-
Grading 'Waiting for Superman' | The Nation
Excellent that provides more depth to the story of reform than Waiting for Superman.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
What I learned this week 10/01/2010
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
What I learned this week 09/29/2010
-
Educational Leadership:Giving Students Meaningful Work:Five Hallmarks of Good Homework
5 Hallmarks of good homework. From a child's perspective I'm not sure any homework is "good" homework....so perhaps we can sell this list as hallmarks for "less bad" homework.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Lawrence O’Donnell Has The Last Word On Snooki And Education | Mediaite
Lawrence O’Donnell Has The Last Word On Snooki And Education | Mediaite
For the sake of full disclosure I must admit that I have never seen Jersey Shore, I don't understand the fascination with the Jersey Shore characters. But watch the video embedded in the above post to hear Lawrence O'Donnell's comment about challenges educators face and how it relates to Jersey Shore and today's teens.
Isn't the responsibility for teaching/raising our kids a shared one?!
For the sake of full disclosure I must admit that I have never seen Jersey Shore, I don't understand the fascination with the Jersey Shore characters. But watch the video embedded in the above post to hear Lawrence O'Donnell's comment about challenges educators face and how it relates to Jersey Shore and today's teens.
Isn't the responsibility for teaching/raising our kids a shared one?!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
What I learned this week 09/26/2010
-
A Lil Bird told me...: Tidy Tips: Bags
Straighten up the grocery bags sitting around
-
WinSimple Software: Duplicate Commander 0.4
Helpful tool to clean up your machine and network space....esp. when you are prone to copy the same file all over the place.
-
Green Screen on the Go Build | Backyard FX - Filmmaking Special FX for Cheap
Build and use a cheap green.
-
A Case for Singletasking: The One-Task-At-a-Time Method
How to focus on one task and do it well. When I am really stressed I do something like this to get a BIG feel good item off my pile.
-
Quickly find the BPM of a favorite song if you are mixing a special playlist you want to hit a certain speed esp. for exercise
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Study: Paying Teachers for Student Performance Doesn't Raise Test Scores
Study: Paying Teachers for Student Performance Doesn't Raise Test Scores
Vanderbilt just completed a study in which they offered incentives for TN math teachers....if their students scored "significantly higher" than expected on a statewide testing. In a nutshell authors of the study said "merit" or "performance" incentives did not raise test results.
From what I've read of the study it simply was "teachers raise the scores and you get more money." If higher scores were found that would mean that teachers were holding back, right. I don't think teachers are holding back. Why would they do that? Perhaps they are waiting for a better paying study.
At the same time teachers in the study said they did not change the way they were teaching just because they were in the study. So if the teaching doesn't change....then why would we expect the learning or test scores to change?
As I've said before, improvement is not about working hard. It is about finding the right thing(s) to work on and then working hard.
Vanderbilt just completed a study in which they offered incentives for TN math teachers....if their students scored "significantly higher" than expected on a statewide testing. In a nutshell authors of the study said "merit" or "performance" incentives did not raise test results.
From what I've read of the study it simply was "teachers raise the scores and you get more money." If higher scores were found that would mean that teachers were holding back, right. I don't think teachers are holding back. Why would they do that? Perhaps they are waiting for a better paying study.
At the same time teachers in the study said they did not change the way they were teaching just because they were in the study. So if the teaching doesn't change....then why would we expect the learning or test scores to change?
As I've said before, improvement is not about working hard. It is about finding the right thing(s) to work on and then working hard.
Monday, September 20, 2010
What I learned this week 09/21/2010
-
Twaggies — Because who doesn't like a visual?
Interesting series of visuals....many are drawings/cartoons based on Tweets.
-
Welcome to Apture Highlights! – Apture
Definitely like this one....an add-on,extension for your browser that lets you highlight and search from the page.
-
Free Technology for Teachers: Join.me - A Free Way to Share Screens
Free screen sharing software....similar to TeamViewer perhaps. not sure if it does file transfer but might worth exploing.
-
Free Technology for Teachers: 5 Tools to Create and Administer Quizzes Online
Tools to administer online quizzes
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Sunday, September 19, 2010
What I learned this week 09/20/2010
-
Recipe - Tomato Jam - Recipe - NYTimes.com
Bittman's tomato jam
-
Sweet & Savory Tomato Jam - Recipes - food52
Tomato jam
-
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe-Tools/Print/Recipe.aspx?RecipeID=174275&origin=detail&servings=32
Garden season is almost over....start the canner :)
-
Screenr - Create screencasts and screen recordings the easy way
Tweet a screencast. Web based recorder. Don't forget community clips as well from microsoft.
