Pepper and CHADD Team Up to Educate Teachers About ADHD

CHADD and Pepper have teamed up to create an online course to help teachers effectively reach their ADHD students. CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) is an organization that is committed to providing education, advocacy and support for individuals with ADHD.
The course, Teacher to Teacher: Supporting Students with ADHD helps educators identify common ADHD-related learning problems and learn about proven classroom techniques, interventions, and the latest research to enhance school success for students with ADHD. This course is designed by teachers for teachers, this multi-session, interactive training course is developed and taught by expert educators. CEUs are available upon completion of the course.

Watch this video to learn more about ADHD and CHADD:

October is National ADHD Awareness ADHD Awareness and the theme for this year is Knowing is Better. According to ADHD Awareness Month, the theme was chosen based on the idea that “it’s better for parents to know that ADHD might be part of the picture so they can seek out the help their children need; it’s better for young adults to know about their ADHD so they might arrange for appropriate accommodations in school or the workplace; and it’s better for adults to recognize their ADHD instead of feeling destined to a life of underachievement and frustration.”

You can find more information about CHADD and their work with ADHD and about ADHD Awareness Month by visiting their websites. You can learn more about this new course for teachers and others available from Pepper on their Courses and Workshops page.

The Importance of Digital Literacy: Preparing Students for Learning and Life

We are surrounded by technology in more ways than ever before. Students growing up today are considered “digital natives,” meaning they have experienced life with a vast array of technology and digital media at their fingertips. While this reality presents exciting educational opportunities, it can also be overwhelming for many teachers who are not as comfortable with the numerous apps, games, and digital platforms in use today.

As educators, our challenge is to use technology effectively for teaching and learning. According to Mike Ribble, Digital Citizenship in Schools, “Just as you teach your students the rules of society, it is imperative that you teach them the rules of the digital world, and how to be safe and responsible with technology.”

If you are unclear or want more information on what Digital Citizenship is all about, check out this video from one of Pepper's partners, Common Sense Education: Digital Citizenship Video.

To help educators teach their students how to use technology safely, respectfully, and responsibly, Common Sense Education and Public Consulting Group (PCG) have partnered to offer digital citizenship courses through Pepper, PCG's online professional learning platform. These courses (tailored for elementary, middle, high school, and for school leaders) will build teachers' understanding of eight core digital citizenship topics, provide a guided, interactive experience with our high-quality instructional materials, and provide access to Pepper's robust online community of educators. Courses for middle and high school educators are currently available; the course for elementary educators is scheduled for release soon.

Course Features

• Designed to address internet safety, appropriate online behavior, and cyberbullying topics that E-rate recipients are required to teach to students
• Pepper's professional learning platform built on powerful technology developed by Harvard University and MIT
• Flexibility to work through the self-paced course independently or in small groups to promote an authentic, personalized learning experience
• Opportunity to collaborate with peers, access resources, and share best practices through Pepper's online community
• Learning activities provide foundational knowledge for teachers to become Common Sense Certified Educators in digital citizenship

Continuing education credits are available.

Courses Currently Available

• Digital Citizenship: Preparing Students for Learning and Life (Middle School Educators)
• Digital Citizenship: Preparing Students for Learning and Life (High School Educators)

Coming Soon

• Digital Citizenship: Preparing Students for Learning and Life (Elementary Educators)

You can find more information about Digital Citizenship on the Common Sense Education website, by visiting the Digital Citizenship tab from their main page, or by clicking here. You can learn more about these courses and others available from Pepper on their Courses and Workshops page. 

Gearing Up for Summer Break

Another school year is coming to a close - for some it’s the first, for some it’s the last. No matter how many school years you have achieved, we hope your school year was excellent. Pepper’s The Big Idea blog is taking the summer off. But, like many of you, “summer vacation” is more of a time for planning, preparing, and re-fueling. We will be back in the Fall with new ideas and encouragement for a new school year. Your Pepper team will be working over the summer to bring you new Courses and Workshops.
So, as you plan your summer, take some time for yourself and your family, sleep in, take a trip, indulge in a hobby, lay by the pool - or ocean or lake or river, or do nothing at all. But, just in case you have reading on your list of summer “to-do’s”, Education Closet provides a Summer Reading List for Teachers. The list of 40 books are divided into the following topics:

MINDSETS   |  CLASSROOM DESIGN  |  TEACHING RESOURCES & IDEAS  |  CLASSROOM LIBRARY  | JUST FOR FUN

No matter what your ideal summer looks likes - travel, rest, work, play, or even professional development - we hope you enjoy and come back rested and refreshed.

See you in the Fall!

