A cyber four corner exercise

Which ONE of the following classroom learning activities do you think would work BEST with high school students. Choose ONE and DEFEND your anwers with a short paragraph in a comment to this post.


Roll Call
Four Corners
Mix and Match
Can of Sticks
(choose one of your own)

What our students think they should be learning....

All junior mentors today discussed essential skills with our students. Last May, PHS teachers did the same activity. My mentoring group came up with some fantastic ideas!

What they want to learn at PHS: basic math skills, parallel parking, up-to-date technology skills, adult living skills, how to manage money, how to cook and do laundry, how to apply for jobs and interview, better social skills, good manners, how to talk to people, public speaking, possible career choices, basic auto repair and shop classes, and 1-on-1 college counseling.

They want less lecture and more hands-on activities. They want less busy work and more projects.

I was so impressed with my students!

Essential Skills for students

On Friday, May 2nd, the PHS staff met to discuss the essential skills our students will need to have mastered upon leaving high school to be successful in any post high school endeavor. These skills move beyond what is taught in the mandated curriculum and need to be integrated as best we can into our everyday methods of delivering curriculum. Some of these items are part of a specific class curriculum and might need emphasis throughout the curriculum. Our challenge this summer is to integrate these skills via our school improvement plan for 2008-09. The skills identified:

Life Skill--Management
Coping with daily demands
Money Management
Drug/Alcohol awareness
Life long learning
Decision making
Goal setting
Time management
Decision making

Social Skills
People to people skills
Character
Morality
Relationships
Responsibility
Commitment
Respect
Conflict resolution

Adaptability
Use and adapt to new technology
Problem solving
Critical thinking
Ability to prioritize

Communication
Written
Oral
Reading
Non-verbal
Listening

Some thoughts for you to ponder as Summer vacation nears

The following post was put on the LeaderTalk blog by Stephanie Sandifer. She has captured a lot of important thoughts and ideas here. We showed Shift Happens to you in a faculty meeting. The Board of Ed. was shown Shift Happens at a board meeting.....read the following and put you thoughts about it in a comment below.


Shift Happens -- Now What?

