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Joellen Kriss

Several of Region's High-Profile Private Schools Are Changing Leadership - washingtonpo... - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...AR2009092001805.html

Independent Schools Head of School Superintendent Search

shared by Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09 - Cached
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09
       
      This notes the shift and commercialization of schooling. "Heads of School" in any situation, private or public, have to be super human in their ability to do everything. They have to please everyone, and do it all with a smile.
  • In the past, school heads could luxuriate in a Mr. Chips-like existence, focusing primarily on education. Today, they have to be schmoozers who raise funds to pay for costly programs, construction titans who dream up new facilities, and managerial stars who keep students, parents, alumni and teachers mixing smoothly.
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09
       
      These are the people that hire the teachers that teach the chilrden. It's an interesting cause and effect kind of relationship: people are less willing to leave their old jobs because they can't hire their own kind of people in the next position, meaning the job will be harder and less of their own. It adds a whole additional dynamic.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • One of the fastest ways that heads put their mark on a school is with the people they hire,
  • making teachers slower to retire and less likely to shift jobs, and also making it harder to lead a school than in the past.
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09
       
      See previous Sticky Note
  • candidates who have already headed other schools remain in short supply
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09
       
      This is a really interesting statement and 100% true. School culture after a while becomes a given, so when a new head of school, whether they be of a private school or the superintendent of a public school district, comes in, that hiring board (of directors or of education) needs to now put it out on the table and naturally, things are reassessed in some way. It's kind of a thought provolking idea.
  • "A lot of what has been implicit in school culture has to become explicit" when the schools start meeting candidates,
    • Joellen Kriss
      Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09
       
      Holy Moly.
  • Branch's total compensation from Georgetown Day, including benefits and expenses, was $442,097 for the year that ended in June 2008. At Bullis, Farquhar's total compensation including benefits and expenses was $336,222. Total compensation for public school superintendents in the Washington region, including benefits and perks, averaged $350,078 in fiscal 2007-08, according to a 2007 Washington Post analysis.
  • Joellen Kriss on 21 Sep 09
     
    This Washington Post article talks about the competative hiring market for heads of private schools in the DC area, but also raises some interesting points about school culture in the process.
Erin Power

Teacher turns 'crazy idea' into new school - CNN.com - 1 views

www.cnn.com/...index.html

School Administration Colorodo Teachers Unions

shared by Erin Power on 10 Sep 09 - Cached
  • Kim Ursetta
  • Denver, Colorado'
  • want to start a new kind of school," she said, a union-sponsored public school led by teachers, not a principal
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • We've been doing schools the same way in this nation for 150 years, so if we don't step up, then nothing is going to change
  • bility ranks among the top barriers blocking the nation's children from receiving the best education possible.
  • A board-certified, 16-year teaching veteran, Ursetta, 38, believes the lack of teacher flex
  • Although they follow school board-approved curriculum and standards, instructors can easily rearrange lessons to "make better sense for the kids" -- making better connections between different subject matter, Ursetta said.
  • The lack of quality school leadership is a big reason that experienced teachers leave their schools,
  • Race to the Top also aims to give a boost to charter schools -- special public schools that are given more independence in order to encourage innovation.
  • To qualify for Race to the Top, the rules call on states to create "data systems" linking student success with teacher performance.
  • National Education Association
  • members fear it opens the door to measuring teacher performance by how students score on tests.
  • "What we're really against is using a single [student ] test on a single day" to assess teacher performance, said NEA Executive Director John Wilson. "What we're more accepting of are multiple indicators," and teacher performance "observed in classroom should count as the major part of evaluation."
  • many teachers are reacting coolly to Race to the Top because they "feel like it's too much like No Child Left Behind and are looking for something different.
  • Dubbed Race to the Top, the program is essentially a contest pitting states against each other to win a share of $4.35 billion in grant money from congressional stimulus legislation.
    • Erin Power
      Erin Power on 10 Sep 09
       
      I think this is an interesting concept that we (as future teachers) should consider. Most of the teachers I've spoken to feel that schooling is not done the most efficient or successful way. Why not consider other options? The thing I love most about this article is that this school came about someone, Ursetta, simply thinking that way - what could other options be? Then Ursetta looked at the steps she had to make and brought it into actuality.
    • Erin Power
      Erin Power on 11 Sep 09
       
      This source relies on interviews and studies conducted by CNN. A teacher could use this site to remember to be inventive in their approach to administration. This is valuable to social studies teachers so they constantly keep rethinking and questioning how to teach
  • Erin Power on 10 Sep 09
     
    This article talks about a Colorado school which has gotten rid of administrators and is run solely by teachers
Lindsay Andreas

Historical Tweets ยป Columbus Twitters Trouble on the High Seas - 0 views

historicaltweets.com/...tters-trouble-on-the-high-seas

twitter history warm-ups education technology

shared by Lindsay Andreas on 25 Sep 09 - Cached
Debbie Moore liked it
  • A Young Adolf Hitler Twitters Away
    • Lindsay Andreas
      Lindsay Andreas on 25 Sep 09
       
      I wouldn't use this one, for example.
  • Lincoln Asks Twitter Followers for Speechwriting Help
    • Lindsay Andreas
      Lindsay Andreas on 25 Sep 09
       
      My favorite one! For example, you could use it to explain the Gettysburgh Address, I never learned what four scores and seven years ago actually meant until recently, a score is 20 years, thus 87 years, 87 years from when? The Declaration of Independence. This could be a fun transition into comparing the DOI and the G. Address, because Lincoln had the DOI in mind when he wrote it.
  • Lindsay Andreas on 25 Sep 09
     
