Teachers Vs. Educators

This story was shared with me by one of my teachers, so I decided to share it with you. I hope you enjoy:

According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington was recently faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick, they would press their lips on the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night the maintenance man would remove them, and the next day the girls would put them back. Finally the principal decided that something had to be done.

She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night (you can just imagine all the yawns from the little princesses). To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it.

Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror. There are teachers.. . . and then there are educators.

Remember - Keep Smiling. It makes people wonder what you're up to!!

Pay Attention

This video is directed towards teachers and challenges the way we teach our students. I love how it addresses student engagement and encourages teachers to use technology to reach students. It’s a thought providing video and I hope others will enjoy it like I do.

Waiting for Superman

I would like to encourage everyone to see this movie. Even if you aren’t an educator, please take the time to watch it…get involved in the conversation about education reform. Education in this country needs to be a priority at every level regardless if you are parent, teacher, politician, student, or whomever; every individual needs to have a voice in this discussion. Even though I haven’t viewed this movie yet, I believe it will address many issues regarding the practice of education in our nation today that we simply can’t ignore, and will hopefully spark conversations across America. I can’t say that I will agree with the position(s) this movie may take…remember I haven’t seen it…but in order to discover the truth and make a positive change for students, we all must be involved. I believe “Waiting for Superman” will be a great conversation starter.

Wes Fryer wrote a great blog post regarding this movie. Be sure to take the time to read this as well.

Back-to-School

Why does it seem like going back to school in August is so nutty? It's so busy...you're getting prepared for teachers to come back, organizing the various programs and activities for the school, getting students registered for classes, checking and re-checking schedules and student lists, organizing textbooks and new technology that has been added to the campus over the summer, updating district forms and ensuring our campus is complying with new policies, meeting with parent/community organizations and outlining your goals and objectives of the school year...and then finally the teachers begin their first week back and we continue our busy schedules with staff development, getting teachers their classroom keys, moving boxes from one class to another, getting teachers classroom materials and anything they need for their classes, and the list continues....and then the students arrive...do I really need to continue?

Still, with all these "to-do" items to accomplish, it's great to see students from the previous year and meet the new faces I'll have the privilege to work with.  My favorite thing about being an administrator is the ability to continue working with students from the previous year.  I can continue helping students be successful and support my parents from previous year.  Just today, I spoke to a parent about their child's struggles in the classroom, so we scheduled a meeting to discuss the situation further.  When we do meet, we won't have to worry about building trust and reviewing the family history because I already have a positive working relationship with the student and parent.  I've never had an opportunity like this has a classroom teacher, so I'm exciting to see what we can do during this year with the student!

Even though the start of another school year can be very busy, it's moments like these I look forward to the most!

Google Apps in Education

Google has apps for educational purposes including K-12 in hopes to foster 21st century learning in schools. Google Apps Education Edition includes Gmail, Calendar, Documents, and other tools students and teachers can use FREE in the classroom. The apps can help develop appropriate models for students so they can see how collaboration and communication works in the real world. Below is a school district who is using this product successfully with students.

Did You Know?-Part 2

As you will notice in this video, there are some facts that our revisited.  However this video is shorter than Did You Know 2.0.  As I watch this video, I can relate some of these facts to myself.

• I have been with my current employer for less than 1 year.
• The longest I've been with a single school organization is 4 years and I've been in education for 11 years.
• I don't have a MySpace account, however I do have a Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and Delicious accounts.
• I'm a heavy Google user!

What's missing from this video is the educational impact this information implies.  I don't believe as educators we need to be ahead of the information explosion (besides, I don't think its possible).  Instead of jumping on the educational technology bandwagon, buying the latest and greatest devices and bringing them into the classroom, we need to keep it simple!  I encourage you to pick only the tools that would make you better at the things you already do.  I started my educational tech journey with Delicious, a social bookmarking program.  I love it because it's so simple and easy to use, and now I can't hardly function without it.

So what about you? What are you going to start with?  It can be Google Docs or Google Calendar.  It can be Facebook, a wiki, or blog.  But whatever you decide, remember to keep it simple!  Pick one thing, stick with it, and use it.

Did You Know?-Part 1

This video was developed by two individuals by the names of Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod.  They collaborated on a project know as Shift Happens and titled the video "Did You Know?" in order to encourage 21st Century learning in our educational systems.  There are four versions of this video available, and I will address the first one I experienced as a teacher.

I was first introduce to these videos with version 2.0 at a new teacher in-service in Rockwall ISD.  It was part of the Phil Schlechty's Working on the Work or W.O.W. framework district workshop.  At first, I thought the 2.0 in the title referred to Web 2.0, and it wasn't until later that I discovered it was the second version of this video (you can find the first version HERE).  Even thought this isn't the latest and greatest version, I like this video because I believe it speaks to those individuals who may not be deep into educational technology and speaks to a broader audience.




So what do you think?  What are our students doing in schools?  How are we helping our students become literate in 21st century?   Are we providing the resources and training necessary to prepare students to be successful in 21st century society?  Now that we know all this, what changes should be made to current education legislation? Leave answers in the comments section.