[Edu] Just picking your brains...

[Magi D. Shepley]

Uhm, you realize that there aren't really any national education 
standards?  The standards that are listed are SUGGESTED and voluntary... 
and I don't know many states that are following and/or using them.  Most 
states are designing their own.

Magi

Carol Townsend wrote:

> Hi all,
>  
> I need your help.  :)
>  
> I'm in the process of writing a pamphlet for Looney Labs to give out 
> to teachers showing how our games can be educational.  What would YOU 
> want to have in a pamphlet? 
>  
> What I'm doing right now is taking text from the National Standards 
> (as I've found them on this site: 
> (http://www.education-world.com/standards/national/ ) and showing how 
> our games meet that standard.   An example of what I've got so far is 
> (a VERY ROUGH rough draft):
>  
>
> NANOFICTIONARY
>
>  
>
> After playing a game of Nanofictionary, students will be able to
>
>  
>
>             *Evaluate and appreciate other students' stories based on 
> their own knowledge of word meaning, word identification strategies 
> and context. ( NL-ENG.K-12.3)  *
>
> A game of Nanofictionary allows students to write their own short 
> stories and then evaluate each other's stories in a fun setting.  
>
> The students appreciate the difficulty in creating a story of their 
> own, and can use that appreciation in the evaluation of others' work.
>
>  
> My questions basically are:
>  - is this sort of language helpful to you? 
>         I'm trying to couch it in all the teacher-speak I know from 
> my... oh lordy... 20 years in the education business? (9 years full 
> time, 11 years part time, subbing, etc).  Will this help you take a 
> Looney Labs game to your principal and tell her/him "This is great for 
> my kids because..." or even better "My lesson plan today includes this 
> game because..."  
>        Is this language too stilted? Too "teacher-ese".  I know that 
> when I had to turn in weekly lesson plans, all of them started out 
> with "at the end of this lesson, students will be able to..." followed 
> by action verbs. 
>       I'm basically just quoting the National Standard (sometimes 
> slightly paraphrased) and then showing how our game fits that 
> Standard.  Is that good?
>  
> - are these (http://www.education-world.com/standards/national/)  the 
> Standards I should be looking at? 
>        Should I be using the McRel standards 
> (http://www.mcrel.org/standards-benchmarks/) ? 
>         I was trying to fight my way through NCLB verbiage today and 
> came up for air without a lot of direction and a big headache.  I knew 
> there was a reason I hadn't read NCLB much before this!! 
>      Anyway.... Standards seem to be the most concrete way of dealing 
> with this idea - and using the National Standards seems to be best 
> because all State Standards and Benchmarks are derived from these 
> National ones, right?  Please tell me if your mileage varies in your 
> state!
>  
>  - am I barking up a wrong tree or am I headed in a right direction?  
> This sort of pamphlet has been asked for countless times - I want to 
> produce one that is helpful to those in the trenches.
>  
> Your opinion will matter very much!  I know it's a busy time of year, 
> but hopefully we can have a draft of this pamphlet ready by this 
> summer.  I know I will need proofreaders and opinion-givers for this 
> writing, and I hope I can ping a few of you for this as well!
>  
> thanks for all you do - in the classroom, for your kids, as well as 
> being great people who play fun games!!
>  
> Carol
>  - she who speaks more teacher-ese than anyone currently on staff.  :)
>
>  
>
>  
>
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>
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