#DataRules: Analyzing NYC Teacher Evaluation Data

Data is lot like people - it yields little information unless it is queried with insight, sincerity and respect. #datarules

Blogger Gary Rubenstein provides insightful analysis on the inciteful NYC teacher evaluation data released recently. Check out his findings in Part 1 and Part 2.

Thanks, Gary, for providing a link to the datasets for further study: Download datasets

Big Ideas About Reading & Writing: Using Six-Word "Stories" To Improve Writing Skills

By Derrick Brown (Email) (follow on Twitter @dbrowndbrown)

 

Writing is organized thought.

The more students write, the more they think critically.

The more they think critically, the more they learn, create, lead, and solve problems.

To encourage their love of writing and their skill level (while maintaining their interest), try having them write six-word "stories" about topics of interest.

Collect your students' entries and display them as a powerful bulletin board!

A six-word contest on what it means to be a great teacher became my recent inspiration to catalyze civil discourse on education reform …...

1. Awareness is as important as knowledge.
2. Lifelong learners make the best teachers.
3. Students love teachers who love them.
4. Students learn from people they love.
5. Teach students - not subjects and tests.
6. Teaching diameter determined our knowledge circumference.
7. All inputs and processes influence outcomes.
8. Accountable adult relationships can improve schools.
9. Creative problem solving trumps blame shifting.
10. Civil discourse between dissenters promotes growth.

Check out this other inspired example:

150-Word Commencement Address

Please share your thoughts on these "Big Ideas" and best practices by leaving comments below. Email us or follow us on Twitter @dbrowndbrown to submit your own "Big Ideas" and best practices!

 

Copyright © 2012 Derrick  Brown. All Rights Reserved.

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"Now You Know" History Quiz Bowl Posters (Volume 1) - PERFECT for Black History Month!

Download it at http://bit.ly/tpt_nyk_posters_v1!

"Now You Know" is a gameshow played in the tradition of "Jeopardy" that presents the exploits of extraordinary people in an inspiring, "edutaining" way. Volume I presents 50 inspiring people via individual 8.5" x 11" posters ready to laminate and post in your classroom!

Table Of Contents
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar    4
Jack ("Jackie") Roosevelt Robinson    5
Oprah Winfrey    6
Civil Rights Institute    7
Tim Reid    8
Bernice Johnson Reagon    9
Howard University    10
John Conyers    11
Million Man March (1995)    12
Halle Berry    13
Julianne Malveaux    14
Johann Gutenberg    15
Dr. Benjamin E. Mays    16
Booker Taliafero Washington    17
Arthur Ashe    18
Barack Obama    19
Henry Hampton    20
Marva Collins    21
Jim Brown    22
Maurice Ashley    23
Maya Angelou    24
Ossie Davis    25
Charles Darrow    26
Althea Gibson    27
Shirley Chisholm    28
Eldrick “Tiger” Woods    29
Peter Bynoe    30
Tyler Perry    31
Elder Bernice King    32
Harry Belafonte    33
Willy T. Ribbs    34
Bob Beamon    35
Luther Vandross    36
Sophia Stewart    37
Nas    38
Maceo Parker    39
Harriet Tubman    40
Oscar Micheaux    41
Paul LeRoy Bustill Robeson    42
Sojourner Truth    43
Charlie Parker    44
Stevie Wonder    45
Will Smith    46
Richard Franklin Lenox Thomas Pryor    47
Tina Turner    48
Nichelle Nichols    49
Vivien Theodore Thomas    50
Walter Jerry Payton    51
Mary J. Blige    52
Calvin Cordozar Broadus (AKA “Snoop Dogg”)    53

Writing Your First Business Plan (Writing Project)

Download it at http://bit.ly/tpt_wyfbp!

Do you have a good idea, but just do not know how to start implementing it? Take the first step by writing a simple plan that helps you understand not just your vision, but the mission you must execute and the steps you must take to realize that vision. Understand how your experiences and insights have uniquely positioned you to build an enterprise that serves people and acquires resources.

There are 7 assignments in this class that you will use to produce a 3-5-page simple business plan and budget …

1. (Assignment 1) What is the concept?
2. (Assignment 2) What skills and qualities do I possess that will help me implement this concept?
a. What skills and qualities must I seek in my partners?
3. (Assignment 3, 4) How am I going to market this concept?
4. (Assignment 5) How much do I need to finance this concept, and how will I get that financing?
5. (Assignment 6) What do I need to learn, and what will I do first?
6. (Assignment 7) How do synthesize everything I learned in Assignments 1-6 to write my first business plan?

HISTORhYmes (1-2-Week Poetry & Literacy Activity)

Listen to it here!

