Facebook is a promising tool for teacher collaboration

Educators should take advantage of the popular social-networking site Facebook as a free and timely forum for sharing ideas and improving education, writes Nancy Flanagan, a former teacher who is an education writer and consultant. If teachers can overlook the site's tendency toward lightweight social content and administrators can work through filtering issues, the site could provide a user-friendly and highly collaborative tool for teachers, schools and professional associations, Flanagan writes. Education Week/Teacher in a Strange Land blog

Students in gifted program produce school's morning news show

Students who are gifted at a Tennessee elementary school produce a video news program shown throughout the school each morning. The fourth- and fifth-graders create the 5- to-7-minute program in the school's news studio equipped with a green screen, video cameras, a mixer, a laptop and other equipment, which was funded through a grant, fundraisers and private donations. "I've learned a lot and it's fun -- problem-solving, technology. ... We all have jobs, but we're all needed to fit it together," one student news anchor said. Farragut Press (Tenn.)

Believing in Students...Believing in Teachers

My principal showed us this video of Dalton Sherman during our staff meeting last Friday, it was very inspiring for us teachers especially at this time...a good piece to show my students too on Monday.

Rhee's Response to WTU President on the WTU Blog

WTU President George Parker wrote a Letter to Chancellor Rhee Tuesday, January 26, 2010. Part of it reads:

Dear Chancellor Rhee:

This is a critical time for D.C. Public Schools, for teachers and for the students we serve. In recent weeks, there have been a number of positive developments. We have seen significant gains in student test scores, and negotiators for DCPS and the Washington Teachers’ Union have been moving closer to reaching an agreement that is good for kids and fair to teachers. These are examples of how our children benefit when the adults work together. That’s why I was so perplexed and, frankly, angered to read the comments ascribed to you in a recent interview with Fast Company magazine....(continue)

Chancellor Rhee responds to this letter yesterday, which is now on the WTU Blog:

Dear President Parker,

I received your letter and wanted to address your concerns right away. Student safety is our highest concern, and we have thousands of teachers, principals, and staff members who share that commitment and treat our students with great care and commitment everyday.

The comment I made to Fast Company was made sometime ago --- and in the context of explaining the importance of considering teacher performance, and not just seniority, in deciding which teachers would be let go during a reduction in force necessitated by a budget cut. I was describing the kind of conduct that was apropriate to take into account in implementing the reduction-in-force (RIF)... (continue)

Rhee's Remarks on RIF'd Teachers

Related to my post yesterday, I just received an email from NBC4 requesting to get this word out to my readers...

DC Schools chancellor Michelle Rhee still hasn't explained her comments to a magazine that some of the teachers fired last October sexually abused students. The teachers union wants to know more about this ... and lots of parents do, too. We're chasing this story down tonight on News4 at 5 and 6.

Thanks,
NBC4 Advertising and Promotion

Please watch News 4 this evening! And here's WTU President George Parker's message to the members sent out thru robocall last night:

The WTU leadership believes Chancellor Rhee statement regarding our RIF teachers was reckless, slanderous and damaging to the reputation of all RIFed teachers and an insult to all DCPS teachers. The WTU is requesting the DC City Council to immediately investigate these slanderous allegations and is in the process of discussing legal and other appropriate responses. We will keep you updated.

Same question that I asked yesterday, could this be a landmark case that real advocates of students and teachers have been waiting for?

Rhee says laid-off teachers in D.C. abused kids

There are 101 ways to win people's sympathy, some are effective and others are ineffective. I believe that vilifying teachers publicly will do more harm than good to the person. In my country (Philippines) where teachers are highly regarded, defaming educators wholesale is a huge crime, not a mere misdemeanor. Someone who does this is taken to task for her maliciousness, insensitivity and irresponsibility!

Here in Washington DC, what is the right decision that has to be made? Could this be a landmark case that real advocates of students and teachers have been waiting for?

Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee told a national business magazine that some of the 266 teachers laid off in October's budget reductions had sex with children or had hit them, a claim immediately and angrily challenged Friday by leaders of the Washington Teachers Union. The Washington Post

DC Public Schools Two Years Ago

This was DCPS two years ago...



How much have changed in two years?

Schools are raising money to help with Haiti relief efforts:

Maryland's Department of Education is organizing a fundraising drive for Haiti through the state's 1,600 schools, and all money will be donated to the Haiti Relief and Development Fund of the American Red Cross. In Pittsburgh, schools also are raising money to give to the Red Cross and collecting supplies. One class will give up a Valentine's Day party and spend the money on Haiti relief efforts instead, and the basketball team at one school is accepting donations for Haiti in lieu of ticket sales. The Sun (Baltimore) , Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

How do teachers become 21st-century education leaders?

Education technology expert Cheryl Lemke offered tips in a recent speech on what it takes to be a 21st-century education leader, including the best ways to incorporate technology into classroom lessons to encourage student learning. "One big goal of your classes and your teaching should be to engage student interest as much as possible," Lemke said. "The question you should be asking is, 'When they leave school, are they even more curious then when they began?'" eSchool News

"Bach to Basics" helps improve student behavior at school in England

Student behavior has improved at one school in England since educators began forcing troublemakers to listen to classical music. Instead of detention, students sit quietly for one hour on a Friday night and listen to music before completing an academic assignment. Students who behave badly also have their photos posted on video screens at the school. Educators credit the "Bach to Basics" program with a 50% decline in poor student behavior. The Guardian (London)/Press Association

To the Filipino Teachers

Dear colleagues,

It is Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday today here in the US, and as I was reading once more his immortal speech "I Have A Dream", a movie of the same slavery, bondage, injustice and oppression that our Filipino ancestors endured was playing in my mind. I guess I am presently too preoccupied with so many trivial things happening around me that I have buried our history into my subconscious. As if reminding me, a voice of our own heroic leader back home in the Philippines resonated in my head...

...At the vanguard of progress in this part of the world I stand - a forlorn figure in the eyes of some, but not one defeated and lost...

...Out of the lush green of these seven thousand isles, out of the songs of the farmers at sunrise when they go to labor in the fields, out of the limitless patience of teachers in the classrooms, I shall make the pattern of my pledge:

I am a Filipino born of freedom and I shall not rest until freedom shall have been added unto my inheritance - for myself and my children's children - forever. - Carlos P. Romulo

It is no coincidence that CNN's 2009 Hero of the Year is a Filipino Teacher. Indeed it runs through our veins...heroism, valor and persistence is the insignia of our race.

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Are you a Filipino Teacher? Here's an invitation...

Special-education teacher wins recognition for multicultural book

New Jersey special-education English teacher Keith Kelly won a bronze medal from the Moonbeam Children Book Awards for his multicultural children's book, "Peace Comes to Ajani," in which a young boy who is black acts out as a bully after his father's death but finds peace with the help of a Korean man who teaches him taekwondo. "Everyone has dealt with a bully," Kelly said. "But there's something that made them the type of child they are." Jersey Journal (Hudson County, N.J.)

How to include the Haiti disaster in classroom lessons

Having students create written responses to news photos of the Haitian earthquake and its aftermath or tackling the science behind the natural disaster are two ways educators might address this recent event in the classroom, according to suggestions outlined in this blog post. The writers offer links to background materials on the history of Haiti and relief organizations that provide aid to those affected by such events. The New York Times/The Learning Network blog

NBCTs should be rewarded for "going the extra mile"

National Board Certified Teachers should be rewarded for being leaders in their field, according to this blog post from the National School Boards Association that criticizes officials in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere for cutting funding that supports NBCTs. "We know the money isn't the only reason teachers become board-certified, but isn't it fair to pay them for going the extra mile? In any other profession, they would be treated that way," the blog's writer states. BoardBuzz blog

D.C. opens center to diagnose developmental delays in young children

A $10 million facility to diagnose young children with developmental delays opened Wednesday in Washington, D.C., and education officials say they hope the Early Stages Center will help improve the district's special-education system by providing earlier treatment of young children with special needs. "One of the many things that has sort [of] plagued the District is the fact that there was an under-identification of young people before they started in the school system of their special needs," schools chancellor Michelle Rhee said. The Washington Post/D.C. Schools Insider blog

Teacher certification prestigious but too costly, Rhee says

I remember Chancellor Rhee saying that "...with a wonderful teacher there is no doubt that all the barriers will be overcome. This is where 100% of our focus is right now" in her Charlie Rose interview in July 2008.

