A recent Edutopia feed advocates for the use of virtual simulations in the classroom. (http://www.edutopia.org/computer-simulations-virtual-learning) I haven't personally used any virtual simulations in my classes. However, it isn't because I am opposed to them, I really just don't know where to find them. Our school has the unique privilege of having all students being issued their own laptop to use for the school year. This allows us access to a wide range of educational tools and no excuse not to try anything that may offer more in-depth learning. The feed article provides a couple of links to possible simulations that could be used in classrooms.
I am deeply interested in more information on this topic. If you have anything that you have used please let me know!
Monday, July 11, 2011
Friday, July 8, 2011
A New Nation is Born!
One thing that I absolutely love about history and geography is that its always changing. Many students take for granted the way that the world is today. While many parts of the world have been inhabited for hundreds or thousands of years, the political boundaries that shape our world today have only been in place for a short time in most cases. Even if a country has been around for awhile, the border that surrounds it almost certainly has shifted at some point over the last century. And it has happened again! According to a recent feed from Aljazeera, South Sudan has declared independence and become its own country. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/07/20117820539243358.html
Sudan has been torn apart by civil war and unrest dating back several decades. Now it seems that there may be a light at the end of the tunnel for those that live in the region. Of course, these transitions rarely go smoothly in the beginning and this may take several decades to really materialize, but it does provide some ray of hope for citizens. After all, many Sudanese citizens have been at war most or all of their lives. Certainly the slightest possibility for peace and stability would come as welcome news to those that live there.
Sudan has been torn apart by civil war and unrest dating back several decades. Now it seems that there may be a light at the end of the tunnel for those that live in the region. Of course, these transitions rarely go smoothly in the beginning and this may take several decades to really materialize, but it does provide some ray of hope for citizens. After all, many Sudanese citizens have been at war most or all of their lives. Certainly the slightest possibility for peace and stability would come as welcome news to those that live there.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Google Plus
The possibilities that Google + seems to offer is incredibly exciting. According to an article by the ReadWriteWeb, social media may finally be a reality for everyday use in the classroom. (http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_plus_education.php#.Tg_Gkv10fVw.blogger) Security has been a persistent obstacle to widespread use of social media for student and teacher collaboration to this point. However, Google + offers many different levels of security that may provide the privacy schools need. Social media captivates the hearts and minds of teenagers everyday and it makes perfect sense to use this to appeal to learning.
One other issue that may still present a problem for administrators is the idea of students and staff interacting through social media. Professionally this can cause issues as the lines of authority begin to blur. However, I believe that these concerns are lessening through the successful use of other sites like Edmodo. I have used this to a limited extent in my classes and have found that students really seem to like some of the advantages that it provides. Further, I have not had one parent complaint about it. Complaints regarding Facebook are filed almost daily and that site isn't even permitted on our campus. Edmodo does have some limitations that I have found cumbersome, but hopefully Google + will take classroom collaboration to the next level.
One other issue that may still present a problem for administrators is the idea of students and staff interacting through social media. Professionally this can cause issues as the lines of authority begin to blur. However, I believe that these concerns are lessening through the successful use of other sites like Edmodo. I have used this to a limited extent in my classes and have found that students really seem to like some of the advantages that it provides. Further, I have not had one parent complaint about it. Complaints regarding Facebook are filed almost daily and that site isn't even permitted on our campus. Edmodo does have some limitations that I have found cumbersome, but hopefully Google + will take classroom collaboration to the next level.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
The NEA & Teacher Evaluation
A recent feed from Edutopia entitled "An Opportunity for the NEA to Redefine the Teaching Profession" covers the controversial issue of the new teacher evaluation system. According to the article the NEA has stood silent on this issue as teachers rights have been attacked all across the country. However, the author sees the NEA's role as critical in these uncharted times. The overall tone of the article is that this is an opportunity for teachers and administrators everywhere to move the profession in a positive direction.
I've had the opportunity to participate in some of the planning for what teacher evaluation will look like for our school in the future. While this new evaluation process does seem to hold some promise for improving schools, it also has some pieces that are pretty scary. One of my biggest issues with the process is the use of achievement data as part of the evaluation. I wouldn't mind so much if the achievement data was specifically tied to the subject that I teach, but it isn't. Reading is one of the scores that has been identified as an indicator of teacher proficiency. While we use reading in history and work on specific techniques for working with text within our discipline, we never specifically teach reading in class. Further, there is no such thing as a reading class beyond middle school. This is not because we do not value reading, rather reading is not included in any state mandated curriculum.
Content expectations are handed down to us with the expectation that these items will be presented in all schools. It seems to me that if reading was one of the things that they wanted to use as a measurement tool, they would want to have classes at all levels of education to continue growth. Actually, it doesn't seem like they would...this seems like a typical move.
I do believe that there are some teachers out there that should leave the profession. Further, if I am ever found to be incompetent and it is shown to me that I can not teach effectively I will leave the profession with no questions asked. Student growth is our primary objective and I would never want to compromise that regardless of the circumstances. However, I do want to be fairly and not based on something that a legislator (who may have never worked a day in education) dreamed up.
I've had the opportunity to participate in some of the planning for what teacher evaluation will look like for our school in the future. While this new evaluation process does seem to hold some promise for improving schools, it also has some pieces that are pretty scary. One of my biggest issues with the process is the use of achievement data as part of the evaluation. I wouldn't mind so much if the achievement data was specifically tied to the subject that I teach, but it isn't. Reading is one of the scores that has been identified as an indicator of teacher proficiency. While we use reading in history and work on specific techniques for working with text within our discipline, we never specifically teach reading in class. Further, there is no such thing as a reading class beyond middle school. This is not because we do not value reading, rather reading is not included in any state mandated curriculum.
