We're trying out a few new things...check out lesson 7 in the Facilitator's Only course or at http://www.itrc.ucf.edu/courseinfo/course_outline.html What's new? Shorter pages, more interactive activities, a few little things we hope add up to a lot more learning. Let us know what you think!

We've added a discussion area for the Facilitators Manual. How can we make it better? What should be added? Deleted?

We've also added an area in the discussions where we will continue to solicit ideas, provide links to drafts of new features, and show you some of the course improvements we're working on that we hope to implement soon (if not before!), like Lesson 7 (above). One of the new features? Terrific Technology Tips (see next article).

At FOR-PD, we are excited about the role technology can play in professional development, of course, but also in classroom instruction, particularly reading instruction. We've developed a new Terrific Technology Tips section of each classroom applications section to share some of the most exciting and relevant instructional tools with FOR-PD participants.

We've also identified tools to use with students to improve their reading, writing, and technology skills. We hope participants will use and share these resources back in their classrooms.

We're also creating some real-world examples of technology use for each lesson. We need your help to identify teachers to feature! And we'd like to hear your feedback on these new tech tips as well. Please go to http://www.itrc.ucf.edu/techtools/ to see the current draft of these tech tips and find directions on how to give feedback and nominate good teachers you know are using technology to help students achieve more.

If you're attending IRA in Orlando, don't forget you can meet after the FOR-PD session to chat informally, face to face, with FOR-PD staff and others. Check your program when you arrive but the session is scheduled for Date/Time:

Tuesday May 06, 12:15 PM - 01:15 PM
Location: Orange County Convention Center - 312A

Our chat last month with Dr. Donald Bear was such a success with our participants and facilitators that Dr. Shane Templeton, co-author of the best-selling book Words Their Way: Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary, and Spelling Instruction will be our guest on May 15 at 7pm in the General Chat for All Courses chat room. If you missed the first chat with these best selling authors, here's your chance to find out what all the excitement is about! We hope to "see" you online!

"Speaking personally, you can have my gun, but you'll take my book when you pry my cold, dead fingers off of the binding."

--Stephen King in "Will We Close the Book on Books?"
Time Magazine, 19 June 2000: 92.

In the For Facilitators Only discussions recently there has been much talk about the quality and quantity of the FOR-PD resources. Susan Horton (Highlands) writes:

"It is to the credit of FOR-PD that there is SO much material to be offered. No one could possibly read everything in the course time frame, so it is also available on the FOR-PD site after the course. I have taken 4 on-line courses and have never seen such wonderful resources! FOR-PD has done an excellent job of compiling these. They get my THANKS for keeping the resources accessible after the course ends."

Thank YOU, Susan!

If you haven't clicked on the FOR-PD Resources button on the main FOR-PD page (or from within each lesson) in a while, take a look. You can search by keyword, general topic, or Lesson number/content. That means all those fabulous links within each lesson (and more!) are available to anyone before, during,and after the class! Please be sure your participants are aware of this. It will save them a lot of bookmarks! We'll do our best to keep it up to date and eliminate those links that no longer work.

 

Patricia Melvin (Duval) reports: "I had one student send me an email after I had sent her a discussion score and an explanation regarding the score. She asked me why I didn't create and use a rubric for the assignment! I suggested that she go back and look at the discussion question AND rubric."

During a recent discussion about writing, spelling, and punctuation in FOR-PD assignments, Fran Durrenberger (Seminole) offered this hint:

I have started copying the worst postings into Microsoft Word, marking the problems with a highlighter or red underlining (as I would for a high school student). I can also add comments on this copy, then send the posting as an attachment to a personal email to the student so he/she can see where the points were deducted. All of this takes time, but if the points are important, so is the feedback. No one except the student and me know what the grade is or how it was determined, so, actually, this online learning is more private than anything except having a private tutor.

In literature as in love, we are astonished at what is chosen by others. --Andre Maurois

FOR-PD facilitators and teachers everywhere. Remember, "You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person."

I MET A DRAGON FACE TO FACE Jack Prelutsky I met a dragon face to face the year when I was ten, I took a trip to outer space, I braved a pirate's den, I wrestled with a wicked troll, and fought a great white shark, I trailed a rabbit down a hole, I hunted for a snark. I stowed aboard a submarine, I opened magic doors, I traveled in a time machine, and searched for dinosaurs, I climbed atop a giant's head, I found a pot of gold, I did all this in books I read when I was ten years old.

Help! My section is ending soon and I'm having a difficult time trying to remember and keep track of all the things I need to do when wrapping up the end of my section. Any suggestions?

Sincerely,
Ivana B. Organized

 

Dear Ivana,

We've recently added an End of Course checklist to our newly updated FOR-PD Facilitator Manual, Version 1.5! The checklist is a great way for you keep track of everything you need to do to complete your section. You can find the EOC checklist in the appendix of the updated manual currently online at /facilitators/manual.html

Love, Felicity

Teresa Dahl, FOR-PD Facilitator Coordinator, graduates from UCF on May 2. Congratulations, Teresa! You go, gal!! --but not too far from us!! We have so much more for you to do!

Send us your success stories and good ideas you've tried. We'd also love to hear any stories about how teachers are using FOR-PD content and strategies in their classrooms. Do you have any "funny" stories from your FOR-PD classes? Send your contributions to fff@orion.itrc.ucf.edu.

Return to FOR-PD Home Page
Last updated May 1, 2003
Contact us at forpd@mail.ucf.edu

A project of the Instructional Technology Resource Center at the University of Central Florida.
Funded by the Florida Department of Education and Just Read Florida!