Use this Google doc to add your insight and examples to any topic. We'd like to benefit from what you already know and your flashes of inspiration.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Web 2 0 Presentation
View more presentations from Diamond Fork Jr High.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Why don't we discuss Howard Stephenson more in our IDET class?
In our Instructional Design & Educational Technology class we focus mostly on theory, but theory is not reality. Why not provide some local examples instead of speaking about implementing ed tech in general terms? We have some great situations to learn from in our own backyard, as pointed out by UtahTeacher's latest post:
ProCert is not qualified to evaluate the quality of material in a given textbook and does not pretend to provide that service. Paying them thousands of scarce education dollars for an initial screening is inefficient and wasteful. Howard Stephenson has obviously not taken the time to familiarize himself with how textbooks are actually chosen in schools and districts, and is thus “throwing money” at a gimmick that someone successfully pitched him.Go read it. It's an education.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Sifting through 7 million
Last night in class, the subject of ineffective teachers came up. Given enough time, any discussion about education will revert to a discussion about who to fire.
Not to defend bad teachers, but exactly who is lining up to replace them? First-year teachers who are also, by the way, ineffective?
Malcolm Gladwell had some interesting thoughts on the subject. His basic argument is that we should flood ourselves with new, cheap teachers and just let them sift out. Try out 4 teachers to find one good one? Is that practical given the numbers? He compares this process to finding a quarterback for pro football. Really, are there 7 million quarterbacks?
It's hard to bring in large numbers of newbies. Their energy can be great, but it's often consumed by the act of keeping their head above water. I dunno. Mine certainly is not the only set of experiences to consider.
Hm.
I read about this somewhere else first, but I forget where. Somewhere on my blog roll.
Not to defend bad teachers, but exactly who is lining up to replace them? First-year teachers who are also, by the way, ineffective?
Malcolm Gladwell had some interesting thoughts on the subject. His basic argument is that we should flood ourselves with new, cheap teachers and just let them sift out. Try out 4 teachers to find one good one? Is that practical given the numbers? He compares this process to finding a quarterback for pro football. Really, are there 7 million quarterbacks?
It's hard to bring in large numbers of newbies. Their energy can be great, but it's often consumed by the act of keeping their head above water. I dunno. Mine certainly is not the only set of experiences to consider.
Hm.
I read about this somewhere else first, but I forget where. Somewhere on my blog roll.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Big changes for the better
"While top-down change doesn't work, we still need the force of top-down mandates. . . . Top-down mandates and bottom-up energies need each other" Mark Fullan in Change Forces: The Sequel.
I've been meaning to blog about this earlier, but it seemed like a topic that needed extra care, so I kept putting it off. No longer!
This year our school instituted a major change: E-time. Basically, we have a 25 minute class period between 3rd and 4th period that we use to give students either enrichment or remediation. A student who is passing all classes earns 25 minutes of fun time (like organized recess). A student who is failing gets to go back to his or her own teacher for remediation. I'll say that again, so you don't think this is study hall: if a student is failing your class, he or she comes back to YOU to get extra help. On a day to day basis.
The logistics are explained more fully here. I am more impressed with how the change came about.
We already had 25 minutes built into our schedule for a "homeroom"-type class. Every other junior high used a study hall model and I'd say it wasn't effective. We used the time to watch Channel One, and that wasn't really effective either. Our principal pretty much said that we were moving to some kind of study period, so we needed to figure out what we wanted it to look like. That was the mandate. We knew change was coming, and we knew what he had in mind.
He got the department heads and a couple of faculty lynch-pins together to work out the system's design. We used Lakeridge Junior High as a model. Then, it became the committee's project, and they really took off with it. They presented their ideas to the faculty and held a vote. Most of the faculty was convinced it was worth trying. Over the summer, they worked out the logistics, how to present it to students & teachers, a schedule- the works. That was the energy.
For such a major change, it's gone remarkably well. Even the teachers who don't like it are playing along because pressure is coming from colleagues, not administration. The first week was crazy, and the seventh graders were really confused. We're five weeks in, though, and it's running smoothly. I stick my head out into the hallway and there are no stragglers. My enrichment room is full. My kids come to remediation- and actually have a good attitude about it. We're making it easier for them to do well, and most kids are willing to take advantage of that.
As a professional, I am so pleased to see this work. Especially considering my last post on the matter. I need to believe that my school can evolve and become better. I think it has.
I've been meaning to blog about this earlier, but it seemed like a topic that needed extra care, so I kept putting it off. No longer!
This year our school instituted a major change: E-time. Basically, we have a 25 minute class period between 3rd and 4th period that we use to give students either enrichment or remediation. A student who is passing all classes earns 25 minutes of fun time (like organized recess). A student who is failing gets to go back to his or her own teacher for remediation. I'll say that again, so you don't think this is study hall: if a student is failing your class, he or she comes back to YOU to get extra help. On a day to day basis.
The logistics are explained more fully here. I am more impressed with how the change came about.
We already had 25 minutes built into our schedule for a "homeroom"-type class. Every other junior high used a study hall model and I'd say it wasn't effective. We used the time to watch Channel One, and that wasn't really effective either. Our principal pretty much said that we were moving to some kind of study period, so we needed to figure out what we wanted it to look like. That was the mandate. We knew change was coming, and we knew what he had in mind.
He got the department heads and a couple of faculty lynch-pins together to work out the system's design. We used Lakeridge Junior High as a model. Then, it became the committee's project, and they really took off with it. They presented their ideas to the faculty and held a vote. Most of the faculty was convinced it was worth trying. Over the summer, they worked out the logistics, how to present it to students & teachers, a schedule- the works. That was the energy.
For such a major change, it's gone remarkably well. Even the teachers who don't like it are playing along because pressure is coming from colleagues, not administration. The first week was crazy, and the seventh graders were really confused. We're five weeks in, though, and it's running smoothly. I stick my head out into the hallway and there are no stragglers. My enrichment room is full. My kids come to remediation- and actually have a good attitude about it. We're making it easier for them to do well, and most kids are willing to take advantage of that.
As a professional, I am so pleased to see this work. Especially considering my last post on the matter. I need to believe that my school can evolve and become better. I think it has.
If you're in IDET, read this post
The real-world problems and possibilities of teaching "21st century skills" are laid out here nicely by the Science Goddess.
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