Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Daily Links 10/12/2010
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Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) (Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre)
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Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) - Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
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Academic English Mastery Program (AEMP) | The Urban Educator
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"The Feds have authorized me to leave your child behind." at The Cartoon Bank
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Gates Foundation Unveils Ed-Tech Grant Program - Digital Education - Education Week
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Friday, October 08, 2010
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Daily Links 10/07/2010
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NZ Interface Magazine | Eight habits of highly effective 21st century teachers
- What is the differences between habits and knowledge? How about "Eight knowledge domains of highly effective 21st century teachers" - post by Zhang Luke
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
Daily Links 10/06/2010
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, October 02, 2010
Controlling the educator within
I am the proud mother of Mason. Mason started kindergarten this August. Although I am a big fan of change, I have dreaded this fall for years. Why? Because I have been in education for the past 16 years. In that time, I have been fortunate to experience several roles in schools and school districts including classroom teacher (K/1), technology teacher, technology facilitator, lead teacher for curriculum, and director of instructional technology. These roles provide different context or lenses with which I see schools, teachers, leaders, and districts.
As a teacher, I had one particular student whose mother worked in our district office. Susan Wells, now principal at Culbreth Middle in Chapel-Hill, NC, was a kind and knowledgeable parent who expected the best for her son and was not afraid to offer her advice. In thinking of Mason attending public schools, I aspired to be an educator-parent like Susan. The problem is how?
I read a blog post from Will Richardson about A Parent 2.0's Back to School Dilemna, in which he struggles with the same issue. He offers a few solutions:
1. Introduce you and your child to the teacher.
2. Co-school when you can.
3. Opt out when you can.
4. Occasionally send resources and copy the principal.
And although I agree (and will try) many of these strategies, I find myself wondering if my expectations are too high. Now don't get me wrong...I believe in high expectations. This was something modeled by my parents when I was in school. My parents were present at every event and in any way they could be involved. They believed that a B was OK but why didn't I get that A? A C was just unacceptable. And although Mason is only in the first quarter of kindergarten, we are raising him the same way. He told his Grammie the other night on Skype, "Green is good but white is unacceptable." (Behavior management program in his class is green, white, yellow, orange, and red) Where I am struggling though is with my expectations of the school but even more so with what the school's expectations are for Mason. That is a question that has not been addressed in any parent meeting so far. We have our first curriculum night this week and I have a few questions already forming:
- What should he know by now?
- What is he doing in class?
- What differentiation methods are being used?
- Where do you want him by the end of the year? (because I want to keep the end in mind)
- How is he interacting with other students and teachers?
- What does he show interest in and can that be tapped into for greater engagement?
- What are his strengths and weaknesses (both in academics and in social interaction)?
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