Empowering (Curating)

Making sense of the information that I receive – Well so far I haven’t used my delicious account more than twice, but in addition to my subscription to the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) I have subscribed to the New York Times Magazine. I am following stories that focus on improving student learning in public secondary schools.  When I receive the daily headlines I review them and visit the ones that align themselves most with my interests.  Right now and I looking for innovative program designs that I can use to improve the services provided for target student groups where I teach.  However, the article that I tweeted did not come from the New York Times, it came from the LA Times.  It was a story about the American Civil Liberties Union in a law suit against the State of California Department of Education for violating the 14th Amendment; not providing equal protection/justice  to all students and the District where I teach was named in that article.  As a matter of fact the high school that I graduated from was featured in that article and I was just confirmed to began my employment in the position that targets the student groups that were listed in that article:  English Language Learners, impoverished students and foster care students.  How more smoothly could this happen.  To read the article follow this link http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-aclu-schools-lawsuit-20140529-story.html.  To discuss some of the ideas I have about helping the target student population.  Comment on my post.  Peace

Laying Aside the old man requires laying aside old ideas also

Living as Children of Light

Ephesians:…21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, 22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, 23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,…

A most spectacular thing happened to me within the last two weeks.  The school year is winding down and my students are reflecting about their years in high school.  I teach social science to seniors.  They were conversing about their favorite teachers and their fondest memories and throughout their conversation complimented me.  To their compliments I responded humorously; “your check is in the mail”, “you’re getting a bonus for that one” Then one student said “you continue to tell me that my check is in the mail, but I haven’t received a check yet”  I responded “do I have the correct address?  Lets confirm your address”  Another student shouted NO! The second student told me that she loved me and that she awake happy in the mornings anticipating my class.  She told me that her proclamation of love was pure and that she did not want me to humor her, or push aside her comments.  I had to listen.  I had to apologize and I had to accept her statements as truth. I had to ask myself, “Why was it difficult for me to accept a compliment or a statement of love?”

The Answer:

I felt unworthy.  I believed that I was unworthy of God’s love and certainly no human could  love someone as vile as I.  When I apologized to my student and explained that I believed I was unworthy the tears came and I had to continue this journey to find out what was happening.  Later that week in the quietness of my own home, and with the help of a spiritual guide I journeyed into myself and I found my answer.  I had to have a new idea of God and my relationship to God.  My spiritual guide helped me to see that God created me and when God said His creation was good, that meant that I was/am worthy.  Why did i grow up believing that I was unworthy?  

Jeremiah 23:30-31
30 Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbor. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.

Listening to religious leaders tell God’s story confused me.  I’d heard people recovering  from drugs and alcohol share about a condemning God that they did not believe loved them or wanted anything to do with them.   But I had not realized that I fell in that same group.  The message that I heard from these “religious” people who expounded on the word of God was convoluted with their ideas and additions just like Eve’s explanation to  the serpent regarding God’s commandment about the fruit of the tree of good and evil was convoluted with her own ideas and additions.   After, this revelation I was able to share with a religious leader that I am worthy because God created me worthy and now I can rest in this truth.  I can now practice accepting the love and the compliments of the people I serve.  I can love more completely, because I am completely loved.

Romans 6:23
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ.  

Christ gave his life for my reconciliation to God because my sinful nature separated me from God, hence; death.  I could only be redeemed by a perfect sacrifice and none was perfect, but God and so God had to come and die for me.  The incarnate God in Christ paid the price for my sins because I was worthy to be saved.  Wow!  I am worthy because God created me worthy.  For me, this is a new idea.  It is a freeing truth that now conceived gives me the artillery I need to help others who are caught in the bondage of no self worth as I was.  Thank you Jesus!  Thank you God.

Every Child, Every Day

I am reading a lot of positive information about digital conversion in the book Every Child, Every Day (Edwards, M. 2014) and I can’t help but reflect on how digital technology is working in the classroom where I teach.  The enthusiasm and excitement I experience while reading the stories in this book are not the experiences I have where I teach.

Teacher Resources

A few teachers have smart boards purchased  in 2007; used extensively the first two years are now  covered with bulletins and serve more as a bulletin board then a smart board.  I never received a smart board so I am not trained on how to use it.

