Let The Games Begin!

Have you heard about the new way of testing students with technology known as Audience Response Technology?

ART clicking is sweeping the nation as schools in NY, California and more are investing in this fun and competitive way of testing all students, and not just those who dominate in the classroom.

The clickers are part of an increasingly popular technology which has been used for everything from surveying game show audiences to polling registered voters.

They record data from individuals and transmit that information through wireless technology to a computer program that can instantly display results, tally them and present them in elaborate spreadsheets and eye-catching graphics like spaceships or “Jeopardy!”-style boards.

This technology can also track the percentage of correct answers received for each question as well as the participation rate among all users.

What a great idea!

Fingerprinting The Answer?

In an effort to make schools safer, beginning Jan 1 districts around the state will require fingerprinting for all employees who have student interaction.

Currently teachers have already been undergoing this process as part of the employment requirement, however this new push means all employees who have student interaction must be fingerprinted, including teacher aides and cafeteria workers.

“Senate Bill 9 authorizes and requires greatly expanded criminal history information reviews for most classes of educators and school employees, including national criminal history background checks based on the submission of fingerprints, for all certified and currently employed educators, as well as all substitute teachers, whether or not certified ... hired after Jan. 1, 2008,” according to the Web site.

I think its time we do whatever it takes to keep our schools and our kids safe however, I'm just not sure fingerprinting everyone is really the answer.

Doesn't the application process with background check already cover employment and criminal background checks?

Why do we need fingerprinting?

Another thing, how will school districts fund this, as the state did not address the financial burdens nor supply monies toward this. The $60 fingerprinting cost seems like a lot for employees earning minimum wage.

What do you think?

Is fingerprinting non teachers and support personnel who work within the schools a good idea or is Big Brother working overtime?

A Stronger America.

With the Presidential race upon us, I can’t help but wonder how Education will really fare when the dust settles.

Candidates say they’re ‘all about Education’, but are they really? Is anything really going to change?

What are they going to do about the fact that:

• Seventy percent of eighth graders are not proficient in reading—and most will never catch up.
• More than 1.2 million students drop out of high school each year.
• 25% of high school students don't graduate on time.
• Many of those who do graduate are not ready for college, for the workplace, and for life.
• 65% of convicts are dropouts.

We in education know that America has an incredible struggle ahead. Each day we hear of teachers who “call it quits” blaming the Institution” and the seemingly lack of planning and vision for education today.

No Child Left Behind had great intentions but those of us on the inside quickly saw that this plan should have been more appropriately named “No Child Moves Ahead.”

It didn’t take long to figure this out.

But the current administration took so long to finally admit to the debacle. Most recently, they passed a bill that actually cut back the Reading First programs originally advocated under NCLB dropping from $1 billion to $393 million for 2008.

Plans for the same bill will provide just under $14 billion to the Title I program for disadvantaged students, about 2 percent less than what was originally proposed (and vetoed) back in November.

Under this bill:

• • $10.9 billion for K-12 state grants under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a nearly 1 percent increase over the fiscal 2007 level of $10.8 billion;
• • $2.93 billion to help states improve the quality of their teachers, a 1.7 percent increase; and
• • $1.2 billion for career and vocational education programs, a 0.5 percent decrease.

This decrease, even though small, in career and vocational education programs worries me because these real-world programs serve as spring-boards for the world of work, college and/or technical training.

Our kids not only need a solid education in core academics, but they need technology skills and they need the technical training Career and Technology courses offer---before they graduate from high school.

We have a problem with Education and as I see it, we have a serious problem with America.

How can we plan for a stronger tomorrow if we do not address and succeed at the very core of educating and training the Americans that will run this country tomorrow?

We cannot be a strong America if we do not have and provide a quality and realistic Education for every American child.

I wonder about our candidates.

I wonder if any of them will actually be brave enough to tackle the Education crisis or should I brace myself for another state of no change?

The List: Straight From A Teenager's Mouth

The List: Straight From A Teenager's Mouth

When it comes to purchasing gifts for the young ones, everyone feels fairly confident that they can walk into a store and find something their kids will like and enjoy. Shiny, big, new pretty much takes care of it.

But when it comes to teens, well, we all know they're so particular and mysterious. That's where many of us get stuck.

