Dear CNMT Community,

With winter break just a week away, I think we are all feeling the anticipation off a little time off with our loved ones.

This week I would like to comment briefly on the WestEd R.A.I.S.E. study that CNMT is part of. Three small schools at Roosevelt, CNMT, L&G and AMAHS, were selected by WestEd to get the training in Reading Apprenticeship as part of a multi-year study.

Reading Apprenticeship is an approach to teaching where the teacher is a mentor and the students are the apprentices. Teacher modeling is emphasized, which includes a lot of think alouds and talking through the though processes that go into comprehending and making use of challenging academic texts. Continue reading →

Dear CNMT Community,

High expectations are key to school transformation. The cliche is true that people will rise to the level of our expectations, starting with ourselves. I have high expectations for myself, which I don’t usually meet. At the same time, I know that improvement takes time, and I cut myself some slack.

I also have high expectations for CNMT students. I know that many of our students are entering high school with literacy skills in English that are below grade level, sometimes by many years. Some of our students are just starting to learn English, and others are long-term English Learners. Continue reading →