-
Daniel Pink's Think Tank: Flip-thinking – the new buzz word sweeping the US - Telegraph
Flip Thinking: Reverse a process. Karl Fisch does just that in class...homework involves watching a video of his "lecture" and class involves the application work. Love it.
-
The Evolution of Classroom Technology - Interactive Feature - NYTimes.com
Great graphic history of classroom technology! I'm sure you will see some devices from your own "schooling"
-
Sitting Next to the Smart Kids… | Upside Down Education
"When people always ask me why I use Twitter or have a PLN my first response is because it is like sitting next to the smart kids in class."
I love the opening line of this post. Feel the exact same way about my PLN -
Now that etherpad is gone we need alternatives. How nice of Google to release the code so that the great tool can live on.
-
Shareaholic for Google Chrome « Google Chrome Extensions
Great way to do some easy sharing. I was using Blog This extension in Chrome but then Chome was updated and thus stopped working at least for now. So now I jump ship to shareaholic. If you aren't using Chrome yet, I cannot recommend it enough! One of the first things I install on a new computer.
-
iLearn Technology » Blog Archive » Bloom’s Taxonomy Bloomin’ Pinwheel
Another great tech tools/Bloom's overlay from iLearn Technology
-
YouTube - PalmBreezeCAFE's Channel
Tech TV show hosted by teachers....these are wonderful and fairly good productions
-
4 Ways to Differentiate Objectives
More DI ideas from Byrdseed.com
-
Differentiate Language Arts: Noting Details
DI for the those "green to green" students that need a challenge
-
10 Ways To Differentiate For Gifted Students Tomorrow
Differentiation ideas...
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
What I learned this week 09/19/2010
-
The Newspaper Clipping Image Generator - Create your own fun newspaper
Generate your own newspaper clipping
-
Hate it when I do the copy/paste and a bunch of junk or bad formatting follows the text which then requires cleanup...especially copy/paste from PDF to Word. Clean Haven is supposed to help with this task. Worth a try....
-
ViewPure - Videos without clutter
I like YouTube in the classroom. However, the comments are extremely annoying and disruptive. That is where viewpure comes in....copy/paste your YouTube URL and it strips out everything but the actual video!
-
If Technology Motivates Students, Let's Use It! | Edutopia
Motivation is in the news lately....hands on tech usage might be the answer
-
Iron Stains Out of Your Carpet with a Vinegar Solution
Gonna have to try this one....an iron and vinegar to remove carpet stains. If you have kids or pets or both then you might try as well.
-
Social networking scenarios - Home - Doug Johnson's Blue Skunk Blog
As our district begins to look at a social media policy or at least recommendations some role playing scenarios might be useful....Doug Johnson as Blue Skunk has done just that for us.
-
Scott McLeod offers a nice series of guest posts next....balancing accountability and 21st Century. Have to admit I've asked myself that many times!
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Friday, September 17, 2010
What I learned this week 09/18/2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Ahead of the Curve: Notes from the Assessment Conference
Assessment Conference
View more presentations from Krista Rundell.
This presentation summarizes information presented at the Ahead of the Curve conference. Bravo to Krista Rundell for making it possible for us to learn from her experience. The presentation offers some great quotes and information about the importance and power of formative assessment in our schools.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
What I learned this week 09/15/2010
-
'YouTube Instant' creator, 19, finds instant fame - CNN.com
Why does it always seem to be someone from Stanford.....
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Monday, September 13, 2010
What I learned this week 09/14/2010
-
Tools and Resources for Grammar, Copywriting, Spelling and More - Noupe Design Blog
Grow your grammar and spelling...fun resources for writers...
-
iLearn Technology » Blog Archive » Um-bloom-ra Bloom’s Taxonomy
Great post on Blooms.
-
40+ great open source apps & games to trick out your new Windows install
Great open source
-
Birthday Problem -- Math Fun Facts
Interesting math facts....not an oxymoron, I mean it!
-
kitchen table math, the sequel: Another article (or two): Is it bad to test students frequently?
Can you test too frequently? Research says more testing is better...especially when it informs your instruction and you students use that feedback from tests to improve!
