2013 China Exchange

Next month 8 students and 5 teachers will be visiting us from Shijiazhuang, Hebie, Province, PRC.  I would like to invite people to participate in some of the events. Here is their 5 day schedule. They will be flying in from the first leg of their journey in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and then visit us in the Philadelphia area, and then visit San Francisco, California after which they will fly back home. If you would like to go with us or meet up with us in New York City please contact me on this BLOG.

In the spring of 2011, Pat Parris was commissioned to lead the annual PA Leadership China immersion trip. This four week immersion by 9-12th graders has been going on now for five years. For the past five years, we have purchased the services of Konal Cultural Exchange in Shijiazhuang, Hebie Province, China. Our students would arrive at school every day and complete Mandarin immersion lessons in the morning. In the afternoons, students would complete their cyber lessons back in Pennsylvania. On the weekends, students would tour cultural attractions in Hebie Provence.
There is a problem with this trip. It is not sustainable. Too few students can come up with the $3000 fee. On the trip this year I was able to partner with The Hebie International School in China. We will be receiving students from their school this October and sending students to China in April. This web site is dedicated to this new-found relationship which could potentially cut the expense to $2000. We have signed a cooperation agreement with Hebei International School in Shijiazhuang, China. We are recruiting students with the help of a teacher at their school. The exchange activities will be comprised of shadowing students in their classes as well as educational and cultural excursions.

Tentative Exchange Itinerary:  For those traveling from China

Day	Activity
Day 1 Sun, Feb. 17th	Arrival at JFK in New York, 1 PM Flight #CA981 Meet with host families at 4 PM at the AIC back parking area
Day 2 Mon, Feb. 18th	7Am – 7 New York City Day Trip / Chinese Exchange Experience! Time Description Cost 7AM Depart from 1585 Paoli Pike, West Chester, PA, 19380 parking area in the back $75 9:30 AM Today Show at Rockefeller Center Free 10:00 AM Observation Deck $19 11:00 AM Ice Skating $14.50 1:00 PM Food Court South Street Seaport, 89 South St. NY, NY, 10038 $10 2:00 PM Times Square, Fifth Avenue, Free 3:00 PM China Town, NYU, Wall Street Free 4:00 PM Former Site of the World Trade Center Free 5:00 PM View Statue of Liberty from Battery Park Free 7:00 PM Eat a packed meal on the bus Free Total $118.50 . Students are permitted to sit while we ice skate at no charge. Students are permitted to pack two meals instead of pay for one. Students are required to go with us to the observation deck. The deadline for the NYC bus trip is Friday, February 15th. You will be traveling by tour bus with our Chinese guests who will be visiting our school during this time. We are also planning a ping pong tournament at the AIC and CPFA tour on Wednesday February 20th. If you have some ping pong skills you can challenge our guests. If you just want to come hang out to practice your mandarin or just hang out, then please RSVP in this Survey Monkey Here is the permission form for the New York trip.  http://locker.palcs.org/~pparris/Global%20Citizens/china/2013%20NYC%20Trip.pdf Permission forms
Day 3 Tues, Feb. 19th	Arrive 8:30 AM – 4 PM at AICAudit Classes at West Chester University West Chester Tour   9-10:30 AM 3 E Institute           10:30 Lunch                    11:30 PM Dr. Desousa class    12:30 to 1:45 Dr. Hoffman  meet    2:00 PM Rei LI (online class)  3:00 PM Dr. Cai Jie   class      4:15-5:30
Day 4 Wed, Feb. 20th	Briefing at School at 8 AM -8:30 Morning announcements and opening ceremony announcing our guests Shadow students for the rest of the day Participate in an English Math or Science Class English Language lessons in the computer lab Briefing at School at 3:30 – 4 PM Ping Pong Tournament
Day 5 Thurs,  Feb. 21st.	Arrive 8:30 AM – 4 PM at AICVisit Historic Philadelphia and China Town Independence Mall Franklin Court Liberty Bell Betsy Ross House Elfreth’s Alley China Town Lunch Visit Wharton and The University of Penn. Pack with host family.
Day 6 Fri,  Feb. 22nd.	Arrive 10:00 AMTravel Day Flight #CA982 leaves from JFK at 3:50  We will leave from the AIC at 10:30 AM. I will be there for drop off by 9:30AM