(Cross-posted at Change Agency)
You've just watched “Did You Know” or a keynote by David Warlick for the very first time. You feel your heart begin to race as panic sets in... you think: “My school is in no way prepared to help our students learn what they need for work and life in the this very different and constantly changing world... What should I do?!”
Too often, the initial response is to look for money to buy more computers. Some educational leaders may say “Let's make sure we have laptops in the hands of EVERY student!... SmartBoards in EVERY classroom!” While it is nice to have administrative support for new technology purchases, a “technology purchasing frenzy” is simply NOT the correct response to the realization that our schools are not doing enough to prepare students for their futures. This is really about changing adult perspectives and adult behaviors to create student-centered classrooms that exemplify research-based best practices around learning. It's not about buying the latest, greatest, and most expensive tech toys on the market. Expensive tech in the hands of educators who haven't made changes to their behaviors and instructional practice are no better than the good old chalk board, pencil, and paper. Even worse, expensive tech that the teachers see no use for will end up just collecting dust in a storage room.
The examples are endless... SmartBoards as expensive chalkboards... PowerPoint & media projectors as flashy and expensive overhead transparencies... computers as typewriters & calculators... Distance-learning labs that only get used for faculty or team meetings -- or worse, as a nice empty room to use during testing week... PLEASE NOTE -- from here on out on this blog post I am using the word “learner” for everyone on the campus -- teachers, administrators, staff... AND -- I am unapologetic with some of the things I say below. If we are serious about changing our learning environments so that our students leave fully prepared for life and work in a globally connected and collaborative environment, then we are definitely going to be moving the cheese of many people in our organizations -- it won't be easy and we can't wait for all of the state and federal policies and mandates to catch up before we take action.
So what should we do when we realize that the world has changed for our students?
Rather than immediately engage in a technology purchasing frenzy, take some time to begin discussions on your campus about how to transform your school into a place where teachers see themselves first as LEARNERS who are invested in improving their instructional practice through reflection and inquiry, and where students are more globally connected in a way that enhances and supports their individual learning. Collaborate with your faculty and staff -- your learners -- to learn more about how the world has changed and what that means for our profession...
Locate the “early adopters” in your district/schools and bring them in to a conversation around change — recruit them to help spread change virally... Change adult behaviors and practices first... Change the way you work together, the way you speak with each other... Change your vocabulary... Begin by redefining yourselves as learners rather than educators... Acknowledge that in order to prepare your students for their futures of the 21st Century, all learners on your campus must be equally prepared for those futures... Commit to the belief that being “technophobic” or “technology illiterate” is no longer an option for 21st Century learners (and after you've redefined yourselves as learners, understand what that means for professional learning on your campus)... Be firm about this -- it should NOT be okay on your campus for ANYONE to say “I don't like technology” or “I'm just not very techie... can you do this for me?”... Banish the phrase “Kids these days” from the vocabulary of everyone on your campus... While you are at it, you should also banish the phrase “My teaching methods have always worked and I'm not going to change just because these kids (fill in the blank)...”
Don't form a committee to “study this and bring back suggestions for change” -- committees take too long and you just don't have time... change needed to happen yesterday...
Don't create a “pilot project” -- same reasons for not forming a committee -- it takes too long and change needed to happen yesterday...
Do not purchase any new technology hardware until you have first ensured that your network is up-to-date and accessible... How many network drops are in each room? Do you have wireless access across your entire campus?... Drops in every room and wireless access across the campus are “must-haves” before you start buying anything else!...
Give your teachers time to “play” with Web 2.0 -- to explore the use of Web 2.0 (blogs, wikis, Twitter, etc.) for THEIR professional learning BEFORE they attempt to use the same tools in the classroom with students. In fact, put a moratorium on classroom use of blogs and wikis for at least four months until teachers have used them weekly for their own learning by reading and writing and connecting with other edublogging educators...
Inform all new first-year learners on your campus that their “learning” is just beginning and will never end... and that it certainly did not end upon completion of all degree and certification requirements...
Begin all interviews for new hires with “what is the most recent thing that you learned and how did you learn it?”...
Understand that all of this can and should happen in conjunction with other changes in professional practice such as Professional Learning Communities and Critical Friends Groups, and along with structural changes such as Smaller Learning Communities, varied student grouping strategies, and/or early college campuses... Transforming your school into a 21st Century Learning Center does not mean that you throw out other initiatives and other research-based best practices...
Campus leaders should model the professional learning use of Web 2.0 tools through transparent blogging and wiki use with the faculty on a weekly basis... Begin putting all of your professional “knowledge” on a wiki (accessible from anywhere -- NOT on the campus intranet) and when your learners ask where they can find certain documents, policies, etc., smile and tell them “It's on the wiki!”... Give your learners password-protected access to edit the wiki so that knowledge on your campus is collaboratively developed... This is as much about being transparent in your own learning and in your communication and collaborative decision-making with all of your learners as it is about modeling the use of new tools...
Don't know how to use these tools for professional learning, collaboration, and communication? Take time THIS SUMMER to learn... A few great places to start include a wide variety of edublogs as well as “Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms” (Will Richardson), “Redefining Literacy for the 21st Century” (David Franklin Warlick), “Classroom Blogging: 2nd Edition” (David Warlick), and “Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools” (Gwen Solomon, Lynne Schrum)...
If our students need to be educated for a globally connected workplace rather than educated for factory work (and yes, they do), collaborate with your learners to make system, process, and structural changes so that your school looks, feels, and functions less like a factory and more like a globally connected communications and learning center...
Remember that the most important thing is a change in behaviors and practices -- a change in pedagogy -- NOT just buying new technology...
Finally... when you do make technology purchases -- provide support... provide support... provide support... AND provide training... but provide training that is a model of effective instruction and learning practices... create cheerleaders who will coach other professional learners and promote continual learning around changes in the world, economics, technology, and workforce trends that have an impact on our work as learning professionals... Here are a few other blog posts that offer more suggestions for creating a 21st Century learning environment on your campus:
Your job is to make something happen
First Steps Toward Becoming a 21st Century Educator
The Barriers May Not be so Great Disruption or Demand to Learn
Purposeful Networking
I'm on a Path -- Come Join Me!
The Teachers We Need
Don Tapscott Speaks Out on Education
-- Keynote for Horizon Project 2008
9 Principles for Implementation: The Big Shift
ISTE's Refreshed Technology Standards for Students
Social Networking Sites are NOT the Problem... BEHAVIORS (and bad statistics) Are!
The Five Phases of Flattening a Classroom
I know I haven't covered all of the do's and don'ts around this issue of reinventing our schools for the 21st Century, so I'll throw this out to the edublogosphere... What do's and don'ts would you add to the list I've compiled above?

