Data Mining not just for Amazon anymore.

This article in Education Week talks about using the seemingly extraneous information that can be gathered while a student is interacting with technology to determine how the student is doing. I think this is awesome but leaves off a very huge part of the equation, paying for students access to technology. I also feel that a good teacher is doing just that as he or she is interacting with their students. Of course the teacher can gather every minutia of information that every student is putting out but maybe this information can help teachers identify students who need help or who are excelling at their subjects. The example given of the students who use clickers to answer questions is an interesting one to me. Sure it lets every student participate, but as the article points out it would be difficult to immediately interact with that much information. Further, I believe that school should be more than just being able to answer questions on que but to have that social interaction of standing up before your peers and demonstrating your participation. The more we focus on every detail of academic achievement the more we lose sight of the goal of education, to empower better citizens.

World Events and Furthering Classroom Goals.

This article in Education Week, illustrates the importance of immersive education. Using current events you can give students of all ages connections to things that may have happened over a hundred years ago. I really liked how some of the teachers made those connection between different civilizations and brought this, most useful, information into their classroom. I can even see bringing it to my math classroom, using statistics and demographics as well as other aspects of world events into the classroom to illustrate basic math concepts. Showing how the proportions of Egyptians who support the revolution can have a greater impact as a unit, and showing mathematical relations between monetary power and social power. I also like how these teachers didn't have to reinvent the wheel. There are already hundreds of resources out their for teachers to use and adapt to different situations. I hope through current events my classroom can be more immersive and exciting for my students.

An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. ~Benjamin Franklin

Stimulis Money Graded for Effectiveness.

This article in Education Week tries to break down the effectiveness for the stimulis money that was injected into education just over a year a go. I am a very visual person and I found some of the graphs very interesting.

They illustrate the amount of money that when to which programs. We have heard a lot about the Race to the Top grants, and other innovative focused programs, but I was surprised to see the amount of money that went into traditional programs. I am glad that Education was made a priority for the government and received a sizable portion of these funds. I am sad that most regular people will not see this information and understand that their are some people in Washington still working for the good of the people.

The rest of the article talks about how the funds are about three quarters spent and the recovery has been too gradual so that it seems that we are going to be running out of funding very soon. Hopefully by the time I am looking for a job we will have made better strides.

School boards are the bridge...

Between the schools themselves and policy makers in Washington. Do they know something we don't? Edweek.org published this article about the findings of a recent study. It made me think of a buffer between the extremes, knee jerk reactionism and stagnation. After a rousing Graduate Seminar about the direction of  education in the U.S. I felt a little overwhelmed. I am glad that there are some more grounded attitudes in some of the decision makers. The board members listed as their priorities as making sure their students live "productive lives" and "fulfill their potential". These seem like good ideas to me. I guess that that is the great thing about a democracy, the checks and balances. No mater what is going on in the world as long as we keep a level head and make rational, informed decisions what could go wrong?

Texting for contact, part2

This article in Education Week bring up a very interesting point about texting, social media and student-teacher interaction. Schools are primarily a social institution and as such have a responsibility to teach social interaction as part of their commitment to the community. This article brings up a valid debate about the use of these technologies in the classroom but I think the debate is further reaching than this. I believe that educators have a responsibility to not only be available to our students but to model the proper use of this technology. Where better than in young adult programs, or even middle school to set an example of what is appropriate social interaction. Be it on the internet, the phone or in person, adults need to set a positive example for the future generations.