Timely

I found this on Google Reader:

What are educators' professional obligations to learn from social media channels?

from Dangerously Irrelevant | Big Think by dr.scott.mcleod@gmail.com (Scott McLeod)

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Paul Bogush pushed back (in a nice way) on my recently-popular post, If you were on Twitter. First he wrote about how most educators are too busy to be involved in social media. Then he wrote about all of the wonderful things that happened during the time when he wasn't on Twitter. Because he's a good writer, Paul evoked all the right feelings in my heart and head. Of course I want to spend time with my wife and kids instead of being on Twitter. Of course I want to read books and take walks in the woods and get my job done, all instead of being in front of a screen. But even though there are only so many hours in a day, it's still a false dichotomy. As I said in my comment to Paul's first post,

there are countless educators who are finding ways to tap into the connective and learning power of social media while simultaneously having healthy, balanced personal and professional lives. In other words, you do not have to be superhuman to do this stuff. We find time for what we think is important...

All of this time balance stuff aside, I believe that there's a bigger issue worth considering. Let me explain...
Although there is a lot of noise out there on the Web, it's hard to argue that there is little learning value in social media. There are numerous ways in which teachers and administrators could be using blogs, Twitter, Facebook, online videos, podcasts, online slideshows, and other social media tools to advance their own practice. Whether it's subscribing to other innovative educators' feeds, interacting and sharing resources with global colleagues, or consuming and using high-quality peer-created resources, there are myriad teaching ideas, lesson plans, Web resources, conversation spaces, technology tools, reflections on practice, and other pedagogical fruits that are ripe for the picking by online-savvy educators. Peer-to-peer online learning networks can help educators sort the wheat from the chaff and curate what's relevant and powerful.
The barriers to using social media as learning tools usually are more mental, emotional, or logistical than technological. Most of the time we can teach people how to use these tools (or they can pick up the basics themselves) in just a few hours of focused learning.
In an era in which the possibilities for ongoing professional learning are numerous and significant, I wonder how long will it take us for us to start expecting educators to use these social media tools. It's been 30 years since the advent of the personal computer and we're still struggling to get teachers and administrators to integrate digital technologies into their daily work in ways that are substantive and meaningful. Meanwhile, we now have a bevy of powerful learning tools available to us that can advance our own professional learning (and, of course, make our technology integration and implementation efforts more efficient and effective).

• When will we start incorporating the use of social media learning channels into the broader definition of what it means to be an education professional?
• When will we renorm the education profession to include the expectation that teachers and administrators will use these tools to advance their own practice? 
• When will we view educators that opt out of the use of social media for professional learning as an aberration rather than the norm?

In other words, will we ever stop saying that whatever print publications we may subscribe to, a few professional development days spread across the year, and occasional and sporadic attendance at conferences sufficiently satisfy our obligations to be learners of our craft?

School Board Retreats

The Mobile County School Board is holding it's annual retreat at Point Clear this year. All meetings will be open to the public, by law, but attendance is usually sparse. They won't be voting on anything, they said it's more of a chance to discuss issues in depth.
One good thing is they are paying for the food and rooms out their own pockets. I imagine it is tax deductible.
I would like to see them spend their money in Mobile, but other than that I think there's nothing wrong with it.

State Superintendent?

The news paper had an article the other day stating that Bradley Byrne was considering the position as Superintendent of Education for the state. I wonder what that would  mean to teachers and their rights and benefits?

Pay Raise?

Rep. Jay Love of Montgomery was quoted in the Alabama School Journal as saying: "I think asking (educators) to contribute a little more toward their retirement is certainly economically doable. The most important thing we want to do is meet education needs of students, and we felt like a 2.5 percent increase after the past nine years of raises is a reasonable request."

Ok, where do I go, who do I see about getting all my back pay because I haven't seen a raise since... well, I can't remember the last raise!

Computer problems

When you want to blog and your computer breaks, guess what? You can't blog. As I now have my computer  back we can resume the process. If there is another lengthy break it's because I am tending to my new grand child.

Appointed vs Elected Superintendents

I saw an interesting piece last night on the local news. They discussed the pros and cons of elected vs appointed superintendents. Appointed superintendents are at the whim of the school board and that may affect the way they approach their job. They are usually higher paid and receive perks like automobiles for their use. One superintendent they talked about received three months of free housing while he looked for a job. Moving expenses are also often covered. They also receive the same benefits the teachers receive like health insurance, etc.
Elected superintendents are not usually paid as much as their appointed counterparts, and they are not liable to be as influenced as by the desires of the school board. Their benefits are not usually as good. They receive the benefits that the state workers get, and they won't be given a car.
So, which is the best?

