Teaching Learning Leading K-12

Episode 6: Debbie Daniell/ Using Webb's Depth of Knowledge to Guide Assessment and Instruction

Debbie Daniell is a former teacher of social studies in public schools: elementary through high school. She has worked with children of all socio-economic levels. She currently is the Social Studies Curriculum Director for the Gwinnett County Public School system in Georgia. She provides engaging instruction for teachers in many areas K-12. 

Today's interview is about her classes in Webb's Depth of Knowledge. Often shortened to DOK, Debbie encourages teachers to step out of their comfort zone and analyze the connection or lack of connection between instruction and assessment in their own lessons. She explains that often the content may be at higher levels but the assessment is not. According to Debbie, when instruction and assessment are disconnected, the students do not learn at the levels that they should. Mrs. Daniell states that DOK is about "how deep the student has to use the knowledge and cognitive processes to develop an answer." 

She is a practitioner who sees her focus as helping to support teachers as they strive to help all children to be successful. I think that you will enjoy listening to Debbie explain the differences between DOK and Bloom's Taxonomy and how to apply this information to strengthen your instruction and assessment.

Dr. Tim McNamara: Building the Instructional Tool Box in Math

Building the Instructional Tool Box in Math:

Dr. Tim says...

"The more students who can be actively involved the more the students get out of the time in class…Engagement lends itself to discovery…"

"When students discover they retain…students tend to hold those ideas longer…"

"Less memorizing equals more thinking..."

"Teachers should become students of mathematics…that way that they look at math problems in more than one way. They always should be learning about the ways students learn."

Tim helps teachers learn how to make math engaging! He introduces teachers to hands on activities that make students think! His classes are amazing! Teachers enjoy the opportunity to learn with him. He is a master teacher who makes teachers say, "I can do this."

I think that you will really enjoy listening to Tim. Check him out on-line at the following links:
http://www.edleadersnetwork.org/presenters/m-o/mcnamara-tim

mathdrtim@yahoo.com

http://www.mathdrtim.us/
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/dr-tim-mcnamara/24/7b9/b

 "Dr. Tim" is a private, in-demand, and highly-respected improvement specialist in K-12 math for educators and school districts nationwide. His 30-year career as a classroom teacher, curriculum supervisor, and assistant professor included teaching at two upstate New York schools that were both recognized by Newsweek magazine as a Top-100 American High School- one in Rochester and one in his hometown of Buffalo. He currently contributes to a variety of ongoing projects- including developing assessments for the New York State Education Department, producing webinars for the Ed Leaders Network of state administrators associations across the Midwest, and helping lead the coaching efforts of the CESA 6 Math Center with participating school districts in southeast Wisconsin.

Dr. Mary Lynn Huie: Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC)

LDC stands for Literacy Design Collaborative. Its purpose is to assist teachers with tools or protocols that help them use the literacy standards in their content instruction. Dr. Huie has taught English in grades 8, 10, 11, and 12 in public schools for 25 years. She now works with the Georgia Department of Education to teach teachers how to bring more reading, writing, and communication skills into their classrooms.

LDC is a way to teach the content. It assists the teachers create engagement through helping the kids see information, read, or write like a historian, a scientist, etc. The students discover that the teachers want to teach them how to think critically and that they will ask them for their ideas about the content. This encourages the students as their opinions are valued. "They love that!" 

I think that you will enjoy learning more about the Literacy Design Collaborative. Find out more about Georgia's initiative at https://www.georgiastandards.org/Common-Core/Pages/LDC.aspx

Brian Mendler: Motivating and Managing Hard to Reach, Disruptive Students

Brian Mendler was a kid who created challenges for teachers. As an adult, he became a special education teacher and now teaches teachers and administrators how to work with kids like him. He is the author of the book The Taming of the Crew which provides educators with easy to use strategies for preventing and responding to difficult, disruptive, defiant and unmotivated behavior. 

He is engaging! His commentary is amazing and his sessions are thought provoking! 

This interview took place right after an all day session (We were talking as he was traveling to the airport.) where he was working with an audience primarily composed of special education teachers. The energy of the audience was non-stop as Brian gave them ideas about working with kids who are difficult to teach and engage in positive ways in a classroom. 

You can Google his name and you will find links that lead to his video clips.

You can also find him on FaceBook and Twitter at Brian Mendler.

Finally take a look at the company that sponsors him called The Teacher Learning Center. Find that website at www.TLC-sems.com

Enjoy and be prepared to learn!

Suzy Pepper Rollins: Math in the Fast Lane

Suzy Pepper Rollins has created a focus on making math engaging and exciting for kids. Her Math in the Fast Lane is a framework for helping teachers build the capacity of their students to be successful in math in the K-12 classrooms. Find her on the web at http://www.mathinfastlane.com/