21st Century School Teacher

Thomas Petra just launched a website titled Real World Math.  I poked around on it a little and was impressed.  He has some pretty cool ideas! 

"This website is designed for educators who wish to extend the concepts of the math curriculum beyond the pages of the text.  Google Earth is the dynamic tool that will be used to accomplish this.  Within this site you will find lesson ideas, examples, and downloads for mathematics that embrace active learning, constructivism, and project-based learning while remaining true to the standards.  The initial focus will be for grades 5 and up, but teachers of younger students may be able to find some uses or inspiration from the site.  The scope of this site is mathematics, but many lessons lend themselves to interdisciplinary activities also."

Right off the bat a lesson on U-boats from WWII caught my eye.  It's true that many of the lessons here can be used with more topics than math. 

If you're not a math teacher, check out the lessons under "project-based learning" first.  Looks great Thomas--thanks for the heads up on Classroom 2.0!

Teachers to Be Measured Based on Students’ Standardized Test Scores By JENNIFER MEDINA Published: October 1, 2008 www.nytimes.com

"New York City is beginning to measure the performance of thousands of elementary and middle school teachers based on how much their students improve on annual state math and reading tests."

It does stand to reason, as we become a nation obsessed with testing, tracking teachers and their students' test scores will follow. 

"To avoid a contentious fight with the teachers’ union, the New York City Department of Education has agreed not to make public the reports... nor let them influence formal job evaluations, pay and promotions."

That's a relief!  Likely, as administrators gain more power to let poor performing teachers go--as in Michelle Rhee's plan B--administrators will have a harder time looking past teachers that have below average test scores. 

I know that the district that I worked in followed teachers' testing scores--which seems natural.  Administrators want to know how effective their teachers are--it's a measure of success. 

One problem that I had with the process in the state that I taught in is that the state does not let the teachers, school or district see the actual tests that the students have taken.  The school scores are public record, but teachers and students can't question the results--that is unless it is the 10th grade exam that determines graduation. 

It seems to me that teachers need to see how students performed on the test if they are to make informed decisions about how to change their practice.  It has also always bothered me that the scoring process is off site, and that teachers that I know are not as qualified as I am are scoring the exams that my students have taken.  (Even so, there have been few test scores that I have questioned).

But if states are going to start to evaluate teachers based on their scores, they should be prepared for the backlash that will occur when students don't perform as their teachers expected.  I'm sure you've had the experience of a student that you knew was going to do well on a state test that ended up barely squeaking by, or possibly didn't pass at all.  Testing methodology, relevance, and assessment protocol will surely come into question. 

I've been tracking my scores for 9 years; most of my student pass the reading and writing exam consistently--you'd better bet that if my evaluation was on the line I'd want to see that test and know why the student didn't pass!  If merit pay is attached to test scores, as it looks like is in our future, things could get worse...    Interesting stuff; teachers should be paying close attention.

Every once in awhile, I go back and check out what's new on some of my favorite sites.  21st Century Schools has some new curriculum units for the fall.  They are project-based, and if they're not quite right, one of them is sure to inspire.

21st Century Schools' website is a great resource--if you want to break in to the consulting business, or if you're already consulting and want to broaden your reach, they are calling for more applications.  I like this site because it reinforces what I know to be true about education in the 21st century.  It looks like they are starting a new blog on their site, with contributing bloggers like Scott McLeod.  If you get a minute, check it out!

More ways to cheat?  Check out ChaCha!

Okay, so I signed up to be a member of Classroom 2.0—which I’m really glad that I did.  It is an awesome site where you can network with other teachers from around the world.  I knew it was a Ning, but I wasn’t really sure what a Ning was… I just thought that Steve Hargadon was a genius—not that he’s not, it’s just that I hadn’t realized that the application was available to me and you and anyone who wants to set up a network.  I think that this has great classroom potential!  So for fun, since I’m not teaching but blogging a lot, I set up my very own bloggers’ Ning just to see what it was like--pretty cool...

If you want an ad-free Ning for your classroom, here are the instructions from Steve's website...