Schedule for those Traveling to China

DATE	Tentative schedule	LOCATION
Day 1	Arrival at Beijing Capital Airport Visiting the Great Wall The Olympic stadium (the nest 、water cube appearance) 、then live in Hotel in Beijing	West Chester/JFK Bejing
Day 2	Visiting Chinese theatre (appearance) 、Tiananmen Square、 The Imperial Palace、 Hutong、toward evening return to shijiazhuang	Bejing
Day 3	Rest in the household in the whole morning.1、Opening ceremony of exchange programme between schools 14：40—15：102、Visiting the school 15:10—15：403、Chinese learning (about greeting and clothes)15：40—17：00 3、Taking the measurements to make clothes 17:00——17:50	Shijiazhuang
Day 4	1、Taiji Quan practice 7：30—8：002、Introducing places of interests in China 8:00—10:003、learning paper-cut 10:10——12:004、Enjoying and learning Beijing opera 14：40——16:20 5、Learning Chinese songs 16:30——17：50	Shijiazhuang
Day 5	Students take part in activities with household. Teachers go to Botanical Garden	Shijiazhuang
Day 6	Student take part in activities with household the entire day.	Shijiazhuang
Day 7	1、Taiji Quan practice 7：30—8：002、Visiting water park (YanYu floor, zhaozhou Bridges, hebei name wall,Feihong JiuQuQiao etc)8:00—10:003、Introducing Chinese culture and traditional festional1 10:20—12:004、Learning handcraft 14：40—16：00 5、Introducing Chinese Calligraphy and traditional painting 16：10—17：55	Shijiazhuang
Day 8	1、Watch about Chinese acrobatics introduction 7：30—8：00 (taking the lunch)2、Visiting to Hebei Acrobatics 9：00—10：303、visiting Hebei Museum 11：00—12：004、lunchtime12:00—13：005、Visiting Stone Buddhist Pagoda and Bailin Temple14：00—16：40 6、going back school 16；40—17：50	Shijiazhuang
Day 9	Taiji Quan practice, Learn a handicraft	Shijiazhuang
Day 10	Introduce food culture	Shijiazhuang
Day 11	1、Learning Chinese shuttlecock 7：30—8：00 (taking the lunch)2、Learning Chinese (about shopping, doctor, post office, date)8:00—12:003、Visiting the University 13：00—14：404、Visiting Shijiazhuang Hanging Garden15:00—16:105、visiting foreign goods street 16：10—17:00 6、going back school 16；40—17：50	Shijiazhuang
Day 12	1、Learning Chinese shuttlecock 7:30–8002、learning Chinese painting 8:00—10：003、Chinese learning (about food) 10：20—12：004、learning to make Chinese food 14:40—17；10 5 Trying the clothes 17:10—-17:55	Shijiazhuang
Day 13	Climbing Cangyan Mountain (taking the lunch)	Shijiazhuang
Day14	Students take part in activities with their household the entire day. Students pack up their bags.	Shijiazhuang
Day 15	1、Learning Chinese shuttlecock2、go shopping 8：00—12：00(tea shop、xiantianxia mall)3、The school entertains the American teachers and students4、Get-together and Closing ceremony 5、Get-together and going to Beijing and return	JFK Airport

Math and reason in cyber school

My name is Pat Parris. I have been teaching history and leadership electives since 2004 in a cyber charter school. (Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School.) During this time I have had the opportunity to teach critical thinking skills, and watched the light bulbs pop on during tutoring times in our adobe classroom. I am writing this post to suggest adaptations of various math strategies that are currently being deployed from this web site. I would like to thank Jim Wright for making these strategies public, and Intervention Central for this math remediation research.


The United States is uncompetitive in math. In the past that has not been a problem. Preparing students to be compliant requires a very different teaching strategy, than to teach them to reason. In the current globally environment we are all competing to learn to think critically.

What do these strategies look like at a cyber school? I have taken the strategies from this web site and adapted them to our Moodle learning platform, and adobe multi-media classroom. Here are a few examples of how math remediation can happen on school wide level. The Moodle platform offers asynchronous instruction and the strategy includes an "A" after it. .The Adobe classroom offers synchronous instruction and the strategy includes an "S" after it. In addition we use other software programs that we purchase at our school to continue to bridge the gap between synchronous and asynchronous instruction. This gap continues to narrow with each passing year of innovation. I have included one new program in this list, but there are many.

Applied Problems: Encourage Students to Draw to Clarify Understanding .... 
 
When we apply problems by drawing real world templates of how they function, then students demonstrate that they have connected the dots of reason to draw a conclusion. In a cyber setting we can ...

