Education and the Economy

With our economy on the brink of disaster, I started to wonder what that meant for education. In a world of NCLB, schools are already feeling the pinch of being under funded. I ran across this article on Education Week, which spoke to the topic of the upcoming national budget for education. At this point, the status quo of funding has been extended until March, so that the next president can decide in the future what to do with the funding. If the economy continues to go downhill, the new administration won’t have much more to give to education. What happens to our schools if the budget does not change, especially if the rest of the economy is in shambles? If for years the national government can’t raise funding, how does that affect the use of technology and getting that to schools?
There is already such a disparity between schools in different areas in regards to their access to technology. I think more and more it is going to fall on the teachers to find creative and mostly inexpensive ways to create a global and technology rich classroom. This article from Edutopia, spoke about a project called Flat Classroom, created by Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay (both of which have interesting blogs!). This is a great way to create a global community using Web 2.0 tools that are almost (if not all) free to use. Along with a lot of the tools that we have explored through the last online class, I think we can make it work. I believe that many teachers think you need highly sophisticated, expensive equipment in order to use technology. It is our job to spread the fact that you can do this on a tight budget. There is going to be more and more of a push to integrate technology-so it’s time to get creative!There are so many issues to think about with the current state of our economy. Let’s hope that we can work through this to make sure that our students don’t suffer. Just because we aren’t given everything we need, doesn’t mean we can’t still get it done.

A New Contract Option?-Response Blog #2

As I was perusing through the blogosphere, I happened across a blog that mentioned an educational reform that I just had to investigate further. This blog spoke to a proposed contract in the District of Columbia School District and its teacher’s union that forgoes the traditional seniority system and tenure and replaces it with a contract based on performance and credentials. If choosing the “red” tier, teachers would be opting for the traditional contract based on years of experience and education. The “green” tier would loose tenure and earn large bonuses. The only way they could regain tenure would be from approval from their building principal.

I did some more research, and here are a couple more good articles on the topic.

Can Michelle Rhee Save DC Schools?

Rhee's 'Plan B' Targets Teacher Quality

Chancellor Rhee Tackles Teacher Seniority

I can only imagine the division that is taking place between the teachers. I would think that the majority of older teachers would opt for the “red” tier, while more of the younger teachers would support the “green” tier. I wonder if many of the teachers that are Digital Natives would lean towards the “green” tier. It would be interesting to see the correlation.

But how would you support and quantify the pay raises in the “green” tier. The only real option would be to use standardized testing. When we talked about assessment,

I think this issue raises big questions about the way we look at the educational system. Do we want it to be a more corporate atmosphere, with bonuses based purely on student performance? Personally, I believe the strength of the educational system is that it is not at cut throat as the corporate world. I don’t know what would happen if teacher were pitched against each other for bonuses. I feel that this would take the focus away from students.

Now, Rhee is proposing to give cash incentives to students for such things as handing in homework and good grades. Who knows, this could be a great answer, especially in an urban environment. But overall, aren’t we supposed to be teaching, not because of the money, but because we love to teach. And aren’t we, as teachers, supposed to instill intrinsic motivation in our students. To me, these reforms go against both.

Action Plan Outline

Modeling with students

This concept map shows the goals for a lesson on creating a friendly letter in a 2nd grade classroom. For each step, the student is asked to take the idea of a friendly letter one step forward. The idea of student modeling is new to me-I always have goals for my students, but asking them to model their own thinking is still somewhat tricky to get my head around. I am normally the one doing the modeling. It will be interesting to see what the students take out of this lesson as compared to the way I have taught it in the past.

Technology and Me-The Ongoing Frustration-Response Blog #1

So, last Thursday was my elementary school's back-to-school night. This night is normally stressful enough, but schedule it on the 3rd day of school with a broken copier, and the stress level goes through the roof. Needless to say it was a pretty busy week.

I spent the weekend before putting together a nice PowerPoint presentation of some new things that were going to happen in the upcoming school year. My big push was going to be showing the parents some of the new technology that I would be teaching the students how to use. I picked a couple to show. I wanted to show an introduction to Voice Thread and explain to parents a project I wanted to use with it, in which they could comment on their student's project from home.

I also spoke to my parents about created a classroom Acceptable Use Policy that is at the level of my students, using the PB Wiki my group created in a previous class as a model. I really want my students to understand internet safety before we move into any of the new tools that I want to use.

I also wanted to show off our newly mounted LCD projector and Tablet PC's, which had been hooked up over the summer. Well, when I went to test my LCD projector, I found that the most basic of functions related to the installation was overlooked-power. How do you use an LCD projector without a power source you ask? Well, you don't. So here I was wanting to show all of this great technology, and I was upstream without a paddle.

This is the same experience I have been having with my district since I started taking classes in the LIDI program. Everytime I want to try something in my class, it fails. However, I did present this information (sans technology) and got a GREAT response from my parents. They were so excited to hear that I wanted to incorporate technology in a positive way. So, I am determined to carry out my goal for the year-despite the roadblocks that might be in my way.

The NETS-T and Me

Looking through the National Educational Technology Standards for Teachers, each one hits on points that I want to develop in myself as an educator. Although I want to incorporate each in my teaching, I really want to focus on #2, Designing and Developing Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments.

I have taken quite a few courses in Instructional Systems and Educational Technology, but I have yet to really tackle and implement a lot of what I have learned in the classroom. One of the big reasons that I have not implemented more Web 2.0 learning oppurtunites in my classroom is due to restrictions by my district and administration. I have to admit that once I hit those roadblocks I stopped trying. I was frustrated and turned off.

My goal from this class, and for this school year, is to find tools and ways to incorporate new technologies that fall within my district's guidelines. I like the idea of customizing learning activities to meet individual student needs. I want to create at least one really good learning experience that allows my students to experience the new Web 2.0