Higher Expectations

AYP.

Those three letters often create an uncomfortable feeling for those of us who are facing the disappointment of not meeting AYP in our schools.  To make a long explanation as short as possible, not meeting AYP requirements means that our school needs to come up with a plan to “prove” that we are currently (and in the future) taking steps to drastically improve our school.  I found numerous blogs that discuss NCLB and AYP, but I decided to link to a blogger from BlogCatalog.  He entitled one of his posts, “If I Were Secretary of the US Department of Education” and gave some of his insights.  It was just interesting to read another person’s point of view and how they would change NCLB or get rid of it altogether.  BlogCatalog describes themselves as an “…Open Source Learning Community [is] created by educators for educators. Open Source Learning is the new name for Progressive Education”.  It lists a lot of bloggers who share their opinions, and I’m sure that any of us will be able to find another fellow educator that agrees with us (or disagrees with us, which forces us to consider the flip side to all of our opinions).  Amyee is another blogger who discusses her opinion on NCLB but also provides links to other helpful resources.

Anyway, as part of the Restructuring Committee, one of the overarching themes that I noticed each subcommittee came up with is this whole idea of “higher expectations”.  This includes higher expectations across the board (i.e. staff, administration, students, etc.).  As we discussed possible strategies to help students keep up with their work, an administrator brought up Moodle and how his 8th grade daughter was able to access assignments from home when she was absent.  I was surprised to see the number of teachers (including my principal) who had no idea what Moodle was, but I also had to remind myself that not all of them have been exposed to online collaboration tools while they were in college or are currently involved in situations that would expose them to these tools like Moodle.

Several teachers (including myself) who have experience with Moodle shared about the program with a lot of enthusiasm and gave a quick overview as to what the program is capable of offering to both teachers and students.  Of course, the first question that they asked was, “Well, how much does it cost?”  After we explained that it was free, then another concern that was brought up was, “Well, what about the students that don’t have computer access at home?” and then, “Will parents from our low income families buy into this?”  Question after question slowly brought down the enthusiasm as more and more problems were brought up rather than how Moodle could offer some possible solutions to the a few of the problems we’ve been facing.  Even a fellow teacher who is part of the CTER program had more doubts than hopes for the use of online collaboration tools within our school.  I can’t really blame this teacher, though.  Our school is not in great shape as a whole, let alone technologically advanced.  The percentage of low income students who meet free-reduced lunch requirements have increased dramatically over the past few years.  Many families can barely afford to clothe and feed their children, so having a computer and Internet access is not as common as we would expect it to be.  Our own school has a very fickle and moody network with computer labs filled with almost an equal amount of computers that don’t work as to the ones that do.

So what do schools like mine do next?  Is it worth it to look at different technological tools?  Even if we do, how are we supposed to apply them?

I think the first step that many teachers in my building have to realize is that increasing the USE (not just the tools) of technology WILL and CAN play a significant part in improving the overall condition of our school.  Part of the higher expectations we need to have as teachers is to see where education is headed and how technology WILL and HAS to play a part in it.  Incorporating technology has been and will continue to be an inevitable aspect of education no matter what we may think right now.  Like any new program or strategy that is put in place, we need to be open-minded and willing to try, even if we face failures and disappointments.

As I finish this course and head into my last course of CTER next semester, I find myself very thankful for everything I’ve gained from each course I’ve taken.  Sure, it will be difficult to apply a lot of the skills and tools I’ve learned, but it doesn’t mean that I won’t ever be able to. Looking back, I see that in many ways, I’ve already applied a lot of things I’ve received from the CTER program (i.e. online collaborative tools, multimedia demonstrations, Internet resources, etc.).  In a lot of ways, I know that I’m in better shape than my colleagues, which just pushes me to help them get up to speed as well.

However, in the end, I always have to remind myself that it’s not about me.  It’s about my students.  If I want them to learn how to have higher expectations for themselves, then I need to continue to have that same attitude for myself as their teacher.

