Thursday, November 29, 2007
RHS's Mission Statement- have you read it?
RHS's mission statement is: "The Redfield School District will promote and maintain high academic expectations for students to become life-long learners and encourage them to become responsible citizens in their community and world." Are we doing this? It seems the goal is pretty lofty. Can a school, alone, create a good citizen? Haven't I heard somehwere that it takes a village to raise a child? Where is our village? Is this creation of a good citizen up to teachers and administrators only?
Saturday, November 24, 2007
The Great Reading Debate- Are High Schoolers Reading Enough??
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) recent published a report (To Read or Not to Read- a whopping 98 pages in length) and the statistics that they discuss can be viewed as disturbing or are they?
Read the blogs that I have read and decide.
Stephen Krashen- His take on the meaning of the findings of the study
John Schaff- What it means for SD
JBD- What this means for education
Ted and Ian- What the study did not take into account
So should the educator, the student, the administrator or the parent put much weigh on this issue? Is America reading less or is what America reading changing?
Read the blogs that I have read and decide.
Stephen Krashen- His take on the meaning of the findings of the study
John Schaff- What it means for SD
JBD- What this means for education
Ted and Ian- What the study did not take into account
So should the educator, the student, the administrator or the parent put much weigh on this issue? Is America reading less or is what America reading changing?
Friday, November 16, 2007
Blog Book Review
Honors Students- this month's (Nov) book review is a blog about your book. Here are some of my expectations about what this bookblog should contain. First take a look at the site below to learn more about what a book review is and what it should contain. These are not all inclusive and you don't have to include everything; just remember that this is a review not a book summary. Pay special attention to the first websites.
Rodman Philbrick's reviews
LAVC library page
Remember that blogs are not meant to be long discourses on a topic. Include links to sites that discuss the book or to places that provide access to the book. Maybe you could even add a review to Barnes and Nobel or to Amazon.com. Be sure to link to your review.
Rodman Philbrick's reviews
LAVC library page
Remember that blogs are not meant to be long discourses on a topic. Include links to sites that discuss the book or to places that provide access to the book. Maybe you could even add a review to Barnes and Nobel or to Amazon.com. Be sure to link to your review.
The big debate about learning and grades
I have been debating the issue of the the importance of grades with other educators in both high school and university for about two years now. And it still continues...
Are grades all that important? They are just letters assigned to assignments, test or projects that reflect a one time occurrence.
Where does actual learning come into play. Any average-skilled cheater can achieve A's or B's in class and learn very little but how to cheat a little bit better.
Is learning important to students at all or is school all about grades. I understand that GPA and class rank, ACT and SAT scores, and other grade related information is important, but shouldn't the emphasis be on what students have learned and how they can use that learning.
What good is an A in calculus if you haven't learned the skills needed to pass a college algebra course. It is no hard to get an A- with a little skill, help from the teacher or classmates and some effort anyone can do it. But it is the application of those supposedly learned skills that really brings the learning done to light.
Colleges and universities must now offer remedial classes to get high school students caught up in the skills that are lacking, especially in math, reading and writing. How can a student who received a B in writing courses in high school, need remedial classes when in college. Were is the learning that was supposed to take place? With grade inflation and water-down curriculum, no wonder learning is not occurring.
I realize that change must begin from the top (the real work world and then colleges) and trickle down, but when will that happen? Is the education world so caught up in NCLB legislation and teaching to the test that we have forgotten about real learning? I am afraid that this debate will be around long after I have left the teaching world.. How sad!!!!
Are grades all that important? They are just letters assigned to assignments, test or projects that reflect a one time occurrence.
Where does actual learning come into play. Any average-skilled cheater can achieve A's or B's in class and learn very little but how to cheat a little bit better.
Is learning important to students at all or is school all about grades. I understand that GPA and class rank, ACT and SAT scores, and other grade related information is important, but shouldn't the emphasis be on what students have learned and how they can use that learning.
