Kentucky Teacher

Language arts teacher Erin Yates, center, shows 8th-grade students Deja Rozier and Olivia Lenberger the websites Tween Tribune and Teen Ink for their summer reading pleasure at Fredrick Law Olmstead Academy South (Jefferson County).

Traditionally, students are sent home at the end of the school year with a summer reading list chocked full of fictional literature.

That’s something that needs to change, according to Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) literacy consultants MK Hardaway and Synthia Shelby and teachers like Erin Yates.

Both Hardaway and Shelby agree that students deserve more freedom in book selection and that other avenues for different forms of text should be embraced.

“As adults, we enjoy choosing the books we read on a daily basis,” Hardaway said. “However, when we send home booklists for the summer, it seems much more structured for students. Why? Why don’t we give them a little more freedom by providing them with books that may interest them? We should provide websites that encourage not only reading, but also questioning, analyzing, critiquing, comparing, contrasting and synthesizing ideas.” Continue Reading

By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

Teach for America teacher Liz Selden helps sophomore Alicia Wilder with angle measurements during geometry class at Leslie County High School. Photo by Amy Wallot, March 28, 2012

Leslie County High School mathematics teacher Liz Selden saw a disturbing trend during two years of classroom observations, practicums and student teaching at the University of Georgia.

“I realized there were a large number of kids who were coming into classrooms well below grade level,” she said. “I worked in a low-income area in Georgia, and I was told this is a common problem. However I was continually shocked and frustrated when kids were passed on to the next grade, still below grade level.

“This cycle made me realize as a teacher I needed more training to catch my students up to get them on level.”

Alix Smith teaches middle and high school Spanish at Lynn Camp School in Knox County, and she saw a similar problem while in college.

“The idea of educational inequity was implausible to me until I started volunteering in the community outside of my college in Fredericksburg, Va.,” the University of Mary Washington graduate said. “I recognized the children I tutored were consistently denied the opportunity to be successful.”

Both teachers saw a need and an opportunity to make a difference through Teach For America (TFA), a national non-profit organization that gives recent college graduates and professionals intensive training in teaching practices and asks them to commit two years to teach in economically-depressed areas. Continue Reading

By Susan Riddell
susan.riddell@education.ky.gov

Math intervention specialist Suzanne Maynard works on a number line with kindergarten students Makylie Morris and Makenna Fletcher at Southside Elementary School (Pike County). Photo by Amy Wallot, April 10, 2012

Southside Elementary School (Pike County) Principal Jill Maynard has been at her school since it first opened its doors 15 years ago. In that time, she’s seen many changes. One thing that hasn’t changed, however, is the family feel of the school.

“We are blessed to have such a unique family,” said Maynard, who is finishing up her first year as the school’s principal. “Our administration, faculty and staff believe we must create an atmosphere of mutual respect where students and teachers are involved in the learning process. We believe that all students will succeed, and we work diligently each day to accomplish this success.”

Southside Elementary was rewarded for its diligent work when the school was named a 2011 National Blue Ribbon School along with four other Kentucky public schools.

Suzanne Maynard (no relation) has been at Southside Elementary since the school opened. She currently serves as the school’s mathematics intervention teacher, focusing on K-3 mathematics. She said another constant has been academic success.

“We have always maintained high standardized test scores,” Suzanne Maynard said. “Teachers have clear learning targets with high expectations for all students.” Continue Reading

By Tracy Goff-Herman
tracy.herman@education.ky.gov

Mayfield Elementary School (Mayfield Independent) 3rd-grade teacher Kim Smith speaks with state Rep. Rita Smart, D-Richmond, and state Rep. Linda Belcher, D-Shepherdsville, after giving emotional testimony regarding teachers work hours during a House Education Committee meeting. Photo by Amy Wallot, March 13 , 2012

After 60 days, the 2012 Regular Session of the General Assembly has finished its work with 1,407 bills considered and a new state budget that covers the next two fiscal years.

