I thought the information or preview we saw of "2 Million Minutes" was very interesting. Also interesting is the way that the relationship between the U.S., China and India will play out in the coming years. We have very different ways of doing things. It's East meets West, clearly. I think the U.S. would be wise to take some lessons from India and China and likewise those countries from us.
We talked in class about the imminent firings of a whole staff in Rhode Island or New York. More details are becoming known, but as Connie said, they sort of "threw the baby out with the bathwater". Most interesting to me was the revelation that this is one of the poorest areas in the state. Hello? That makes a huge difference in the level of student achievement.
One student mentioned that her kindergarten students must learn to read by the end of the school year. That's a pretty lofty goal for kindergarten and to me it seems a little precocious. Putting pressure on young children to perform academically is one way in which I don't think we should emulate countries like China and India.
We did a data comparison between various school districts this past week using WKCE scores. It gave us a good overview of some aspects of those districts and gave us some insight into how school leaders are making decisions.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Cedu 527 Technology Leadership Week 5
I enjoyed the simulation last week and thought it was a good learning experience. The burrito was pretty good, too. More than anything, I think it gives us an idea of how the administrators, especially those at the very top, think. Not that every administrator is the same, but I'm sure some of the successes and obstacles that we saw in the game are also encountered in real school districts. When trying to reach a goal or implement a new system of some type, I'm sure administrators find personalities that run the gamut, form those who are very enthusiastic to those who want nothing to do with any type of newfangled change. Administrators have to decide who they are going to pick to lead certain committees and initiatives and how they will spend the district's funds. For instance, will they use a chunk of their money to train a select few and hope that their enthusiasm and expertise rub off on others, or will they try to train everyone at the same time. Should they try to encourage resistors like Irene and Will, or should they just give up on them?
There were many good points in chapter 6 of Gabriel's book. On page 129 he discusses first year teachers and how they are sometimes overwhelmed and lack a strong curriculum to teach from. He writes "imagine if you had been handed a curriculum map" when you started. This is a great idea I think. I know some teachers think this infringes on their freedom, but for many beginning teachers it is important to have some structure as to how they are going to deliver the content. I think a new teacher has so much to deal with that offering them a sort of curricular guide with accompanying activities would be very helpful.
Later in the chapter he writes about "making work meaningful." This is very important, I think. Work that students do in school needs to have relevance to the real world, when possible. Sometimes it may not be possible, but I think teachers should always try to show how students' learning is relevant to their lives.
There were many good points in chapter 6 of Gabriel's book. On page 129 he discusses first year teachers and how they are sometimes overwhelmed and lack a strong curriculum to teach from. He writes "imagine if you had been handed a curriculum map" when you started. This is a great idea I think. I know some teachers think this infringes on their freedom, but for many beginning teachers it is important to have some structure as to how they are going to deliver the content. I think a new teacher has so much to deal with that offering them a sort of curricular guide with accompanying activities would be very helpful.
Later in the chapter he writes about "making work meaningful." This is very important, I think. Work that students do in school needs to have relevance to the real world, when possible. Sometimes it may not be possible, but I think teachers should always try to show how students' learning is relevant to their lives.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Cedu 527 Week 4
Our last class was at Go To Meeting again (online). I like that format. We talked about the cheese and how it was moved. We were able to control the screen remotely when discussing the characteristics of the various characters. I had a difficult time keeping all the names straight in that story.
In chapter five of Gabriel's book he talks about professional climate. This is something an administrator mentioned at one of our professional growth meetings today. We were discussing PLCs (Professional Growth Communities) and some aspects of them. In PLCs, groups often create a list of "shared expectations" that each member follow so that unprofessional behavior does not crop up and so that the shared goals of the group are always kept in view. I am on a PLC team at one of the schools I work at and helped to create some of our group's "shared expectations". One expectation is that nontask, personal conversation be avoided. Also, each member of the group must be ready to start the meeting on time. I a member is late, then they assume the role of minute keeper. I was late one day and had to keep the minutes, which I don't really mind.
In chapter five, Gabriel writes about "emphasizing staff development". It just so happens that our district's official "Professional Growth Day" was today. I offered a technology session to staff and was able to learn some new things in various other sessions. As Gabriel states on page 113, "professional development does not always need to be formal". Offering a quick tutorial and question and answer lesson on a particular resource or technology before or after school could also be considered professional growth.
In chapter five of Gabriel's book he talks about professional climate. This is something an administrator mentioned at one of our professional growth meetings today. We were discussing PLCs (Professional Growth Communities) and some aspects of them. In PLCs, groups often create a list of "shared expectations" that each member follow so that unprofessional behavior does not crop up and so that the shared goals of the group are always kept in view. I am on a PLC team at one of the schools I work at and helped to create some of our group's "shared expectations". One expectation is that nontask, personal conversation be avoided. Also, each member of the group must be ready to start the meeting on time. I a member is late, then they assume the role of minute keeper. I was late one day and had to keep the minutes, which I don't really mind.