With all that said, I just want to say thanks for a great semester everyone!   I have full confidence that each of us have changed and grown through this program and will continue to develop as educators and workers whever we are/go.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder…

…or it just makes you realize how dependent you are on someone or something.

Last week, our email server was completely down.  It wasn’t only our building, but every building in Area 4 that uses Microsoft Outlook.

It was definitely interesting to see how everyone handled the situation, especially when it came to alerting the staff of different important events and announcements.  Staff members rarely go to their mailboxes anymore, and I know of a few teachers who just have another teach grab their mail for them.  Emails have become the primary, if not only, source of communication within our building, so imagine how difficult life became for all of us! P

Some teachers went back to printing memos and dropped off messages in all of our mailboxes.  Some even went as far as to drop off the memos at specific teachers’ rooms!  Others took advantage of the morning/afternoon announcements and communicated to the staff that way.  Some teachers even went as far as relaying messages in person.

Personally, losing email service was the last thing I needed last week.  Our Student Council was in charge of hosting this year’s district fall retreat, meaning that 8 other high schools were going to bring 10-20 of their student council members to our school.  Being the adviser, I had a lot to do in order to get my council kids and the logistics of the retreat ready for this day (which was actually today).  Well, needless to say, advisers who were trying to contact me through email to give me a head count for registration couldn’t get a hold of me.  Even if an email slipped through the cracks, my responses didn’t reach them!

So what did they resort to?  Faxes!  I don’t think I’ve ever received a fax until last week.  Imagine my surprise when I found what looked like xeroxed copies from different schools in my mailbox.  Fortunately, I’m always checking my mailbox, so I didn’t miss any of the faxes that came my way.  Registration was completed (for the most part), and the planning went on from there.

I think the one thing that really surprised me was that only one of the advisers called me!  You would think that if emails weren’t working, then they would just pick up the phone and give me a ring…but that didn’t happen.  Now, I can totally understand why teachers usually resort to emails and messages.  It’s just a lot more convenient, quick, and doesn’t take much effort.  I rarely make phone calls and often rely on my email to communicate with anyone and everyone.  For me, I’m almost always on my computer working on something, so it’s easier to just open up my account and send a message here and there.  Picking up the phone, dialing a number, and talking to someone for a few minutes just doesn’t seem as appealing.  Teachers also just get busy doing other things, and if you’re going in and out of your room taking care of things, you often miss phone calls.  Leaving a voicemail isn’t as reliable as you may think because there’s always the chance that the person will listen to it, but just forget about it the next minute (which I know I’m guilty of doing).  Hmmm…so have I become too dependent on email?  Do I need to get back to the basics of just calling people and letting them hear my lovely voice?  Will I lose the ability to speak comfortable with people I don’t know?

Anyway…enough with the reambling…the retreat went well, and I’m very proud of my StuCo members!   Hopefully, our email server will stay in tact.  In the mean time, I’m thinking I might need to learn how to use the fax machine sometime!

Expect the unexpected

Today was just one of “those days”.

It all started with the night before when I unintentionally fell asleep in front of my computer while I was working on a Power Point presentation and lesson plan on Henry David Thoreau.  I had an exhausting weekend and just haven’t had time to catch up on good rest or sleep.  I’m used to it, though, so I don’t really mind running on very little sleep.

Anyway, I woke up this morning and decided that I would just finish touching up the presentation and lesson plan at work.  As always, if I ever work on something at home, I always email it to myself at work.  I woke up earlier than usual today since I had to be at school for a Student Council meeting.

I got to work about 6:40am and turned on my computer.  It started up reallllly slow, which was definitely unusual.  I shook it off and didn’t really mind…until I couldn’t log onto the Internet.  I checked my phone, and an omninous message was on the screen: “Connect to Phone Port” (which really means, “Hey, you’re not connected to the Internet at all.”)