What good is an A in calculus if you haven't learned the skills needed to pass a college algebra course. It is no hard to get an A- with a little skill, help from the teacher or classmates and some effort anyone can do it. But it is the application of those supposedly learned skills that really brings the learning done to light.
Colleges and universities must now offer remedial classes to get high school students caught up in the skills that are lacking, especially in math, reading and writing. How can a student who received a B in writing courses in high school, need remedial classes when in college. Were is the learning that was supposed to take place? With grade inflation and water-down curriculum, no wonder learning is not occurring.
I realize that change must begin from the top (the real work world and then colleges) and trickle down, but when will that happen? Is the education world so caught up in NCLB legislation and teaching to the test that we have forgotten about real learning? I am afraid that this debate will be around long after I have left the teaching world.. How sad!!!!
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Fascination with blogging
I am fascinated by how some of the students I have introduced to blogging have used their blogs to talk about issue important to them.
Read Jamie's blog about the future and Rachel's blog on what the future holds.
I find it heartwarming that juniors are thinking about such issues when so many students are stilled worries about where the party is this Sat. and who is dating whom.
As a teacher, I find students' blogs amazing.
Read Jamie's blog about the future and Rachel's blog on what the future holds.
I find it heartwarming that juniors are thinking about such issues when so many students are stilled worries about where the party is this Sat. and who is dating whom.
As a teacher, I find students' blogs amazing.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
The Crucible Project
Now that all of you honors students have a handle on blogging and searching for websites and pages dealing with the issues surrounding the play and Miller's reasons for writing it, it is time to move on to the next phase. In your blogs spend some time writing about the common characteristics of all of the other American witch hunts. What was happening in the country and the world at the time of the witch hunt, and what were or are the common characteristics of each group that was hunted? What were the outcomes? Were the positive or negative?
Then go to my wiki and get started on adding your educated opinion on the questions asked in this assignment. All work needs to be done by Friday the 16th. Good Luck
Then go to my wiki and get started on adding your educated opinion on the questions asked in this assignment. All work needs to be done by Friday the 16th. Good Luck
Transliteracy
An interesting idea showed up in a blog that I read periodically- the idea of transliteracy.
According to the Production and Research in Transliteracy group blog,
Transliteracy is the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks.
So it would seem that the traditional definition of literacy has to change. In the past, I defined literacy as the ability to read and understand what has been read with the idea that I was talking about books, newspapers and other print sources. But with the focus of our government on have all students proficient in reading, math, and other classes, maybe the idea of literacy needs to be changed.
What is literacy and at the same time, what is reading? Has the idea of reading changed? Has the boom of technological gadgets, programs and Internet resources changed the way that teachers, parents and students need to view literacy and reading? What changes need to be made to ensure that all students become efficient consumers of the technology available, but at the same time, become literate? These are the questions that need to be asked.
According to the Production and Research in Transliteracy group blog,
Transliteracy is the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks.
So it would seem that the traditional definition of literacy has to change. In the past, I defined literacy as the ability to read and understand what has been read with the idea that I was talking about books, newspapers and other print sources. But with the focus of our government on have all students proficient in reading, math, and other classes, maybe the idea of literacy needs to be changed.
What is literacy and at the same time, what is reading? Has the idea of reading changed? Has the boom of technological gadgets, programs and Internet resources changed the way that teachers, parents and students need to view literacy and reading? What changes need to be made to ensure that all students become efficient consumers of the technology available, but at the same time, become literate? These are the questions that need to be asked.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
The Power of the Video on a Cell Phone
I have recently read several articles about the after effects of students placing vidoes that have been taped in school classes without a teacher's knowledge . Some were benign (usually just about classroom behavior or a joke), but some were really scary and hard to watch (teachers yelling, screaming, swearing, harassing kids).
Students often complain about the rules regarding cell phone use in school (cell phones are to be off and out of site at all times during school hours), but I feel some level of comfort knowing that the rule is in place.
