Sunday, November 27, 2005

Is it time for uniforms?

I live in Fredericksburg which is surrounded by Civil War battlefields and while the war has long been over who would never guess it by some of the schools. One middle school in Spotsylvania has had an issue with students wearing the Confederate flag causing student unrest. And in this month's American School Board Journal the issue is raised again but this time in a high school in West Virginia. Schools across the country have enacted strict dress codes just like Stafford County Public Schools but this does not appear to have changed anything; someone always manages to go around the dress code.

The time spent on enforcing the dress codes just does seem practical. Teachers have to monitor the kids coming through the door and send them to the office if they are not dressed appropriately. This student loses instructional time waiting for parent to drop a set of clothes or change in gymsuits for the day.

The more practical solution would be to go with the "khaki pant and solid color polo shirt uniform" set. No jewelry allowed but watches would be o.k.

Every parent, teacher, and adminstrator says they would love a uniform. I do not buy the arguement that there would be some that could not afford when I see kids in the expensive sports apparel and the $100 tennis shoes on free breakfast and lunch. Am I missing something here?

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Concerned over graduation rates?

According to CNN, Princeton President William Bowen is concerned about college graduation rates and he intends to find the causes of why graduation rates have been stagnant for several years now. However, I have the following questions that the article did not raise:

1. How are graduation rates at colleges actually configured? (I am assuming that it is based on my #2 question.)
2. Do college graduation rates only consider students that actually started and graduate from the initial institution?
3. Do transfer students ever figure into the statistics?
4. Do distance learning students figure into the graduation formula?

In SLI, it was already mentioned that colleges and universities were being threaten by distance learning programs; however, that does not have to be if they go hybrid. I do feel that brick and column insititutions are being impacted by "technical schools" that offer certificate programs and help with job placement. Why go four years if you can get what you need in two years and a job?

Distance learning could be a way to attract learners who may only want selected courses for job promotions and the such. UMW, UVA, GMU have all capitalize on distance learning that is geared towards IT, education, and business. All of these universities offer certificate programs like the "technical schools". It is cost effective if one looks at the impact on resources - both internally and environmentally. Harvard and MIT are doing it too so it can't be all that bad.

I feel that institutes of higher learning will need to savvy with their offerings and modes of delivery. The traditional institutions will be threaten if they do not take into account the consumer-student needs and the mighty pocket book.

The CNN article also talked about affirmative action and UVA. I wonder if studies show that distance learning helps in this area as well?

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Teachers Complain over Professional Development

I am doing comparison study on teacher efficacy rates between special education and general education teachers in collaborative settings at my school. While the research is slim in this area of special education, several studies have shown that high efficacy rates are correlated to high achievement rates; therefore, I felt it important to look at this data for my school since we have high turnover when it comes to teachers in these settings.

While special education teachers did score above their colleagues in general teaching efficacy, special education teachers and general education teachers had mixed results in personal teaching efficacy. I strongly suspect that professional development is the cause of the low scores among general education teachers under general teaching efficacy has to do with the fact that they have had very little professional development in regards to inclusion classrooms. As for the mixed results for both groups under personal teaching efficacy, I attribute to that fact that some of these teachers were not given a choice. I know that one teacher was told that he could teach math but he had to teach inclusion. I wonder if administrators understand that efficacy rates are the key to success with assigning placements in their schools. Why would they put anyone in a position that is not going to give their 100 percent.

Interestingly, Teaching Generation Z has entry that is asking why there is always resistence to professional development. Some of it I know is tied to the fact that teachers have a fear of change and this contributes to low efficacy.

I am very motivated and consider myself a life-long learner which is demonstrated by the fact that I am trying to earn a doctorate in education. I don't think of myself as any great intellectual (just average) but I love being surrounded by people who challenge me. I view my desire to further my education as internal - perhaps it comes from the fact that my natural mother only had an eighth grade education herself or perhaps it is fear that I will become obsolete.

I can't understand why teachers in my building complain about professional development when I see it as a job security feature in the uncertain environment of NCLB's highly qualifed teacher. Also, I can't get a raise but my district will pay for course work which as long as I keep to the subjects that I teach. If I ever wanted to get out of education (and I don't), the classes that I take would lead me to other careers. So you would think that teachers that complain about professional development would be at least selfish about it but that is not the case.

This leads me only to believe that these teachers have low self-efficacy; therefore, I do not think these teachers can impact learning of students. I wonder if efficacy scales should be used on teachers to see if they should be even allowed to teach or have a contract extended.

Mathematical Breakdown of Web 2.0

I thought this was very interesting that del.icio.us / blog has broken down the meaning of Web 2.0 in percentages. I admit that I do not know how accurate the math analysis is but it is worth a look. For those that are in education circles, the tracking of this data over time may be valued to justify a need in curriculum changes for the K-12 settings.

One of the comments made to the original post was about time. While I always knew that technology saved time, I had not seen it seen it quite put this way and realize that this is only one person's perspective; there is probably productivity studies that give better analysis of Internet time vs. Real time.

