What is the value of a good teacher?

What a time we live in! Colorado just announced their educational cuts for next year. (see Denver Post)

But if you want to hear an interesting discussion on how teachers can measure their success - listen to a recent podcast from NPR's Planet Money's What is a teacher worth.  In it, he talks about how good teachers help kids be successful and then these students positively influence the gross national product.

The study highlighted in the podcast come from Eric Hanushek where he found that some teachers consistently produce higher performing students than their counterparts. These students then go on to be more productive and they earn systematically more money over their lifetime. These higher achieving student earnings result in an increased gross national product. The podcast takes the formula a bit further saying that a teacher with a class of 25 students that moves their students forward (in achievement)  is worth over 1/2 million dollars every year (in terms of added value to the economy).

If we know this why are we even considering increasing course loads or increasing class sizes as Bud the Teacher notes in his blog? In the long term aren't we just making the problem worse? There has to be a better way!

Ancient Civilizations!

This week I have been working with my social studies teacher to set up a intro lesson for ancient civilizations. He wanted to have students do some brief research about some of the major civilizations like Aztecs, Egyptians, Shang Dynasty etc. As a small group students were to find some basic information in the areas of geography, politics, inventions etc.

He wanted to make it more authentic for them so that they might get a scope of these empires. We decided to look at using google maps as a presentation tool. I found resources for each group and posted them on the website. We created one google account per classroom which allowed them all to be on at the same time, edit and change (even without sharing) and all the projects listed at once.

View Egyptian Empire in a larger map

We only gave the students about 40 minutes of class time to create this introductory lesson and they were to present the 2nd day. It turned out really nicely...and the teacher and I learned a lot. The students started presenting today and things got a good start. (They still tend to read right of the computer- but hey...we're still in the first week!)

Some ideas we thought of: different push pin shape for each topic, use several push pins to make simple points (2-3 lines or one picture), classmates take notes on the presentations. More and more.

Overall - it was pretty successful for the first try!

Seems like overnight...

Working in my building this week with educators supporting the new teachers in our district. We have some very talented, bright folks here who really know their stuff!

I'm working tech support and liaison for our building and was asking the presenter for the plenary what equipment she needed for the next day. She said all she needed was an overhead in the auditorium for the 150 folks. I asked if she was joking. She was very good natured about it, saying that she knew she needed to step up...and use technology. I encouraged her and said to remember folks needed her content rather than be overwhelmed about adding bells and whistles.

We chatted for a while and she felt pretty confident that she and her husband could work that evening and get her preso changed to Keynote. Next morning came- and she was incredibly confident and proud saying that she got it! (finished about 2am!:)

You might have guessed that not only was her presentation relevant and meaningful, but it was so well done that folks really got what they needed out of it. Not only that- she ran the whole presentation from a new app she downloaded on her iPhone! VERY COOL! :)

So- I guess I learned that sometimes we can be the people that gently nudge others to do great and important work. Sometimes change takes place overnight!

To post or not to post?

We had the local city council candidates in a panel last week. Students had some good questions and things went pretty smoothly. There were some issues that have been running under the surface of the election that have been hot button issues that came to light during the panel. Voiced got elevated, fingers started pointing and there was lots of groaning/jeering from the students. Perhaps not the most flattering moment for these candidates.

Question- we have students that weren’t able to participate that would like to see it. We recorded the 30 minute segment on a flip cam and it is a rather large file. Our host/social studies teacher would like to just post it online on something like Youtube. He says there are lots of folks wondering about this and they should see the real thing rather than hear the stories. We didn’t have written permission from the candidates to film this public forum.

What risk do we run if we post? What things should we consider before we post it? Should be fun to hear what you have to say!

Dewey Know What is happening @ your library?

Library Volunteers needed to rebuild library

Need to do some browsing @ your library? Well soon you’ll be able to do just that when Silver Creek’s library initiates the BISAC (Book Industry Standards and Communications) cataloging system. The “bookstore system” will make it much easier to browse and select books using subjects rather than the existing Dewey Decimal System. Mr Goerner, Teacher librarian said “I really think students would like to grab their latte and search the Technology & Engineering or Political Science sections when doing their 1920’s research. It seems like lots more fun than using the look up station to find Dewey sections 629.8 and 364.”

Why the switch? Well Goerner says that lots of things have changed since Melvin Dewey developed his initial classification system in 1876. “We need to reflect the current needs of our users” Goerner said. “The change will allow Silver Creek to be more like bookstores with nooks and corners aimed to create a sense of privacy."

Volunteer help is needed to transport and re-catalogue all 9858 library items. Work will be done to transferring from 10 current classification areas to nearly 50 “subject headings”. SCHS Book Buddies members commented that the change seemed like a positive one. Kira Gerbitz stated “I already have 527 books in my online Shelfari account and the categories will match Silver Creeks new system exactly! It will be very exciting to see how other Silver Creek kids will like it- it will be so easy to find everything!”

**Submitted to student paper February 09. Can you tell this is tongue in cheek? Hope so- would want you to think I was upsetting the apple cart! :)

DPS librarian preso...

Enjoyed presenting to the Denver Public Schools librarians last Monday. We looked at podcasts...here are some of my favorites!

Grammar Girl: Quick and dirty tips for better writing Nice blog and podcast for grammar tips.

Geek!ed is group of tech folks from MI who meet once a week to talk about what cool thing are going on in their schools. These folks love to laugh!

Radiolab: (WNYC.org) One of the best story telling podcast I have ever listened too. From NPR this is often a science-oriented podcast that offers topics like Choices, Wright Bros etc.

Library of Congress: Brand new site I found that looks like it has tons of booktalks, interviews, and lectures...seems to have a podcast on music.

Book Lust with Nancy Pearl Can't make a list without books. This is our own action figure Nancy Pearl as she interviews famous authors and poets on her Seattle-based program.

EPN: The Educational Podcast Network is a listing from David Warlick's Landmark Project that lists educationa podcasts by and for students and teachers.

The Wild Chronicles: great short videos created by National Geographic.

Geek brief tv: video cast by Cali Lewis about new tech toys and stories.

Slashdot Review: Is a great review of current tech news from Slashdot, Digg and Reddit. Andy McCaskey does a great daily job of keep us current in this concise podcast.

Promoting the Library

Isn't it great to have smart friends? My library buddy has done some great promotional work in Adams 12. She has weekly fliers that go out to her staff and students telling the attributes of the library, books that are in or important events happening at the library. She does a different in"stall"ment for students and teachers. Teachers are really liking the version she makes them. I copied her idea (didn't want to be left out) and found the same in my building. Teachers told me that they really enjoyed reading what exciting things folks were doing in the building. Then, they come to me and ask if they could do those cool things too!
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