Making it Through

We’re in the final stretch to summer vacation. The last weeks can be exhausting and seem to go on forever. The challenge for teachers can be pacing themselves to sustain their energy and creativity. Edutopia author, Nicholas Provenzano, provides some great tips for making it through. His recent article, Stop, Drop, and Roll With It: Teacher Burnout Prevention, gives some suggestions for approaching the end of the year:

• Hobby Time - Find a hobby or something to do that has nothing to do with education. It can be therapeutic to spend time doing things that you enjoy completely away from school.
• Find a Teammate - A friend who understands your struggle can be a true lifesaver. It’s even better if this person is an educator. Finding a confident who’s also an educator can provide empathy that others cannot.
• Write it Out - Journaling is a great way to manage stress. Thinking about the things that are weighing on you often makes them seem worse. However, writing them down is often compared to talking to a close friend. It can give a different perspective and can help alleviate stress.
• Laugh - We’ve all heard “laughter is the best medicine.” And, for teachers making it through the final weeks of school, laughter can really help. Watch a funny movie, read a humorous book, or surround yourself with witty people, but try to find some ways to get some laughs during this time.

Teaching is one of the most challenging professions out there and teachers are notorious for giving of themselves, their time, and their energy. Whatever it takes, hang in there. Summer is just around the corner.

Pepper hopes that you’ll spend some time with us this summer in the form of Professional Development Courses and Workshops. Pepper provides a wide range of courses for teachers that allow for growth and learning opportunities. As a member of the Pepper community you also have access to Pepper's online learning community where you can meet others who are teaching and engaging in schools across the country. We hope to “see” you this summer!

New POW: Universal Design for Learning: Making Learning Accessible for ELL Students

Our world is increasingly diverse and globalized. Teachers are dealing with multilingualism and bilingualism in the classroom more regularly.

According to the National Council of Teachers of English:

• ELL represents that fastest growing segment of the student population, with the highest growths in grades 7-12.
• English Language Learners now represent more than 10 percent of the nation’s K-12 enrollment.
• Non-native English speakers ages 14-18 are less likely to complete high school than native English speakers.

Diversity in languages provides an opportunity for these students; there are strengths and assets of being able to speak more than more language.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that provides ALL students equal opportunities to learn. It encourages teachers to design flexible curricula that meet the needs of all learners. The goal of implementing UDL principles is that it makes the teaching and learning in the classroom engaging and accessible. One of the benefits of UDL is that students have a range of needs, skills, interests, and experiences. UDL hopes to maximize these differences by building curriculum that responds to the needs of the students.
According to the National Center on Universal Design for Learning, “The UDL framework enables educators to plan their instruction with all kinds of learners in mind. ELLs, while limited in their English proficiency, come to school with tremendous variability in their home language skills, from full oral and literate proficiency, to very limited skill sets. Rich English-language instruction that provides students with oral and written access to their native languages has at its core the UDL principle of multiple means of representation.”

Pepper has released a new workshop focused on Universal Design for English Language Learners as part of it’s Pepper Online Workshop (POW!) content. This workshop will explore short videos specific to incorporating UDL strategies for ELL students and examining the principles of UDL design as related to English Language Learners.
You can check all of our new POW content by visiting the Courses and Workshops section on your dashboard.

Happy Teacher's Day!

Thank you Teachers for all that you do - in and out of the classroom - to impact our students. 

We appreciate you today and everyday!

Adolescent Literacy: Teaching Reading Comprehension in Middle and High School

Reading is a high focus area in elementary school, but reading comprehension instruction tends to drop off once students reach upper elementary and middle school grades. Content educators would agree, however, that many students fail to have the reading skills to successfully understand their math, social studies, and other content area textbooks as they progress in higher grades and more challenging courses. Reading ability is a key predictor of achievement in mathematics and science, and the global information economy requires today’s American youth to have far more advanced literacy skills than those required of any previous generation.

The National Center for Education Science, Institute of Education Science (IES), created a report titled Improving Adolescent Literacy: Effective Classroom and Intervention Practices. This study highlights findings from research-based strategies to improve adolescent literacy. There are four recommended practices:

• Provide explicit vocabulary instruction and strategies to help students become independent vocabulary learners.

• Provide direct and explicit comprehension strategy instruction.
• Provide opportunities for extended text discussion and student engagement.
• Provide intensive intervention for struggling readers and monitor all students' reading progress.