...42 minutes which may not seem like a lot of time but it was internet minutes so like three hours in real-clock time...

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

E-Portfolios for Educators and Students

Just read Generation Z' s latest post on E-Portfolios and I highly recommend this to our group. I am sure that our two techies are doing this already but for me this is entirely new idea - meshing the blog with the e-portfolio!! You also must check out Dr. Barrett's Blog which goes into a great deal of information and tips on this topic as well as many more. Dr. Barrett has made an interesting observation:


I am concerned that more effort is going into tool development and not into the important human dimensions of this process. During my opening keynote presentation, I emphasized:

Context: 21st Century Learning (Partnership for 21st Century Learning, Friedman & Dan Pink


Product: Digital Archive for Life (mostly the contents of my blog entry on 9/24 plus Educause Review article)


Process: Portfolios and Reflection

Sunday, November 20, 2005

George F. Will's IPod's Missed Manners

In today's Washington Post, George F. Will made the following comment in his weekly column:

With everyone chatting on cell phones when not floating in iPod-land, "this is an age of social autism, in which people just can't see the value of imagining their impact on others." We are entertaining ourselves into inanition. And multiplying technologies of portable entertainments will enable "limitless self-absorption," which will make people solipsistic, inconsiderate and antisocial. Hence manners are becoming unmannerly in this "age of lazy moral relativism combined with aggressive social insolence."

Schools are already starting to discipline students because of Internet activity (see my other post). As mentioned in my prior post, I wonder if schools need to take a more visable role on this topic and add it to our character education programs. We had some students disciplined on their use of IM that carried into the school this week. How ironic or timely that George F. Will actually talks about the social implications of all of this technology? I wonder if SLI needs to add another chapter now.

Underage Bloggers Beware!!

An alarming story, "As Teens Embrace Blogs, Schools Sound the Alarm" from ASCD Smartbrief has everyone paging through their Code of Conduct and policy manuals. This article really makes me wonder if schools or home should be responsible for making sure that ethics and law of the Internet be covered in our curriculum. I would hope it would be collaborative approach but I know that it won't be; schools are going to be the ones to be blamed if a child gets hurt. Public schools already have character education programs in place but it seems imperative that we update our bullying and harassement talks to include 'how we handle ourselves in hyperspace'. Many colleges and universities are disciplining students because of content that appears on Facebook or MySpace.com. Not only are college students posting questionable content, so are high school students who have found their way to these two Internet sites:


Many are posting provocative pictures, discussing real or imagined sex lives,berating and threatening one another, and recounting drinking and drug use. And that can get them in trouble with stalkers, authority figures and even future employers, experts say.

Web 2.0 personalizes e-learning!

It seems each week our professor knows what the news is going to be for the next week as if he had some mystical power; however, I think its those RSS feeds ;)

ASCD had a special report or should I say re-report on the Web 2.0 from London's Guardian Unlimited. The British scholar, Stephen O'Hear states that blogging on Web 2.0 removes the technical aspects for the novices (which I agree with) as well as offers a place for collaboration for both teachers and students. This last aspect is certainly emerging skill for myself as an educator.

O'Hear states:

If the early version of the web took a "top-down" approach to content, web 2.0 takes a more "bottom-up" approach - where web services and applications allow users to publish content without the need to write code..

The author also states that collaboration allows for collective intelligence which I equate to as 'two heads are better than one'. Certainly collaboration permits reinforcment of ideas and theories as well as criticisms of thoughts and suggestions.

A new vocabulary has emerged with Web 2.0. For example, the author points out that the collective intelligence of the masses have been able to influence the vocabulary evolution and keyword linking. The term folksonomy evolved from taxonomy which:


refers to the collaborative way in which information is being categorised on the web. Users are encouraged to assign freely chosen keywords to pieces of information or data, a process known as tagging. Web 2.0 services that use tagging include those designed to allow users to publish and share various media.


O'Hear also states that MP3 devices are allowing classrooms to be able to share creations; of course, I want to know as a future administrator how will this all impact acheivement. I have been really reflecting and debating with my colleagues at my school on the study that was mentioned in the September/October issue of Orion where it was discussed that the use of technology was not impacting student achievement.

I do agree with O'Hear that Web 2.0 with the use of RSS feeds through bloglines allows all of us, not just techies and educators, to get the most update information at our fingertips. Through our blogs or wikis, we have a medium to reflect, accept, or reject information that is coming through to us at the speed of light.


Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Computers Making Kids Dumber?!?

Last night a colleague was worried that computers might be making her dumb which I do not think she has anything to fear. (She is high on the intellectual totem pole.) But I did a little researching to see if there is anything to her comment and this lead me to Monke's Orion. My district is spending huge amounts of money to level the playing field and to reduce the achievement gap but after reading the comments below form Monke's column, one has to wonder if it this is the way to go.

.....a University of Munich study of 174,000 students in thirty-one countries, indicates that students who frequently use computers perform worse academically than those who use them rarely or not at all....

