FITTING CURRICULUM TO CHILD; TEN DISTRICTS' TEACHERS GO TO SCHOOL.Byline: Krystn Shrieve Staff Writer About 100 elementary school elementary school: see school. teachers in Ventura County are heading for the classroom this week to bone up on their instructional techniques before students return next month. Teachers from 10 districts - including those in Simi Valley Simi Valley (sē`mē, sĭm`ē), city (1990 pop. 100,217), Ventura co., SW Calif. in an oil, fruit, and farm region; laid out 1887, inc. 1969. , Moorpark and Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. - are attending the weeklong Reading Professional Development Institute at California Lutheran University Mission statement The University's mission statement is as follows: "California Lutheran University is a diverse, scholarly community dedicated to excellence in the liberal arts and professional studies. . The program is among many being held this summer at universities across California to help an estimated 6,000 kindergarten through third-grade teachers improve the ways they deal with students. ``The teachers will learn a series of assessments so they will know where their students stand and which direction the instruction should go next,'' said Susana Dutro, who was trained by the state to help conduct the institute. ``Before, we looked at what the teachers were doing in terms of instruction rather than what the children were actually learning.'' The 8-hour-a-day sessions focus on the reading process and how to approach phonics phonics Method of reading instruction that breaks language down into its simplest components. Children learn the sounds of individual letters first, then the sounds of letters in combination and in simple words. , spelling and comprehension skills. Lori Kissinger, an institute leader and reading specialist in the Conejo Valley Unified School District Conejo Valley Unified School District or CVUSD is a school district in Ventura County. It serves Thousand Oaks, California and its subsections Newbury Park and Westlake Village. , said teachers are learning reading games they can play with students and also how to create flexible schedules so they can spend more time with students who need extra help. With the establishment of the state's Stanford 9 test, whose second-year results were released this spring, assessing how well students are learning has become more of a focus, organizers say. And now that assessment tests are allowing teachers to see how well their students have learned the curriculum, the challenge for teachers is to adjust their program to fit the needs of each child in the classroom. Diane Fisher Rev. Elder Diane Fisher serves as an elder (something broadly like a bishop) of the Metropolitan Community Church. She serves Region 5, which covers eastern Canada, the northeastern United States and much of central and eastern Europe. , a first-grade teacher at Glenwood Elementary School Glenwood Elementary School is a public elementary school in Langley, British Columbia, a part of School District 35 Langley. Students from Glenwood were involved in The Langley Schools Music Project in 1976-77. in Thousand Oaks, said she makes use of classroom volunteers who can work with some students while she spends time with those who need attention. She also teams up with other teachers or even works with kids during recess. ``Volunteers and other teachers can help out while I work in a corner with a smaller group,'' Fisher said. ``You do anything you can to find little pockets of time to be with these kids.'' Cambria Tooley, a second-grade teacher at Walnut Canyon Elementary School in Moorpark, said she is glad that the state is training so many teachers and that the skills she is learning will be the same as those used by other teachers. But Tooley admits that the new focus on how much students have learned is a little frightening. ``We used to be accountable for teaching material, but not for whether the students have learned it,'' Tooley said. ``It's up to us - there are no more excuses. We can't say that maybe the student didn't eat breakfast, or didn't get enough sleep, or doesn't get help from parents at home.'' Melinda Carillo, a teacher leader from the Rio Elementary School District in Oxnard, said many teachers at the institute felt the state's Stanford 9 test doesn't always give an adequate picture of what their students know. ``At the end of the year I know my students knew the stuff on the assessment test,'' said second-grade teacher Yolanda Gasbeck. ``But the results showed them only scoring in the 50th percentile percentile, n the number in a frequency distribution below which a certain percentage of fees will fall. E.g., the ninetieth percentile is the number that divides the distribution of fees into the lower 90% and the upper 10%, or that fee level . I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. if they were nervous or overwhelmed. But I know they knew it.'' Pam Chasse chas·sé n. A ballet movement consisting of one or more quick gliding steps with the same foot always leading. intr.v. chas·séd, chas·sé·ing, chas·sés To perform this movement. , principal at Glenwood Elementary School in Thousand Oaks, said her staff began creating additional methods of assessing their students not just annually, but monthly, weekly and even daily. ``When you go into teaching, you have to make sure your students are learning,'' Chasse said during one of the two daily workshops. ``It's scary, but important. We don't fit the child to the curriculum. We fit the curriculum to the child.'' CAPTION(S): 3 Photos PHOTO (1--Color) Teachers leaders Mina Flores Flores, town, Guatemala Flores (flōrəs), town (1990 est. pop. 2,200), capital of Petén department, N Guatemala. Flores was built on an island in the southern part of Lake Petén Itzá and on the site of the , left, and Amee Stoll read a kindergarten level book to the participants in the workshop on reading. (2--Color) Teachers Stephanie Douglas, left, and Amy Bujold work in class. (3) Crystal Mart from the Las Virgenes School District enjoys a joke during a teachers reading workshop. Lilly Barrett/Special to the Daily News |
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