IN THIS ISSUE:

FOR-PD News

• The Library of Congress Online for Educators
• FOR-PD's Strategy of the Month
• April Chat
• FOR-PD Support - Add Ons
• FOR-PD Has its "Walking Papers"
• Summer Plans for 2004
• FOR-PD's Newest Staff Member
• What Are the Plans?

Monthly FOR-PD Tips

• Fine FOR-PD Facilitation
• Dear Felicity
• Share With Us
• Reading Rockets Events Calendar
• Teacher Created Materials Calendar Facts Sheet

Awards, Contests, & Conferences

• Women of Magic Award
• UCF College of Education 6th Annual Literacy Symposium
• Application for UCF's Reading Certificate Program
• Notable Quotable

Literacy Resources

• El día de los niños/El día de los libros
• Reading Rocks
• Reading Rockets for Home Support
• Thinking Reader

Professional Resources

• Three New Policies for the "Highly Qualified Teacher"
• Sixth Grade Reading Teacher Information
• National Library Week
• All America Reads
• Random Acts of Kindness
• Using Technology to Individualize Reading Instruction

Facilitator Manual

• Facilitator Manual Link with an Important Update for W-9 Request

 

The following information was taken from tech-LEARNING (permission granted by the author, Leni Donlan).

Available: http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=17501009

The Library of Congress is the nation's oldest federal cultural institution. Established in 1800 as a legislative library, it grew into a national institution during the nineteenth century and, since World War II, has become an international resource. It is the largest library in the world, with more than 126 million items on approximately 530 miles of bookshelves. The collections include nearly 19 million books, 2.6 million recordings, 12 million photographs, 4.8 million maps, and 56 million manuscripts.

The Library is an institution of tremendous diversity. Among its many roles it is: the major research arm of the U.S. Congress; the copyright agency of the United States; a government library heavily used by the executive branch and the judiciary; and the world's largest repository of maps, atlases, printed and recorded music, motion pictures and television programs.

For those able to visit in person, there are twenty-two public reading rooms. And for those who cannot be there in person there are the following Library of Congress Web sites, a veritable treasure trove for learners of all ages. Let's explore:

The Learning Page
This site serves as a wonderful "front door" to the Library's diverse materials. It's a simple-but-elegant homepage with clickable links to the six major sections which we will examine in more detail below plus links for a chat section and a "News!" page sharing announcements about conferences, events, new content, and resources of special interest to educators. Plus there's a link to a page highlighting other Library content of special interest to educators. Follow the links to:

Getting Started
This page provides orientation for users of The Learning Page and the American Memory collections. It offers illustrative examples of types of primary sources and how they might be used in the classroom. This section includes information about how to search, link & bookmark, view & listen, print & save, cite sources, understand copyright and fair use. Teachers will also find the links for History Day Resources, Internet Resources, and Read More About It (bibliographies) helpful.

Lesson Plans
Almost seventy lesson plans are currently available, and this page offers educators five ways to search: by Discipline, by Era, by Theme, by Title, or by Topic. All lessons were created by educators and tested in their classrooms. They are presented with required handouts and references and are ready for use "as is" or can be adapted as needed. The lessons look at American History through various perspectives and disciplines. There are also links for using primary materials with students and more.

Features & Activities
An entire page of links to various activities, each with a short description and suggested grade levels. There are two "Collaborative Activities" (students can interact with the Library and with peers): The "Branding of America" and "The Great American Potluck" allow students to examine, respectively, the influence of name brands and the foods of various groups of Americans. And then there are links to Activities such as: "Women's Words of Wisdom," "From Slavery to Civil Rights," "From Fantasy to Flight," "Zoom into Maps," and many more, all making use of the Library's resources. Finally there are Feature Presentations entitled "American Memory Timeline," "Elections," "Inaugurations," "Immigration," and more.

Collection Connections
Any teacher cannot help but be awed by the Library's incredibly vast array of collections for use with students. Like the Smithsonian, it is a repository of wonderful content for lessons in many subject areas. Clicking on Collection Connections Index brings up an alphabetical list of links for dozens of pages of resources and suggestions for teaching. History buffs will especially enjoy links to topics like: "America Singing: 19th Century Song Sheets," "Civil War Maps," or "Stars and Stripes: the American Soldiers Newspaper of World War I." Like browsing in a dusty old bookstore, one could spend hours here reading, learning, and preparing materials for one's students.