In chapter five, Gabriel writes about "emphasizing staff development". It just so happens that our district's official "Professional Growth Day" was today. I offered a technology session to staff and was able to learn some new things in various other sessions. As Gabriel states on page 113, "professional development does not always need to be formal". Offering a quick tutorial and question and answer lesson on a particular resource or technology before or after school could also be considered professional growth.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Cedu 527 Technology Leadership Week 3
In the first slideshow one of the slides says that caterpillars are a "yellow, gooey, sticky mess" before they become butterflies. This can certainly be applied to change, whether it be personal or institutional. Change often involves discomfort and some degree of uncertainty. It can be very difficult to change, especially when it involves trying to change habits or procedures that have been in place for a long time. The current health care debate among national leaders is an example of a possible drastic change and I am not endorsing or criticizing any of the schools of thought by mentioning it.
In the cheese slide one of the characters states that "fear that you let build up is worse than the situation that actually exists." I think this is true. Is it possible that our primeval fear instincts sometimes create situations in our minds that are not reflective of reality? I believe so. Or maybe it is not so much our fear but our mind's ability to imagine that can sometimes terrify us.
Another of the cheese slides says that we need to anticipate and monitor change. This is much easier said than done, since change is constant and sometimes difficult to predict. It seems to me that the organizations that best anticipate and deal with change are often the most successful. Examples of successful corporations are Intel, Microsoft, Honda and Google. An example of an organization that has not anticipated nor monitored change well is General Motors.
In one of the systems videos the narrator says "something that an organization does in one era to be wildly successful may be necessary to just get by in another era." I certainly think this can be related to educators, as we have much more "on our plate" than teachers from bygone eras did. Teachers today have more curricular, pedagogical and managerial issues to deal with than ever before. There is no doubt that in order to do my job as a library media specialist much, much more is expected of me than even the people (there used to be three people doing my job) who were here a year before I was hired.
In the cheese slide one of the characters states that "fear that you let build up is worse than the situation that actually exists." I think this is true. Is it possible that our primeval fear instincts sometimes create situations in our minds that are not reflective of reality? I believe so. Or maybe it is not so much our fear but our mind's ability to imagine that can sometimes terrify us.
Another of the cheese slides says that we need to anticipate and monitor change. This is much easier said than done, since change is constant and sometimes difficult to predict. It seems to me that the organizations that best anticipate and deal with change are often the most successful. Examples of successful corporations are Intel, Microsoft, Honda and Google. An example of an organization that has not anticipated nor monitored change well is General Motors.
In one of the systems videos the narrator says "something that an organization does in one era to be wildly successful may be necessary to just get by in another era." I certainly think this can be related to educators, as we have much more "on our plate" than teachers from bygone eras did. Teachers today have more curricular, pedagogical and managerial issues to deal with than ever before. There is no doubt that in order to do my job as a library media specialist much, much more is expected of me than even the people (there used to be three people doing my job) who were here a year before I was hired.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Cedu 527 Technology Leadership Week 2
I enjoyed the class for week 2. I thought the format (go to meeting, or whatever it is called) was a nice change. Although Connie commented jokingly at the end of class that people might be sleeping, I thought it was necessary to be even more attentive than usual. It is possible to zone out in class for a while and still know what's going on. Believe me, I know. However, with "go to meeting" you really have to keep up with the lecture and discusssion responses or you will be lost.
I found some of the reading material for this week interesting (Gabriel ch. 2 and 3), but was a little put off by the first sentence of chapter 2. It says "[w]ith the dearth of quality teachers available because of teacher turnover and the profession's meager pay, building a successful team can take an extraordinary amount of time and effort." In my experience teaching and working as a librarian in more than one school district I can say that I know of very few teachers who are not of high quality. The author might be referring more to the schools that he has taught at, however.
I liked some of the suggestions for interviewing prospective teachers in chapter 2 and guiding new ones. I think the PWSSD does a good job of mentoring new teachers, and believe me, not all school districts do.
I found some of the reading material for this week interesting (Gabriel ch. 2 and 3), but was a little put off by the first sentence of chapter 2. It says "[w]ith the dearth of quality teachers available because of teacher turnover and the profession's meager pay, building a successful team can take an extraordinary amount of time and effort." In my experience teaching and working as a librarian in more than one school district I can say that I know of very few teachers who are not of high quality. The author might be referring more to the schools that he has taught at, however.
I liked some of the suggestions for interviewing prospective teachers in chapter 2 and guiding new ones. I think the PWSSD does a good job of mentoring new teachers, and believe me, not all school districts do.
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