Blogboard

Applying his own precept that pundits should be paid on the basis of performance, Claus von Zastrow of Public School Insights determines that, on the evidence of his recent articles on education, NewsWeek writer Jonathan Alter's salary should be docked--and indeed, that he should even be facing termination. Not sure he was expecting Alter himself to show up in his comments section, though. ... At any rate, it's a good back-and-forth.

Hat tip: Pondiscio.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ed Tech expert Scott McLeod offers 10 random questions that schools should be considering in connection with books and libraries. A sample:

If students and teachers now can be active content creators and producers, not just passive information recipients, doesn't that redefine our entire notion of what it means to be information literate and media fluent? Are our librarians and classroom teachers doing enough to help students master these new literacies (for example, by focusing on student content creation, not just information consumption and/or interpretation)?

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cindi Rigsbee says that teachers often send students the wrong message about reading and writing. They're not supposed to be forms of punishment.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 3:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Mrs. Bluebird is distressed that so many parents fail to log on to her district's online gradebook system, which would enable them to track their child's work and progress. She comments:

That silence you hear is the sound of parent involvement, or, more precisely, the lack thereof. ... It's like they don't even care. And we wonder why the kids don't care either.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Mybellringers explains that—from her students perspective, anyway—she probably doesn't need to dress up this year to be taken as a witch.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 1:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bill Ferriter answers frequently asked questions on using blogs in the classroom. This sounds like a very good point:

Believing that blogs are ONLY opportunities for students to practice writing skills is a fatal flaw for most classroom blogging projects. Instead of digital soapboxes, teachers and students must begin to see blogs as interactive forums for continuing conversations around topics of interest--and interactive forums require two-way participation.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 1:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If you want to improve the quality of the teaching profession, says Renee Moore, you need to start by improving the quality of teacher-evaluation systems.

Apparently, we do not have systems that accurately identify teacher effectiveness or the degree of that effectiveness. Rigorous evaluation systems would not only identify quality teaching, but give each teacher a realistic, timely assessment of his/her work, identifying areas or strength and weakness; thereby, guiding professional development and support needs.

My report on Moore's presentation at the Forum for Educaiton and Democracy in Washington is here.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Will Richardson doesn't like where the Obama administration's Race to the Top program is leading and wonders why "more educators aren't voicing their displeasure at the idea of being paid based on the scores their students make on standardized tests (among other things.)"

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Lesson idea watch: Mr. Teacher has his ELL students lead a "gallery walk" through their word-problem solutions.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 11:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NYC teacher Ariel Sacks describes the awkward situation of working alongside colleagues from the city's Absent Teacher Reserve, tenured teachers who have been "excessed" from their positions and have now been placed in other schools. It's not exactly a win-win situation:

These three teachers, all middle aged, have 10-15 years of experience and get paid much more than I do. However, they do not want to be at my school, and they know they are not wanted either. In the classroom, they behave like incompetent substitutes. No order, no real planning, no real teaching. Some have been rude to students on occasion. Students get rude right back to them (and you know how middle schoolers can be when they feel disrespected). It's not good.

Witnessing this sad spectacle, Sacks wonders how the teachers got to this point--and about an organizational system that seems to have both ruined and protected their careers.

But who is responsible for these ATR's apparent low ability to teach? Look at the environment they must be coming from. Is it their fault they were teaching under horrible conditions and probably received no support? And, although I believe principals need a real reason to fire a teacher, perhaps the union is at fault when the process for firing inept teachers takes years. Kids lose out during those years. And which principal gave these teachers tenure so many years ago? Were they different teachers back then?

Posted by Bryan Toporek at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Hobo Teacher is now on twitter. A sampling:

Some sort of bird of prey just killed a pigeon at the front doors of the school. That can't be a good sign for the week to come.

A student shared that "homophobe" sounds like a part of speech. Who says that I don't have an academic atmosphere in my classroom?

Every week is Banned Books Week for my students. They won't touch 'em.

The students are being combative. I have forgotten my teacher training. Do I puff myself up real big or fall into the fetal position?