I was very disappointed that Chancellor Rhee discontinued the supports for National Board Certification.

In today's WaPo article Bill Turque writes that according to Chancellor Rhee, "although she considers board certification a valuable form of professional development, it was difficult to justify the annual expenditure of about $600,000 because so few teachers were making it through the process".

Why is there a low number of National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs) in DCPS? The same is true in fact in most high-needs schools across the nation. A Teacher Solutions report by 10 National Board Certified Teachers Center for Teaching Quality on the effects of National Board on Advancing 21st Century Teaching and Learning states that:

High-needs schools tend to have much more rigid requirements for curriculum instruction. There is considerably less trust among administrators in teachers' abilities to positively impact student learning. As a result, there is less opportunity for teaches to demonstrate that they can tailor instruction to student needs -- they are not even allowed to do so. It is typical to see scripted curricula and/or rigid, closely monitored pacing guides. All these reduce the amount of time and effort that can be committed to National Board Certification.

Another congressionally-mandated Research shows that the National Board Certification has a positive impact on student achievement, professional development and teacher retention. Even U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan praised the 2009 Class of NBCT's as "an extraordinary group" that has "demonstrated a commitment to taking their teaching practice and the teaching profession to a different level."

Isn't it more detrimental to DCPS that the supports to the National Board Certification was cut?

The report further relates that...

The National Board Certification process should be viewed through the lens of increasing human capital, not strictly from the perspective of short-term costs and benefits. Smart state and local policies will support candidates as they go through the process and then capitalize on the leadership and skills of those who successfully complete it. Once this dynamic environment is created and sustained, we are confident that teaching quality will improve.

I was a struggling teacher before I started out with the National Boards process. Coming from a foreign country with a different educational system, I was in the dark with how to teach the "American way", how to run a classroom and how to give an effective lesson to my students. I wanted to make a difference, my intention was good; what kept me in the classroom was my passion for teaching. Going through the National Board Certification process was life changing not just for me but for my students. It made me a reflective teacher, strengthened my instructional and behavior management skills, and made me a collaborator and a teacher leader. For me these are the qualities that set a good teacher apart from a great teacher.

For me a good teacher teaches content and is compliant with her professional duties. While a great teacher does not only teach, she is not only religious with fulfilling her professional duties as a teacher. A great teacher reaches-out, connects, communicates, and collaborates with the students, their parents, colleagues, the community; she knows how to gather resources and supports to maximize the potentials of each and every student in her classroom; a great teacher consistently reexamines her teaching practices and she learns from her experience.

In my phone conversation with Bill Turque last week, I mentioned to him the technology and financial supports from DCPS during the leadership of Dr. Clifford Janey that helped make the process more convenient for me during my candidacy. I also told him about the National Board Orientation and Professional Development sessions sponsored by The Washington Teachers Union (WTU), and the mentorship from our NBCTs in DCPS in collaboration with the American University and the George Washington University. These things made us teachers, most especially the aspiring candidates, feel valued that the administration is supporting our quest to become great teachers.

I believe that there are many excellent, outstanding, and effective teachers in DCPS that need to be identified and be rewared for the exceptional job that they are doing who need to join the cadre of National Board Certified Teachers (NBCT) and be in the forefront as teacher leaders in this education reform.

I can attest to the fact that the National Board Certification helps make good teachers become great teachers.

Isn't this what Chancellor Rhee wants for her teachers? I am hoping that she will reconsider her stand in this matter and decide to support the National Board Certification.

