Recession Hits Maine Education

Governor Baldacci details budget curtailment.

Village Soup
Bangor Daily News
The Ellsworth American

Maine Bureau of the Budget
Education Informational Letter 41
Essential Programs & Services Funding
FY09 Curtailment by District

Evaluating Information

Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School Library - 5:30 - 8:30 - "Current Events Class"



Essential Question: Should the U.S. Government provide universal health care for its citizens?

Agenda Link

Chris Lehmann & Others on Change

Thanks to Nathaniel Porter of View from the Corner Room I've been pointed to the direction of a couple of Chris Lehmann presentations.

K12 Online Conference (Lehmann bio and slower presentation)
Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach: 21st Century Collaborative

Dimensions Of Change

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: maineducation08)

Essential Question: How do we go about making change?

"What I Want for My Children"

ASCD's The Whole Child


NCREL: Meaningful, Engaged Learning

Essential Question: What do we want for our children?

TelstarToo Session: K-6 Technology Integration

Essential Questions: How can technology be used with younger learners? Should it be?

Today's Agenda Link

Wisdom

“Wisdom ceases to be wisdom when it becomes too proud to weep, too grave to laugh, and too selfish to seek other than itself.” ~ Kahlil Gibran

Wisdom Quotes
ThinkExist: Wisdom Quotes
BrainyQuote: Wisdom Quotes

"Where ever you are, be there totally." ~ Eckhart Tolle

Amazon: The Wisdom of Crowds
Wikipedia: The Wisdom of Crowds
Wikipedia: Crowd Psychology

Question: Are crowds wise . . . . or merely smart? Or neither?

Internet Resources at the Little Yellow Schoolhouse

Essential Question: How are Internet resources effectively and efficiently located and organized?

Agenda Link

Class on Current Events

OHCHS Library 5:30 - 8:30

"Who Do You Trust?"

Current Events Resources at LIM Wiki
Wikipedia
Maine MARVEL
Propaganda Resources at LIM Wiki
Logical Fallacies at LIM Wiki
Google News Search
Google News Search - Advanced

Ideal School of the Future

Jim writes:

I hope this is not a taboo subject.

I have immense respect for the caring and hard working educators I've had the privilege of knowing and working with throughout the years, but after spending 38 years in education, not much seems to have changed except that there is more bureaucracy, less academic freedom, and greatly increased stress. This is true nation-wide. Am I wrong? And yet, the world is a very different place. Everything is getting smaller and faster . . . except probably my body and mind. ;)

Are we going in the right direction?

With the exponential changes happening in technology right now, is the Twentieth Century model still viable? Will just working harder and smarter using the same school model, while collecting and sorting immense amounts of data, lead to better citizens and workers? Perhaps it will, but I'm not convinced.

I am interested in knowing your thoughts. Are you satisfied with the present direction? If not, what would you propose? What would your ideal school of the future look like?

Mary Mackinnon writes:

Here is one point of view from Joe Renzulli

Heather Westleigh writes:

Thank you to Jim for bringing this important question. Thanks to Mary for bringing this paper. I have to admit I have not made it through the entire text, but this excerpt from the opening jumps out at me, as it is what I have been saying for years (although I absorbed some of the logic from reading Gardner):

"We have become so obsessed with content standards and test scores that assess mainly memory, that we have lost sight of the most important outcomes of schooling -- thinking, reasoning, creativity and problem solving skills that allow young people to use the information driven by content standards in interesting and engaging ways."

...the article also talks about learning styles. I'm impressed so far.

More important than teaching facts is teaching how to think about facts, in my opinion. In a world of information, I shudder to think of all the misinformation that we all absorb every day. Without critical thinking skills we create a future that was all too obvious during the election. Aside from political affiliation, it was awful to hear people talk about voting for Palin because "she is hot" and not Obama because "he is Muslim". To be even more impartial I can quote people who told me they would never vote for Palin because she is a woman, or would vote for Obama because he is young. This type of thinking warps our (already thin) social fabric. Even more frightening is that these quotes are from adults, not students. (no, they were not joking) This shift in education is not new, but has been a slow progression. To be fair to schools, the problem is one without walls. It seems to be a social epidemic, fed from many directions.

More important than whether we agree with the direction is whether or not we can do anything about it. I worry that teachers are in the same position as students. We react to rules and legislation that we have no part in making. We are told that this is just how it is. We WILL use standards-based grading. If we don't like it, then what? We leave? I still have a child in the system. I am still a member of the community. I adore my students. How do I make myself heard and make change in 'the system' if I believe it is harming our children?

Deborah Meier "Educating a Democracy"
Jamie McKenzie: "You Can't Fatten a Pig by Weighing It"
President Dwight D. Eisenhower on "Democracy, Freedom, and Education"
Singularity Summit 2008 Reviewed


Scott Love writes:

It's a very relevant topic for everyone. Other sites are approaching this discussion as well from other viewpoints as educators in higher education. Here is a site that was referred to me from another teacher in Maine. Very good discussion.

http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2008/10/brave-new-classroom-20-new-blog-forum/

My dream is that we can give every family and child a more individual learning path as enabled by leveraging digital tools, applied cognitive science and the ever present teacher as mentor guiding our life long pursuits. Some call it the disruptive class. I call it the age of the mentors.