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 1:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Cindee Rigsbee encounters a loud-mouth teacher-basher in an airport, and seeks vengeance, if only through her own sense of purpose:

So I make a vow to myself to work harder at changing the public's perception of teachers. And although I can make presentations to educator groups, stand in front of thousands, shout from the mountaintops (or at least across the blog-o-sphere), I think the place I can make the most difference is in my very own classroom. I need to make sure that none of my students' parents ever refer to me in a conversation that echoes across an airport.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

If they were really interested in school improvement, notes Robert Pondiscio of Core Knowledge, policymakers and pundits could try focusing on improving curriculum. But, hey, teacher-bashing is easier and gets you more attention.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 11:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With the H1N1 (swine) flu vaccine now being distributed to children across the United States, the debate over vaccine safety has resurfaced, according to the New York Times.

If you are looking for a H1N1-inspired lesson plan, the Times offers one today. In the Learning Blog, there are suggestions for helping students debunk myths about the flu and the vaccine.

The Times suggests trying this for a warmup:

Show students the first three minutes of the short video, "Watch Out, Swine Flu!", in which Ariel Kaminer, the Times's City Critic, gauges New Yorkers' reactions to her H1N1 flu prevention garb.

Pause the video just after the man tells Ms. Kaminer that he would wear a suit like hers. Then, have students briefly reflect in their journals on her social experiment. Wearing such protective gear is perhaps an extreme reaction to fears about H1N1 - have students write about what, if anything, they have done as a precaution, such as washing their hands more often or avoiding people who are coughing or sneezing, and why. How concerned are they about contracting swine flu? Are their parents worried?

What do you think? Should students be forced to get the H1N1 vaccine?

Posted by Bryan Toporek at 3:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

If you're thinking about doing an assignment where students send a letter to public figures to ask questions about current events (not the worst idea, right?), you better make sure that none of your kids chooses to write to economist Thomas Sowell. Claus von Zastrow explains. Pondiscio, too. Jeez ...

(Hat tip: Nancy Flanagan.)

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 3:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Loonyhiker (AKA "Pat") of Successful Teacher urges teachers to take steps to increase parent involvement:

All these teachers who are not making parents a major player in their classroom are really missing the boat. When you feel things are just not right in the classroom or as good as you know it should be, I wonder if you are involving the parents enough.

(Hat tip: Bellringers.)

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 3:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Washington Post's Answer Sheet welcomes a guest post from educator David C. Levy, a former curator of the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Design in Washington, D.C. who now serves as principal in Bach to Rock music schools. Levy weighs in with his opinion of the arts in school, blaming the descent of arts education on the lack of training that art teachers receive.

I would argue, however, that there is another reason why the arts, and visual arts in particular, are an endangered species in American K-12 education.

It has been my observation that primary and secondary school art teachers rank very low on the continuum of professional respect among their peers.

And I would posit as a significant cause that they have generally not achieved a sufficient level of skill in their discipline to deserve that respect. For example, while English teachers may not be able to write The Great American Novel, the chances are pretty good that they can compose a competent essay. But many art teachers can barely draw!

Anyone care to disagree?

Update, 10/14: Nancy Flanagan does. - AR.

Posted by Bryan Toporek at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After a rough couple of weeks, veteran emotional disabilities teacher Mrs. Ris finds herself settling into the school year:

It's education's universal truth, a reality often forgotten in the moment: The crazy-paced and mind-numbing challenges of the beginning of the year are short-lived. There IS a light at the end of the tunnel.

Things must have been pretty "crazy-paced" indeed, considering this is part of her description of a recent good day.

We worked through two major blow-ups, and one of them lasted over an hour. There was whining, manipulating, sassy-talk, and even a little mild violence.

It's clearly all relative for special education teachers . ...

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 2:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I can't trace the exact orgin of this--there appears to be some history here--but there's pretty heated war of words going on between Stephen Downs and KDeRosa of Dead Reckonings over the value of content knowledge.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 1:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)