Essential Questions and Assignments

Your EQs and assignments are located on Google Docs. Just click the following link to view them! Pretty cool, huh? Please write each Essential Question and then your answer to each question in your Writer's Notebook. Use complete sentence structure! Be sure to save often to document and protect your work. Always use your Writer's Checklist to ensure you have included all the required criteria. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wr8-6TR3p52nL-JR9dRH-P5xDMl_ZIImqI1gGpKukWc/edit

Futures Planning

The Junior Achievement Student Center has interactive games and tools to help in the Futures Planning process. Included on this website are interactive tools for money management, work readiness, and a Needs vs. Wants Calculator. Just click on the following link and start your future planning. http://studentcenter.ja.org/Money/Pages/default.aspx

Izzit Current Events

Izzit.org is a not-for-profit organization that provides more than 300,000 teachers with engaging educational videos and materials promoting critical-thinking and thoughtful discussion among students. The Student Zone is available to students in order to access daily Current Events articles, resources for Izzit.org, DVDs, games, and more. To access this content, click on the following link. Your Class Code is fried452389. http://www.izzit.org/student/index.php

The Learning Toolbox

This website includes tools to help you improve in the 8 academics areas of Math, Organization, Study Skills, Test Taking Skills, Note Taking, Reading, Writing, and Advanced Thinking. Click on the following link for access to the tools. http://coe.jmu.edu/LearningToolbox/studentDirections.html

6+1 Trait Writing

According to Education Northwest's website, The 6+1 Trait® Writing Model of Instruction & Assessment provides a common language for teachers and students to communicate about the characteristics of writing and establishes a clear vision of what good writing looks like. Pioneered by Education Northwest more than 20 years ago, the 6+1 Traits continue to help thousands of teachers worldwide who have been trained in the model improve their writing instruction, their understanding of the qualities of good writing, and their ability to provide effective feedback to students. Click on the following link for the 6+1 Writing Traits Definitions.
http://educationnorthwest.org/resource/503

Kahn Academy's 2100 Videos

Watch. Practice. Learn almost anything—for free at the Kahn Academy website. According to the site, "what started out as Sal making a few algebra videos for his cousins has grown to over 2,100 videos and 100 self-paced exercises and assessments covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history."
Go to http://www.khanacademy.org/#browse.

Continuous Classroom Improvement

Check out my students' Classroom Mission and Learning Goal on my new GLOG. According to Glogster, a GLOG is an online multimedia poster that displays text, photos, videos, graphics, sounds, drawings, data attachments and more. My glog reflects my participation in the Special School District of St. Louis County's initiative entitled Continuous Classroom Improvement. Be sure to watch for updates, for this is an ongoing process. My students will be adding their learning requirement, progress charts, short-term learning goals, and action plans for upcoming cycles of learning. Teaching and learning is so FUN, huh? Just navigate to Glogster by clicking on the following link. http://ssdmo.edu.glogster.com/glog-2934-324/
For a step-by-step mission building process, go to Franklin Covey Mission Statement Builder. Here's the link.
http://www.franklincovey.com/msb/

Listen to audiobooks

LibriVox provides free audiobooks from the public domain. There are several options for listening. You can either download the files to your computer or follow the directions below to listen straight from the Internet.
LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. Their goal is to make all public domain books available as free audio books.

Go to http://librivox.org/. Click on LibriVox Catalog under the word "Listen." Then, simply follow these four steps: 1) Search for a book by entering the title or author; 2) Look through the matches for an appropriate version; 3) Scroll down and look for your match preceded by the word "LibriVox's" and 4) Click on Internet Archive Page. Enjoy!

Teacher Training Videos (Learners, too)

Russell Stannard offers some great training videos for all teachers and learners of Internet tools. You’ll find text-to-speech tools, how to create a blog, timeline tools, and mind-mapping tools. It’s very informative! Click on any underlined title in the left-hand column.
http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/

Curriculum Based Measurement

When directed by your teacher, click on the following link to the Easy CBM website. This site will allow your teacher to monitor your progress. Your teacher will give you her/his username. Type it in exactly as given under the heading entitled "Type your teacher's username" in the STUDENT section.
http://easycbm.com/