    This is a bit of a comical website but I think it could be a fun way to seem cool to the students, while actually teaching them, covert learning. If your kids are into twitter, you can post these on the board or pass out copies in the beginning of class for a warm-up. I wouldn't have them view the actual site because the comments get a little inappropriate. You would certainly need to use discretion. Sometimes teachers need to seem like real people and if I was in high school, I would think a teacher that used this was cool.
Laura Wood

Civics Lesson Plans - 22 views

www.ymcapa.org/lessons.htm

lesson plans declaration of independence John Locke Thomas Hobbes government civics citizenship constitution Rousseau

shared by Laura Wood on 01 Dec 09 - Cached
  • Laura Wood on 01 Dec 09
     
    AWESOME civics and citizenship lesson plans. High school level but very cool. Lots of stuff where you apply Rousseau's theories to paintings from the 60's etc. Lots of multimedia type fun stuff. Love them. A part of the "Youth Leadership Initiative"
  • ehutchins on 20 Oct 11
     
    Unfortunately, the four that I clicked on are dead links now. This site has not been updated.
Alan Edwards

D.C. Launches Rigorous Teacher Evaluation System - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...AR2009093004729_pf.html

teacher evaluation DC Michelle Rhee

shared by Alan Edwards on 02 Oct 09 - Cached
    • Alan Edwards
      Alan Edwards on 02 Oct 09
       
      Bill Turque's article in yesterday's Washington Post feels like a balanced view about a controversial plan. It definitely relates to some of the issues we've been chatting about in and out of our classes. These issues of teacher evaluation, standardized tests, teaching methods, and unions is important for anyone teaching in DC.
    • Alan Edwards
      Alan Edwards on 02 Oct 09
       
      So this year, it appears that the folks downtown will be testing a new method of teacher evaluation based on five in-class evaluations and the teacher's students grades and test scores. The program will only apply to about 20% of the teachers in D.C.
    • Alan Edwards
      Alan Edwards on 02 Oct 09
       
      DCPS will use a team of expert teachers to evaluate the teachers in 2 of the 5 evaluation sessions. They will look for active student engagement, diverse teaching methods, and teachers who work to create a safe learning environment for their students. I think that it's great that teachers will be a part of this evaluation process because great teachers have opportunities to give the best advice for these teachers. Moreover, the experts would have a degree of independence from the school's administration and union influence.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Rhee is investing $4 million in the system, called IMPACT, which will also assess teachers against an elaborate new framework of requirements and guidelines that cover a range of factors, including classroom presence and how carefully they check for student understanding of the material. But IMPACT is likely to be another flash point in Rhee's turbulent relationship with local and national teachers union leaders. They say that growth statistics are too unreliable to include in performance evaluations and that the new assessment system -- which the District can legally impose without union consent -- is an instrument to identify and remove struggling teachers, not a means to help them improve.
  • This year only reading and math teachers in grades 4 through 8 -- fewer than 20 percent of the District's 3,800 classroom instructors -- will be evaluated on the basis of growth on the annual District of Columbia Comprehensive Assessment System, or DC-CAS. Student value-added will account for half of their evaluation.
  • To allay teacher concerns that assessments will be tainted by personality clashes with principals, IMPACT will employ a corps of third-party "master educators" to conduct two of the classroom observations. The District's old system, like those in most other cities, required fewer classroom visits and left them largely to school administrators, who often had neither the time nor the expertise in subject matter to render fair evaluations, educators say. The master educators, who do not report to the principals, have backgrounds in the teachers' subjects.
  • IMPACT documents suggest that no nuance will be left unexamined in the 30-minute classroom visits. Observers are expected to check every five minutes for the fraction of students paying attention. Teachers are supposed to show that they can tailor instruction to at least three "learning styles" (auditory, visual or tactile, for example). They can lower their scores by "using sarcasm that visibly hurts or decreases the comfort of one or more students." Among the ways instructors can demonstrate that they are instilling student belief in success is through "affirmation chants, poems and cheers."
Lindsay Andreas

More Teachers Turning to Sign Language to Manage Classrooms - washingtonpost.com - 0 views

www.washingtonpost.com/...AR2009101501373.html

sign language classroom management

shared by Lindsay Andreas on 16 Oct 09 - Cached
  • how to manage children's urgent requests, in the middle of the most carefully planned lessons, for permission to sharpen pencils, get drinks of water or visit the bathroom.
    • Lindsay Andreas
      Lindsay Andreas on 16 Oct 09
       
      I have to be honest, my students do get kind of annoying with this stuff but you can't not let them go to the bathroom, I like that this maintains control but still gives kids independence.
  • "Sign language is the ultimate multitasker's tool," she said. "It lets you tend half the class's bodily needs at the same time you're helping a small group learn."
    • Lindsay Andreas
      Lindsay Andreas on 16 Oct 09
       
      In these times of standards and high-stakes testing, they want us to accomplish so much, this just might be a simple way of gaining a little edge in more fluid instruction time and I think it is worth trying out.
  • Signing has long been a tool for teachers to help special education students develop language skills, and for years it has been offered in area high schools as a second language. Now its use as a management tool appears to be on the rise.
    • Lindsay Andreas
      Lindsay Andreas on 16 Oct 09
       
      A teacher could also use it as an opportunity to talk a little bit about deaf culture, which I think is really important. One of my good friends is a CODA (Child of Deaf Adult) and it is a very passionate and strong community.
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