’ll compile your stories and publish them as inspiration.

We have the power to end the gender gap. Take five minutes and send three emails to do something about it.

If you are looking for a female reporter to promote… cough, cough.

VIDEO: Why do they call Elgin Community College President David Sam "the dancing president?"

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:02:42 -0600

Why do they call Elgin Community College President David Sam “the dancing president?” Watch, starting at 37:58.

David Sam marks five years at ECC (Sun-Times Media)

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:59:00 -0600

David Sam marks five years at ECC (Sun-Times Media):

ELGIN — Community College District 509 Board of Trustees Chairman Robert McBride tried to find the perfect song to describe Elgin Community College’s “dancing president,” he said.

He settled on: “How do you think he does it? / I don’t know! / What makes him so good? / (He) ain’t got no distractions, / Can’t hear no buzzers and bells, / Don’t see no lights a flashin’ / …Sure plays a mean pinball.”

Yes, that’s “Pinball Wizard” by The Who.

But, McBride said, “that kind of really describes our president,” David Sam, who celebrated his fifth year at ECC with an open house Wednesday in its Jobe Lounge on the campus, 1700 Spartan Drive.

For the rest of the story, visit The Courier-News.

U46 puts chief human resource officer on paid leave (Sun-Times Media)

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:00:05 -0600

U46 puts chief human resource officer on paid leave (Sun-Times Media)

U46 plans to team up more coaches with teachers (Sun-Times Media)

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:00:06 -0600

U46 plans to team up more coaches with teachers (Sun-Times Media):

ELGIN — The New York Giants couldn’t have won the Super Bowl without Tom Coughlin. That’s the team’s coach, who has led the Giants to two Super Bowl wins in four years.

Now School District U46 is hoping coaches also can help struggling teachers within the second-largest school district in Illinois.

U46 and Elgin Teachers Association officials presented the first stage of a Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) program at last week’s U46 Board of Education meeting.

“We have a shared goal with the ETA to make sure every student has an effective teacher, and PAR is really to support those struggling teachers,” U46 Superintendent Jose Torres said.

That’s because “One of the things we know is the most important factor in student achievement is the teacher in the classroom,” said Andrea Erickson, U46 coordinator of Teacher Effectiveness Initiatives.

The PAR program — developed in collaboration with the National Education Association Foundation Institute for Innovation in Teaching and Learning — will pair struggling third- and fourth-year teachers with peer consulting teachers, starting next school year. Each peer consultant not only will coach those teachers but also evaluate them and help their principals determine whether to dismiss them.

U46 is one of 11 school districts nationwide invited by the NEA Foundation to be part of the Institute for Innovation in Teaching and Learning’s first cohort, according to the foundation’s website. Each of those districts has identified issues most critical to their students and has committed to work together with their teachers unions to improve the quality of education for their students.

Fitting goals

The Elgin district chose the PAR program because that’s a plan that fits into both U46’s and its teachers union’s goals, ETA President Kathryn Castle said. And it lends itself to new teacher evaluation requirements under Illinois Senate Bill 7, passed in June, she said.

The education reform bill requires principals to evaluate teachers as “unsatisfactory,” “needs improvement,” “proficient” and “excellent,” according to Erickson. Those evaluations can be used to determine a teacher’s tenure — as well as dismissal.

Evaluations for the current school year will be completed March 15, and teachers with a “needs improvement” rating will be required to complete some professional development at the discretion of those teachers and their principals, Erickson said. One such professional development program they can choose is PAR.

“We think of it in terms of continuous improvement and growth for teachers — and for teachers who don’t continuously improve, opportunities to move on,” Torres said.

The idea of coaching, at least, isn’t entirely new to the Elgin school district, according to Tony Sanders, U46 chief of staff.

“We’ve had for years a very successful Teacher Mentor Program. We give this support to most of our teachers who are new to teaching or to our district,” Sanders said.

For the rest of the story, visit The Courier-News.

Photo credit: Michael Smart for Sun-Times Media

D300 approves new energy contract, looks to eliminate wind consortium (Sun-Times Media)

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:00:06 -0600

D300 approves new energy contract, looks to eliminate wind consortium (Sun-Times Media)

Valentines for Journalists (Part IV)

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 09:13:00 -0600

Valentines for Journalists (Part IV):

10,000 Words

I love Valentine’s Day, and that has a lot to do with the cards. I look forward to these from 10,000 Words every year.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Journalists Job Meme

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:26:00 -0600

Journalists Job Meme:

StuffJournalistsLike.com

YESSS. I’ve been waiting for journalists to jump on this meme! (Although I’m pretty sure what society thinks I do involves shaking hands with both Satan and Barack Obama. And what my mom thinks I do involves living in a cardboard box.)

Ignore the barrage of old stuff from me earlier tonight. My technologies just up and went all...

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:23:32 -0600

Ignore the barrage of old stuff from me earlier tonight. My technologies just up and went all “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

This is what my mom sends me for Valentine’s Day. She...

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:55:11 -0600

This is what my mom sends me for Valentine’s Day. She knows my heart.

Food for thought (Sun-Times Media)

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:00:05 -0600

Food for thought (Sun-Times Media):

CARPENTERSVILLE — Missy Graf of Carpentersville started out reading articles online and in newspapers and magazines about healthy eating more than three years ago.

That turned into adding more fruits and vegetables into her family’s diet, Graf said. Her family of five switched to grass-fed beef, free-range chicken and raw milk.

