Excellent Statistics Data Source

Posted on December 6, 2011 by admin

Have you ever wondered how to make data more realistic for students?  Typically I chose to have students conduct a survey and analyze their results.  However, this process was very time-consuming and monotonous.  After the first time having students do a real survey to gather data, I liked to replace the task with providing timely, relevant data.

Always on the lookout in magazines or online for data or charts to analyze, I decided to search online instead.  To my surprise, an excellent data source for statistics use is available at FedStats.  The website has an alphabetized list of topics including broad subjects like business or national income, as well as specific topics including diabetes or agriculture.

This data resource will become very valuable as I teach statistics in my high school math courses.  I wanted to make sure other educators learned about it!  Do you know of other web based statistics sites? If so, I’d love to hear about them!

Categories: Advice, Education | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

Truth Concerning Union vs. Administration Loyalty

Posted on December 4, 2011 by admin

It is typically a faux pas to discuss teacher union politics. There is an underlying discomfort as if broaching the subject might lead to losing one’s job. I am tired of this feeling, and have been struggling with it for years. It is time to speak the truth.

When entering the teaching profession, little was explained about how to handle the political system within a school district. During my first job’s orientation I remember meeting with the union representatives and having them warn me. Yes, I took it as a warning because they said things like, “Double check your paycheck,” and “Double check with your assigned mentor before speaking with the principal.” The feeling the union established was, in my opinion, one that undermined my relationship with administration rather than encouraging open communication.

This fear remained with me as a teacher until I gained tenure years later. However, looking back at things, I now realize that when problems occurred, the union’s intervention typically added stress to a situation and often delayed a potential resolution. In recent years, I have found the most security from becoming friends and developing a trusting relationship with the school’s principal rather than gaining help from the union. Granted, I am required to pay the union, so I use their services to back me up when needed, but I would typically prefer resolving issues between the principal and myself.

This has been the case at more than one school district, as I taught at several over the past fifteen years. So the question I ask is, “Why don’t unions request teachers to seek a resolution on their own prior to seeking a grievance? Or does this vary depending upon school districts?”

As states like Michigan tie unions’ hands more and more and limit tenure security, perhaps teachers, administration, and unions should work together in a more positive fashion. What do you think? How do other districts compare?

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Is a Teacher’s Instinct as Keen as a Mother’s Instinct?

Posted on July 31, 2011 by admin

A mother’s instinct… a mother’s intuition… a mother’s eye in the back of her head…
all these things apply to a teacher as well. At least, they do with me. My students would tell you that I have the best hearing of anybody because I catch them mentioning inappropriate details from across the room. They would say that they can’t get away with texting in my class as often as they do in other classes.

I believe that a teacher’s instinct is a skill that is sharpened with time. I may only catch a bit of a a student’s guilt laden phrase, but I can play it up big time simply by using their keywords in a question.

For example, if Sarah mentions something about somebody breaking up, I might say, “Really, Sarah? Who do you think they’ll date next?” And she inevitably says, “What? You could hear me?” To which I simply grin, keeping her guessing.

This type of classroom management keeps a lot of the gossip at bay. It also shows that I am not afraid to interact with my students, but keeps it more of a learning environment rather than a lunchroom setting. At the high school level it is important to recognize that teenagers have an active social life, but that they should focus on academic topics inside the classroom rather than who is doing what after school dismisses.

All in all, I believe that a teaching instinct is key to survival as a successful teacher. It allows me to tune in to what my students are thinking, and helps me provide for their learning needs as well. What do you think about teachers having a “teacher instinct”? Please comment below. I’d love hearing your thoughts on the matter.

Photo source: Music Story Blog

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Components of a Successful Teaching Style

Posted on July 25, 2011 by admin

Successful Ideas for My Teaching Style

An atmosphere of positive social support occurs when the teacher conveys high expectations for all students and encourages students to take learning risks and try hard to master challenging academic work.

In order to be successful, instruction must not only incorporate the standards themselves, but it must also take place within an environment that provides sufficient social support to permit all students to learn no matter what their gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability, English language proficiency, or preferred learning style.

Authentic instruction is meaningful instruction. It helps learners move beyond memorization by creating learning experiences which demand sustained, disciplined, and critical thought on topics that have relevance to life beyond school.

Research shows that when teachers and students engage in authentic instruction and learning, student achievement increases.

The four authentic instruction standards are:

1. Higher-Order Thinking: Instruction involves students in manipulating information and ideas by synthesizing, generalizing, explaining or arriving at conclusions that produce new meaning and understandings for them.

2. Deep Knowledge: Instruction addresses central ideas of a topic or discipline with enough thoroughness to explore connections and relationships and to produce relatively complex understanding.

3. Substantive Conversation: Students engage in extended conversational exchanges with the teacher and/or peers about subject matter in a way that builds an improved and shared understanding of ideas or topics.

4. Connections to the World Beyond the Classroom: Students make connections between substantive knowledge and either public problems or personal experiences.

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Is the Love of Learning Your First Love?

Posted on June 20, 2011 by admin

As I pondered what motivated me to enter the education field, I thought back to when I was a child. The constant over the years was my passion for learning.

In preschool I remember learning the rhyming song and singing it in the carpool along with my friends. I think the tune was from Sesame Street, but I’m not sure.

You take a “L” as in ‘uhl’ and an “o” “g”, ‘awg’
You put em all together and that spells “log”
That’s log, l-o-g, log
That’s log, l-o-g, log
You put em all together and that spells “log.”

*choose another three letter word that rhymes with log, like bog, and repeat*

In second grade at my parochial school I was so excited when we finally were able to hold hymnals during chapel because our grade could finally read! More moments like this would repeat themselves over the years as mini rewards for achieving success.

Throughout my education called life, certain memories stand out more than others. While some are negative, most of the positive ones somehow relate to learning a new concept, meeting a goal, or even learning from a mistake. It turns out that through life’s moments, the common theme has been my love of learning.

Thus, my first love was definitely my love of learning. That feeling has driven me to develop new visions of teaching as trends change. It keeps me excited about incorporating technology into my pedagogy. My passion for learning is the foundation which keeps me motivated to instill the flame in youth whose parents honor me with the chance to teach their precious children.

Do you have a love of learning? When you think back, was it actually your first love, too? Please comment below.

Categories: Education, General | Tags: , , , | 17 Comments