Creative Technology Solutions
If you are reading this blog online, then you probably already believe in the power of technology and not only the possibilities, but also our obligation to bring technology into the classroom on a daily basis. Countless studies and articles support the benefits of integrating technology into classroom instruction; technology promotes interaction and cooperative learning with peers, engages students, makes connections between the classroom and the real world, and provides experiences that could not normally happen within the walls of a traditional classroom.
Many teachers have the ultimate technology wish list; SMART boards, response systems, wireless slates, and laptops. Most buildings have a list of needs for their technology department; updated computers, ink for printers, and a reliable and secure network. Every school district has a technology budget. With looming budget cuts, where does the need to keep technology current, if not cutting-edge, fall on the priority list?
As in any situation, personal or professional, when times are tough and money comes up short, one needs to do two things: get creative and lean on others.
You need equipment. When the district cannot provide the funds to get you the equipment you want, look for grant opportunities. One way to make your grant stand out from others is to partner up with another teacher. For example, a colleague and I wrote a grant for a 24-unit SMART Response System. Passing the system between our two classrooms, allows us to reach twice the number of students for the same cost as using the system in only one classroom. It does require communication to avoid scheduling conflicts, but we purposely chose to pair up because our opposite teaching schedules make sharing the system easier.
Your equipment doesn’t work. Few things are more frustrating than outdated, slow equipment that doesn’t work like it should. Seek two or three troubleshooting volunteers in the building who can offer suggestions faster than a single tech coordinator who travels between buildings. Hold regular, brief troubleshooting sessions. For example, say the mobile lab has been acting up. Everyone who regularly uses the mobile lab should meet and discuss the problems they have encountered. The same problem may be happening for everyone and an easy solution may be found.
You don’t know how to use the equipment or programs available to you. There are still many teachers who are uncomfortable with technology. Insufficient training, intimidation, and a lack of time are all reasons teachers do not use technology to its full potential. Again, tap into the expertise of those in your building. Create a technology committee of 4-5 teachers at various grade levels who would be willing to encourage technology users of all levels of expertise. Survey the staff and find out what the current training needs and interests are. Hold short mini-sessions to teach a specific skill (e.g. how to use Excel spreadsheets, tips for using your district’s online grade book, even a lesson in using the district email.) If you are “hosting” one of these short tutorials, chances are someone has already created and posted a step-by-step direction sheet online that can be handed out to those who attend the session so they may reference it later.
You can’t get enough when it comes to technology. Free technology “education” is all around you. Search for technology blogs online. Creative teachers love to share their ideas with others. You can find reviews of software and ideas for how to use technology in your classroom. If you want to learn how to do something, all you have to do is google it. There are free, online tutorials for anything you can imagine. Share with those around you – even those not in education. Technology is used in every field and many applications can be used in multiple settings. Lastly, although we know the benefits, we often do not allow ourselves the time for learning from colleagues. Our co-workers know what we have to work with and know our students. Take advantage of this common bond and make it a point to have informal sharing sessions right before school or during lunch once a week. A member of our tech committee recently did a demonstration on using the free online file converter, Zamzar, to easily and safely incorporate YouTube videos and popular music into the classroom.
One of the purposes of technology is to make life easier and bring people together. Regardless of your skill level, the equipment available to you, and your district’s technology budget, there are always ways to improve your personal use of technology in the classroom. Work with those in your building to figure out how to make the most of what you’ve got.
By Melanie Krause, Dover Education Association
Blueprint Doesn't Go Far Enough
As American schools face the loss of $100 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, including the $4.35 billion from “Race to the Top,” I hope Congress will find the political will and motivation to finally reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 2011, now known as the infamous “No Child Left Behind Act.” Education Secretary, Arne Duncan, solicited input from stakeholders, which can be read in the Department of Education’s, A Blueprint for Reform. Many recommendations were made for improvement, although it remains unclear how they could be adopted without the funding to do so.
In a nutshell, the Blueprint advocates for definitions of highly effective teachers and principals, “college and career ready” standards, and will create three new tiers of schools. In addition, it will measure student status and year-to-year growth. Interestingly, it supports the “expansion of high performing public charter schools,” although I’m not sure what that means considering so many charter schools have no evidence of educating their students any better than public schools. If the federal government wants to replicate those few isolated charters that seem to have made a difference, tell me why more money can’t be invested in low performing, underfunded public schools to achieve the same results? Where will the funding come from to fill the budget cuts that currently face states like Ohio, where newly elected governors have increased salaries for their staff, but are hell bent on shortchanging children with huge budget cuts to public education?
