Web Watch
Teacher’s look at education news from around the Web. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: teaching profession.
Education
Leadership and Change Smackdown
Live From NSDC, St. Louis-- When it comes to the professional literature on educational leadership, I'm pretty much an unrepentant Fullanite. Not that Michael Fullan is a particularly eloquent writer or inspirational speaker. He's neither--and his luncheon keynote today was classic Fullan: turgid, chock-full of video clips, way too much text and information, delivered at machine-gun speed, interesting but borderline incoherent.
Education
How Do You Define Professional Development?
Live From NSDC, St. Louis-- I attended an interesting session this morning on "How Professional Development Fits Into Federal Policy," led by NSDC Executive Director Stephanie Hirsh and NSDC Federal Policy Advisor Rene Islas.
Education
Guarding My Program
Live From NSDC, St. Louis-- I laughed when I read Nancy's comment on taking "twenty minutes to understand the twists and turns of registration" here. It took me at least that long--and even longer to figure out where I was supposed to go for my first session this morning. It is a logistically complex conference--there's a sense of beehive-like activity. And it doesn't make matters any easier that's not easy to get a conference program--in the event that, like me, you forgot yours. I had to borrow one from the registration desk. Really, borrow: I was told I had to bring it back because they were running short. As I was glancing through it between sessions this morning, a fellow attendee seated next to me noticed it and asked eagerly if he could just take a quick look. Apparently they are a hot commodity.
Education
It's About the Questions
Live From NSDC, St. Louis-- Tony Wagner opened his keynote this morning by declaring that the formulation of the problem is more important than the solution. We're not asking the right questions, he says--we're more focused on the answers.
Curriculum
Keynote Fatigue
Live from NSDC, St. Louis-I'm a newbie to the NSDC "big" conference, although I've been hearing about it for years--its size, scope and innovative practice in professional learning for educators. It takes a good twenty minutes to even understand the twists and turns of registration--NSDC puts its standards into practice by offering extended learning sessions, eschewing drive-by learning snacks in favor of reflection, conversation and substance. One of my personal questions about this conference is: Do conference participants, trained through decades of 6-period days and 55-minute content dumps, really embrace slow and deep learning?
Education
RTI Pointers
Live From NSDC, St. Louis--I just caught a small part of a session on Response to Intervention given by a pair of educators with the Excelsior Springs (Mo.) school district. Here's something I never realized (and that seems incredible to me): The screening used to determine which intervention "tier" a student falls into--known as the curriculum-based measurement process--takes only one to three minutes to complete. From the results of that lightening-fast assessment, presenter Christina Compton said, she can tell right away which students are on a path to do poorly on the state tests. She added that there is some 20 years of research to support the method.
Education
Airplane Reading
Live From NSDC, St. Louis— Sometimes on a flight out of D.C., you'll notice that a good number of passengers are reading the latest Bob Woodward tome or (much more depressingly) that week's Federal Register. But on my flight today, several of the passengers--including the very nice woman next to me--were reading Work Hard. Be Nice.: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America, Jay Mathews' book about the co-founders of the KIPP schools. Upon inquiry, I learned that they were all teachers from Stafford Co., Va.--also headed to the NSDC conference. My seatmate, a 1st grade teacher named Kathy Evans, explained that teams of teachers at her school will frequently read a book selected by their instructional coach and then report on it at a staff meeting and pass their copies on to interested colleagues. She expected that the KIPP story might be particularly relevant and inspirational, since her school has a large number low-income students and is struggling to make AYP ("we were so close last year," she said). Leave it to teachers, I thought, to do professional development reading on the way to a professional development conference. ...
Education
Live From NSDC
Quick note to readers: Over the next couple of days, we will be blogging in this space from the National Staff Development Council's annual conference in St. Louis. Joining me as special guest bloggers will be renowned teacher-writer Nancy Flanagan and learning-tech expert Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach. (The three of us will also be presenting a session on online professional development at the conference on Tuesday morning.) We hope to have a lot of great, up-to-the-minute information for you on the latest trends in professional development and other instructional issues. So stay tuned. Should be fun ...
Education
Who Needs Classrooms?
This spring, with her school district shut down for six days over concerns of the H1N1 flu virus, a math and science teacher at Paschal High School in Fort Worth, TX,
Education
Controversy Brewing Over NYC Teacher Bonuses
The New York Department of Education awarded $3.5 million worth of teacher bonuses on Thursday to 23 high schools across New York City. Some of the money went to under-performing schools that continually receive poor grades on their school progress reports, according to the New York Times.
Education
Now, That's Persuasive Writing
A Memphis 6th grader returned to her former elementary school a hero last week, after having convinced Hewlett-Packard to donate 67 computers to her alma mater, according to the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
Education
The Cost of Teacher Effectiveness? Millions.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation delivered a $40 million offer to the Pittsburgh Public Schools this week to boost teacher effectiveness, reports the post-gazette.com. According to officials, it is the largest direct grant ever made to the school district. Pittsburgh is one of four "intensive partnership sites" that could soon receive money from the Gates Foundation for their efforts to improve teacher effectiveness.
Education
Cashing In on Lesson Plans
With online trading communities such as Craigslist and eBay facilitating millions of transactions, teachers have entered the online marketplace with personalized lesson plans in hand, according to a much talked-about story in the New York Times.
Assessment
The Test-Prep Dilemma
Many struggling students in high schools throughout New Jersey must take test-prep classes in place of electives like music or art, according to The Record.