Los Angeles union weighs in on teacher-improvement strategies

Professional development, training programs and support for educators can improve teaching and learning, according to leaders of United Teachers Los Angeles. In this column, they write that teachers want to work with administrators to create more effective evaluations that include support for teachers who need help. The union leaders also suggest the use of incentives to keep highly qualified teachers in the classroom. Los Angeles Times

As teachers, we want to see our profession strengthened. Here is our framework for positive change.

- Overhaul the way we evaluate teachers and administrators: Evaluations should also be a two-way street, with teachers involved in evaluating the administrators they work with every day.

- Have top-notch teachers help their colleagues: ...need to reinstate the highly effective mentor teaching program (a victim of budget cuts) and tap into the wealth of national board certified teachers ...these educators have met rigorous national standards for teaching, and their expertise should be put to work helping struggling teachers.

- Offer professional support throughout a teacher's career: schools should have effective, teacher-driven professional development and common planning periods for collaboration and sharing of best practices.

- Offer incentives to keep accomplished teachers in the classroom: We should also look at pay initiatives that are working, such as the salary increase for educators who earn national board certification. That incentive has kept countless exceptional teachers in the classroom.

- Revamp teacher training programs at colleges and universities: Teacher certification programs need to concentrate on the skills teachers need the minute they step into their own classrooms.

- Give teachers a say in hiring their colleagues: ...teachers should routinely interview teacher candidates.

The most ineffective thing we can do to improve teacher quality is a tweak here and a tweak there.

Building a New Path Forward

A colleague from IL Tweeted this video from the AFT..."schools are not factories"...I love it!

"Building a New Path Forward for Quality Teaching and Better Schools." Our children deserve more than a factory education. As teachers, we want to inspire students to think critically and creatively. Lets build a new path forward.

Video of a great teacher

I love this video! I wish I am motivating my students the way he does...

Special Olympics cancel events, cite reduced funding, sponsorships

In this Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010 photo, Tommy Sliva wears medals he has won skiing in the Indiana Special Olympics in Indianapolis. This year Indiana Special Olympics has canceled skiing and showshoeing events because of budget issues. (AP Photo/Tom Strickland) (Tom Strickland, AP / January 5, 2010)

Many state affiliates of the Special Olympics have been cutting programs and eliminating events for athletes with disabilities because of declining sponsorship and reduced funding from the national organization, based in Washington, D.C. Affiliates say they are cutting administrative costs first and taking a strategic approach to cutting athletic programs. However, the president of the Tennessee affiliate said, "If we can't find new avenues for donations, then we will likely be faced with both eliminating some events and some staff by end of the year." Los Angeles Times/The Associated Press

Fulbright Program

Before our winter break, my principal emailed me the information for the Fulbright Scholarship Program of the US Department of State; attached was an application and a message that said:

" I would like to recommend you for this program"...

My reply was, "Am I qualified?"...there is only one way to know. Should I apply? There's nothing to lose if I do!

What is this program?

The Fulbright Program is sponsored by the the United States Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).

Approximately 294,000 "Fulbrighters," 111,000 from the United States and 183,000 from other countries, have participated in the Program since its inception over sixty years ago. The Fulbright Program awards approximately 7,500 new grants annually.

Currently, the Fulbright Program operates in over 155 countries worldwide.

What Do Fulbrighters Do?

Fulbrighters are more than students, scholars and teachers. They are valuable contributors to the exchange of knowledge, skills, ideas and mutual understanding. Learn More

Why Is the Fulbright Program Unique?

The Fulbright Program is based on binational partnerships and open, merit-based competition. Fulbrighters are offered unique opportunities for enrichment and leadership development as well as access to facilities and a vast community of alumni. Learn More

Don't just give up...

