A little concerned about Tools of the Mind

[Anonymous]

i came away from turque's piece wondering why he didn't name the schools using ToM?? not even a link?? i can't find any list at DCPS. i would really like to know! anyone? anyone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i came away from turque's piece wondering why he didn't name the schools using ToM?? not even a link?? i can't find any list at DCPS. i would really like to know! anyone? anyone?

DCPS probably doesn't want them named. DCPS would be swamped with requests to get little Suzy out if this "untested program" and by other requests to get little Donny into TOM ("it is perfect for him and his chance had advancment will be forever ruined if he doesn't get into a school with TOM. Plus, plenty of "but why does school G get TOM, but school H doesn't? That is RACIST!" sprinkled on top.

[Anonymous]

Powell, Simon, Ross

[Anonymous]

Garfield

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a PreK teacher I dont agree that ToM should be used as a curriculum. As stated earlier it's a set of strategies. I have a balance of academics and play in my classroom. I teach in a place where my students cannot afford to play catch up in K, and need as much of a head start as they can get. 90% of my students last year mastered 100% of the objectives stated by GOLD (the assessment tool). A few of my students were reading by the end of last year.

It sounds as though you don't quite grasp what ToM is, or why the development of executive function is critical. Frankly, whether x% of students mastered y% of objectives stated by z assessment tool is irrelevant. And no one gets a prize for reading at 5 rather than 6. We should be playing the "long game".

[Anonymous]

Please forgive me, I did not mean to typr Ross. Many of the school in SE (not capitol hill) use Tools of the Mind and m any Title I schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i came away from turque's piece wondering why he didn't name the schools using ToM?? not even a link?? i can't find any list at DCPS. i would really like to know! anyone? anyone?

Maybe Turque asked and DCPS didn't tell him.

[Anonymous]

DCPS is bringing in a company to help assess students who are getting ToM this year. We had to sign a permission slip for the evaluations at our school. Not sure if they are also assessing students at schools who aren't using it, to compare progress?

[Anonymous]

Ladies and Gentlemen: This is, once again, all about money. Another contract somewhere for yet another strategy. It's all recycled, the bad and good always come back. When Rhee came on board she got rid of a great writing program that Sheila Ford (I think?), former Mann principal, had introduced. It, too, had great results and had spread from Mann to Hyde to Ross and several other schools. When I heard this was being cut it was my first step away from DCPS and toward private. Good luck, young friends.

[Anonymous]

Flavor of the month...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DCPS seems to be using some TOM strategies in k-1st. Does anyone think centers are somewhat chaotic? Maybe it's because we have a big class, but a couple of times I've volunteered it was just plain loud. Most kids seemed fine. A few looked pretty overwhelmed.

I haven't read lots of background. Does class size matter for implementation?

tia

Centers - a common classroom structure in an early childhood classroom - can be great with 4 students or with 26. It just depends on the management and the implementation by the teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS is bringing in a company to help assess students who are getting ToM this year. We had to sign a permission slip for the evaluations at our school. Not sure if they are also assessing students at schools who aren't using it, to compare progress?

Really If so, more $$ to consulting firms.

Not that it isn't important to evaluate a pilot program, but it seems that evaluation, rather than learning, is DCPS main focus.

Are teacher evaluations going to be tied into progress in ToM too? It seems like the logical next step.

[Anonymous]

It's usually the consulting firms that are the only ones gain from this type of incidents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS is bringing in a company to help assess students who are getting ToM this year. We had to sign a permission slip for the evaluations at our school. Not sure if they are also assessing students at schools who aren't using it, to compare progress?

Really If so, more $$ to consulting firms.

Not that it isn't important to evaluate a pilot program, but it seems that evaluation, rather than learning, is DCPS main focus.

Are teacher evaluations going to be tied into progress in ToM too? It seems like the logical next step.

This. Unbelievable.

[Anonymous]

Let the kids be kids at this age.