      D.C. List Shows 90 Teacher Vacancies Rhee's Office Puts Number at 42, Says Shifts Will Be Made
by Bill Turque… Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, September 29, 2008

Turque points out that several schools in the D.C. area are understaffed, and suggests that this is due to the 270 teachers that were let go over the summer. Well, that makes sense…  Apparently, 200 teachers were not able to get the certification that they needed to teach under NCLB.  They were unable to pass the ever popular PRAXIS, some missing the mark by just one point… So, they were let go. 

I’m not sure if Michelle Rhee should be blamed if teachers can’t pass the PRAXIS in their own content area.  In fact, I believe teachers have more than one try at the exam, and know well in advance when their certificate expires or what certification requirements need to be met to teach the content area they are assigned to. 

 Teachers in D.C. have to bear the burden for not having enough educators on staff—some teachers currently have class loads of over 40 students.  Other teachers have to teach during their prep periods…  Seems to me that this isn’t Rhee’s fault, rather it’s a symptom of legislation (NCLB) that creates hardships as such.  Finding highly-qualified special education teachers is a bear—across the country.  And teachers that don’t have proper endorsements for their subject areas have to go back and take exams like the PRAXIS.  I obtained a K-8 certificate with a Masters in Education.  But under the NCLB legislation, I am only highly qualified to teach social studies and language arts, as that is where I had been teaching before the law was passed.  So if my principal wanted me to teach math, let’s say, I would have to pass the PRAXIS in math, or I would need to take 45 credits to get a math endorsement…  The burden that NCLB put on our education system as a whole should be receiving more press.

It is unfortunate that Rhee is getting the blame for this one.  Rhetoric could sink this ship...  I'm going to keep an eye on D.C. 

II guess it's time to add Quick Shout to my blogroll.  I've visited quite a few times, and Nic Peachey always seems to have something interesting to look at...  I'm a fan. He looks primarily for ESL type applications, but many of the sites and tools he finds work for native speakers as well.  One of his latest finds is one I didn't want to pass on sharing:

I've just been playing around with a really nice site for kids. It's called Shidonni is a website targeted for kids--it is similar to a paint program and lets kids to draw animals. Once they've completed their illustration, they can bring them to life...

Kids can create an entire habitat for their animals--even visit other planets... You can watch a movie to see how it is done Fun with potential for younger kids...

If you have your own site or blog, you might want to consider trying Entrecard to build your clientele.  I've been using the site for a few weeks, and it has been pretty fun.  Basically, once you sign up, you begin to campaign for your site by advertising your avatar on other peoples' site.  I just used a photo from my website as my avatar (I suppose I could have put a little more time into it--but hey, it's working). And then other people advertise on your blog.  People will visit your blog to earn points so that they can advertise on someone else's site.  Pretty cool.  I do campaign, but I particulary like the directory aspect of the site.  I have spent several hours learning about other blogs and categories--eye opening.  It makes my blog look kinda hockey in comparison, but then again, I'm not trying to make money off my blog like so many others in the biz.   You can see my widget  below for today or follow advertisers on the sidebar thereafter.  I'm going to keep on playing here--it is kind of fun to see who visits and revisits. 

Have you checked out Project Gutenberg?
 
There are over 25,000 free books in the Project Gutenberg Online Book Catalog. A grand total of over 100,000 titles are available at Project Gutenberg Partners, Affiliates and Resources. There are many uses for this site.  If you are having a hard time finding a story for class, if it is out of copyright, you'll likely find it here.  There are also several sound files associated with many popular selections...  Take a look at Poe's page--short stories, poems, sound files--most if not all of his works are available...

There seems to be more and more distractions of lately.  Gram and gramps are staying with us, and though I want to spend more time surfin' the net looking for cool teacher stuff, I haven't been able to.  They leave in a week, so I should be back to normal soon...  In the meantime, I've decided to start a new blog--one that has nothing to do with teaching and everything to do with what is happening in my life right now (and other good stuff).  I' ve only posted once, but feel free to check it out.  www.kissinkate.com

Just for fun, if you haven't taken a look at the cool websites page on this site, take a peek... teacherwebit