From the Illinios Education Association

Those who can, teach,


those who cannot pass laws about teaching.

SB 310

Phil Mitchell a state senator sent an email highlighting the important points of the newly revised "Tenure Bill:"
Teachers of Alabama might just be interested...

       Tenure is maintained at 3 years.

-          Terminations must be well founded and cannot be derived from ill will or malice.

-          Employees may appeal as a matter of right, with multiple layers of appellate consideration, all of which are neutral and separate from the local School Board.

-          Appeals are now scheduled to last only 60 days as opposed to the current average of 233 days. During that 60-day period employees will continue to receive pay and benefits except for terminations related to criminal activity.

-          Terminations for lack of student performance have been deleted from the Bill.

-          Transfers must occur within a narrow window of time in the school year, and within the feeder system that the employee works within. (i.e. a teacher that works at a middle school may be transferred to the elementary school that is affiliated.)

-          Reductions in Force are not appealable. But a RIF can only occur if 1) The enrollment of the school system has gone down to levels that necessitate less staffing, or 2) The system lacks the revenue to sustain its staffing levels. Both of which are verifiable criteria. 

DROP

I just read an update on the DROP that said nothing will change. Everything remains as it was EXCEPT if you choose to stay on and continue to work after you have completed the DROP. If you do then it is possible that if you leave your money in their care you may not make the traditional 4% interest on it..., but it will depend on the economy. The same report said that it is unlikely that you won't get the 4% because historically you would have earned it in the past.
This information came from the RSA bulletin.

Posted by "Bobby"

You know how sometimes you can read an article online and then readers can respond to the article? This is a comment from someone named "Bobby." I thought it was timely:

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and
then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are
against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation
and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The President does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on
appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme
Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are
directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the
domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that
problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its
Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally
chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason.
They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator,
a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't
care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The
politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the
lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine
how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that
what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con
regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive
amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker,
who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The
President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to
accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole
responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and
approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House?
John Boehner. He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow
House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If
the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree
to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot
replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of
incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic
problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you
fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the
federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they
want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.

If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it's because they
want them in Iraq and Afghanistan ....

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement
plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they
hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and
advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to
regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let
them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical
forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them
from doing what they take an oath to do.

HB 414

The House has already passed House Bill 414, soon it will be the Senates turn. Right now the bill is in committee, but Rusty Glover's secretary told me that yes, they would soon be voting on it. This bill will take 2.5 percent out of your pocket to pay for your retirement. That amounts to a pay cut if you are a teacher. I called my state senator, have you contacted yours?

Vote

The legislators of Alabama are voting on SB310 tomorrow. It will probably be over by 9:30 at the latest. Keep your fingers crossed....

Guest Editorial from Mobile Press Register

Gene Ponder, a teacher at Spanish Fort High School gave me permission to reprint his article. It was printed in the Mobile Press Register March 27,2011.