I would be very offended if a student secretly filmed my class and then posted it on the WWW. I am not worried that the they contents of my class are worthy of WWW posting, but videos, like speech or text, can be edited or taken out of context and turned into something humorous, embarrassing or violent.
I fear that someone would watch an edited version of a class (as someone's idea of a joke) and take what was portrayed as serious and that I would find myself in serious situation.
Banning cell phones seems extreme, but it is done not only to keep them from distracting and disrupting class, but also to keep them from becoming a tool to embarrass or hurt an unknowing teacher.
m
Students often complain about the rules regarding cell phone use in school (cell phones are to be off and out of site at all times during school hours), but I feel some level of comfort knowing that the rule is in place.
I would be very offended if a student secretly filmed my class and then posted it on the WWW. I am not worried that the they contents of my class are worthy of WWW posting, but videos, like speech or text, can be edited or taken out of context and turned into something humorous, embarrassing or violent.
I fear that someone would watch an edited version of a class (as someone's idea of a joke) and take what was portrayed as serious and that I would find myself in serious situation.
Banning cell phones seems extreme, but it is done not only to keep them from distracting and disrupting class, but also to keep them from becoming a tool to embarrass or hurt an unknowing teacher.
m
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Cheating
As a teacher, I see and hear about all forms of cheating, from copying vocabulary work, to copying and pasting a report, to looking at another's answers on a test, to making up book reports about non-existent books. Nothing really surprises me anymore.
Read the news report of what happened in Hanover High School in Hanover, NH.
What is this telling us about the current generation?
Are they over-booked with too many academic, activity, job-related and personal commitments that they have no time to do their work, complete assignments, or study for tests?
Are parents or the students themselves putting too much pressure on the students to achieve a good grade that learning takes second place?
Are schools and teachers emphasizing the wrong thing- grades instead of actual learning?
No learning can actually be graded- learning is learning- it changes the brain. How can that be graded?
So what do we and teachers, students and administrators do about cheating?
What is the parental role in this issue?
Read the news report of what happened in Hanover High School in Hanover, NH.
What is this telling us about the current generation?
Are they over-booked with too many academic, activity, job-related and personal commitments that they have no time to do their work, complete assignments, or study for tests?
Are parents or the students themselves putting too much pressure on the students to achieve a good grade that learning takes second place?
Are schools and teachers emphasizing the wrong thing- grades instead of actual learning?
No learning can actually be graded- learning is learning- it changes the brain. How can that be graded?
So what do we and teachers, students and administrators do about cheating?
What is the parental role in this issue?
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Sensation, perception and reality
Read Kasen Keller's blog about reality and then post comments to it.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
After reading Will Richardson blog about the read/write web, Pushing Writing Literacy, I was intrigued by his ideas. I have been reading his book as part of a technology class and have heard him speak about this age of technology and how teachers should be using more of it with their students, but how can we? I am puzzled by how I can incorporate all this new technology (blogs, pod casts, Twitter, RSS feeds, wikis, digital works, etc) into a class when I have limited access to the technology and limited time to learn about while still planning, correcting and teaching.
I would love to have students create digital videos of Edgar Allen Poe short stories and would love to have them create online books with student-created illustrations and public service announcements about social issues that concern them, but will computer labs tied up in keyboarding classes, programing classes, and application classes, just getting the students to the lab twice a week to word process an writing assignment is a challenge.
Laptops for all students would help, but so would additional funding for the technology tools like subscriptions to online programs, quality digital cameras and video recorders, editing tools, and the like. When that happens and I am trained well on all of there tools, then maybe magic can happen in my classroom, and reading and writing will take on a whole new meaning to students.
I would love to have students create digital videos of Edgar Allen Poe short stories and would love to have them create online books with student-created illustrations and public service announcements about social issues that concern them, but will computer labs tied up in keyboarding classes, programing classes, and application classes, just getting the students to the lab twice a week to word process an writing assignment is a challenge.
