I decided since my lesson plan needed lots of visual aids, lists, and pictures that it would be easiest to put it all into one format. Here is the Prezi I created to make sure I had all of my visual content in one place:
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Teacher/Student Communication-Off the clock
I applaud this school district for their proactive policy. As we all know, media can be used in great ways for education. We can bring so many good things to students, and give many opportunities to experience things they would otherwise not know about; But it can definitely bring unwanted content into the picture also.
How many times have we seen reports/rumors/stories about inappropriate contact between students and teachers? Too many to count. I would anticipate that with new technologies such as Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sights, that these types of stories would increase. Hats off to this school district/superintendent who implemented this policy before something "bad" was to happen in their district. I'm one who tends to think that the boundary rules are a little silly, especially in elementary school. They tell us that we're not allowed to hug the kids, and some districts have even banned "high-fives". Well, really, how am I suppose to side-step a hug from a 1st grader running at me? Those situations are a little difficult to handle when it comes to "appropriate contact", because it's initiated by the student and is very innocent/naive. When it comes to middle school and high school though, I think there should definitely be written rules on what kind of contact outside of school is appropriate. I am not saying that I think contact outside of school is a bad thing, but this rule is, in my opinion, the best way to protect students and teachers.
I'm sure there have been many instances in school when communication has been mis-interpreted, and that's one thing to handle. It is easier in ways when it's in-school because there are other teachers, faculty, and students to back up information and events. But what happens when something is sent over a text, tweet, or Facebook chat that is interpreted differently than the intention? Most likely a teacher will be accused of having inappropriate contact with a student, and corrective action will be taken against them. Now, there are instances where students and teachers have had inappropriate relationships, so I am not defending that at all. What I am saying is that there are teachers who have all the right intentions, that will say something that they mean one way and a student/parent interprets differently, and then we have a problem. It's easier if contact is limited outside the classroom, because then misunderstandings will be less frequent.
Why take the chance on having these kinds of issues and accusations being thrown around when it can be easily prevented by setting guidelines? I think this school district has the right idea, because honestly, why should students and teachers be sharing things on their personal media sites anyway? If they feel like they need to have a friendly social media outlet, they should make it available to all students, such as a class wiki or web-page, or twitter group where they can share with each other in a space that parents and other faculty/administration. That way teachers can post some information about themselves that they wish to share, but it is still appropriate. This will prevent any misunderstandings, and create a safer environment for teachers and students alike.
How many times have we seen reports/rumors/stories about inappropriate contact between students and teachers? Too many to count. I would anticipate that with new technologies such as Twitter, Facebook, and other social media sights, that these types of stories would increase. Hats off to this school district/superintendent who implemented this policy before something "bad" was to happen in their district. I'm one who tends to think that the boundary rules are a little silly, especially in elementary school. They tell us that we're not allowed to hug the kids, and some districts have even banned "high-fives". Well, really, how am I suppose to side-step a hug from a 1st grader running at me? Those situations are a little difficult to handle when it comes to "appropriate contact", because it's initiated by the student and is very innocent/naive. When it comes to middle school and high school though, I think there should definitely be written rules on what kind of contact outside of school is appropriate. I am not saying that I think contact outside of school is a bad thing, but this rule is, in my opinion, the best way to protect students and teachers.
I'm sure there have been many instances in school when communication has been mis-interpreted, and that's one thing to handle. It is easier in ways when it's in-school because there are other teachers, faculty, and students to back up information and events. But what happens when something is sent over a text, tweet, or Facebook chat that is interpreted differently than the intention? Most likely a teacher will be accused of having inappropriate contact with a student, and corrective action will be taken against them. Now, there are instances where students and teachers have had inappropriate relationships, so I am not defending that at all. What I am saying is that there are teachers who have all the right intentions, that will say something that they mean one way and a student/parent interprets differently, and then we have a problem. It's easier if contact is limited outside the classroom, because then misunderstandings will be less frequent.