• Assign a project with an offline lesson. A
• Create a model in a file upload assignment. A
• Complete a series of tasks that lead the student to a complex solution. This can be accomplished by a combination of multiple choice assessments and free response reasoning. A
• Complete a series of discussion board posts with simple tasks that will lead to a conclusion. A
• Teacher place a worksheet in the file upload tool of the adobe classroom containing at least six word problems. Students are required to draw a picture of the problem to solve it. S

 Applied Problems: Improving Performance Through a 4-Step Problem-Solving Approach

• Understand the problem. (Give an example of what the solution may look like in your online lesson.) A
  
• Devise a plan. (Work backwards from the solution to devise a process and access by creating a task with a timeline.) A
  
• Carry out the plan. (Work the process forward in a discussion board post. ) A
• Look back (Reflect with a discussion board post. Include a review in a a future online lesson.) A
• Walk through the process in the adobe classroom as described in the website above. S

Math Computation: Boost Fluency Through Explicit Time-Drills

• Use timed tests in Moodle to create formative assessments.A/S

Math Computation: Motivate With ‘Errorless Learning’ Worksheets

• Work backwards from the answer key and have students submit the steps toward solving a problem in a series of free response steps. A
• Work backwards from the answer key and have students submit the steps toward solving a problem in a series of adobe classroom responses. S

 Math Computation: Two Ideas to Jump-Start Active Academic Responding

• Place mini assessment chunks into Moodle using tools like hot potatoes. A
• Place formative assessments into Moodle lessons with html tools. A
•  Ask questions that demand a response in the adobe classroom. S

Math Homework: Motivate Students Through Reinforcers, Interesting Assignments, Homework Planners, and Self-Monitoring 

• Real life assignments that require a solution that will benefit the student. A
• Homework passes for good grades. A
• Tasks with answers are included and tasks without answers. A
• Tests are created that allow students to take and retake the tests until they have reached mastery of the test bank. A
• Meet with students regularly to check on time management strategies in the adobe classroom. S

Math Instruction: Consolidate Student Learning During Lecture Through the Peer-Guided Pause

• Pause in an adobe classroom session for feedback and students respond to summarize and demonstrate concept understanding. S
• Require multiple discussion board posts responding to peer guided responses. A

 Math Instruction: Increase Student Engagement and Improve Group Behaviors With Response Cards

• Students respond to a teacher's pause with an immediate simultaneous response using the poll tool in the adobe classroom. S
• Students respond to a video in a mini quiz with public broadcast of the results. A

 Math Instruction: Maintain a Supportive Atmosphere for Classroom “Math Talk”

• The teacher uses open-ended comments (e.g., “What led you to that answer?”) as tools to draw out students and encourage them to explore and apply math concepts in group discussion in the adobe classroom. S
•  The teacher uses open-ended comments (e.g., “What led you to that answer?”) as tools to draw out students and encourage them to explore and apply math concepts in group discussion in a discussion board. A

 Math Instruction: Support Students Through a Wrap-Around Instruction Plan

• Students are encouraged to "think aloud", to verbally reveal his or her cognitive process to the class while using a cognitive strategy to solve a math problem in an adobe classroom. S
•  Students are encouraged to "think aloud", to verbally reveal his or her cognitive process to the class while using a cognitive strategy to solve a math problem with a nano gong lesson in Moodle. A

Math Instruction: Unlock the Thoughts of Reluctant Students Through Class Journaling

• Students role play making change in a fast food restaurant. The role play takes place in the adobe classroom. S
•  Students journal their understanding of a lesson in a Moodle lesson. A

Math Problem-Solving: Help Students Avoid Errors With the ‘Individualized Self-Correction Checklist’

• Students demonstrate their accuracy on particular types of word and number problems by using an ‘individualized self-instruction checklist’ that reminds them to pay attention to their own specific error patterns.  S
• Students demonstrate their accuracy on particular types of word and number problems by creating and using an ‘individualized self-instruction checklist’ that reminds them to pay attention to their own specific error patterns in a free response lesson.  A

Math Review: Balance Massed & Distributed Practice 

• Students acquisition and fluency in a newly taught math skill is improved by transitioning from massed to distributed practice.  For example students practice math skills such as reducing fractions to least common denominators into instruction either by  requiring the student to complete short assignments regularly in adobe classroom tutoring session. S
•  Students acquisition and fluency in a newly taught math skill is improved by transitioning from massed to distributed practice.  For example students practice math skills such as reducing fractions to least common denominators into instruction either by  requiring the student to complete short assignments regularly in an file upload worksheet. A

Math Review: Teach Effective Test-Preparation Strategies

• Students practice (1) specific test-review strategies and (2) time-management and self-advocacy skills in an adobe classroom session. S
• Students practice (1) specific test-review strategies and (2) time-management and self-advocacy skills using the "Method Test Preparation" software. A

Math Vocabulary: Preteach, Model, and Use Standard Math Terms

•   Teach math vocabulary with a game show strategy in the adobe classroom. S
•   Teach math vocabulary with a matching quiz game Moodle lesson. A