Laptops for all students would help, but so would additional funding for the technology tools like subscriptions to online programs, quality digital cameras and video recorders, editing tools, and the like. When that happens and I am trained well on all of there tools, then maybe magic can happen in my classroom, and reading and writing will take on a whole new meaning to students.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Student writers' understanding of plagiarism
Today, I read Kate Kellen's comments on how her students don't understand the concept of plagiarism in writing. Just when do we teach students about this bane of the English teacher's existence? If elementary students are allowed to copy from the encyclopedia for reports and middle school students are allowed to copy from the Internet and other sources with no regard to summarization, paraphrasing, quoting and citing sources, is it then up to high school teachers to correct years of "damage"? I find that almost unbearable and sometimes impossible. The process of incorporating research into writing takes years of practice- not just four years of the sporadic paper in English classes. I wonder what college English teachers have to say on the topic.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
The Crucible, The Red Scare and Other Witch Trials
With your class in your blogs discuss the following questions:
1. What was Miller's point in writing The Crucible?
2. How are McCarthyism, the Red Scare, Arthur Miller and The Crucible interrelated?
3. Document other times in American history when 'witch hunts' were conducted and discuss the outcomes of the Salem witch hunt and the other witch hunts you find. What do they all have in common?
Find documents, web sites, blogs, etc. that provide information on this topic and blog about what those artifacts contain. Provide links in your blog space so that the other members of the class can read and learn from them.
After all research, processing and discussion have been completed, please write an essay (in your blog) that presents what you have learned in relation to the questions/problems stated at the beginning of this blog.
To get you started, spend awhile watching this PowerPoint and reading the websites linked to it.
1. What was Miller's point in writing The Crucible?
2. How are McCarthyism, the Red Scare, Arthur Miller and The Crucible interrelated?
3. Document other times in American history when 'witch hunts' were conducted and discuss the outcomes of the Salem witch hunt and the other witch hunts you find. What do they all have in common?
Find documents, web sites, blogs, etc. that provide information on this topic and blog about what those artifacts contain. Provide links in your blog space so that the other members of the class can read and learn from them.
After all research, processing and discussion have been completed, please write an essay (in your blog) that presents what you have learned in relation to the questions/problems stated at the beginning of this blog.
To get you started, spend awhile watching this PowerPoint and reading the websites linked to it.
Teachers As Advisors
Now that we have had a few TAA meetings, what do you think about it? Did you know why the program was implemented? What are your opinions about its use in RHS?
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
parental roles
Today, I read an interesting article about a middle school in Maine that will begin to dispense birth control pills to middle school kids in an attempt to control the increase in pregnancies (17 in one year).
It seems that over the last 20 years or so, schools have slowly been required by society to take on some of the roles that parents usually have. Take discipline for example. When I was in elementary school, I was more frightened about what my father would do to me if I misbehaved than what the administration would do to me. Parents disciplined their kids back then. Today parents defend kids against discipline by school authorities and often threaten to sue if any discipline is given- even when the kid did wrong and deserves the consequences. We have even stopped calling it punishment and have replaced the word with consequences or discipline.
Nutrition and food choices used to be policed by parents, who would ensure that their children ate breakfast and healthy foods. Today, schools have taken over by serving breakfasts, morning and afternoon snacks and even supper, along with a lunchtime meal. Classroom teachers have to teach children about food and obesity and exercise and hygiene because some parents fail to do so.
Home used to be a place where kids felt safe and protected and a place they wanted to be. Now, kids come to school an hour early and stay for hours afterword just to avoid being left home alone or in an abusive situation. Schools purchase metal detectors, security guards and pass card door opening systems in order to ensure that kids are safe in school. Teachers spend hours in training to learn how to identify abused, neglected, and dangerous children when we could be teaching instead. All of this happens because some parents don't pay attention to their children.