• Laptops, and LCD projectors

About 20% of teachers are using laptops and LCD projectors, however, only a few were purchased by the school.  Most teachers purchased their own laptops.  There is at least one desk top in each classroom and teachers are required to take attendance on the desk top, however, it doesn’t connect to the LCD projector and the teachers still use box televisions to show DVDs and Videos which of course present old information and are more entertaining than informative or groundbreaking news for the 21st Century learner.

• Tablets

The big craze among teachers is tablets.  Program coordinators and out of classroom personnel were presented with IPADS 2 years ago.  Each IPAD contained the student schedule as it was 2 years ago.  Two classes of students have graduated, when are the IPADS being upgraded?  Gee I don’t know and I am afraid to ask.  The fear is that the IPAD may be confiscated so although I can’t really use it for anything its still nice carrying it around – I think.  Further more no training on how to use the IPAD was provided and the fire walls on the school wi-fi make it difficult to use on line tutorials.  ):

• Internet Grading Programs

There is a benevolent group that purchases internet grading for interested teachers.  However, the District doesn’t have control over this program and is tirelessly working to produce a grading program they can mandate teachers to use pulling them away from the one that comes to teachers free; about 50% of the teachers are using the free internet grading system.

Student Resources

• SMART Phones

Most students have smartphones, but present district policy forbid students from using their electronic devices on campus during the school day.   There are also codes that must be downloaded into their telephones, ipads, laptops, etc. which allow them access to the wi-fi system .  Good point, most text books are accessible on line, but not the entire chapter.  Self study quizzes are available and some chapter reviews, but students who need to  read the text must purchase the book.

• EMAIL Accounts

Students and staff receive free email accounts.  But, some students are so spooked about invasion of privacy that they don’t apply for email accounts.

Reflection

So the hurrah and success that I read is happening in North Carolina is not the same in California   Mr. Edwards author of the book states that his district made a decision to invest their budgets into digital technology for all the benefits it brings:  student self-paced studies, immediate feedback and instructional intervention, peer academic collaboration, academic equity and eventually academic mastery.  And while the students are busy using their electronic devices to reach these goals the teacher is walking around the room facilitating.  He also provides some numbers similar to these:  grades K – 8 21 students to 1 teacher and grades 9 – 12, 26 students to 1 teacher.  Well in my class there is an average of 42 students to 1 teacher and the individual  student desks, in the class period of 52 minutes is not conducive or safe for the maneuvering teacher  to facilitate student research and investigation on their ipads, smart phones or lap tops.  By the way, where will the students plug up their devices?  There are limited sockets and using them will cause another safety concern; someone may trip over 20 – 30 cords.  Not to forget that OSHSA will have a field day with compliance write ups.  In my district there is still a lot of work to be done before the digital conversion can be achieved.

Professional Learning Communities

There is research proving that when teachers work within Professional Learning Communities  (PLC) student learning increases.   So what is a Professional Learning Community?  It is a group of teachers who organize themselves either by grade level or within a small learning community (SLC).  The primary purpose of a Professional Learning Community is to increase student learning.  These communities are built, directed and evaluated by the teachers involved and within these communities self-reflection and student assessment data drive instruction.  Although there are some PLCs that do not demonstrate gains in student learning this is mainly because the teachers are not using student assessment data to drive instruction.  The advantage to using student assessment data is that it allows teachers to compare notes and share best practices.  Of course nothing is perfect and researchers point out that increases in student learning may not be the direct result of teachers working together within professional learning communities.  However, these same researchers also observe that in every situation they studied where teachers work within PLCs, and use student assessment data to drive instruction;  sharing their best practices, student learning increases.  It is important to compare the two PLC models;  core content where teachers teaching the same grade level and the same content organize with teachers teaching multi-disciplines in multi grades who organize to present students with  smaller learning environment.  Recent studies show that making the large school, smaller encourages student success (http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/may08/vol65/num08/Small-Learning-Communities.aspx). This is the idea behind establishing Magnet schools , but just as the teacher can be the best teacher and the students don’t learn, the learning community can be the perfect size and the students may not learn.  As students have an important role to play in their learning, teachers have an important role to play in the effectiveness of the student learning environment.  The PLC that establishes the SLC can prove detrimental to student learning if it is a mandate from outsiders.  This being said it appears that the most successful PLCs are the organization of core content instructors who focus on students in one grade level.   A comparison and contrast of the two PLC models  will be discussed more fully in my dissertation.