Teaching American History Grant

Last night was the showcase event for the year of learning as part of a Teaching American History (TAH) grant. This grant was sponsored by the federal government, but the funding runs out at the end of next year - yet another victim of government budget cuts. In reality, some of the money the federal government spends does go to very worthwhile projects. The TAH grants were such a thing.

Over the past year, 130 teachers in Riverside and San Bernardino counties attended at least 80 hours and some close to 150 hours of professional development (depending on their status as participating teachers or content leads).  There were several optional sessions and the requirement was to attend 75% of the sessions. This included scholar sessions, reading books and discussing historiography, field studies (Nixon & Reagan Libraries, Museum of Tolerance and the Autry Museum) learning literacy strategies and developing lessons using the latest technology.  I personally logged 92 hours because I could not attend all of the sessions, but what I did attend made me so excited about not only my subject of US History, but also about incorporating more technology into my lessons and student projects.

Many of these sessions were from 4-8 PM, after a full day of teaching. Every day as I drove the hour plus from my school to the site for the sessions I was tired. Every evening as I drove 30 minutes to my house, I found myself wide awake and eager to tell my family about what I had learned that evening.

Yesterday lessons were showcased using Prezi, Haiku, Movie Maker, iMovie and much more. We had a few principals and district personnel present, but not nearly enough. Here I am showing my excitement for technology!

In my district, there is a huge focus on student engagement. Many of the strategies that I learned this year create tremendous student engagement. After I learned about Prezi, I had my economics students create one. I could not show them how to do it as I was learning alongside them. I created one of my own and then had my US history students create one. Every single student was on task and excited about the technology. Now I have students using Prezi for other classes and impressing their teachers, who now want to learn Prezi!

As the public demands better teaching, they must realize that professional development such as the TAH program is what makes people better teachers. So instead of cutting funding to education and eliminating programs that support teacher learning, we must find a way to continue programs such as this. We will have better teachers and thus better students!

Internet Censorship

How do we protect young children from accessing harmful and/or inappropriate pictures and information on the Internet without infringing upon the rights to legitimate information? It is a challenge that those in the education community are currenly dealing with.

Yes, young children (especially those in elementary school) need to be sheltered so that they do not accidentally access a site with inappropriate or sexual conduct. However, should every single site or program that contains key words that might be sexual or inappropriate be blocked? NO! Biology & human anatomy students are one good reason why it is not so easy just to block certain words.

Below is a screen capture from Google images of a search for " Martin Luther King Jr " - this is how it appears on my school computer due to the Internet blocking software they use. I checked at home and NONE of these pictures are inappropriate!

Entire programs, like the poster making Glogster, are blocked by districts because a student could search using the word "boobs" and a poster would appear. Fortunately there is an educational companion, but that costs $99 a year for 200 student accounts. Teachers and districts don't have money to sign up every student with a Glogster Edu account. And what about other great learning tools that do not have a companion site for students?

Is this really the responsibility of the districts to prevent entire sites - many that have educational technology that interests students - because a student might conduct an inappropriate search. Or is it the responsibility of the parents to teach their children how to use the Internet and what they should not be searching for, especially in school?

We all sign acceptable use agreements as students and staff members. Should that not be enough? I am completely okay with the blocking of legitimately inappropriate websites that deal with sexual conduct. But I question the infringement of students and staff members rights that happens with some of this blocking software that exists.

All blogs are blocked. So is You Tube. There is an override button for an hour if you are a teacher, but not for the students. There is so much legitimate content in blogs and on You Tube that we cannot access because a kid might choose to search for something inappropriate. What if I decided to create a blog just for my class. I could request the district to allow it, but should I have to? Facebook is not the enemy. It has legitimate educational uses, but because it is a social networking site, it is blocked.

Instead of a wholesale blocking as is currently done, we need to be taking the time to educate students on what is appropriate and inappropriate for an online environment. We cannot beat these 21st century technologies, so let us surrender to the fact that they exist and teach them the proper use. Students want to use this technology. If we can't beat them, then as educators we must join them!

A Sigh of Relief

My principal brought me a notice today that my lay off notice will be rescinded tomorrow. Finally I can breathe a sigh of relief!

I hate this roller coaster that our current state law makes districts put us on. One minute we are terrified that we may lose our jobs. The next we feel hope from retirements and vacancies.

Sadly, many of my teacher colleagues will not be so lucky as to receive rescissions of their lay off notices. They will be unemployed and left with no jobs to even apply for as districts have no vacancies.

How Does This Make Sense?

There are more than 70 people who are retiring at the end of this year from my district, four in social science. Instead of rescind lay off notices to fill those positions, they have decide to open the positions to inter-district transfers. The job notice very clearly states that those like me who have received preliminary lay off notices are not eligible to apply. This makes no sense at all.

I asked my principal for clarification and he told me that these positions are opened to those who have enough seniority to be guaranteed a spot next year. I asked him what would happened if people fill those positions (3 social science at my school) and then they decide to rescind our notices. He told me that I am only guaranteed a position in the district with a rescind notice and not my position. So in theory, I could be forced to move to a new site. This makes zero sense!

I understand that there are legal issues with seniority, bumping and layoffs....but why not just take the next 4 qualified people (based on seniority) who have lost their jobs and fill them in to the retirees spots? Yes, some people would have to move schools because there are no retirees at their sites, but most could retain their positions. So much time and energy is wasted the way they do the process. Any teacher who is involuntarily transferred is moved by the district - this costs money. Any teacher who volunteers, does so at their own moving expense. So limiting the involuntary transfers by NOT opening the positions and instead rescinding lay off notices not only makes logical sense, it makes monetary sense as well!

A Kindred Spirit

My husband, mom and I were at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf this morning, when a young man interrupted our conversation about education and told us he was a teacher as well. He teaches middle school in a lower socioeconomic neighborhood. This is his fifth year of teaching and he is burned out, not because he does not like teaching, but because of all the politics and students who don't try. We talked for about 10 minutes about technology and teaching. I could tell he was a kindred spirit...someone who cares about doing the best for students, but gets tired of the BS that we have to put up with.

There are so many teachers like him, who like what they do but get burned out. I have been there almost every year since I started teaching. I have almost quit many times, but never because I did not like my students or teaching history. We all get to that point because of all the extra things we have to deal with.....students who refuse to try, parents who don't value education, useless meetings, etc. We only have 57 minutes per day with each student. There is only so much we can do to help them learn. And yet we are expected to perform miracles. That is what burns us out and makes us wonder if it all is worth it. Then add in the politics and we suddenly become the bad guys. The best teachers in the world get tired of hearing how everything is our fault. We all get burned out. That is why we need vacation...so that we can come back refreshed and recharged and ready to deal with all the challenges for another year.