Community Center
This, the newest, section of the Learning Page celebrated its first birthday in October 2003. An attempt to create a community of like-minded educators, it's the place to meet Library staff and educators in monthly, themed conversation through live chats. There are also links to transcripts of archived chats from the past on topics such as baseball, civil rights, and women's history. Click on a link to contribute to The Source, an online newsletter or subscribe to Learning Page E-Mail Updates to hear about new content.

Professional Development
The section is intended to help teachers make use of the Library's resources. It provides access to workshops and institutes (in the Library's Learning Center in Washington, or by video-conference) and an array of downloadable presentations and "handouts" for distribution. In addition, a collection of "Self-Serve Workshops" is available on historical topics, searching techniques, lesson design, an introduction to the collections, and even technical aspects of using the Web for learning and presentation.

The Library of Congress' Main Web Site
This is the portal, to all the resources and sites described both above and below. And to be in the know about the Library's activities at home and outside of Washington visit More Complete News and Events (bottom right on the homepage). Also, to get answers to questions about the Library of Congress click on About the Library. Here are the major links on the Library's Home page.

American Memory
With more than 7 million digital items from more than 100 historical collections, American Memory is a gateway to rich primary source materials relating to the history and culture of the United States. Click on "Collection Finder," and then click on "List All Collections." If you are new to the site, click on "Show Descriptions", then scroll down the page and read about the individual collections. The "Today in History" link provides fascinating possibilities for creative lessons. For example, select December 7 from the Archive and find a content-rich page dealing with the attack on Pearl Harbor and Americans' reaction to that attack, and then have your students compare/contrast it with the events of September 11. One caveat: the primary sources in American Memory come 'as is' without context or a textbook/encyclopedic explanation. While intriguing, they often raise more questions than they answer, making them a wonderful resource for building critical thinking and triggering engaged research. But it's a good idea to structure their use by limiting access to one or two collections or by providing a teacher prepared set of links that will ensure the successful and expedient use of the site.

Global Gateway
Teachers of World History and World Affairs (and in today's world, most teachers have become that) will appreciate the links to "Individual Digital Collections" that focus on international cultures and histories and the bilingual multimedia "Collaborative Digital Libraries," built with international partners. For example, "Parallel Histories: Spain, United States, & the American Frontier" is a wonderful opportunity for advanced Spanish students to read and compare Spanish and English versions. The page also offers many content-rich links at which one can discover unexpected treasures! For example, "Portals to the World" has an alphabetically arranged set of links for every country in the world, a wonderful place for students to explore.

America's Story from America's Library
The target audience for this bright and engaging Web site is the sixth grade student. However, children as young as second grade would enjoy using the site with parent/teacher help and older students appreciate the lighthearted introduction to American History and can use the site to kick off further research. There are five sections, each providing images, stories, and interactive activities.

• "Meet Amazing Americans" invites students to discover the inventors, politicians, performers, activists and other everyday people who made this country what it is today.
• "Jump Back in Time" aligns with the National History Standards to guide student exploration of American History.
• "Explore the States" provides a United States map for navigation and offers interesting images and stories to augment school studies.
• "Join America at Play" challenges students to discover America's favorite pastimes, sports and hobbies.
• "See, Hear and Sing" suggests that students "Watch a movie, hear a song, play a tune from America's past."
  
  Exhibitions
  A visit to the Library of Congress to view the exhibitions housed in the beautiful Jefferson Building should be on every tourist's to-do-list. Exhibitions are (which is well worth a visit, in and of itself!). The physical exhibitions are open to all ages, making their viewing a wonderful family or class outing. But for those who cannot be there in person, the Library shares them online in galleries. The galleries are archived for perpetual use on the Web. Try to not get teary-eyed when you bring up, from "American Treasures of the Library of Congress" the original drafts of The Declaration of Independence or the Emancipation Proclamation or the Gettysburg Address! Also, don't miss the beautiful and informative "Rivers Edens and Empires Lewis and Clark" and the "Revealing of America" exhibit, or the "Bob Hope and American Variety" exhibit. Then, scroll slowly down the home page and visit those exhibits that call to you!