Great.  What do I do now?  I remained calm and decided to go to the computer in the teachers’ lounge.  That computer wasn’t working as well.  It was 6:55am, so I knew I didn’t have time to roam around the school looking for a computer to use.

Now, you’re probably wondering why I would be so worried.  Well, I was getting observed today by my assistant principal first hour.  All of my lesson plans are very well-thought out, and I’m always trying to make them as engaging and innovative as possible.  It was no different for this lesson plan…only I didn’t have the necessary files for it!

In a hurry, I put together another Power Point presentation and handout and virtually changed all of my activities because they were connected with using the Internet (i.e. YouTube clips, etc.).  The Power Point was mediocre at best and the activities weren’t nearly as visually or audibly engaging as my orginal activities.

The lesson went fairly well, and I was blessed to have been observed teaching one of my better-behaved, highly participating juniors.  However, one student did notice that I wasn’t really myself.  He mentioned to me, “Miss Yeam…you didn’t seem like yourself today.  I mean, today wasn’t bad or anyting, but I could just tell you weren’t completely comfortable…”  Now, if a student noticed, my assistant principal would definitely have noticed.  At least I’ll be able to tell him at our post-observation meeting.

So…what did I learn?

1. Well, I definitely made some rookie mistakes.  I should have backed up the files on my flash drive instead of depending on email alone.  You never know what can happen when it comes to technology.
2. Always have plan B no matter what.  Something unexpected can always happen, so I need to be ready for anything.
3. Experience does help.  This is my fourth year of teaching.  Although it hasn’t been too long, I definitely feel like I handled the situation fairly well.  If this happened to me during my first year of teaching, I know I would have broken down into tears…:oP

Despite the fact that this is how my morning went, the rest of the day went by without a hitch, so I feel very blessed and thankful.  I get to teach the same lesson tomorrow with my original materials, so we’ll see how it goes!

What Else Can Google Come Up With?

I’m sure some people have already heard about “Google Wave,” but I recently stumbled across an article talking about it when I was doing some research for my student-led presentation.

Here is a link to “About Google Wave“, which includes a video that’s about an hour and twenty minutes long.  I didn’t even know YouTube allowed you to have a video that long!

I’ll update this post more after I learn more about it.  I just thought I’d post it here in case anyone else was interested!

*sigh*

I have to say that I’m sorely disappointed with how I’ve been performing this semester…:(   This is the first class that I’ve really struggled to keep up with since I started pursuing this degree.  I can only hope that things will get better,  and my life (hopefully) will settle down a bit.  One of the most important lessons I’ve been learning this year is not to bite off more than I can chew.   I have to learn how to say, “No!”

Anyway, I do have to say that these modules and milestones have really helped me expand my skill set when it comes to incorporating technology with my own curriculum.  I’m already planning on creating another WebQuest for my students and even possibly having them create a digital story for part of their final grade.

Well, before I get too ahead of myself, here is my own Digital Story, entitled “Unspoken Words”. Hope you enjoy it!

…and we’re back!

“Techsploration”

When I first read that word, I couldn’t help but smile because 1) I like new words, even if they’re “made up” and 2) it’s very reflective of what education can look like today: the exploration of different arenas of knowledge, thought, and imagination done through and within technology.

Anyway, when I read our question for this week, I couldn’t help but think about the recent discussions I’ve had with my Honors English II students.  Over the summer, they were assigned to read Fahrenheit 451 and write a critical analysis on one of the many themes presented by Ray Bradbury.  If you’re unfamiliar with this novel, it’s basically about a society that has gotten rid of books because they were seen as the primary cause for the problems in the world.  People are addicted to “parlor walls” (a.k.a. flat screen TVs), listening to their “seashells” (a.k.a. ear buds that play music, etc.), and basically “having fun” is the primary goal in life.  Pssst…fellow English teachers…please don’t kill me for butchering the book like this…we all know there’s more to this book than what I just mentioned!

