Superintendent's Blog: Ohio Loves and Appreciates Teachers

By: Paolo DeMaria

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week and we are excited to celebrate Ohio’s awesome teachers who go above and beyond each day for students and their families.

During my travels across the state, one of my greatest honors is to meet the many remarkable educators and see the exceptional ways they inspire and support students.

Teachers are engaged in creating our future. Each one of us has been shaped by the teachers we had – and the same will be true for the next generation. Ohio Department of Education staff members shared their memories of the teachers that shaped their lives. 

Later this week, the Department will share some special teacher shout-outs from students and recent graduates. We know you have a special story to share, too. We invite you to give a shout-out to a teacher – or a teacher team – who has impacted your life using #OhioLovesTeachers on Twitter and Instagram. We will share some of our favorites on the Department’s social media channels.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week from all of us at the Ohio Department of Education!

Paolo DeMaria is superintendent of public instruction of Ohio, where he works to support an education system of nearly 3,600 public schools and more than 1.6 million students.

GUEST BLOG: Apply. Enroll. Serve. LEAD. — U.S. Senator Rob Portman, Ohio

By: Guest Blogger

Do you know students who have a desire to be leaders? To serve? The United States service academies offer opportunities for students to receive a first-class college education and, upon graduation, commission as an officer in the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps or Navy.

As a U.S. senator, one of my greatest privileges is nominating young men and women from Ohio every year for entry into our nation’s military academies: West Point, the Air Force Academy, the Merchant Marine Academy and the Naval Academy. This year, I had the pleasure of nominating Rico Felix from Columbus. He will be attending West Point this summer:

“For me, West Point is about joining something bigger than myself,” Rico said. “It is about becoming a part of a family that will always have my back no matter what. I wanted to go to West Point because I knew I wanted to serve my country, but also because I knew it was the only place that could turn me into one of the best leaders the world has ever seen.”

Every one of these institutions provides students with an unparalleled educational experience and an opportunity to lead other brave men and women in uniform. The best and the brightest students, from all walks of life, emerge from these schools as college graduates and United States military officers.

Historically, whatever the occasion, the United States has never had to look further than the Buckeye State to find leaders and patriots ready to answer our country’s calling.

From General Ulysses S. Grant to aviators and astronauts John Glenn and Neil Armstrong, and countless others, Ohio’s military heroes have led our country in battle and into space. Ohioans are unmatched in our dedication to service.

Any high school student who is inspired to attend a service academy and serve our country in this capacity should contact my academy coordinators, Michael Dustman and Suzanne Cox for more information. You also can visit my website to request an application. The application process opens March 1 of your junior year!

Our service academies are second to none as they groom young men and women of dedication and character to be our leaders of tomorrow. I wish all applicants the best of luck and look forward to nominating promising young Ohioans for admission into these distinguished institutions. 

Rob Portman is a United States Senator from Ohio. You can learn more about him here.

Co-teaching...Two Teachers in One Class Equals Success!

By: Kimberly Monachino

As you walk down the hallway of a school and peek in and out of classrooms, you may see two teachers in a classroom instead of one. Often, the scenario is a general education teacher and special education teacher working together to teach all students in the classroom, including students with disabilities. These teachers work together, sharing their ideas and planning lessons. Both teachers support each other and work as a team. This type of teaching model is referred to as co-teaching. In a co-teaching classroom, there is a mutual respect and partnership between both teachers to present learning in diverse ways based on the needs of the students.

Co-teaching simply means two teachers working together to deliver instruction. However, there are different ways that two teachers work together to deliver instruction in a co-teaching classroom. One approach is called one teach, one observe. In this model, one teacher delivers instruction while the other observes student learning. The second teacher walks around the classroom checking to make sure the students understand the lesson. A second approach is called one teach, one assist. With this approach, one teacher takes the lead role and the other teacher rotates among students to provide support. This model allows one teacher to respond to individual students in a quicker manner. A third approach is parallel co-teaching. In this model, the two teachers divide the students in two groups and teach the same lesson. This allows for each teacher to have fewer students and focus on specific skills. In the fourth approach, station teaching, both teachers are actively involved in instruction as the students rotate from one station to the next, learning new materials. The fifth approach is alternative teaching, which allows one teacher to take a small group of students and provide instruction that is different than what the large group receives. The last approach is the complementary teaching model in which one teacher instructs the students while the other teacher offers an instructional strategy that supplements or complements the lesson. For example, the first teacher may model note taking on the board as the second teacher presents the lesson. If you do a Google search for co-teaching diagrams, you will find many images illustrating of the various co-teaching models.

There are many benefits for all students with using any of these models. Particularly, students with disabilities can access the general education curriculum and general education classroom setting. Students with disabilities benefit from being part of a classroom with high academic rigor with a teacher who understands the academic content and a special education teacher who can adjust the instruction. Lastly, students with disabilities may feel more connected with their classmates in the classroom and community.

Next time you walk down the hall of a school, take a peek in a classroom. You might be surprised what you see. Remember, two teachers may be better than one for all students.

Kim Monachino is director of the Office for Exceptional Children for the Ohio Department of Education. You can learn more about Kim by clicking here.