Transition-Life After High School

Special School District of St. Louis County has an extensive TRANSITION RESOURCE page! It's just waiting for you to discover all the resources necessary to make your life after high school successful.
http://www.ssdmo.org/step3.html
Here's another site that helps you develop a Transition Portfolio. Just click on the link below and follow the prompts.
http://www.rockingham.k12.va.us/RCPS_sped/SVRP/Table-of-Contents.htm#SectionVISecondaryPostSecondaryEducation
What do you like? Here are careers that "match” your favorite school subjects. Check out your "matches" at the website for Exploring Career Information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
http://www.bls.gov/k12/index.htm Here's a link to guide in exploring careers using online documents from the U. S. Department of Labor. It allows you to answer the following question you may be asking yourself after high school. "What's my next move?"
http://www.careeronestop.org/

PLAN, ACT, SAT and Other Tests

Whatever your goal, The Learning Express Library's resources will help you succeed. Each of our Learning Centers offers the practice tests, exercises, skill-building courses, and information you need to achieve the results you want—at school, at work, or in life.
http://www.learnatest.com/LEL/index.cfm/
PLAN Test Preparation
Taking PLAN® as a 10th grader is a great way to prepare for the ACT—and helps you get ready to succeed in college and beyond!
http://www.actstudent.org/plan/
Go to The ACT Student Web Account at
http://www.actstudent.org/index.html
where you can register for the test, send your scores, and much more!
ACT Test prep link: http://www.actstudent.org/testprep/index.html
SAT Preparation Center
Know what to expect on test day by reviewing practice questions, taking a practice test, and more.
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/prep_one/prep_one.html
4Tests.com is a world-wide provider of free, online practice exams. There’s everything from GED practice tests to Nurse practice exams. Also available are study guides and forums to ask questions online.
http://www.4tests.com
DRIVER'S License Test
Here’s a free driver’s license practice test. Although it’s from Tennessee, it may help you when preparing for your written driver’s license test.
http://www.tn.gov/dlpractice/

CAREER AND COLLEGE SEARCHES

The College Career Life Planning website provides Hundreds of Free Career Tools for Students, Teachers, Counselors, Administrators, & Parents. The site gives quick and easy access to all aspects necessary for the post-secondary transition. There are links for Career and Technical Training, College Searches and Rankings, The College Application Process, Exploring Career Interests, FAFSA, College and Career Planning, and all sorts of other information one needs to know about life after high school. It even tells you how to get motivated! Tell me what you think about it after your research.
http://www.collegecareerlifeplanning.com/

Here’s an informative site to start your college search process.
http://www.uscollegesearch.org/college_search_by_state_city.html

End of Course (EOC) Tests

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE)offers Released Items from previous years' tests. Click on the link below to find to view them in all content areas.
http://dese.mo.gov/divimprove/assess/Released_Items/riarchiveindex.html
For Online EOC Practice tests, click on the following link
http://dese.mo.gov/divimprove/assess/eoc_resources.html

Learning Strategies and Writing Assistance

The following website consists of a comprehensive overview of learning strategies and specific memory techniques. Pick some that best fits you and try them out.
http://www.muskingum.edu/~cal/database/general/memory1.html
Webmath is a math-help web site that generates answers to specific math questions and problems, as entered by a user, at any particular moment. The math answers are generated and displayed real-time, at the moment a web user types in their math problem and clicks "solve." In addition to the answers, Webmath also shows the student how to arrive at the answer.
http://www.webmath.com/
Assistance in the written expression area can be found by navigating to the Paradigm Writing Assistant website. You'll find useful tips for writing Informal Essays, Thesis/Support Essays, Exploratory Essays, Argumentative Essays, and much, much more.
http://english.ttu.edu/kairos/3.1/news/paradigm/orgnfrms.htm
The English Works Website offers a guide to different kinds of essays, texts of literature, grammar and vocabulary tutoring, practice exercises, etc.
http://depts.gallaudet.edu/englishworks/writing/essay.html

The Transition-Going to College

The National Secondary Transition Technical Assistance Center (NSTTAC), funded by the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), provides a variety of resources such as Transition Assessment Guide, Lesson Plans, predictors, Summary of Performance, and other resources/evidence-based practices. Click on Post-Secondary Resources.
http://www.nsttac.org/

Check out this website to help you transition from high school to college. It includes information about how to plan for college, how to use your strengths, discovering your learning style and interests, how to set goals for college, finding out what campus life is like, how to create a portfolio for college, and other important items.
http://www.going-to-college.org/

Learning Resources and Career Searches

Follow this website’s simple steps to find online resources for increasing your learning skills. Choose your book or a book of similar grade or content to enhance your learning.
http://www.classzone.com/cz/index.htm

Missouri Connections helps students open the door to career exploration and educational planning. Sponsored by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Missouri students in public and private schools (grades 7-16), their parents, guidance counselors, and educators can use the online system at no charge.
http://www.missouriconnections.org/

Use this site's user-friendly web design with lots of fun activities to search for the career of your dreams.
http://www.learnmoreindiana.org/careers/exploring/InterestInventories/Pages/Home.aspx

After your research, be sure to leave your reaction below!