Now schools have become the place where kids learn about sex, birth control and parenting, again, because some parents are not doing their jobs.
I understand why some of my students call me mom and why some come to me with problems that parents should help them with. I also understand why some teachers decide not to have children or why some burn out and leave the profession. No where in my training to become a teacher did it say the I had to parent someone else's children, but I am. Most all educators do. We ties shoes, wipe noses, teach right from wrong, listen and help because we care. But this can't go on forever.
Where will this parent to school stransition stop and can this switch go on like this much longer?
It seems that over the last 20 years or so, schools have slowly been required by society to take on some of the roles that parents usually have. Take discipline for example. When I was in elementary school, I was more frightened about what my father would do to me if I misbehaved than what the administration would do to me. Parents disciplined their kids back then. Today parents defend kids against discipline by school authorities and often threaten to sue if any discipline is given- even when the kid did wrong and deserves the consequences. We have even stopped calling it punishment and have replaced the word with consequences or discipline.
Nutrition and food choices used to be policed by parents, who would ensure that their children ate breakfast and healthy foods. Today, schools have taken over by serving breakfasts, morning and afternoon snacks and even supper, along with a lunchtime meal. Classroom teachers have to teach children about food and obesity and exercise and hygiene because some parents fail to do so.
Home used to be a place where kids felt safe and protected and a place they wanted to be. Now, kids come to school an hour early and stay for hours afterword just to avoid being left home alone or in an abusive situation. Schools purchase metal detectors, security guards and pass card door opening systems in order to ensure that kids are safe in school. Teachers spend hours in training to learn how to identify abused, neglected, and dangerous children when we could be teaching instead. All of this happens because some parents don't pay attention to their children.
Now schools have become the place where kids learn about sex, birth control and parenting, again, because some parents are not doing their jobs.
I understand why some of my students call me mom and why some come to me with problems that parents should help them with. I also understand why some teachers decide not to have children or why some burn out and leave the profession. No where in my training to become a teacher did it say the I had to parent someone else's children, but I am. Most all educators do. We ties shoes, wipe noses, teach right from wrong, listen and help because we care. But this can't go on forever.
Where will this parent to school stransition stop and can this switch go on like this much longer?
Monday, October 22, 2007
Mondays
Today is Monday; it's after 5:00 P.M.; I have managed to survive another one...barely. I find that Mondays are my most stressful day of the week. It is on this day that I realize that what I accomplished over the weekend was not enough and that I am still behind. Mondays are when others come to me with ideas and jobs that they have thought of over the weekend, so now I am even more behind because people have given me more to do on top of what I have yet to do. Which day is your worst?
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Small town life
Today is the opening day of pheasant hunting season. This season is important to the livelihood of the town of Redfield. Hunters spend thousands of dollars to come here and hunt. Restaurants, bars, hotels, air lines, grocery and convenience stores, car rental places and hunting lodges depend on this next 3 months to earn them a large part of their annual income. Does anyone else think it is ironic or even wrong to depend so much on the hunting and killing of such a small bird? A bad winter could wipe out a hunting season and cause a huge money crunch. A series of bad winters or even bad springs could wipe out a large chunk of Redfield's economy. That is a scary thought.
I like living and working here; both my family and my husband's family live here or in surrounding area and the thought of not being able to raise my kids here and work in the school system here is scary. It just seems odd that I indirectly am affected by a sport which I do not enjoy or even like.
This year Keith's hunters from down south are returning and with the money he earns as their guide, we will be able to purchase a new computer. Somehow this feels wrong to me. Some 70+ pheasants will give up their lives to that I can access the Internet and WWW more quickly and so that my children can do school work in the Window 2007 programs that the school now uses.
It confuses me how people can plan for, make money from and enjoy so much the shooting of a wild animal.
I like living and working here; both my family and my husband's family live here or in surrounding area and the thought of not being able to raise my kids here and work in the school system here is scary. It just seems odd that I indirectly am affected by a sport which I do not enjoy or even like.
