Being An Educator Matters
I know that I have said this before but the technology is proliferating educational news as if it is being newly discovered when it is actually old news in new “garments.” I remind myself and everyone I come in contact with of that phenomenon which makes me a historian as well as and educator!
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A couple of ASCD Affiliate leaders were interested in EdCamps…this is my attempt to describe the practice: EdCamps According to MASCD:ikz. Recently (end of Feb 2019) a study was performed which assessed EdCamps as not fulfilling their promise and, in fact, not being very useful. I did not enjoy my few experiences.
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Massachusetts Association of Science Teachers MAOST@wildapricot.org publishes a regular newsletter which includes many opportunities for educators to learn and act..The April 15, 2017 issue is worth looking at.
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In this new age when technology thinks it is smarter (and occasionally is!) than we are, here is some help:10 digital skills teachers must have and also 20 ways to use a tablet in the classroom
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When I introduce myself I find that I say I am a retired Superintendent and High School Principal (and Faculty and Administration in Higher Education) assuming everyone will understand that, of course, I was a teacher first.
I taught junior and senior high school students for a few years after which I believe I continued to teach, adults, by example and explicitly.
Thinking about this topic also reminded of that day in the summer of 1962 when I was an MAT at Harvard. Each member of my team of five students presented in front of the class, the other MATs in our group and our Master Teacher. My assignment was The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allen Poe. As part of the presentation, I placed myself up against the blackboard and mimicked building a brick wall around me…Our master teacher was delighted and said that I was “a natural born teacher with all the right instincts”…words that have stayed with me for more than 50 years.
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The instructional decisions educators make are at the core of teaching and learning. This article from Education Week describes an important strategy..it is different from what we called “group work” because it is more intentional and targeted. This is one of the important pieces of GSTEM work:Building Teamwork in STEM Classes.
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The letters “PD” conjure up different images depending on what educational role you play. This article from the Boston Globe raises an important issue: how do educators maintain currency?
The article provides no surprises, just a “shock” to get attention. We need to rethink some of our practices: Study finds billions of dollars in annual teacher training is largely a waste .
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I found these articles instructive, the first because I used movies to teach literature: What the Movies Taught about Teachers and the second because we still do not have the process of preparing teachers right: http://www.ed.gov/teacherprep
And this article is also one to read:What Tina Fey Teaches Us About Cage-Busting – Rick Hess Straight Up – Education Week. It is clear that some aspects of teaching are related to entertainment.
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Educators identify their top STEM challenges and priorities | eSchool News
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Educators have many roles. 10 steps to making yours a STEM school
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I was “connected” to NCTAF toward the end of my tenure at Lesley so I always check out their emails. The announcement of this tool appealed to me. http://www.nctaf.org/learningstudiostoolkit/#!/introduction.
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My colleague, Joan Thormann, had an article published in the Journal of Online Learning and Teaching Vol. 10, No. 3, September 2014: Thormann &_Fidalgo. It contains some research results about community building in online courses.
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I have not heard Peter Senge in many years but I have always admired his thinking. This article: Educating for the Bigger Picture – Education Week and accompanying one pager: Habits of system thinkers offer opportunities for educators to look at their practice.
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EdWeek, December 3, 2014
STEM Teachers “The Condition of STEM 2014” By Catherine Gewertz
Many high school students are interested in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, but very few of them want to teach in those fields, a situation that doesn’t bode well for the shortage of good teachers in STEM fields, according to the National-STEM-Report-2013.
The study, released last month by ACT Inc., examines data gathered from 1.8 million students in the class of 2014 who took ACT exams. Just under half of those students said they were interested in STEM subjects, but only 4,424 expressed interest in teaching math, and 1,115 were interested in teaching science.
The report also suggests that students’ interest in STEM subjects outweighs their preparedness. Half or fewer of the students who indicated an interest in STEM fields met or exceeded ACT’s college-readiness benchmarks in math or science.