New Cuts...Same Results! Let's continue to improve?

It's funny!

I graduated in the spring of 2008 and immediately began looking for administrative positions. Between May of 2008 and October 2009, I had the pleasure of experiencing over forty interviews at twenty or so schools in front of panels of varying interests. I actually made it to the finals a few times!

That being said!

I learned a few things during that process; they are as follows:

1. The first question is always: "Tell us a little bit about yourself."

2. The second question might be: "Why do you want to work as an administrator in this district?"

3. They only listen to your answers if they liked the first six words that were uttered.

4. People do not always listen; instead, they wait to ask their next question.

5. If you bring a portfolio, 90% of your panels will not ask to see it.

6. If you refer to your portfolio and open it, they may look through in a slapdash fashion.

7. If they do not call you within 36 hours, you 'll get a letter :-(

8. If you are offered the position you better hope that the Governor does not make foolish decisions.

9. Do not discard an entire box of expensive resume paper after your first day as a new administrator.

Well...I finally secured a position as the K-12 Supervisor of World Languages/ESL and Music in a Morris County district; I've been there a little over 2 months. I love it! I am learning a substantial amount about leadership, education, policy and curriculum.

Due to potential/major budget cuts and the elimination of state funding, I may be looking for work soon! Moreover, from conversations with mentors and colleagues, I am not the only one! Yet, I am sure that schools will be held to the same standards of accountability and performance. Will home values continue to "stabilize" with deteriorating schools? Will unemployment percentages ameliorate with thousands of educator out of work? What about the many that are going from the private sector to education? Is the Governor (and all of his lawyer friends) making educationally and fiscally prudent decisions?

I guess it is time for educators to suffer as well! Why should we have job security? We do not deserve it! Property taxes are too high! I wonder if they will lower taxes now? I doubt it!

Good luck to all of us!

THE CONTEXT OF EDUCATION

Are we really trying to improve education?
Are we willing to unpack questions that will make failures of us all?
Are we going to propose fundamental changes?

Or

Are we going to just make the changes that the state requires?

Over the past several months, the struggling economy and our school budgets have put the world of education in a parking deck without an exit ticket; we need to increase graduation requirements and performance with less resources. School leaders know what is needed to make fundamental/sound changes but must analyze the aforementioned from a fiscally prudent position.

I need to get in shape but must do it without exercise and with a 4000 calorie intake per day. What will my odds and waist line be at the end of the year?

If in fact, we decide to answer yes to the abovementioned questions, how will the context of education affect our ability to do something about it?

Redesign...nah...let's just put it on a different color paper!

It's funny! I have been in education for eight years and each year there is a different trend. In the past two years, my school has been working on exit testing for Biology and Algebra. All this work for a test? So...we are going to improve education by changing the evaluation? Let us not change the foundations of education; conversely, let us change only what people see. Here, we will have clearer accountability measures and fancier data; people will be satisfied...Right?

We worry that the education provided at this juncture is not preparing our students for the future in this technologically driven world of extreme competition and strife. Yes, the world is changing. But I ask this question! Is our education changing in order to appear on pace with the world or is it changing to be on pace with the world. I fear it is the former and not the latter.

Why are we spending so much time creating accountability measures and improving assessment? Let's instead change the foundations of the education provided.

Just to open up some discussion:

1. What was the driving force behind education in America in the 1800's?
2. What was education required to do?
3. Has it really changed?
4. What should be the driving force behind education in 21st century?
5. Is technology the only buzzword we should consider or is there much more?
6. Should we change the idea of "minimum graduation requirements"?

WHY ARE WE HERE?

Honestly, why are we here?  What is leadership?  Why do we work hard?  Are we just going through the motions?

Initially, I started this blog for a graduate course on curriculum change; it was a relatively good course.  Now, this blog will be used as a vehicle for maintaining my sanity in this strange profession we call teaching.

Okay...Where was I?

After seven years of teaching and many years of school, I have realized that education is more than what it should be.  I always thought that teaching students how to learn was our main charge.  I thought we were supposed to increase the amount of instructional/learning time.  I thought we were supposed to increase students' abilities in competing in the new global economy.

Do we do the aforementioned?

After seven years of teaching and many years of school, I education is not what is should be.  First year teachers teach many of the lower level classes while veteran teachers enjoy the upper level classes (actually, those lower level classes just storage areas for misbehaving teens).

I guess seniority is more important than providing good instruction.  