Speaking as a parent, I am constantly worried about the drill and kill approach that seems to be the regime of choice. We create grouping standards but we don't really know why anymore. I think the revolution starts one classroom at a time. One teacher at a time. One family at a time. One lawmaker at a time.

If I compare Maine to my own state of California, Maine's approach to education is much more progressive by any measure. For starters, we're forced to teach by textbooks. Sounds like a minor issue but believe me, it's a factor in how and what teachers in California actually focus on. I like the idea of the teacher picking and choosing readings.

The ideal school for me personally is a university of the mind where we recognize student's have different strengths and abilities. That we can actually understand them and appreciate other factors in how we learn.

That we can teach to their personal strengths and modalities. And that we have more time for learning and exploring, not just preparing for the next STAR test. And we would be able to meet not only in person but in cyberspace too for informal lectures, Second Life events, etc. Maybe even listen to a lecture from a teacher as hologram using the Feynman avatar.

And I'm sure Asimov would have loved this discussion too.

Mountain View Culinary Class Blog

I love this new Maine classroom blog with its focus of process.

Jeff Bailey's Social Studies Links Wiki @ MCSS Conference '08

Link

Flex Day at Rumford Elementary

Using Wikis in the Classroom

• WebTools4u2use: Wikis
• Classroom Wikis
• Wikis in the Classroom
  
• Learning in Maine Wiki
  
• WikiSpaces
• Wikis in Plain English

• Wiki Tour

Agenda: Building Web Pages with FirstClass RWD

MLTI Content Trainings

Link

"Think Globally, Act Locally"

"Broaden your vision, yet narrow your focus." "Can't see the forest for the trees." "Seeing the Big Picture."



Curriculum 2.0 - Global Citizen




Progressive Perspectives: "Education for Global Citizenship & Social Responsibility"

Oxfam's Resource for Global Citizenship Education

Education for Global Citizenship: A Guide for Schools

Classroom Activities for Global Citizenship

Global Gateway: Lesson Plans 11 - 18
Global Gateway: Lesson Plans 4 - 11

Christian Aid's Resource for Global Citizenship Education

ePals

Cosmopolitan Ideal or Cybercentrism?

Essential Question: What does it mean to be a global citizen?

Photo Credit

Phishing Scams

From the good people at CommonCraft, "Phishing Scams in Plain English"


Essential Question: How do we stay safe?

"It's Time"

Thanks to Barbara Greenstone for twittering this link of student videos. Whether you support the products or not, it's engaging stuff. Original music, great singing, fantastic choreography, and first-class video technique. Click on picture.

MARTI - Using Online Math Resources

Today I'll be working with teachers in the College Transition Program at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School on making use of the wealth of math resources and activities online.

Agenda

Getting Started with Telstar3

Today a new Western Maine Custom Learning & Technology Community will be starting at SAD#44.

Agenda

Ego and Education

"The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, personal and family history, belief systems, and often political, nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these is you."

~ Eckart Tolle

We've got to convince our egos and our minds that if we want to live happy lives,love is more important than anything else.

~ Ken Keyes

I've been thinking about this thing called "ego" lately. It seems to me that while a good healthy ego is very helpful in getting things done, too often a perversion can happen which gets in the way of us working together as teams and collaborative groups. I can't disagree that we all need to feel loved and capable, but when we lose appreciation for others because our egos become inflated, all our efforts become diminished at best and counter-productive at worst. Antidote: playfulness, good humor, ability to actively listen . . . and love.

And, yes, I'm guilty of ego inflation! :)

"Don't judge any man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins."

Active Listening at LIM Resources
Process Skills at LIM Resources
Are You an Egomaniac?
Signs of an Over-Inflated Ego

Current Events in the Classroom

I met with Joan Parker of Oxford Hills Adult Education yesterday to discuss and create a plan for adding more of a digital component to her class on current events for adults. I had to admit my neophyte status in this area, but Joan patiently helped me understand her approach and what she had in mind.

This got me to thinking. I now realize that a current events class is the perfect environment for inquiry-based learning. It seems to me that the 21st Century skills (Courtesy of Curriculum 2.0 New Literacy Wiki) can be approached in a very holistic and constructivist manner with the following essential questions:

• How do we know information is true?

• How do we communicate effectively?

• What does it mean to be a global citizen?

• How do we learn best?

• How can we stay safe?

So the challenge now is chew on this for a bit and then to create a plan that will best fit adult learner needs. I think I'll be starting with Who Do You Trust? and modify it for the situation.

Any advice? Your thoughts?

Current Events Resources at LIM Wiki

Photo Credit