So as I was saying, we were having this discussion about what books mean to us today and what it meant to people in the past, when sure enough, a student made a comment along the lines of, “Well, eventually, we won’t really need books because they’ll all be online.  You can learn pretty much everything through the Internet now.”  Many of my students heads nodded in agreement, except for one.  *Jill* then raised her hand and adamantly declared, “I hate computers.  I don’t ever use the computer unless I absolutely have to!”

Needless to say, these comments sparked a number of different discussions about technology, society, and what it means to them.  As the teacher leading this discussion, it was fascinating to hear their own opinions and views on what schools should or eventually could look like in the future.  They all agreed that technology (mainly computers and the Internet) are a part of their lives now, and they can’t imagine life (or even school) without them.  Of course, I’m not trying to imply that every student feels this way, but I have a very strong feeling that most (if not all) students would agree.

As a teacher and student taking the CTER courses, I’ve found that my view on the future of learning and technology’s direct relationship with it has changed a lot.  CTER has definitely broadended my scope and understanding of how technology has slowly, but surely become a part of everyone’s lives today in some shape or form.  As an educator, I believe it’s my responsibility to train my students through technology or at least teach them to be aware of the benefits and drawbacks of technology itself.  I’ve also learned that the future of learning doesn’t necessarily have to depend on technology, but why not at least take advantage of the ways that it can improve learning and teaching in the classrooms today?  One of the concerns that I do have is that with so many different gizmos and gadgets out there to help us teach, we can easily fall into the habit of having those gizmos and gadgets teach instead of us.  I know that I have to constantly be aware of how I’m using the technology and not the fact that I’m simply using it to fulfill a certain standard for the state or as an “easy” way of getting things done.

On that note, the last thing I want to end with is that I only graduated from the secondary ed program at the U of I three years ago, and only remember having the fulfill one technology standard.  I wasn’t even aware that there was a whole set of technology standards at the state and national level until this past year!  The only “technology” course I remember taking was learning how to create proper Power Point presentations, which is something I already knew how to do.  I wonder what the new, upcoming teachers are having to learn or be trained in these days.

Is it really the end?

I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t happy the semester is coming to a close…:P It’s been quite an experience learning how to balance all of my responsibilities as a teacher, student, daughter, sister, friend, and active member of my church. However, I wouldn’t trade what I’ve gained this past semester for anything. I learned a lot of valuable lessons and hope to effectively and properly apply them in the future.

So what does that whole shpeel have to do with what I learned from this class? Well, it’s related in a weird, inadvertent sort of way. You see, I never really gave much thought in what it takes to evaluate a situation, program, etc. in the context of an organization. As far as I know, I’ve always been the participant, answering the questions and giving my own insights into how I interpret different experiences. Being on the other side of things puts into perspective of how difficult and taxing it is to develop an evaluation process that will help you obtain the type and amount of information that you want and need.

The Final Project itself didn’t deal with a real, live group of participants, but I almost felt like it did with all of the thought and work that went into developing my evaluation plan. I know that it’s probably flawed and there are many glitches in it, but the encouraging thing about it (as I’ve learned from previous readings and discussion about AI) is that evaluations can be evaluated themselves. In fact, evaluations should undergo the evaluation process to make sure it’s designed in a way that will help the evaluators and stakeholders involved.

Truthfully, I’m not sure where all of this newfound information will lead me in the future. Will I become more involved in the evaluation processes at work? Who knows…but at least I’m more comfortable with the process, and I understand it a lot more than I have in the past. For now, that’s enough for me.

Have a wonderful winter break everyone, and I’ll probably see some of you next semester!

I will get over this

It’s officially week 3 of this never-ending illness.  Needless to say, I’m getting wary of all of the coughing, sneezing, and blowing of the nose (and so is my roommate, who got sick because of me).  I’m not sure what exactly is ailing my already tired body, but sickness has reared its ugly head at work because a TON of teachers and students have been absent the past two weeks.  This can only mean one thing to me: we (teachers and students included) need a break.  This brings me to a lighter note that Thanksgiving is already this coming week, and I’m very happy.  I miss my family up in Chi-town and can’t wait to see them.  I haven’t been able to visit since Labor Day weekend.