What Do We Wo About Improving Technology?

I frequently find myself in a catch-22 these days. I am among those that have consistently urged our staff to seek new methods to incorporate technology in the classroom. I believe that we need to change our methods of instruction to fit a society that has changed over the past 50 years and that our students need to have technology integrated into classrooms and instruction. However, we are also faced with some of the negatives that these improved technologies bring. I am thinking specifically about cell phones. We are all aware that cell phones are no longer just for communication and that there are issues about privacy (cameras) and cheating (texting) during tests. So my dilemma is this how do we create a situation that allows us to embrace cell phones in the building, employ them in our classrooms and prevent there abuse?

I have a few thoughts and I present these not as a method of dictating an answer but as a place to start the discussion and looking for any and all relevant feedback.

1) We need to allow cellphones in the building and ask that students turn them in before a test is administered. Students would only be disciplined for cell phones if they went off in class or were being used.

2) We maintain the current policy. At this time we have collected cell phones from from 166 different students and many have not stopped bringing them. They simply view the losing of their phone as a nuisance. We spend at least 10 mins a day (teachers time + time in the office) dealing with cell phones and when it is inconvenient for a teacher to bring the phone to the office before the end of the day it results in uneven enforcement. I have also been told that not all teachers turn in cell phones which is a problem in and of itself. I do not think it is a great system and would like to refine or change it.

3) We let students keep their cells even during tests and instead begin to change how we test so that cell phones can't help students cheat but rather they become the data collection devices that many of them are and we teach our students to embrace this technology. (This, of course, requires that we get on board ourselves as well.)

This are simply my initial thoughts and again I welcome yours. Please contribute to this discussion.

Sorry to intrude on this blog Mr. Van Meter but I would like readers to look at this blog post and consider its ramifications. (Dave Meister)

Thank You's (McFatridge)

Yesterday, I received 3 thank you letters from former students. It was so nice to hear students express their thanks for being their teacher. Now I would like to extend my thanks to Mr. Thomas for involving his students in such a positive activity. Smile , sparkle, shine everyone! Its almost April.

Energy Innovation Conference (Musselwhite)

On February 27 and 28 I attended the first annual Energy Innovation Conference at Lake Land College in Mattoon, Illinois. Being somewhat of an environmentalist, the green theme of the conference was refreshing. The keynote speaker was Jack Schultz, a local author of the book “Boomtown USA: Entrepreneurs, Energy and the Future”. Jack talked to the audience about the great things happening in small towns across America, with a special focus on alternative energy and how communities that recognize the value of alternative energy will find themselves on a positive growth curve. The rest of the sessions were similar in topic.
My first session, Integrating Renewable Energy into Secondary and Post-secondary Education Curriculum, was a collaborative effort by three department; Jeff White in Environmental Science, Mark Niemerg in Agriculture, and Michael Beavers in Electronic Technology. The three had been asked to develop modules that could be bought by local schools. The modules would include all the material needed for each lesson along with a finished curriculum. The lessons were well thought out and it sounds like it would be something to look into.
My second session on the first day was about the “Greenmill Village” in Arcola. This session was presented by the developer of the complex, Bob McElwee. The Greenmill Village is a 100 acre green resort powered by wind and solar energy, along with being a suitable model for community development. At first this sounded like a really good idea, but after listen to the session I realized that it is almost impossible to have a huge development be entirely green and this one was no different.
The rest of the night, 4:00 to 8:00pm, included the Energy Fair, Energy Fair Banquet, and the Energy Fair Awards Ceremony. Unfortunately I was unable to attend these events due to time constraints.
The second day started well with a session called “Casting Our Future to the Wind”. The presenter, Mike Ryan, is the superintendant of the Erie Community School District #1, in Erie, Illinois. This school district is believed to be the first district in the state of Illinois to utilize a single wind turbine to generate power for an entire multiple site District. He discussed how his district obtained the money for the wind turbine and also the installation and application of it.
After a short mid morning break I attended two sessions before lunch. One covered New State Funding Initiatives and the other was “The 3 Keys to Energy Cost-Cutting Success: Are They in Your Plan?” The first was as you would expect but the second was very interesting. The presenter was Craig Pals from Tick Tock Energy in Teutopolis. His presentation was directed towards big business and the reduction of energy use and cost, but everything he said could be related to any project a person would under take. The three keys for energy cost-cutting success he mentioned are as follows: 1) energy-efficiency and conservation, 2) renewable energy and on-site power generation, 3) comprehensive energy management strategies.
After lunch the session went by pretty fast I attended one on the “Wind 101 – Basic Design” presented by Joe Tillman. This was a pretty straight forward session about how to build your own wind turbine. I had some ideas of my own on how to do this and I was right on some of them and way off on others. This was a good session in that I could use some of these basic turbine designs in the beginning Technology Classes at almost no cost for materials.
The next session was more or less a sales pitch but it was still interesting. It was presented by Andrew Trueblood and Daren Durey about “Making New Construction Energy Efficient.” I went to this session with intentions of using for information in a Construction Skills Class but there was not much there. The two presenters were taking about Sip’s houses, which are frameless houses that use pre-cut wall and roof panels with the polystyrene (Styrofoam) insulation in between them. It seemed like it would be a good idea but it is hard to get away from the “norm” of house construction.
The last session I attended at the conference was “The Green Bug Conversion Project” presented by Kevin Miller, Automotive Science Instructor. I have an automotive back ground so this was very interesting. I would advise that anyone in the Lake Land College area stop by and check out the project for themselves.
Overall the first annual Energy Innovation Conference was educational and entertaining. I will definitely go back next year and bring as many of the staff that are willing to come with. I am proud of the fact that a college in the area is taking so much interest in alternate energy, and not only taking about it but implementing it on the campus.