Why take the chance on having these kinds of issues and accusations being thrown around when it can be easily prevented by setting guidelines? I think this school district has the right idea, because honestly, why should students and teachers be sharing things on their personal media sites anyway? If they feel like they need to have a friendly social media outlet, they should make it available to all students, such as a class wiki or web-page, or twitter group where they can share with each other in a space that parents and other faculty/administration. That way teachers can post some information about themselves that they wish to share, but it is still appropriate. This will prevent any misunderstandings, and create a safer environment for teachers and students alike.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
How to Evaluate Teachers
After reading this article, I am absolutely terrified of what is to come in the future for the teaching profession. I am not saying that I do not agree with evaluating teachers; obviously that is necessary to make sure students are getting a proper education. But how do we evaluate them that takes everything into consideration? Can it even be done? To use the "value-added assessments of teachers — which use improvements in student test scores to evaluate teacher effectiveness" seems absolutely ridiculous to me. Who on earth is proposing this? Do "they" not realize that test scores do not mean proficiency, and that there are a thousand factors to think about when making the claim about a "good or bad" teacher? Do they not consider that if they are only looking at test scores that teachers who rank the highest might have just taught to the test, and now that it's over their students don't remember any material that they had to "drill and kill"? What about us special education teachers? Do we have to suffer and have our names slandered because our students are making slow progress? I would like to start seeing ACTUAL TEACHERS be involved in making decisions on how we should be evaluated. People who hold positions in office and do not have teaching experience, and don't even hold any degree related to education should not be the ones deciding our future!
Grading teachers by students' test scores seems so ridiculous to many of us in the teaching profession, yet we're not the ones making decisions...why not? We should be able to say "yes, please come evaluate me, but also look at my students and see what challenges we have to overcome in the classroom before giving me an F". What about teachers who are dedicated to teaching and inspiring children, but teach in a school district that can't afford pencils and paper, let along new technologies and text books. What about the teachers who are given more than 40 students in a classroom to try to manage their behavior, let alone give them all a quality education. I can only hope that people such as Arne Duncan will start to consider these factors before implementing more hurdles for teachers to overcome, and before expecting a full turnaround in "improved assessments designed to measure critical knowledge and higher-order thinking skills". I also hope that in trying to prepare all of our "states to work jointly toward a system of common academic standards that builds toward college and career readiness", that programs such as music, acting, art, and other fine arts are not forgotten. I realize that those subjects are hardly gradable...what are they going to do, fail a teacher because all of their students can't play their E minor scale from memory? We need to remember that in our process to "race to the top", we may be losing many things that define us as a culture, and losing things that are, what I consider to be, just as important as the textbook material. Studies show that children who learn music have better math and science skills, and language skills, so please let these teachers teach also, even though our students aren't being graded on those subjects at the national level.
Well that was quite longer than I expected, but I still have much more to say on this issue. The summary of my rant; Don't rank and evaluate teachers strictly by what their students fill out on a bubble sheet.
Grading teachers by students' test scores seems so ridiculous to many of us in the teaching profession, yet we're not the ones making decisions...why not? We should be able to say "yes, please come evaluate me, but also look at my students and see what challenges we have to overcome in the classroom before giving me an F". What about teachers who are dedicated to teaching and inspiring children, but teach in a school district that can't afford pencils and paper, let along new technologies and text books. What about the teachers who are given more than 40 students in a classroom to try to manage their behavior, let alone give them all a quality education. I can only hope that people such as Arne Duncan will start to consider these factors before implementing more hurdles for teachers to overcome, and before expecting a full turnaround in "improved assessments designed to measure critical knowledge and higher-order thinking skills". I also hope that in trying to prepare all of our "states to work jointly toward a system of common academic standards that builds toward college and career readiness", that programs such as music, acting, art, and other fine arts are not forgotten. I realize that those subjects are hardly gradable...what are they going to do, fail a teacher because all of their students can't play their E minor scale from memory? We need to remember that in our process to "race to the top", we may be losing many things that define us as a culture, and losing things that are, what I consider to be, just as important as the textbook material. Studies show that children who learn music have better math and science skills, and language skills, so please let these teachers teach also, even though our students aren't being graded on those subjects at the national level.
Well that was quite longer than I expected, but I still have much more to say on this issue. The summary of my rant; Don't rank and evaluate teachers strictly by what their students fill out on a bubble sheet.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
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