Post Test for Writing Strategies

Click on the address below to complete your Post Test for Writing Strategies. The test has 10 questions for you to answer. Some are fill in the blank. Use complete sentences, proper grammar, and appropriate punctuation in your answers. There is no time limit, so take your time and reflect responsibly.
Click here to take survey
After you have completed the test, leave your reaction below.

Learning style and Personality Type Inventories

Did you ever wonder if you're a visual or auditory learner? Or, whether you learn best by what you experience? Take a survey and find out by clicking on the next link.
http://sunburst.usd.edu/~bwjames/tut/learning-style/stylest.html

Here's another site to investigate your learning styles. It's presented by Edutopia!
http://www.edutopia.org/mi-quiz

Did you ever wonder if you're an introvert or an extrovert? Or, whether you're a thinker or a feeler? Here's an informal test to find out your personality type. Simply click on the link below.
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

After you take the tests, share your reaction below.

How are you smart?

Notice that the above question says "how are you smart?" NOT "are you smart?" Discover your Multiple Intelligences by completing the survey. Just click on the following link.
http://www.literacyworks.org/mi/assessment/findyourstrengths.html

After you've finished, click on the appropriate reaction below.

Pre Test for Writing Strategies

Click on the address below to complete your Pre Test for Writing Strategies. The test has 10 questions for you to answer. Some are fill in the blank. Use complete sentences, proper grammar, and appropriate punctuation in your answers. There is no time limit, so take your time and reflect responsibly.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=YAIr2iEtT1J6BVIYWMBl_2bQ_3d_3d
After you have completed the test, place a checkmark on your reaction below.

Marzano Nine Learning Log

Throughout your studies, keep track of the instructional strategies you are learning about by completing a Learning Log. Also, use this chart to record your personal and course goals. Just click on the link below, wait for the Internet Archive to appear, and then click on DOC on the left side of the web page. Print the chart to handwrite your entries or download to your computer for digital entry. Next, evaluate the Learning Log by letting me know whether you think it's helpful, good or bad, worth-it, or not. Post your reaction below.
http://www.archive.org/details/MarzanoNineLearningLog

Marzano Nine Implementation Chart

Want a quick and easy way to record implementation techniques about Marzano's instructional strategies? Use this chart to record how to implement the strategies in your studies. Simply click on the link below. After the Internet Archive page is displayed, click on DOC on the left side of the screen. Print the chart to handwrite your entries or download to your computer for digital entry. Then, post your reaction below.
http://www.archive.org/details/ImplementationChart_670

"Positize It" Quality Instruction Lesson

Greetings! Click on the arrow below to view my delivery of a lesson incorporating the components of quality instruction. Various research studies show that high quality systematic instruction increases student success and achievement. The lesson teaches about how to positize, a way to change one's thoughts, words, and/or actions. Click on the following link to see the lesson. You will be directed to an Internet Archive website.
http://www.archive.org/details/PositizeIt

What did you think about the video? Share two ideas that came to mind when viewing the lesson. Click on the word below that matches your reaction.

Marzano Instructional Strategies

The following is according to NETC. "Are you looking for practical ways to improve achievement? Strengthen teaching and learning processes with research-based instructional strategies combined with effective technology use. Twelve core strategies link to 30 classroom examples that show how to apply key research, using technology to engage learners and improve achievement." Just click on their link below.
http://www.netc.org/focus/strategies/
Take a look at a video http://www.slideshare.net/ageller/marzano-summarizing-and-note-taking

Positize When You Teach and Learn

All great teachers and learners reflect constantly upon best practices and sound research-based instructional strategies. Have you ever thought about how you want to increase your teaching or learning skills? Here's a way. You can positize your thoughts, words, and actions when teaching or learning by choosing one of the many research proven types of instruction. One of the authors that I like is Robert Marzano. His learning strategies are what I most use in my classroom. He and two others wrote Classroom Instruction That Works that presents nine instructional strategies. So, "Positize It" when you teach and learn by taking a course or studying a book about effective instructional strategies. Or, simply click below to see a summary.
http://www.middleweb.com/MWLresources/marzchat1.html