Gov. Steve Beshear vetoed several budget measures, including some new initiatives that were passed without any money to support them. 

Here’s a look at some of the budget and legislative highlights:

Budget

With the continuing national recession, Kentucky’s revenue situation hasn’t improved.

As such, the newly enacted budget reflects additional cuts to operating and program budgets. HB 265 contains the state operating budget for the next two years.

Several key P-12 education spending measures  spending measures were included in the budget. That includes the total Support Education Excellence in Kentucky (SEEK) appropriation is $2,899,840,800 for each year of the biennium.

The base per-pupil allocation is set at $3,833 in FY 11 and $3,827 in FY 12.

In addition to SEEK, the budget:

• Contains disaster day language will allow school districts impacted by the March tornadoes more flexibility in calculating attendance.
• Includes language that requires SEEK funds to be directed to two National Guard Academies.
• Adds $600,000 in spending over the biennium for hearing, speech and visually-impaired learning centers, but doesn’t include any additional funds to pay for those designated programs. Continue Reading

By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

Principal Ron Combs, right, observes 7th-grade math teacher Robin Pennington as part of the teacher effectiveness training at LBJ Elementary School (Breathitt County). Photo by Amy Wallot, April 5, 2012

Though it’s been a while since Instructional Supervisor Joy Gooding was teaching, she still remembers what it was like getting an evaluation. The 32-year Fleming County school district educator said her principal would come into her room on an appointed day and she would give an introductory lesson where she got to be center stage.

“It was a performance,” she said. “It was a one-shot thing. It didn’t necessarily affect my practice every other day of the year.”

From what she has seen as part of the field test of the state’s proposed Teacher and Leader Professional Growth and Effectiveness System, she would much prefer to be a teacher now, Gooding said.

She has been facilitating the work of five Fleming County High School teachers as part of the field test, and she said her conversations have been “rich and thoughtful.” One of the veteran teachers told Gooding it was the first time she’d ever had a conversation with an administrator about her professional growth plan.

Kentucky educators have been working on the proposed professional growth and effectiveness system for two years. Fifty-four districts are field testing parts of the proposed system for the remainder of this school year, and they will test all parts of the system next school year. Schools statewide will pilot the new system in the 2013-14 school year, and it will be added to the Unbridled Learned assessment and accountability system in 2014-15. Continue Reading

By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

Tyler Wright reviews a common core standards workbook to prepare for the K-PREP tests during Stephanie Sanders’ 8th-grade reading class at Page School Center (Bell County). Photo by Amy Wallot, Feb. 29, 2012

Educators from across the state say that preparing their students for the new Kentucky Performance Rating for Educational Progress (K-PREP) tests used for state accountability is making them better teachers.

“The K-PREP test has definitely affected the way I teach this year,” said Leigh Ann Scott, who teaches grades 6-8 English/language arts and 6th-grade social studies at LeGrande Elementary School (Hart County). “I am focusing on each standard until it is mastered. The formatting of the test, however, hasn’t been a huge change for me. I am spending about the same amount of time teaching test strategies for multiple-choice and extended-response questions, but I am focusing more on the short-answer questions, since that is new to the students.”

Scott said teachers need to prepare their students for the test’s format so they can accurately demonstrate what they know.

“If the students aren’t familiar with the format of the test, especially those that have some anxiety with testing, it can throw them, and no matter how well prepared they are, they may not do well,” she said. “It is important to not only give tests (during the year) in the same format as the K-PREP, but to also do daily work in that same format. Since the K-PREP is still somewhat of a mystery in some ways, I have done my best working with what I have.” Continue Reading

By Susan Riddell
susan.riddell@education.ky.gov

Jennifer Carter, an astronomy teacher at Rowan County Senior High School, encourages her students to analyze data to discover pulsars. Photo by Amy Wallot, March 16, 2012

Not too long ago, a student in Jennifer Carter’s class told her he was up all night playing a video game. She had no sympathy for the tired student at the time and told him she expected to have his full attention in class.