This year I decided to put the question to all of my students, 110+ 9-12th graders and ask THEM what THEIR Top 10 wants were for this giving season to help out all of you last minute shoppers.

I have to be honest, the #1 response surprised even me but reminded me that despite everything we may go through with our kids, despite our problems, despite the fact that sometimes we think they're most definitely on the wrong track, despite the fact that they seem rather disinterested in world politics, they DO think about the world around them and they will be okay.

THE LIST straight from my students' mouths:

1. World Peace

2. iPhone

3. Money

4. Gas Card

5. iPod Touch

6. iTunes Gift Card

7. Canon Rebel XTi

8. Best Buy Gift Certificate

9. Dance Dance Revolution for Wii

10. Urban Outfitters Gift Certificate

Great shopping all of you and have a great holiday!

"The Connection"

Sometimes in life, we are able to "really connect" with other people.

We all know that feeling. It's special and wholesome and it fills us with such a gratifying feeling that it's hard to explain.

But when we as teachers are able to "really connect" with our students, well, I can't even begin to tell you how awesome that feeling is.

It's that connection that keeps me teaching and keeps me coming back for more, for there's no better reward (and feeling) than knowing that I really connected with a student today and that just possibly I might have made that student's day.

Ok, it might sound corny, but today I had that. Sure, I've had it before, but today it was all the more special because it involved a student that's been really quiet and reserved all year---a student that's accumulated a number of absences, has been distant and aloof and difficult to talk to. A student, I fear, that's been taught that closeness hurts and distance offers the security of anonymity.

I confess I almost gave up on this student. It's a full classroom and there are so many loud students. This student is easy to forget.

Nonetheless, my daily greetings had gone ignored. My attempts to make feeble conversation and find common ground had been left dangling uncomfortably in the air. My simple questions had gone unanswered. My jokes, well, maybe they weren't very funny. I really almost gave up.

But today, for some strange reason, maybe it was the chocolate fudge I offered, this student smiled, reached out and "connected". We all did as we bit down on the creamy morsels, languishing in the healing powers only homemade chocolate fudge can bestow.

We all stood huddled like a team united in family secrecy, ready to take on the world. Our connection solidified with each bite confirming our shared appreciation for the very basic things in life, like good food, good friends and good candy.

This student happily reached in for more, looked up into my eyes, smiled then thanked me for the treats.

I took the lead and the best is about to come.

Band Aids & Big Talk

One of the most interesting things I've learned about education, is that Education doesn't seem to learn very well, and education seems very reluctant to change, if at all.

Sure, politicians love to talk the talk, but we all know that's just politics. We've actually gotten accustomed to the big talk and the non-change. That too is politics.

As if the massive teacher shortages, record dropouts, crowded classrooms, standardized testing problems, crime in schools, language barriers, special education challenges, administrative roadblocks, legal set backs, weren't enough, NOW it appears that our college freshmen are so ill-prepared that they have to take remedial classes before they can even enroll in the standard college courses.

This is a serious problem but it appears we may have an answer: "a 104-page proposal, which is scheduled to come before the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board next month, outlining what students should learn before enrolling at one of the state's public universities.

Those who do not meet the standards will be directed to community colleges, where they can get extra help at a lower cost to themselves and the state."

I thought that's what grades, and class standing and SAT's and ACTs did, silly me.

The funny thing is, that there is a push now for students to earn college credits while still in high school. Has anyone looked at this?

So, we've got one group saying our students aren't learning enough and aren't prepared for college and another saying let's give them college credit for what they've learned in high school.

I say, "How about students earning high school credit for high school courses!" and letting college credit happen when it's supposed to---in college.

At this rate, we'll soon have kids earning college credit in middle school and still get into college without the education that they need.

Seriously, how bad does it have to get before we really take the bull by the horns, scrap the whole educational system and build it from the bottom up? Make it relevant and make it real so that it actually does what it's supposed to do----prepare our students for success in higher education and for success in life.

That's my recommendation. Start over. Look at the entire system and rework it from the beginning, starting with Pre K all the way up.

We don't need another study. We don't need another program. We need real change now, because from what I can see, our students are getting short-changed, big time.