TeacherScribe: Today's Reads

The Myth of the Super Teacher

The Myth of the Super Teacher from EdWriters on Vimeo.

Amen. A teacher should always be learning, especially from the experts in their field and from their students. But teachers are always learning and growing and making mistakes.

The idea that the press and politicians sell young teachers on being able to be super human is false. And I think it's one reason so many young teachers (and teachers in general) leave the profession (about 1/3 leave the field after a few years).

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25 Ways Teachers Can Connect More With Their Colleagues

A very interesting read.

I will point out my favorite ways below.

* Get on the Same Page

This is one thing our department is working on with our common assessments and curriculum mapping. Now, I don't think this has to mean that we all do the same exact assignments, but I think we should all have the same major assignments. For example, if we teach To Kill a Mockingbird, we should all agree on giving the same final assignment (a test or presentation). But if one of my colleagues has a class of slow readers, then I have no problem with them being able to listen to a majority of the book where another colleague may have a class of stronger readers who just wish to read a majority of the book on their own. I think we should have the freedom to adjust to our classes.

But we should all be hitting the same skills and main concepts.

* Share What Works

I think this is so vital. And it's what is difficult for our department to work on. Some of us are reluctant to share what we do well or what works for us. It might be simply because many of us are too Minnesota nice and don't like to grandstand. It might be that we don't want think we do anything great or outstanding in our classes, though this is totally untrue.

I'd like to see a common prep where we each get two minutes to sell (with no feedback from the audience) what works best for us. The other teachers can either take it or leave it.

I'd also like to see a portion of our department meetings designed for this. Truth is, all the best stuff I do has been taken from other teachers and then scaled to my classes and my abilities.

* Get Feedback

This is what I'd also like to see happen more. And it's so easy to do with sites such as Zoomerang or Survey Monkey. I've gotten a good deal of feedback from my classes, but getting it from my colleagues is the next step.

* Keep Your Door Open

I know there are times when we need to get work done and don't want to be bothered, but this, for me at least, is vital. I see this in our principal. In the past you had to walk in to the secretary's office and then into the principal's office. But since Shane came aboard, he has made it a point to open the back door to his office, and it makes a great statement.

So it is true for us.

* Be Open to New Ideas

This one is huge for me. It's one reason I can't wait to get back to class to show off all the new stuff I've learned and dreamed up. I can't wait to see what my students think of it.

What scares me is that I'm going to become one of those teachers who keeps their curriculum in a big three ring binder on the shelf. When it comes to teaching "Young Goodman Brown," for example, I don't want to just walk over to it and start making copies. I always hope to be changing and adapting and tinkering and altering what I do.

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Now, this brings back some memories.

The Atari catalog from 1978.

Though I didn't get one until Christmas 1981, it was still a monumental moment in my life.

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I love this. I need to put it up in my classroom.

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The Purpose of Education

Here is one of our leading public intellectuals. Enjoy them while they last.

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Flipping . . . Just Isn't for the Classroom

This blog post takes a look at the current craze in education, flipping the classroom. That basically means all the homework is done in class and all that used to happen in class (lecture and notes and so on) are done at home usually in the form of videos created by the teacher.

This blogger has a great point about why they are skeptical of flipping their classroom. Why send kids home to do even more work when they are already insanely busy?

Instead, this blogger examines how else the flipping concept could be used. They suggest faculty meetings. And I think this is a great idea.

This blogger says it far better than I can -

Think about it. All the nuts and bolts stuff that is shared in a faculty meeting could be shared asynchronously via other means, freeing up the traditional faculty meeting time for other things.

Not enough time for PLC meetings? Use the Faculty Flip to free up that time and allow grades and departments to meet, talk and plan.

Not enough time for Professional Development? Use the Faculty Flip to have an unconference sharing session of what's working and ways to improve practice.

There are lots of practical applications for the Faculty Flip. The point of it is to make the time the staff or groups spend together more meaningful. Many of the meetings that take place in a school are informational. Scheduling, data sharing, field trips, etc. Many of these could be sent in an email or shared in a group. Thus freeing time to do something meaningful for kids.

So the idea sounds great but how do you share that information? Email is one way. And it is truly one-way. It's tough to carry out a conversation over email. There are some easier and better ways to share information.

Google Docs-Easy to start and use. Put your information in, and share. You can create one doc for the entire year and add too it so there is always a running record of what has taken place. Once shared, other staff can leave comments or link to your document when creating new ones for other business.

Ning-A while back when Ning went paid it got a bad rap. But for educators it is still a great option. With Ning Mini being free for up to 150 members there are some great features like forums, groups, and 1 gig of file storage that would be great for sharing documents, ideas and more.

Edmodo-My favorite social network for schools, you can set up groups for grade levels and departments, share documents, set up polls and questionnaires and more. And there are lots of applications beyond the faculty sharing that folks could begin to see it being used in their classroom too. (I wrote a post about how to use it a while back.)

No matter what you use, try it! See what you and your staff can do with that extra time if you share that information digitally and reserve that faculty meeting time for faculty learning time. Try the Faculty Flip!

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I found this, and it is quite true. I can learn so much from this.

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And one of the best I've come across.

Creative Legend George Lois on Ideas as the Product of Dicovery, Not Creation.

Creation or Discovery? I don't really care. I just want teachers and their students to have plenty of opportunities to do either in their four years of high school.

Here is Lois' take on it.