What I did on my March Break (The Connections Conference)

First, I want to take a minute to than the staff members that went with me Angie, Kevin, Mark, Staci, Jayne and Justin. This was a great group and they took a leap of faith to leave during some terrible weather on Tuesday and made it to every break out session. We had a great time but the work came first and I can tell you they took a great deal of time and effort looking for sessions that might provide information that they could bring back. I will let them talk about each of the sessions they went to and although there was a little overlap, I think we covered a wide variety of subject areas.

My first session was called "Paper to Pixels Tips to Save You Time Computing" this was put on by a teacher from the Grundy Area Vocational Center. The short version of this was that he has created class user groups using Google apps. These groups allow him to distribute information, allow his students to collaborate with their teachers and others in an upfront fashion (rather than cheating), and make his materials for class available to himself via any web connection. I will be playing with these applications a little more and perhaps Jayne (who was there as well) can help me present some information for you soon.

My second session was put on by Dave Shepard and was call "Rules of Engagement: Winning the War Against Student Apathy". He was very engaging and presented several ideas for dealing with the student that refuses to be active in your classroom as well as ideas that engage students without taking away instructional time. I would like to look into bringing him in for next year.

The day went downhill after that when I went to to less impressive breakout sessions. One was on video conferencing and the other on Education to Careers. If you want information on either I can give it to you and the video conferencing was interesting from the aspect that these teachers were bringing in experts from all over the country to talk to their students in real time.

On Thursday, my first session was put on by a groups from Dyersburg TN. It was about freshmen transitioning. The good news is that they have a nice little program. The better news is that I think that our M & M groups is already ahead of them with the mentoring program that we are doing. It is possible that we could incorporate some of their ideas and I have an email address for the M & M group.

I them went to two sessions by Craig Zablocki. These both focused on trying to get us to let down our guard and interact with our peers and students more effectively.

My last two posts have been very long and I am sure that the rest of the folks that went have a great deal to add so I will close but if any of these topics were of interest to you make sure to stop by and talk to me so Ican give you some of the information. It's good to be back!

Student comment from Mr. Doughan's Blog

If you get a chance, take a look at the conversations taking place on Mr. Doughan's Blog. The following quote came from one of our students. She is right! You, our staff, is what sets us apart........

PHS has one thing that SHS (Schaumburg H.S) didn't really have or I never saw it because I was a Freshman and a Sophmore. Mr. Meister states that an effective high school has "Professionals that are willing to take risks, willing to admit they do not have all the answers and never lose the yearning to keep learning." Personally, I think this statement describes most of the PHS Staff.