The Wise Guide
Offering bright and breezy content for newcomers, this site is a wonderful place for adults to get started with the Library of Congress Web sites. Offered monthly, in a "magazine" styled format, the site pulls together content from throughout the Library to launch a user's further exploration. For example, clicking on "One Day Her Prince Did Come" brings up an introduction to the Library's Art Wood Collection of Caricature and Cartoon, a collection of 36,000 works by more than 2,800 artists. It's a comprehensive array ranging from political cartoons to comic strips, to animation "cells," (drawings on celluloid) including cells for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first American feature-length Technicolor animated cartoon. Each month's "edition" is archived when the new edition is published, so all editions can be accessed at any time.

This is just a brief overview of the wonderful treasures for educators at the Library of Congress websites. Do come and explore for yourself and for your students all that "the nation's library" has to offer!

Again, FOR-PD would like to thank Ms. Leni Donlan for allowing us to share this information with our facilitators. If you would like to email her personally, please do so at the link provided below. And, again, feel free to let us know how you feel about the information as well. We always love hearing from you all!

Email: Leni Donlan

What do you think about the Library of Congress going online for educators?

How can this rich resource benefit our K-12 teachers and students in Florida?

FOR-PD wants to know... email us at fff@orion.itrc.ucf.edu

In our continuing effort to benefit teachers' needs across the state, FOR-PD has established yet another tool for educators to use. This tool is FOR-PD's Reading Strategy of the Month. Each month wel feature an effective reading strategy, explaining the rationale behind the strategy, step-by-step directions on how to use the strategy with students, ideas for assessing the strategy, and, of course, a printable PDF version of the strategy itself that you can share with others and use yourself!

This month we are highlighting the Concept Definition Map that correlates with the information in Lesson 9. Vocabulary instruction must include elaboration of definitions, discussion, and writing. A logical place to begin vocabulary instruction is to teach students the qualities of a definition. However, there are several challenges in teaching vocabulary. How many words does a teacher teach? And, how important is it to remember to teach essential words well? Do not elaborate on ambiguous or unnecessary words. A strategy should always be used by first activating prior knowledge and then elaborate using words in writing and discussion. So take a look at information on the Concept Definition Map. There are also four specific grade level examples listed.

For last month's strategy we highlighted the Column Notes Strategy from lesson 3. We certainly hope that you will share this information with your participants and teachers at your school.

1. What are some key characteristics of a successful online learner?
2. What are some key characteristics of a successful facilitator of online learning?
3. What are 3-5 "must-dos" every facilitator should do to help students succeed in online classes?
4. With regard to your research and practice, how does communication, time management, and attitude come into play with regard to online learning?
5. How can students maintain active participation in their online class and become part of their online community?

• Be prepared by reading and preparing questions in advance
• Be in the right room and be on time
• Download, read, and follow a chat protocol for applicable symbols that could lead to easier viewing
• If you're a teacher or administrator and will be participating in the chat, talk with your library media specialist before the event about the study's findings, where your media program excels and where it needs improvement. If you're a media specialist, talk with a teacher or two about specifics you have done or might do together to improve student achievement. If logistics allow, we'd love to have teams of teachers and media specialists and administrators participate in the chat together.

Libby Kuleski (Flagler County) affirms the use of the protocol with:
"I really enjoyed this chat -- I like the protocols.
Thanks for all you do to keep us all on track."

FOR-PD Help Desk - We at the Help Desk are here to help you with any technical issues you come across in the course. Feel free to give us a call and give us the chance to help you through the problem. Also check out our new Troubleshooting section for help with the most common issues with the course and how to fix them.

Troubleshooting - We are adding a new section to the FOR-PD Courses called Troubleshooting. This is for you self-helpers out there to try and fix some of the most common course issues on your own. If you still can't fix your issue, then please give us a call and let us help you through it.

Help Desk Evaluation - We want your opinion on our Help Desk Support services. We have added an anonymous, optional survey on the Course menu for you to give us feedback on how we are doing with our Help Desk. This will help make us better and a more valuable service to you.

Please advise your participants that these new links are provided for their assistance, and they can utilize them as often as they need! And, please let us know at fff@orion.itrcu.ucf.edu what you think about our new additions to the course.