-
iLearn Technology » Blog Archive » 57 Ways to Celebrate National Literacy Day
Great list of sites to celebrate literacy day....and build literacy skills
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
What I learned this week 09/13/2010
-
Students, Ownership, & Creativity: 35 Resources | Teacher Reboot Camp
35 resources for student content creation
-
Free fonts for both commercial and noncommercial use | FontPark.net
Huge font clearing house!
-
Who's That Texting Your Kids in Class 66% of the Time? Parents | Fast Company
Look who is sending the kids all the text messages during school.
-
easily create online newspapers/magazines
-
Robert J. Samuelson - School reform's meager results
Why all the school reform and so little change....this writer says the answer is student motivation. Why has motivation shrunk?
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
What I learned this week 09/12/2010
-
50 FREE Open Courses on Teaching With Technology « Thumann Resources
50 FREE Open Courses on Teaching With Technology
-
TIME Poll Results: Americans' Views on Teacher Tenure, Merit Pay and Other Education Reforms - TIME
Interesting poll results on education, teachers, unions from Time Magazine.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Perceptions of a tattooed college instructor. [Psychol Rep. 2010] - PubMed result
Perceptions of a tattooed college instructor. [Psychol Rep. 2010] - PubMed result
Should we all just get tattoos?
Recent research shows (undergraduate) students have a positive impression of instructors with tattoos.
From the abstract:
128 undergraduates' perceptions of tattoos on a model described as a college instructor were assessed. They viewed one of four photographs of a tattooed or nontattooed female model. Students rated her on nine teaching-related characteristics. Analyses indicated that the presence of tattoos was associated with some positive changes in ratings: students' motivation, being imaginative about assignments, and how likely students were to recommend her as an instructor.
Finish the job.....
We've all heard the expressions...don't count the chickens before they hatch, finish the job, get 'er done. Well, there is a reason we say that. If we don't finish the job....we may lose one should not have lost. Can't help but think this goalie's lesson is somehow related to our OAA performance.
Friday, September 10, 2010
What I learned this week 09/11/2010
-
Interesting article about extra reading class (rather than elective) can raise reading achievement of students. However, the raise is short lived. It doesn't last into the next school year and it appears to have no impact on student reading....students didn't any more on their own as a result of the program. Can a program do this?
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Teacher Collaboration Drops by Half? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher
Teacher Collaboration Drops by Half? - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher
So in order to be effective PD has to have a certain duration....with makes sense if you think that much of new learning involves unlearning and building new beliefs and practices. Required changes can't happen in short amounts of time. Expecting teachers to change a practice or add a new practice in a relatively short amount of PD time is akin to blaming a student for not learning something the first time you said it. We know that learning requires repeated exposure.
Recent report published on duration of teacher professional development as well as other aspects of professional development.
professional development that offered 5 to 14 hours of contact had no statistically significant effect on student achievement. This suggests that the participation of our nation's teachers in professional development in most areas is likely to have little impact on the quality of their instructional practice and on student achievement.
So in order to be effective PD has to have a certain duration....with makes sense if you think that much of new learning involves unlearning and building new beliefs and practices. Required changes can't happen in short amounts of time. Expecting teachers to change a practice or add a new practice in a relatively short amount of PD time is akin to blaming a student for not learning something the first time you said it. We know that learning requires repeated exposure.
Support for education and new learning of teachers needs to change via all involved parties. We are identifying teachers who aren't getting the job done according value added measures. Yet, when we have data showing us we need to improve (some teachers more than others) we don't do a very effective job of improving them....simply because we don't offer PD that is of high enough quality or duration to actually improve teachers and consequently their students. Why is that? Do we really not have that much time to give to teachers to learn or do we as teachers and admin not know how to teacher teachers for improvement?
I can only speak to my own district. We have 2 half days of inservice in addition to a fair amount of staff meetings (30 min or 1 hour) that try to be PD. We are lucky if we hit 14 hours for the entire year.....and that is on multiple initiatives subjects, etc. So how do we increase that time? I think we need to either ask educators to step up and work outside of their contract time or admin needs to reclaim some the teacher planning time which exceeds almost any local school I can find. This is not to say our teacher planning is not used well....but it is not being used well in ways that raise achievement and improve teacher's teaching. Instead much of it is spent on non-optional administrivia.