A Pat on the Back

We spend a great deal of time discussing the areas of Paris High School that we would like to improve and rightly so. If we are not getting better we are moving in the wrong direction. However, I fear that we often focus on the need to improve at the expense of failing to recognize teachers that are doing a great job of engaging their students or making the improvements that we are striving to attain.

I am always concerned when I do this that I will leave out some teachers that have done terrific things. I will apologize up front if I slight any of you that are going above and beyond in your classes and I realize that I do not see or hear all things but it seems that not recognizing the many good things I have observed is a greater omission so at he risk of missing something here are some of the congratulations that I think are due (or overdue).

Thank you or well done to:

Brett Block, Mark Thomas and Staci Garzolini-Skelton for stepping in and working with the lunch bunch. You have had many successes with this group this year and it works because of your effort.

Mark Cox for his work on coordinating the emergency plans of the different buildings in the district. This has been a job that will never be considered that important until we need it and then we will all be glad you undertook it.

All the teachers that have served on one of the High Schools That Work committees.

Ernie Wallace and Mark Cox for their air car assignments, Mrs. Earlywine for her Academy Awards lesson, and Brett Block for the work on boat building. I love these assignments because you have kids that are really excited about being able to excel and do some creative things.

Kevin Hibschman for moving students from reworded biographies when they write essays. I like your approach that students have to develop and test a hypothesis with their research.

Doug Happ for making students do more questioning as they undertake experiments. Students are made to discover the best method for carrying out their work instead of simply working through the teachers step by step hand holding.

All of the teachers that have taken on the mentoring program this year and done very special things with your groups. The list here is too long to go name by name but this will be the best thing we ever decided to implement if we continue to improve on a good forst year.

Speaking of the mentoring program, I also want to thank the teachers of the M & M group for the hard work that they put into setting up this program. You all continue to put in countless hours of hard work to pull this together month after month and I want you all to know that if is appreciated and difference making.

Ed for the great work he does on a daily basis keeping this building clean. He as well as the night crew for TBM do a great job.

Cindy and Loretta who keep the office running in spite of the way that Dave and I get in the way.

Heather Seaton for her work on the calendar, Shannon Sherer for the newletter, Mrs. Propst for here work with moviemaker and all of those that have set up blogs (Mr. Ogle, Mrs. Phegley, Ms. Franklin, Mr. Doughan, Mrs. Sherer. Mr. Kirby, Mrs. Witmer, Mr. Lynch and Mr. Musselwhite). These are all great ways to model the use of technology for our students. I especially like it when the students are posting and participating in the conversation.

Carrie Ann Phegley for the online presentation of student work in her Art classes.

The PR committee for the work on the wall of fame that was posted this year. With it right outside my office I get the chance to frequently see the students looking to see those that preceded them.

Ms. Hill for her work presenting technology to the staff and all her hard work in securing grants for the building.

Gary Ochs and Sandra Liebe for the hard work that they put into FFA week and the barnyard last week.

Jayne Brown for placing student after student in jobs

Roger Thomas and the special education staff Mitzie, Pam, Diane, Nancy, and Renae for their work with RTI

Sandy Dahlin for stepping into a midyear opening and filling a void

Karen Earlywine, Mark Cox, Doug Happ, Lindsey Hewitt, Sid Shuler, Lee Smith as well as others that open their classrooms to students before and after school and at lunch in order to provide extra help.

Lori Drake for being willing to step in and help with a student that needed help getting up and down the stairs for most of this year.

Jeff Barnes for the extra time that he has spent with students working with the workkeys program.
Tom Punzelt for the encouraging word that he has for every single person he meets especially our students

Mrs. Pittenger as well as others that have served as an ad hoc guidance counselor to several students.

Denise Craig who has maintained her sanity while collecting a ton of homework, entering all the discipline into the computer and worked daily with a group of students that do not want to be with her as well as Marlene Terrell that oversee this everyday at lunch.

Michelle Smith who tracks over 300 kids everyday for the closed campus lunch as well as Mary Lou and Paula that make sure that these kids are fed daily and the teachers that work lunch duty and interact with those kids every day.

Jami, Marian, and Sandy for developing lessons that included use of the clickers systems in your classes.