This past week, I’ve been meeting with my students and discussing their grades in my class.  After each individual conference, I always ended with, “Push yourself until the end…Don’t give up…You can still raise your grade…Stay consistent…Don’t slack off…Keep doing what you’re doing…etc.”  I should be telling myself the same thing!

I’ll be honest and say that it’s been hard to keep pushing myself especially with the final project for this class.  It’s been very difficult the past couple of weeks not only due my physical weakness but other stressful personal situations I’ve been having to deal with.  I’ve put together all of the sections of my final project but am still working on the Results and Discussion section.  I personally don’t want to post any of it until it’s entirely completed…but unfortunately, that didn’t happen this past week.  I can only hope that if I post it this week, at least one or two kind souls will be nice enough to look at it.  If not, then I’ll just have to deal with the consequences of my poor planning this past week and not have constructive feedback.  I’m also in the works of putting together a snazzy Power Point for the presentation aspect.  I tend to take the simpler, cleaner route and am wondering if we need to add anything fancy.

Oh and this is not way a cry for pity of any sort.   Just a disgruntled, dazed teacher, who didn’t plan out her week very well.  I, however, am determined to learn from my mistakes and not let a couple of tough weeks get me down.  I will get over this slump and finish strong…!

It’s been a while…

It’s hard to believe that this semester is almost over!  I have to say that this class has actually helped the weeks go by a little faster for me this year.

The break we had was much needed especially because I was sick for most of it. P  Needless to say, it was difficult to meditate on the final project through all of the coughing, sneezing, headaches, and body aches.  However, I’m glad I went through that bout of sickness now rather than during the weeks in preparation before the final presentation.

I think the main question I’ve been asking myself is what this evaluation would look like if it was implemented in real life.  The program that I mentioned in my final project does exist, but we have yet to implement it into our curriculum this year.  Integrating the program is the top priority now, but perhaps in the future the evaluation plan I set up through this course can actually be realized.  I think that’s pretty cool (for lack of a better word ).

My main concern right now is still being able to get some final feedback before the final presentations because I lost time to do that this past week.  Other than that, as much as I’ve gain applicable knowledge and skills from this course, I’m just as ready for break as my students are!

A much needed break…

There’s always a danger in saying things like, “Wow…I can’t believe I’ve gotten through this whole semester without getting sick…!” Guess what? Yes. I am sick. I was in denial because I always like to think that physical ailments can be overcome with the mind, but I can no longer be in denial. I don’t feel good, but it’s ok. Really. I just really hope I can pull through the next couple of days. I actually hate missing work because of all the catching up I have to do. Silent reading it is! My kids are going to love that.

Moving on…

Looking back on this semester’s course, I have to say that I gained a lot more than I thought I would. At first, I was thinking to myself, “How much will I get out of a course focused on evaluations?” If anything, I learned that in order to get the information/data that you want, you need to ask the right questions in the right way. It’s such a simple principle, but I think that can get easily lost when you’re just fixated on data collection versus methods of data collection. I was also pleasantly surprised to see how I incorporate AI methods in my teaching and everyday interactions with people more often than I may realize.

Even though it probably would have required a lot more work, I think it would have been interesting to see what our evaluations would have been like had we been able to evaluate real people/students. I know that I say this now, but I probably would think/feel differently if we really had to conduct real evaluations and gather real results. However, I think doing this “hypothetical” type of project is a good starting point for me to put an evaluation like the one I created into action.

At this point, I’m mainly just looking over my project for things I need to tweak here and there. The example papers help a lot, and I know that I’ll probably go back to both examples for guidance. I’m trying to not look over my final project too frequently though. For me, I find it helpful to leave my written work untouched for a little bit and then go back to it with a fresher perspective.

I will get over this stupid cold/illness/pain-in-the-butt thing! Have a good week everyone. Stay healthy!