Content expectations are handed down to us with the expectation that these items will be presented in all schools. It seems to me that if reading was one of the things that they wanted to use as a measurement tool, they would want to have classes at all levels of education to continue growth. Actually, it doesn't seem like they would...this seems like a typical move.
I do believe that there are some teachers out there that should leave the profession. Further, if I am ever found to be incompetent and it is shown to me that I can not teach effectively I will leave the profession with no questions asked. Student growth is our primary objective and I would never want to compromise that regardless of the circumstances. However, I do want to be fairly and not based on something that a legislator (who may have never worked a day in education) dreamed up.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Where is the Line for Privacy?
Should the FBI or any other organization be able to secretly install GPS tracking devices on our vehicles without obtaining a warrant or permission first. That is exactly what happened to a college student in California. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/43619018#43619018 This seems to me at first glance to be a tremendous invasion of privacy.
I realize that we are living in a world today that requires vigilant pursuit of individuals that may be involved in terrorist activities against the United States. However, where does it end? I don't want to flush all of our rights to privacy down the drain because we are afraid of future attacks. The FBI didn't provide any reason for why they chose to track this young man's car. There should at least be some requirement or justification for such action.
According to the video, the FBI and many of the courts contend that "they don't need permission due to the fact that cars travel on public roads and there is no guarantee of privacy" there. Others would say that we give up our privacy every day by choosing to use wireless devices and computers, which track our position anyway. However, this just seems scary to me. Our forefathers risked their lives years ago to escape tyranny. I would hate to see us return to it by choice as a result of fear.
I realize that we are living in a world today that requires vigilant pursuit of individuals that may be involved in terrorist activities against the United States. However, where does it end? I don't want to flush all of our rights to privacy down the drain because we are afraid of future attacks. The FBI didn't provide any reason for why they chose to track this young man's car. There should at least be some requirement or justification for such action.
According to the video, the FBI and many of the courts contend that "they don't need permission due to the fact that cars travel on public roads and there is no guarantee of privacy" there. Others would say that we give up our privacy every day by choosing to use wireless devices and computers, which track our position anyway. However, this just seems scary to me. Our forefathers risked their lives years ago to escape tyranny. I would hate to see us return to it by choice as a result of fear.
Here we go again! Gas prices on the Rise.
Just as gas prices finally began to come down from the $4 mark, we had to have a holiday which inevitably makes them go back up. (A 30 cent increase in my area over a couple of days) To make things worse, an oil pipeline in Montana ruptured on Friday according to a feed from the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/03/us/03oilspill.html?partner=rss&emc=rss The article stated that all oil companies that had pipelines in the area were ordered to shut down immediately. Of course this is a good thing because we don't want to see local drinking water supplies polluted or wildlife harmed. However, how much is this going to cost me? We all know that even the slightest hiccup in the oil world can have staggering effects on the prices that we pay at the pump.
I would guess that we will be feeling the effects of this one for the rest of the summer. The oil spill was small, but the shut-down and repairs should give the oil companies enough of an excuse to keep prices jacked up for months to come...at least until the Labor Day price hike rolls around.
I would guess that we will be feeling the effects of this one for the rest of the summer. The oil spill was small, but the shut-down and repairs should give the oil companies enough of an excuse to keep prices jacked up for months to come...at least until the Labor Day price hike rolls around.
Teachers only work 9 months per year!
A recent feed from the Department of Education covered some of the work that schools are doing as a part of the Race to the Top program. http://www.ed.gov/blog/2011/07/school%E2%80%99s-on-for-summer-states-engage-teachers-in-race-to-the-top/ According to the feed, this work is aimed to “fundamentally redefin[e] the education landscape in America.” I'm not exactly sure that it will have such a dramatic impact. Nonetheless, our school is working through the summer in an attempt to jump through the bureaucratic hoops set out by the government.
To kick off the summer our school improvement team attended a leadership conference focused on the new evaluation process. Charlotte Danielson came and spoke about her work related to school improvement and ways that it could possibly be turned into components of evaluation. Our next step is to work through a professional committee to use what we have learned to design a new evaluation that will be used for all teachers and administered each year.
The one thing that I found truly interesting about Ms. Danielson's perspective was the goal of evaluation. Typically, evaluations have been viewed as punitive tasks that are used to punish teachers. It was sort of the administrator's tool to "get" teachers that they didn't like. However, according to Ms. Danielson evaluations should be used to help teachers grow in their professional development. While there will be some things in the evaluation that maybe didn't go well, these should be viewed as areas for growth rather than negatives.
In order for this to happen there needs to be a great deal of trust between teachers and administrators within a school district. Further, those performing evaluations need to be trained to conduct them properly and effectively. This may be a tall order for local school districts as they continue to cut administrative staff.
To kick off the summer our school improvement team attended a leadership conference focused on the new evaluation process. Charlotte Danielson came and spoke about her work related to school improvement and ways that it could possibly be turned into components of evaluation. Our next step is to work through a professional committee to use what we have learned to design a new evaluation that will be used for all teachers and administered each year.
The one thing that I found truly interesting about Ms. Danielson's perspective was the goal of evaluation. Typically, evaluations have been viewed as punitive tasks that are used to punish teachers. It was sort of the administrator's tool to "get" teachers that they didn't like. However, according to Ms. Danielson evaluations should be used to help teachers grow in their professional development. While there will be some things in the evaluation that maybe didn't go well, these should be viewed as areas for growth rather than negatives.
In order for this to happen there needs to be a great deal of trust between teachers and administrators within a school district. Further, those performing evaluations need to be trained to conduct them properly and effectively. This may be a tall order for local school districts as they continue to cut administrative staff.
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