This year Keith's hunters from down south are returning and with the money he earns as their guide, we will be able to purchase a new computer. Somehow this feels wrong to me. Some 70+ pheasants will give up their lives to that I can access the Internet and WWW more quickly and so that my children can do school work in the Window 2007 programs that the school now uses.
It confuses me how people can plan for, make money from and enjoy so much the shooting of a wild animal.
Friday, October 19, 2007
technology
We are currently in an age where technological improvements come at lightning speed. Most people, especially the digital immigrants of my generation, cannot keep up with all the changes. What is the best part of the technology that is available today? What do you use and what could you not live without? As digital natives the current generation has great advantages over all past generations. What are some of those advantages?
How can teachers teach using the technology available to students and schools? Is just word process and using PowerPoint enough use of technology? What program or software would you love to learn how to use?
How can teachers teach using the technology available to students and schools? Is just word process and using PowerPoint enough use of technology? What program or software would you love to learn how to use?
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Venting
I find that as this quarter comes to a close that I am more stressed out than ever. Can a teacher really burn out in Oct. when school started in Aug.? I find that I am so overwhelmed by all my obligations that I sometimes just want to quit. If I feel like this already, I wonder what students feel like. So many of them have such heavy academic loads and then they add sports participation, work, clubs, family, religion, and all the other life events. When do they sleep?
What will happen as the year progresses? Will things get worse? Will both my students and I explode? quit? give up? Where will we all get the strength or fortitude to plow through all the "stuff" in our lives and survive yet another school year?
I am thinking a vacation is in order- a long one to Hawaii or a cruise to sunny beaches and hot climates.
Any other options to surviving the school year?
What will happen as the year progresses? Will things get worse? Will both my students and I explode? quit? give up? Where will we all get the strength or fortitude to plow through all the "stuff" in our lives and survive yet another school year?
I am thinking a vacation is in order- a long one to Hawaii or a cruise to sunny beaches and hot climates.
Any other options to surviving the school year?
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Gossip
Gossip is a great problem in this school. How do we address it and the hurt, misunderstanding and fighting that it causes? Should teachers and others "punish" those who gossip? How? What about when the gossip comes from those in authority? Should people be confronted by those they gossip about? Am I just overreacting to this problem? Is it just a part of life?
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Book list
I would love to create a book list for my website. Please submit your favorite books (non-fiction and fiction). Include title, author, publication date and a one or two sentence description of the book. It will be great to know what students are reading that what they love to read.
Bullying, Teasing, Horseplay, Harassment, and other problematic behaviors
Last year I asked about bullying in the school and got some responses. How is this year going in the areas listed in the title of this post? What is the worst problematic behavior that goes on in this school? I have been dealing with a lot of gossip and rumor. How, as a teacher, do I stop that? Are students being harassed or bullied or teased in our school? How is it being handled by teachers and administrators? Express your observations about this issue!!
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
A good story
What makes a story a good story? What does a good story have to have so that you will read it? Is is suspense, plot, a unique character? What is the best story you have ever read?
Pain versus suffering
A Buddhist saying proclaims: "Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional." Is this true? What is the difference between pain and suffering? Why do some people suffer and others do not?
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Leadership
What makes a good leader?
Is is charisma, charm, good looks, a winning smile, a powerful speaking voice, or is it something that is indescribable?
What traits should one look for in a good leader?
Who are some good leaders from the past and today? Why are or were they so good?
How do students show leadership? Is it important to do so?
Is is charisma, charm, good looks, a winning smile, a powerful speaking voice, or is it something that is indescribable?
What traits should one look for in a good leader?
Who are some good leaders from the past and today? Why are or were they so good?
How do students show leadership? Is it important to do so?
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Reading
Is the ability to read well important in life? What happens to those who choose not to read or not to develop weak reading skills? How should teachers respond to those students who make comments about not having to read much in the real world?
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
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