In an effort to accommodate the schedules and preferences of as many participants as possible this summer, we will be offering BOTH our standard 14 week session of the FOR-PD course, AND two accelerated 7 week sessions of the FOR-PD course.

PLEASE NOTE: Participants who opt to sign up for the accelerated sessions should be aware that the FOR-PD course offered during these accelerated sessions is the same FOR-PD course being offered during the standard 14 week session. The 7 week sessions are NOT abbreviated or less intensive sessions. During the accelerated 7 week sessions, participants will be expected to complete two lessons per week as opposed to the customary one lesson per week expected in our standard 14 week sessions.

Scheduling for the Summer 2004 sections is:

• FOR-PD Standard 14 week session: May 10- Aug 13, 2004
• FOR-PD Accelerated 7 week session: May 10- June 25, 2004
• FOR-PD Accelerated 7 week session: June 28- Aug 13, 2004

Online registration for these summer sections will begin April 5, 2004 and run through April 30, 2004.
You can access the online registration page at www.itrc.ucf.edu/forpd

1. FOR-PD will visit a school/district with a high amount of participation in order to provide technical or informational support as needed.
2. FOR-PD will visit a school/district with low participation in order to provide promotional support to further any needed information on the project and what it has to bestow on classroom teachers.
3. FOR-PD will visit a school/district that specifically requests any support that falls within the realm of FOR-PD expertise.

Each month we have been focusing on great FOR-PD examples of the tips from Lesson 4 of your FOR-PD Facilitator Training and Certification Course. Regrettably we have reached the final FOR-PD Facilitator Tip offering as we have successfully given and shown examples of ALL 10 through each of our last ten FFF eNewsletters! We have really enjoyed giving a big FOR-PD salute to some of the great facilitators who have masterfully demonstrated their ability to be a Fine FOR-PD Facilitator! However, we do not mind doing it! If you're interested in continuing to read about the FOR-PD Facilitator Tips, please email us at fff@orion.itrc.ucf.edu. This month we are highlighting the following (one of our favorites):

10. Maintain a sense of humor. Humor can ease stress, reveal your personality, and help form a cohesive group. Be sure you take yourself lightly, but education and the course seriously. Avoid sarcasm and be aware that sometimes what you think is funny, others may think is insulting or a put-down. Be careful and think before you hit "send!"

Last month we focused on "managing your time." This month we are looking at maintaining a sense of humor. Humor can be a particularly useful tool. Some manuals on online communication specifically warn against its use. It's certainly true that humor can easily be misunderstood. Humor - or, more precisely, jokes - can, on occasion or with alternative, unintended interpretations, cause offense. There are many forms of humor, such as whimsy puns, droll expression, and comic anecdotes. Any of these with careful attention to possible alternative interpretations, can serve an important role in moving dialogue forward. Without having access to the spontaneous humor that occurs in a live context, you the facilitator may need to consciously inject some humor into assignments and postings, as in the following examples from our very own FOR-PD Facilitators:

Mary Bigwood (Brevard County) is offering a touch of humor to her participants:

"I will be away for a few days on a trip to Yokosuka with the girl's high school soccer team. It is a 12 hour trip on a bus, so believe me I would rather be here in front of my computer grading your discussions!"

Another great example comes from Dr. Donna Baumbach (University of Central Florida) who was able to add serious humor during the March chat.

In referencing a question from Dr. Vicky Zygouris-Coe about the role of media specialists in the reading reforms, Dr. Donna Baumbach says "It seems there are reading teachers and media specialists, and they often live on different planets?" Then she later says..."Media Specialists are from Mars...teachers are from Venus? or what's that new planet?"

See, if you're missing the chats... you're really missing out on some good stuff!

Dear FOR-PD Facilitators,

FOR-PD has received requests from various counties and individuals as to whether or not they can copy/paste the material from the course into various documents of their own, and I thought that I should address it as a whole.

First of all, let me say WOW! It is a wonderful compliment for FOR-PD. The FOR-PD content is copyrighted material--it has been developed in collaboration with various Florida literacy and technology experts. The FOR-PD content is not available to the public; instead, it is aimed to be used with FOR-PD registered participants, only.

However, our rich database of resources and our newly developed database of reading strategies are available to the public through our website http://www.itrc.ucf.edu/resources/.

Thank you, again, for your interest in and satisfaction with FOR-PD.

