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Song of September , Education Discussions, Far From the Truth

Pundits and Presidents and ordinary people who “think’ they know teaching need to hear from all sides. Teachers and professors and those involved in education need to speak up and out!! What are your thoughts in education? it is back to school time. Don’t be so tired because of work that you can’t tell your truth.

There are some interesting discussions going on in education.


EFFECTIVE TEACHERS?
What is an effective teacher?

Some of the discussions involve using tests to determine who is an effective teacher.

The Los Angeles Times has a whole discussion on effective teacher being evaluated by test scores.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/teachers-investigation/

Read it and weigh in. Some teachers are so upset about it they want to boycott the paper. It… Continue reading

SITE Research Highlights Book Available

We are pleased to announce the release of the book Research Highlights in Technology and Teacher Education 2010, published by SITE – Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education, http://site.aace.org.

This book of strongly refereed papers, selected from those submitted for the 2010 annual conference, follows in the tradition of its 2009 predecessor. The 2009 edition has already risen to the status of “Most Viewed” among the 26,000 entries in the EdITLib – Education & Information Technology Digital Library, http://EdITLib.org. We are confident the 2010 edition will be viewed by our readers in a similar fashion.

This volume represents hundreds of hours of scholarly work by Editors Cleb Maddux, David Gibson, and Bernie Dodge; as well as by the authors, reviewers, copy editors and layout staff… Continue reading

Teachers Learning with Ease / Great PD for teachers

Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Following Professional Development Initiatives for Educators
This is my 4th ( fourth ) learning initiative this summer.I do this much in the way I was an activist in civil rights.
I believe that we teachers are empowered with proper professional development and support and able to reach
a large audience of the educational community.

Beginning Steps


SCALABLE GAME DESIGN

I took a course at the Atlas Institute at Colorado University with Dr. Alexander Repenning on Scalable Game Design. That was a very intensive immersion into gaming.
http://scalablegamedesign.cs.colorado.edu/wiki/Teacher_program
We started with frogger. http://www.freeonlinegames.com/adventure-games/frogger.html.Ok, that is a video, but I really , really made the game. We had the best teachers. Many squashed frogs later, I had created a whole game… Continue reading

Thinking about Teachers, Why are they the Target?A Trio of Viewpoints

My parents , both teachers warned me that being a teacher is sometimes a thankless job. I entered teaching anyway. I collected lots of prizes and helped a lot of students, and spent a great deal of personal money, and was helped by many organizations to be the best I could be. You know what! It worked, but now there is a set of pundits, politicians, and policy makers who are being given bogus information and targeting teachers as the cause of difficulty in education. I won’t even discuss what is going on in my city of Washington , DC where people are ” Waiting for Superman”. Schools require many factors for success, here are several viewpoints!! It is hard for politicians to know the learning landscape. They should be… Continue reading

Grass Roots Initiative Uniting the Under Served in STEM, Colorado Preconference Event

The members of SIG DE,SITE DE and Social Justice, Colorado Educational Groups, Leading Educators
and people interested in transformational change in schools want to
provide a learning experience that you will enjoy .

It is a pre-conference event.

A one-day workshop, Denver, 27 June 2010
The workshop is free of charge and we are providing lunch.

We are looking for people from Colorado whether or not they are
attending the ISTE conference this year.

We are looking for educational leaders who would enjoy informed networking.

We want to serve the under served. Rural, minorities, and
those who feel left out of the conversation . Add your voice.

We celebrate teachers, that’s why it is… Continue reading

Why So Few? Do you really want to know? That Gender Problem

How do we encourage women in STEM? Computational Sciences?

The “digital divide” that persists in Internet use based on income, education and community means people are not acquiring the digital fluency that is required to operate in to-day’s world

Let’s Talk Gender

In an era when women are increasingly prominent in medicine, law and business, why are there so few women scientists and engineers? A new research report by AAUW presents compelling evidence that can help to explain this puzzle. Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics presents in-depth yet accessible profiles of eight key research findings that point to environmental and social barriers – including stereotypes, gender bias and the climate of science and engineering departments in colleges and universities – that continue… Continue reading

The Planetarium and the Participatory Culture, Stars, Students and Studying Space

Saving the Planetarium in Arlington

I got an urgent message from an ex student , now a friend. She said ” Miss Bracey they are going to close the Planetarium!!” We tried to figure out what to do. In the end it was a passionate teacher and parent who saved the day, but we oiled the wheels to get the fight started. You can read about it here We talked to the Washington Post. We wrote letters. We enlisted the help of other former students. A parent with this video saved the day.

History

Maybe someone taught me about the stars in school. If so I don’t remember it. What I remember is some lady from NASA who did a presentation on the cultural aspects… Continue reading

Rhee’s biggest, and most costly, failing

f you have been on the sidelines watching the discussions about Michelle Rhee and Superwoman status and the problems in DC Schools,
, here is a column that is food for thought.

Dr. Larry Cuban is the superindent who started my teaching career. He had an open door for teachers to come to talk to him.I used that door, and we were friends. He understood that teachers needed to be heard even way back them when he was the superintendent of Arlington, Virginia Schools. How refreshing to read this article.

Rhee’s biggest, and most costly, failing

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/dc-schools/rhees-biggest-failing-teacher.html

My guest is Stanford University Professor Larry Cuban. He is a former high school social studies teacher (14 years, 7 at Cardozo and Roosevelt high schools in the District) and district superintendent (7 years in Arlington… Continue reading

Empowering Teachers with Transformational Tools and Ideas

Many people see teachers as the problem in education instead of thinking , why are the teachers not prepared?

What don’t they know?
How can we help teachers transform their learning?
What should we do to link teachers, resources, and initiatives that can help? The sheer numbers needed ..

Who Will Teach? Experience Matters

Read the full report: http://www.nctaf.org/WhoWillTeachExperienceMatters.htm

Between 2004 and 2008, 300,000 veteran teachers left the workforce for retirement. Baby Boom teachers who made lifelong commitments to education are retiring, and in many cases are taking their hard-earned wisdom with them.

See the Shifts in the Age of the National Teaching Workforce.

The solution for many is to close their eyes to the teachers in service in classrooms now… Continue reading

SITE now on Facebook!

SITE now has its own Facebook Page! Join SITE on Facebook today!…

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