Novice teachers are inexperienced and have to work with the most challenging students.  Veteran teachers work with the advanced students.  And the results are:

1. New teachers leave the profession.

2. At risk students are not receiving the best instruction possible.

3. The students that always do well continue to do well.  On the other hand, that number is decreasing.

4. I get more and more frustrated.  Too bad my appetite is not decreasing.

Let's not worry.  We have more and more AP courses, test prep, unions, field trips, fire drills, snow days, and intruder alerts.  The aforementioned will increase the quality of the education.  Right?

How do things change?

Last semester, my Principles of Curr. Dev. professor showed us this video about the evolution of dance. I think it captures how things change. If dance can change so can education!

Click on this link or copy/paste it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg

Final Reflection: Strategies for Curriculum Change

This semester I was enrolled in class called Strategies for Curriculum Change. Before class began, I was preparing for another typical MSU grad class with a bunch of busy work and some relevant material.

Luckily, I was wrong in my assumptions; not every class has to be that way!

Strategies for Curriculum Change did not state that everything needs to change. Also, it did not state that technology is the end of education. I believe that the course promoted the idea that technology is a good way to change some areas of education; moreover, it invited us to assess our current state and brainstorm some possible changes. This is important, because many of our schools just change things for the sake of change. General blanket changes do not improve a situation. Conversely, when something is analyzed and ineffective areas are discovered, appropriate change does help. If your car is not working correctly, you do not buy a new car. You bring it to a mechanic, who trouble shoots the problem and fixes it.

As a new administrator, the abovementioned is critical; we cannot go into a position and try to change a school. We need to be clinical and brainstorm some new ideas that can help curriculum, school culture and other facets of education.

Looking toward the future and preparing for the inevitable was another idea that was salient throughout the course. I also interpreted that the class itself saw this as a positive challenge. Seeing the future's challenges in a positive light and being proactive with regard to curriculum is a healthy perspective for a school leader/agent of change. As an administrator in waiting, I plan on promoting the abovementioned value; we need to be positive and suppress the cynicism that has stifled progress in schools. An agent of change knows this and must also recruit more agents while trying to change or neutralize skeptical individuals.

The aforementioned became evident while working on the curriculum project with my partners. We were trying to incorporate a "true" service learning component in each year of high school in preparation for an alternative senior year. We constantly argued about how this change would be received by the school; few people like change and we were worried if this plan would be to ambitious or ill-received. We finally agreed to go for it based on the premise that change is needed and the risk must be taken.

Another feature of the course that really captured our attention was that it practiced what it preached. Technology was promoted via the use of technology. Curriculum change was promoted via a unique course design. Also, class discussion complimented all of the abovementioned characteristics.

From this course I will take many of the applicable ideas mentioned in the above discussion. Most of all, I will take the idea that believing in something is different that believing in it and doing something about it.

Orange Middle School

Orange Middle School has gone through some changes in order to improve performance on mandated tests. Their approach toward improvement has pushed the school to form smaller learning communities that provide structure and intimacy, which are elements that may be lacking at home. This is a great idea; students in this age group look for acceptance, which helps shape their identity. They are going through various emotional, physical and intellectual changes. These smaller learning communities give the students something to identify with. Here, they may feel more at home or closer to their learning environment.

Another change that they have made involves teacher team meetings that unpack weekly events, troubled students and upcoming goals. Here, the teachers are being proactive by creating a community of caring practitioners. This is another great idea; these delicate students need a team of teachers that are constantly in dialogue. Here, the teachers are more prepared to meet the needs of these students in flux.

Orange Middle School also has sessions for students to speak their minds; here, they can vent, share concerns or just listen to other peers. It seems the school is moving in the right direction.

"This We Believe" contends that middle school students are intensely curious and inquisitive. It would behoove the school to create some actual learning activities that hone the aforementioned characteristics. Here, problem solving and critical thinking can be embraced with some novel projects or activities.

When I attended Bloomfield Middle School, we had a class called Positive Personal Development. It was like a health class that allowed us to talk about various issues such as change, sex, safety and other pertinent ideas. Orange Middle School should try something along those lines to further supplement their discussion sessions.

I would also include some community service as part of the curricula; these kids have energy and a desire to help. Taking advantage of these characteristics would most likely increase the success that they are already having.

Curriculum Mapping...Equity Among Students

This year has been an interesting year for me. I am learning a whole bunch of new things regarding education. One of the projects for my administrative internship involves curriculum mapping; the following describes the problem it will try to solve.