To acquire the skills they need, students must work hard to refine and build upon their initial reading skills. Students in upper elementary grades and in middle and high school classes need help to acquire more advanced skills, especially those related to content area learning

Pepper has recently released a new Pepper Online Workshop (POW) based on the IES report described above. In this workshop, we focus on the fourth recommended practice of providing intensive intervention for struggling readers and monitoring all students’ reading progress. The POW, titled “Interventions for Struggling Readers”, focuses on exploring what adolescent literacy looks like and how content teachers can build comprehension instruction into their existing teaching. The workshop also explores how teachers determine students’ skill levels so they can help pinpoint students that need additional assistance. While schoolwide teacher collaboration across content areas is essential for improving outcomes for struggling readers, in many situations adolescents that struggle with reading need qualified specialists to provide intensive and individualized interventions. If you are interested in learning more about reaching the needs of struggling adolescent readers, be sure to check out our new POW, Interventions for Struggling Readers.

Pepper provides a wide range of courses for teachers that allow for growth and learning opportunities. You also have access to Pepper's online learning community where you can meet others who are teaching and learning about adolescent literacy.

Game-Based Education

Play has been a part of education for a very long time. While educational games may not be the solution to education woe’s, they definitely can be used to enhance it. Students today think and learn differently than we did as students. The traditional “sit-and-get” mentality is not a part of most classrooms today. Books and lecture still have a place in today’s classroom, but technology can be used as a vital and relevant tool to help students learn and meet the needs of a variety of learning styles.
A couple of terms to differentiate between: gaming education and gamification. Many times these are used interchangeably, but actually they can technically refer to different things. According to Vicki Davis @coolcatteacher.com, “Gamification is ‘applying typical elements of game playing (e.g., point scoring, competition with others, rules of play) to other areas of activity.’” Gaming education is when you actually use games - students play games - as part of the learning and assessment process. Ms. Davis also points out that great classrooms will incorporate both.

There are such a variety of games out there - and they are much more advanced than the “lemonade stand” played in the early 80s on our Apple IIe computers, and still even more than Carmen SanDiego and Oregon Trail of my early teaching days. Today’s games are rich in problem solving and critical thinking skills. What is particularly exciting is that not only can games be used by teachers to assess student learning and understanding, to enhance a lesson and capture a student’s attention, but students can actually create the games! Recent emphasis and excitement about Minecraft and coding has led to a whole new area for educational gaming. Students are now using skills and knowledge gained from playing games, like Minecraft, and are now building mods and components of their own. The STEM and computer science learning that is going on with these students is both encouraging and exciting.

There is an awesome infographic that gives a great overview of the gamification of education. Edutopia also provides a “Game-based Learning Resource Round-up” that provides a collection of articles, videos, and resources for incorporating gaming into the classroom.

Common Sense’s Graphite, found in your Pepper Resource Library, has information and reviews on a plethora of game-based learning resources. Pepper Professional Development Courses and Workshops and the Resource Library can help you create a more engaged and active classroom that include game-based learning - for you and for your students. We’re adding new courses and workshops regularly, so be sure to check them out.

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was signed by President Obama on December 10, 2015. This bill replaces the current No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), which has been in effect since 2002. According to the US Department of Education, “This bipartisan measure reauthorizes the 50-year-old Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the nation’s national education law and longstanding commitment to equal opportunity for all students.”

Education Week provides a good overview of this new law. The Every Student Succeeds Act takes full effect in the 2017-18 school year. Education Week outlined the key elements of the law; here is an brief look:

• Accountability Plans - States are still accountable to the DOE and have to begin submitting plans beginning in 2017-2018.
• Accountability Goals - States can pick their own goals, but these must focus on testing proficiency, ELL, and graduation rates.
• Accountability Systems - Elementary and middle schools need to incorporate 3 academic indicators (such as state test results, ELL proficiency) and one, other such as school safety or student engagement. High schools are the same, but also include graduation rates.
• Low-Performing Schools - States have to identify and intervene in the bottom 5 percent of performers. These schools have to be identified at least once every three years.
• School Interventions -  For schools performing in the bottom 5 percent and high schools with high dropout rates, districts will intervene and states will monitor the turnaround effort.
• Testing - Testing is sticking around. States will still be required to test students in grades 3-8 in reading and math. ESSA maintains the federal requirement for 95 percent participation in tests.
• Standards - Common Core is not required, but is an option. States must adopt "challenging" academic standards.
• Transition from NCLB - States will still continue to support low-performing schools, but NCLB waivers will no longer be valid beginning Aug. 1, 2016.
• English Language Learners - Accountability for ELL students moves to Title 1. The idea is to make accountability for those students a priority.
• Students in Special Education - Only 1 percent of students overall can be given alternative tests. (That’s about 10 percent of students in special education.)
• Programs - There is a new block grant program which combines many existing programs, including some involving physical education, Advanced Placement, school counseling, and education technology. Other programs are also under development.
• Weighted Student Funding - A pilot program will let 50 districts try out a weighted student-funding formula, combining state, local, and federal funds to better serve low-income students and those with special needs.
• Teachers - NCLB’s “highly qualified” teacher status is now under state control. States will have the ability to determine teacher competency on whether teachers meet “highly qualified” requirements or on student test scores. ESSA puts the states in control of teacher quality.