Some like Howard Adelman and Linda Taylor, of the School Mental Health Project at UCLA, don’t think the blueprint goes far enough, arguing that it doesn’t effectively address barriers to learning, especially for those students living in dire poverty, attending the lowest performing schools across the nation. They believe that this component needs to be expanded. I couldn’t agree more. This aspect should become the major component of NCLB. Obviously, successful schools are not going to benefit from NCLB no matter what the components are, but districts plagued with poverty, with high numbers of English language learners, where parents don’t or can’t help there children succeed, will benefit the most. The Blueprint does little to change the status quo or help those districts plagued by financial problems like districts in Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. When states fail to provide adequate means to educate their poor students, districts, still, will have nowhere to turn for help. The worst schools in America should be the priority of this administration.
Much time has been wasted in Washington last year given the full legislative agenda and mid-term elections. As we wait for the ridiculous attempt of the house Republicans to repeal the new health care law, time continues to tick, states face huge deficits, and school funding is in crisis especially for those schools in Ohio who can’t pass school levies. Sadly, passage of the ESEA Reauthorization will probably be no less rancorous than the health care debate, as this legislation will establish new domestic policy, and some of the old issues such as school prayer, home schooling, or the teaching of evolution will probably creep into the debate. Meanwhile, teachers will be laid off at the end of the school year, and many high school seniors will not graduate in 2011, as legislators continue to play games in Washington.
By Susan Ridgeway, Streetsboro Education Association
The Problem of Teacher Attrition
As Ohio waits for the axe to fall on public education funding, I urge our new state administrators and representatives to think long and hard before they start chopping away at the budget. As baby boomers continue to retire, many teachers being hired are young, inexperienced and cheap. This is not to say that they are not smart or have potential, but the numbers show from the NCES (for inexperienced legislatures or those forming policies while knowing nothing about education, the NCES is the National Center for Education Statistics,) that teacher attrition is highest within the first 5 years of employment; 25% in the first year, and around 40% after five years. (Parallel Patterns) There are a plethora of reasons for this. Not surprisingly, teacher pay, poor working conditions, (i.e. schools that are falling apart around them,) lack of preparation, and lack of administrative support are among the top reasons. Notice that retirement is not an issue for attrition. Our new governor can bash teacher unions all he wants, but the sad truth is that the best and brightest minds will still take jobs in the private sector with higher pay and six weeks off, than work in public schools with lower pay and 3 months off.
Even sadder, is that charter schools, yes, charter schools, have even higher rates of attrition than public schools. Most charter schools are in the poorest areas of our cities in districts with the highest poverty. They have limited support from administrators and parents, and teachers can be fired with little notice, working without contracts, making even less then public school educators.
In public schools, attrition is about 15.7%, but in charter schools it can be up to 40%. It seems that grade level plays a major role as well. Anyone who has taught, or substituted, in middle school or in special education, knows that it takes a special individual to teach these students.
New teachers are idealistic and naive, and more often than not, less effective than experienced teachers. For new teachers, starting in schools with troubled populations where jobs are more plentiful, a feeling of hopelessness is pervasive. (Google: Unraveling the “Teacher Shortage” Problem: Teacher Retention is the Key.) Students in poor, urban districts, where effective teaching is needed the most, suffer the worst.
According to R.M. Ingersoll (2003,) there are two types of attrition: those who leave the profession entirely and those who transfer to another school or district. Many new teachers get a couple of years under their belt and move on to more affluent, suburban districts, with more money and contracts with more job security.
Cutting the public education budget in favor of charter schools will not solve this problem. Our new governor would do better to acknowledge the expertise of experienced educators in public schools. He should make peace, and increase funding for mentoring, professional development, and well designed induction programs for all teachers. Public school teachers and teacher unions are not the enemy.
By Susan Ridgeway, Streetsboro Education Association
January 2011 Ohio Schools
- IN THIS ISSUE
- Having a field day – Innovative middle school program links academic and physical competition to strengthen student learning
- Bringing brain research into the classroom – 10 ways to engage your students using science based strategies
- Legislative update, Association news, and more
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