Eleven of the thirteen (resource) special education students that took the HSPA last year were not proficient. After speaking with the Resource English/Math and Regular Education teachers, the school realized that students in resource room English and Math settings are not receiving the same learning experiences as their regular education counterparts. Ergo, getting on the same page was the first idea shared. Curriculum Mapping was chosen as the answer; this year we are starting with English.

This year, a couple times per month, the volunteer regular education English teachers, Resource English teachers, myself, and our supervisor are working together to map the curricula for English 9, 10, and 11. Our contention is that if each special education student enrolled in resource room receives the same learning experiences as everyone else, they will improve on the HSPA.

Unit by unit, the grade level teachers (resource and regular) discuss the objectives, essential questions, activities, and assessments; next, they complete a template (similar to UBD) for each respective unit. Here, the goal is to provide the same content, form and delivery to each student.

The Math department in my school also engages in curriculum mapping in order to certify that students receive the same instruction at each level. They have also begun to invite the Special Education teachers. I believe that curriculum mapping will become a major project at my school. Following the same curriculum does not mean that the same learning experiences will take place; curriculum mapping helps the aforementioned.

Curriculum mapping establishes a community of learners; no matter what teacher students have, they can work together in learning.

As curriculum mapping takes place, teachers realize how curriculum may be outdated or how it can be improved. Here, teachers are looking at older curricula and reflecting on how it will change. Different teaching styles working together on one map may prove to be very successful. Also, this may be a chance for all the teachers of one subject to discuss how technology may be incorporated into the classroom. If they all work on it they will all implement it!

CURR. IN MY UNDERPANTS AND SLIPPERS! While eating lot's of OREOS!

I know the title may be a little inappropriate, but it's professor Bach's fault; he said we could do the work on our couch. The PAC Man boxers and the bowl of Oreo cookies were my own pieces of flare; I like to express myself! My laptop, on the other hand, has so many crumbs in it, it's going to grow a cookie tree one day. Okay, let's get to blogging.

The online classes were pretty effective at achieving the goals of the course. We should practice the actual teachings of the course. A different way of learning is the best way to teach future administrators how to change for the better.

Also, not having to come to class was great! Conversely, I do believe the amount of work required for the online class outweighed the work done on class. Although time consuming, the online activities were pertinent to course's objectives and interesting. The movies and collaborative essay were a lot of fun; engaging in new activities can make graduate school less cumbersome, especially when most of us have other responsibilities such as school and family.

Let's not forget the cool discussions and activities we did in class; the genuine activities we did in class cannot be replaced by online classes. I enjoy sharing with colleagues and working in groups. Remember, we do not want to be isolated...Right Schmoker?

I really liked the online classes because they were complemented by our on-campus classes. I think a good online class is surrounded by regular class as well! Exposure to different learning environments really gets the main points across.

I would repeat another Hybrid Course like this one; there would have to be some contact time though. Having the liberty to work at your on pace was also a great characteristic of the online classes.

I must say that I would not change much about the way our online classes were executed. On the other hand, if the professor reduced the work load just a hair, I would not be offended.

It's time for more Oreos!

UBD REFLECTION 2: Implementation, Part VIII of Online Class

I am pretty organized person and teacher and my students know this as well. In fact, they enjoy moving my color coded folders around just to see my reaction (yes a little OCD). I guess it's pretty fun watching the portly Italian teacher jump around trying to reorganize the folders in record time.

When I first thought about implementing it, I thought the kids would not notice because I am already the best. JUST KIDDING! But seriously, I did not think it would have made a big difference to me or the kids. I was wrong.

I told the kids I was going to teach the lesson using a different tool for graduate school; they were pretty curious so they went along with it.

I wrote the essential question on the board and the difference was already noticed. The students were already engaged (maybe because it was just different or maybe because it got them thinking...either way it got them thinking!).

The lesson was very organized because it had the question on the board constantly reminding us what we were doing and why we were doing it. It also gave me a teachable moment? We started talking about how music is used to tell a story (using the Imperfect and Present Perfect) and that came back to our objective and essential question.

The core activity of listening to the song and then completing the cloze activity went really well. Also, I believe the kids enjoyed singing the catchy song; here, they were also practicing the key language feature without even knowing it.

I asked the kids at the end how they liked the lesson and they agreed that it was better organized. They also liked the discussion triggered by the essential question.

Trying new stuff is always a good thing in the classroom. I also realized that the kids appreciate being part of something new. They were more involved and engaged for the entire class. Way to go Joe...I mean...UBD!