“We go straight to the cows. We wave to the cows as we drive past and say, ‘Thanks for the milk,’ ” she said.

So she was excited when, last school year, all elementary schools in Community Unit School District 300 took on — and met — the HealthierUS School Challenge.

And, Graf said, “I wanted to see if we could take the good nutrition we’re doing at school and try to get that at home.”

“If your kids eat breakfast and lunch at school, that’s 10 meals a week at school. That’s less than 20 percent of their nutrition, their eating for the year. So we have to get this home.”

The Liberty Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization co-president shared some things the Carpentersville-area school district is doing to continue its healthy efforts at the PTO Council meeting recently at the District 300 Central Office, 300 Cleveland Ave. The PTO Council includes parent leaders from all elementary and middle schools in the district.

For the rest of the story, visit The Courier-News.

Larsen school students inspired by ‘monster’ truck event (Sun-Times Media)

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:21:08 -0600

Larsen school students inspired by ‘monster’ truck event (Sun-Times Media):

ELGIN — When Ken Hudgens was a student at Larsen Middle School, he had two goals: to play basketball in Division 1 and to play basketball for the NBA.

Hudgens got as far as a basketball scholarship to Eastern Washington University before, he said, he realized he probably wasn’t good enough to play professionally.

On Thursday, he came back to Larsen to tell students about “a lot of weird stuff you can do out there later in life,” he said.

And he came with one of the 50 or so monster trucks that are part of Feld Motor Sports, where he now is chief operating officer. That truck, the Mohawk Warrior, will be featured in the Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam on Friday through Saturday at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont.

“Thirty years ago, I was sitting where you’re sitting, and I never knew a job like this — that was so much fun — existed,” Hudgens said.

Monster trucks average about 12 feet tall — their tires alone are more than 5 feet across — and weigh 5 tons, according to a video he showed students during his presentation.

During a Monster Jam, the trucks can fly 40 feet into the air and reach 60 miles per hour in less than three seconds while racing and freestyling over obstacles, the video said. They compete in more than 350 of those events each year in both North America and Europe.

Before the Larsen grad’s presentation, students swarmed the black and purple monster truck parked just behind their school, smartphone cameras raised.

The vehicle is the first monster truck to sport a tall, jet-black, razor-sharp Mohawk down the roof on its SUV body, according to MonsterJam.com. That matches the hairstyle of its driver, George Balhan.

For the rest of the story, visit The Courier-News.

Photo credit: Michael Smart for Sun-Times Media.

Class sizes set to remain the same in U46 next year (Sun-Times Media)

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:53:16 -0600

Class sizes set to remain the same in U46 next year (Sun-Times Media)

U46 bond issue: Residents protest, district explains (Sun-Times Media)

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:15:47 -0600

U46 bond issue: Residents protest, district explains (Sun-Times Media)

Districts proactive in meeting new school lunch standards (Sun-Times Media)

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:37:17 -0600

Districts proactive in meeting new school lunch standards (Sun-Times Media):

LAKE IN THE HILLS — Ten-year-old Denise Bush said the chicken patty sandwich is “mostly my favorite” school lunch.

“My mom cooks it, and it’s really good,” she said.

Luckily for the pigtailed fourth-grader, that was one of the items on the menu Thursday in the Cool Caf at Lake in the Hills Elementary School, 519 Willow St.

And while a chicken patty sandwich might sound unhealthy, the chicken is oven-baked, not deep-fried, with whole wheat breading, according to Scott Rodgers, general manager of Aramark, School District 300’s food service provider. It’s also served on a whole wheat bun, not white bread, he added.

Those are part of the changes the district made to its school lunch menus at the end of the 2009-10 school year.

They’re also part of the changes coming to lunchrooms across the country, thanks to new school lunch standards approved late last month by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“As parents, we try to prepare decent meals, limit how much junk food our kids eat, and ensure they have a reasonably balanced diet,” First Lady Michelle Obama said in a written statement forwarded by the USDA.

“And when we’re putting in all that effort, the last thing we want is for our hard work to be undone each day in the school cafeteria. When we send our kids to school, we expect that they won’t be eating the kind of fatty, salty, sugary foods that we try to keep them from eating at home. We want the food they get at school to be the same kind of food we would serve at our own kitchen tables.”

The first lady announced the new meal requirements a couple weeks ago during a lunchtime visit to an elementary school in Alexandria, Va., with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

The changes are the first time those standards have been modified in more than 15 years and will be phased in over three years, starting in the 2012-13 school year, according to the USDA. All are part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which was championed by the first lady as part of her Let’s Move! campaign to end childhood obesity and signed into law in 2010 by President Barack Obama.

Some of those changes include offering students both fruits and vegetables every day of the week and only fat-free or low-fat milk. They also include increasing whole-grain-rich foods; reducing saturated fat, trans fat and sodium; and limiting calories and portion sizes based on the age of students.

Implementing the new standards is expected to cost $3.2 billion over the next five years, the USDA said.

With them also will come the first funding increase for school lunches in 30 years — an additional 6 cents per meal, tied to a school’s performance serving the improved meals. They also accompany standards for food and beverages sold in vending machines on school campuses and pricing for school lunches, as well as training and technical assistance to help schools meet the requirements.

For the rest of the story, visit The Courier-News.

Photo credit: Michael Smart for Sun-Times Media.