Posted by samzenpus on Tuesday September 23, @11:26PM
from the think-of-the-children dept.

Pittsburgh Public Schools officials have enacted a policy that sets 50 percent as the minimum score a student can receive for assignments, tests and other work. District spokeswoman Ebony Pugh said, the 50 percent minimum gives children a chance to catch up and a reason to keep trying. If a student gets a 20 percent in a class for the first marking period, he or she would need a 100 percent during the second marking period just to squeak through the semester. The district and teachers union issued a joint memo to ensure staff members’ compliance with the policy, which was already on the books but enforced only at some schools. At this rate, it won’t be long before schools institute double extra credit Mondays and Fridays to ensure students don’t take three day weekends.

So where are we headed?  Would this policy work at your school or district or classroom?

Does it make sense in the long term or is it a short term fix for students who are not meeting the goals of the school?

Are there not other ways get students to invest in their learning that might be more meaningful?

What is the “value” of a grade?     Especially if it is artificially set!

I personally don’t like the solution that they have arrived at but on a district wide, urban setting I certainly see that the options are limited. School size and class size playing a larger part I am sure. As I sit here with my class of 18 students I realized that we are fortunate to have a setting where we can avoid a policy like this. Our situation allows us to intervene in a more personal basis and that is the bottom line. If we can get to a personal 1to1 or small group setting the issues of students giving up due to grades is greatly reduced.

WRITING MATTERS

This appears to be a super resource for teachers and students around writing.  As a teacher it appears to be not only a resource with ideas and lessons but also a platform for publishing work online.

There are a multitude of ways to put material on the web (this blog is an example) but when working with students it is nice to have an environment where teachers and students can feel comfortable with access to the published material. This seems to be one of those “comfortable spots” on the web.

When you have time explore and see if this might be a fit for your classroom.

Let me know if you found this site to be useful in your classroom.

This looks like a great companion to all the technology workshops that I attend. It is nice that this is happening in Maine and that Gov. Baldacci is trying to to bring attention to this issue.

After reading Last Child in the Woods, which from a teaching point of view the first half was of interest, I have been dealing with how to get my students and laptops out of the building and into natural settings. When looking at technology be it laptops, Smartboards, web2.0, Wii, etc. nature is not always the first thing that comes to mind or to the workshop setting.

Here in Maine a few programs that I have been involved with where nature and tech meet are Maine Lakes Conservacy Institute and the new Maine Explorer software on the MLTI laptops. We need more of this sort of opportunity as education gets pulled towards technology and needs more nature in its delivery.

I hope that this event is as well attended as some of this falls technology gatherings.

k12onlineflyer_letter

For those of us who have been wondering why we drive all over the countryside to get training on a particular topic when we seem to have the technology at our disposal to stay put and get all the information that one might need, here is a great opportunity and example of what that might look like.  There might be something for you. Take a look and see.

You are invited to be apart of this conference if you are interested. No cost just get involved during the conference and see what you can discover, learn, fall into, etc.

Here is a link to the conference home page.

Speed of Creativity

Reading this article is yet one more bit of support or justification for our hold out on having recess and providing that time for students to be physically active.  As we all try to cover duties, squeeze in class time and PE classes around our kids recess time remember the importance of that seeming “lost” time as a vital part of our days at AVS. 

What are your thoughts on this?

Do you believe in yourself?

Dalton Sherman is a 5th grade student who gets the job done!

Dalton Sherman keynote

http://www.thethinkingstick.com/?p=604#comment-25756

The post looks at the added value that one brings to their professional community by having a network and presence on the internet.

“Think about that for a minute. Is your social presence, your social network, worth something? Absolutely!”

Jeff illustrates a few ideas on the value of that network. It is something that I have been working on and thought might be interesting for others to think about. I feel that if I can get it going I can have my own Professional Learning Community on the web. By posting on a blog, reading other blogs and commenting I can get a network that can help me with my teaching. Just by being there I am getting “value” and resources that I could not get other ways. Presence is the key, at what ever level you might be comfortable with. The blog roll on the left of this blog is an example of some of the blogs that I read.

Think about it! What value might it have for you?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMcfrLYDm2U]

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