You can learn more about ESSA by reading the full Education Week report, which also includes highlight videos on key topics. You can also visit the U.S. Department of Education’s ESSA page, to learn more about the law and how it differs from No Child Left Behind.

As always, your Pepper team is here to provide support and professional development for all your teaching and learning needs - for today and for the future.

Diversity Matters...Teachers Matter

New York City. The Big Apple. The City that Never Sleeps. A city of diverse population. A city of more than 8.4 million people - where more than half of those are represented by diverse cultures. To address the needs of these many diverse cultures, the New York City Young Men’s Initiative was created. According to their website, “In August 2011, New York City Young Men’s Initiative was created to address increasing disparities among black and Latino men between the ages of 16 and 24 in education, employment, health and justice.”

In January 2015, Mayor Bill de Blasio, working with New York City's Young Men's Initiative, made a bold pledge: NYC will develop new initiatives and programs aiming to put an additional 1,000 men of color on course to become NYC public school teachers over the next three years. The NYC Men Teach initiative is aimed at putting diverse male role models in the classroom. In a city that is known for its widely diverse population, the NYC Young Men’s Initiative and NYC Men’s Teach is showing that diversity matters and should be embraced within schools and communities. Young men need to see people who look like them and their families reading, learning, and teaching. The website continues to share that, “Research shows that students benefit from being taught by teachers with similar life experiences who help create a positive learning environment and leave a profound impact on students' grades and self-worth. As classrooms are also the major cultivators of tolerance, understanding, and appreciation of diverse cultures and backgrounds, a diverse teacher population is also critical to improving the quality of life in our communities.”

Additionally, the NYC Men Teach initiative is aimed at showing that teachers matter too! The program is designed to support the teachers in its program, with a focus on recruitment and retention “aimed at keeping teachers of color in schools for at least three years.” The initiative hopes to show that NYC Men Teach doesn’t just care about its students, it cares about its teachers too!

You can learn more about the NYC Young Men’s Initiative and NYC Men Teach by visiting their website. You will also find a great overview video there that lets you hear from actual program participants. Check it out to see how New York City is working with its diverse culture to change lives and empower students.

Pepper is also working to help teachers grow and teach to make a difference in the lives of students. Pepper provides a wide range of courses and workshops for teachers that allow for growth and learning opportunities. As a member of Pepper you also have access to Pepper's online learning community where you can meet others who are teaching in schools across the country.

Teaching Effective Elementary Writing Strategies

The ability to write well is a key to success in many professional, social, community, and civic activities. Effective writing is critical to be able to communicate with a variety of audiences and is a key part of success in the workplace. Therefore, it is essential that all students receive instruction and support that develops their writing skills from the early grades onward.

Students need to develop an early and strong foundation in writing to communicate efficiently and effectively. When students develop strong writing skills in early grades, they acquire a valuable tool for learning, communicating, and expressing their thoughts. Yet studies show that many American students are not skillful writers.
High-quality writing instruction provides students with daily time to practice writing; teaches students to work through the steps of the writing process, including editing and revision; focuses on building foundational skills that support writing, including spelling, grammar, and handwriting and word processing; and creates an engaged community of writers by allowing students the opportunity to choose their own topics, interact with each other's writing and be recognized as authors. The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) Practice Guide: Teaching Elementary School Students to Be Effective Writers offers four recommended research-based practices that educators can use to increase writing achievement and to help students succeed in school and society. 
The four recommended practices are:

• Scheduling daily time for writing instruction and for students to write across all subject areas (Daily Time)
• Teaching students to use the writing process for a variety of purposes (Writing Process)
• Providing instruction in the foundational writing skills (Foundational Skills)
• Building an engaged community of writers (Engaged Community)

Using research-based practices to teach elementary school students will help them to be effective writers. By building the skills that make effective writers, teachers provide students with the tools to communicate their ideas, express their feelings, and engage with diverse audiences.

Pepper has released a new workshop focused on Effective Elementary Writing Strategies as part of it’s new Pepper Online Workshop (POW!) content. By taking this workshop you will explore strategies to help elementary students become effective communicators through writing. Participants will take a deeper look at research-based practices aimed at engaging students in effective writing opportunities.

You can check all of our new POW content by visiting the Courses and Workshops section on your dashboard.