Hello everyone!  My name is Elaine Stappenbeck and I have been in the Erlanger/Elsmere School District for all 11 years of my education career.  I am not originally from KY, but thought it would be a great place to start my career, not too close to mom, but not too far either!  I taught 7th grade math for 8 years and then became the Assistant Principal.  I have just completed my 3rd year as the assistant.  I am currently finishing up my Rank 1.  I am taking this class and completing my Superintendent Certification.  I am really excited about the different things we are going to learn in this class, especially with the use of technology.  This is my first blogging experience so here goes!

I have chosen the book 21st Century Skills:  Rethinking How Students Learn.  I believe this book will help guide us in the proper thinking for 21st Learning.  I haven't read very far, but I have already learned so much of what steps I want to take as an administrator and the steps I want my teachers to start taking so we prepare our students for the business world.  One thing I have learned from this book on engaging learners is we need to look at our grading.  Linda Darling-Hammond is being interviewed by one of the authors, James Bellanca.  They are talking about how the US is starting to fall behind the other countries.  Darling-Hammond says this is because we are not giving authentic assessments.  He asks her, "Why do you call this kind of assessment "authentic"?"  Darling-Hammond tells him, "This type of assessment is like the development of expertise in the real world-or authentic-world by real workers."  She goes on to say that in the business world people don't just sit and do.  Sometimes things take time or revisions.  For example, a writer doesn't just sit and write an article or book.  There are many drafts and revisions before there is a final product.  We must take that into account when we are assessing students.  They are not engaged when they are taking meaningless multiple choice tests.  We need to provide them with an authentic assessment that means something to them and their education.

Secondly, Robin Fogarty and Brian Pete talk about the concept of Teach Less, Learn More.  They say, "Teach Less, Learn More speaks to lifelong, life-fulfilling, and life-sustaining learning."  Teach Less, Learn More is student centered.  Students learn by doing and take more responsibility in their own learning.  Teachers are teaching less, less teacher talk, sit and get, etc.  Students need more hands-on, collaborative engagements, and multimodal learning in the classroom.  The teacher needs to be more of a facilitator.  Students have to be engaged and taking ownership!

Lastly, two iniatives our district is adding to our curriculum is LDC and MDC models.  Literacy Design Collaborative is way to engage learners and focus is more towards 21st Century Learning.  We have completed our first year with LDC with our language arts department.  They saw huge gains in students' writing.  We are now going to take this to other disciplines and incorporate the LDC model into their class writings.  This is more of an application piece of what the students have learned.  We are also attending MDC training this year.  From what I have been told this incorporates FALs.  We are really excited about these models and are looking forward to the progress of our student body.