Mr. Aydt for all the work you do with the WYSE Team

Jane and Sandy for running the nurse’s office which can be every bit as chaotic as anyplace else in this building.


OK, I am sure that I have overlooked some if not many of the good things being done by staff members……………if so then take it upon yourselves to comment and recognize them. This is, after all, an interactive medium.

Good reading

Read this blog entry from Bill Ferriter. He succinctly states in this blog many things that I happen to agree with. Warning, the blog itself takes some time to read, but I think it is well worth it. The comments are also valuable! What do you think?

Isn't it Time to Change?

I recently read a 96 page article on school reform given to me by a professor at Illinois State University. The article was written by a gentleman named Franklin Bobbitt at the University of Chicago. Mr. Bobbitt is a strong advocate of school reform. He believes that we should improve public education by increasing standards, testing our results, and holding educators and students accountable.

I realize that these are not earth shattering ideas and that you have heard them expressed many times and in many different formats. The interesting thing about the article is that it was written in 1913 by a man who passed away in the 1950’s. As a student of history this does not surprise me. It is a case of “everything old is new again”.

However, it is time for change. It is time that we move away from dispensing information and instead teach the skills that will allow student to access the vast information that is available at their fingertips. It is time that we consider things like year round calendars, senior projects, as well as true and meaningful apprenticeships for students that wish to move into the workforce instead of going on to higher education. It is time that we realize that a school whose calendar was based on an agrarian economy and whose primary purpose were to train students for hands-on industrial work has past.

I am sometimes easily discouraged by the fact that we have not made more progress in the last four years toward this goal but the other night I sat up making a mental list of the changes that have occurred over that time. It is not an insignificant list.

Mentoring
Lunch Bunch
Online classes
The 8-period day
A real expansion of dual credit offerings
A tremendous increase in the technology available in the building (now how do we take advantage of it)
The return of summer school
Additional staff

as well as others that are in progress but not yet completed.

I think it is sometimes good to think of those things because it reminds me that we are moving in the right direction and it just becomes a matter of what’s next and how fast we will continue.

I spoke on my first day here about the pride that I took in being part of a dedicated staff at Mayo Middle School. I said on that day that I hoped I would eventually grow to feel that way about the staff here at the high school. I want you to know that I have grown to respect this staff and I am proud of the steps that have been taken by you to improve the building for our students. The challenges that we will face and overcome in the coming months and years will not be easy, if anything the easy part is done.

Quote to ponder......

(cross posted from PHSprincipalBlog)
"In a world where information was scarce, schools operated as kind of a repository of that precious resource. But now information is abundant. A school doesn’t have to harvest and distribute this scarce resource. It has to serve some other kind of function." -Daniel Pink

We must define those new functions! What thoughts do you have?

How Do You Engage Students?

Engagement – it is a very popular idea in education over the past few years. It seems to make sense. If students are part of the learning process they will be more inclined to work harder and therefore receive a better education. However, the more I think and talk to people about how we engage our students, the more I realize that this means different things to different educators. In some cases I have been told that engagement is asking questions of students, in others they are put in full control of the outcome of an assignment or task. Obviously there may be as many methods to engage students as there are teachers trying to accomplish the task. But it seems to me that students are not engaged because they are active, they are engaged because you have created a classroom situation or assignment that has caused them to think at the highest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. The levels at which they are applying, assessing, and synthesizing what they are learning.

So I will pose the question because I believe that it time that we do more than talk about what we are doing and that one teachers method may be helpful to many others. How do you engage your students? Is there a good method you use for this? Do you have a particular assignment(s)? Does it happen in your class on purpose or by accident or both?

Making them think

I would like your ideas on how we can better make our students think critically on research assignments. What kind of projects have you done with your students that have forced higher level thinking that you would be willing to share?

Welcome to the PHS staff development blog

1. Department chair will invite department members to blog about reading strategies used in class.
2. Articles and information about teaching and student engagement will be posted here. Staff will be asked to react to what they read.
3. Teacher that go to conferences will be asked to post a blog here.
4. Teachers will be required to comment or post here at least once a month (to start with).
5. We want to keep the discussion collegial and geared towards improving instruction here a PHS.
6. It is my hope that this will bring about purposeful reflection and response about issues involved in improvement of instruction.