Respectfully yours,
Felicity

Send us your classroom reading success stories and FOR-PD reading strategies you have been implementing. Do you have any "funny" stories from your FOR-PD classes? Send your contributions to fff@orion.itrc.ucf.edu.

Susan Ehr (Lee County), writes:

"I am presently taking the FOR-PD course through UCF, Catherine Glass, Facilitator. I LOVE THIS COURSE!! I am learning so much that will help me to be a better English teacher! THANK YOU!"

Ken Leupold (Hardee County), writes:

"Your FOR-PD class is awesome. Do you have any other classes to meet the reading endorsement scheduled for any time in the near future?"

 

 

The Reading Rockets Events Calendar is an online, up to date listing of local and national literacy conferences, events, and workshops. Florida is well represented and might serve you/your district well to know what's going on in "your neck of the woods."

If you'll notice, the 6th Annual Literacy Symposium on April 17th at the University of Central Florida, College of Education in Orlando, Florida is also represented in the calendar.

And, did you also know that it's National Poetry Month? Library Media Month? Holocaust Remembrance Month?

Many times we teachers happen upon information in our "mailbox" at school that is always a neat addition to the pile that tends to accumulate on our desk or on top of our file cabinet. One item that Dr. Zygouris-Coe brought back to my memory is those nifty little monthly calendars that are full of interesting facts of the month. You can download the April calendar from Teacher Created Materials, Inc. with such facts as Author Beverly Cleary's birthday on April 12, 1916, Webster's first dictionary published on April 14 of 1828, or William Shakespeare's birthday on April 23, 1564.

You can also check out the Teacher Created Materials, Inc. homepage to view other online free products such as lesson plans, activities, and professional development ideas. They also provide a monthly teaching tip. This month they focus on a vocabulary activity to inspire learning.

Our very own Vicky Zygouris-Coe is among 10 nominees for the Women of Magic Award sponsored by the Orlando Sentinel and Magic 107.7 radio! These ten women will be selected to be honored for their contributions to the community at an awards luncheon on April 7, 2004 at The Ballroom at Church Street. For more information, call 407-650-6485 or email us at womenofmagic@orlandosentinel.com.

FOR-PD wishes Dr. Zygouris-Coe the best of luck! But, we know she's already a winner in our eyes!

Come join us for a day of fun and learning on April 17, 2004 in the UCF College of Education Gymnasium from 8:30AM - 3PM. Our keynote speaker will be Sharon M. Draper, award winning author, educator and recipient of the 2004 Coretta Scott King Honor Book Award for her novel, The Battle of Jericho.

Symposium topics include:

• Engaging Students with Text
• Literacy & Technology
• Leveled Reading Books
• Motivating Struggling Readers

To register for the Literacy Symposium see the online registration now at: http://www.itrc.ucf.edu/litsym/

Application deadline for UCF's Reading Certificate program is April 15. The University of Central Florida is the FIRST university to officially be approved by the Department of Education for it's Reading Graduate Certificate Program. The purpose of the graduate certificate is to provide classroom teachers with a concentrated emphasis on research-based strategies for teaching reading. The UCF approved program prepares classroom teachers that are interested in acquiring the reading endorsement through college credits instead of in-service points or the add-on approach recognized by school districts. The program will total 18 hours instead of the prescribed 15 hours for the endorsement because of the 6 hours required by the university for its reading practicum.

If you are interested in registering, you can access it here.

"I applaud our nation's teachers for their dedication to their profession and their commitment to helping all children learn. Their passion is my passion, and I look forward to continuing the partnership with educators and states to help all students excel academically." US Secretary of Education - Rod Paige

El día de los niños/El día de los libros: a celebration of children, families, and reading is held annually on April 30. The celebration emphasizes the importance of advocating literacy for every child regardless of linguistic and cultural background.  To learn more, see this ALA site for web resources.

"Reading Rocks!" is a new program in the "Launching Young Readers" series, and will air on public television stations across the country beginning in April 2004. The first five episodes of "Launching Young Readers" will also be re-released by PBS in April. The program features ordinary kids who struggle with reading. Each of them has found a way to not give up and to give reading another chance. Their stories are told with humor and honesty. Young viewers will become motivated and inspired to not feel so isolated and alone in their struggles at school.

