My last post discussed my 2010-2011 classroom goals - go paperless, accelerate student achievement, and encourage students to become published writers. I read an interesting article about class size from the latest issue of NCTE Inbox, and I'd like to talk about this as it relates to accelerating student achievement.
So, how many is too many? According to the NCTE Class Size Guideline for secondary classrooms a maximum of 20 students per class and no more than 80 throughout the day. I realize districts are up against a wall when it comes to class size, finances, and staffing, but as a teacher I ask the question, can I truly accelerate student achievement with a class of 36? According to NCTE, no I cannot. However, they address the fact that a reduced class size isn't a complete fix to boost student achievement, effective ongoing professional development is necessary, too. I encourage anyone who reads this blog to take a look at the above link from NCTE. The state of Florida class size rule is pushing students towards on-line courses, in order to fulfill high school graduation requirements. Is that really the route we want to go? I understand this is not a problem unique to me, or my classroom, but the guidelines provided from the National Council of Teachers of English are a great starting point to begin to address this serious, but sometimes overlooked issue.
In closing, I could certainly handle those above recommedations quite nicely, and while I'm blogging, could I get a block of time (80-90 minutes) to teach English/Language Arts? I just thought I'd ask.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Technology and Room 210, a Love-Hate Relationship
So, week two of the school year is under my belt and I must say it has been a great start. I've enjoyed getting to know my students and beginning our journey to become literary and written scholars. This school year I've set several goals for myself and my classroom:
1. Go paperless (as much as possible)
2. Accelerate student achievement (borrowed from district goals)
3. Provide opportunities and encourage my students to become published writers
In my next three posts, I will be discussing how each of these goals is going so far. Goal #1 is to go paperless in my classroom. So far, this is not going as smoothly as I had hoped. My plan for the first few days of school was to set-up all of the accounts for the online resources we would be using. In order to do that my students needed an email address. I had this great idea to have students set-up a professional (or student) email account through Gmail to help with this. Not only would this allow us to create the rest of our accounts, but it would also open the door to begin discussing digital responsibility and citizenship. This discussion began with choosing appropriate user names for accounts that are tied to our places of work (in the case of my students - school). However, for a couple of days Gmail didn't cooperate with us, and only one class was able to successfully create their email accounts. Another day our network was down which caused me to have to resort to "Plan B". I assigned the students homework to create the account at home and I am happy to report that many did that and were successful. I think come Tuesday, we will be ready to go with the other resources.
Unfortunately, these technology issues caused me to have to make paper copies, which I am totally trying to avoid. However, I am confident that once these accounts are set-up we will be able to move on to a "green" classroom, which excites all of us.
Technology is a wonderful thing, but it is also your worst enemy when it doesn't cooperate. However, part of being a teacher is maintaining that sense of flexibility when things do not go as planned.
1. Go paperless (as much as possible)
2. Accelerate student achievement (borrowed from district goals)
3. Provide opportunities and encourage my students to become published writers
In my next three posts, I will be discussing how each of these goals is going so far. Goal #1 is to go paperless in my classroom. So far, this is not going as smoothly as I had hoped. My plan for the first few days of school was to set-up all of the accounts for the online resources we would be using. In order to do that my students needed an email address. I had this great idea to have students set-up a professional (or student) email account through Gmail to help with this. Not only would this allow us to create the rest of our accounts, but it would also open the door to begin discussing digital responsibility and citizenship. This discussion began with choosing appropriate user names for accounts that are tied to our places of work (in the case of my students - school). However, for a couple of days Gmail didn't cooperate with us, and only one class was able to successfully create their email accounts. Another day our network was down which caused me to have to resort to "Plan B". I assigned the students homework to create the account at home and I am happy to report that many did that and were successful. I think come Tuesday, we will be ready to go with the other resources.
Unfortunately, these technology issues caused me to have to make paper copies, which I am totally trying to avoid. However, I am confident that once these accounts are set-up we will be able to move on to a "green" classroom, which excites all of us.
Technology is a wonderful thing, but it is also your worst enemy when it doesn't cooperate. However, part of being a teacher is maintaining that sense of flexibility when things do not go as planned.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Teachers and Students Friends Online
So, summer is just about over. Many hours have been spent getting my classroom together. Last night I met several of my students and their families at Open House and I'm gearing up for a new year. In fact, I'm looking quite forward to the 2010-2011 school year.