GUEST BLOG: Market Day...An Engaging Economics Lesson for Elementary Students — Kelly Miller, South-Western City Schools

By: Guest Blogger

Sometimes people who don’t work in schools find it surprising that students begin learning the basics of subjects like algebra, physics and even economics as early as elementary school. We expect teachers to cover these topics in high school and college, but elementary school teachers begin building this knowledge in their students much earlier. As a second grade teacher, I am always looking for ways to make learning fun and engaging. For example, teaching economics to second-graders certainly is not going to look like the stereotypical dry lecture you might imagine in a college setting. In fact, when it is time to teach the economics strand of the social studies standards to my second-graders, I get so excited about the project. Every year, my students love this lesson.

When I first started teaching economics, I stumbled upon a packet of teaching materials for second-graders. The packet basically covered important vocabulary words that are involved in understanding how money works. After looking it over and collaborating with my co-workers, we decided we had to make these concepts more interesting. This is how the “market day” project was born. To make the learning more meaningful, we created a unit where students build and participate in a marketplace. In this marketplace, students have an opportunity to design a product, create a business and sell their products to their classmates.  

We begin the first day of the project by having the students take notes in a packet to help them learn the key vocabulary. The next day, they start to put their learning in action. Students form groups of three. Each group is responsible for designing a product that meets certain criteria:

• It has to be something that students can make at school. If students need materials not available in the classroom, they bring them from home.
• Students are “paid” on production days with fake money. 
• Students set prices for their products based on the demand (which was a vocabulary word they learned).

My fellow teachers and I also teach students about advertisements. Students create their own advertisements, which I videotape. After weeks of producing goods and advertising them to their classmates, market day arrives. Students eagerly set up their stores and begin shopping in their classmates’ stores. They spend only the money they earned on production days. By doing this, they learn how to make choices as consumers because they don’t have enough money to buy everyone’s products. Some of the items that students created were bookmarks, hair bows and — what every household needs — a box to hold straws. This year, one group even added a gimmick to make its bookmark store more appealing. The store offered customers the opportunity to lower a fishing pole into a pile of bookmarks and “fish” for bookmarks. This took real entrepreneurship and creativity because the group knew it was competing with another bookmark store.

The buying and selling happens in cycles so that only one of the business owners can go out and shop while the others stay back to sell their products and collect the money. We wrap up the unit by having the students add up their profits and reflect on their sales and what they might have done differently. For example: Was the pricing right? Did you create enough product or too much product?

Market day makes economics in elementary school so much fun. The students are always proud of their products, and they get hands-on experience with the decisions that all consumers and business owners make. It is a great way for my students to learn the concepts of economics through an authentic, highly engaging project. I can’t wait to teach this lesson again next year!

Kelly Miller is a second grade teacher at Monterey Elementary School in South-Western City Schools. You can contact Kelly by clicking here.

Bold Beginning! A New Online Resource for Building a Bright Start

By: Wendy Grove

As a parent of a young child, I often wondered whose advice I should listen to. There was certainly no shortage of advice. It seemed to come from everywhere — my mom, my friends, colleagues, the cashier at the grocery store. When you become a parent, people do seem to have a lot of wisdom to share. Given my experience in early childhood education, I could filter out the well-meaning, but outdated advice from the things I knew had some facts behind them. That does not mean, however, that I actually knew what to expect from an infant or toddler. You hear a lot of new parents joke that they wish their babies came with an instruction manual and it’s true. I used to wonder when my daughter would start walking or if there were signs that would tell me if something was not developing as expected. If I asked another person these questions, I would get lots of advice, reactions and sometimes unsolicited information. Internet searches also were available, but how could I know which sites were truly reliable? Anyone who has searched for a medical symptom online knows that search engines often diagnose a case of sniffles as a rare, deadly disease. So, where exactly can parents turn to for solid advice?

The state of Ohio just released a new resource that I wish would have been there for me when my children were small. It is called Bold Beginning! The goal of Bold Beginning! is to give Ohio’s youngest citizens a great start in life by making information and resources accessible to their caregivers. Getting early access to learning and basic needs is critical. Before we are even born, our brains begin to develop. As infants and young children, the experiences we have shape how our brains will continue to develop. This lays the foundation for all learning that takes place for the rest of our lives. The period between birth and kindergarten is the most rapid phase of development that we will experience in the span of our lives. This is the time when a child learns how to walk, talk, follow rules for safety and hygiene, develop significant relationships with trusted adults and make friends beyond their families. Everything that happens in this period of enormous learning and development has the potential to impact how that child grows, learns and experiences the world during his or her years in school.

Bold Beginning! is a reliable, online resource to learn about everything from healthy pregnancies to child development through the third grade. If parents have concerns about their children’s development or meeting their basic needs, it is a one-stop shop for resources to food, housing, education and child care. There is even legal help and links to family fun. You can enter the site as a parent or caretaker and go right to a page with specific information based on the age of your child. The Family and Community page links to all the resources available throughout the state to help families meet their basic heath, emotional, educational and employment needs.

Finally! A single site with information and resources that families can depend on. It’s not quite an instruction manual, but this is definitely something parents and others who help children and families will want to check out so Ohio’s children can have a bold beginning for a bright future.

Dr. Wendy Grove is the director of the Office for Early Learning and School Readiness at the Ohio Department of Education, where she helps develop and implement policies for preschool special education and early childhood education. You can learn more about Wendy by clicking here.