Weeks later, Carter, a teacher at Rowan County High School, overheard the same student tell a friend that he was exhausted because he had been up all night again. This time, however, video games were not the cause.

Instead, the student was putting off sleep for pulsar data analysis.

“I like it that most of my students enjoy the process of data analysis and choose to continue analyzing data on their own free time,” said Carter, who has many students who have spent great amounts of time at home analyzing data.

“This particular student mentioned above has taken the data analysis process to the next level,” she added. “He has begun an e-mail dialogue with astronomers from the Fermi gamma ray space telescope to begin using other telescope databases to extend his research. He is making great progress with that right now.”

This is Carter’s second year at Rowan County High and her fourth year as a teacher. Aside from her freshman classes, she has four astronomy courses: Light and the Hidden Universe; Stars, Galaxies and Cosmology; Pulsar Astronomy; and Planetary Science. Carter also facilitates two Morehead State University dual credit college courses: Introduction to Satellites and Space Systems I and II. Continue Reading

By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

Jamiee Sampson helps sophomores Madison Roberts and Leslie Morgan answer questions about the poem Digging by Seamus Heaney at Walton-Verona High School (Walton-Verona Independent). Sampson uses Bloom’s Taxonomy with assignments to help students prepare for end-of-course tests. Photo by Amy Wallot, March 1, 2012

English II, Algebra II, Biology and U.S. History teachers who have already given state-required end-of-course (EOC) assessments had a common message for their counterparts who have yet to give the test: Use the sample questions provided by the ACT QualityCore Instructional Program throughout the course to measure how your students are doing.

Michelle Nevitt, who has spent 13 of her 16 years teaching mathematics at Hancock County High School, gave her Advanced Algebra II class the EOC tests before the winter break. She said QualityCore puts many sample questions on its website.

“The test truly reflected what was practiced in that bank,” Nevitt said. “The QualityCore questions should be practiced daily, but it should not be what we ‘do.’ The curriculum from the national standards should be taught carefully and strategically so that when we practice QualityCore questions, students are able to be successful.”

Jamiee Sampson, a fifth-year English II and III teacher at Walton-Verona High School (Walton-Verona Independent), went a step further.

“Use the ACT QualityCore to your advantage, implement test-taking strategies to assist with time constraints,” she said. “ACT QualityCore texts and questions appeared to be a bit more difficult when comparing it to the EOC itself, but it entails great rigor.” Continue Reading

By Susan Riddell
susan.riddell@education.ky.gov

Johnny Belcher shakes hands with Education Commissioner Terry Holliday after being named the newest recipient of the Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award during a surprise ceremony at Pikeville High School (Pikeville Ind.). Belcher is a mathematics and physics teacher at the school. Photo by Amy Wallot, April 10, 2012

Johnny Belcher isn’t one for the lunchroom.

The Pikeville High School (Pikeville Independent) calculus and physics teacher routinely takes his lunch tray back to his classroom. Typically, he’s followed by a handful of students who want some extra tutoring.

“That’s every day,” Principal Michael Rowe said. “He says ‘hi’ to me in the lunchroom, and then he’s back in his classroom tutoring.”

Superintendent Jerry Green has witnessed the same thing. “Most afternoons I’m over (at the high school), I see him hanging around until about 6:30 or 7 p.m. at night helping students,” Green said. “He’ll have former students call from college, and he helps them, too.”

That commitment to his students is just one of many reasons Belcher was awarded the Milken Family Foundation National Educator award last week. The award comes with an unrestricted $25,000 financial award. Belcher is the lone Kentucky recipient this year.

In his 15th year of teaching, all at Pikeville High, Belcher serves as the department chair and instructional supervisor in mathematics for grades 7-12. He also is a member of the Mathematics Leadership Network (MLSN) and has contributed to the development of end-of-course exams in geometry.