Beat the Teacher:
After having read numerous editorials and sound-offs in the Mobile Register the past two months, I have concluded the following: “Everybody is born ignorant but it takes extreme effort to remain stupid throughout one’s life”. Many opinions printed in the paper state numerous absolute falsehoods, such as: The AEA (Alabama Education Association) is a union, public employees are overpaid, their benefits are excessive, teachers are incompetent and the reason for high dropout rates, teachers should earn a free-market wage and pay a free-market health insurance rate, and tenure should be abolished.
As a public school educator, I hope that I can help you understand that this anger and frustration is misdirected, but most importantly not constructive in resolving the many problems which exist within our educational system and our local, state, and national economy.
Fact: Alabama is a right-to-work state. The Alabama Education Association in not a union. Public unions are illegal in a right-to-work state. Teachers are salaried employees. Teachers are required to work eight, nine, ten, fourteen hours a day with no overtime pay. The average number of hours worked in the free market is forty including time- and-a-half or double-time if working over forty hours.
Fact: Teachers do have a superior retirement system and a great benefit package. Alabama educators are required to contribute five percent of their income toward retirement. Teachers must work twenty-five years before becoming eligible to receive retirement. The average free-market retirement eligibility is twenty years of service. The free-market laborer is not required to donate one dime toward a retirement system. Therefore, the free-market nets five percent more in income than the public sector. Teacher’s low cost health insurance is due to a large pool of teachers under one insurance plan. The State of Alabama contributes less toward health insurance than the average employer contributes towards a free-market health care plan. The cost difference is the size of membership not the amount of money contributed.
Fact: Teachers cannot be incompetent due to the fact that they are required to obtain college degrees from accredited universities. Very few jobs within the private sector require four or more years of higher education which can cost tens of thousands of dollars. College certified free-market jobs pay two to three times the wage paid to teachers. Teachers are not in the business of failing students. Parents are one-hundred percent to blame for failures and drop-outs. High drop-out rates are a direct result from a self-defeated culture of incompetent and apathetic parenting.
Fact: Teachers are required to work three years before they have any resemblance of job security. Tenure simply means that a reason must be presented in order to fire a teacher. A teacher can be fired without any reason given within the first three years of employment. Once tenure is attained, teachers can be terminated for the very same reasons as private sector employees. Most free-market jobs grant job security after only ninety-days of employment.
So, who is to blame for poor and failing schools? Federal bureaucracy has and will continue to destroy the quality of public education. Why is the private sector all of a sudden attacking public sector employees? The economy is in the dumps while hundreds of thousands of good paying private sector jobs have been outsourced overseas leaving many private sector workers laboring for minimum wage. Blaming public employees will not end free trade agreements and bring back private sector jobs. Federal bureaucracy created a collapsing free market wage. Instead of blaming and attacking public employees, we should be putting our heads together and work to return a sense of nationalism and American pride. Federal bureaucrats have outsourced the private sector and have over regulated the public sectors ability to serve. Together, private and public employees must stand together and retake control of our federal government. Together we can protect our standard of living. Divided we will certainly fall into poverty together. As trickle-up poverty continues to spread throughout our nation. Only a renewed sense of unity between the private and public sector may be our last hope to save our nation and ultimately ourselves.

Gene Ponder

"8 Hours I'll Never Forget"

Someone looking in from the outside often has the ability to see things as they really are. I asked Mr. Lee if I might post this on my blog and he graciously agreed. It was printed in the Mobile Press, March 27, 2011. (pp. 16a, 18a)
By Larry Lee

The sun was still hiding somewhere beyond Mobile Bay’s eastern shore as I pulled into the parking lot at George Hall Elementary School. It was 6:55 a.m. and I would spend the next eight hours helping with four and five-year olds in a Pre-K classroom.

For years I’ve believed strongly that anyone who works with schools and kids is truly doing the Lord’s Work. This belief only intensified when I led a study, Lessons Learned from Rural Schools, two years ago. Our team studied ten high-performing, high-poverty rural schools across Alabama. I spent untold hours in schools and classrooms, getting a first-hand look at the passion and dedication so many teachers and principals bring with them each day.

However, if you read newspapers and watch TV you get the impression that public education in this country is under attack. Some politician or some “talking head” on cable news is constantly browbeating teachers and declaring that the U.S. is doomed forever because our education system is failing us.

Even the Secretary of Education in Washington loves to tell us how many failing schools we have.

Granted, some teachers are better than others, just like some golfers are better than others, but I know from observation that there are a lot more good ones than bad ones. And I know that many of those who are so vocal in their criticism have spent precious little time in a classroom and basically have little understanding of, and appreciation for, what the day-to-day life of a teacher is all about.

That’s why I was at George Hall in Mobile as the sun was coming up. I wanted to experience first-hand what thousands of teachers in Alabama see each day.

I’ve been to George Hall many times. An inner-city school where 98 percent of the students receive free-reduced lunches, it has been recognized nationally for student performance. Even the U.S. Secretary of Education visited last August. Unfortunately, he didn’t spend any time in a classroom on his stop.

Jinkle Jones, now in her 28th year of teaching, was my “host” for the day. Wanda Tunstall works with her as a paraprofessional. They are a great team and have 17 students. It is obvious they love their profession and the lives they touch.

My day began with writing the names of students on the snacks they brought from home. Not everyone had a snack. When snack time came later in the day, Jones made sure each child had something, whether it came from their home or not. I didn’t ask, but I doubt that the local school system paid for the extra snacks.
During the day I reviewed homework and put a smiley face on each paper that was correct, helped students read books from the library, gave reading tests at the smartboard, read about Verdi the python to the class seated on the floor in front of me, high-fived boys and girls as they marched by me and had more hugs than I ever did at a family reunion.

