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


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?!

Saturday, September 25, 2010

What I learned this week 09/26/2010


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Voki Demo from Melissa

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.

Monday, September 20, 2010

What I learned this week 09/21/2010


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

What I learned this week 09/20/2010


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

What I learned this week 09/19/2010


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Friday, September 17, 2010

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Ahead of the Curve: Notes from the Assessment Conference


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

Monday, September 13, 2010

What I learned this week 09/14/2010


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Saturday, September 11, 2010

What I learned this week 09/12/2010


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


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

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


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

What I learned this week 09/08/2010


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

What I learned this week 09/02/2010


Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.