Guess what? This week I get to chaperone the annual trek to take eighth grade students to college campuses. It is a recent(three years now) annual event in the Spring to make eighth graders aware of their future educational possibilities. You may wonder why take 13 year olds to see what a college looks like? I had to hear the “talk” the first year to understand it myself. The admissions officer from a local Liberal Arts school did an impressive ’scared straight’ impersonation. Instead of it being a corrections officer decrying the road to criminal ruination, it was an academian telling smarmy middle schoolers the clock starts ticking on them in September of ninth grade. Every class, every semester counts towards making/breaking your dreams of entering the institution of your choice. I was gleeful when she went on to say that classes like Foreign Languages can move your application up or down in the pile of acceptances. My students may even have all solemnly swung sideways glances at me as I did the “yep, told you so!” nod from the back of the room. Of course! What else makes one high school student’s application different from all the others in a state where graduation requirements mandate almost everything you take? It is the essence of the liberal arts education to expect to see a broad humanities experience. Art courses, music study, all make the applicant a candidate with potential.
Yes, there will be the ridiculous questions as we tour the dorms.( Are the bathrooms co-ed? Does the college call your parents? Is the President of the college like the principal of the university?)Thankfully, the weather is not so good to let everyone believe the campus is just one big frisbee tossin’, music blastin’ hangout for one and all. Let them get a sense of the learning that happens- trust me- they know what FUN looks like.
This came to my attention via Chicago Public Radio’s ‘This American Life“. I have been a fan of the show and its storytelling for a couple of years. I listen on my pod as I commute the 30 something miles to work in morning traffic. I have stated my fandom of Ira Glass the host to my twitter pals. (if anyone in Chicago knows him, tell him I said hi!) Episode # 350 called “Human Resources” which was broadcast on 2/29/08 was very disturbing to me. As soon as I got to school I got on my laptop and went to this website. You must view the trailer for the documentary being produced by Five Boroughs Productions The Rubber room is the place you go if you are a teacher under suspension charges in NYC’s public school system. It is haunting to hear the stories of people who may languish there for months, years. There seems to be no sense of due process. It is obvious, people lose their sense of dignity as educators. Within the confines of this purgatory, social norms break down. It is a shocking indictment of the state of public education in the country’s largest school system. The occupants exhibit behavior more commonly associated with those incarcerated. I have sent the link to colleagues far and wide. It is something that needs to be brought out of its dark hiding place and discussed. How can we make educational reforms when this gulag threat hangs over the heads of fellow New York State educators?
Another discussion of the same topic is here on Sheryl McCoy’s blog. Give it a read-then spread the word.
It’s that time of year again. The annual Superintendent’s Conference Day is this Friday. We were given a sneak peak at the agenda for the day at our last faculty meeting. The highlight of the day involves having a long session to discuss the Building Improvement Plan that has been in place since September ‘07. Most of the focus of that document is to improve our literacy in the building (which will hence result in higher standardized test scores.) Then we are going to spend the afternoon reviewing the Code of Conduct. Really.
There is nothing in that day that is unique because it is 2008. It could have been an agenda from 1998, or 1988. I was there for those dates as well. (*sigh*) Given the opportunity to have a day to do something innovative, the chance passes us by again.
Will Richardson attended the ThirteenCelebration conference and was dismayed at the lack of insight into the educational technology reforms that should be shaping student learning and educator networking. And that is a conference sponsored by the Public Television Network in NYC.
I will have a powerpoint read to me. I can feel it coming already.
Last week I was asked to ’share something about technology with my Spanish Department colleagues while we worked on curriculum in a full day lockdown. The agenda for the day looked punishing enough it is involvement and scope. I said I could do something in a half hour before lunch to just give a smalll sample of a web 2.0 tool. Since I have all ready created a wiki for us(over a year ago), I had to choose wisely. The wiki is not as active as I would have hoped-the people who remember to use it- I can open my classroom door and see. They are literally connected to me through a shared doorway. The other teachers in other buildings seem to forget it exists.Oh well.
I went with podcasting. I had played with audacity to know that is not the program for beginners. Even I started on GarageBand before they yanked my Ibook away and gave me a Thinkpad instead(still not over it). I had heard Bill Ferriter suggested gabcast when after numerous attempts to use podomatic my recordings were unintelligible. Something about Flash player and my sampling rate…..huh? Never mind………
Gabcast was a total hit with the crowd. Since we all had our cells in pocket, purses….. everyone was completely comfortable with the concept of a three step process. Create the account on the website, get the channel number and 800 #, phone it in……… they listened to me explain the three steps from a gabcast I had made using my cell with my feet up on my desk. Yea, that’s right I phoned it in………….HA!