When you read the featured article (linked above) make sure you read the comments. I am almost always saddened by some of the comments left to educational articles life this one that are obviously left by teachers. Schools have worked so hard to build PLC practices and structures and allocate time for those meetings....yet someone will post that the PLC is the biggest waste of time. Why is that? Is the PLC poorly organized or is any use of your planning that you don't have absolute say in a bad, unworthwhile thing. Other educators won't be happy for me to say this....but I fear many of us have too much autonomy.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
What I learned this week 09/09/2010
-
A Kohn says Reading incentives programs actually have a negative impact
-
How to Accelerate a Reader - The Book Whisperer - Education Week Teacher
Reading incentive programs and what they do or don't accomplish
-
Assessing a Teacher's Value - Room for Debate - NYTimes.com
NY Times' Room for Debate section takes a look at Value Added measures and if we should be using them. Teachers say no, they aren't accurate enough. Reformers say yes, these measures a start and certainly better than nothing!
-
Learning Styles — Psychological Science in the Public Interest
Learning styles....do they even exist and can I use them to help me teach better/more effectively. Nope...says the research community.
-
Mind - Research Upends Traditional Thinking on Study Habits - NYTimes.com
The NY Times sure has been publishing some interesting education/learning related articles recently. This one summarizes how much of what we "believe" about study habits is really wrong.
-
The Answer Sheet - Willingham: How to guarantee active learning? (Or, manipulatives vs. PowerPoint)
How to guarantee active learners or yes, PPT is still okay...it is not the program which is engaging...it is the content.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
What I learned this week 09/08/2010
-
Award-winning teachers dole out advice on fixing public schools - CNN.com
Interesting article about improving education from award winning teachers.
-
NY Magazine discusses Waiting for Superman (education documentary) to be released later this month by the director of An Inconvenient Truth
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Monday, September 6, 2010
What I learned this week 09/07/2010
-
A Summary of Everything The New York Times Learning Network Offers - NYTimes.com
Great list of what NY Times offers for education
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
What I learned this week 09/06/2010
-
Langwitches Blog » Creating School Information Network Channels
What is your school doing to keep your "public" informed?
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, September 4, 2010
What I learned this week 09/05/2010
-
Edusim - 3D virtual worlds for the classrom interactive whiteboard
3D software, environment
-
Annenberg interactives...great teaching tools
-
How to set up a Group Site tutorial - Posterous knowledge base
-
The Importance of Student Journals and How to Respond Efficiently | Edutopia
The Importance of Student Journals and How to Respond Efficiently
-
Educational Leadership:Giving Students Meaningful Work:Even Geniuses Work Hard
Importance of hard work even for the genius
-
VocabGrabber : Thinkmap Visual Thesaurus
Copy paste words from articles and it analyzes words and categorizes for study
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Friday, September 3, 2010
What I learned this week 09/04/2010
-
How to Remember People's Names (and Deal with Unusual Names)
How to remember names....one of my goals this year with the kids.
-
The Untouchables in Education Reform - Walt Gardner's Reality Check - Education Week
The parent's role in student achievement....can we get some data please....
-
Teacher Responses - Page 1 - Los Angeles Teacher Ratings - Los Angeles Times
LA teachers respond to their posted Value Added scores. These are just the comments from the teachers actually in the LA Times dataset and article.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
YouTube - On Elephant Sanctuary, Unlikely Friends, CBS Evening News Steve Hartman Looks At What Difference A Couple Of Tons Makes - Or Doesn't - For Two Old Friends - CBS News
YouTube - On Elephant Sanctuary, Unlikely Friends, CBS Evening News Steve Hartman Looks At What Difference A Couple Of Tons Makes - Or Doesn't - For Two Old Friends - CBS News: ""
Get some kleenex ready....this one is exceptional.
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
What I learned this week 09/02/2010
-
Method to Grade Teachers Provokes Battles - NYTimes.com
Valued added article that warns of problems with the process....the math is not always accurate
-
Effective teachers in L.A. get little recognition from district - latimes.com
More on LA Times story....this a followup how LASD has not used the data they have collected for 7 years. They neither informed those teachers who scored low so as to give them additional PD or tried to capitalize on the success of other successful teachers by harnessing their expertise to improve the teaching of struggling teachers.
-
Monday Morning Thoughts on L.A. « The Quick and the Ed
Another interesting story about Value Added in LA.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)