Project-based Learning

I am sure most of us in the program do at least a good amount of project based learning. I am also sure some of them have not gone as well as hoped. I do still know teachers out there that do not see the value so this is a great article for them to read.

I have a co-teacher who wanted to be a principal a few years ago. The other day he said to me " Once we get back to basics I will be a principal" I didn't say anything, but in my mind I was thinking...he just does not get it! We will never be going back to kids sitting in rows and listening to teachers lecture all day. We will always have technology and group work in classrooms. He like many teachers think project based learning is a passing phase and maybe they are secretly hoping that it is, because let's face it. It is harder to be a teacher these days than it was even ten years ago.

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/project-based-learning-not-giving-up-suzie-boss?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EdutopiaNewContent+%28Edutopia%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

When is there too much of a good thing?

So I am doing my homework this morning and I am realizing that I have 10 different windows open. I am searching articles, posting blogs, updating my wiki, checking my social bookmarks and yes even reading facebook every now and then for fun! This week we are learning about Ning, facebook and social bookmarks, and as a teacher I have to say it is both amazingly helpful and amazingly stressful to find the time to keep up with all of these sites! I do love technology and I am all in when it comes to technology in education. I also believe that it is amazing how much information can be shared between educators. I am just wondering at what point it will become so much that it will take away from my teaching??

Ning in the Classroom

On the site "The Professional Learner" I found an article or a blog (It is getting kind of hard to tell the differnce anymore!) about his experience using Ning with his students. I have no experience with Ning yet, but I like the idea of giving students a space to create groups and collaborate! I am not sure facebook is the best place to send my students for school work, so I like that the teacher described ning as a "closed" environment that is like facebook.

http://profespringer.wordpress.com/2009/12/21/using-ning-in-the-classroom-to-create-a-learning-community/

Just a Thought on Conferences

This is mostly for elementary educators, but could apply to all. I just finished up my conferences this past week and in the middle of them I once again started wondering why we do them the way we do. Why do we have this two day marathon of conferences when teachers are tired and the conferences are back to back so we can barely catch a breath before the next one starts. I only have 23 students in my room. If I could start meeting with parents one on one sometime in November and have them wrapped up by December I think I would be much "fresher" for each conference. I would feel more prepared and I would feel like I can give the parents the time and attention they deserve. I could have one or two a day before or after school. I would be able to block off more time if I felt it was needed for a specific conference or less time if I felt it was needed. I would not be rushed or exhausted. The fact is that there are some parents I do not need to meet with because I had already met with them a few days earlier at an IEP and they still feel obligated to sign up for conferences so they don't look like a bad parent. I also have those kids that are just awesome and all we do at the conference is sit there and chat about other things. It is nice to catch up with and meet parents and I believe conferences are an important part of what we do. I just think the structure is not the best it could be.

Outsourcing Education!?

http://www.edutopia.org/node/35235?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+EdutopiaNewContent+%28Edutopia%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Online Learning: The Next Great Debate is an article written by Dr. Katie Klinger on edutopia.com. I thought this was very interesting for two reasons. First of all I thought it was so cool that there actually is something called Open University (OU), which is an online school for students all over the world. Secondly I thought is was very interesting, because evidently the teachers are being "outsourced" from India. The tutors from India are willing to do the work for half the cost of the UK teachers so they are getting the jobs.

I guess with the excitement of the possibilities of online learning, I never considered that fact that it will create more competition for jobs and the lowest bidder will get the work! Kind of scary when we are talking about education.

Are teacher Salaries "Too High?"

http://detnews.com/article/20101118/METRO/11180420/High-teacher-salaries-under-scrutiny-in-Michigan

Once again there is an article in the newspaper, the Detroit News this time, about how it is our turn as teachers to take the big cuts. Honestly I understand that we are state employees and if we have to make some concessions, that is fine. I get upset when there are people quoted in articles like this saying that what we make is "Way over the top" as one Troy resident put it. There was also state senator Mike Bishop who thinks we should take huge cuts as teachers because as he puts it "Teaching is an awfully nice job for that kind of pay".

I am tired of feeling disrespected by the general public because form their perspective our jobs are fun and easy and we get three months off and all of these vacations. Very few of them have any idea about the pressures we face everyday and the fact that many of us spend our vacations working in one way or another. Little do they know that after my retirement, union dues, TSA, etc etc, I get about half of what I make every two weeks in my paycheck. If I have to take a 10 -20 percent paycut, the job just wouldn't be worth it to me anymore. I would miss teaching, but the pressure would not be worth the salary I am making as a person holding a masters degree.

What are your thoughts?

Real Education Reform

We all believe that there are some things that need to be done to improve our schools. I believe that many of our schools are great, but a lot of them are in trouble and there are also a lot of them that need to join the 21st century. With all the talk of charter schools and merit pay and putting parents in jail if they don't come to conferences I think it is time to take a look at schools that are being innovative and successful. In an article written by Kathy Baron titled "Academies: School Within a School"she introduces us to a school that is trying some real reform. They have created high school classes that actually go into DEPTH into a subject. Students sign up for a class that lasts three to four years and they work as a cohort collaboratively to create, communicate, learn and succeed together. Some examples are a green (environmental) class and a physics class. What I like about it is that students are engaged and they are learning and they are using all of the skills that we coin as 21st century learning. This is the direction that I believe we should all be heading in for school reform. Not longer days....just better ones! Please check out this article because it was hard for me to do it justice in a short blog.

"How to Stay Caught Up With the Curriculum"

An article on Edutopia is a great look into the one thing that stresses most of us teachers out! The battle between keeping up with the curriculum and actually teaching our kids and making sure they are learning. The fact is that most kids don't learn according to a pacing guide. Some learn faster and some learn slower. One of the biggest problems I have is that we have way too much bredth and no depth to curriculum anymore and this article gives some good advice on how to handle this pressure. It also does a good job of warning against believing you are a good teacher just because you are farther ahead in the curriculum. The real question should not be how far are you? It should be how much have your students learned?