There is no one GIANT step that does it. It's a lot of LITTLE steps. --Peter A. Cohen

I enjoyed watching a comedy tonight with my family while reading a book; multi-tasking is a skill that I acquired as a teacher :)

I checked my celfone for the last time before going to bed at 2:00am...email, Twitter, Facebook, RSS feeds...ok, but wait... a blog comment that will keep me awake if I don't respond to it ASAP. So here I am now, writing an entry about it that brings me back to where I was six years ago when I was a newbie in DCPS. What has changed since then? Nothing I guess...***first year teachers are still struggling during the stage called "the survival" or "the initiation" stage. It's the same thing that happened even to the most effective veteran teachers. It's what's going to test their commitment and dedication, and shape them to become highly skilled and competent!

Read on the latest comment on my last entry here...

Anonymous said...

I am a new teacher at DCPS and without a mentor and coach and to be honest feel like giving up, I just don't know how to keep on going. Last year I worked all the time and went to college, it got to a point where I would stay up all night trying to make sense of what I was teaching but to no avail as I scored badly on IMPACT. I feel like I could be a good teacher, but as a new teacher in the program I feel so unsupported and lost, it seems like DCPS is there to tear new teachers down not support them. Your blog is so positive, what advice do you have ? How can I keep going when I feel like giving up? Incidentally, I am also a foreigner and the whole school system is still a mystery to me and I find that things are not explained because everyone takes it for granted that you should know the system already, the American way. I know I can do better but feel demoralized.

7:51 PM

Maria Angala said...

I perfectly understand how you feel, I was in your exact predicament not too long ago...You are a great teacher and you are making a big difference to your students, please do not let anybody tell you otherwise.

Please email me: solangala@yahoo.com ...we need to sit down and talk, I am willing to support you and be your mentor every step of the way... tough times never last but tough people do!

Stay positive!

-MARIA-

*** OK, I had to clarify this part, I apologize if I did not make myself clear the first time.

Looking back...moving forward in 2010

It's time to reflect...did I do well with my last year's resolutions? Yes I did, because I made sure that my goals were attainable :D Thumbs up for that! I will carry on and will not change anything in the list but I will add a major goal for this year.

Since I got reconnected with my family, best friends, sorority sisters, childhood friends and classmates back home through Facebook (yes, I just started FB two weeks ago, surprised?!), I've been painfully longing to go back home to the Philippines and visit the places where I grew up. I want to see the people who has shaped me to be the person that I am today, who has given me the moral foundation that I need to survive life's challenges and has instilled to me the values and principles that I live up to now.

I want to go back to the place that used to be my playground - the family's beach resort. I miss the crashing cymbals, and sacred lull of the sea at dawn of my family's "paraiso". I loved having my head in the clouds when I was a little girl, and liked playing along the shore when the tide was low. I got these photos from my brother's Facebook page. Now you understand why this is one of the reasons why coming home is going to be on top of my priority list this year. It's been six years and it's about time for my kids to know their roots, and to pay respect to our relatives who left before us.

The rest of my goals stay the same as last year's but with more desire and stronger conviction to achieve and succeed. Right now, I feel the need for speed...2010 is my year!

Here are the things that are effectively working every year that I will continue to do:

- Make MORE and MORE things happen, I am happy with what I have accomplished this past year but I am not yet satisfied. There are many things that still have to be done, and I will make them happen this coming year. I have this compelling and obsessive behavior to always produce more results in everything that I do.
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- Persist EVEN MORE, press harder and FASTER! Even when my mind and body signal perfectly good reasons for giving up, I go on. I am very independent and self-reliant, and I have the resources that I need because I make the best from what I am given. .

- STAY ToughER. People who are close to me know that I am very tough inside. I need to be tough to be able to do the big things in life like taking risks, admitting mistakes; and to do the little things like biting my tongue, waiting my turn, and putting up with some people. I realized that I have to temper toughness with kindness; I realized that many times it is be tough to be kind. I have learned that good leadership is about good relationships. I can make more things happen and can produce more results when I have a good relationship with everyone.

To all those who helped me make things happen in 2009, rest assured that I am with you and together we will make MORE things happen in 2010. Let's keep going...

P.S. Will I still have time to write the next chapter of my book? Not sure, we'll see...