Kentucky Teacher

Education recovery specialists Rick Larson and Pebbles Lancaster and guidance counselor Angie McGee meet with other leadership members during their first meeting of the school year at Livingston Central High School (Livingston County).

Education recovery specialists (ERS) are expected to figuratively roll up their sleeves and get to work helping schools improve. But ERS Pebbles Lancaster will tell you they do that literally, too.

Arriving at a persistently low achieving (PLA) school, Lancaster and her state team noticed the school was in need of a physical makeover.

“As a team, we rolled up our sleeves, painted rooms, scrubbed lockers and cleaned gunk off stairs,” Lancaster said. “Our goal was to make our building inviting and to bring back that pride that had existed before.”

Just as important, the effort showed teachers and administrators that she was there to help.

“We were at their service,” she said, “willing to do anything to assist their school, even if it meant getting our hands dirty and paint everywhere.”

The effort helped Lancaster and her team – and their services – earn acceptance in the district, she said. Read the full story

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

Miko Momozono teaches Japanese to Beth Heimann's kindergarten class at Picadome Elementary School (Fayette County). Photo by Amy Wallot, Jan. 10, 2012

Miko Momozono teaches students at Picadome Elementary School (Fayette County) Japanese at the same time they are still learning the finer points of English.

While that may seem like a difficult task, the third-year language teacher said it’s just the opposite.

“It actually makes it easier because they are right in the spot of learning their mother tongue,” Momozono said. “Students are inhaling Japanese just as they are acquiring English day by day.

“I have students who are English language learners who speak a second language at home,” Momozono added. “These students often excel in learning Japanese since they have already had a head start in acquiring English as a second language. Japanese may be their third or fourth language. Amazingly, students do not confuse the multiple processes of language learning.”

All the research points to the best and easiest time for students to acquire another language being before age 10, said Jacque Van Houten, world language and international education consultant for the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE).

“Sure, you can learn after that, but it becomes more of an exercise in learning than acquiring language and involves a different cognitive approach,” she said. Read the full story

Business teacher Virgena Rhodes helps junior Tabitha Strange research careers as part of her ILP at Knox Central High School (Knox County) Oct. 29, 2010. Strange plans on working as a gastroenterologist. Photo by Amy Wallot

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

Kentucky’s plan to increase college and career readiness relies heavily on a tool already familiar to teachers and students in the state – the Individual Learning Plan (ILP).

Now in its fifth year, the ILP is a Web-enabled college- and career-planning tool that allows students in grades 6-12 to begin thinking about life after high school, according to Sharon Johnston, the ILP program consultant for the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE). The centerpiece of the ILP is the career matchmaker, which gives students clusters of jobs that match their interests based on their answers to 116 questions, she said. Read the full story