Do you have parents that inquire on how to assist their children in their development of literacy skills? Do you struggle yourself to give advice or activities that could lead to a better "relationship" between your students and reading development? The Reading Rockets site for Home Support is an excellent resource. It not only gives ideas on how to increase student motivation, but also supplies educators/parents with activities to help, and gives family literacy programs to become involved in. Check this one out!

Thinking Reader is an innovative, research-validated program that systematically builds reading comprehension skills for students reading below grade level. The program presents core, authentic literature—the books your whole class reads—in a highly motivating and supportive environment. It embeds prompts, hints, model answers, and instant feedback into the text to provide individualized instruction. Students practice and master 7 scientifically proven reading comprehension strategies while they read. The program does come at a small cost. For specific information, go to http://www.teachtsp.com/thinkingreader/kit.asp - Scholastic once again comes through with another wonderful program to assist students.

US Secretary of Education, Rod Paige announced three new policies related to the "highly qualified teacher" that could be of interest to many FOR-PD teachers currently seeking employment through the state or curious as to know what direction the "No Child Left Behind Act" is going. A recent press release has announced three new, flexible policies on the term "highly qualified teacher." Educators may also be interested in downloading a PDF file (61 KB) for the New No Child Left Behind Flexibility.

Florida Department of Education put out a memo in PDF version with information regarding sixth grade teachers NO LONGER needing the reading endorsement: "teachers teaching reading to sixth grade middle school classes, as long as the teacher is experienced and certified in elementary education, either K-6 or 1-6." If this information applies to you, print it out for your records. If this information does NOT apply to you, but you know of others that would benefit from it, please pass on the information!

Did you know it is National Library Week April 18-24? Press materials, programming suggestions and display ideas to help promote National Library Week can be found on the Campaign for America’s Libraries website  in both English and Spanish. Just click on the National Library Week icon. The site includes a link to National Library Week products available from ALA Graphics, including a poster, bookmark, and CD of customizable artwork.

All America Reads (AAR) is an ongoing nationwide project designed to encourage reading and discussion. The project selects a novel and provides numerous lesson plans and resources for educators and students. The lesson plans/strategies are outlined so neatly, and they are provided in four categories of before, during, after, and vocabulary strategies. Or you could download the strategies directly at http://www.allamericareads.org/lessonplan/pdf.htm.

"How wonderful is it that nobody need wait a single minute before starting to improve the world?" Anne Frank
Random Acts of Kindness is not just a term; it is actually a lesson that many educators would like to teach their students. The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation is a website dedicated to helping educators become more involved with instructing their students of the benefits of kind acts and words. The foundation provides lesson plans for elementary, middle, and high school teachers to share with their students. The site also provides links on free downloadable bookmarks, inspirational quotes, and inspirational stories. Check this one out!

Have you ever wondered how you could individualize instruction just a touch easier than it is, using technology to assist you? Take a look at this book chapter by CAST staff members, Drs. David Rose and Bridget Dalton, reprinted with permission of the publisher. Reference: Rose, D. & Dalton, B. (2002). Using Technology to Individualize Reading Instruction. In C.C. Block, L. B. Gambrell & M. Pressley (Eds.), Improving comprehension instruction: Rethinking research, theory, and classroom practice (pp. 257-274). San Francisco: Jossey Bass Publishers. It looks at changes in modern technology, human learning, and the future of teaching reading comprehension. Take a few moments and read: http://www.cast.org/udl/index.cfm?i=3096.

Don't forget! The facilitator manual with many added goodies and those much needed "life savers" is available for your convenience online at /facilitators/manual.html

VERY IMPORTANT ADDITION! Due to new UCF requirements, we must have a W-9 Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification on file in order to process your facilitator payments. You will only need to fill out this form and fax it to us one time. You should have received a copy of the form in an attachment of an email sent on April 1. You may fax it to our office at 407-207-4965. If you need a copy of the W-9 Request form, please email us at forpdfac@mail.ucf.edu. In the future, we will not be able to process your facilitator payments unless we have this form on file.

Return to the FOR-PD Home Page
Last updated April 2, 2004
Contact us at forpd@mail.ucf.edu

A project of the Instructional Technology Resource Center at the University of Central Florida.
Funded by the Florida Department of Education and Just Read Florida!