Tuesday morning, before I leave for my first day of school with students, I'll post a status update wishing all of my Facebook friends, who are beginning high school and college, well. Yes, you read that correctly, I have accepted "friend requests" on Facebook from former students. I NEVER ask to be "a friend", but if a FORMER student does request my friendship on Facebook, I accept it.
There is a big debate out there as to whether or not this is appropriate behavior. I recently read an article, (Should students 'friend' teachers online?) published in the August 10, 2010 issue of the Chicago Tribune, regarding this very issue. It raises some very interesting questions and does a fine job of establishing both sides of the argument. As a fan of technology, including all the hardware, software, and Web 2.0 tools, I support the "friending" of students, because ultimately I'm looking to extend the school day past the final bell. If I can accomplish that goal by embracing technology/social networking, I'm going to do just that.
I hate to sound like a broken record, but I'm entrusted to teach 100+ students each day for 180+ days - I'd like to think I can make good decisions when it comes to using these new tools in a safe, appropriate, and instructional way.
I leave you with this final thought - a teacher could close the door to his/her classroom everyday of the school year, and I, you, we the public, would have no idea what was going on in there, and most likely we wouldn't question it, either. However, today we live in a day and age where our teaching and learning can be transparent, we finally have a window into the classrooms.
Where do you want your son/daughter to be - a closed classroom door each day, or a room with a view?
Tuesday morning, before I leave for my first day of school with students, I'll post a status update wishing all of my Facebook friends, who are beginning high school and college, well. Yes, you read that correctly, I have accepted "friend requests" on Facebook from former students. I NEVER ask to be "a friend", but if a FORMER student does request my friendship on Facebook, I accept it.
There is a big debate out there as to whether or not this is appropriate behavior. I recently read an article, (Should students 'friend' teachers online?) published in the August 10, 2010 issue of the Chicago Tribune, regarding this very issue. It raises some very interesting questions and does a fine job of establishing both sides of the argument. As a fan of technology, including all the hardware, software, and Web 2.0 tools, I support the "friending" of students, because ultimately I'm looking to extend the school day past the final bell. If I can accomplish that goal by embracing technology/social networking, I'm going to do just that.
I hate to sound like a broken record, but I'm entrusted to teach 100+ students each day for 180+ days - I'd like to think I can make good decisions when it comes to using these new tools in a safe, appropriate, and instructional way.
I leave you with this final thought - a teacher could close the door to his/her classroom everyday of the school year, and I, you, we the public, would have no idea what was going on in there, and most likely we wouldn't question it, either. However, today we live in a day and age where our teaching and learning can be transparent, we finally have a window into the classrooms.
Where do you want your son/daughter to be - a closed classroom door each day, or a room with a view?
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Schools Embrace Social Networking
I'm enjoying a relaxing and fun-filled summer. I'm looking forward to spending more time with family and friends. I've been able to catch up on my work-outs as I look to compete in my third triathlon in early August. My reading list is getting smaller, but at the same time is growing. I keep finding books I want to read - I guess that's a good thing. As I was going through some end of the year emails, I came across several of the NCTE Inbox issues. I caught up on some light reading and came across the following article entitled:
Social Networking Goes to School from the June 14, 2010 publication of Education Week-Digital Directions. Boy did the article get me thinking. I guess the first question I have is, how can we make this happen for my students? I'll admit it - I love my "geek time", and I resisted Facebook, Twitter, Ning, etc. for as long as I could. However, social networking has tickled my fancy and I've finally jumped into the social networking pool. I've seen and/or read about the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to social networking. I understand the apprehension school districts, and educators have with it, but what powerful teaching tools these sites can be. There is potential for the social networking sites to expand our educational walls and our instructional time. What school district, or teacher would not want to see learning continue outside the 8:05AM-3:05PM school day?
The "Social Networking Goes to School" article proves it can be done - these sites can be unlocked and school districts can survive. I know it's a great deal to ask, but let's open up the lines of communication and make this happen. I know "with great power - comes great responsibility", but I'm entrusted to teach 100 students a day - year in and year out, trust me with some open access and help me do the job of a 21st Century teacher.
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