Download it here!

HISTORhYmes is a 1-2-week literacy activity that enhances reading comprehension, grammar, and writing skills by using the creative imaginations of young people to present stories about historical and contemporary figures. The activity also incorporates supporting elements of the performing arts, entrepreneurship, and computer & Internet literacy.

Students are surveyed about their personal interests, and are then provided biographies of people whose life stories can simultaneously mentor and inspire the students.

The students are then asked to retell the biography using various forms of creative expression (poems, monologues, skits, rhymes, etc.). For example, during a previous activity we explored the differing views and philosophies of W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington. We also explored how their experiences shaped their clashing views on African-American advancement and empowerment after the abolishment of slavery.

W.E.B. and Booker T.

 (By Kwame' Baldwin, Gerzzell Carter, Tia Moreland, Ricky White, Jimmie Fair, and Derrick Brown)

(Chorus 1) W.E.B.

Founded the NAACP

'Cause he had a beef with Booker T.

'Bout how Black folks could be free

(Chorus 2) Now Booker T.

Wrote "Up From Slavery"

Used the money to fund Tuskegee

To create our Black bourgeoisie

W.E.B. called the "few and the bold"

To impart wisdom to the young and the old

Perhaps this theory is a bit oversold

'Cause are we really free, or have we just been paroled?

(Repeat Chorus 1, Chorus 2)

Now Booker T. said, "To lift up a man,

You take him from 'I can't' and teach him to say 'I can'

Teach him how to fish, put him down with the plan"

But does my business sense make me more than "less than"?

(Repeat Chorus 1, Chorus 2)

 

Copyright © 2020 Derrick  Brown. All Rights Reserved.

Character Education Visual Dictionary

Download it at http://bitly.com/tpt_cevd!

Maturity is achieved when your character and personality complement and illustrate a loving heart.

This character education visual dictionary presents 78 key terms along with illustrative images on 8.5" x 11" slides.

The slides are suitable for posting on word walls and bulletin boards. The PDF can also be displayed on teacher and/or student computers.

Table of Contents

ACCOUNTABLE    6
ACHIEVEMENT    7
ANGER    8
ASSUME    9
ATTITUDE    10
AUTHORITY    11
CALM    12
CAPABLE    13
CARING    14
CHARACTER    15
CITIZENSHIP    16
COMMIT    17
COMMUNICATE    18
COMPASSION    19
COMPOSURE    20
CONFIDENCE    21
CONFLICT    22
CONFRONT    23
CONSIDERATE    24
CONSISTENT    25
CONTENT    26
CONTROL    27
COOPERATION    28
COURAGE    29
COURTESY    30
CREATIVITY    31
DECENCY    32
DEPENDABLE    33
DETERMINATION    34
DIDACTIC    35
DILIGENT    36
DIPLOMACY    37
DISCERN    38
DISCIPLINE    39
DOGMATIC    40
DUTY    41
EFFORT    42
EMPATHY    43
ENTHUSIASM    44
EQUALITY    45
ESTEEM    46
FAIR    47
FEARLESS    48
FEELINGS    49
FORGIVE    50
FRIEND    51
GENEROUS    52
GENTLE    53
GOSSIP    54
GRATITUDE    55
GROWTH    56
HABITS    57
HAPPINESS    58
HARMONY    59
HEAL    60
HELPFUL    61
HONESTY    62
HONOR    63
HOPE    64
HUMILITY    65
HUMOR    66
IMPATIENT    67
INDEPENDENT    68
INITIATIVE    69
INTEGRITY    70
INTELLIGENT    71
KNOWLEDGE    72
LAZY    73
LEADER    74
LIKE    75
LOVE    76
LOYAL    77
PEACE    78
POWER    79
PRINCIPLE    80
PROBLEMS    81
PURPOSE    82
WORK ETHIC    83

Microsoft Excel Functions Workbook, Volume 1

Download it at http://bit.ly/tpt_exv1!

This is an Excel 97-2003 workbook collection of 9 project-based, problem solving spreadsheet exercises (with complete keys - SEE PREVIEW) that help students learn to use the following powerful Microsoft Excel functions:

IF
CEILING
CHOOSE
CONCATENATE
COUNTBLANK
RANK
SUM

Each exercise generally takes between 1 and 2 full class periods to complete. I take 10-15 minutes to explain the problem, the deliverable, and the tools, and then let the students work independently or in small groups.

I created these for the Microsoft Excel portion of my 9th-grade Computer Applications class, but also integrated them into my Geomtery, Algebra 2, and Pre-Engineering classes as projects in later years.

Developing a Microsoft Excel skill set is just that important for college-bound students and teachers!