Summer Institute 2007: June 24-29 or July 22-27

Send a team to the Institute - Districts find that sending a team helps them get the most out of the planning time built into the institute schedule. The most effective teams have consisted of a team of teachers and an administrator.

Sign up now while there is still space and remember if you register early you can save $100.00 per participant. For more information on the institute  click here.

State Farm is offering grants to schools implementing programs related to    the Baldrige Criteria. Techniques taught in GATEWAY TO MASTERY^® workshops have been instrumental in helping at least 2 districts win the National and State Baldrige Awards (Call for details). When I spoke with State Farm representatives recently, they said they had funding available, but very few applicants. This is a great opportunity for schools who would like our training or would like to send a team to Summer Institute, but cannot find the funds. Below are some links sent to us by State Farm that will helpful in beginning the process.

This is the opening page you can access that gives an overview of the grants.

http://www.statefarm.com/about/part_spos/grants/foundati.asp

From there, you can go to Education Excellence
http://www.statefarm.com/about/part_spos/community/ed_excel/ed_excel.asp
 

And to Baldrige:
http://www.statefarm.com/about/part_spos/community/ed_excel/baldrige.asp
 

For locations to start, you can go here

http://www.statefarm.com/about/part_spos/community/sflocal/sflocal.asp

Click here for a PDF that will show how GATEWAY TO MASTERY^® aligns with the Baldrige Criteria.

Best of luck with these grants and let us know how it goes.

For the fourth straight year, we will be speaking at the NCA-CASI Annual Meeting at the Chicago Downtown Marriot, Chicago, Illinois. The conference takes place April 1st  through the 4th and we will have sessions on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

We will conduct a 3 hr. pre-conference workshop, again this year, the morning of April 1st entitled “Empower, Enlighten, Engage - The power of Continuous Improvement in Schools and Classrooms”. The extra time the pre-conference session provides enables us to have much more time for in-depth information and discussion.

We will also conduct two different breakout sessions, “Culture Mastery” and “Feels Like Learning.” Each of the breakout sessions will be repeated and will take place on the 2nd and 3rd. As always, we will have a booth available throughout the conference, so feel free to come by anytime to say hello, ask questions and/or book your next workshop for 2007.

For more information on the annual meeting, the breakout sessions and/or to register for the pre-conference workshop, click here. We met many of you at this annual meeting and we look forward to seeing you again this year.

Ohio

GATEWAY TO MASTERY^® helps to change the conversation at parent conferences dramatically. John Paydo from Mayfield City School District told us of his experience at parent conferences this fall.

“I'm finding myself having more conversations with parents regarding learning. At parent conferences, these were the questions I asked:

1. What can you tell me about your child to maximize their learning in science this year?

2. What are ways that I can build upon the professional relationship I have with your child during science this year?

3. Describe the optimal learning environment for your child.

There was very little conversation regarding grades.  I loved it. I didn't have one parent conference where I felt attacked.”

John also wrote about his experiences after using the techniques in Culture Mastery™ one month this last fall. He writes “I did have a boy ask me after last month’s Plus/Delta why I cared so much.  It made my career.”

Congratulations John on changing the culture in your classroom from grades and pressure, to learning and caring. 

Arkansas

Matt Saferite, Principal at Ramay Junior High in Fayetteville, Arkansas, has summed up GATEWAY TO MASTERY^® in a wonderful way.  

He writes, “GTM challenges educators to understand and analyze their educational system, whether that system is a district, school, or classroom. Using straightforward, well-designed, well-research and non-fadish ideas, GTM allows teachers to continually improve their classroom system to increase student academic performance and simultaneously improve student motivation for learning."

In addition he says, “Millions have read/studied Danielson's Framework for Teaching (ASCD) and many districts have even built their teacher evaluation/certification programs on that book, but GTM can actually help teachers achieve the distinguished levels identified by Danielson.”

Danielson’s distinguished levels indicate empowering and enabling students to take charge of their learning and classroom environment, while the teacher becomes more of a facilitator. GATEWAY TO MASTERY^® enables the teachers to move from “Do to” and “Do for” to “Do with”.

Texas

A teacher at Leander School Independent District responded to our follow-up survey with the following comments:

“I am enjoying what I started. Before I had the students keep a record of their efforts and achievements on a chart, I went over the locus of control to help them better understand that they are in total control of their grades and that increased effort will get them increased grades. They are becoming very competitive with the Learning Checks™; each class wanting to outperform the others.  It is also great to be able to say, "We already covered this," or  "We are studying this right now," or "Oh, this coming up in just a few weeks."  Knowledge Maps™/Checks are great for review and preview of the curriculum, and I can see when we actually begin applying the concepts from the Knowledge Map™ to the lesson each day, the kids "get it" so much better than before.  It creates that little bit of prior knowledge that they need to solidify the learning for that day. THANKS!”

Keep up the great work!

If you are currently practicing any discipline of GATEWAY TO MASTERY^®, please send your success stories, so we may share them in upcoming editions. Click here to send us your story

Places we will be working this February through April

1.      Columbus, OH – Ohio Middle School Conference

2.      Chicago, IL - NCA-CASI Annual Meeting

3.      Glendale Heights, IL - Marquardt School District 15

4.   Addison, IL - Addison High School

To add your organization to our schedule, call us at 1-866-630-6995.

Thank you for your interest,

Jacquie and Jeff Burgard

Improvement Facilitators

J.J. Burgard & Associates

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