U.S. Department of Education statistics indicate that spending on technology in schools increased by more than 300 percent from 1990 to 2000.

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Google vs. Copyright

This is a must read and I am sure not the last we will hear about copyright. David Vise of the Washington Post did an article about Google. Here is some notable excerpts:

For years, Larry Page dreamed of tearing down the walls of libraries, and eliminating the barriers of geography, by making millions of books searchable by anybody in the world with an Internet connection. After Google began scanning thousands of library books to make them searchable online, book publishers and authors cried foul, filing lawsuits claiming copyright infringement...Google fired back, saying copyright laws were meant to serve the public interest and didn't apply in the digital realm of search.


I see no problem with authors who give permission to have their works be scanned that this would be an issue because after all, it does make searching easier and quicker. It wouls seem that the authors and publishers would benefit too As long as the works are cited properly, I see no problem. Like the Turn It In database, there does need to be some type of compensation to contribute to its database. I see the same thing here with Google. Perhaps, fees could be charged for using the database and royalities made out; this is already occuring with such databases such as Lexis-Nexus.

PS. It is hard to believe that Google is 7 years old - it seems it has been with us forever. It is also hard to believe the work environment of Google which is described in the article. I can think of several teachers wanting to turn in their resignations to work for Google just for the perks that the employees get; however, I could past on "touch-pad-controlled toilet seats with six levels of heat" but I would just love to have the massage chairs like the Googlers have when I am grading papers :)

Is Public Education Leaving Middle Class Students Behind?

In today's Sunday, Nov. 13th's Washington Post, there was an editiorial, "Class Focus: It's Not Just Poor Students Who Need Attention" on the issue of NCLB and middle class students at TC Williams High School in Alexandria, VA. In recent years, the school district has pushed for more minorities to enroll and take AP courses and exams; however, students are taking courses that are way too difficult for them and as a result these students are not passing the AP exams which cost $83 per exam. TC Williams paid 237 students to take the exams but 177 students failed the exams which equated to $14,691 in lost funds. In the opinion of the author, Patrick Welsh, that money lost was so that students could "experience" taking the AP exams.

Another disturbing item that was mentioned in this article related to the testing conditions. Any scores passing or failing would be viewed, in my opinion, as invalid because the proctors were unable to control some of the rowdy students.

Mr. Welsh states that the reason more students are taking AP courses is that parents are making sure their children are not in "regular classes" with problem students. These regular classes are the inclusion classrooms. The author of this opinion piece states that he finds more students being identified as learning disabled for his classes which gives these students more time on tests and other accomodations - this is done in order to keep up with the gifted students.

This article really hit me where I teach. While I am at a middle school, I see the same scenario but only at a different level. At my school, more and more parents are pushing their children in the accelerated reading and math classes to avoid the inclusion classes of special education students. In five years, the sixth grade math accelerated course has gone from one course being offered to 5 courses being offered. Many of these students are getting C's, D's, and F's and when it is suggested to transfer these struggling students to the "regular" course, teachers are coming up with huge opposition from parents. Until this opinion piece, I could not understand why our math accelerated courses were suddenly filling up - now I know that at least one reason, it is to avoid being placed in classes with learning disabled students. Our middle class families are feeling left behind but how to fix it???

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Grokster is Closing Shop - Sort of!!

When I got up this morning, it was all over the news that Grokster was going to stop the downloading entertainment media. I found this interesting since we are due to discuss this topic next week. Dr. R was certainly timely :)

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Educational Bloggers Network

I was very excited to find this today and I hope the Principal is going to see this one. The Educational Bloggers Network is something to aspire to. I also join the free network too.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

'Blatant copying' in coursework

BBC News reported that mass plagiarism is going on at colleges and universities via the Internet. According to the Qualification and Curriculum Authority (QCA), there was even teacher support in the practice with the use of scaffolding, a writing/essay template. Students were found to have similar, if not identical, sentence and paragraph structure using the scaffolding approach. The examiners acknowledged that it was o.k to give students scaffolding to those that needed it but cited that giving it to all students was a concerned.

I could not help but compare this to special education at the K-12 level. At our school, we have students who are identifed special ed who have a calculator accommodation. The student gets an A with the course work with this accommodation. A non-IEP student has no accommodation and is not allowed to use the calculator. Next comes the angry parent of non-IEP student, finds out (via his child) that some students get to use calculators and wants his child to have access since others have access. While we know our canned response to these parents, it not easy when it comes down to the various honor accolades knowing that one student has been given assistance (while legal) and another student has not. I guess I have trouble accepting that all can't have access which is why I think the British teachers got in trouble as mentioned in this article. The British teachers started giving the scaffolding accommodation to all; however, this is only one small part of the problem.

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Toxic Computer Dust is Linked to Diseases

I did not have the documentation that computer dust is toxic last night but here is the USA Today that I hope you will take a quick look. As I said last night, I think most people do not have a clue with what is behind that monitor. This article told be a few more things that make be wonder if some of the ADD/ADHD is from this exposure.

Here is someone's own personal experience with computers in the house.