I saw tears and lots of smiles. I saw a very sad face as a girl was scolded for losing a library book and I watched faces light up as volunteer Heather Miller read a book that ended with an elephant who forgot to put on his underpants. I heard songs and watched as small bodies wiggled to the sounds of music.

I was impressed with how much individual instruction each child received and how busy the room stayed. The fact that most can read, know the alphabet and can count to 20 is testimony to the effectiveness of what goes on each day. I was certainly impressed with the discipline in the classroom, as well as throughout the school.

It was only eight hours out of my life. But it was eight hours I will never forget. And the next time someone tells me what an easy job teachers have I will shake my head and politely tell them they have no clue what they’re talking about. Or the next time I hear Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker say we should have 50-60 students per classroom or Bill Gates talk about merit pay and more accountability, I will know that they are clueless as well.

Speaking of accountability, let me suggest the new Republican-controlled legislature pass a law that requires that every member of the House and Senate will spend one full day in a classroom within the first year of taking office, or they give up their seat. This should be for every four-year election cycle and no one will be exempted, even former teachers.

In the grand scheme of things, state government has no more important function than providing the necessary capacity to educate our children. Having first-hand knowledge of what it’s like in one of today’s classrooms would be extremely meaningful for elected officials charged with such decisions.

As my day came to an end at George Hall, I couldn’t help but look around the room and wonder where these children would be in 10 and 20 years. What would their lives be like? How would they be dealing with a new and strange world?

But I also knew that Jinkle Jones and Wanda Tunstall had done their very best to prepare them for whatever lies ahead.

Larry Lee lives in Montgomery. larrylee33@knology.net

Special Education and Testing

There has to be a better way. Why must my special education students be forced to take the ARMT and SAT 10? We know the results before they ever pick up the pencil. We manage to shatter whatever confidence they had prior to the test. No matter how hard they try, and they do try hard, it seems to be to be a self-defeating process for my students. Think..., let's find a better way!

Tax Referendum Passes

The vote was cast and the students of Mobile County win! Voters overwhelmingly passed a renewal tax worth $55,000,000.00. 400 teachers jobs are preserved, and classroom numbers should remain constant. Not only that, we'll be able to maintain the school facilities.

Alabama and Mobile County Schools In the News...

I took this course because I knew virtually nothing about blogs, twitter, podcasts..., and I was quite concerned that I may have huge difficulties getting this course completed. I guess I've just about made it! Anyway, I have a project to do to complete the final phase.
The state of Alabama is having trouble with the educational system. There is no money! Jobs, programs, even the repairs to the schools are all in jeopardy. There is a vote tomorrow in Mobile to retain a school tax that has been on the books for 20 years. If it doesn't pass it will be the equivalent of losing one whole grade level system wide. Imagine all the forth grade teachers just GONE! While I know that isn't how the actual cuts would be made, it serves to boggle the mind. With all the upheaval and uncertainty I thought I would like to utilize some of my new "tricks" to keep my blog continuing. I plan to use Google Reader, internet sites, twitter, and my own musings to keep my fellow teachers and school administrators up-to-speed on what is actually going on in education in Alabama and Mobile. It seems to me we are in a state of crisis, and a compilation of information tailored to teachers and administrators could be useful.
Action Plan:
1. Subscribe to Google Reader and Twitter (Done)
2. Begin following links that will help me acquire relevant information (Partially completed)
3. Get the word out about my blog (In process)
4. Read and reflect on information found
5. Post current information on blog.
6. Respond to comments as needed on the blog

Digital Citizenship

I read the article "Digital Citizenship" and it brought to mind something that was not as stressed as I thought it should have been..., student safety. We need to remind our students that they must stay on the web sites that we have planned for them to use. We also need to remind them that everyone they may encounter on the internet is not a nice person, but we cannot deny them the opportunities to be had by researching on the internet. We just need to remind them about safe internet usage.

Student Safety

I just read an article titled, "Digital Citizenship." which gave me pause to think about our students safety using the internet. I think it is very important before we turn them lose on an assignment to remind them that there are predators on the internet. We also need to remind them, in light of recent news stories, that children can be very hurt by others comments. A few sentences directed their way about empathy might be a good thing.

Welcome!

Somethings never change and the thing that never changes for me is the constantly changing technology with which I must force myself to to keep up. So, today my newest achievement in this endeavor is my blog. With that said, hello Alabama.