“The MLSN and my work with end-of-course exams have exposed me to many other educators,” Belcher said. “In this regard these two professional development activities have been invaluable. I learn most from being in the classroom and secondly from others’ experiences and ideas.”

His ability to gauge where his students are academically is well known.

“He’s known for his ability to meet kids where they are at,” Rowe said. “He’s a strong believer that there are multiple ways to solve a problem. His philosophy in the classroom is reaching each kid individually and making sure each one gets to where they need to be.”

“He uses instructional techniques that address multiple learning styles, and he allows students to continue to work until they master concepts,” added teacher Rebecca King, who has taught at Pikeville High since 2004 and was a Milken recipient in 2003 while teaching at the former Whitesburg High School in Letcher County. “Mr. Belcher holds both himself and his students to a high standard.”

Belcher said he is guided by what his students will have retained from his class years from now.

“Be a model for learning is my main goal every day,” he said. “I want my students to understand it’s okay to not know something. What’s not okay is to quit there. I just keep trying to give that message over and over again.

“There are times I will not even prep myself for a concept so they can see some of the metacognitive thoughts that go on,” Belcher added. “They know it’s okay not to know at times. How can I piece this together, make a mystery not a mystery? With learning I try my very best to take away the excuses.”

Belcher said his teaching style has evolved in his 15 years at Pikeville High, thanks in part to formative assessment.

“That’s one of the biggest things I have changed in my teaching,” he said. “Adding the option for students to retest has a little bit of standards-based slant to it. It’s not full force standards-based grading, but it’s all about students learning the material regardless of what it takes to get there.

“Math is something students tend to struggle with. It can be a real confidence-shaker,” he added. “So the idea of formative assessment and the option of retesting and things like that kind of evolved for me in the classroom. In terms of the tutoring and spending time with kids in the classroom, I’ve always tried to do that. But being a math teacher, it’s important to keep the students’ confidence in mind. Sometimes that’s forgotten, but I think I’ve gotten better about remembering that.”

Belcher said, depending on the topic, he has found success in returning tests to the students with the answers worked out. It then becomes the students’ job to dig further into the problems and earn partial credit by giving feedback that shows they understand the concepts.

“They actually kind of barter for that with me individually,” he said. “It’s all about pushing them to the next level.”

That’s something Belcher hopes for himself, too.

“The one thing about an award like this is it’s bittersweet,” Belcher said. “Every teacher deserves such recognition. We’re not working toward awards like this; we are working toward our students. It is really a wonderful thing though to be recognized. It helps to fuel your next moves.”

MORE INFO…
Johnny Belcher, johnny.belcher@pikeville.kyschools.us, (606) 432-0185

By Susan Riddell
susan.riddell@education.ky.gov

Susan Yusk demonstrates the varying densities of Coke and Diet Coke with a floating experiment at W.R. McNeill Elementary School (Warren County). Photo by Amy Wallot, Feb. 24, 2012

Gina Crabtree could not wait to teach at McNeill Elementary School (Bowling Green Independent), saying it had been a dream of hers for years.

“I drove outside my county (for work) for eight years waiting on a job to open at McNeill,” she said. “With the attrition rates here, it’s hard to get in. When a job finally opened, I was elated to be hired.

“Every day, I feel like I’m right where I’m meant to be.”

Crabtree is in her fifth year at McNeill Elementary and her fourth as the school’s guidance counselor. She isn’t alone in her feelings regarding the school, which was named a 2011 National Blue Ribbon School along with four other Kentucky public schools.

Science teacher Susan Yusk said students feel comfortable at McNeill Elementary, but are still expected to meet high expectations.

“(Students’) ideas are highly valued, and therefore they feel important,” Yusk said. “In that type of environment, students excel.

“One of our school’s goals is to make our students lifelong learners,” she added. “I believe our teachers do an excellent job with this. Our academic expectations for each student are high, and by making learning fun and igniting their curiosity, the expectations are usually met.” Continue Reading